Challenge Story

A/N: So, I was bored, and Jen was bored, and so she gave me this challenge. The first chapter's elements were: a fire drill, Chocolate-coated strawberries, a nightclub and a white rose. And of course, Calleigh/Eric.

Disclaimer: Own nothing.

--&

"Calleigh!" She heard someone call her from behind. Spinning around, she ran right into Eric Delko, who had, judging by his rapid breathing, been running down the hall to catch up with her.

"Eric, what's up?" She asked, backing away slowly, and trying to keep her own breathing under control now.

"I was wondering if you had those ballistics results yet?" He smiled charmingly, as if that was going to sway her answer.

"Actually, I do. I finished them before I had to go sit in on the interrogation, so they're still in my lab." She told him as she began to walk towards said lab, Eric following close behind.

"Did he do it?" Eric asked, hoping they had the right suspect behind held.

"I didn't get a chance to look at the results very thoroughly so I don't want to say for certain until we check them out." Calleigh told him. At that moment Calleigh's cell rang.

"Duquesne." She answered.

"Calleigh? It's Ryan." She heard Ryan tell her.

"Hey Ryan, what's up?" She asked, hoping it was news on the case.

"News. Bad news." He informed her, and she felt all of her hope of solving the case that evening deflate.

"Go on," She encouraged.

"There's been another killing." The worst. "I just have to call Delko and have him meet us at the scene…"

"He's with me." Calleigh told him. "We were about to go over the ballistics results, but we'll be right there." Ryan told her the address, which she scribbled down and snapped her phone shut.

"Ryan?" Eric raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. There's another killing. Same MO." Calleigh sighed.

"A serial?" Eric groaned.

"Looks that way. We'd better get over there now." She suggested.

"You driving?" He asked.

"Sure." She nodded as they headed off towards the car garage.

--&

"Hey guys," Frank Tripp greeted them grimly, as always, as they arrived at the scene.

"Hey Frank." Calleigh sort of smiled, though it was hard, when she knew what was lying inside the house waiting for them.

"Tripp." Eric greeted, more formally than Calleigh had. "Is Ryan inside?"

"No, he's not here yet." Frank shrugged.

"He must have stopped for coffee." Calleigh explained logically. "Or maybe Horatio needed him for something at the lab, who knows. We'd better get started though, if we have any hope of getting out of here in decent time."

"Yeah." Eric agreed as they followed Frank inside.

"Female vic, found in the bedroom." Frank explained.

"Same as the other case." Eric pointed out.

"Yeah. It's identical." Frank sighed, "Every detail, pretty much. Right this way." He led them through the narrow hallways of the house until they reached the bedroom.

"Identical indeed." Calleigh muttered under her breath as they entered the room, Eric following directly behind her.

"The whole house has been cleared?" He checked with Frank, who nodded affirmatively.

"Okay. Let's get to work then." Calleigh picked up the camera, which had been previously draped around her neck and started to snap photos of the female lying face down on the bed.

"There are some differences." Eric pointed out, as he too began to snap photos of different objects around the room.

"Yeah. Well, the last vic was a brunette, this one has red hair." Calleigh noted.

"Blonde could be next?" Eric suggested, shivers running up and down his spine at the mental image of a blonde, specifically Calleigh, lying on the bed in place of the current victim.

"There won't be a next." Calleigh was determined to keep a positive outlook on the case.

"Hopefully." Eric added, not wanting to get overconfident yet. He collected a few fibers from around the room, but like their case earlier that day, there wasn't much evidence.

"Another one?" Alexx asked, as she entered the room. Calleigh and Eric both shot her grim looks. "You guys better get this guy soon."

"We're trying our best, Alexx." Eric shrugged, as he continued to collect fibers and different pieces of evidence.

"I know, sugar." Alexx smiled sympathetically as she opened her kit and began her examination of the body. "You have all the pictures you need Calleigh?"

"All done." Calleigh nodded, as she began moving around the opposite side of the room to Eric.

"Alright." Alexx nodded, carefully turning the body over after noting the rigor setting. "You two better look at this." Woven carefully into her beautiful red hair was a single white rose.

"The same as the vic this morning." Eric sighed. "So it's definitely the same killer."

"Yeah." Calleigh sighed.

"I'll have to do a SART exam," Alexx began, "But I'm guessing we all know what I'll find. Poor baby."

