Word on the street is Emily Procter will be missing an episode or two off of CSI: M to take time off to have her baby (congrats for her). But I wonder how they'll cover the absence in the show. I decided to experiment, think of an idea and, of course, throw some E/C love into the mix. This is the outcome. Please review!

The last three or four days were nothing more than a constant rotation of events. Calleigh would get up, eat breakfast, take a shower, proceed onto work and stay there until her shift ended. She'd come home and sit on her couch, sinking into its pillows and allow her mind to wonder to many painful thoughts, thoughts she had tried to elude for over thirty years, but now there was no escaping them. Thus, tonight, like the previous nights, she sat let her eyes follow the pattern of the carpet as she reminisced about the many painful and emotional scars she had received and why they were there. However, the cause of the scars weren't an importance to her anymore, the only thing that mattered was that the man who had unintentionally left them was dead.

Her mother had called her a few days ago, delivering the blow to Calleigh that Kenwall had died. Had Calleigh not focused all of her willpower on keeping feeling in her body, the phone would have surely slid from her fingers in shock and vigorous grief. Fighting back the tears to stay on the line a little bit longer, Calleigh asked one question.

"How?" she asked her mother, trying to maintain strength in her voice as she talked to her mother. Calleigh felt the need to hold the tears back in her mom's presence, even if it was simply over telephone, she still felt the over whelming need to be strong for the woman on the other end. Her mother sounded like she was on the verge of tears, even though she and her father had been divorced for eighteen years. Calleigh supposed creating a child together and many years of hardships created some bond, even if it wasn't the strongest and weakened more by a hostile divorce, and a bond as such could be remembered and mourned at a time of a death.

"He tried to drive to his house after a few beers," her mother explained, her voice breaking every other syllable.

Calleigh clenched her teeth in anger and sadness, he had made the same mistake he had been making for years, he drank and drove. Calleigh just looked at the table she was standing by and slammed her hand on the table with mild force to exert some aggression after she hung up her phone.

"Damn it, Dad," Calleigh grumbled with a heavy voice, allowing a few tears to escape. She couldn't breakdown now, though, she was working a case of a murdered teenager and had to press on; the limited amount of tears she had shed would have to be enough for a few hours until could return home.

Calleigh had relived that moment many a time in her mind, the final news from her dad. She had always known his fate was held in a bottle, but she hoped that it would never happen and that he wouldn't cause the domino effect that led to his demise. Calleigh loved her father dearly and always wanted to believe he was on the right track getting better after he said he had gone X many months without a drink. But Calleigh had known since her preteen years that it would only be a short space of time before he relapsed and it would have to be something that she was going to have to live with; Calleigh quickly adapted.

Many people saw the negative side of Kenwall and Calleigh had herself found herself, especially in the recent years, find herself looking deeper into the darkest years in which his demon arose. When she thought of him she saw images of his absence during her high school graduation, of his stumbling up the pathways on Friday nights, and him lying out on the couch on Christmas morning, hungover. Now he was gone and Calleigh didn't want those memories anymore, tonight she thought of the good times. The moments were scarce in which she and her dad shared a father-daughter bond, but he was the only real parental figure she had to look up to and she adored him for it, appreciating any opportunity that came along to spend time with him when she was younger. Every horseback ride, every time they went together to fire guns and every time, when she was younger, when she would crawl into his lap and sleep as he whispered "I love you, Lambchop" were memories Calleigh wanted to remember.

The ringing of her doorbell interrupted Calleigh's thoughts. She stood up, wiping away any indication of previous tears that had fallen as she walked towards the door, not bothering to glance out to see who was on the other side. She pulled the door open to a reveal a very concerned, sympathetic, looking Eric. Calleigh attempted to put on a cheerful smile as she had been doing the last few days at PD, she wasn't prepared to accept the comfort and condolences her friends would offer, though she knew they would find out eventually. The only person she had told was Horatio, letting him know she would soon be flying back to Darnell for the funeral and was going to need time off.

But Calleigh had the sinking feeling that she didn't need to put on the mask anymore, based on the look in Eric's eyes, she knew that he had found out.

"Hi," she smiled, weakly.

"Hey," he replied, his voice sad. "Do you mind if I come in?"

