Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing CSI: Miami related… Nothing I tells ya….
AN: Okay, so this is my first ever CSI: Miami-fic… It won't be casefileish; instead it will be sort of a "what if"-story… It's an AU-fic… This also means I've constructed my own little reality, far from the reality of CSI: Miami (but hey, this is fanfic so why's that a surprise), and it also fits my needs better ;-) If they seem out of character I apologize, but I wrote them as I imagine they could have been in college… Remember, there's a long way from college to thirty-something, and people do change… There will probably be three more chapters, one for each year, but don't expect an update too soon, as this took me forever to write:-)
I hope you enjoy it, if you do (or don't) please let me know:-)
Rating: T, some language... Nothing major...
Summary: What if they met in college? Before life got so incredibly complicated…
Second Chances
Spring semester 1997, freshman year:
Calleigh Duquesne was late. She was sprinting along the paths leading past Gibson Hall and over the lawn, headed for Percival Stern Hall where her next physics 101 class was just about to start.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit…" she hummed under her breath, while darting in and out through the crowd of people on the path.
She knew before she went that having breakfast of campus with her roommate and best friend Barb would be a bad idea, but she'd gone anyway. And now, she was in big trouble. Too worried about missing her class, Calleigh adjusted the books in her arms, and glanced down at her watch, still running. The next thing she knew she felt and heard a thump, and everything in her arms went flying, while she herself nearly lost balance.
"You okay?" a soft male voice asked her, and she felt a hand on her elbow, steadying her.
She looked down at the mess at her feet. She had dropped her beat-up, brown leather purse in the collision, and its contents had spilled through the broken zipper out on the ground along with her books and a now ripped notebook. Angry at herself for having missed class, she couldn't help taking it out on the stranger. And besides, he was responsible for her things being scattered on the ground, sort of.
"Look at this mess, of cause I'm not okay!" she snapped, as she sank to the ground, trying to gather up her tings before someone stepped on anything.
She noticed that the guy also kneeled, and two big tanned hands entered her field of vision as he started gathering up her books. She dumped the last of her belongings, a couple of black felt pens, a lip-gloss and a pad of blue post-its into her bag and rose to face him. Her anger evaporated slightly, as she looked into the warmest brown eyes she'd ever seen, and she felt a soft tug in her stomach, but then an overbearing smirk pulled at the corners of his mouth.
"You know," he said handing her books over "a bit of kindness goes a long way."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she retorted, still a little annoyed that she had now definitely missed her class.
"Just that snapping at strangers you bump into isn't necessarily the best way to make new friends."
"I bump into?" she glared at him "You bumped into me. And why would I want to be friends with you, anyways?"
She knew she was being unreasonable, but his smirk irritated her.
"Of cause you would," he said, the smirk widening "I'm quite a nice guy, even when people bump into me."
"What are you, three? I'm not going to get into a "Yes you did, No I didn't"-fight with you."
"Okay, then we'll solve it over coffee."
She sniffed.
"I don't drink coffee with bigheaded idiots." She walked off, passing him.
"Good," she heard him call after her "I wouldn't want to waste my time on a pigheaded Daddy's girl anyway."
She forced herself not to turn on her heels and get into a screaming-match with the guy, but instead clenched her fist, and stalked of towards her dorm, deciding to just go home and pound her pillow a little.
XOXOXOX
Eric couldn't help but stare after her retreating back. She had to be the rudest person he'd ever met, but nevertheless she was enticing. Her platinum blonde hair was bounded up at her nape, secured with two pencils, but a few locks had gotten loose and swung in sync with her hips as she moved off. She wore a white button-down shirt with an unmistakably male cut, but with a brown belt holding it in on her hips. Her dark blue jeans hugged her hips and thighs before flaring out a little over the knees, and showed of enough to make him gasp. And her eyes, her eyes had been little orbs of the clearest ocean green.
"Dios mio," he breathed, "I'm such an idiot."
He turned back the way he'd been going before the little spitfire decided to topple into him, and immediately saw Tom, Flynn and Amanda, his best friends and team mates, sitting on the lawn, grinning at him.
"I think that's the first time I've ever seen the great Delko strike out." Tom grinned as he joined them "What's it like down here on the bottom with us little people?"