"Yeah. We've got to get this guy before he can kill anyone else." Calleigh sighed, defeatedly, but determinedly.

"We will Cal. Don't worry." Eric let his hand rest slightly on her arm, for as long as he could get away with without crossing a line, and then he retracted it.

"Let's get back to work." Calleigh turned away. She could still feel the skin burning from where he had touched her on the arm. She wished he would take the first step over the line they had drawn somewhere along the line, because for some reason, she didn't want to be the one to make the first move this time. Those relationships never seemed to work out. She had to be sure he wanted this as much as she did.

"Cal, look at this," Eric called. He had long since moved out to the kitchen of the house. She was presently processing the living room. At his request, she made her way into the kitchen, which, like the rest of the house, was immaculate.

"What did you find in here?" She asked, quickly surveying her surroundings and shooting a hello smile to the patrol cop standing by the doorway who quickly returned it. The moment was not lost on Eric who felt a wave of jealousy course through him, though he knew that the smile, though it probably meant everything to the young patrol cop, meant nothing to Calleigh. That was just the way she was. Naturally sweet, and flirtatious.

"Well the kitchen looks nearly perfect, right?" Eric asked.

"Yeah. I only wish my kitchen looked like this." Calleigh laughed.

"But look over here. From across the room I thought it was blood, but it's chocolate, and there is more of it."

"Yeah. It looks like a trail, almost." Calleigh noted. "But it ends abruptly here."

"Yeah. I photographed it all, then went to the refrigerator to see if there was anything chocolate that might be dripping in there, and I noticed this." Eric pulled open the fridge door and motioned to the soul occupant.

"A plate of chocolate covered strawberries." Calleigh identified the object. "Well, out in the dining room I found slightly burned candles, and I bet if we look in the dishwasher we'll find some fancy dishes."

"From a romantic evening for two." Eric followed her train of thought. "Makes sense. We found a similar set up at the first vic's house."

"Was there strawberries there?" Calleigh wondered. She couldn't quite remember, and she had been the one to process that kitchen.

"I'm not sure." Eric thought back too. "But we can get someone back at the lab to check the scene photos?"

"Let me call Horatio." Calleigh snapped open her phone and dialed their boss' number.

"Horatio," He answered, but if Calleigh didn't know whom she had called, she wouldn't have been able to hear his voice clearly enough to make out what it was.

"Horatio! What is that noise?" She asked, wincing at the volume of it.

"It's nothing." Horatio told her. "Fire drill, that's all."

"Fire drill?" Calleigh asked, furrowing her brow. "Horatio, when do we ever have fire drills?"

"I know. I thought of that too." He told her. "Which is why I am still in the building and not outside, hence the loud alarm."

"Right. Is Ryan with you?" Calleigh asked, "He told us to meet him at the scene, but he never showed up."

"He called. Family emergency, or something of the sort. I was about to follow up to see how he was doing, when well, this happened." Horatio explained.

"Alright. Well if you find him, let him know we're looking for him. And can you call me back when all of the madness over there has calmed down?" She requested.

"Sure thing." Horatio nodded, looking around the abandoned crime lab warily.

"Thanks handsome." Calleigh smiled before shutting her phone. "Ryan's not at the lab either, and they're having a fire drill."

"Since when does the lab have a fire drills?" Eric asked.

"That's what I thought. Horatio's checking it out though. I hope nothing's wrong." Calleigh shrugged.

"Me too." Eric nodded. "So if we've collected all the evidence, I guess we head back to the lab?"

"Let's go. I guess we better tell Frank he can release the scene." Calleigh said.

"Yeah. You do that, and I'll start loading the evidence into the hummer." Eric told her. Calleigh nodded and headed off to find Tripp.

"Frank?" She called, heading back to the living room.

"Yeah?" He answered.

"We're ready to head out. You can release the scene." Calleigh told him.

"Perfect timing. I'm heading out to a stabbing at a night club now." He sighed, and Calleigh smiled sympathetically.

"Have fun." She called, as she headed towards the front door to help Eric load everything into the Hummer. Her cell phone rang, and she picked it up instantly.

"Duquesne?" She answered. A gunshot was all she heard.

--&

A/N: OoO! Haha. Well, that was quite the chapter. It is my bed time now. I am amazed at how tired I get these days at such early hours. I suppose it's good. So I shall post this, and go to bed. Please review! The next two chapters will be up soon! Since I do have a deadline!!