August 17, 2008. 8pm. Just got back from the lab.

Work was weird today. Workmates, mostly.

I had my nose down a microscope, as always, when Eric Delko walks in. Now Eric, he's a gorgeous man. And I've seen more of him than probably any other woman in this building. Wait, scratch that -- in this room. Eric is such a player, but him and me -- ancient history. It's always a wonderful thing when two people can cross on over to friendship even if they've spent time between the sheets.

"So did the duct tape on the victim's hands match the roll I found in the trucker's tool box?" Eric asked.

"Not a match" I replied. "But don't fret, I still have the duct tape on the victim's feet"

"And if that doesn't match" he replied "You can try this"

Eric plopped down an evidence bag in front of me. "More duct tape?" I asked.

"From inside the trucker's house" he answered, his eyebrow raised -- he loves doing that, he thinks he looks adorable when he does -- "wrapped around his TV's electric cord"

"So he binds the kidnap victim" I said "then fixes his house wires?" I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose. Eric laughed.

"You'd be surprised at what people do while committing a crime" Eric said as he made his way around the table and stood beside me. Hmmm. Aftershave. He always smells good. "Some killers would stop in the middle of cutting up a body to get a glass of milk in the fridge"

"Killing can make you thirsty" I said.

He bumped his hip to mine. "Did you just make a funny?"

I bumped his hip back. "I think I just did"

Goofy, gorgeous, and mint-smelling. I sometimes forget why I broke up with him. (Oh right. The baby scare.)

We bumped hips for a while until a knock came from the door. It was Calleigh. What was she doing knocking in the lab she's worked in for 10 years?

Eric spun around and his goofy face vanished, and in its place, guilt and fear. Not like a killer caught in interrogation, more like a five-year-old caught with his hand inside a cookie jar.

"Calleigh" Eric said "We were just uh…. I was just um…." Eric stuttered.

Calleigh looked at Eric indifferently. "Excuse me but I was going to check up on the duct tape?"

"It's not a match" Eric replied almost abruptly "But I found evidence inside the house that could connect it to the roll I found in the toolbox"

And then the words just came out of my mouth -- without any real meaning except curiosity "I thought you were working the drive-by case with Horatio?" I asked Calleigh.

"Yes" Calleigh replied "Yes I am but um…. Horatio called and wanted me to um…." Calleigh looked to Eric who was trying to hide his signature Delko smirk. "Right. Good. Call H when you have the results"

Calleigh turned and shot a final look at Eric. As Calleigh's high heels clicked away, I turned to Eric. "What's up with her?" I asked.

Eric sighed a deep sigh. "I have to go" he said and he left the room.

Doesn't take a CSI to look at directionality -- he was running after Calleigh.

-0-0-0-0-

And that's just for this morning. The afternoon proved more revealing.

Calleigh and I have an indulgence for Wednesday lunch -- noodles. Fresh, piping hot noodles from Mr. Chow a few blocks from MDPD. We usually lock the break room because the noodles can be smelly and practically pollute the whole lab.

Like Eric, Calleigh and I have had a cross-over of our own. In the past, she dealt with me with so much animosity, especially after the undercover work I had to do for the state attorney. But being the only female CSIs in the lab have made us closer. Sometimes it feels good to just sit down and gossip about celebrities and pick on their dresses on Vogue or Vanity Fair. Even scientists like Hollywood.

"Eva Longoria is putting on weight! Is she pregnant?" I pointed to the Entertainment Weekly laid out on the table.

Calleigh sipped from her bowl –-- the noodles are THAT good -- and peered into the magazine "Omigod, you're right. But she's married, no big deal."

"But Vanessa Hudgens is looking a little pudgy too" I said.

"Oh Natalia, leave it up to a former model like you to make a skinny girl look fat" Calleigh laughed.

"No, it's not the model talking" I answered as I wolfed (no pun intended, Ryan) down a spoonful of noodles "It's the scared-of-getting-pregnant girl talking"

"Oh God, pregnancy scares" Calleigh said "I think I got more interested in chemistry while at the academy just to find out how HCG works"

"Really, you had one at the academy?" I asked "Is the should-have-been father still around? A cop here maybe?"

"Yep, should-have-been father is now going to be a grandfather" Calleigh answered "And he's not just a cop, he's a councilman"

I raised my bowl of noodles as if in a toast "For the careful councilman."

"How about you, do you still see the should-have-been father when you had that pregnancy scare?" Calleigh teased, her face all smiles.

Shoot. She doesn't know?

"Ummm…." I said, not sure if I should bring this up three years later "Didn't you know about ….. "

Calleigh's smile slowly vanished. "Oh. " She said, her eyes weren't blinking. "Really." she continued. "Eric?"

I couldn't understand it, but my instinct was to apologize. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to bring this up now, I mean, Eric and I are just friends now."

"Silly girl, why are you apologizing?" Calleigh answered, laughing nervously "I'm just glad everything turned out ok."

What the hell is going on here? My girly gossipy instinct kicked in. "You're glad everything turned out ok? That I didn't get pregnant?"

"Well, yeah" Calleigh stuttered "I mean, you guys weren't ready… and you know…. It was a casual thing…. I think…. Was it?" Calleigh turned back to her noodles "We really better finish this up, I need to get back to the lab."

Oh my God. Eric and Calleigh. Eric and Calleigh! Are you kidding me??

I guess my jaw involuntarily dropped to the floor.

"Natalia" Calleigh defended "It's not what you think."

I had to laugh. "This is so amusing!" I think the pitch of my voice went up a couple of octaves.

Calleigh just shook her head and speared the noodles in her bowl. We sat there, silent for a while, just digging for wanton in the boxes, sipping our soup.

"If it's any consolation" I spoke first "A pregnancy then was a definite scare. A pregnancy now would be amazing." I held her hand in mine. "And Eric. And you? Omigod, he'd be ecstatic"

Calleigh turned beet red, shook her head and laughed. "Oh, Natalia. You are good"

"So is Eric" I teased, as I walked towards the fridge "But you already know that"

Calleigh balled up a restaurant napkin and threw it to my face.

Weird yet entertaining.