Summary pretty much says what this fic is about. Before you read, let me tell you there is one scene involving Ray Caine. I haven't watched my earlier season DVDs in awhile so I don't remember the exact season or episode, but I think Calleigh said something about only just starting at CSI when Ray "died" in 2001. Well, obviously the CBS writers screwed that up, but I liked the 1997 version a bit more so I'm using my poetic license and I'm pretend Calleigh had met Ray before. Also, I don't know how advanced forensic technology was back in the 90's, so I'm just going by what I see today. It may be inaccurate, but nothing in life is perfect and you gotta go with what you got.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

1998…

Calleigh turned the knob of her car radio down; the weatherman's report softening until it could no longer be heard through the speakers. She kept a firm hand on the steering wheel until she was able to flip her phone open and place it snugly between her cheek and her shoulder.

"Duquesne?" Calleigh asked.

"Hey, it's me," Speedle's voice said. "Where are you?"

"Sorry, my alarm didn't go off," Calleigh lied, the truth was she had to retrieve her father from the Whiskey Stop around two in the morning the previous night and had regrettably slept through the buzzing of her alarm. "But I'm almost there."

"Great, 'cause we've got a case in the Gables to get to," Speedle sighed, frustrated. Calleigh's intuition told her that he wasn't frustrated with her being late, but something else was sneaking around his brain he didn't appreciate.

"Well, I can meet you there," Calleigh volunteered. "You can get a head start on the processing and catch me up to speed."

"Sounds good, but I'm going to catch both of you up to speed." Calleigh could practically hear his eyes rolling.

"Both? Horatio's not going to the scene?" Calleigh asked, confused.

"No, he is," Speedle assured her. "But you know how he keeps saying how we are going to get a new member for the team?"

"Yeah," Calleigh nodded, slowly stepping on her brake as a traffic light turned yellow then red.

"Well, he's going to be here in about ten minutes," Speedle informed her.

"Really? Do we know anything about him, did H say anything?" Calleigh asked, surprised how quickly this occurred. They had known for a long time Horatio wanted to put another member on the team, IAB had too been requesting it, but Horatio seemed to be stalling the process, almost as though he was waiting for a certain someone to just appear fresh out of the Academy.

"All he said was that we were getting a new guy and he wants us to show him the ropes," Speedle explained with a sigh.

"That's odd," Calleigh commented.

"You know him, he'll probably wants us to be as unbiased as possible when we meet him."

"Well, I think we're as unbiased as we could possibly be," Calleigh chuckled. "Listen, I'm literally three minutes away from PD, then we can meet this guy and try then try to solve a murder."

"Sounds like a plan," Speedle sighed before Calleigh ended the call.

Calleigh grabbed her purse and climbed out of her car, a cool breeze welcoming her as she walked up the cement stairs. By the doors stood Horatio, talking firmly, it appeared, to young man Calleigh had only spoken with once or twice, but a face she recognized. Raymond nodded at anything his big brother said, a manila folder in his hands. Calleigh didn't make out much of the conversation between the Caines, however she did hear Horatio final words to Ray.

"Be careful," Horatio warned.

"Aren't I always," Ray shrugged with a cocky smile, but his comment made Horatio's look become all the more stern and he tried to recover. "I will, I promise."

Horatio nodded and Ray began to walk down the same stairs Calleigh had just finished walking up.

"Detective," Calleigh acknowledged him with a nod.

"Ms. Duquesne," he replied before he continued to his car.

Calleigh took the final step and was at Horatio's side; he was lightly chewing on his lip with each of his hands placed on his hips as he worriedly watched his little brother begin to drive away.

"You okay, H?" Calleigh asked, concerned. She had been aware of Ray Caine's reckless behavior while undercover, always on the verge of permanently crossing over.

"Yeah," Horatio nodded as his brother's car disappeared amongst the others on the road.

"If he is anything like you, he'll be fine," Calleigh reassured him.

Horatio looked down at her and smiled, gratefully.

"I hope you're right," he sighed, looking at the road for one more moment before turning to face her completely.

