Author's note: So I wanted to write something out of general frustration at the lack of Eric's reactions to 'Last Stand' and to support the EC relationship on the show and I came up with this. It's my first story so please be kind, I still don't think it's perfect, but I've been holding it back for quite some time now and thought I should let people read it, so here goes. Hope you enjoy.

I do not own anything, except maybe Duerden he's mine.

'Something to Come Home to'

Calleigh was sat in her firearms lab, something that rarely happened these days, but they had been so swamped with ballistics' evidence that day they required her expert eyes to go over things. She was attempting to busy herself with the large stack of reports building up and which would probably continue to build up after she'd left that day, to stop herself from worrying about Eric. It was however no good, sighing Calleigh closed the latest file she'd finished working on. She looked at her watch, it read as 7pm. Had she really been waiting all that time? She should have left ages ago and she would have if Eric had been there to take her home or she'd hadn't had been so stubborn and let Valera take her home when she had offered earlier that day after she'd finished working with Ryan on the glasses that had been recovered at the scene. She gathered up the loose folders and straightened them into a neat pile.

"Hey Duerden" she called out "it's no good I'm going to have to leave. I'll try to come in for a couple of hours tomorrow and make sure you know what I have and haven't done today and tie up any loose ends, ok?"

At that point Duerden, a careful and meticulous man in his late forties, looked up from the latest bullet striations he'd been analysing across the lab from her.

"Ok Calleigh, I'm sure I can manage though, if you need your rest tomorrow I'd understand. Come in Monday if you prefer."

"Are you sure? I mean the lab is officially yours for three months, maybe more, starting Monday."

"Of course, you've pretty much been here all day Calleigh, you're pregnant go home and rest you've earned it, I'm sure it can wait a couple of days. Any emergencies I'll call you."

"Well thanks Matthew, you've been great, I know I'm leaving this place in safe hands. I better go find out if Eric's back to take me home."

With that she eased back her chair and stood on her soft black pumps, one of the many pairs she'd reluctantly bought when wearing heels just got too much for her feet and ankles as her pregnancy progressed. Going to the glass door she hung up her lab coat for the last time in a while on the adjacent stand and went to the door, closing it securely behind her. She made her way slowly down to the break room to see if Eric was there.

It was empty when she arrived, no one in sight, momentary disappointment washed over her face. She went to the fridge and retrieved a bottle of water and made herself comfortable on the couch, even slipping off her shoes to place her exhausted feet on the coffee table in front. If anyone caught her she'd play the pregnancy card, anyways she was officially off the clock now. Calleigh just started to relax when she noticed her phone, a bright with a text message. It was Eric he was just finishing in PD and would be up to collect her shortly.

She began to relax when she noticed the break room door open suddenly, her eyes drawn towards it as Natalia, shortly followed by Ryan walked in.

"Hey Calleigh" Natalia casually started as she headed straight for the coffee pot "Thought you'd have left ages ago, it's your last day before you start your leave right?"

"Yeah Nat it is, I'm 36 weeks come Tuesday, time to get all those little things done before the baby comes" she replied smiling sweetly, rubbing her left hand over her abdomen "I just thought I'd help out a bit and before I knew it, it was seven, thought I'd wait and go home with Eric. Maxine tried and failed to take me home at lunch time; I just couldn't go home and stew. I had to make myself useful. I wanted to be here when Eric arrived back".

"Of course"

"He shouldn't be long" Ryan said plonking himself down in the lounge chair "Two sugars, black please Nat."

"Coming right up Sir" she said sarcastically. "Gosh Calleigh I feel bad we haven't been able to give you some form of send-off today, it's been so crazy."

"Hey don't worry Nat, it's not like I'm not coming back, besides today was about getting Memmo back behind bars where he belongs" she said placing her water bottle on the table and settling back onto the couch.

Natalia proceeded to pour out two cups of coffee adding sugar to one and cream to the other. Taking the cups in hand she walked to where Ryan and Calleigh were seated.

"Here Ryan" Natalia handed Ryan his coffee and sat down beside Calleigh on the couch.

