Title: Cause and Effect (1/?)
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters (including Maria. She's made it quite clear that she owns her own damn self, thank you very much.) I'm just borrowing them and will return them when I've had my fun, somewhat dazed and disheveled, but otherwise in their original condition. Also, Maria and I have decided to keep Eric for a while, and we're sending Tim to Yana...
Rating: R for now, but ya'll know me, this story will veer off into NC-17 once or twice. But hell, if you don't like smut, what the hell are ya doing reading one of my stories?
Pairings: Eric/Maria, Tim/Calleigh, John/Yelina, Horatio/Adele
Summary: The CSIs try to prove a confessed murderer's innocence, while Eric and Maria face another change in their relationship.
Feedback: Hey, you! Yeah, I'm talking to you! You're reading this, right? Well then review it! Come on, pretty pleeeeeease? It only takes a minute or two, and it makes my day. Besides, we both know you've got the time. What else are you going to do, work?
Dedication: Yana, for, as always, putting up with my crazy self. Jackie, Tina, Mel, Annie, Dorothy, Nonnie, and all my other loyal reviewers, what would I do without ya'll? I'll tell ya what; I'd stop writing! And that would suck. So, thanks!
Note: This is a continuation of my series. All the stories are archived at fanfiction.net under the pen name ChestyMcBoobs, and the order is: "Blood Ties," "Isolation," "Ripped," "Damaged Goods," "Catalyst," "Raining on Sunday," "Stolen," "Bad Moon Rising," and "Cause and Effect."
So, I'm not thrilled with this part, but it's the first chapter, so I guess it's kinda transitional or whatever. Still, if you guys disagree with me, feel free to let me know...
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"Got a time of death?" Taylor Walsh asked Nick Jones, the graveyard shift M.E., as they both leaned over the body in the motel bathtub.
"Liver temp tells me he checked out around midnight." Nick replied. "As for cause, the second bullet in the chest did him in. The one in his head was overkill."
"Maybe she just wanted to be sure." Taylor said, almost to herself, as she recalled what Horatio had told her about Adam Grant, and the torture he had inflicted on Maria.
"I don't know, boss." Nick continued. "You see any signs of a struggle in here?"
Taylor grimaced as she looked around the small, dirty bathroom, and out into the rest of the motel room. "Hard to say, just look at the mess. They must have lived here for a while, never let housekeeping at it. Does this motel even have housekeeping?"
"If by housekeeping, you mean a bunch of malcontent high school drop outs who come in, go through the guests' belongings, and then knock back a few cold ones in the back office, sure they do."
"Maria." Taylor stood up, shocked. She saw her day shift counterpart behind the young woman. "Horatio, what is she doing here?"
"Had to see it to believe it." Horatio explained. "And she wasn't taking no for an answer."
"Oh, please." Maria snapped. "Somewhere in the Guiness Book of Records, the world's biggest pot just looked at the world's biggest kettle and said 'wow, you're looking black today.'" The two lieutenants looked at her blankly, and she sighed. "You're the last person who should be calling me stubborn. Sheesh."
Out in the hotel room, Calleigh, Tim, and Eric surveyed the absolute disaster area.
"Looks like my room when I was in high school." Eric said. "And my room in college, and...you get the idea."
"Yeah, it's him, all right." Maria announced cheerfully as she joined them. "The bullet through his forehead kinda messed up his face, but the fact that his dick's invisible without a magnifying glass is a dead giveaway." She looked around the room and shrugged. "Some things never change."
"Oh my God." Calleigh said. She looked at another CSI who was processing the scene. "Skye, has this been tagged yet?"
"Yeah." The woman replied. "Glove up, though, just in case."
Calleigh nodded and did so, then picked up the photograph on the bedside table. "Look at this. He kept this wedding picture of him and Maria, for all this time..."
Maria glanced at the picture and shook her head. "That's not me. I was still in a wheelchair when we got married. And I didn't wear a white dress, I wore a Class A uniform." She paled slightly, but quickly steadied herself. "She really does look like me, though."
