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Disclaimer: I, like you, own nothing. I can dream all I want, but dreams aren't reality.
In our family we each get Easter baskets with gifts, and the typical egg hunt so that might clarify things.
Note: This is before sink or swim, and Alexx never left.
Easter
Eric walked into the lab with an Easter basket in his hands. It was yellow, lacy, and had flowers on it. It obviously isn't for him. In it there are plenty of gifts for Calleigh. Horatio had decided that this year for Easter everybody would draw the name of a CSI from a hat. Specifically it had been Frank's cowboy hat. They would then give the person whose name they had drawn an Easter basket with gifts. The total was supposed to be around fifty dollars. He was pretty sure that the guys from the lab were laughing at him for carrying such a feminine basket…
Eric walked down to the ballistics lab. He planned on sitting the basket down for Calleigh to find, but she was already in the lab. She was firing a gun in the range. Her long, golden hair was flowing down her back. She looked beautiful…
"Hey Eric!" She said turning around to face him, and then she took the magazine out of her Lady Smith and Wesson, and then checked to make sure the chamber was empty, which it was.
"Hey Cal! I didn't think you'd be here..." Eric said, not bothering to try to hide the basket. It was too late for that now.
"I know. I came early…"
"Just trying to get your gifts earlier?" Eric joked.
"No! I would never do that! I just wanted to shoot my gun…" Calleigh explained.
"Oh well. You will get your gifts early anyway…" Eric said. Then the walked over to the table and sat down on it, where Calleigh joined him. Then he sat the basket down on her lap for her to explore. "Ok Calleigh. I hope you like it!" Eric said.
"I know I will!" Calleigh said before she grabbed the first thing from her basket. She pulled out an envelope. She slid her finger under the crease and opened it. Inside of it she pulled out a note that said:
Calleigh, I know you like tabloids. Enjoy a year's subscription to "Person" magazine. Love, Eric.
"Eric, I thought we were supposed to guess who gave us our basket?" Calleigh asked.
"Oh well… continue?" Eric asked.
On his suggestion Calleigh pulled out another gift from her basket. Well actually it was "gifts" plural. It was a running outfit that consisted of a tank top and Nire shorts.
"I thought that you could use those when we go jogging…." Eric explained.
"I will! Thanks!" Calleigh said.
She reached in to the basket for a third time and pulled out a pedicure and manicure kit. She looked at Eric shocked. It was you like him to think of something as… girlie… as nails.
"What? You like to paint your nails…" Eric defended himself.
"I do…" Calleigh said. Then she grabbed a box out of the basket. It was a box of bullets for her Lady Smith and Wesson, which she had just been shooting.
"How did you know?" Calleigh asked.
"Hmmm, I can't imagine… bullet girl!" Eric said. He didn't want to wait for Calleigh to grab the last thing from the basket, so he grabbed the small wrapped package for her, and then handed it to her, which made her smile.
She slowly tore the wrapping away. It revealed a jewelry box. She lifter the lid, and saw a necklace and earring set. The necklace had a small heart with a diamond on a golden chain, and the earrings were a miniature version of the necklace.
"They are beautiful Eric," Calleigh whispered, shocked that somebody had done something this sweet for HER! Eric was the greatest guy in the world… "You had to have spent more than fifty dollars on these alone. Eric you didn't have to do this, really."
"I know. I wanted to, you're worth it Calleigh," Eric said, careful to not make eye contact.
"Eric, thanks, it means a lot. But really, we are on a city salary…" Calleigh said.
"I know, but Cal, it was fine, really," Eric said. He had saved up some money for something like this…
"Eric, stay here ok?" Calleigh asked. She hopped down from the table, and then gave Eric a light kiss on the cheek. I am the luckiest son of a bitch on earth… Eric thought to himself.
Calleigh arrived with a blue basket with an ocean scene on it. "I drew you…" Calleigh explained.
"Oh, wow…" Eric said. Calleigh handed him the basket and then returned to her seat next to him.
Eric took all of the gifts out of his basket, and sat them down. Then he picked one up. It was a CD from one of his favorite bands.