"Thanks, just what I needed" Ryan remarked taking a sip and then sinking back into the chair.

"I wouldn't be so sure about coming back Cal, you're going to fall so hard for that baby you won't want to leave it" Natalia said smiling bringing one of her hands to meet Calleigh's that were clasped lightly around the middle of her bump. She gently squeezed Calleigh's hands to which Calleigh grinned and said:

"Oh Nat, I'm going to miss seeing you every day."

"I'll miss you too Cal" Ryan chimed in "You know you're leaving me with her right?" he said in a sarcastic tone glancing sideways at Natalia.

"Hey!" Natalia responded raising her eyebrows and tilting her head sideways.

"Hey yourself!"

"And what exactly is wrong with working with me?"

"Nothing, just Calleigh's a better shot than you and she has a nicer butt too."

"Hey!" Calleigh retorted half choking back laughter, turning to face him, now both sets of the ladies eyes were on the younger CSI "If I wasn't pregnant right now I would so take you down for that comment, Nat you have my full permission to get him for that."

"Yeah well bring it on Boa Vista" he chuckled playfully getting out of his seat and placing his empty coffee cup on the table. He readied himself standing in his best fighting stance.

"You're so on Ryan" Natalia said as a chase ensued around the lounge area, Natalia with a rolled magazine in hand ready to hit Ryan with when she caught him. As the laughter of all three CSIs filled the room, an all too welcome face appeared in the doorway. It was Eric he looked drained emotionally as he walked in, Natalia and Ryan stopped their antics, as he went in and propped himself against the Kitchenette's countertop.

"Ok, so we better get back to work, think Horatio still has some things for us to finish up" Ryan said moving towards the door to leave "We'll see you both later."

"Yes, you know where I am if you need me at all, ok?"

"Thanks Natalia" Calleigh replied quietly.

Natalia and Ryan headed off down the corridor and disappeared into the lab.

Calleigh recognising Eric's distress removed herself from the couch and steadily walked over to her partner, placing her hands about his waist.

"Hey" she said looking up into his eyes to catch his glance, her hands gently massaging his sides to comfort him.

"Hey" Eric reciprocated placing his hands in the same position and drawing her in as close as he could at that moment in time. He needed the comfort and familiarity that no one but she could offer him. Their eyes locked in a gaze, that's where they stood for the next few minutes. Calleigh gradually worked one of her hands up to his face, gently stroking away a salty tear of his away with her thumb.

"I think she would have been proud of you today, I know I am" she started continuing to caress his face delicately with her hand.

"Yeah...do you think we can go home now?" he paused, he wanted to open up, but the break room wasn't the place that he felt he could do so "I'm exhausted, you must be too Cal."

Calleigh was aware that he was being evasive, but she knew better than to force the issue, all she could do was comfort him and trust that when he was ready he'd open up about it to her. A trust that had been tested over the past year, they'd fought hard against those such as Stetler who'd tried to break them and they'd won. Eric was working back at the lab now and Calleigh was secure in the fact that they were on the same team again, one that wouldn't pit them against each other the way the State Attorney's investigation had. They'd always tried fiercely to protect their private life from the harsh realities of their work, but this incident had brought them to the brink of separating. But Eric worked hard and he had learnt his lesson, no more lies and now their union was now stronger than ever. A union that only continued to thrive when Calleigh told him he was going to be a father.

"Well my feet are killing me and I'm a little hungry" she said removing her hand from his face, she went to clasp his hand tightly "Let's go home; we can talk all you want there."

With their fingers intertwined they made their way out of the break room and out of the lab.

They arrived home quickly; Eric placed the car keys casually down on the side table and headed to the kitchen to fix some sandwiches for them and coffee for himself. He needed caffeine that was for sure. Calleigh meanwhile slipped off her pumps and placed herself comfortably on the couch, her feet nested on the foot stool, waiting for Eric to return. She was amazed at that even at this difficult time he was putting her needs above his. She was thankful at how lucky she was to have such a considerate man in her life, his mother had certainly raised him well. She also recognized that Eric may have needed this time alone to gather his thoughts about today. Eric returned promptly, brandishing a tray full of goodies for them.

