Chapter 1:

Natalia was awaken violently by her stomach that morning. Her stomach felt like it was turning itself inside out. She climbed out of bed quickly and ran to the bathroom. Natalia made it just in time as she began barfing the contents of her stomach in the porcelain bowl. She finished and wiped her mouth, wondering how she would break the news to Eric that she was pregnant. It would be an extremely hard task to do because unlike those times when Natalia and Eric hooked up, he and Calleigh were together now. Calleigh was one of Natalia's best friends. She flushed the toilet and got up. Looking in the mirror, she noticed how this news was having an effect on her body. Her normal glowing brown eyes were now sunken with worry and stress. Her face was now plastered with small pimples, that she worked so hard every morning to cover in make-up. She sighed and began the tasks of her day.

It was an hour later by the time she actually got out the shower. Natalia went to the kitchen and put on a pot of hot water to make tea. She then went back to the bedroom and grabbed an outfit to wear. She decided on a royal blue blouse, black slacks, paired with black pumps. She got dressed quickly, grabbed her tea and headed out the door to CSI.

Natalia parked the car in the CSI parking lot. She gathered enough strength to keep her stomach under control and got out and walked in the building. Heading to DNA, she began working on the samples from the murder case they were working on yesterday.

"Hey," Eric said, walking inside the lab. "Get anything."

Natalia's stomach began to drop. "Yeah." She swallowed. She felt herself getting ready to barf again. This case had been extremely hard on her. A 19-year old pregnant girl was killed. She was found in her apartment with her stomach slashed open and the baby gone. Natalia realized she was thinking too much because Eric looked at her like he wanted an explanation. "Mucus on the victim was a match to a Benton Thompson." She tried hard to suppress her gag reflex.

"Thanks," Eric said. "Patrol picked up him already. He's being brought in for running a light. Guess his charge is bigger now."

Natalia half smiled and nodded. "Excuse me," she said, running out the lab. She ran straight to the bathroom. Once in the bathroom, she saw Calleigh washing her hands. Calleigh looked up at her to speak but Natalia continued straight to the stall. The next thing Calleigh heard was liquid hitting the water in the toilet

"Are you okay?" Calleigh asked concernedly.

"Uh-huh," Natalia moaned. She flushed the toilet and walked out the tall. Calleigh stared at her from the mirror. Natalia noticed and spoke up. "Food from last night. It's really disagreeing with my stomach right now."

Calleigh nodded as if she understood. "Take a break and drink so tea. It'll help your stomach a bit."

Natalia smiled. "I'm fine for now. I need to get back to work. We're so close in closing this case."

"Okay," Calleigh said. "I'll talk to you later."

Calleigh left out the bathroom and Natalia just stared at her reflection in the mirror. She grabbed a paper towel and refreshed her face. Then she reapplied her lip gloss. She headed out the bathroom and back towards the break room. Maybe Calleigh was right. Some tea would do her some good.

- - - - - -

Calleigh was sitting in the lab, comparing the green fiber with what they believed were a similar fiber on the victim clothes when Eric came in. He wrapped his arms around her waist and laid his chin on her neck. Calleigh was taken by surprise. She looked up and saw Eric and smiled. "Hey handsome."

"Hey beautiful," he announced. "Thought you would like this." He reached behind his back as if he had a present and handed her a paper baggy. "Benton Thompson green jacket."

"Thanks Eric," Calleigh said happily. "All we need to do is match it and we got him."

He smiled and left out the office. "So you'll be ready for lunch later?"

Calleigh nodded her head. She began analyzing a fiber off the jacket and the fiber from the victim.

- - - - -

Natalia was sitting in the break room just staring at the steam from the tea rise. She felt horrible. Already she had barfed twice since her encounter with Calleigh in the bathroom. Natalia turned when she heard the door open. It was Eric.

"How you doing?" Eric asked sincerely.

Funny he would ask that, Natalia thought. "Eric, I have to talk to you."

Chapter 2.