"Eric?"
"Eric?" The man repeated.
"Eric."
The Cuban finally looked up his look making Horatio look away.
"We're gonna get him Eric. We're gonna get him."
…48 hours earlier.
"Hey there Cal!"
"Hi."
"Oh, you have Kenny! Hello Kenny!" Natalia said with a babyish voice and a huge smile.
Kenny cowed clapping, which made both woman laugh.
"Where's Eric?"
"Out."
"H?"
"DNA last time a saw him."
"Thanks, I need to talk to him."
"Do you want me to take care of Kenny while you talk?"
"I would say that it's not needed, but I know you would love to, so I'll humor you."
Natalia laughed picking Kenny who squirmed.
"Oh, what is it Kenny? You don't like me, is that it?"
Calleigh rolled her eyes when Natalia made a face making her 1 and an half year old son laugh.
"I knew you liked me. Now tell me, can you walk already, or is it still on progress hum?"
"He can't answer you." Calleigh said over her shoulder when turning the corner.
"Yes he can."
"Let's see those feet working?"
The boy squirmed again cooing when Nat putted him on the floor, grabbing both his hands as support.
"Oohh, you're much better at this, someday you'll walk better that I do". She said when the kid took a few steps barely stumbling.
"Cute kid."
The woman looked up to who she recognized as Jake Berkeley.
"Yes, he sure is."
"Who's the father?"
"Eric is."
"He had a kid?"
"Yes Berkeley, he did."
"Hum, anyway, I came here to talk to Calleigh where is she?"
"Talking to H right now, you'll have to wait."
"O.k."
"Hey Nat."
"Hi you."
"Hello Kenny!" Eric exclaimed picking the boy up.
"Da!" The baby cowed smiling widely.
"Yes! How is my little boy?"
"He's fine."
"Hum… I don't think so" Eric joked "Maybe I should check him out, is your tummy ok. Kenny?"
The boy just smiled laughing widely when Eric started tickling him making Natalia smile.
"Oh, I think you're o.k. . Now, auntie Nat took a good care of you didn't she?"
"I did."
"Auntie?"
"Yes Jake, you got a problem?"
"No, just thought Natalia was the kid's mum."
"The kid has a name, it's Kenny."
"Whatever, so, which girl did you knocked up hum Delko? Condom not working anymore."
Eric sent him a death glare but then smirked.
"Oh, wouldn't you wish that it was like that?"
"What do you mean?"
"Hi there! Calleigh greeted kissing Eric's lips."
"Hi back."
"W-what the hell?"
"Oh, hello Jake."
"Calleigh."
"Hum… what are you doing here?"
"I came to talk to you."
Calleigh nodded her attention focused in a squirming Kenny on Eric's harms.
"I think he wants you."
"I know, mommy's harms are much better that daddy's." She joked.
"Yeah, but who does he comes to when he does something he shouldn't or wants to play hum?"
"It's because you're a man."
"Sure it is."
Natalia rolled her eyes grinning.
"Are you still arguing about that?"
"It's not arguing, is… debating."
"Whatever it is stop it please, it's driving us all crazy."
"Where's Dylan? Wasn't he suppose to come here to do that thing to a presentation to the school?"
"Yes, he's on classes, he'll be here at 5:30, please don't let him record the dead bodies."
"Why not? It's part of what we do here."
"Still."
"O.k., no dead bodies, I promise."
"Thanks."
"You do know he sneaked to the morgue a few times right?"
"He what?!"
"Yeah."
"That kid drives me crazy."
Jake sighed feeling out of place and walked away from the group.
"Jake."
"Horatio."
"What are you doing here?"
"My assignment's over, I wanted to talk to Calleigh."
"I think there's something you need to know."
"That she and Delko had a kid?"
"They're married, they have 2 kids, Kenny, he's almost 2 and Dylan, who's turning eighteen in June."
"Whoa there, I was only gone for 3 years, there's no way that Calleigh has a seventeen years old son."
"They adopted him."
"Why?"
"You have to ask Calleigh and Eric."
"How long have the two of them been together?"
"Since Calleigh understood her heart."
"How poetic of you, how long?"
"3 years, they got married 2 years ago."
"How come that I didn't heard?"
"Jake, there's work to be done, and I don't like to talk about other people's life, so please, whatever you have to say to Calleigh do it after your shift is over."
"Yes sir."
"You're assigned to a rape and murder on grove."
"O.k."
"Take Ryan and Natalia with you."
"Yes."
Jake walked to the group who was still around the baby,
"Hum, we have a case."
"Who's we?"
"Me, Natalia and Wolfe."
