"So the true target was behind her." Eric stated.
"All we need now is a name."…
Eric was staring. Calleigh looked like a vision of white in her veil, it suited her. He knew that whomever she ended up with was one lucky guy and she would be beautiful on her wedding day. Calleigh had earned it too, all those years of heartbreak, first her dad with his drinking, then Hagen, and now Jake, she deserved her happily ever after.
Calleigh being forever a CSI noticed Eric staring at her.
She smiled warily, "What?" she asked.
He smiled back, coming out of his trance. "Nothing." he said slyly.
She shook her head and rolled up her eyes, "I can tell when you are holding something back."
"You don't want to know."
"Eric."
"Calleigh."
"Just tell me."
"No."
"Am I going to have to arrest you for withholding information?"
He smiled. He knew she couldn't or even wouldn't for that matter, but she was stubborn and it was best just to save him the annoyingness of her persistency by just coming forth and telling her.
"I was just thinking…", he said cautiously.
"Thinking…?" she urged.
"About how you deserve a happy ending."
She was quite.
"You have been through a lot and I think it's time this was real. You standing on the altar in white with a veil, with someone you love who will treat you right standing across from you."
She was still shocked by his words and was frozen in place.
He looked at her, making sure she was still with him, before continuing on.
His voice got low and his eyes filled with love, hope, and fear. "For a long, long time now I have pictured this scene, us standing together on an altar." he continued, "I…I…love…you."
At that moment he paused and could see the tears as see looked around trying to hold back the moister in her eyes and gain control of the situation.
"Eric.", she said, voice breaking at the end.
"Don't…look I know that we work together and there would be trouble and complications and we both work long hours but we could still raise a family by ourselves and I know Stetler could have both our jobs but I would switch to the night shift for you or even if it meant being with you find something else even though I would be secretly hoping that I wouldn't have to do that…"
She smiled at that, she had keep her eyes anywhere but his face as tears stained her cheeks.
"I would in a second if that meant I got an eternity with you. I promise I won't hurt you like your dad or Hagen or Jake. You have been my best friend for a long time. I will take care of you if you would just let me, I could heal you if you showed me where you were broken, and I would love you forever even if you don't love me back."
He looked at her expecting her turn him away.
After a while she answered, "Wow. That was one hell of a speech."
He chuckled softly.
"Just tell me… do you love me?"
She looked at him. She knew his words were genuine. She knew he would never hurt her and that he loved her.
She looked him deeply in the eyes and his heart exploded with two words:
"No way." (Ha! Just kidding.)
She said, "I do."
Author's note:
Gotcha there for a second huh?
Hahhahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahhahhahahhahahahhahahahhaahha!!