Author's Note: This is my first attempt at a multi-chap fic. It will probably only be 3 chapters or so, but we'll see what happens. Takes place in the near future, around the end of season 8 or immediately thereafter.

Eric was deep in thought, eyes on the ground as he slowly made his way down the hall. He didn't even hear Rebecca Nevins sneak up on him until he felt her lightly touch his elbow. He looked up, startled, still feeling half in a daze.

"So I'll see you tomorrow at ten at the Gamble house? We need to re-interview the mom, see if we can get her to implicate her boyfriend. I think we're gonna have to sweeten the pot, though, she doesn't seem the type to roll on him without a little added incentive."

"Yup, I'll be there. With bells on," Eric smirked.

"I'm sure." Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Just be there; bells are optional," she shook her head and turned on her heels, heading briskly back toward her office.

Eric sighed heavily as he walked out of the state attorney's office and into the oppressive heat. It was one of those mid-summer Miami evenings where the air was so thick you could barely breathe. Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead before he could even get his car keys out of his pocket. Despite being a native Miamian, the sweltering heat made the short walk to the sanctuary of his car and the cold A/C seem to last an eternity. Eric was already re-thinking his plans to go for a run with Calleigh once he got home. Or more accurately, once he got to Calleigh's home, though the distinction between the two was becoming less and less clear to him as time went on.

His sudden lack of motivation was only partially due to the weather, though. More and more, he was feeling frustrated and annoyed after days at work. To be sure, in the past he had walked out of the crime lab many times after a long shift feeling drained and relieved to be going home, but this was different.

He had expected it would take him a while to adjust to a new job after over a decade at CSI; still, he hadn't anticipated just how difficult it would be to get used to a new boss, a new routine, and days without Calleigh. This job left him feeling empty and drained at the end of every day. Even when his forensic prowess allowed the state's attorney to nail the "bad guy", it was never nearly as satisfying as he'd found his work at the crime lab.

So often, his hard work just gave Talbot more leverage for a plea bargain, or a slightly better chance of success at trial. Of course, many of the criminals he'd helped apprehend as a CSI ended up pleading down the charges, or were even acquitted at trial due to a technicality or a gullible jury, but that wasn't on him. His job had been to find the truth, to analyze the totality of evidence and make sure the right person was accused. If, in the end, the criminal didn't get what he or she deserved, it could be aggravating, but Eric would know he had done everything in his power to make sure they were taken off the streets. Now, grudgingly, he found himself a propelling force in letting some of Miami's worst criminals off easy. And that was a hard pill to swallow, Eric admitted to himself as he pulled open the door to his car and gingerly sat on the scalding leather seat.

He started the engine and turned the A/C on high, waiting just a moment for it to kick in and blast him with welcome frigid air. With a glance at the dashboard clock, he backed out of his parking space, headed for the parking lot exit and turning toward Calleigh's.

Even though he saw her nearly every night – actually, every night that he could think of in recent memory, he thought with a smile – he still couldn't help but feel her absence acutely during the days that they now spent apart. It just made him that much more anxious to see her every evening. Though it had been barely over nine hours since he last saw her, last kissed her lips as he left for the day, it took all his self-control not to race and jockey recklessly through rush-hour traffic just to get to her a few minutes sooner. As it was, he broke the speed limit more than once, impatient for the half hour drive to be over and to have her in his arms again.

******

"I swear, it's true!" Ryan protested as Natalia rolled her eyes and Jesse let out a barely concealed guffaw. "Come on, it's not that hard to believe, guys."

"Um, actually, Ryan, it is. It's pretty much the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," Natalia admitted. "You really don't expect us to believe that you, of all people, risked your life jumping over a moving car to –" at the mental image of Ryan diving over the SUV, gun in hand, like something out of a Van Damme movie, she couldn't hold back her incredulous laughter any longer and burst into a fit of giggles.

Calleigh's lips turned upward slightly as a thin smile crossed her lips, watching from just around the corner as her co-workers engaged in banter and teasing that was so typical at the lab. She wasn't sure which obviously exaggerated, heroic claim Ryan had made that caused the others to be so amused, but it didn't matter. She's seen more or less the same scene play out a hundred times in the past few years, and the familiarity was both comforting and nostalgic for her.

In the past, Calleigh probably would have joined in, or maybe chastised the group in a halfhearted attempt to enforce her duties as assistant day-shift supervisor. But lately, there was something missing for her at work. Being a CSI had never been "just a job" to Calleigh. It was her passion, her life, her number-one focus, ever since she attended the police academy back in New Orleans. And the members of the team had always been much more than just co-workers to her, they were her closest friends. Only real friends, if she was being completely honest.

