Chapter 1:
Calleigh, just like Horation, Wolfe and Frank, was racing down the roads of Miami on a fresh new sunny day after a call was received about shots being fired at The DeLuca Motel. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, not until she arrived there and finds out that Eric was already there and injured. A dead body was floating face down in the motel's pool while windows were broken, broken glass was near the pool area and everything seemed off about this motel altogether, and Calleigh couldn't understand why anyone would want to live in such an area.
As all of this was going through her head though, her eyes remained on her friend who was being treated at the moment. She had this weird feeling about this, this feeling that something was missing, that she didn't know a piece of an important puzzle.
'Hey...are you alright?' she asked Eric as she approached him.
'Yeah I'm fine. A bullet just grazed my skin' he replied.
Calleigh nodded but didn't say anything, in fact she turned around and walked away. Subject was nothing but closed but now was not the right time to ask those questions. Now, they needed to find out what happened and how that young man ended up in the pool and why there are two windows on two different areas of the motel broken. She needed to figure out how many shots were fired and from where.
Maybe Eric could help.
'Trying to figure out where the shots came from?' Eric asked Calleigh as he approached her, after the paramedics finished dressing his arm.
'Yeah' she replied 'There are two broken windows on two different areas of this motel' she told him.
'Three shots were fired. One of them grazed my arm. That window over there...is the window to my room' he told her before swallowing hard knowing that she was soon going to say something about this and start asking questions. She gave him a look that told him that she didn't like this and walked ahead.
'OK so you're saying that that is your room where you were shot, but the other room is on the other side, which means that there are probably two shooters who happened to be here at the same time as it couldn't have been the same shooter who shot both at you and the dead man in the pool at the same time' Calleigh started telling him as the rest of the team arrived.
'Exactly' Eric agreed 'And then there is that third shot that I heard' he told her.
'Calleigh, Eric' Horatio called out as he, Frank and Wolfe approached them.
'H' Eric acknowledged.
'What happened to you?' Horatio asked him.
Calleigh knew that was her queue to leave and start working on the dead guy's room. It is the primary crime scene after all and that is where a lot of questions get answered. She gave Eric one last look, letting him know that he was not off the hook and went on her way.
'Are you okay?' Horatio asked as soon as they were alone.
'Yeah...just got grazed.
'Yeah...can't say the same for the pool guy over there...single shot to the chest' Horatio said.
'Can't explain how he ended up blinded folded dead in the pool. There are no blood drops on the floor...I never saw him before...I have been here for a while' Eric confessed and Horatio gave him a look that told him that he didn't like this.
'Why are you here Eric?' Horatio asked as he removed his sunglasses.
'I thought I told you I'm doing a little re-modelling to the condo. I just needed a place to crash and I thought I'd go cheap' Eric lied but Horatio wasn't convinced 'I'm fine H. It's an excuse to get away for a little while' Eric went on.
'I guess that didn't last long huh?' Horatio replied as he put his sunglasses on, before walking away to start his search for evidence.
It was a couple of hours later, after some evidence was analysed and residing residents have been questioned, that Eric and Calleigh were back at the victim's room at The DeLuca Motel.
'Who would have thought that hazing would help us solve a crime?' Eric told her as Calleigh placed the dummy in the right placed with the laser ready to point the location of the shooter.
'Well my guess would be the same people who would think you were living here' she replied as she turned to look at him, and Eric lifted his gaze with a smile.
'I was wondering how long it was going to take before you ask' he admitted.
'Why didn't you tell anybody that you moved into a motel?' she asked him 'Does it have something to do with your family?' she asked him, knowing that he had been trying to seek out some unanswered questions...questions that kept bugging him lately, and she knew Eric enough to know that he was not going to drop it and move away from it before he gets the answers he wanted.
'I'm just trying to figure some things out' he admitted with concern in his eyes and his voice.
'I just don't want you to get hurt' she told him 'You could have moved into my place' she told him.
'Calleigh you just told me that you don't want me to get hurt...do you think I want to put you in a position where you could get hurt?' he asked her.
'I can take care of myself and besides you would have been there too' she told him 'We can protect each other' she told him.
'Calleigh...I know you are concerned and want to help me, but I am not going to do anything to put your life in danger...you can forget about it' he told her 'Now can we continue working the case please?' he asked her.
Calleigh frowned but turned on the laser just the same 'There it is' she said and Eric opened the door so they could walk out and see where the laser was pointing at. They analysed the restricted place where the shooter could have been along with the broken glass found by the pool which lead to two residents being questioned.
oooOOOooo
Horatio was in his office for a change, literally for a change as that is probably the last place anyone would find him in, but there he was...alone, and Calleigh knocked on his door.
'Can I disturb?' she asked him.
