It had been a few hours or so since Eric had been informed of his aunt's death. She had been like a mother to him, so caring and thoughtful. When he was little he would spend most nights at her house because she didn't want him to hear his parents bickering quarrels all the time.

It had been a hard day. Putting up with his coworkers and now the news about his aunt. He had been running errands all day for Horatio and the team. He had wished he could just stop time. Things just needed to slow down.

He was sprawled out in the middle of a park in the middle of a park facing the rain. He had always loved to come here and think. It was that sweet support that he had come to depend on when everyone else didn't seem to care about his problems. But right now it hadn't been the park that comforted him. It was the rain. With its calming gestures it seemed to beckon him to let go, to relax, let his problems melt away. He felt the pitter-patter of the rain on his palms, his eyelids, his forearm. He stayed motionless until he heard footsteps.

---RainMystique---

Calleigh was on her way coming home from work when she saw something in the middle of the park. It looked like a body. So being the CSI, curios and mischievous, she decided to go investigate. She saw Eric lying there. She heard about what happened to his aunt so she assumed that this is why he was where he was. And it was why. She laid down right beside him.

He started, "Why? Why her? Why did she leave me when I still need her? I can't make it without her."

"I dunno, Eric. But I do know she loved you a great deal. Some might say," Calleigh responded, "she loved you as her own. She was a great lady."

He nodded fighting tears that were begging to fall to his cheeks.

Calleigh realized what was going on. They were in the middle of a park lying in the grass in the pouring rain. But she knew, rain or shine, he needed her. She grabbed a few of his fingers with hers holding them. She wanted to be his comfort but at the same time, she didn't mind being there herself. For Eric. Only Eric.

They had lain there for what seemed like an eternity until Calleigh sat up. It had pulled Eric out of his trance. He didn't really realize she had been there the entire time. He sat up and began drawing lazy shapes along her leg.

"I'm sorry. I'm just upset, confused-" he was interrupted.

"Why are you apologizing? I came here because I saw something in the park on my way home." She turned to look at him. "But I want to be here."

He smiled softly and whispered, "Thank you."

She smiled at his vulnerability. He always had himself together at work and this was the Eric she didn't know. Although, she hated to see it under these circumstances.

She stood up and still had his hand is hers. "Come on. Let's go." She helped him up but his eyes failed to meet hers. She understood. She was that way a lot of the time.

She got him into the car. When she got in herself she started toward his apartment but had a sudden change of heart. He didn't protest when she bypassed the turn to his apartment. She was headed towards hers. She turned to him, "You're staying at my place." She said it more as a command rather than a question but she wasn't sure which one she had meant it to sound like in the first place.

He didn't care. "Okay." He smiled at her. "Thanks."

They were both soaking wet but Calleigh noticed Eric's face still had rain drops on it. She realized he was crying softly to himself. She took his hand but kept her eyes on the road. He looked at her and smiled swallowing hard to keep more tears from streaking his face.

It had been dark outside from the clouds when she found him but now the sun had disappeared behind the horizon.

The ride to Calleigh's apartment had been relatively quiet except for the few questions she was asking him just to make small talk. He answered in as little words as possible. Though he wanted to talk he feared that he wasn't strong enough to form the words without a crack in his voice.

---RainMystique---

When she pulled up to her place the rain had eased up just a little. It wasn't such a down pour but not so light as to be a drizzle. Eric had dozed off in his own world looking out the window. Calleigh was a little nervous to speak first but decided it would be best. "Eric," she said just above a whisper, "we're, umm, here."

"Alright," he managed to get out. He had built up a little bit of strength while riding in the car. "I wanna say thanks for doing this for me. It means a lot that you actually care."

"Hey. Don't say that. Of course I care, Eric. You don't have to worry about it." She paused briefly. " Now come on. Let's head up stairs." They both darted out of the car running for cover out of the rain even though both of them secretly wanted to be in the rain.