"No, not at all," Calleigh shook her head, standing back to let him walk through into her home. Her heart sunk even deeper as she thought about how it hadn't been too long ago they had been practically living together in this house and now they were back to asking permission. "I'm guessing you're here because you heard?"

"Yeah," Eric whispered. "Calleigh, I'm so sorry."

Calleigh rolled her lips and nodded, stirring her eyes away from Eric, knowing that she wouldn't be able to contain herself if she did.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Eric asked, gently.

"I don't know," she sighed with a shrug. "I mean, I told H, but that was pretty much it."

"But the only reason you told him was to ask for time off, not to talk," Eric pointed out.

"Well, you know I've never been good at talking about certain things," Calleigh sighed, daring herself to glance up at him.

Eric nodded, he did know this. Calleigh was a closed book, almost a diary in a human form; full of secrets and almost impossible to unlock. But in the recent years she had been easier to open up, she would even feel comfortable coming to him and talking without him having to coax her in the least. However, the numerous obstacles in the recent weeks had tarnished much of that. They talked every now and then, but standing in comparison of how they had been and how they were now could have been the equivalent to nothing. Their communication had basically halted and the result was Calleigh sitting in her living room, mourning her father's sudden death alone.

"And what about now? Do you want to talk about it?" Eric asked, ready to offer his support and comfort.

Calleigh looked at the ground and sighed, shaking her head.

"No," she breathed, her voice getting thick with emotion. "I can't talk about something I can't wrap my head around," Calleigh explained, her voice breaking on the last word and tears springing to her eyes as a result. The droplets of water ran down her face before she had a chance to stop them. She looked at the ground, her hair falling to shield most of her face from Eric as she rushed to erase the evidence of any tears. But her attempts failed and Eric saw the tears, the next thing she knew a pair of familiar arms surrounded her and pulled her into a comforting embrace. Calleigh put her head against Eric's chest and allowed a few more tears to escape, this scene seeming to recreate itself from a few months ago. He had held her while she mourned Patrick Dawson; he let her cry then as he let her cry now.

"It's okay, it's okay," Eric whispered, his hand gently running up and down her spine, he noticed her shoulders were quivering.

"Is it wrong for me to say I knew this is how he would…d-die?" Calleigh choked out, Eric heard the effort it took for her to get the final word out.

"No," Eric reassured her. "You've always been realistic."

Calleigh chuckled, weakly, and nodded.

"Yeah, I guess," she sighed, leaning out of him and wiping the last of the tears away from her cheek. "Would you like to stay for a cup of coffee?" Calleigh asked him, his presence offering its own comfort and she didn't want him to leave.

"I'd love to, but on one condition," Eric insisted.

"Being?" Calleigh questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"You sit down and let me make it, you've had a tough few days," Eric grinned, warmly, and it was enough to make her roll her eyes and take a seat at the dining room table.

Eric smiled at her before making his way into the kitchen. Calleigh watched as he bustled around, opening and closing a cupboard to pull out some mugs. She couldn't help but grin at how he still knew her house as well as his own, mostly due to he had spent a good part of the last year and a half practically leaving there. Well, a few months of the year and a half when their relationship had been close to perfection, the others had been filled with emptiness and torment. The thought of how Eric would soon be leaving and the house would once again turn dismal made Calleigh sigh in sadness.

"Are you okay?" Eric asked as he filled the two mugs up with freshly brewed coffee, his thoughts instantly jumping to her sigh being due to her thinking about her father.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Calleigh lied as Eric added sugar to each of the beverages; he knew how she liked her coffee. "Listen, I really appreciate you coming by like this, I'm feeling better already."

"It's no problem," Eric reassured her. "I'm here for you, you're here for me. That's what we do, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Calleigh agreed. "It is."

"You going home for the funeral?" Eric asked, walking over to her and placing the mug of coffee in front of her.

"Yeah," Calleigh nodded, cupping her hands around warm ceramic mug and letting it heat her cold hands. "My plane leaves Saturday night, the funeral is on Monday and I'll probably be back Wednesday."

"It's not a very long time," Eric commented as he took a seat beside her. Deep down he was pleased he wouldn't have to miss her too long. He had just figured that she would want to spend time with her family during this time due to the tragedy, despite how dysfunctional she had said the family was.