Amanda snorted.
"It just shows the girl has brains," she quipped "for once I actually want you to score… But then again that would prove that she hasn't got brains, and that leaves us right back where we started. It's an enigma. You'll just have to stay single forever; you'll never date someone worth knowing anyway."
She smiled at him sweetly.
"Shhh," Flynn exclaimed "my world just fell apart; everything I believe in is a lie…"
"And you guys are supposed to be my friends," he grumbled, lying back on the grass "with you around, who needs enemies!"
XOXOXOX
"Come on Cal, be a sport," Barb said as she literally pulled her towards the crowded Reilly Center pools, where the swim meet was being held "it'll be fun."
"What exactly is funny about watching a line of guys trying to get to the other end of a pool fastest?" she grumbled.
"Well," Barb stopped for a second and faced her "it's better than spending half the night in the Green Club working on their latest project, getting noting in return."
"And besides," she continued as she pulled Calleigh up to a nice pair of seats on the side of the pool "those guys I mentioned, they're practically naked!"
"Perv!" Calleigh couldn't help but smile.
"Well, I'm surprised you didn't notice till now." Barb countered with a big smile.
They sat for a while watching the swimmers, while Barb every now and then let out an appreciative comment about male swimmers, and their incredible flexibility. Calleigh couldn't help being reminded of her grandmother who, after she'd gotten old, had a tendency to say exactly what was on her mind, be it dirty or not. It embarrassed Calleigh's mother extremely, and she always apologized it by saying that her mom was getting a bit senile. Once at a restaurant her gran had flirted uninhibited with their waiter, and when Calleigh's mother started apologizing, her grandmother leaned over to Calleigh and whispered loudly. "I don't know what she's on about. I not the least bit senile, I just realized that if I don't start having some fun now, I might never get to have any at all." The waiter had just smiled at her.
"Wow," Barb exclaimed next to her "have you seen that guy? He's fucking smoking."
She pointed to a guy who walked by them towards the rostrums. Calleigh followed her finger and her breath got caught in her throat temporarily.
"That's the guy I ran into this morning."
Barb was franticly flipping through the program she'd gotten a hold of.
"Here we are," she mumbled "800 meter butterfly, 1. Heat… he's from Florida State. Eric Delektorsky… he's the guy you bumped into?"
Calleigh nodded.
"And you acted like a prick?" Barb said, completely thunderstruck "How could you?"
Calleigh looked back to the rostrums where the guy, Eric, had taken his place. She looked him over as his muscles tightened preparing for the jump, and followed him with her eyes as he flew gracefully through the air, hitting the water perfectly. She had to admit, he was, as Barb had so eloquently put it, smoking.
XOXOXOX
Eric was tired, but satisfied, as he stood in a corner of a kitchen in Monroe Hall and slowly sipped away on a beer. Flynn and Amanda were standing next to him, friendly arguing with one of the residents about pop art and Tom had left them, chasing after a girl, so instead of talking he was people watching. The floor party they had been invited to was blazing around them, and every now and then someone came up to them and patted him and Flynn on their backs congratulating them on their victories. From where he was standing he could see straight into the student lounge, which had been converted into a dance floor with the furniture pushed up against the wall. He was watching the dancing couples, until two girls entered the kitchen, obstructing his view for a couple of seconds, and immediately he lost interest in the dance floor as he recognized one of them. Her platinum blonde hair was hanging in loose curls almost covering her face, but he was sure that as soon as she looked up, he would see orbs of ocean green.
"Hey Eric," Amanda's voice sounded close to his ear "isn't that your girlfriend from this morning?"
He turned to her, and saw her barely concealed smirk.
"Funny," he muttered and motioned to Flynn "if you don't watch out I might mention to our friend over there how you really feel about him."
"You wouldn't!"
"No, cause I'm nice, unlike you."
"Not fair," she pouted "I'm just teasing."
They were quiet for a couple of moments, and his eyes traveled back to the blonde.
"She's pretty too." Amanda said before Flynn pulled her back into their conversation.
Eric had to agree. She had changed into a fitted green, silk dress with a low cleavage, that matched the color of her eyes, and her hands were gesturing gracefully in the air as she spoke with her friend.
