Chapter 1:

Calleigh entered one of the labs where Eric was checking for finger prints to ask him something case related when she realized that he was pissed off about something. It was the way he frowned and focused too hard on what he was doing, the fact that he didn't even bother to look up to see who just entered the lab, that told her that something had happened. Something told her it was Wolfe related.

She recalled the conversation they had had on his first day. He had been assigned by Horatio to handle Dr Duquesne's case after he had thought that he had killed someone and Calleigh hadn't been happy about that fact at first, but then he had managed to clear her father and Calleigh had somehow accepted him as part of the team, noticing the signs Horatio was giving her, that he was interested in getting him on board. They were still one CSI less after Speedle had been shot, so Calleigh could understand the addition...but Eric couldn't really.

'So what do you think about the new guy?' she asked him.

It was late but they still hung out. She had driven her father home and then went over to Eric's. She had noticed that his mood hadn't been too good lately, granted he was still grieving the loss of his colleague and friend, just like she was, but somehow, Eric had taken it harder than she did. Maybe it was the fact that he couldn't drop everything and be with Speedle, even if that was in the morgue. He had found out later than the others did, and still had to wait longer to visit his dead friend. Calleigh had noticed that Eric was on the verge of losing it. It was typical behavior really when it comes to Eric, and that was why Calleigh was worried about him, so she decided to drop by his place to check if he was home.

'Wolfe? Yeah I guess he has an eye for detail' Eric replied.

Calleigh looked at him, studying him 'But you don't like him' she said narrowing slightly her eyes.

'Why? You do?' he asked her, sounding a little bitter as he grabbed the bottle of beer against his mouth and drowned the last bit of that particular bottle.

'Well he cleared my father from the mess he almost got himself into, so...I guess I can try' she replied with a shrug.

'Yeah I heard about your father. I'm sorry Cal' Eric replied sympathetically.

He knew how much family matters hurt her. She was practically always babysitting her own father. He was an alcoholic, and for the last couple of months he had managed to stay sober until he had messed up a chance for one of his clients. It had been one of those times, where a case was re-opened again and Eric had to go through the evidence. It had been quite the case. With both John Hagen who Calleigh was seeing at the time, and her father as the accused lawyer on the other hand, Eric had found himself in the middle of Calleigh's personal matters. He had been the cause of her breaking up with Hagen. He couldn't say that he wasn't happy about the break-up, he never really liked the guy, but he never wanted to upset Calleigh either.

'It's fine. I know you were busy handling today's main case' she told him.

'When I heard about it, it had been almost closed' he told her.

'Don't sweat it Eric' she replied and Eric nodded 'Beer?' he asked her.

'No I still have some, and you shouldn't be taking another one either. It's already your forth' she told him.

'I'm fine Calleigh. It's not like I am going anywhere' he told her.

'I know, but you know how I feel about alcohol' she replied 'And I know how you get when you're upset' she told him.

'I'm not upset' he argued and Calleigh gave him a look that told him she knows otherwise.

'You're still angry about what happened to Speed' she told him softly.

'Yes I am and to me Wolfe is not going to replace him' Eric told her, giving her one of his looks now.

'Accepting Wolfe on board if Horatio decides that he is fit for the job, does not mean that he is replacing Speed, just like no one can ever replace you to me' Calleigh told him.

'Well I don't plan on going anywhere' Eric told her.

'I'm sure neither did Speed' she said softly as she looked down at her hands, fidgeting with her fingers, sadness both in her eyes and tone of voice.

Eric grabbed another bottle and sat down next to her on the couch, softly nudging her with his shoulder 'I assure you I clean my gun Cal' he whispered softly.

'I know' she whispered softly 'But I know you too Eric...You're angry at Speed, you're angry with the world for taking him from us, you're still angry because you couldn't drop everything and come to him immediately...and when you get this upset and angry you lash out at the world. I know what you're doing. I know you're going out practically every night, I know you are screwing random girls...You're putting that frustration into random sex and I am worried about you' she told him.