But Calleigh let out a hollow bark of laughter, telling him that his thoughts of her wanting to spend more time with her family was the furthest thing from her mind.

"The shorter the better," Calleigh sighed. "I'm pretty much an outsider to them now…well, more so than I already was. The closest any of us get to communicating is sending out Christmas cards every other year."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Eric whispered, sympathetically.

"It's okay," Calleigh reassured him, taking a sip of her coffee, which lightly burned her throat as it traveled down. "I have my own family here with you, Horatio and everybody. At least I get Christmas cards to you guys every year."

Eric chuckled in agreement and at the fact she had just said something only the optimistic side of Calleigh would say, turning something negative into something positive. Though he knew that Calleigh was going to be mourning her father for awhile, her joke reminded him that she was a survivor and, in due time, she would heal.

"Let me drive you," Eric said, abruptly. Calleigh looked up at him, clearly taken aback.

"Drive me?" she asked, confused by his request.

"To the airport," Eric clarified. "Let me see you off."

Calleigh was hesitant yet at the same time intrigued by the idea. On the one hand, the boundary lines they had laid down between their friendship and the romance that had vanished would become more blurred. On the other hand, however, his warmth and comfort would give her the strength she needed to board the plane.

In the end, Calleigh knew what she truly wanted and nodded.

"Okay, if you don't mind," she grinned, sheepishly.

"Of course I don't," Eric promised, reaching over to take her hand and give it a gentle squeeze. His palm was warm and Calleigh held to him, their fingers intertwining. Their eyes met and gravity took control, all logic and reason no longer able to stop them.

The two simultaneously leaned inward and their lips met before they realized what had just happened. Within the instant the outside world vanished and the only thing in existence was the bliss they felt as one set of lips caressed the other.

The sweet taste of Calleigh brought back memories Eric had locked away in the back of his mind, memories that would be too painful to remember without her. But the softness of her lips, the fragrance of her hair and, above all, the subtle force of her lips kissing him back were enough to send an exhilaration through him he had not experienced since the last time he had the privilege of holding her. It was a feeling he would have gladly held onto longer, had the inevitable not taken place and their lips separated.

"That probably wasn't a good idea," Calleigh sighed, shaking her head.

"But it doesn't feel that way," Eric pointed out, reaching up to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear, sliding his hand to cradle her face.

"No, it doesn't," Calleigh agreed with a light chuckle.

They leaned out grinned at each other, guiltily. Had he not been overjoyed with having with having kissed her for the first time in months, he would have felt guilty for that kiss complicating things, especially when she was experiencing another emotional turmoil.

"I think I've caused enough trouble for one night," Eric sighed, getting to his feet.

"No, you didn't," Calleigh promised him as she too stood up. "It's not your fault. Eric, my mind is just not in a good place to handle any of…whatever this is right now and I just can't-."

"Calleigh," Eric cut across her. "It's okay, I get it. We'll talk about this once you're feeling up to it."

Calleigh smiled, gratefully, thankful he was being so understanding about the delicate situation.

"I'll see you at work tomorrow," Eric said.

"Yeah, definitely, I'll see you then," Calleigh nodded as she walked him to the door.

The two slightly raised their arms and were about to embrace one another, but as soon as they were in close proximity to wrap their arms around each other, they thought better of it and stepped back.

"Um…m-maybe we shouldn't, n-not right now, anyway," Calleigh stuttered, her attention suddenly being consumed by a loose thread on her shirt.

"Maybe not," Eric agreed with a sigh. "But feel free to call if you need anything," Eric added as he opened the door.

"I will," Calleigh smiled, weakly.

"And, Cal," Eric said, turning back to her as he stepped over the threshold. "I am really sorry about your dad."

The pain that had rested silently in her heart began to throb again at the mention of her father; she rolled her lips and fought for composure for another minute.

"Thank you," she breathed, her voice thick. One of Eric's cheeks pulled up into a sympathetic smile before he continued to his car, Calleigh closing her door behind him as he left, his taste still tingling on her tongue.

I'm weighing the possibility of a second chapter. Anyone interested?