Chapter 1:

Eric was pumping up some iron, trying to shake off this feeling he had in the pit of his stomach after a long day at work. It was actually quite late, but Eric couldn't sleep so he decided to burn the rest of the energy. Maybe it was that little incident with Calleigh that was still on his mind. He could still see her face standing mere inches away from him...

'Yeah OK I'm on my way. I'm leaving the lab now' he heard her say. She was talking to probably one of their colleagues on her phone as he approached her. Calleigh grabbed her bag and put her phone in it and turned to leave when she bumped in Eric's chest and almost lost her balance. Eric was quick though and immediately wrapped one arm around her and pulled her to him to keep her from falling on her back, as she wrapped her arms round his waist.

Their faces were so close. She was staring straight in his eyes, lips slightly parted and he could see her chest going up and down while she just stared without saying a word. Eric on the other hand was still holding her close to him, his brown eyes getting darker as he focused on her mesmerizing eyes. His lips were dry from the need to kiss those gorgeous lips, and instinctively he wet his lips. The simple gesture though snapped Calleigh out of the trance she seemed to have fallen in.

'Eric' she whispered.

Eric smiled then as he himself snapped out of the trance and dropped his hands from her 'Hey Cal, going somewhere?' he asked her.

Calleigh smiled that smile that makes her blush a bit every single time they have one of these moments 'Yeah. Oh shit we have to go. Wolfe and Natalia found two dead bodies floating in a pool. Apparently the neighbor reported that she hadn't seen them for two days in a row, which doesn't seem to be normal' Calleigh informed him.

'OK let's go' he told her as they made their way out together.

After that, things were quite normal, with no other particular moments really. To be exact, she did leave in quite a rush, hardly said goodbye to anyone, and Eric couldn't help but worry that it was because of that particular incident. She usually didn't fuss, it wasn't like this was the first incident they had, so why was this any different.

The thing was that even though Eric thought that that could possibly be what was worrying him, something deep down told him it wasn't. He was just uncomfortable, supporting this feeling that something was off, something that involves Calleigh.

'That's it. I'm going over to check on her' he told himself.

So he grabbed a t-shirt, grabbed his keys and wallet, gun just in case duty calls and ran out of his apartment.

It took him less than fifteen minutes to arrive in front of the building where Calleigh lives. He got out of the car and started making his way up to her apartment, and as he did, the feeling got even worse, and he was starting to smell something unusual in the corridors, and as he approached her door, the smell got even stronger. He frowned and knocked on her door.

'Calleigh...Calleigh are you in there?' he called out knocking hard on her door.

There was no answer and then he realized what the smell was and his eyes went wild 'Gas' he whispered and in a split second he kicked the door in and ran inside her apartment, the strong smell of gas hitting him. His eyes searched frantically for her in just a matter of seconds, when he suddenly found her passed out on the floor. Her hands and legs were tied up, and she had a cloth in her mouth. Her body was obviously placed in the kitchen right in front of the counter.

'Calleigh' he called out as he dropped on his knees in panic, quickly picking her up as she was and started running out of the apartment, down the stairs and just as he crossed the road there was a loud bang and glass shattered out to the streets, as suddenly her apartment caught fire.

Calleigh was still passed out and tied up and Eric quickly laid her on the pavement and quickly removed the cloth from her mouth and then the tape from round her hands and legs. He checked for a pulse and he realized that it was very weak.

'You hang in there Cal. Don't you there leave me' he told her, as he picked her up and placed her in the passenger's seat so he could keep and eye on her. In a matter of minutes, Eric was speeding his way to the hospital, the sirens disturbing the quiet night as he raced against time. He grabbed his mobile and dialed Horatio's number.

'H, I'm racing Calleigh to hospital. Her apartment is on fire' Eric told him and with that he hung up and focused on getting to the hospital.

He ran with her in his arms, Calleigh still completely out of it, while he called for help. A couple of nurses in the emergency area showed him the way to an available bed and asked him what happened. He quickly told them what he knew and then he had to exit the emergency room.

Eric was in a total shock. Someone had managed to make his way into her apartment, tied her up and tried to blow her up. He was pacing the hospital corridors, running his hand through his head, his eyes still wide and he could still feel his heart pounding hard in his chest.

Why would anyone want to kill her? Then he rolled his eyes at his stupid question! There were tons of people who would like to kill all of them. They were CSI's. What should he expect? He finally sat down and tried to pray to God to keep her safe and get her through this. He prayed that he wouldn't take her away from him.

The nurse was out not long after and informed him about the state she was in. She told him that if he hadn't brought her in when he did, it would have been too late. Eric almost fainted at that statement, but somehow managed to stand.

'Can I go in and see her?' he asked the nurse.

'Of course' she replied.

Eric thanked the nurse and proceeded on his way to her room. He pushed the door open and then closed it behind him. He needed some privacy with her. He needed to be with her alone without having anyone bothering them.

She was lying there in bed, face up, with a drip attached to her, along with other wires for other monitors. He could see that the bruises had already formed round her wrists and Eric had to remember how to breathe. He swallowed the lump in his throat and took a deep breath. He sat down on the chair next to her bed, and slipped his hand in hers, while he reached out his free hand to stroke her face. Even when a little pale, she looked so beautiful in his eyes.