"Well, looks like we have to go. Bye."
"Bye, say bye bye to auntie Nat Kenny."
The boy waved his small hand to Natalia who waved back smiling.
"So, what do we got?"
"Rape and murder at grove."
"I hate those."
"Yeah."
"You actually thought Calleigh would be waiting for you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I saw your face when they kissed."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Whatever."
…,…,…,…,…,…,…,…,…,…,…,…,,,…,…,…,…,…,…,…,…,
"Hey Alex."
"Hi sweetie."
"Wow."
"Yeah."
"She looks just like Calleigh!"
"I know."
"I think I'm going to feel sick."
"Don't dramatize."
"What's the COD?"
"Strangulation. Poor baby fought hard for her life. Defensive wounds, skin under her fingernails, bruises starting to show…"
"Wow."
"I can't get more out here. Let's bag her."
…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Jake walked to the teen that had just entered, for all he knew the kid had just came from a heavy metal concert, because he was dressed all in black, shredded shirt and jeans, jacket, a piercing on his lower lip and a bullet hanging on his neck as a pendant on a necklace.
"Hey, you can't get in here."
"Who are you?"
"I'm the one asking that."
"Ask all you want, I won't answer you."
"Didn't your parents teach you to respect the older ones?"
"Didn't your parents teach not to speak with strangers? Because I was taught that, so bye."
He bumped into Jake's shoulder walking to the information desk.
"Hey Paula."
"Hey there."
"You know this brat?"
"Who is this jerk Paula?"
"Detective Jake Berkely."
"I never saw him before."
"He was undercover for the past few years."
"Hum. Where's my mum?"
"Ballistics. Am I going to be in that video of yours?"
"Maybe, maybe not". He joked.
"Wait, you're Calleigh's adoptive kid?"
"Hey Dylan, you're finally here, your mum was about to shop my head."
"Hey there Wolfe."
"How come that Calleigh adopted you?"
"How do you work with this jerk?"
"I don't know Dylan, I really don't."
"By the way, and since you're here, I need to film you too."
"o.k."
The boy pulled a camera out of his bag and turned it on.
"Should we do it here?"
"Hum…"
"No, what would people think?" Paula intervened.
"Good point, let's go to the morgue."
"No way, that is a forbidden place today."
"What? C'mon, I'm seventeen you know? I have been in the morgue plenty of times."
"Fine."
"Yes!"
Ryan went with Dylan o the morgue muttering something about Calleigh killing him.
"Hey Alex!"
"Hey there Dylan! Oh no sweetheart, no filming the corpse."
"Please Alex, I want to get a good grade, you want that too don't you?"
"It's not about that, it's about respecting the victim."
"I respect them."
"I know you do, but do the people who will see the video?"
"O.k. then. Hum… I have a few questions and I need you to answer o.k.?"
"All right."
"So, what's your job here?"
"Medical examiner."
"And what do you do?"
"I examine the corpse to find out how and when the victim died, those are the time and cause of death."
"And does it prove a difficult task?"
"Sometimes."
"Could you give us an example?"
"Yes. When, for example, the body is frozen, the timeline is nearly impossible to establish."
"What do you do in those cases?"
"You could say I'm out."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if I can't find a time of death then there'll be detective work to establish that time."
"So, all you do is cutting a body to find when and how the victim died?"
"Oh no, far from it. I have to collect samples of blood to TOX. To see if there's any chemical or condition that affects the death, I have to collect any bullets or foreign object that there might be in the victim, and sometimes, I have to identify the body."
"How do you identify a body?"
"It depends, we can run the face into missing person reports, we have dental records, we can use any chirurgical implants and check the serial number, and, of course, we have DNA, but those things are not things in my area"
"O.k. do you find it a hard job? I mean, considering you deal with death every day."
"Yes, it's tough, but someone has to listen to this people, and that's what we do here."
"Last question, which was the toughest case you worked on?"
"It's special tough when you know the victim."
"Has that happened already?"
"Yes."
"Anything else you like to add?"
"Just one thing. You might think that what I said was stupid, or even jus crappy talk, but these people have no one to talk for them, and we are the ones who can hear what they can't say, so, even if you think that they're dead, and that's it, no need to worry, think, that they're still human, and let me ask you this. If someone killed you, wouldn't you want someone to find out who was it?"
"Hum… thank you Alex. That would be all."
"Hey, what about me? Weren't you going to interview me too?"
"I think that it's better to interview you along with the others."
"Why?"
"You're all C.S.I"
"Yes, but Natalia handles D.N.A, and Delko fingerprints, and Calleigh firearms and tool marks."
"Which makes me think, what do you handle exactly?"
