ANCIENT PUZZLES

Summary: When several members of a jury are murdered in ancient ways, the team gets a complicated puzzle to solve. And it doesn't help that IAB Paul Its, takes Eric off the case, when he finds a personal connection. Valera suspects she might give birth sooner then expected. And Eric and Horatio, might finally walk down the aisle.

-I-

Wednesday, 21st Mars, 2008. 07:00

Eric glanced over at the sleeping Horatio. The two of them had almost been able to back to the way things had always been before Horatio had found Eric had cheated on him, and then the woman Eric had cheated on Horatio with, had turned up at the same store as the couple. She had though Horatio was just a friend, and had started talking to Eric about how good their sex had been. Horatio hadn't said anything, he had been too stunned. Unfortunately the little meeting, made a new rift in the couples relationship.

Horatio pushed Eric away once again. And Eric realized for the first time, just how sensitive his lover really was. The meeting had occurred a month ago. Since then, Horatio and Eric was back at kissing and hugging, but still no sex. Though the meeting wasn't the only excuse that Horatio and Eric hadn't had sex. Horatio had a huge stack of paperwork too, and the team had just wrapped up a big high-profile case, with a dead Navy General. Neither Eric nor Horatio had simply had the energy to engage into more then just a kiss or two. Since the case had closed yesterday, they couple had gone home and just slept. Slept for several hours. Until now, Eric had woken up. He rolled over on his side and wrapped his arms around the read head, burying his nose in his neck. Horatio stirred and opened his eyes, he smiled as he recognized the arms embracing him.

"Good Morning." Horatio smiled.

"Good Morning, H." Eric sighed, he tightened his embrace of Horatio.

Horatio managed to turn around and face Eric. He smiled at him and gave him a good morning kiss.

"I hope we don't have anymore high-profile cases for a while now." Eric sighed.

"So do I." Horatio said.

Eric laid his head against Horatio's chest, and listened to his heartbeat. He loved doing that. And he had noticed that his nieces and nephews did too. Whenever Horatio and Eric was at one of Eric's sister homes, and they stayed their 'til late at night, the kids always asked Horatio read a bed-time story for them, and they always placed their heads on his chest. When asked why, they had answered that they thought Horatio's heartbeat was soothing and calming. Eric had agreed with them of course.

"My heartbeat is soothing and calming, are you sure they didn't mean that it's a kind of sleeping pill for them?" Horatio asked, referring to Eric's nieces and nephews.

"Positive." Eric yawned.

"Liar." Horatio chuckled.

He brought his hands to Eric's waist and started tickling him. Eric squirmed and tried to get away, but Horatio held him in place.

"H, stop. It's tickling!" Eric laughed.

"That's the point!" Horatio grinned, and continued tickling Eric.

Eric finally broke free and rolled over to the other side of the bed. Horatio sat up and jumped towards him, his hands going to his waist, to tickle some more. Eric laughed and started rolling with his body. He rolled so much that eventually… he fell out of the bed. Horatio chuckled and peeked over the edge. Eric grinned at him, then grabbed his arms and pulled him down on top of him.

"Gotcha." Eric smirked.

He started tickling Horatio around his stomach. Horatio squirmed and laughed. In all the chaos he accidentally kicked Eric's left thigh hard. Eric groaned and stopped.

"Sorry." Horatio said and gave Eric a hug.

"It's okay." Eric chuckled, "It's all a part of the game."

Horatio grinned and bent down to kiss the hurt part. He glanced up at Eric, as he teased him. Kissing softly on the skin, while running his hands up his thighs. Eric looked down at Horatio. Just as Eric started getting aroused, Horatio stopped and stood up.

"I'll take a shower, while you make breakfast." Horatio grinned and left the room.

Eric sat up. Horatio was teasing him and he knew it. Eric grinned and went to the kitchen to make breakfast.