"So tuna and pickle sandwiches as requested babe, OJ and some banana bread I found" passing her the plate of sandwiches and placing the rest on the coffee table.

"Thanks, now please sit down, because I'm starting to feel guilty" she pleaded gesturing him to sit in the vacant spot beside her.

Eric settled in next to her, his cheese sandwiches in hand and ate, it'd been the first thing he'd eaten since breakfast and they disappeared within minutes. He drunk up his coffee and once Calleigh had finished too he drew her into his embrace making an 'mmmm' sound as he did, eliciting a small smile from Calleigh's mouth as he did. He wrapped his left hand round her back, his right hand placed proudly on her baby bump. He ran his left hand along her back tracing it down over her golden hair slowly again and again as she embraced him as tight as she could, resting her head upon his chest.

"You know today was the first day in a while I missed being out in the field, I wish I could have been with you out there today, I wanted to help out more" Calleigh started.

"Cal you did more for me today then you'll ever know" he said putting his right hand to her chin and bringing her eyes up to meet his. "You didn't have to stay in the lab and work all day, but you did and being able to come home with you and be with you now is more than I ever need. Don't you doubt that." He bought her lips to his delivering a soft kiss, bringing a glow to Calleigh's face "You're incredible".

She acknowledged his compliment with another kiss, a kiss that was tender and lingering and true. Bringing her hands up to cup his face and draw him closer, his hands had moved down to protectively embrace her at the waist.

"I was just so angry today Calleigh" Eric admitted "She's missing out on her life due to that man, and he'd managed to escape and hurt more families like he's hurt mine. She would've loved that her little brother had finally settled down and she would've loved being an Aunt to our baby. She might even have had her own kids by now, I know she wanted that"

"Eric, you can't beat yourself up about that, you fought proudly today and he's now back behind bars where he belongs, he can't hurt anybody else now and that's the best that you can do, the best that anyone can do. He took your sister's life, but now he's paying for that. That's what we fight for everyday; justice" she held his gaze whilst she said this.

"I miss Mari...and today really was terrible hunting Memmo down all over the city, it bought it all back to me. However I realised that when I was out there it wasn't just about justice for just her; it was also about protecting our future with our baby, fighting the bad guys to protect all that is good in the world, that's why we do this job."

"We do" she said settling back down next to Eric, his left arm forming a protective embrace around her once again, her head resting on his shoulder. She brought his right hand with hers and placed it on her baby bump, which he promptly began to caress. Both their gazes locked downwards on the activity. "Eric I need to tell you something and I don't want you to be mad."

"Calleigh what's going on?" he asked both of them looked up their eyes meeting.

"I know we said that we wanted to be surprised as to whether we were having a girl or a boy, but I kinda know already" she divulged tentatively, biting her bottom lip.

"Calleigh Duquesne, can you tell me how you know and I don't?" he said inquisitively raising his eyebrows.

"Well" she said taking a small breath "I asked the OB before I left at our last appointment, when you went to bring the car around if she could tell me and she did."

"And...?" he replied trying not to give his reaction away enjoying this subtle teasing of the girl he loved.

"Well Eric" she starts softly "You're going to be the father of a daughter, we're having a girl. You're not mad I couldn't wait are you?"

"Oh baby I could never be mad at you for this, it's just made the day a whole lot better for me, God I love you Calleigh" he exclaimed with a beaming smile, that Calleigh reciprocates, her emerald eyes sparkle with delight. Leaning forward he kissed her deeply, drawing her in so expertly.

"I love you Eric" she replied, he brought her back into his embrace, one hand wrapped around her, the other met hers a top of her baby bump.

"Whoa she's kicking again!" Eric felt.

"She is" Calleigh said softly reaffirming his words as Eric moved down to kiss her bump lovingly.

Here he was Eric Delko, his arms tightly wrapped around the two people that meant the most to him in the world, who he'd do anything to protect; his partner, lover and soul mate Calleigh and their daughter, they'd meet very soon.