XOXOXOX
"I'm telling you, he was completely thrown off." Calleigh said referring to a guy from the Green Club, who she'd gone out with a few times "He was like 'You… you went to the swim meet… I thought you hated sports.' Just because I wouldn't go to that bloody baseball game with him, he thought it was because I disliked sports."
"As if," Barb said, her eyes scanning the room "s'not his fault he's about as interesting as wet cardboard though. I don't understand why you ever went out with him in the first place."
Calleigh smacked her arm softly.
"Be nice."
Barb didn't respond as her attention was caught by something on the other side of the kitchen.
"I think you have an admirer." She muttered smiling widely.
Calleigh followed her gaze, and for the second time that day she felt that tug in her stomach. He was wearing a light blue, short sleeved button-down shirt and white pants which made him look even more tanned, and the sight of him wasn't a bad one that much she had to admit.
"Why don't we go introduce ourselves?" Barb quipped and Calleigh spun to face her.
"Are you nuts?" she hissed "Of cause we won't."
"Well," Barb shot a look over Calleigh's shoulder "we won't have to, because he's coming over here anyways."
The next second Calleigh felt a soft touch on her shoulder, and she turned to him, dreading to face those brown eyes, dreading to feel that tug again. He smiled at her, a genuine smile, not the smirk that he had given her that morning.
"Hi, again. What do you say we make peace and start over?" he held his hand out to her "I'm Eric."
She eyed his hand suspiciously, but decided to shake it.
"I'm Calleigh." She motioned to her side "And this is my friend Barb."
Eric smiled at Barb, and shook her hand too, but his eyes returned to Calleigh immediately. Barb smiled and shook her head lightly. She turned to Calleigh.
"Okay, so I know when I'm not wanted… I'm gonna go grab a smoke 'kay?"
Calleigh looked at her with a pleading look in her eyes, but Barb just chuckled, and left the kitchen. Calleigh turned to face Eric again, and she felt weak in her knees when she looked straight into his brown eyes. She couldn't help but wonder what the fuck was wrong with her today, since this guy was having such an effect on her.
"So Calleigh, it's nice to meet you."
"Yeah," she wrinkled her nose as she had a tendency to do when she was nervous "you too. And congratulations on your win earlier."
"You were there?" he looked a bit surprised.
She chuckled.
"I was, Barb is a bit of a perv, so she dragged me there to look at half naked guys." She blushed a little.
"Nice to know that you value the sport." He said in mock sincerity and the solemn look on his face made her laugh.
XOXOXOX
She was even more gorgeous up close, and when she blushed it added to her innocent, pixie-like look. He had to fight the urge to stroke back the strand of hair that fall into her face as she looked down, and he decided to guide the conversation off the topic of naked men, and into safer waters.
"So, are you from around here? You definitely sound southern."
He crumbled his toes at the banality of the question, but it seemed to make her relax slightly. She looked at him again, and smiled brightly.
"I am. I saw in the program that you go to Florida State? Are you from Florida?"
He smiled.
"Come on, you must have guessed that I'm Cuban, and you know… if you're Cuban, you're from Miami."
"Well," she smiled at his comment "your last name threw me off a little, doesn't sound very Cuban, does it?"
"My dad is Russian," he admitted, loving the fact that she had apparently checked up on him.
She fiddled with her empty plastic glass, and he couldn't help but smile at the childishness of her movement.
"Should I get you a refill, before you tear the cup to shreds? I was told that they were running low on them when we came, and that's a couple of hours ago, so tearing it up is probably not a good idea."
She handed over her cup with an embarrassed chuckle.
"What's your poison?"
"Well, the keg is right there that's the easiest." She motioned to the other end of the kitchen, where three very intoxicated guys were standing guard over the coveted beer.
"But you don't strike me as the beer drinking type." He said and smirked "Besides I mix the greatest margarita."
She smiled overbearingly at him.
"I don't know… I've had my share of great margaritas."
"Then you'll be the perfect judge." He smiled, and headed to the bar.
XOXOXOX
She turned and watched the tree guys at the keg with a slight hint of disgust, as one of them tried to drown the equivalent of a gallon of beer through a beer bong. She felt his hand on her back, and turned around, gratefully accepting the cup he offered her. He smiled at her.