'You don't have to worry about me. I won't drive drunk. I know what I am doing' he told her.

'Yeah sure you do' she whispered unconvinced.

'Heyy' she said 'What's up?' she asked him.

Eric lifted his gaze from the scope and snorted 'You heard?' he asked her, finally lifting his gaze to look at her.

'Heard what?' she asked back as she half sat on the desk next to him.

'Wolfe. He closed a case without me' he informed her 'I got the key gun from the sea and what does he do? He went straight to H without me...getting all the credits' he told her sourly.

'Mmm I see...and you're pissed off' she noted with a nod.

'Wouldn't you be pissed off if he did that to you?' he asked her.

'I probably would yes. Have you talked to him yet?' she asked him.

'No and if I don't see him at all, it is completely fine by me' Eric replied.

'Eric...' she said.

'Don't Eric me Cal. He is the one who is in the wrong here' Eric told her angrily 'And please don't take his side' he told her.

'I am not taking his side. He is trying to prove himself to Horatio probably. I don't think it has sunk in yet that he is no longer in patrol' Calleigh told him.

'Well it better sink in or otherwise, this is not going to work out. I can't work with someone like him' Eric told her.

'Is this just regarding who gets the merit of closing a case or something else?' she asked him.

'You and I haven't worked on a case together since Speedle died' he remarked out of the blues 'It's pissing me off. I am either on my own or stuck with Wolfe' he complained.

Calleigh smiled at him and punched him playfully in his shoulder 'You miss me?' she teased and Eric had to chuckle.

'Yeah I miss you silly. If I can't work with Speedle anymore, at least I should be able to still work with you' he told her.

'I know...but Ryan is new on the job, so I guess Horatio can't really send him on his own. He wants us to train him' she told him.

'Well he better changes his attitude then or I am going to refuse working with him any longer' Eric told her.

'Then that would mean that you and I are never on a case together, is that what you want?' she asked him.

'No of course not' he replied frustrated running a hand through his head.

'Then I suggest you kiss and make up' she told him with a teasing smile.

Eric chuckled at that comment 'OK fine...I'll try and make up but I am not kissing anybody. If Wolfe had long blonde hair and blue greenish eyes then that would be another thing' Eric told her with a wink and Calleigh laughed at that before she got up and made her way out of the lab.

oooOOOooo

'Hey have you seen Ryan?' Calleigh asked Eric as they met by coincidence in the corridors of the lab.

'Should I have seen him?' Eric asked her as he stopped and Calleigh sighed putting her hands on her hips, turning to face Eric.

'I asked him to talk to you about some tire tracks we found on the crime scene...' Calleigh replied.

'Mmm...well he hasn't talked to me yet' Eric replied sourly 'If I didn't know better, I say he is trying to figure it out by himself after what happened this morning' Eric told her and with that he continued on his way in search for Ryan now, while Calleigh just shook her head in frustration.

Eric was practically fuming. Having pride instead of sucking it all up and just ask the expert was wasting precious time to catch the killer and close this case. He would bet anything that Ryan was in one of the labs checking tire tracks against tire books to try and figure out which car was at the scene.

He made his way to one of the labs where he knew there were tire books available and stopped to look from behind the glass doors to check what Ryan was doing. He was right. Ryan was going through books to try and match the tracks. Shaking his head, Eric opened the door and walked inside stopping next to Ryan.

'Tire tracks in the second IRS shooting?' Eric asked him as he pretended to look at the papers in his hands.

'Yeah' Ryan whispered, without looking at his colleague, knowing that he was busted.

'You know that's my specialty right?' Eric asked him as he lifted his gaze from the papers to look at him.

'I figured you were busy?' Ryan replied, still not looking at Eric.

'Nuh, I got plenty of time on my hands Wolfe. Especially since you closed that last case without me' Eric told him glancing at him and then back at the papers in his hands.

Wolfe sighed but didn't say anything, instead he grabbed the photo from the crime scene in his hand and flipped the page from the tire books.

'What's the wheel base?' Eric asked him.

Ryan lifted his head from the book and stared ahead for a second before he flipped the notes he took '140 inches' he replied.

