Okay, I repeat it again. I'm not actually an EC shipper, but this song screamed out to me "I'm about Eric and Calleigh!!!!!!" I know it probably isn't, but when inspiration hits you... Anyways, this is a SongFic (I'm on a roll, yesterday Russian Roulette, and today this) to the song Knock you down by Kanye West, Ne-Yo and the amazing Keri Hilson. I left out Kanye's last verse, because I couldn't make it fit. I failed as a writer. Only kidding. I hope Kanye forgives me. Anyways, I DO NOT own any of the song, not music, not lyrics, not artists. Nothing. More, I don't own CSI MIAMI, and I don't own Super Bowl.
Now, please enjoy.
Knock you down
It was already late evening when Calleigh, Natalia, Eric, Ryan and Walter left the headquarters of the MDPD. Walter nudged Ryan, "So whassup, dude? Tonight's the big night. Super Bowl, baby. I already invited Jesse over, he's gonna come. You wanna come, too? I have lots of food."
Ryan nodded, "Sure, why not. I'll bring the beer."
"Great." Walter turned to Eric, "How 'bout you, big man? Up for some serious TV tonight?"
Eric scratched his head and shared a furtive glance with Calleigh. When she didn't say anything, he said, "Yeah, I'll come. So, if we have food and beer, what am I supposed to bring?"
Walter grinned, "How about some cheerleaders? I know you know lots of fine girls…"
But Ryan shook his head, "It's too late for that, buddy. I haven't seen him with fine girls for ages…. I mean…" He had just realized he had been insulting Calleigh, even though she probably wouldn't take it like that, since she didn't know he knew she and Eric were dating. "I mean fine, naked, dumb girls… Why don't you just bring lots of cushions?"
Eric laughed. "Yeah, I'm gonna bring lots of cushions… And if you want a fine girl who's into sports, why not ask Natalia here… I see you guys later." He turned around and walked over to his car.
Calleigh followed him, "My car's right next to yours. So, you don't meet fine girls anymore?" She smiled.
"Why would I? I have the finest girl in the whole world with me…" he smiled back. "So, I guess I see you tomorrow then?"
"Yeah, see you tomorrow. Don't get too wasted with the boys."
"Don't worry, if Ryan says he'll bring the beer it means he'll have one six-pack with him. Sleep tight, amor."
"You too, Eric…" She gave him a last smile and then sat down in her car. As usually, her first move was to turn on the radio, even before buckling the seat belt and starting the engine. 'Oh damn, I've just missed the news' she thought when the radio host said, "And now, we're gonna listen to one of the best songs in 2009. Here's for you, Knock you down, with the amazing Keri Hilson, the charming Ne-Yo and Mr. Kanye West!"
Calleigh smiled; she loved that song.
[Keri] Heh, not again
Ohh, this ain't supposed to happen to me
---
"And now, we're gonna listen to one of the best songs in 2009. Here's for you, Knock you down, with the amazing Kari Hilson, the charming Ne-Yo and Mr. Kanye West!" Eric turned the volume up. 'One of the best songs of 2009… THE best song of 2009, you mean…' he thought.
[Kanye] Keep rockin', and keep knockin'
Whether you Louis Vuitton it up or Reebokin'
You see the hate, that they're servin' on a platter
So what we gon' have, dessert or disaster?
He grinned a bit. Dessert or disaster… You'd just have to admire Kanye West for those amazing lyrics. So, what would it be with Calleigh, dessert or disaster….
---
'Dessert or disaster? What does that mean anyways?' Calleigh thought. But then she smiled when Kari Hilson took up her part. Somehow, it described so well what had been going on for the last few weeks.
[Keri] I never thought I'd be in love like this
When I look at you my mind goes on a trip
Oh yeah, and what kind of a trip! A real rollercoaster of hormones! Normally she wasn't the kind of girl who planned too much ahead when it came to relations. After all, Hagen and Jake… to plan ahead had gotten so hard. So she just enjoyed the moment, the fuzzy feeling she had when she saw Eric. Like when she was a teenager and some handsome man smiled at her. She had never felt so young in the past years!
