Calleigh sat in the center of her bed, starring at pictures of the last twelve years. She had to see them, all the smiles, all the memories of before things got complicated. Calleigh had opened the drawer of her bedside table and pulled out all the photo's she had taken out of frames a few weeks ago when she saw Eric walk out of the locker room, without looking back.

Tonight, she snapped. Eric had come back to work that case that day. Seeing him made all of her feelings for him, which she had been trying to forget, flood back to her. She picked up the picture closest to her. It was a picture from the year before Speed died. She couldn't remember at this moment when or where it was taken. What she did know was that in this picture, Eric was on her left, Speed her right and that she was in the middle. Speed's arm around her shoulders, Eric's around her waist and Calleigh had both her arms on their backs. It was so easy back then, so casual, when her and Eric's relationship was only at a friend bases. Nothing more.

Now it had changed. She picked up another picture that was proof of that. It was a picture Eric's mom had taken when Calleigh went and first met his family not too long ago. Eric had his arm around her waist in that one too, but this time, it meant more. A connection no one could explain in words but could be seen so clearly in this photo.

Calleigh sighed at the pictures and gathered them all off her bed and put them back in the bottom of the drawer. But she could still see his arm around her waist and his brown eyes looking at her. Calleigh's eyes fell to her phone. Eric was still number one on her speed dial. Absentmindedly, she picked it up and flipped it open, thumb pressing one and was about to press call…when she stopped. What was she thinking?

Yeah, she missed him. Yeah, she needed to hear his voice. Yeah, she wanted to see him and had been wanting to see him since he left. Doesn't mean he missed her, wanted to hear her, or wanted to see her. He probably didn't think about her anymore; doesn't mean she wasn't going to.

She saw it was 1:15 a.m. and she put her phone down. This was kinda pathetic; her going through withdraws so bad she felt the need to call him, unthinkably at that. It had become a reflex to pick up the phone to call Eric when she felt hopeless. He had always been there for her and her him. He had been her personal lifeline when, on the rare occasion, she needed one and she couldn't let go now.

And she knew why.

Calleigh had done the stupidest thing possible, but it didn't seem so stupid when she thought it would actually have a happy ending. Now, she thought, it was stupid, stupid thing to do…she had fallen in love with Eric.

She needed to talk to him, get some closure, she didn't care it was past midnight. She couldn't continue like this. She got off her bed and slid on her shoes, she was still in the clothes she had put on that morning for work.

She grabbed the keys off the kitchen counter and walked out into the Miami night. The air was cool that night, cooler than she expected. A shiver ran don her spine as she climbed into her car. Calleigh put the car in reverse and pulled out of the driveway and turned in the direction of Eric's condo.

The night was almost as dark as the hole in Calleigh's chest. Yet, she drove deeper and deeper into it. No moon was there to light her way and no stars to follow, she was alone.

But she couldn't help herself. She had become possessed by love, something no one thought Calleigh Duquesne would ever do.

Meanwhile…

Eric was sitting at a twenty-four hour bar, replaying the day in his head. He didn't expect Calleigh to be so friendly towards him, if anything he didn't expect her to say anything.

He thought that leaving MDPD and everyone in it would be the best decision, giving him a clean break would give him a chance to restart his life. But he couldn't just erase the past twelve years of his life, or the people he had met.

He thought he would get over Calleigh when he was gone, but seeing her today…made him realize that a clean break wasn't possible.

And it never was. His feelings, his love, for would never leave.

Eric picked up the bottle of beer he had sitting in front of him for the past hour and a half. He was pacing himself, not wanting to return home with Calleigh on his mind. He knew that his place would take him back to her memory and what they had. And what he had been crazy to let go of.

He took a drink then glanced behind him at the room. Other than him, was the owner of the bar, sitting in one of the booths. He had been, from what Eric could tell, calculating money and balancing a checkbook, but he now had his head against the wall and was asleep.

But he was defiantly alone, and Calleigh wasn't going to be coming here or into his life again. With that thought, he picked up the beer again.

He wanted to see her, tell her he made a mistake, but he knew that she wouldn't forgive him. Not after he broke her heart the way he did. He knew he had. He had seen that emptiness and sadness in her eyes before. Twice before, actually. The first time was after Hagen's suicide. For a few short moments Calleigh took off her brave face and let the ache shine through. The second time was with Jake. That had been Eric's fault, and he was certain she would never forgive him. She did. But now, once again, he had caused her green eyes to fill with that same pain. Only this time, it was deeper, on a level of pain that no one could understand.

Part of him wanted her to walk into the bar, like how she always seemed to walk in at the right time. When he was shot, she was there. When he was working a few months later and Carmen came to the lab, Calleigh was there again. Every time the going got tough, she was there.

Calleigh drove to his apartment and knocked on the door. She stood there for a second or two, wringing her hands, she knew she had to be patient. It was very early in the morning and any sane person would be asleep right now.

She waited, anxiously another few moments, before rattling her knuckles against the wood again, louder this time, he case he hadn't heard her the first time.

After waiting, again, she sighed.

She wasn't going to do this unless she had to, or grew more desperate. Calleigh pulled out her keys and found the key to his place Eric had given here a few months back. She jammed the key in the lock knowing he locked his door at night and twisted it. She heard a faint click and then opened the door, pulling the keys while doing so.