When they got in Calleigh's apartment she told him to make himself at home and that she was going to change clothes then make dinner. He did just that. He took off his shoes and his shirt leaving just the under shirt he was wearing exposed. He reached for the remote and turned on the TV to watch the evening news. He wanted some relief from his racing mind so he closed his eyes for just a second.

---RainMystique---

The next thing Eric knew was that he had fallen asleep on Calleigh couch. He was awoken by the smell of spaghetti being cooked. He went into the kitchen smiling. "I thought I smelled something burning." chuckling slightly at the sight of Calleigh in pajamas and slippers.

"Well good morning sleepy head. You have a good nap?" she said walking over towards him.

"Yea. I just closed my eyes for a minute. I guess I'm just worn out. How long do you think I was asleep?" he asked.

"I don't blame you. My guess is a good 30 to 40 minutes. I walk into the kitchen maybe 10 minutes after I left you here and you've been asleep the whole time." She said smiling at him.

"Oh. Well, alright. When's supper gonna be ready?" he said staring at the food.

She turned to look at it then back at him. "It should be ready now. Are you hungry?"

"Starved."

She laughed at his remark. He always knew how to make her laugh in any situation and she appreciated that.

She fixed them both a plate of spaghetti and took them to the table. She told him to sit down and she went to fix them something to drink.

"What would you like to drink?" she asked.

"Umm, what do you have?"

"Well, I have water, lemonade, Coke, Diet Dr. Pepper, sweet tea-" she was interrupted.

"Sweet tea, please." He turned to look at her.

"Okay." She brought back two cups of sweet tea. "So is this your favorite drink?"

"Yeah. My aunt would always-" he trailed off swallowing hard. He tried again this time a little quieter, "She would always make it for me when I came over to stay the night. It was the best."

She came up beside him and placed a cup in front of him. She put hers down and wrapped her arms around him. "Hey. It'll be okay. I promise."

He closed his eyes and inhaled sharply taking in with him the smell of vanilla. It's what Calleigh always smelled like. He lifted his hands and put them on her arms. He realized exactly how close their faces were now and enjoyed it. He didn't want her to move but as soon as he thought that she stood back up and went to her seat. "Thanks" he said a little disappointed she left.

"Sure thing. Now eat up!" she said with a little smile creeping across her face.

After dinner Calleigh went to take a shower and Eric went back to the couch to watch a little TV.

---RainMystique---

When Calleigh got out of the shower she came back down in her pajamas and slippers but this time she was clean. She was headed to the kitchen to get a glass of water when she noticed Eric passed out on the couch with a blanket covering him. She smiled and admired him for just being well, him. Eric. She went and sat right in front of him, Indian style and noticed that he had a tear rolling down his face. She wiped it away and his eyes slowly opened.

"Hey you." He whispered.

She looked at him with sparkling eyes and smiled at him. "Hey back."

He laughed slightly with sleep in his tone. He closed his eyes and was drifting back off to sleep when she grabbed his hand and pulled him off the couch.

"You're in my bed." She breathed.

He gave her a confused look. He had always slept on the couch when he stayed at her house.

She started leading him towards her room. He was still confused as ever from what she said to him.

She stopped him when he stepped through the door. She walked to the bed and moved the covers to the middle of the bed. She sat on the edge and turned to him. She patted the bed beside her by the pillow.

"Calleigh, I can't-"

"Yes, you can." She cut him off. She patted the bed again and stood up to lead him towards the bed. He was still half way asleep so he had trouble holding himself up.

She got him under the covers and put her elbows by his arms. She looked at him and he looked back. The lights were off so it was hard to tell what was going on between their eyes but they both enjoyed it.

Calleigh stood up. "Well, I hope you get some sleep." She leaned over him a placed a soft kiss on his the tip of his nose. There was a flash of lightning followed by thunder. It startled them both. "Well, I'll be on the couch if you need me." She smiled at him and turned towards the door.

Suddenly Eric grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards the bed. "stay." He said quietly with hope in his eyes.

