Short, pointless, EC fluff. Well, not as short as I'd intended, but oh well. It's one I've been holding onto for awhile, but only just found the inspiration to finish mostly 'cause it's fluff, and fluff and I...well, we don't get along, lol. Anyway; enjoy, and I'd love to hear what you think. :)

It's mornings like these that Eric Delko wishes he could stay in bed forever. No clocks, no schedules, no sense of time whatsoever – just himself and the beautiful blonde woman beside him, with an entire afternoon all to themselves. That would be plenty enough to sustain him, Eric knows. There's nothing else he could possibly need, and if there is, he doesn't want it.

He has no idea how long he's been awake; minutes, hours, none of it makes any difference to him. Sunlight dances through curtains of sheer white, filling the late morning hour with its warmth and light. The shadows have long since been chased away, allowing the cozy feeling that Eric can only describe as feeling like home to surface. It's taken him so long to find that feeling, a feeling that's been right in front of him ever since he became serious about finding it.

And now she lays beside him, right where he knows she belongs. Her body lays hidden beneath the plush white comforter, only her beautiful face, her neck, and the silky skin of a shoulder peeking through, just the right amount of skin showing to tease and tantalize Eric. Upon her face is the purest look of contentment, of peace, and it's all Eric can do to resist reaching out to gently brush a stray strand of blonde away from her face. But he does, opting instead to enjoy the sight before him, watching as Calleigh breathes serenely, still lost within the realm of dreams.

He wonders what she dreams; if she dreams the same dreams as he does each and every night.

Sometimes, he asks her. Sometimes the curiosity just gets the best of him, and the question falls from his lips just as his fingertips brush feather-light over some patch of exposed skin; a shoulder, a cheek, a hand. Sometimes, she answers verbally. Other times, she simply smiles coyly as her eyes take on an extra sparkle; it's the look that tells him without a doubt that she'd been dreaming of him, of them, of the future they're building together day by day, dream by dream.

And then he knows that yes, she does share his dreams.

With a soft sigh, Calleigh shifts just the slightest fraction, and as Eric watches the way her hair moves with that tiny shift, he can almost feel it brush over his bare chest in the most arousing of ways, teasing him with vanilla scented, airy light brushes. It's his favorite way to wake up; feeling a soft weight upon his chest, and awakening to find Calleigh, her blonde head resting just above his heart.

He's torn, though. He doesn't want to sacrifice either, but he finds himself with a terrible crick in his neck when he tries to watch Calleigh's face when she's resting her head atop his chest. As much as he loves the closeness, Eric loves just as much being able to look directly into her face as she sleeps.

So he leaves it up to chance. After all, whether he wakes up with her beside him, or resting her head upon his chest – he knows he won't be disappointed.

Calleigh gives a soft sigh, and Eric smiles, knowing that at any moment, her eyes will flutter open, and she will leave that wonderful realm of dreams far behind. It's now that he really loves to watch her, studying each and every inch of her beautiful face just as she hovers right there on the edge - that elusive edge between dreams and lucidity, where one second, one tiny noise, one tiny flicker of light could mean the difference between another hour of sleep and the waking moments of a new day.

He watches with amusement as the struggle commences – she doesn't want to awaken from her peaceful slumber, but she's about as skilled at arguing with her internal clock as Eric is at arguing with her. Being the morning person she is, Calleigh has a tendency to wake with the sun. When they both have to work early, it's usually Calleigh that's waking him up with kisses or caresses. So Eric is quite surprised that she hasn't awoken yet, given the late morning hour that is well upon them.

Surprised, but very pleased about it.

Her nose twitches adorably, and it's all Eric can do to resist shifting forward and dropping a quick kiss or two to it. Just barely he manages to talk himself out of it, because he knows it would defeat the purpose of his lying awake for most of the morning, just waiting for this moment. He watches, bemused as she tilts her head just the slightest inch, a movement which is encouragement enough for a soft lock of blonde to fall down over her face, brushing just lightly over her skin. She whimpers quietly, her half-asleep form annoyed by the strange tickling sensation. Eric expects her to lift a hand and brush it away, but the fingers of her visible hand merely twitch in response.

A few more moments pass in relative silence, but finally Eric gets to witness the scene he's been waiting on for quite some time. And just as he'd expected, it's no disappointment, not at all.