"To be honest, I half expected you not to be here when I came back." He said, taking a sip of his own drink.
"I was thinking about leaving," she feigned contemplation, then motioned to the guy with the beer bong "but then I decided that there had to be a sane person here to send him to the emergency room when he's half-dead of alcohol poisoning," she saw the same hint of disgust in Eric's eyes that she had sported earlier when he looked at the scene and then continued with a matter of fact tone in her voice "besides the exit is right next to the bar, you would have seen me leave."
He chuckled lightly and motioned to her drink.
"I think you had some judging to do."
She regarded the liquid in her glass with a wary look, drinks made at keg parties were rarely worth the effort, before taking a sip. She let the liquor assault her taste buds, and had to hold back a sound of surprise. Honestly, it was the greatest margarita she had ever tasted, even better than at Razzoo bar, which was her and Barb's favorite French Quarter nightclub. She swallowed, and looked at his expectant face.
"Okay, I must admit, it's up there." She said off-handedly, not willing to feed his ego.
"Up there?" he looked disbelievingly "Come on…"
"This is New Orleans, we have really great bartenders." She chuckled.
"Well," he muttered "they probably don't have to work with keg party ingredients."
"So, what do one study at Florida State, apart from bikini-babes?" she asked deciding to move the topic away from his bartending skills.
XOXOXOX
"Way to change the subject" he chuckled slightly at her comment before answering. Her view of Miami State seemed to mirror that of most other people.
"Well, believe it or not, we actually do have classes there." She feigned a surprised look "I'm majoring in criminology."
"You're kidding," she smiled "they have that? I think I should have gone there."
"What are you majoring in?" he asked, taking a minute to decide whether or not she was being sarcastic.
"Physics. I'm pretty sure that I wanna work as a criminalist, so I'll minor in chemistry I think."
Judging by her exited demeanor he deemed that she had been anything but sarcastic, and he smiled widely.
"You definitely thought more about it than I did." His smile turned embarrassed "Florida State just has a really great swim team, and diving too."
She looked at him and laughed. Her eyes seemingly dancing with amusement, and he realized that the color really reminded him less of the ocean, and more of the color of light streaming through the leaves of the trees in his parents garden when he was a kid. He had loved the feeling of being lost to the world, as he lay on his back under the trees, in the far part of the garden, being showered in green light, hearing his sisters searching for him in the wilderness. His palpable staring slowed her chuckling to a halt, and she seemed embarrassed. She fidgeted slightly.
"I just…" he tried to explain "I'm sorry, but you have really beautiful eyes."
She looked back up at him and smiled softly, a lock of hair falling in her face, and yet again his fingers twitched to push it away. He had to look away, and let his eyes drift to the dance floor. Hi smiled and looked back to her, holding out his hand.
"Dance with me?"
She hesitantly placed her small, delicately pale hand in the palm of his much lager one, and he led her out on the floor.
XOXOXOX
She didn't register which song was playing, the only thing she was able to concentrate on, was the way his body felt against hers as they started to dance. He was great dancer, but she had expected nothing less, considering his origins. She was out of her ordinary element, as she didn't normally dance. When she did, it was more of the "wiggling-independently-of-your-partner" variety, and not the closer than close, salsa-inspired dancing that he hurled them out in. Despite of this, he somehow led her so perfectly that she managed not to step on his toes, and even feign a certain amount of grace. She tried not to take notice of the small bolts of electricity that shot up from the places his body touched hers.
She felt, rather than heard the speed of the music slow down after a while, and she melted further into him, her head now leaning slightly on his shoulder. She felt his breath in her hair as he spoke.
"This just won't do." He said, as if to no one particular.
"What?" She breathed, cursing at herself for being so obviously attracted to him, and for having that one drink more than she should have.
"This," he drew her a little closer, a thing she would have deemed impossible just a few seconds before "thing we're doing… the flirting, or what ever. You see, I'm gonna walk you home at some point tonight, and I'm probably gonna kiss you, and that just won't do."
She chuckled at his boldness.
"And why is that?" she asked, still smiling into his shoulder.
"Because I don't think I'll be able to let you go after that, and I'm leaving tomorrow, so we'll probably never see each other again."
"So, don't kiss me." She said matter of factly looking up in his eyes.