She crept her way through the condo, blindly due to the fact there weren't any lights on. But her eyes adjusted and were able to make her way to his bedroom.

She took a deep breath and opened the door.

She squinted into the dark. She couldn't see his bed very well, and she knew she had to wake him up somehow, so she flipped on his light. When she did, her breath got trapped in her throat.

The bed was empty.

Was he with a new girl, working late, she didn't know. Did it really matter?

No.

The point was he wasn't there.

And this had all been a waste, reinforcing the point even more that she was alone… with no lifeline to keep her from drowning in her own emptiness.

Tears in her eyes, she hit the light, ran out of the apartment, and slammed the door with more force than necessary.

Eric couldn't remove Calleigh from his mind. He now saw so clearly that his feelings never changed. He had just been so messed up with everything that had happened earlier that year with his father and the accident, that his feelings had eluded him. Only now he had rediscovered them too late.

Here he was, down in a bar, late at night and he had made the biggest mistake of his life.

A mistake he had to at least attempt to fix. He owed that to Calleigh.

To try.

He wasn't sure if the alcohol was making him do this or his will, but he picked up his phone from the bar and called Calleigh's cell.

It rang a few times, what Eric didn't know was that Calleigh was leaving his home and had unknowingly left her phone on her bedside table in her mad attempt to see him. So her phone rang and rang until her voicemail answered.

"You're reached Calleigh Duquesne, leave a message and I'll call you back," it said. Her voice was music to his ears. He sighed and hung up his phone.

Calleigh let a few tears run down her face, her heart breaking all over again as she drove down the road.

She had come for closure and left with a new scar, the hole in her heart expanding as it dug deeper. All she wanted to do was get home and shut herself away from the world, if only for a few hours.

She had only a few miles from her house when her car vibrated and made a choking sound and it gradually began to slow. She looked at the gas gage. The orange dial mad moved to, in Calleigh's opinion, one of the most painful letters in the English alphabet.

E.

E for Eric and E for an empty tank.

"Damn," she growled, pulling the car over. This was not the best time for this to happen. It was almost two in the morning; she had no phone, and was alone. Alone because of the letter E.

She climbed out of her car; the streetlights lit up the sidewalk. On the street was a store, a bar, a couple of restaurants, and a drug store. Calleigh knew this part of town. She knew if she walked past the stores and turned the corner, she would be one street away from a gas station. She had a few extra dollars in the ashtray, which she only used for that reason. Hopefully, she would have enough to buy a can of gas, come back and refill her car.

At least the circumstances of at least one E would change.

Calleigh began to walk down the street, Eric never leaving her mind for a second. She wasn't sure if it was actually cold or if it was just her, but the temperature seemed to have dropped a few degrees. She crossed her arms over her chest and continued along her way.

Eric put his bottle back down after taking another drink; it was now empty.

He wasn't wasted. He wasn't even close. There was no reason for him to stay in this bar. Sighing as he realized this, he got up and dug through his wallet. He flicked through the bills until he found a five. He saw a movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked at the window and did a double take. Outside the window, he saw a woman, with long blonde hair walking down the street by herself. She had her shoulders hunched and had the evidence of dried tears on her face.

It was Calleigh.

Adrenaline rushed through his body; he threw the money down and rushed out of the bar, which Calleigh had already passed.

"Calleigh!" he called after her.

Calleigh stopped dead in her tracks; she knew that voice. She turned to see him standing outside the bar she just passed; he had a sense of longing in his eyes. The same she saw in the mirror every time she thought of him.

Not knowing what to say, she slowly approached him; she could feel the shocked look on her face. Eric met her halfway.

Suddenly, the pain they had been trying to endure vanished when they saw each other. The feelings they had for each other had come through in pain a part, but together…they couldn't describe how amazing they felt.

The eyes and the smile from the photos were here, the same arms that had been wrapped around her waist once before were again. The picture had been perfect…just like this moment.

Just when all seemed lost and wrong with the world, some ray of light came through the moonless night.

The emptiness he had been trying to fill with alcohol was only cured by the sight of the woman who snaked her arms around his neck. He had been crazy to even think about letting her go, and now he was getting his second chance. Whether his second was given to him by God, luck, karma, he didn't care. Was this fate? Irony? Is all irony fate or is all fate irony? Eric would question his good fortune later. For now, they were alone, under the pale glow of a streetlight, just when all seemed lost.

The moment was perfect.

He probably should have been curious of why she was here this late walking the street. Instead, he didn't ask anything, but he looked deeply into her eyes and whispered the honest truth.

"I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too," she whispered back, her eyes filled with deep emotion that backed up her words. Not thinking, Eric leaned down and gently touched his lips to hers.

Calleigh returned his kiss, tightening her grasp around his neck. This kiss was different than the one on his last day. That had been goodbye, while this was more like welcome back.

They knew this didn't mean that all their problems would go away, or that this was the end. They still had a way to go.

But for tonight, tomorrow didn't matter. The future didn't matter. What did matter was that the day that turned into a night of misery had shifted into a moment of pure happiness.

They had been alone and sad, they need someone: each other.

More challenges indeed lay ahead but for tonight…

They needed each other now.