"So, I heard that we are getting ourselves a new CSI," Calleigh said, changing the subject.

"You heard right," Horatio nodded.

Calleigh left the comment unanswered for a moment, only to see if there was any possibility that Horatio was going to give more information to her than Speedle. But based on the look she was receiving from the Horatio and the silence that rested, Calleigh knew that it wasn't going to happen.

"You aren't going to tell me anything, are you?" Calleigh smiled up at her boss with a raised eyebrow.

"Only that he will be meeting you and Speed in the locker room in about five minutes," Horatio smirked lightly.

Calleigh rolled her eyes, never letting her smile drop as she entered the building and made her way towards the locker room. Leaning up against his locker was Speedle, his arms crossed and his face having features resembling stone.

"I finally made it," Calleigh grinned at him as she opened her locker. "Are you okay?"

"I'd be better if we knew a thing or two about this rookie we are going to have to baby-sit," Speedle shrugged.

"He may not be that bad," Calleigh pointed out. "And he may have something to offer. You know you've got Trace, I've got Ballistic's and, I don't know, maybe he's a DNA genius or something."

"Or maybe he's a deadbeat guy who is desperate to find some dignity."

Calleigh gave her friend a look, she wasn't surprised at his negative attitude towards the concept of a new team member, he never was one to handle change with grace. Calleigh remembered how long it took him to adjust to working at CSI when he first decided to transfer, but he did…eventually.

"Tim, I think you are forgetting something important," Calleigh sighed, clipping her holstered gun to her side.

"Being?" Speedle asked, flatly.

"For one, he got his badge at the same academy you did. Two, he met Horatio's standards and you know how high those are," Calleigh reminded him.

"Maybe IAB or the Brass pressured him to get someone and he was forced to make a choice," Speedle pointed out, almost as though he was determined to shift Calleigh's optimistic views.

"Oh, come on," Calleigh groaned at his expense, shutting her locker door. "You and I both know that Horatio has more stones than to fall to the whims of IAB."

"I'm just saying that this may end up being bad," Speedle sighed.

"Or it can end up great and more people are arrested quicker," Calleigh rebutted.

Speedle looked at her, defeated, it became apparent to him that nothing he was going to say was going to derail her hopes for a positive encounter.

Calleigh opened her mouth to say something, but before she could even say a word the double doors opened, the two CSIs had a feeling it was their new colleague even before he came into view.

"Be nice," Calleigh murmured to Speedle as they turned to face the direction the man would be immerging from.

"Yes, Mom," Speedle replied, sarcastically. Calleigh shot him a look before turning her attention back down the aisle of lockers.

Calleigh didn't have any real clue who she was expecting to see whenever he came around the corner. Perhaps someone like Speedle, slim and rugged, but still had a threatening demeanor, or maybe someone older who gave off an aura of knowledge, she really wasn't sure who she expected to see. But she certainly knew that who she did see was so shocking that she had to clench her jaw to stop it from dropping.

Calleigh had only met this man once, she had spoken to him for less than five minutes and hadn't seen him in over six months, but she knew him. She recognized the bronze skin that perfectly harmonized with his hair and dark, yet friendly, eyes. There were a few changes to his appearance that Calleigh noticed, the light stubble that had covered his cheeks and chin had vanished, Calleigh was willing to bet he had shaved for his first day at work. But the biggest difference to Calleigh was that he was no longer tow-truck driver Eric Delko, but rather CSI Eric Delko.

Once the shock of seeing him passed, Calleigh's face turned into a full on smile, a smile he returned, revealing a line of perfect teeth in the process.

"Decided that being an 'automotive recovery expert' wasn't your calling?" Calleigh asked Eric, remembering what he preferred to be called other than just a tow-truck driver.

"Something like that," Eric nodded at the woman whose name he still didn't know, but he couldn't deny that fate had a way of working things out. The day she came down to the garage after he dropped off the car for their investigation, he didn't get her number and he was alright with that for the moment, but then he realized his stupidity for not at least getting her name.