"I don't think I'll be able to help myself." He said, and she was floored by the complete honesty radiating from him.
"Then I think I'd better go home now," she smiled "you know, remove the temptation."
Regardless of her words, she didn't move from his arms but just rested her head back on his shoulder as they kept on dancing slowly despite the fact that the music had sped up. His fingers were softly drawing patterns on her back, and his other hand was tangled in her hair at the nape of her neck. Again she cursed at herself inwardly for her complete loss of control in the situation, but she was unable to withstand him.
"Weren't you leaving?" he mumbled into her hair after a while.
"Don't tempt me."
"I thought that was what I was doing." She could hear the smile in his voice.
"You're awfully sure of yourself." She muttered into the fabric of his shirt, and she felt his heartbeat accelerate.
He didn't answer; instead he just stilled his hand on her back, and rested it possessively on the small of her back.
XOXOXOX
They kept dancing until someone suddenly interrupted them by tapping him on his shoulder. Behind him Flynn was standing with his arm brotherly tossed around Amanda's shoulders and a smirk adorning his face.
"So sorry to interrupt you two lovebirds, but are you aware what time it is?"
"Guys this is Calleigh, Cal these are my slightly annoying friends Amanda and Flynn." He said before looking at his wristwatch realizing how late it was and that they had to be on a bus in less than five hours.
Calleigh shook hands with Amanda and then with Flynn, who took her hand in both of his, and clasped it intently.
"Thank you for restoring my faith in… Well, everything."
Calleigh looked perplexed at Eric, and in way of explanation he rolled his eyes.
"He's great swimmer, so they allow him out of the asylum for swim meets." He chuckled when she shook her head, and then showed her the time "I don't know about you, but I have to be up in four hours."
"I didn't realize it was so late." She said, smiling at him "Guess you'd better walk me home then."
"I'll be back soon," he said to Amanda and Flynn, as they headed for the door.
"Sure!" Flynn shot at their backs, and they just caught the sound of Amanda's outraged comment at Flynn before they exited the room.
"You have nice friends," she said amused "crazy, but they seem nice."
"I'm so sorry," he smiled at her, before he took her hand, missing the close contact they'd had during their dancing "Flynn is… really not housebroken."
"His girlfriend seems nice."
Eric looked at her incredulous, surprised that it had only taken her minutes to pick up on the vibes between his friends, something it had taken himself months noticing.
"They're not dating."
"Why?"
"He's oblivious."
"He must be."
"You're amazing, you know that?" he chuckled "It took me forever to realize that there was something going on there…"
"Well, I'm observant." She stopped and let go of his hand, pointing at the building next to them "This is me."
"I didn't realize it was so close," he said disappointed.
"Yeah, well…" she held her hand out to shake his "It was nice meeting you Eric."
He took her hand, but instead of shaking it, he drew her into his arms. She blushed and lowered her eyes, but he placed his hand under her chin, lifting it to keep eye contact. He brushed his finger over her jawbone softly.
"You think I'm letting you off that easy?" he whispered.
"Like you said… It's a bad idea."
He lowered his head, and softly brushed his lips against her cheek, smiling when her eyes fluttered closed.
"I know," he brushed his lips over the corner of her mouth "But that's held me back before."
This time he brushed his lips over hers, first softly, but soon more demanding. He traced the tip of his tongue over her bottom lip, and she moaned softly, opening her mouth to grant him access. He explored every nook and cranny of her mouth, trying hard not to moan as he felt her fingers under his shirt tracing over the skin just above the hem of his pants, but failing miserably. Reluctantly he drew back, when the need to breathe became too great, and he rested his forehead against hers.
"Now look what you did." He panted slightly.
"I really have to go;" she backed away from him "this is good for nothing."
"Wait," he called after her "you have to give me your phone number."
She turned back to him.
"Eric," she sighed "we live too far apart. These long distance-things, they never work."
"So, we'll be friends! That would work."
"Listen, if this is meant to happen, we'll meet each other again."
"Fate, don't tell me you believe in fate. You're a science student, for God's sake."
She didn't answer, instead she ran back to him and kissed him softly on his lips, before turning and running into her dorm. He stood there and watched her disappear out of his life, the possibility of never seeing her again rooting him to the spot.