'Calleigh' he said as he lifted his gaze from the paper he had in his hand 'Of course, come on in. Can I help you with something ma'am?' he asked her.
She sat down on the chair in front of his desk and exhaled heavily 'Is Eric in any danger?' she asked him straight to the point and Horatio smiled.
'Why do you ask me that?' he asked her. He wasn't sure how much she knew, and Horatio didn't want to expose Eric too much. If he didn't fill her in on what was going on with him, then that would be for a good reason. He knows how much Eric cares about her, he would never want to put her in any kind of danger, and if the danger meant what Horatio was thinking, then danger was big and Eric was in huge trouble.
'Look I know about his family and that Eric was trying to figure out his roots and all that, so I know roughly what he has been up to' Calleigh told him 'But after he got shot today, I'm scared this is more than he can handle on his own...I mean...he could have gotten himself killed today' she told him.
'I know and I'm working on it Calleigh. Let me handle this okay?' Horatio told her.
She frowned not really liking the idea of staying on the bench and just watch while Eric could be in grave danger, but from the looks of it...she really didn't have much of a choice.
'Okay' she said and with that she got up and walked out of Horatio's office.
oooOOOooo
Horatio was on the next crime scene where Enrico Moldano was found dead by Eric at the back of the restaurant he owned. He was supposed to meet with him when he found him dead, buried under a pile of garbage bags.
'We keep meeting at crime scenes Eric' Horatio told him while checking his phone.
'I was supposed to meet Enrico here to pick something up' Eric told him.
'You had no back up so you were out of protocol' Horatio told him.
'Yeah' Eric agreed 'Yeah that's true'.
'What did Enrico have for you?' Horatio asked him. He realized that Enrico's death probably had something to do with Eric's investigation.
Eric looked to the side knowing he had no choice now, so he took out a folded envelope from his back pocket and handed it over to Horatio just as he took off his sunglasses. He watched him open the envelope and then his eyebrows went up 'He has your birth certificate. Why does he have that Eric?' Horatio asked him.
'Look ever since I started looking into my family, I've had someone go through my trash, my car broken into...I constantly feel eyes on me...did I wake up a beast?' Eric asked him.
'You have Eric...people are dying, you're coming off the case' Horatio told him.
oooOOOooo
Eric was pacing in one of the private rooms at the Miami Dade Police Department, waiting for his mother to show up. He needed to talk to her face to face, so he called her and asked her to come and meet him as quickly as possible at the station, as that was the safest place they could be in right now.
'Eric' he heard her voice say from behind him.
'Mum' Eric said as he turned to greet his mother with a kiss and a hug 'Come on, sit down' he told her.
'You have never asked me to come and meet you here before...what couldn't have wait until dinner?' she asked him, getting the feeling that something was wrong.
'I need you to tell me something' he told her.
'Okay...anything' his mother replied.
'It's about my birth...' he started telling her.
'Huh...' his mother whispered as she shook her head in disbelief 'You have...heard...a hundred times...okay...' she said 'I was pregnant back in Cuba but your father and I wanted a better life for you...we waited for the full moon to come and emm...we got in a boat, the trip was rough but as you know...we made it to Kilargo...I went into labour and there you were...three hours later' she told him convincingly. She watched him nod but didn't say anything 'What's wrong Eric?' she asked him.
'You...you said I've heard this story a hundred times...except sometimes...we landed in Key West, other times in Coconut Grove...other times you were in labour for eighteen hours...sometimes you say you went into labour the second we left Cuba...' he told her.
'I don't understand...' his mother replied, scared where this was going.
'The truth isn't supposed to change mum' Eric whispered 'So I looked into it...and my birth certificate is a fake' he told her.
'We had connections when we got here...' she started telling him. She watched him take out this brown envelope and then open it, as she realized he was taking out his birth certificate.
'This is my original birth certificate' he told her as he handed it to her. She took the certificate in her hand, her eyes staring at the old paper.
'I was born in Cuba. My biological father's name is Alexander Sharova' he told her 'Who is he?' he asked her.
'He was...a poster to my factory...it...' but she stopped as her hand reached out to touch his cheek but Eric turned his head 'It was a mistake Eric...' she told him as he turned to look at her 'He was a bad man...please Eric please...let it go...please' she told him as her hand settled onto his, her eyes pleading him to listen to her.
'Does he know that I exist?' Eric asked her.
'No no...' she told him shocked, shaking her head 'Why are you asking about this now?' she asked him trying to understand 'Are you in danger?' she asked 'Eric?' she asked more urgently when he didn't answer.
'No' he whispered not wanting to worry her before he pulled her into a hug.
'I'm sorry...I'm so sorry' she told him rubbing the back of his back.
'It's okay mama...it's okay' he whispered...but it was definitely not okay...not okay at all.