Knowing Who Really Loves You

Eric parked his Hummer behind Horatio's and got out, going to Frank. The big Texan was gazing out across the expanse of marshland at a distant form of one of the Everglades Park's air boats. Three figures could be seen. The park ranger, identifiable by his uniform, a red-haired man and a petite blonde woman.

"What's up, Frank?"

"Seems Horatio and Calleigh found some of the plane crash evidence all the way out there. I guess the plane shredded itself in the air before nose diving in," Frank said. They watched as Calleigh knelt and reached out into the water. The air boat suddenly tipped alarmingly, water violently disturbed. "Looks like it's something big, too."

"Maybe it's a piece of the plane. The FAA said that it was coming apart the whole way in. Shame it never landed safely. 43 lives lost; we haven't found a single survivor," Eric commented sadly. He hated scenes like this one. He'd rather have the death be human caused rather than mechanical failure.

He watched as something was hauled aboard the air boat. He couldn't tell what it was; it was too far away. Then the boat turned and sped toward them. "Looks like what ever it is, they want to bring it in a hurry."

Once the boat was close enough to shore, the ranger jumped out and hauled it onto dry land. He held his hand out to a completely soaked and shivering Calleigh. She looked for all the world like a drowned rat and that made her look pretty pathetic. Her usually pristine white blouse was smeared with green and brown muck and it clung to her like a nearly transparent second skin. Her tan pants fared no better. She'd probably be forced to call the outfit a loss and toss it all in the trash. With a look of disgust, she picked a long and clingy bit of Spanish Moss off her shoulder and dropped it back in the water. She took the ranger's hand and jumped down, pulling Horatio's suit jacket closer around her.

Eric couldn't help himself. He snorted with laughter. "Cal, I'm still the underwater recovery guy, you know. You didn't have to go diving for the evidence."

She shot both him and Horatio identical glares. "Neither of you are on my good list right now. So much for being a thorough investigator. I see the evidence; I can't reach it; I ask for a little help and then the next thing I know is that I'm swimming in the Everglades doing my best imitation of a gator."

"Is that what happened? It looked like you were hauling up some heavy evidence," Frank commented, struggling to keep a straight face. He didn't feel like being shot where he stood. And, now that he knew she was alright, he found it pretty funny, too.

"I, uhm, I overbalanced the boat and she went in," Horatio said, fiddling with his sunglasses, a look of concern mingled with guilt on his face. "Eric, can you take her back to the Lab and make sure she gets a cocktail? She went in head first and you know how many biologicals there are out there."

"Sure thing, H," Eric said, feeling a little guilty for laughing at her. She could have been hurt; she could have swallowed or inhaled some of that filthy water and she was obviously freezing despite the near ninety degree temperatures. He put his hands on Calleigh's arms and rubbed them to try and generate warmth. "Are you ok? You didn't hit your head or scrape anything?"

"Yeah, I'm fine; I'm just freezing. The air is a whole lot colder at 35 miles an hour," she said, still shivering as she got in the Hummer.

Eric got in on the drivers' side, handing her a blanket from the back. "I'm not putting on the A/C. I don't want to freeze you to death. Are you sure you're okay?"

Calleigh sighed, discarding Horatio's now wet suit jacket and wrapping the blanket around her. "I'm fine. I'm just really cold. I'll probably warm up by the time we get back to the Lab; it's about an hour drive."

Eric pulled the Hummer out onto the dirt road and began to drive back to the city. "How about some hot coffee on the way back?"

She graced him with a brilliant smile. "Sounds like heaven."

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By the time they returned to the Lab, Calleigh had let the blanket fall off her shoulders and had opened the window. They got out and headed inside; Eric upstairs to the Lab and Calleigh to the in house Rescue station. She pushed the heavy glass door open.

"Hey Tina," she said brightly.

Tina Winters looked up and couldn't hide the shock at Calleigh's appearance. Bits of vegetation still clung to her hair and her white blouse was smudged with unidentifiable green and brown substances that had now dried into slightly crunchy green and brown substances."Whoa, Calleigh; what happened to you?"

"Well, it was such a lovely day that I thought while I was looking for my evidence in the 'Glades, I'd take a dip," she quipped, her earlier anger now vanished. "I was collecting evidence, the boat overbalanced and I went in head first. I need a 'Glades Special."

Chuckling, Tina rose from behind the desk and ushered Calleigh behind into the small exam room. "Did you hit your head or cut yourself on anything?"

"No; I went straight in and then came straight out. I can tell you it was pretty disgusting and I think I'm beginning to smell," Calleigh said in a very disgusted tone. "The motor pool is going to probably need to fumigate the Hummer before they send it back out. It smells like a gator died in there."

Tina retrieved a set of hypodermics and laid them out on the table in front of her. "Think you swallowed or inhaled any?"

Calleigh shrugged, sitting on the plastic chair. "Maybe; it happened so fast. If anything, it got into my eyes, ears and nose, so, as much as I hate to say this: you get to poke me with needles."