[Keri] Then you came in, and knocked me on my face
Feels like in I'm a race
But I already won first place
She smiled. Yeah, she had definitely won first place. Over Natalia. Over all those other girls Eric had had a thing with in all the years she'd known him. She had won. She, the oldest one, had won against all those young Florida beauties with their big breasts, small skirts and tanned skins… It had taken her some time to notice what she felt for Eric, but one single moment had been enough for her to realize he was the one.
[Keri] I never thought I'd fall for you as hard as I did
(As hard as I did, yeah)
You got me thinkin' bout our life, our house and kids, yeah
But realizing he was the one had not prepared her for what she felt now. Okay, she didn't really like the thought of him getting wasted with the guys tonight, but the fact that Natalia was there bothered her even more. She knew she was silly, if anything, Natalia had been developing a crush on Jesse, but still, she was a woman, and Eric was there. And the sheer thought of a woman being in the same room with Eric made her feel all more 'He's mine. Don't touch'. She had never been like this before, with none of her men. But Eric was different. Space wasn't large enough to describe her feelings for him. Hell, as much as she fought against it, the interior design magazines she had been collecting recently, and the insurance brochures in her night table and of course the fact she couldn't just pass by a baby baggy anymore spoke a language of their own. She was already thinking of a future with Eric. Cautiously, but she was.
[Keri] Every mornin' I look at you and smile
'Cause boy you came around and you knocked me down
Knocked me down
She sighed. She wished he would spend the night over at her place again. Not because she was afraid of Natalia, or any other woman Walter might invite over, but because she loved waking up next to him. She loved the smell of his body when she woke up, the smell that told her 'you don't have to check, I'm still here'. Then she would turn around and look at him, and…. Yeah, and smile. Just because it's the only thing you can do when you wake up next to Eric Delko. Lying there, wrapped up in his blanket, looking so peacefully, what else could you do? Wake him and have morning action, okay. But Calleigh hadn't done that very often. She preferred just looking at him and smiling. Just the way she smiled now when she started singing along to the chorus…
[All] Sometimes love comes around
(Love comes around love comes around)
And it knocks you down
Just get back up
When it knocks you down
(Knocks you down)
---
[All] Sometimes love comes around
(Love comes around)
And it knocks you down
Just get back up
When it knocks you down
(Knocks you down)
Eric sang along. Yeah, sometimes love just knocked you down. He had been knocked down by a bullet, Calleigh had been knocked down because of too much smoke, and both had woken up only to discover they were in love. Both had gotten up, and now it was real love that knocked him down at least once every day he saw her.
[Ne-Yo] I never thought I'd, hear myself say, ooh, ya'll gon' head
I think I'm gonna kick it with my girl today, kick it with my girl today
Yeah, that was definitely one thing he had never thought he would say. Okay, he hadn't actually said it today, it was Super Bowl Night after all, but he had said it sometimes before. Like the first night he had spend at her place. Sometimes love was more important than looking after a team member MIA. This night was his, yes, but so many night before had been hers. With all his past girlfriends, he had always put off dates at some point because something more important had been going on. Like nights out with mates. Or nights with pizza at home. He had never been the most serious boyfriend, but this time, it was different. It was Calleigh.
[Ne-Yo] I used to be commander and chief
Of my pimp ship flyin' high (flyin' high)
Til I met this pretty little missile that shot me out the sky
(Oh shot me out the sky)
Eric stopped singing because he had to laugh. If he didn't know any better, he could swear Ne-Yo had at some point in his life met Calleigh Duquesne. Why else would he compare a girl to a missile if not because he had met Calleigh? This fitted her perfectly. More, it just fitted THEM. Him and Cal. The commander of the PIMP ship and the missile. That would be a nice title for a love story. But yeah, it was them. After all those years he had been seeing more girls than Tiger Woods (probably), she had come and shot him- well, not literally of course. He had left the sinking PIMP ship. And now he felt it was time to settle down. And it was always nice to have a missile at home.