With the softest of sighs, her eyes finally flutter open, the orbs momentarily holding a sleepy, disoriented look before she quickly blinks it away. She doesn't guard herself around him anymore, but still, there is something about the clear, completely open look in her eyes whenever she first wakes that blows him away. In those moments, they're clearly the windows to her soul, her eyes, and Eric knows that there is no greater high than having Calleigh Duquesne look at him like he's the love of her life.

Her gaze locks with his, and Eric merely lays there, knowing his soul is as bared to her as hers is to him. The feeling couldn't be any more liberating; any more rewarding. "Morning," he murmurs, grinning slightly as he realizes that it's probably closer to afternoon now than morning.

Calleigh yawns softly, her lithe body moving beneath the comforter as she stretches luxuriously. To Eric's slight disappointment, she lifts and hand and brushes that stray lock of blonde away, tucking it behind her ear. It's disappointment that's fleeting, however, as the movement uncovers just a bit more of her silky skin, revealing it to his eyes. "Mm, mornin'," she replies sleepily, an unmistakable note of amusement lacing her sleep-thickened accent. "What are you doing?"

It's one of his weaknesses, her voice. The sweet, lazy drawl is a melody like none other, quickly and efficiently turning him to mush around her. For a moment, he simply gazes at her, taking in her beauty as he fights back the tremors that consume him at the sound of her whisper. Finally certain that his hand would not shake, Eric reaches slowly out, brushing his fingertips so lightly over the softness of her bare shoulder. She shivers as his touch traces down her arm, and Eric relishes in the realization that he affects her just as she affects him.

He's known it for some time, but each time he realizes it again is like a fresh, new dawning; it takes his breath away every single time. He smiles wistfully, losing himself in the deep, blue-green ocean of her eyes – he loves the way her eyes change color with her mood. From sparkling jade with happiness, to deep, dark emerald with arousal, to their current shade of blue-green – there is an endless prism of color in her eyes, and it's one activity that he will surely never tire of; laying in bed late in the morning, discovering new shades of green as they flash through Calleigh's beautiful eyes.

She blinks those beautiful eyes, and Eric smiles, realizing he's yet to answer her question. "I was watching you," he murmurs, his own eyes picking up on the slightest pink hue in her cheeks.

It's a smile she tries to fight, but in the end it overpowers her as the corners of her lips are lifted upwards. A shy smile it is; she's always been embarrassed to know that he watches her when she's not looking. "Why?" she whispers, her shoulders moving in a coy shrug.

The reply is falling from Eric's lips before he even has time to think about it. "Because you're beautiful," he says, the deepest, most genuine honesty present in his quiet, awed voice.

The quiet, shy giggle that leaves her lips pushes Eric to his limit, and before she can reply in words, he leans in and kisses her full on the mouth, for no other reason than because he can. Whenever, wherever, for whatever reason he wants.

After six years, Eric no longer has to hold back. An impulsive, breathtaking kiss in the privacy of the locker room at work; a slow, deep kiss underneath the stars as he sways her in his arms; a shallow, breathless kiss while lost in the throes of deepest passion; even a quick, innocent peck in the lobby for everyone to see – anything is fair game now, and Calleigh never tries to stop him.

In fact, she was the one who kissed him in the middle of the lobby just the day before; not the other way around. Even now, as his lips move against hers with slow deliberation, Eric still finds himself amazed that she'd actually initiated that. He's never seen her share near that much affection with any of her past boyfriends (and he'll forever be immensely pleased and relieved that he hasn't). And yet, she kisses him without any thought whatsoever.

It's been eighteen hours since then, and the realization continues to amaze him.

A gentle hand he rests against the softness of her cheek, allowing his thumb to move in the slowest of circles. He flicks his tongue ever lightly at her lips, and Calleigh doesn't hesitate. With a soft moan, she parts her lips for him, allowing him to deepen the kiss, to tease her tongue with his.

Suddenly her hand is at the back of his head as she attempts to pull him impossibly closer to her. Her nails scratch gently at the back of his neck, and Eric can feel the goosebumps as they rise beneath her touch before progressing through the rest of his body, leaving a delicious tingle in their wake.

His head is spinning; the lack of oxygen coupled with the overwhelming excess of Calleigh makes him dizzy, disoriented. Eric can't tell up from down, but as long as he's kissing Calleigh, directions hardly matter. The burning in his lungs matters not; not when alleviating that burning would mean releasing himself from the pleasurable fog he's found himself lost in; a fog of vanilla, of blonde, of Calleigh.