Tina grinned wickedly as she filled the first in a series of syringes. "Don't worry, Cal, I've gotten a lot better at this than the last time."

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A couple of days had passed and the incident with the air boat had been dropped as the Lab gossip. Things were back to normal and Calleigh had stopped receiving little gifts of goldfish crackers and miniature divers from teammates who thought it was funny. It was a rarity that Calleigh's dignity took a dent and everyone had been eager to take advantage and rib her a little, all in good-natured fun. She had to admit, the snack crackers had been a welcome treat, but she could do without all the underwater and bath tub toys.

She had just been finishing up a bullet comparison and fighting an increasingly nasty headache when a report of breaking and entering in Coconut Grove came in. Horatio had sent Eric and Calleigh out on the call. They pulled up at the crime scene, the house large and sprawling. He looked over at her; she wasn't looking quite right in his opinion. She was pale beneath her tan and had circles under her eyes as if she either hadn't slept or was fighting some bug off. Worry still niggled at the back of his mind. She had fallen headfirst into the Everglades just a couple of day ago.

"Cal, are you sure you're alright? You're not looking all that great," Eric said as they retrieved their kits from the back of the Hummer. "Are you coming down with something?"

She glared at him, annoyed that he was reading her so well. In truth, she felt like hell. Her head was beginning to hurt badly, she was slightly dizzy and her stomach churned, arguing with her grilled tuna and salad lunch. "Thanks, Delko. I feel ever-so-attractive right now after that. Let's just get started. I'm fine." She ducked under the yellow tape.

He shrugged and ducked beneath the tape, following her inside the breaking and entering scene. They photographed and printed everything, tape lifting fibers and hairs. It all seemed pretty straight forward to him. Money and high end jewelery were both missing as were all three laptops, both desk top computers and the big screen television; it's empty space a blank accusatory glare on the family room wall. While they processed the scene, Eric kept sneaking worried glances at Calleigh. She was moving progressively slower and seemed to be having a hard time concentrating.

At long last, they had gathered all the evidence they could, replaced everything in their kits and stood. Before Eric could grab the evidence box, Calleigh wavered on her feet. He caught her before she could fall.

"Hey, whoa there; what's going on?" Eric asked as he steadied Calleigh on her feet. Even through the thin fabric of her blouse, she felt feverish to him.

"I stood up too fast; just a head rush, that's all," she lied. In truth, her head pounded with every beat of her heart and she was almost entirely certain that her lunch would make a repeat performance soon; her stomach actually had begun to hurt only echoing the ache in her back and neck.

Before she could react, or pull away from him, he placed his lips to her forehead to confirm his suspicions. "You're burning up, Calleigh. Just admit it that you're sick."

She pulled away and began to walk back to the Hummer. "I'll take an aspirin when we get back if it'll make you feel better."

Shaking his head at her incredible stubbornness, he picked up the evidence box and followed her to the Hummer. She had already gotten in and he could see that she was swallowing hard as if fighting nausea. Her eyes were closed and fine sheen of sweat had broken out all over her. Eric frowned in concern as he started the engine. She really looked seriously unwell.

"Did you ever get that cocktail the other day?" he asked.

"Yeah; I felt like a pincushion. I think Tina lives to jab people with needles," Calleigh replied, eyes still closed behind her sunglasses. She angled the air conditioning at her face to help her fight the growing nausea and dizziness.

Eric grinned. "Sorry about that."

Eric turned the radio on to a soft volume and allowed his partner to rest quietly on the way back to the Lab. He knew without a doubt that she was sick but until her body made it absolutely clear to her that she didn't belong at work, she'd push through as hard as she could. He had never seen her with anything other then a mild sniffle so he actually didn't know what it would take for her to go home.

They pulled into the parking structure and Eric was about to wake Calleigh, when she stirred, the lack of motion and sunlight bringing her out of her light doze.

"Here so soon?" she asked sleepily, lightly rubbing her eyes. Even in the dimmed lighting of the parking structure, she found her environment too bright.

Eric nodded. "Yeah."

Calleigh opened her eyes and took off her sunglasses, feigning a level of health and enthusiasm that she didn't feel. The effort was exhausting. "Great, because I have to test fire three guns and get a couple of projectiles from Alexx," she said, attempting to hide a wince at the sound of the volume of her own voice. It would all be better soon. Go in, take a couple of aspirin and check to see if Alexx had dug those bullets out of the victim from earlier that day.

Eric took the opportunity to really look her over. He didn't think that it had actually been possible for her to look worse than she had when they first left the crime scene, but she did. "Cal, you really look like you're coming down with something. Why don't you call it a day and go home? The shift only has a couple of hours left. I'm sure Horatio wouldn't mind."