Calleigh gave him a sympathetic look but decided it would be better if she slept on the couch even though she wanted so much to be his comfort. She took her hand away from his and put it on his face. "You know where I'll be." She almost whispered.

He looked at her and then closed his eyes. She slide her hand off his face and walked to the door. "Good night." She said as she closed the door behind her and walked to the couch.

The rain started pouring down even more powerful than before when Calleigh found Eric in the park. It lulled both of them to sleep as it sung its song of pride.

---RainMystique----

Eric was awoken by thunder. At first he was confused where he was but then he remembered and it hit him. Everything started flooding back to him and he just couldn't hold the tears back anymore. Didn't want to either.

After a while, he gathered himself up and went to the kitchen to get something to drink. He wasn't really concentrating on where he was going but he knew he hadn't planned on sitting right in front of where Calleigh lay sleeping. He found he had the urge to touch her face. So with a shaky hand he placed his finger on her jaw bone as lightly as he could so not to wake her and gently stroked her face.

It didn't work. Her eyes fluttered open anyways. She looked at him and sat up to see him smiling at her and at that she had to smile herself. She was so forgiving especially when he looked so helpless. She chuckled softly and asked "You need something?" there were a million other questions swarming in her head at this point but that was the one that managed to slip out of her mouth.

"I, umm, I," he paused briefly. "I came down to get something to drink but I… well I don't why I ended up here. But-" he was confusing himself. He was so glad that she had control. She knew him and she could read his mind or so it seemed.

"Eric," she started, "you don't have to have a reason to wake me. It took me a while to get to sleep because I wanted to be with you. To talk to you." She was answering his silent apology for whatever it is he was apologizing for.

He sighed a breath of relief. She did it again. "Yeah. I'm sorry anyways." He wanted to ask her why she didn't stay with him but knew it wouldn't please her and he didn't want to go there.

She giggled and pulled him up to the couch she was sitting on. She looked into his eyes and started by asking, "So do you wanna talk? I mean you don't have to if you don't want to. I'm just asking."

He smiled at her. "I guess. If you wanna talk and you just said you did so yeah. I do."

"Okay. So how you holdin' up?" she placed a hand on his arm just below his shoulder.

He took a second to think then answered her. "I think I'm gonna make it. Her death was sort of expected but I didn't realized that it would happen so quick, you know? Fall so hard."

She nodded her head. She understood. She'd lost her fair share of loved ones. She had almost had that some experience with him but was so thankful that he pulled through.

"Anyways. I hate to be so negative. I don't mean to bring you into this." He was looking at her with contrite eyes.

She pulled him into a warm embrace. He was a little surprised by her actions but loved every second of it. "Don't worry about it. You're fine."

He held her for a second longer but when he let go of her she stayed in place. She wanted to keep him there. She let go off him but keeping her hands still along his waist. She looked up to see him smiling down at her. He was watching her closely with those astonishing, miraculous brown eyes of his.

He fell for her. He couldn't keep his feelings a secret any longer. He brought his forehead to meet hers and he softly whispered, "I love you, Cal."

She knew she had felt something for him but couldn't tell anyone exactly what. But she figured it out. She knew that she felt the same way about him that he felt for her. She loved him back.

The rain began to pelt against the house harder than ever before. You could hear thunder rolling in the sky. Lightning brightening the world. The wind flinging trees against the windows as it whistled a tune. They felt the floor trembling below them. But none of that seemed to bother them.

Calleigh wrapped her arms around his neck and placed her lips against his. Calleigh felt an adrenaline rush. She didn't know if it was from the rain or from Eric. He was like nothing she'd ever loved before but now that she'd had a taste, she craved more.

Eric broke the kiss and looked in the eyes. He had curiosity written all over his face. She looked at him and smiled, foreheads still pressed together.

"I love you more."

----The end------

Thanks for reading!! :] I've been working so hard on this!! It's not really proofread. So please forgive me! But I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!! Please leave me a review! I really want to know what you think!! Please please!! Thanks so much!! Again. :D