-I-

Calleigh, who was now 20 weeks pregnant, was awake and already running around in her and Ryan's apartment. She and Ryan had forgot to wash their clothes yesterday, so now Calleigh had barely anything to wear. Ryan would just wear something a bit older, that maybe he had forgotten that he still owned.

"Calleigh, you have a lot of time to apply make-up, find clothes and eat breakfast." Ryan said, as he sat calmly at the kitchen table, eating his breakfast.

"No, time is running away." Calleigh said, as she walked passed the kitchen to the bathroom.

Ryan chuckled. He had suggested that Calleigh would wake up earlier, so that she didn't have to rush. And she had managed to do so... for three days. Before slipping back to her old habits.

"I hope our daughter doesn't end up being like this." Ryan joked.

He and Calleigh were having a little baby girl. Her name would be Riley Sarah Joane. Riley, because they didn't know anyone named that, not among their friends or their families. Sarah was after Ryan's grandmother, and Joane after Calleigh's great aunt.

"Very funny, Ryan." Calleigh said, as she passed the kitchen again, this time towards the bedroom to get dressed.

Ryan finished his breakfast, he put some sandwiches in a bow to Calleigh, since he knew she would eat in the car. Then he went to the bathroom to freshen up and brush his teeth. By the time he was on his way to the bedroom, Calleigh passed him, this time to fix new make-up.

"Make room! Pregnant lady coming through." She said.

Ryan chuckled and went to the bedroom to get dressed. He finished quickly and then sat in the hallway, waiting for Calleigh to change into some other clothes, when she wasn't satisfied with her top. Calleigh wasn't a fashion-freak, but she did have her days when she couldn't decide what to wear.

"I'm done. Let's go." She smiled, and left the house with her husband.

Ryan drove to the lab, while Calleigh sat next to him, eating her breakfast. Once they arrived at the lab, they bumped into Natalia and Frank.

"Hey you two!" Calleigh smiled and gave them both a hug, "We've been meaning to ask you two, do you want to be godparents to Riley?"

"Of course!" Frank and Natalia said at the same time.

"Good!" Ryan smiled, "How is everything going for you two?"

"Perfect." Natalia grinned.

They four of them talked some more. About work and private stuff. They bumped into IAB Paul Its, who simply nodded at all of them. He didn't like the idea, that Horatio and Eric were dating, that Cal and Ryan were married and that now Frank and Natalia were dating too.

He hated relationships within the PD. Mostly because his wife had been a homicide Dt., in Chicago, where he had lived before. And whenever he had to investigate her colleagues they always ended up arguing. And after a while, they even got divorced. They got into the elevator, and then Frank got off at his floor, while the trio continued up to their floor. The lab. Once outside the elevator they stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the very pregnant Valera in the hallway.

"Maxine Valera! What are you doing here?" Calleigh said firmly, becoming a little mother hen.

"What? I'm just visiting my fiancé." Valera smiled innocently.

"You should… fiancé?" Calleigh asked, shocked.

Valera nodded and showed them her ring. Natalia and Calleigh shrieked of joy and asked her how Jason had popped the question.

"He took me to dinner, and then when we got home, he took me out on the deck, and he had set up a sign, that said: Maxine, will you marry me?" Valera grinned, "It was so sweet."

"When did he do this?" Ryan asked.

"Yesterday."

"Well, congratulations!" The trio said in unison.

"Thanks you guys!" Valera grinned, "So how is everything? And how is my replacement?"

The trio sighed, they didn't like the replacement. His name was Dylan, and he was a big jerk, who loved doing things in his pace. If anyone ever asked him to put a rush on something, he never did. He just did it even slower, and always blamed the computer or the evidence itself. Only Horatio managed to get Dylan to listen.

"That bad huh?" Valera asked, as Calleigh had just told her what Dylan was like.

"Yeah, I think Horatio might fire him, as soon as he can find another DNA specialist." Natalia said, "Now you shouldn't be here."