"I'm not going home early because I am not coming down with anything. I have a little headache," she defended. Yet, deep down she knew he was right. She could only count on one hand the times she had felt as bad as she did just then; the last time was almost ten years prior when she had caught the flu from Tim Speedle. He had infected just about everyone in the entire Lab, save for Megan, who was having her own issues on bereavement leave after the death of her husband

"Ok, if you insist," Eric replied, wanting nothing more than to knock her over the head, rendering her unconscious, and take her home.

He opened his door and she did the same. Eric wasn't blind; he saw the careful way she got out and how gently she shut the door. It just served to ramp his concern for her health up a few notches higher. He retrieved the evidence box and they walked in companionable silence to the elevator. "Can you humor me and at least let Alexx take a look at you?"

"Eric, she's busy. I'm not going to bother her. I'll take a couple of aspirin and I'll be fine. Please stop worrying," Calleigh said. Deep down she was touched by his concern, but she had not voluntarily taken so much as a sick day since moving to Miami and wasn't about to take one then.

The elevator dinged and they got on. Eric, to Calleigh's utter relief, dropped the subject and when they reached their floor they went their opposite ways, Calleigh promising to give Eric a hand when she finished with the bullets.

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Alexx stood, evidence bag in hand, staring into an empty firearms lab. "Calleigh?" When she received no answer, she entered and checked the firing range; empty. Figuring that Calleigh might have taken a short break, she turned and decided to check the break room. All she found was Natalia sitting at the table, sipping a cup of coffee and reading a magazine.

"Honey, have you seen Calleigh? I have her bullets and she never answered her page. I thought she was on the range, but it's empty," Alexx questioned.

Natalia nodded, looking up from the article she was reading. "Yeah, about ten minutes ago. She was headed into the Ladies' in a real hurry. I haven't seen her come out; not that I was paying any attention anyway."

Alexx frowned. "I'll check there, then. Thank you, Natalia."

She left the DNA expert to her coffee break and made her way to the Ladies' Room. Before she even opened the door she knew something was wrong. She could hear a terrible retching sound coming from within. Someone was getting very sick in there.

She pushed open the door. "Calleigh? Baby?"

"What do you need, Alexx? Do you have my bullets?" Calleigh asked weakly.

Alexx crossed to the stall that Calleigh was currently in and pushed open the unlocked door. She found Calleigh kneeling in front of the bowl. "What's wrong, sugar?"

"I'm not feeling too good."

"I can see that. Can I come in?" Alexx asked, kneeling down close to her. "What's wrong?"

Calleigh fought another wave of nausea. "I don't know. Maybe my lunch is disagreeing with me. I'm nauseous, my head is splitting, my back and neck feel like they're in a vice and I can't seem to stop throwing up."

Alexx frowned in worry. This was definitely not good. Those were some seriously nasty symptoms which could indicate a seriously nasty illness. She felt Calleigh's forehead; it was extremely hot to the touch. "Honey, you have a fever. I hate to say it, but you're sick."

Calleigh felt too bad to argue. She was caught puking into the toilet; the evidence spoke for itself. "Yeah."

"You need to go home," Alexx said. "You can't be well enough to drive."

"No, I'm not; Eric said he would take me if I needed it," Calleigh admitted. It was killing her to give into her illness, but what else could she do? She couldn't even stand up straight without help, let alone try to focus long enough to be able to drive herself home.

Alexx reached over and held Calleigh's hair out of her face as she retched into the bowl yet again. "I'm calling Eric and then you are going home."

"Yeah."

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By the time that Eric could break away from his AFIS search, Alexx had managed to get Calleigh from the Ladies' Room into the locker room. They were both sitting on the bench in front of Calleigh's open locker; Alexx supporting Calleigh as the latter continued to evacuate her insides into a waste basket.

"Eric you really need to get her out of here," Alexx said, cradling Calleigh's head to her shoulder. "Listen to me carefully and don't let her try and talk you out of it. I want you to take her to the Emergency Room. She's already too dehydrated to be without an IV feed. I've tried to get some water into her, but it won't stay. I know she was in the Glades the other day and fell in. Something got to her and good. Considering the number of nasties out there, I'm willing to bet that it's bacterial and it's not going to get any better without treatment."

Eric listened, worry for his partner growing to alarming proportions. "I'll take her to Dade; it's the closest."

"No, take her to Miami General. I have a good friend working there. She'll get better care," Alexx said.

"No."

"Baby girl, you don't get a say," Alexx snapped, but not angrily. "Your insides are trying to be your outsides; you have at least a 103 fever and you can barely stand up on your own. If they treat you and send you home, that's one thing, but you are going. Period. I'm calling ahead so they know you're coming and then I will meet you there; doctor's orders."

Eric knelt down and put his arm around Calleigh's waist, hauling her gently to her feet. She leaned heavily on him, a small, miserable whimper escaping her lips. "Yes, hospital," he whispered before placing a light kiss on the top of her head. Gently and carefully he lead her out of the locker room, into the elevator and down to his car.