"Thanks! This is just out! You rock Cal!" He said.
Calleigh laughed, and then said "Thanks! Pick another!"
Eric did as he was told. It was a new scuba mask; his old one had leaked. "Thanks, I haven't had time to get a new one, so I needed this."
Eric then grabbed an envelope from his gifts. He opened them and found two concert tickets, "Thanks! I like this group! But why two?
"The concert is on your day off; I thought you might like to take someone with you…" Calleigh said. She honestly wasn't referring to herself.
"Could you come with me?"
"If you want me to…" Calleigh said.
"I do. You spent more than fifty dollars too…" Eric accused.
"I know. You're worth it. Now we're even…" Calleigh said, and Eric laughed.
Eric lifted out another gift; it was the new Dark Night DVD. "It's a new movie to watch on our weekly movie night! Great!"
The last gift he pulled out was in a box and wrapped. He, unlike Calleigh, tore the paper off rather quickly. Then he slowly opened the box. Inside of it was a new scuba watch. It was the same brand as his old one, the one he had given to Calleigh in the hospital, but a newer model.
In response to Eric's silence Calleigh said, "I thought you might need another…"
"I did…" Eric said honestly. But he didn't regret giving Calleigh his old one at all. Not because he now had a better one, but because he wanted Calleigh to have a little piece of him. "Thanks," he finished lamely.
"The egg hunt should be interesting," Calleigh said to stop the awkwardness.
"It should! It will be like kindergarten again…"
"I guess... I wouldn't know…" Calleigh said, referring to her "childhood" and father.
"Calleigh have you never been on an egg hunt?"
"Well I did, when I was really young. I think my last year was when I was three… it went downhill from there."
"I'll help you today then!" Eric said. It was horrible that such a perfect lady had to go through a childhood like that. It really pained his heart.
"It can't be hard! Al you have to do is find some eggs!"
"It is VERY challenging," Eric joked.
"Well thanks for your assistance then. I'm still not convinced I need it though…."
"You do," Eric said, leaving no room for disagreement. He wanted to spend more time with Calleigh, as usual. It seemed like he always wanted to be with her, and see her, even when he was with her! And when he wasn't with her, she was in his mind, even in his sleep. He dreamed of her every night. Sometimes they were walking on a trail, or swimming at the beach. Sometimes they were talking, just talking. He never heard what she said, or what he said. He just looked at her beauty, and was overjoyed to be with her, and then sadness crushed him once he woke and realized that it had all been a dream. Other times they were making love…
"Ok then…" Calleigh said. She hopped gracefully off the table, and looked as if she was going to walk away. Then she turned back to face Eric. She just couldn't end it like that, she always did that. And she hated that! She wanted to show some feeling, for once in her life. It might be nice to lower her walls, get loved, love back, really live… "So I'll meet you before the hunt then…. To talk strategy," Damn it! She had to add that on! She didn't want to make it seem pointless, but did she have to say that! To be professional…to have her protection around herself!
"I'm looking forward to it!" Eric said, and then he too got off of the table. He turned to face Calleigh, unsure as to what would happen next. He looked into her jade eyes, unable to read them, as usual.
"So am I…. thanks for everything Eric, it means a lot," Calleigh said, unbelievably letting some of her feelings show.
"Thanks to you too! I'm glad you can come to the concert with me…" Eric said, not sure if Calleigh was thinking what he was. Most likely, she wasn't.
"I am too…" Calleigh said. Then they slowly put their arms around the other, and hugged. Neither of them was sure about which one of them started the hug. Calleigh rested her head on Eric's strong chest, and Eric rested his on top of Calleigh's head. The hug lasted longer than absolutely necessary, but neither of them seemed to mind. They pulled back abruptly, awkwardly.
"Um, bye, I should go. See you later," Eric said, departing. He wasn't sure how bad things were going to be between them after what had just happened. He hoped that it wouldn't be too awkward, and that Calleigh wouldn't resign herself more after their sudden break-through. But with all of these worries he couldn't help but leave with a slight grin on his face.