[Ne-Yo] Hate to know I'm crashing, don't know how it happened
But I know it feels so damn good
Said if I could back, and make it happen faster
Don't you know I would baby if I could
Now he sighed. They had wasted so much time. So much time. If he was honest now, he had loved her from the beginning. From the second on she had laughed so heartily about his cheap chat-up line. But it had taken them a god damn six and a half years before they both realized they belonged together. If only he had the chance to go back in time six and a half years and really get her phone number, and call her, and ask her out, and convince her that he was the one which he knew because he came from the future. But science wasn't that developed yet, so all he could do now was make up for the time they lost by filling every single second they spend together with as much life as possible.
[Ne-Yo] Miss Independent, ohh, to the fullest, the load never too much
She helpin' me pull it
She shot the bullet that ended that life
I swear to you the pimp in me just died tonight
Girl sometimes love….
Not only because of the time they had lost. He felt he owed so much to her. She had been there every second he had needed her. When he had lost his badge back then, after Speedle's death. When he had been shot and almost died, she had been sitting at his bed. When he had been in jail a few months ago, she was the one that came over visiting him, telling him everything would be alright… And not only in those situations. She had always been there. He didn't know where he would be without her. He only knew that nothing was impossible as long as she was there. With her by his side he could rule the world. If he wanted to. He smiled when he listened to Ne-Yo's last verse. Maybe Ne-Yo did not only meet Calleigh along the way. Maybe he was sitting somewhere in the lab. How else could he write a song about him and Cal?
[All] Sometimes love comes around
(Love comes around)
And it knocks you down
Just get back up
When it knocks you down
(Knocks you down)
---
[All] Sometimes love comes around
(Love comes around)
And it knocks you down
Just get back up
When it knocks you down
(Knocks you down)
Calleigh had already arrived home, but she remained sitting in the car to hear the end of the song. The happy end. Or was it? Could there be a happy end for her and Eric?
[Keri] Say you gotta put the good with the bad, happy and the sad
Hope u bring a better future than I had in the past
Oh cause I don't wanna make the same mistakes I did
I don't wanna fall back on my face again
Whoa, whoa, I'll admit it, I was scared to answer love's call
Whoa, whoa, and if it hits better make it worth the fall
(When it comes around)
After all, with both of them being cops, it could be over any second. For all she knew, some mad man could shoot Eric jut now, and the next time she'd see him he would be dead. Or somebody could be in her apartment now, wanting to rob it, and she would surprise him and he would kill her. Who could know? Or Eric would suddenly realize there were to many fish in the sea and leave her. Anything could happen. It had taken her so long to fall in love again after Jake. What if this thing with Eric went wrong?
[All] Sometimes love comes around
(Love comes around)
And it knocks you down
Just get back up
When it knocks you down
(Knocks you down)
---
[All] Sometimes love comes around
(Love comes around)
And it knocks you down
Just get back up
When it knocks you down
(Knocks you down)
"Knocks you doooooown…." Eric sang. He had just arrived at his place. When the song was finished, he would go upstairs, take a shower, put on something casual and then take all his cushions to Walter's place… He shook his head; no, he wouldn't. He took his cell phone and called Ryan, "Wolfe? It's Eric. Listen, man, can you tell Walter I'm not coming? Thanks man. No, nothing's wrong. Can you keep a secret? Yeah I know you know. Don't tell the other guys, but I'm gonna kick it with my girl today. Guess you'll have to bring beer and cushions. Yeah, see you tomorrow. Bye." He hung up on Ryan and called Calleigh, "Hey, my pretty little missile. Just cancelled the date with the guys. Wanna go see a movie?"
[All] Won't see it coming when it happens, hey
But when it happens you're gonna feel it, let me tell you now
You see when love comes and knocks you down
So, I hope this story is better than Russian Roulette which didn't get a lot of reviews. Probably this is because not many people like Ryan, and I am a Ryanist writer... maybe I'm a bad writer, who knows, but I hope you liked this story. Please let me know. Love, fergie