"You guys have met?" Speedle asked, surprised by the twist of events.

"We met briefly," Calleigh explained. "Eric Delko this is Timothy Speedle. Tim Speedle, Eric Delko."

The two shook hands, Speedle's eyes never leaving Eric's, as though he were trying to read him. From Calleigh's point of view, Eric didn't seem to be intimidated by the way Speedle was looking at him, though she was certain he was more aware. By not faltering, Calleigh knew Eric was quickly earning Speedle's respect.

A silence surrounded the trio, instead of Speedle to interrogating Eric, giving him the "Speed Approved" job interview, as Calleigh had expected.

"Well, I know we are having a delightful conversation, but there is a murder that needs to be solved," Calleigh joked to break the silence. "Speed, you want to give Eric a quick tour of the lab and I'll meet you guys at the scene in a few?"

Speedle shot her a lethal look, seeing Calleigh was going to force him to talk to Eric, but Calleigh simply continued to grin up at him, unshaken by his stare.

"Sure," Speedle nodded before turning to Eric. "Lab's this way," he said, nodding his head towards the elevator.

"I'll see you guys later," she promised, giving them a small wave when she passed them.

As she walked away in the opposite direction, Eric's eyes didn't leave her until she rounded the corner and was out of sight; Speedle noticed and couldn't help but smile, almost feeling sorry for Eric.

"Don't waste your time," Speedle warned, pressing the button on the wall to call the elevator.

Eric turned back to Speedle, eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"She doesn't date," he stated, simply. "She especially doesn't date anyone she works with. Trust me."

Eric chuckled as they stepped onto the elevator. "When did she turn you down?"

"Never, we've always just been friends. But I've seen many lab techs become broken hearted," he sighed, hitting the button that held their floor number. "And she is too stubborn to change her mind, so save your breath."

"I'll keep that in mind," Eric nodded as the elevator doors closed. But the thing Speedle didn't know about Eric was that he wasn't one to change his mind either.

"What's your story, baby?" Alexx asked, kneeling down beside the corpse in the parking lot turned crime scene. The victim was an African American woman, her body in a pool of blood, severe bruising on her forehead, brain matter and skull fragments protruding from a cleft on the side of her head.

"Morning, Alexx," Calleigh greeted. "What've we got?"

"Tamika Lopez, twenty-five," she reported, examining the bullet holes on her torso. "She sustained three gunshot wounds."

"Any of them a through-and-through?"

Alexx shook her head. "None of them appear to be enough to kill her, either, but I'll know once I get her on my table."

"If the bullets didn't kill her, what do you think did?" Calleigh asked, lowering herself to Alexx's level.

"This blow to the head, poor thing," she sighed, pointing to the bruising and damage on the woman's head before taking her liver temperature. "Where's the new kid?"

"At the lab, Speed is giving him the grand tour. He seems nice," Calleigh said, not admitting to Alexx she and Eric had met before. "TOD?"

"Liver temp suggests she's been here at least two hours. You were just trying to get your day started, weren't you, sweetie?" Alexx asked the corpse before she gestured for her team to pack her up.

While processing the scene Calleigh, Speedle and Eric were able to find the gun (a nine-mil), a ski mask in a nearby trash can, a few cigarette butts and tire treads. Calleigh still found herself grinning at the look on Speedle's face when Eric was able to identify the kind of vehicle based on the pattern.

"Impressive," Speedle had said.

Calleigh had test fired the gun they had collected and was now waiting for IBIS to find a match. She watched the processing screen, patiently, when Eric walked into the lab; Calleigh couldn't help but notice his face had turned slightly ashen under his dark skin.

"Are you okay?" she asked, concerned.

"Mm-hmm," Eric nodded. "But I think Speedle hates me."

"Why?" Calleigh asked, though not completely surprised he drew that conclusion, based on Speedle's attitude that morning.

"Let's just say head trauma."