'Calleigh...can you hear me?' he asked her as he stroked her head.

There was no answer and Eric really had to struggle with himself to keep from bursting into tears.

'You scared the shit out of me Duquesne' he started telling her 'You need to wake up alright...you need to tell us what you know, so we can catch the bastard who did this to you' he told her.

He heard a knock on the door and then Horatio peeped his head in and Eric had to leave the room but not before he kissed her hand and promised her he would be back soon.

'What happened?' Horatio asked him.

'I found her with her hands and legs tied up, a cloth in her mouth and the gas was on. I could smell it as I made my way to her apartment' Eric told him as he sat down. He needed to calm himself down and breathe. He could still see her lying there on the floor unconscious.

'We will find the bastard who did this' Horatio told him.

'H...if I had been a minute late...' and Eric just couldn't complete the sentence.

'You weren't' he told him 'Now go and stay with her and if we have any news, we'll let you know' Horatio told him.

'What about her apartment? Is it all gone?' Eric asked him and Horatio nodded 'Shit' he cursed.

'Whoever did this, wanted to make sure the job was completed' Horatio replied and with that he left. He knew she was in good hands now, so he could go back to work and try and figure out who did this to her.

It was three in the morning when Eric felt someone squeeze his hand softly and the sound of his name being whispered.

'Eric' he heard again.

He lifted his head and realized that Calleigh was awake and Eric could swear that the smile on his face lit up the rest of the room as he could finally see her eyes again.

'Hey, you're awake' he whispered.

'Where am I?' she asked still holding his hand in hers. She had this scared look on her face and her eyes were searching everywhere.

'Hey Cal, calm down. I'm here. You're safe' he told her as he stroked her head.

'What happened?' she asked him.

'What is it the last thing you remember?' he asked her with a frown.

'I remember walking into my apartment and closing the door behind me...and then...someone grabbed me from behind and covered my mouth' she told him 'What happened?' she asked him again.

She was a bit groggy but she could still see that he was struggling to tell her what happened 'Hey...Eric...tell me' she whispered stroking his hand with her thumb, to let him know it was OK to tell her whatever it was.

Eric looked at her then with a worried look on his face 'Cal...someone tried to kill you' he started telling her, and Calleigh gasped at that statement.

'How?' she asked him, feeling the tears burn the back of her eyes and then she saw the red marks on her wrists 'Was I tied up?' she asked him.

'You were' Eric replied with a nod 'I found you passed out on the floor in your kitchen. Your hands and legs were tied up, and you had a cloth in your mouth and...' but Eric had to stop and take a deep breath before continuing.

'And what?' she asked him.

'Calleigh...the gas was on. Whoever did this tried to blow you up' he told her and Calleigh gasped and burst into tears. Eric quickly climbed on the bed next to her and carefully pulled her in his arms, so that her head was resting on his chest. It wasn't very easy to get Calleigh Duquesne to cry, but tonight she was weak and someone tried to kill her, and she simply couldn't take it.

'Hey hey...I'm here. You're safe' Eric told her as he kissed the top of her head and rubbed her arms slowly, like he was trying to warm her up.

'Who saved me? What happened?' she asked him.

'I did' he told her and Calleigh looked up to look at him, their faces obviously very close in the position they were in.

'You saved me?' she asked him 'How?' she asked him, still looking in his eyes.

'I had this terrible feeling that something was off, and I just couldn't sleep. I was worried about you. I don't know it was like...like I sensed that you needed me...so I came to check on you' he told her with a shrug and then he closed his eyes as he remembered the way he had found her in and Calleigh quickly realized it.

'Hey Eric...I'm here, in your arms. Open your eyes' she told him, rubbing her face in his chest.

'I'm sorry' he whispered.

'It's OK. Then what happened?' she asked him.

'I just picked you up and ran down the stairs to get out of the building' Eric told her. He pulled her hand up and kissed it for her before continuing 'Calleigh...your apartment blew up' he told her.

'What?' she asked him as her voice broke.

'I'm sorry. I didn't try to turn the gas off. I was too scared. I couldn't think. All I could think about was getting you out of there' he told her.

Calleigh started crying again and as much as she hated it, she just couldn't stop. She wasn't blaming him or anything, but she was still in shock, and she did loose everything she had...including the bracelet Eric himself had given to her on her birthday. She loved that bracelet and now it was lost in the fire.

Eric was feeling so guilty for not saving her apartment as well but he just had no time to do it.

'Calleigh I swear I had no time to do anything except getting you out of there' he told her.

'I know' she sobbed 'I'm not blaming you. I'm just...shocked and I feel so tired and weak' she whispered as she tried to calm herself down.

'Why don't you try and rest? I'm not going anywhere. You're completely safe' he assured her.

'Will you keep holding me like this if I sleep?' she asked him.

'I wouldn't dream of doing anything else' he told her as he kissed her head again.

She lifted her head a bit then and kissed his chin 'Thank you Eric. You're my hero' she told him.

'You're welcome Cal. Try to get some sleep' he told her.

It didn't take her too long to sleep after that, as Eric still held her in his arms, until the sun rose again in a matter of hours.