But slowly, inevitably she supposed, things had changed. First when Speed died - the closeness she, Eric and Speed shared had never quite been matched by the newer members of the team. The simple nights spent swapping war stories at the local watering hole, or just having pizza and beer at Calleigh's place, were some of her fondest memories. Maybe it was just the knowledge that it could all be gone in a split second that prevented Calleigh from ever getting quite as close to Natalia, or Ryan, or certainly Jesse and Walter, as she had almost immediately become to Eric and Speed. She respected all of her teammates, liked them all and considered them good friends, but it wasn't the same as it used to be.

Then the events of the past few years had shaped her into a different person. She had never been as simple and sunny as she may have appeared on the outside; still, she had been more carefree, more open, more innocent. Her troubles with men - Hagen's suicide, Peter Elliot's lies, and most of all Jake's betrayals - had hardened her. And then, almost losing Eric, not once but twice, had brought her to her knees. After that, all bets were off.

Now she almost felt as though she wasn't a part of the team anymore. Ever since the shootout last year, ever since Eric had left, it seemed to her that she was always on the outside looking in. That she wasn't "one of the gang" anymore. She was just going through the motions, counting the down the minutes each day until she could escape to the freedom of the highway, heading toward home and Eric. Maybe it was just that she missed having him around all the time. She knew she missed trading secret smiles with him as they passed in hall, and the quiet, brief touches they would discreetly exchange in the ballistics lab when no one was looking. She missed the way he would always know when to squeeze her shoulder in a gesture of comfort after a particularly difficult interview or day at a scene, and when to leave it at a long, reassuring look.

But it was more than just that. Lately, it seemed something was off at the Miami-Dade Crime Lab – a spark that made them more than just a group of people working to solve crimes, a piece of the puzzle that made it so much more than a job, was missing. And, Calleigh sadly noted to herself, she didn't know if there was anything that could take things back to the way they used to be.

As she turned and began to walk toward the locker room, the sounds of the Jesse's snorting laughter and Ryan's high-pitched protests became dimmer. Her thoughts were elsewhere, only able to focus on getting her stuff, signing out and being well on her way home before another bullet that urgently needed to be analyzed could come her way.

Her phone buzzed just before she crossed the threshold into the locker room. She bit her lip, hoping desperately that it wasn't Horatio with a breaking case or new piece of evidence that couldn't wait to be analyzed. Even those silent, momentary thoughts caused Calleigh immediate guilt; it was her responsibility and duty to tend to those things, whether they were convenient for her or not, and once upon a time she genuinely wouldn't have minded.

But things were different now.

A bright, relieved smile crossed her face as she saw who was calling. "Hey," she answered.

Her trademark Southern lilt brought a grin to his face immediately. Just hearing her voice, so bright and so very….Calleigh, caused the weight of the day lift off of Eric's shoulders.

"Hey," he answered. "I'm on my way home. Were you able to sneak away on time today?"

"Yeah, thank God, I'm just heading out of the locker room now. Assuming I can make it to the car without someone getting murdered in Miami, I should be home in twenty."

He chuckled both at her desperation to get home and at her nonchalant reference to potential murders as a mere annoyance in her life. It was so atypical of the Calleigh he had known for so long, yet he found himself somehow loving her even more for it.

"Good," he smiled. "It's a bitch out there today, like 95 with 100% humidity."

She groaned. "Yeah, tell me about it, I was out in it for like two hours collecting evidence at a gang murder in Overtown this afternoon."

"So I assume you won't mind skipping our run tonight in favor of some take-out, then?"

"Sounds much nicer than sweating like a pig in public," Calleigh agreed.

"I've never seen you sweat like a pig, Cal, never." He insisted. "You know you don't sweat….you glow."

Calleigh laughed. "Yeah, well maybe that's true most of the time, but if I was out running in weather like this I'm pretty sure I'd be dripping sweat."

"Actually, that sounds kind of hot…" Eric mused.

"Don't get any ideas." Calleigh chastised, though her voice was teasing. "I'm hungry and tired and I just want to stay in and enjoy the air conditioning tonight."

"I guess that can be arranged," he said in that teasing, seductive tone he knew she couldn't resist. "Sushi?"

"Yeah, sounds perfect." She agreed as she unlocked her car.

"Your usual?"

"Of course," she smiled at how well he knew her. "I'm getting in the car now; see you in a few."

"I can't wait," he said genuinely. "Love you."

"I love you too." Calleigh ended the call as she shifted the car into reverse. "Can't wait to see you, either," she whispered into the phone, though she knew he couldn't hear.