Calleigh watched him leave, shocked about what had just happened. Had they done the right thing? Was that ok? Would things be different between them now! Part of her wanted to be with Eric, really be with him. Spend her life with him. But if she acted on that she risked their friendship if it wasn't true love. It wasn't worth it. But would their relationship be doomed? ...It also risked their jobs, and professional lives. Imagine the gossip it would cause! ... But did it really matter? What if it was true love? Isn't that worth fighting for… at all costs?
~ Later ~
Calleigh and Eric met in a stairwell in the parking garage. It was unlikely that they would be interrupted there, because nobody comes out to their car at two in the afternoon, and because everybody took the elevators (except in an emergency which hadn't happened so far….)
"Hey aqua man," Calleigh greeted him, allowing some joy in her voice.
"Hey bullet girl1" Eric said.
"I am not a girl!"
"But bullet woman sounds strange!"
"I'm still not a girl…" Calleigh joked.
"Ok…. Hey sexy lady," Eric joked, he meant it, but he didn't say it seriously. It would have been way too awkward.
"Thanks… hot stuff," Calleigh said, adding some more fun to their slow, careful, dangerous dance. "So what is our plan?" Calleigh asked, returning to business as usual.
"I think that we should split up so that they don't expect anything. You take the bottom floors of the building, and I'll take the top floors. We'll meet in the middle. Then we can combine our goods…" Eric said.
"Sounds great to me. Do you prefer to eat all of your candy at once, or eat it slowly over time?" Calleigh asked. She had never been able t decide, probably because of her little experience at egg hunting.
"Are you kidding me? All at once!" Eric said, with no doubt in his voice, or mind.
"Kay, how about you come over to my place tonight and we can have a candy binge?" Calleigh suggested.
"I'll be there… but you should probably keep the candy. Or else there probably won't be any left by then," Eric confessed. Something was just so tempting about sugar and chocolate. Especially the marshmallow chicks…
The two of them walked to the front of the building where they were suppose to get instructed about the egg hunt. Once everybody had arrived Horatio began to speak. "As I am saying this the eggs are being hidden in the lab. I see that you all have your baskets that you got as gifts with you, and they are now emptied of their gifts. Once I get a text message saying that all of the eggs are hidden I will give you the say. We can all hunt then. Finders keepers losers weepers, there is no limit or minimum to the amount of eggs you can have. I don't want any injuries, because sugar… is not worth a life," Horatio said, and then his phone vibrated. He pulled it our and read the message. "Let the mayhem begin," He said, then the CSI's stormed into the building like a heard of elephants.
Calleigh ran into the parking garage, but she was the only one to do so. At first she was worried that there were no eggs hidden there, because nobody else was there. But her fears faded away as soon as she saw a bright pink egg behind a tire of her Crossfire. She gathered more eggs behind, on top of, underneath, and inside different objects. A few of the objects were trash cans, cars, lights, poles, speed bumps, and motor cycles. Once she was confident that she had gotten most of, if not all of, the eggs in the parking garage, she took the elevator up to the next level of the lab. She had thought that there would be an egg in the elevator, but there wasn't one. It had probably already been swiped by another hunter.
Eric had rushed to the top floor, but so did Ryan. The other CSI's got of in the middle floors. He hadn't seen anybody besides Calleigh go to the parking garage which was good.
"It's on man!" Ryan challenged as soon as the elevator beeped saying that they had arrived at the top floor.
"Watch out," Eric warned, then the elevator doors opened and they were off to find eggs. Eric found five before Ryan had even found three. Then Ryan struck gold and found a mound of eggs in a closet. But when he picked a few up he realized that they were empty.
"What the hell?" Ryan exclaimed.
"Those are left over eggs. What can I say? I have all the luck," Eric responded, gesturing to his basket which had acquired more eggs since Ryan had last looked.
"Damn you Delko!"
"Strong words, Wolverine."
"Stop being so smug."