"Shut up."
"See, you need to prepare yourself to the interview or everyone else will look better."
"Don't try to fool me kid."
"I need to find H."
"Why?"
"He's the boss."
"Good point."
…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-.
"So, how's the video going?"
"o.k., I just need to edit it, it will take me forever."
Calleigh chuckled sipping her coffee.
"Who's Seth McAddams?"
The woman choked on the drink her eyes widening at her son.
"What?"
"Where did you even heard that name?"
"I didn't. Eric was waiting for the results on a fingerprint from the case you have and he ran off the lab when the computer beeped so I took a look and the name was that. Who is he?"
"Where was the fingerprint?"
"I don't know!"
"What was he analyzing?"
"Hum… ahhh…"
"Dylan please, what was it?"
"Please don't kill me."
"Just say it please."
"A lubricant bottle."
"What would oil be doing in the scene?
"Not that kind of lubricant."
"What… oh my god, how did you know what was it?!"
"Me and this girl used it before." He said shrugging before dropping his jaw realizing what he said and turned slowly to see Calleigh's face.
"You what?!"
"I'm seventeen!"
"Your point being?"
"How old were you the first time you did it?"
"I'm not going to answer that!"
"How old was Eric?"
"Sixteen, but that's not the point!"
"Yes it is, now, who is Seth Macadam?"
"He's a rapist, I arrested him, and he threatened to go after us all during trial, few months later he escaped."
"Well, he escaped again."
"Oh my god."
"What?"
"Stay with Kenny please!"
"Calleigh, what's going on?"
"Go find Horatio and don't leave his side."
"Tell me!"
"I can't, please do it, and don't let go off Kenny."
He clenched his teeth picking his brother and walking to Horatio's office.
"Dylan." Horatio greeted getting in his office.
"Finding you was quicker that I thought. Why is everyone so scared of Seth Macadam? And don't ask me how I know, I just do."
"He's coming after Calleigh."
"W-what?"
"She was the one who arrested him."
"Aren't prisons made to keep people inside?! How can that the same man escaped twice!"
"Dylan, calm down please."
The teen huffed putting Kenny down with his stuffed fish, yes, he didn't had a teddy bear, because Eric insisted that bears were threatening so he shouldn't have a fluffy one.
"Up."
"No, play with your fish."
"Up! Me up! Wan up!"
"Kenny please, I'll give you candy later o.k.?"
"Candy?"
"Yes, you want candy right?"
The boy nodded smiling.
"Good, then be a good boy and play with your fish while I talk to uncle H."
"Nemo." The baby corrected.
Dylan rolled his eyes looking back at Horatio.
"Do you have any clue of where he is?"
"No, but he's being hunted for murder and escaping prison."
Hunted?"
Yes, now, what are you doing here, shouldn't you be taking Kenny home?"
No, Calleigh told me to stay here and don't take my eyes off him. Why?"
"It's safe here. I'll stay with you."
"I don't need a babysitter."
"Then please don't go wonder around."
"I thought it was safe here."
"It is, but it's easier if we know where you are."
"It's called babysitting us from distance, but o.k."
Horatio just smiled leaving.
"Dyan, up!"
"No."
"Up! up! up!"
"o.k.! God."
-…-…-…-…-…-…-.-.
"H?" Ryan asked standing next to his boss.
"It's all hands on deck, I want Mc Addams today." Horatio ordered putting on his sunglasses.
"Got it."
Where's Alex?"
"She couldn't take it any longer."
"O.k. are you feeling all right Mr. Wolfe?"
"Are you?"
"Point taken."
"Where's Eric?"
"Still grabbing onto her."
"Oh."
"He has to let her go."
"Yeah."
"Just go to the lab, I'll call someone else to do this."
"No! this is Calleigh, she would've want us to do this."
"Mr. Wolfe."
"Please H, please."
"Go look for the bullets and take them to the lab for Calleigh to analyze them.
"H."
"Sorry, Camden."
"Will do."
"Eric, you got to let us work."
"I'm not leaving her."
"Eric, you got to."
"No."
"Eric, I'm not negotiating, let her go."
"This is Cal H! This is C-Cal." he sobbed hugging her body tighter.
"Let her go Eric, please, let us work, we got to do this."
Eric kept crying taking Calleigh's air off her face.
"I'm sorry Cal, I'm sorry."
"Eric."
He nodded putting Calleigh gently on the gurney.
"Don't." Eric begged to the M.E who was closing the bag.
"Eric."
"Please."
"Don't close the bag." Horatio sighed.
"Sir."
"Not in front of him please." Horatio said noticing how Eric was still in chock not listening a word.