'Well it's pretty wide. Not that many cars wear 21 inch tires' Eric replied 'With that tread I'd be looking for a Rolls Royce phantom but emm...that's just me' Eric told him before walking away from him, hitting him playfully with the folder in his hands.

oooOOOooo

'Hey are you good?' Calleigh asked him as she nudged him with her shoulder. He was quiet, staring at the open sea in front of him as they sat down on the sand.

The rest of the day had gone by with Eric and Ryan not having much contact whatsoever, and Calleigh had hardly seen Eric after that encounter in the corridor. She needed to close the case and since Ryan was the one working on it with her, the two guys had managed to avoid each other for the rest of the day.

Eric shrugged without saying anything so Calleigh continued 'Would it help if you knew that I left him out when I found something?' she asked, getting his attention.

'What do you mean?' he asked.

'I realized what happened when I found textured saliva on the outside of the backseat window of the Rolls Royce and I didn't tell him. He asked what I was thinking and I told him that I wasn't going to tell him so he wouldn't go to Horatio with the information without me' Calleigh told him.

'You did what?' Eric asked with a laugh.

'Yeah...I gave him a taste of his own medicine' Calleigh replied.

'You always have my back' Eric told him.

'I always will Eric, but it doesn't mean that I approve of this behavior. I just wanted to make him see that that is not how we do things. That it is not a competition here, but a team working together' Calleigh told him.

'I don't know how you manage to do it' Eric told her.

'Do what?' she asked him.

'Work with him...be so nice to him' Eric replied.

'Come on Eric, he is not that bad' Calleigh started telling him 'He still has a lot to learn of course. It's a big change from patrol to CSI' Calleigh tried to explain.

'Yeah well when we started in the beginning, we never tried to compete with one another. It never even bothered me and Speed that you, a woman, was next in command, unlike other guys who would be irritated' Eric told her.

'Yeah well, you, me and Speed...we were really good friends' Calleigh told him.

'Yes...eventually...but in the beginning, we were all strangers to one another...well maybe you and I had met once already but that was it' Eric told her.

'I think it is just the timing that is setting you and Wolfe on the wrong side' Calleigh told him.

'Why? Because of Speed?' he asked her.

'Yes. You're not over it' she told him.

'Calleigh it's been just a couple of months. How can I be over it?' Eric asked her 'I go to his grave every morning before I come to work. Sometimes I talk to him and tell him what has been going on with cases and the lab, and sometimes...I just get mad at him for being negligent and an idiot for not cleaning his gun' Eric started telling her.

'You need to get that all that anger out' she told him.

'How could he be such an idiot damn it? I am so mad at him, if he was standing in front of me right now, I would punch him straight in the face' Eric admitted.

Calleigh placed her hand on his thigh and squeezed it a bit for him. She could understand his frustration. She was angry at Speed to. It had been so hard for her to analyse his gun, knowing what she was going to find. She had told him once before after he had been in an ambush, and if it hadn't been for the vest, he would have left sooner than he did. She couldn't understand why he wouldn't be careful with his gun. The one thing that could save his life...

'You know I'm sorry Cal...Speed was your friend too. It is not fair for me to dump all this on you' Eric told her.

'Hey you're not dumping anything. That is what friends are for right...to talk about things when they need to' she told him.

'God we haven't done this in so long' Eric told her.

'Yeah...' she whispered 'I think since Speed died' she said.

'How did we let it get this far?' Eric asked her.

Calleigh turned to look at him then and smiled 'Well...cause someone has been busy fucking every girl in town' she told him with that look that always cracked him up.

'I think you're exaggerating just a little bit, don't you think?' Eric asked her.

'Well that is not what I have heard' she replied.

'What have you heard then?' Eric asked her interested in the new gossip in the lab apparently.

'I heard that it is a different girl every night' she told him and Eric chuckled at that 'I mean seriously Eric, how do you manage to wake up in the morning?' she asked him.

'Well I think that is called good stamina' he told her and at that they both laughed hard.