Chapter 1: Painful Present

"Officer down at 25th and Biscayne Avenue." The call out operator said over the microphone into the ears of the CSI driving the hummer. The driver made a sharp turn having just passed the area a mile back. Dread spread through his heart as he drove like a mad man. Finally reaching the location he parked the car and removed his gun from his holster.

Clearing the area he called out her name. "Vanessa!!" he yelled is voice hoarse and raspy with emotion. No response came as he turned another corner he saw here there. Her blue top was torn at the abdomen, her long brownish red hair spread around her and a pool of blood had started to form slowly around her. As he looked upon the scene an icy feeling of dread filled his stomach. Running over to her he applied pressure to her wound and called for rescue.

"Come on Vanessa fight, don't give up" he said to her, although he was not sure she was even conscious. He felt for her pulse, she had one but it was slowly dying. He felt his eyes brim with tears that glided down his cheeks onto her soft caramel skin. "Vanessa come on baby open your eyes" he said to her through his wavering voice. With the energy she had let she slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him.

The man she loved was looking over her crying, begging her to stay alive. She looked into his eyes. Silently she was praying that for once her looked at her for who she was and what she meant to him. No such luck he still looked at her as his first wife. She looked at the gold wedding band on his left had and smiled sadly as she looked back up at him. A silent tear slid down her cheek as she spoke softly. "Looks like I'll always be a comparison, just a replacement." After those words left her mouth she passed out, and finally rescue had arrived.

Not being allowed to ride in the ambulance he drove behind it, praying that she would be ok. On the way he called the rest of the team, and they met at the emergency room at Miami General. He didn't understand what she had meant by "always be a comparison a replacement". After he arrived he sat in the waiting room knowing it would be futile to try to demand access to where Vanessa was.

The rest of the team arrived in twos and threes to see Vanessa. When the doctor came out from the OR the team bombarded him. "Can we see her? How is she? Will she be ok? Is she alive?" they asked all at the same time. The doctor stood in shock for a moment before speaking. "Are you all here for Mrs. Vanessa Delko?" He asked. "Yes. I'm her husband Eric Delko" Eric said. The doctor considered this information for a moment. "Mr. Delko your wife is ok she alive. She did loose a lot of blood but she's a fighter she is away though." the doctor said letting the information sink in. "Oh thank God can we see her?" Eric asked.

The doctor hesitated for a moment before answering. "Mr. Delko I'm sorry but, Vanessa doesn't want to see anyone." The doctor said. "What do you mean she doesn't want to see anyone?" Eric questioned harshly his hot temper flaring up. "She told me that if her husband and those with him asked to see her to tell them to go away. Her exact words were "it's not like they really care anyway. To them I'm just a replacement for her."" The doctor said quoting Vanessa. At that moment a sharp realization washed over the group.

They had always treated her as a replacement for the first Mrs. Delko. Even though over the years she grew on them they still subconsciously treated her as a replacement. The looks, the constant criticism. She could do nothing right, because she wasn't her, she wasn't Calliegh Duquesne-Delko. Eric felt a sense of guilt wash over him as he realized what her words from earlier had meant. She could take the pain, the constant comparison at work, but at home…..at home she wept.

He was her husband and even he, both at work and at home treated her as a replacement for Calliegh. He constantly compared her to Calliegh. From the way she dressed to the way she talked to the way she walked. The guilt hit him harder as he realized that he was the reason she constantly cried. At home he would eat the dinner she had prepared with love and served with a smile, but he would compare it to Calliegh's dinners and criticize. She took it with a smile and a promise to do better next time, though the look in her eyes was one of hurt. In bed he would make love to her all the while imagining Calliegh, she knew this but still let him continue. He now realized that he was the biggest source of her pain. She had loved him and he took advantage of it. He realized that all the tears the constant asking of his opinion or for an order was nothing more than a plea for him to love and accept her, the same way she did him. Vanessa constantly gave, and never asked for anything in return. It was always "yes Eric, of course Eric, whatever you want Eric", and always said with a smile on her face, but with what he now realized was a breaking, bleeding, pleading heart that wanted nothing more than love.

Eric was broken from his voice by Horatio calling him. "Eric, it's…it's about Calliegh isn't it?" Horatio questioned. Eric nodded in the affirmative. "Yeah and this whole time I've done nothing about it. She's called me her husband, loved me. She's never asked for anything in return, she's sacrificed all of herself just to please me, and yet I do nothing to appreciate her. She wears my wedding bands, the same ones I gave Calliegh. I haven't even taken her on a honeymoon….hell I didn't even give her a proper wedding." Eric said angry with himself. "It's my fault Horatio" he said quietly.

"No Eric, it's all our faults" Natalia said coming to sit by him, and rubbing small circles on his back. The room went quiet as they remembered how this entire thing began. Three years ago. Three years after Calliegh's death.