"o.k."
…,…,…,…,…,…,…,…,…,…,…,…,…,…,…,
"H."
"Eric?"
"We got a call on McAddams."
"Where?"
"Grove."
"Go."
"Calleigh?"
"She's in firearms."
"I'm going too."
"Cal…"
"I'm going too." She repeated.
"No way."
"Eric we're fighting over this."
"This isn't a fight, it's reason, he's out there looking for you to kill you, we won't just let you go straight into the shark's mouth!"
"Eric, Calleigh."
"H, sorry.
"What's going on?"
"I'm going with you."
"Sweetheart…"
"He wants me, then let him have it."
"No!"
"Eric."
"No, say something H."
"Calleigh, Dylan's scared, please, you should stay with him and Kenny."
"Don't use my kids as an excuse."
"Cal, I'm not letting you go and that's final."
"You're not letting me go? Since when do you tell me what or what not to do?"
"Calleigh…"
"Please don't come, please Cal, I'm protecting you, that's all, so please stay."
"I'll be fine, he's the one who'll end up in a body bag, now c'mon, let's go."
"I can't stop you can I?"
"No, but that's why you love me so don' worry."
Eric chuckled putting a harm around her as they left to the field.
"Hey, where are you going?!"
"Dylan."
"Kenny's driving me crazy, can't you take care of him?"
"No, we got to go sorry, it's just for a couple hours."
"Be safe."
"You too."
"I'm serious, don't be the hero o.k.?"
"Aren't you acting all adult?
"You say that once I'm an adult I can have a tattoo, so can I get it now?"
"No, you're seventeen, no tattoos, and no piercings or whatever."
"I already have a piercing."
"And how many times did I ask you to take it off?"
"Too many."
"Why would you want a tattoo?" Natalia sipped in.
"Hi Nat."
"Hey kid, why do you want a tattoo?"
"It's cool."
"It's not."
"You have one. Natalia teased ignoring her glare.
"Wait what?! You have a tattoo?"
"No."
"Eric?"
"Yes."
"Where? I never saw it."
"Fortunately." Calleigh mumbled.
"Where is it?"
"We have to go, now, bad guy to be caught." The blond rushed.
"Don't run away!"
"You can't have a tattoo."
"Why not?! You have one!"
"I was a kid, and I was acting stupid."
"I don't care, you have a tattoo, I want one too."
"Nope."
"What would you tattoo anyway?
"A skull."
"Typical."
"Then once you stopped liking skulls hum?" Calleigh asked raising her eyebrow.
"It's not a skull like pirate flag skull."
"Then what?"
"A skull, with a bullet hole in the forehead."
Calleigh sighed and followed Eric and Horatio out, when Dylan had is mind on something no one could take it off.
"Why?" Natalia asked walking with the boy to the break room.
"Because."
"Why?" She repeated.
"Yeah, it's a bit stupid."
"See.
"Maybe a white bird.
"Why?"
"Isn't it the symbol of freedom?"
"Yes, I think so."
"Then, I like freedom."
"It's a bit feminine don't you think?"
"Nice try, but I will get a tattoo."
"You need Calleigh's and Eric's permission."
"Not when I'm eighteen."
"I guess not."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Calleigh?! Eric?!" Horatio shouted over the shots running inside the warehouse.
"C-Cal."
"Eric, you're covered in blood."
Eric stared down at his knees and Horatio almost threw up at the sight.
"Calleigh?" He called checking her pulse.
"Where is he?"
"I… I don't know! He ran! I was with her! She won't respond! S-she-e w-won-t-t…"
"O.k. I need you to go out with me and calm down."
"N-n-o!"
"Eric…"
"No! I won't leave her!"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Dylan?"
"Hey!" He said haply his face turning serious when he saw the tears in the woman's voice.
"What? What's up?"
"C-cal…"
"What happened!?"
Natalia sobbed falling to the floor with Dylan staring at her terrified.
"She in the hospital?"
"N-no."
"What is going on!?"
"She was shot and…"
"S-she… is she going to be o.k.?"
"Dylan, Calleigh's dead." Frank interrupted.
"May I talk to her?"
"Dylan?"
"She's going to be fine right? It was just a graze."
"Dylan, she's dead, Calleigh's dead."
"N-no, she can't be, this isn't funny, stop it now."
"Dylan, she's dead, sorry."
"Stop lying!"
Frank grabbed him by the shoulders forcing the kid to look him in the eyes.
"Dylan, stop it, calm down."
"D-dead?" He sobbed.
"Sorry."
He felt on his knees staring into the space crying silently.
"Dead." He whispered. "Dead."