"Whatever you say," Eric said before he clicked a button for the elevator doors to open. He was satisfied that he had found enough eggs on one floor, and wanted to leave some for Ryan. Ryan was annoying sometimes, but they were also friends. Eric wasn't that mean…
They hunted for eggs floor after floor. Once they got to the middle floors they didn't find that many, because the others had already swept the place. But they did find some on every floor. With a confidence of an alliance they felt comfortable spending the time to look for the well-hidden eggs. Then they met on the middle floor.
"Hey Cal," Eric said. They were alone on the floor, because the other CSI's were searching for eggs in the floors that they had already covered.
"Hey Eric. I see you found some eggs," Calleigh said, reefing to his heaping basket of eggs, the eggs in his pockets, and the eggs in his hands.
"Not bad… for your first REAL hunt," Eric said. Calleigh had as many eggs as he did, if not more.
"Thanks," Calleigh answered. "Is nine o'clock a good time to start our candy feast?"
"Sure," Eric answered. Then they each got a text message that read: Hunt over. Front of the building.
They took the elevators down to the meeting place, and were the last to arrive.
"Yesh!" Natalia exclaimed at their loot.
"You have a lot too!" Eric defended. It was true that she, like everybody else, had a lot of eggs filled with candy. But Eric and Calleigh each had an exceptionally large bounty from their strategy of hunting in the building.
"Congratulations to all of you! We all have received plenty of goods today. Now I want everybody to reveal whose name they drew for the baskets. I will start," Horatio announced. "I drew Natalia."
"Thanks H! I drew Maxime," Natalia continued.
"You are amazing Natalia! I drew Cooper," Valera said.
"Thanks Valera. I drew Ryan," Cooper continued.
"You're the man Cooper! I drew Michael," Ryan said.
"Thanks mate! I drew Kyle," said Michael Travers in his British accent.
"Cool, I drew Alex," Said Kyle.
"The basket was lovely Kyle. I drew Yelina," Alex said.
"Thank you Alex, I drew Horatio," Yelina finished.
"What about Calleigh and Eric?" Valera asked.
"I drew Eric," Calleigh said.
"And I drew Calleigh," Eric added. He and Calleigh gave each other small smiles, that were not unnoticed by everybody else.
"Hmmm…" Horatio said puzzled. "It wasn't suppose to happen like that…. But you can not plan life," Horatio said, before he departed and put his sunglasses on. The rest of the team walked to their cars. It was the end of a long, fun day for them; but the day wasn't over for Calleigh and Eric.
"See you in a few," Calleigh said cheerfully.
"See you," Eric responded, and then handed her his eggs. Everybody else had already left, so nobody saw this exchange.
~ Later ~
Calleigh had changed clothes. She was wearing tight, low-rise jeans with tears in them, and a tight, lacy, v-neck camisole that was purple. She had set all of the candy out on the table. It was five minutes before Eric was suppose to arrive when the doorbell rang.
"Hey Cal!" Eric greeted her when she opened the door.
"Hey Eric!" She said. Then she led him to the living room where she had the candy set out. "Wow, we have a lot more candy than I thought…" Eric said.
"I know! Wanna dig in?" Calleigh asked playfully. She was actually excited about their candy binge.
"Sure, I brought some beer. Is that ok?" Eric asked, taking some bottles out from behind his back.
"Sure! A sugar high and alcohol, no better combination…" Calleigh joked.
"Cal did you organize the candy?" Eric asked, hardly believing his eyes.
"Yep. Chocolate in the pile on the right, chewy is the center pile, and hard sugar stuff is on the left."
"Wow."
They sat down and began to eat their sweets. Calleigh began on the chocolate, and so did Eric.
"I never knew you liked chocolate this much," Eric said. Calleigh had already eaten a lot.
"I do, along with almost every girl,"
"Ah that's right. Chocolate is the food of love…" Eric said, then he immediately realized the significance of what he said and wished that he could take it back.
"It is," Calleigh said cheerfully. She didn't give any special attention to what he had said, but didn't ignore it either.
"What did you think of the egg hunt?"