He hears himself give an undignified groan of disappointment when she finally does break away from him, to which she responds with a quiet giggle that would bring him to his knees if he wasn't already lying beside her. He sees dots of black clouding his vision as he opens his eyes, but he can't bring himself to care about that, not when Calleigh is gazing back at him, a playful glint in her sparkling eyes, her cheeks tinted softly, her lips slightly parted as she struggles to catch her breath.

"Wow," she murmurs, the simple word barely audible. But hear it Eric does, and he can't help the way his ego expands upon hearing it; nor can he help the satisfied grin that stretches over his lips. "That's how I like to wake up," she adds playfully, her freshly-kissed lips twitching upward.

With a chuckle, Eric presses a quick kiss to her jaw, loving the tiny hitching of her breath that the simple action elicits. "You know what?" he asks low, his lips brushing against her skin as he speaks. "I vote," he continues, before Calleigh has a chance to reply, "that we stay in bed all day long."

Calleigh laughs softly, though the tail-end of it trails into a soft moan as Eric's lips quickly find the spot below her ear. "I bet you do," she teases, her body squirming as Eric's lips begin that delicious assault along her skin; kissing, suckling, nibbling. Whenever he starts that, it's pretty much guaranteed that he's going to get his way.

But then again, it's not like Calleigh wants to fight him over that. As the kisses begin to trace their way over her throat and across her collarbone, all she wants is more. More kisses, more sensation, more Eric. The energy of a full night's sleep guiding her, Calleigh wraps her arms around him and rolls onto her back, pulling him atop of her.

As he gazes down into her eyes – now the darkened emerald of need – Eric sees the sheer trust in her eyes, the immense trust that she has in him. She trusts him never to hurt her, and he knows just how hard it is for her to place that kind of trust in anyone.

Winning her trust comes hard. Winning her love…Eric had thought it nearly impossible. And yet, somehow, he's managed to come away with both her trust and love.

It is with that realization that Eric captures her lips, kissing her soundly as he joins their bodies in the most intimate of ways. He can't count how many times he's been here with Calleigh, but no two times are ever the same. He's given up trying to decide what to expect; every time he thinks he's got it all figured out, he's hit with an even deeper emotion, one that goes beyond the limits of what he's always thought himself capable of feeling.

It's never been like this with anybody else. When he's with Calleigh, making love is exactly that – making love. With no one else has he ever put his heart into it quite like he does when he's with her. The sheer emotion of it hits him every time; there's no preparing for it.

He's had his share of "just sex" in the past.

But with Calleigh, it's never been , nor will it ever be "just sex." When his name leaves her lips and her nails dig into his back, he feels more than just primal satisfaction, more than just his own release. As she trembles beneath him, her teeth biting at her lower lip, Eric finds himself once more in awe of her beauty; in awe of the fact that such a beautiful woman would throw caution to the wind and take a chance with him; a chance at what he's found to be nothing less than perfect, absolute love.

And when her name escapes from his lips, he finds himself not empty like so many times in the past. Eric finds himself feeling more complete than he ever has, knowing that he's found his future, his forever, his 'til death do us part.

Knowing that takes his breath away every single time. Breathing heavily, he buries his face in the crook of her neck, finding himself nearly overcome with the strongest of all emotions. Blindly he reaches for her, his still trembling fingers lacing with the fingers of her left hand. His heart flutters as he feels the warm metal placed snugly on a certain finger; the sparkling diamond ring he'd placed on her finger only nights before.

Turning his head, he presses a reverent kiss to her jaw, murmuring the three words he's never said and meant to anyone else before. "I love you." When she repeats them back to him in her quiet, still breathless voice, he knows he's the happiest man on the face of the planet.

Sometime later, Eric's the one on his back, and Calleigh lays snuggled against him, occasionally dusting the cooling skin of his chest with kisses. He holds her close, unwilling to ever let her go; just as unwilling to let her go as she is unwilling to ever leave his arms.

By now, he knows the sun is high in the sky; he knows that the afternoon is well upon them. But Calleigh, with her fingers drawing lazy circles over her chest, moving in just the right way that the diamonds in her ring sparkle in the sunlight, doesn't seem to be in any hurry to get up and face the world. If her small sighs and all of her kisses are any indication, Calleigh seems perfectly happy, as content as she could possibly be; a truth that, as she murmurs it aloud moments later, sends Eric's heart soaring skyward.

And as he presses a lazy, lingering kiss into the vanilla blonde locks of her hair, Eric knows that he too has never been happier.

For the very first time, Eric feels as though his life is complete.

He needs nothing more than this. Just this.