"It's three weeks left until I give birth." Valera said, "Though I am quite amazed at how I managed to walk around the lab. I can barely stand on my feet at home. Never have triplets let me tell you that."

Calleigh and Natalia laughed, "Now go home and rest."

Valera chuckled and obeyed. She had too, before Alexx would see. Because if Alexx saw her, she would give Valera the tongue-lashing of her life. Once Valera was gone, Ryan and the girls walked to the break room. There they found Eric and Horatio.

"Hello!" Calleigh smiled, "Everything going okay?"

Both Horatio and Eric nodded, they had food in their mouths. Since they had forgotten to buy food for their fridge at home. So they had to eat at the lab.

"Any new cases so far?" Ryan asked.

"Nope." Horatio said, once he was done chewing, "I have to work on getting my stack of paperwork smaller."

"I have a few ballistic test to do." Calleigh said, "On some robberies that were forgotten while we worked on the Navy General case."

"I have lab reports to write." Natalia said.

Horatio groaned, and Natalia chuckled.

"Sorry H, I have to add more papers to your stack." She chuckled.

Ryan sat down next to Eric, as the girls and Horatio left to do their jobs.

"What do you have left?" Ryan asked.

"Well, some tire marks, from an older case." Eric said, "You?"

"Nothing. No trace. Nada."

"Then help me out. I got twenty different tire marks to match to twenty different cars." Eric said, "Pleeeeease"

Ryan thought for a moment. It wasn't everyday that Eric Delko would beg him to help him.

"Pleeease Ryan." Eric begged, grinning.

"Alright, just because I am a nice guy. I will help ya out." Ryan chuckled.

"Thanks man." Eric said.

-I-

11:00

Jury member Zed Murdock, looked around in the room he was hanging in. He was sitting on a metal floor. He couldn't see a door or a window. Nothing. It was completely black. After what seemed like hours, the floor suddenly started becoming warmer and warmed. Zed stood up, he felt like he was going to burn his ass up. After a while he realized that it was too warm for him to stand still he had to move around to not burn his feet. He was sweating too, and started banging on the walls.

"Help!" He yelled, "Somebody please help me!"

He couldn't remember how he hag got to this room, or what the last thing he had done was either. He wasn't sure of what day it was, because he didn't know how long he had been here. Now it didn't matter how much Zed moved around, he still burned his feet. And he just kept on sweating more and more. He screamed in pain as his feet burned badly. The longer time went by, when warmer it got. After a while, Zed could no longer stand on his feet, he fell down on the floor and screamed is he burned his back. He could smell his burnt hair and screamed as his back was being toasted. He realized that he would die soon, a painful death. He screamed and tried to move, but it was as if he was burned to the floor. He couldn't move, and screamed as his back just burned even worse.

"Somebody please help me!"

-I-

19:40

Eric closed his eyes and let his head fall back on the couch back. He was trying to watch the news, but he was just too tired. He didn't think he had any energy left in his body. Which was strange, since he had been asleep the entire last night. He was too tired to feel Horatio unbuckle his belt and rub him through his underwear. That was until he felt spikes of pleasure run through him and he forced his eyes open. Horatio smirked at him, and kissed his growing arousal. Eric moaned and grabbed a handful of Horatio's hair. Horatio pulled Eric's pants and underwear down, as he took his arousal in his mouth.

"Geez, H!" Eric moaned.

Horatio hummed and rose from the floor, he sat down in Eric's lap and kissed him hard.

"What did that come from?" Eric asked, panting.

"I'm ready to have sex again." Horatio smiled, "But I would prefer if we were in our bed."

Horatio didn't wait for an answer as he grabbed Eric's hand and dragged him their bedroom. He pushed Eric down on the bed and licked his arousal, before removing his own clothes and joining his lover under the sheets.

Once they couple were done, Horatio watched over Eric as he slept.

"Sweet dreams my love." He whispered as he embraced him tightly.

TBC…

AN: Please review!