Calleigh understood instantly. To make out the weapon used to hit Tamika, (which, as Alexx had assumed, was what killed her) Alexx had to remove the victim's head and boil it as part of processing. No matter how tough one may be, seeing your first dead body up close in an autopsy theater is bad enough without the absence of its head and she couldn't blame Eric for being—for lack of a better word—freaked out.

"You've made a friend, Eric," Calleigh concluded with a smile.

"That makes sense," he rolled his eyes.

"He hazed you because that's his sense of humor and he only jokes with people he likes. He already likes you, this has to be some kind of record," she though aloud.

"Whatever you say," he grinned. "Anything on the bullets?"

"Not yet, IBIS is still processing. There weren't any workable prints, so I'm hoping the gun is registered."

Eric nodded, his eyes happening to fall on the black lettering on her lab coat, C. Duquesne.

The thought once again dawned on Eric that he didn't know the first name of the beautiful woman in front of him and he only knew her surname because of his ability to read.

"You know, I never caught your name," he said, drawing her eyes back up to his from the screen.

"Oh, right, I'm sorry," Calleigh smiled, realizing how right he was; she didn't give him her name in the garage so many months ago and she didn't formally introduce herself in the locker room. "I'm Calleigh. Calleigh Duquesne."

Eric felt his face form into an even wider smile, he had never heard such a name as Calleigh Duquesne, but it held a certain ring to it he instantly fell in love with.

"Well, Calleigh, now that we're working in same place, we really need to stay in contact," he pulled a piece of paper and slid it over to her. "Number, please."

Calleigh narrowed her eyes, the pick up line he had used on her coming to mind and she couldn't believe that he was, in some way, getting what he wanted.

"Don't get too used to me saying this, but you win," she sighed, pulling the paper and pen over towards her. She tore the paper in half, giving a section to him and gave him an extra pen. "You'd best give me yours, too."

"This is becoming a good day," he said to himself, picking up the pen, not noticing the look Calleigh gave him. "So, word on the street is that you don't date. Is that true?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I date," she said, folding the paper that held her information. "I just don't people I work with."

"Like I said before, we'll see," Eric smirked, but Calleigh just rolled her eyes playfully, she had the feeling this was the beginning of a very interesting friendship.

"Let's start as friends where that gets us," Calleigh suggested, handing him the paper.

"Works for me," he shrugged as she took his phone number from him. "But you will change your mind."

"You'll have forgotten about me by this time next week," she stated, confidently, Eric didn't strike her as the type that kept a girlfriend for too long, let alone an interest in a certain woman.

Eric opened his mouth to say something, Calleigh was certain he was about to protest, but her cell phone cut him off.

"Duquesne?" she answered, putting the phone to her ear.

"We got DNA from the mouth of the ski mask," Speedle said, triumphantly, while simultaneously IBIS finally found a match.

"Let me guess, Mitchell Bishop of Coral Gables?" Calleigh assumed, reading off the gun registration.

"Thanks for stealing my thunder, Cal," he sighed in mock annoyance.

"It's what I do," she smiled, shrugging a shoulder.

"So the gun was registered to him?"

"Bingo…. Tell you what, I'll let you call Horatio," Calleigh offered.

"Deal, is Delko with you?" Speedle asked.

"He is," she nodded, looking up at Eric.

"Send him down, tell him he is about to apprehend his first suspect."

"Will do," Calleigh promised before closing her phone and smiling up at Eric. "Your skills with suspects are about to be put to the test. Speed's waiting for you downstairs."

"Okay," he nodded, eyes lighting up at the challenge before he turned towards the door.

"By the way," she called to Eric, making him turn to face her. "Welcome to CSI Miami."

Eric smiled, broadly. "Glad to be here."

With that, he continued out the door, Calleigh found herself staring at him as he walked away and a slight blush coming to her cheeks when he turned around one more time to give her a final smile, catching her watching him. She dropped her eyes quickly, slightly embarrassed, something that seldom occured for her.

"Come on, Duquesne," she told herself firmly, now certain she was alone. "You know it would never work out."

Calleigh didn't know just how wrong she was.