"It was fun. I was the only person on the first floor,"
"Lucky. Ryan and I fought it our on the top floor,"
"Really? I didn't see any cuts or bruises on Ryan, and I don't see any on you," Calleigh said.
"Well not physically, but you know what I mean,"
"I do…" Calleigh said, "My other floors were average."
"Mine too," Eric confessed. Then after a moment of silence he added, "IT would have been interesting if Ryan and I had actually fought."
"It would have. It isn't worth fighting over candy though…." Calleigh said.
"I know, but I would have won," Eric said sounding very manly.
"I know you would have. You are a very good fighter, much better than Ryan," Calleigh said.
Her complement had caught Eric off guard. It wasn't like Calleigh to say something like that, so it meant a lot to him. "Really?"
"Yep," Calleigh admitted before tossing a piece of candy inside her mouth.
Eric pretended to show of and flexed his muscles. He got up off of the couch and struck some poses. He took off his shirt so that he wore only a tank top. It made his biceps appear more impressive.
This display made Calleigh laugh. The sight was very impressive though…
Eric sat down, but didn't put his top shirt back on.
"With muscles like that you would definitely have won," Calleigh said, then she tossed a piece of candy into his open mouth.
Eric chewed, and then said, "Thanks,"
"You are, like rip!" Calleigh said honestly.
"That is what jogging and swimming does for me. I think I will gain a ton of weight after eating all of this," Eric said, pointing the candy wrappers stacked high in the trash can, and then the un-opened candy waiting to be devoured.
"You'll burn it off I'm sure. I, on the other hand, will gain some pounds…." Calleigh argued.
"No you won't. It wouldn't matter even if you did, you would still look beautiful…" Eric said, finishing softly.
"Really?"
"Yeah Calleigh. You are gorgeous…" Eric said embarrassed. His cheeks were bright red.
"Thank you Eric, that really means a lot. I never thought I was that attractive…" Calleigh said. Guys had always liked her she couldn't deny that. She was always so hard and critical of herself…
"I mean it Calleigh," Eric said, putting a hand under her cheek and gently moving it so that she would face him. He wasn't sure where his sudden courage had come from, but he liked it.
"I know you do. Thank you. But you already know how attractive you are…"
"Hmmm?"
"You are. Tall, muscular, Cuban, and that small amount of scruff on your face…." Calleigh admitted.
"You like it?" Eric asked, lifting her hand up to his face to feel his "scruff."
"I do. It is very sexy," Calleigh admitted.
"Good to know," Eric said. HE had been trying out the look, and was glad that Calleigh had liked it.
"Eric…"
"Yes Calleigh," Eric answered. He whispered just like Calleigh had.
"I need to tell you something…"
"You can tell me anything," Eric said, brushing his hand on her thigh. He could tell something major was about to happen, and he wanted to encourage her in any way he could.
"I love you," Calleigh said quietly but with a certain passion, and truthfulness. She didn't want to hide the truth anymore. IT was time for her to truly live, and appreciate life to it's fullest. And that meant spending her life with Eric.
"I've always loved you," Eric said, and he traced a heart on her cheek. Then they kissed. The kiss was sweet, strong, romantic, and joyful. It also had a hint of lust, desire, and risk, just like their lives. The kiss was perfect, but it could only last so long before the need of oxygen became too apparent. They pulled apart, both of them shocked and pleased with what had just happened.
"I love you, I really do," Eric said.
"I love you too, I really do," Calleigh responded, and then she kissed him lightly on his lips. It wasn't too long, or passionate, but it still had meaning and love.
"I guess I'll have to come over again to finish the rest of this candy," Eric said. It was clear that they were both done with the candy for tonight, yet it still was piled high on the table.
"You will," Calleigh answered.
Sorry. I started this last weekend, but I just finished it now. I had a lot of homework this week, and it was really long for me! I hope you liked it. I will add a chapter for every holiday, birthdays included.
Did you like it? Was the last bit rushed? Too long? Any suggestions? DID YOU LIKE IT (Again)? PLEASE REVIEW!
BTW: Anyone know when Eric and Calleigh's birthday's are???
PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~ Katherine ~