Some fluff for you! I could do with some of this happiness on the show, what with Calleigh nearly dying and NO MENTION of Eric's incredibly sweet confession on the episode after Smoke. Sigh...
It was an absolutely perfect day in Miami, Florida. The sun was out, shining delightfully. The sky was a powdery baby blue, with only white fluffy clouds floating by. There was a cool spring breeze blowing through the air. Calleigh was on cloud nine.
Sounds of excited laughter danced around her ear, awakening her from her blissed-out trance. "Eric," she yelled from the shoreline. She could barely spot him in the water--the glare off her sunglasses was ridiculous. "Eric! Make sure you're holding their hands!"
She knew Eric couldn't hear her from a distance, so she threw the towel off of her and stood up, stretching and feeling the heat of the sun on her body before making her way down to the softly crashing waves. Finally, she was within earshot of Eric, who seemed to be having a great time.
"Hey babe," he said, his eyes raking her bikini-clad body appreciatively. Calleigh noticed this and rolled her eyes, mouthing 'behave' to him. "Coming to join us?"
"Yes, but I came to tell you to hold their hands in the water. You're only ankle deep, but still..." Calleigh crouched down so she was eye level with her girls. "Having fun, angels?"
"Look, mama," three year old Emma held up a shell to her mother, smiling proudly.
"It's beautiful, baby girl," Calleigh said, cringing inwardly at the sand lodged in Emma's tiny fingernails. "And what did you get, miss Ava?"
"Nothin'..." she glanced at her mother forlornly.
"Mama worries too much, doesn't she, girls?" Eric asked. "Do you wanna go swimming?"
"Eric! They're too little," Calleigh looked up at him. "No way."
"I don't wanna go, daddy," Emma proclaimed. "The water is scary."
"Listen to the girl, Eric, she doesn't wanna go. And neither does Ava, do you, baby?"
Ava looked worriedly from her twin to her mother to her father. "No," she decided. "I hungry, mommy."
"Me too!" Emma cried. "Can we have taters?"
"You distracted them," Eric complained, following Calleigh out of the water. "No fair. They always listen to you."
"That's cause they know I'm the boss," Calleigh teased, toweling off Eric's chest and leaning up to kiss him. "You would be wise to learn that."
"Mhmm, I guess so." Eric said, pulling her in again for a kiss. They broke apart promptly when they heard giggling from their daughters. "What?" Eric asked them, a smile forming on his face at the sight of the two blonde sisters giggling at their parents.
"They saw us kissing," Calleigh blushed. "We're such bad examples!"
"Miss Candy saided that boys and girls can't kiss," Ava explained to her parents. "Cause it's icky. Cause Mason tried to kiss Emmy."
"What? Who is this kid?" Eric asked, a frown appearing on his face.
"Emmy's boy...man," Ava said.
Calleigh laughed, picking Ava up and planting a kiss on her cheek. "Emma has a boy-man? Even I don't have one of those!"
"Yeah, mommy. His name is Mason. I just said that!" Ava said exasperatedly.
"Emma Grace Delko. Is this true?" Calleigh asked as Emma jumped up around Calleigh, angling to be held.
"Maybe..." she smiled cheekily at her mother. Eric stopped collecting the towels to eye his daughter.
"Emmy, aren't you kind of young for a boyfriend?" he asked, trying to keep his voice nonchalant.
"He's my husband!" Emma proclaimed. "We got married under the tree. Ava said that abuela and abuelo had to come, but they weren't there."
"Oh, so abuela and abuelo were invited, but we weren't?" Calleigh asked, leading the girls to the boardwalk.
"Nope," Emma said, grabbing Ava's hand. "Can we have taters?"
"One track mind, this one," Calleigh joked.
Eric sidled up to Calleigh as they walked barefoot over the sandy pier. "I'm a little worried."
"About Emma's boyfriend? It's just a preschool thing, don't worry."
"Calleigh, I married a girl named Maria in the schoolyard when I was 3. She still teases me about it."
"Well isn't that unfortunate. Did you tell her your wife owns a gun?" Calleigh said. "I'm joking, Eric!" she laughed at the frightened look on his face.
"Well if it isn't my favorite four people!" a voice cried from behind Calleigh and Eric. Sure enough, it belonged to Ryan Wolfe, who was unbelievably overdressed for the beach. Following closely behind him was Natalia Boa Vista, newly Natalia Wolfe, who was slewing a load of angry-sounding Spanish into her cell phone.
"Hey, Ry," Calleigh hugged him. "Aren't you kinda...dressed?"
"Yeah, Natalia and I wanted to take a walk after lunch and we saw you guys. Hey, girls!" he greeted his goddaughters, kneeling down to receive hugs from the twins.
"Hey, sorry, guys," Natalia said, tucking her phone in her purse. "How're our angels?"
"Say hi to aunt Natalia, girls," Calleigh said, ushering them over to Natalia. Shyly, the girls said hello--Ryan and Natalia had just married a month ago, and they still weren't used to Uncle Ryan's "friend".
After 20 minutes of conversation with Ryan and Natalia and a quick lunch, the Delko family headed home for the day. Later that night, after the girls had been put to bed, Calleigh snuggled into bed with Eric.
"Mmm," Eric kissed Calleigh's forehead. "You smell so good."
"So do you," Calleigh shifted, laying her head on Eric's chest, tracing patterns. "Do you remember when we first brought Ava and Emma home?"
"We were so nervous," Eric smiled, turning to meet her eyes. "And you were so loopy, from all the meds they gave you."
Calleigh smacked his arm playfully. "I was not!"
"Yes, you were. You wanted to name them Tallulah and Tiara."
"Okay, maybe I was loopy," Calleigh admitted.
"Ava was so good. Emma was...Emma."
"She cried and cried and cried," Calleigh remembered. "And only you could calm her down."
"I remember that," Eric smiled. "She was a handful for those first couple of weeks. But they're both such good girls."
"Who would've thought we'd be here? Five years ago, we were still dancing around each other." Calleigh laughed. "We were married a year later and another year later Ava and Emma arrived."
"And you're still my sexy co worker that I have fantasies about," Eric teased. "But now, I can actually act out those fantasies..."
"Enlighten me, please," Calleigh said, kissing him softly.
"Well, all of them involve you screaming my name...a couple of them involve you handcuffed..."
"Eric Delko, you are so naughty." Calleigh said.
"I'm not naughty, I'm skilled." Eric retaliated.
"Show me," Calleigh breathed, her desire suddenly kick started.
"I love, you Calleigh," Eric said. "Always."
"I love you, too, Eric," she moaned as he sucked a kiss at her pulse point.
She knew she would, until the end of time.