"More like exactly like you." Eric said. "You shouldn't be here."
"I'll leave as soon as I get to see karma personified." Maria said. "Where is she?"
"They just took her in." Hagen said from behind her.
"What?" Maria turned around. "She's in custody? This was self defense, it had to be! God, she should probably be in the hospital, who knows what he did to her?"
"Calm down." Hagen told her. "She went willingly. She's going to be asked some routine questions, graveyard's gonna process the room, and if the evidence says that it's self defense, she'll be fine. Come on, you think I liked having to arrest her? She killed the son of a bitch who...if it were up to me, Maria, you know that-"
"Yeah, I know." Maria interrupted, sighing. "I'm sorry. Oh, God, I'm so sorry about everything."
"If I have to tell you one more time that it wasn't your fault, I'm going to snap." Hagen told her. "You shouldn't be here, you need to get some rest."
"I'm not the only one." Maria reminded him as Eric took her by the arm and started guiding her towards the door. "Wait...John, what's her name? And how old is she?"
"Her name is Aimee Westin." Hagen replied. "She's twenty."
_____________________
Calleigh hugged Maria once more. "Get some sleep. It's over."
"For me." Maria sighed. "You get some sleep, too..." She glanced past her roommate, at Tim. "Oh, who am I kidding?"
"Yeah, yeah. Smartass." Calleigh said, unable to suppress a grin. "Goodnight."
"Night." Maria replied. "Later, Tim." She waved to her friend, who returned the gesture.
"Ready?" Eric asked, sliding his arms around her waist from behind.
One of his hands came to rest on her stomach, and Maria tensed. She told herself to calm down. There was no way he could tell, she was only four weeks along. "Uh, yeah."
"Are you okay?" He knew her all too well.
"I don't know." Maria admitted. "It's so late...well, early, actually." The sky was already starting to turn light.
"Let's get you home." Eric said, kissing her forehead softly. "Everything will be easier to deal with when you've gotten some sleep."
Maria laughed. "Right. Except by 'home,' you mean your apartment, so the odds of me getting any sleep are slim to none."
"Relax, my intentions are completely pure." Eric assured her.
"You're too tired to fuck me." Maria translated.
Eric shrugged and nodded. "Yeah. You should probably drive."
_______________________
"She signed a confession?" Yelina asked. "With an attorney present?"
"You two shouldn't be worrying about the case." Horatio said.
"No disrespect, Horatio, but how are we supposed to not worry about it?" Hagen asked. He sat down next to the bed and put one arm around Yelina protectively.
"You've got more important things to worry about." Horatio pointed out. "The doctor tells me that you could go home by Friday."
"With any luck." Yelina said. "And I figure we're due for some luck."
"How are you feeling?" Horatio asked.
"I'm going to be all right." Yelina insisted. "We're going to be all right. It just...it wasn't meant to happen. Not this time."
Hagen squeezed her hand gently, then looked back at Horatio. "What did Aimee say?"
"That she was having an affair, Grant confronted her about it and told her to get out, and she then got his gun and shot him while he was taking a shower." Horatio recited.
"Sounds bogus to me." Yelina said. "Have you talked to Maria yet?"
"I'm going to hold off on getting her involved." Horatio replied. "When she left the hotel with Eric, she seemed to be in a state of shock. I'm afraid that this whole experience may have brought a few more repressed memories of what Grant did to her back to the surface."
"When she does find out, she's going to be pissed at you for not telling her sooner." Hagen said. "Ever been hit over the head with a five-hundred dollar Manolo Blahnik pump?"
"I'll take my chances with Maria, and her overpriced footwear." Horatio said with a shrug. "You two should get some rest." As he left the hospital room and looked back, he saw Yelina sink back against Hagen as he put both arms around her and kissed her forehead.
________________________
"Well!" Maria gasped out. "So much for 'too tired.'"
Eric caught his breath enough to laugh. "I guess I had a little more energy than I thought."
Maria kissed his chest and clenched her muscles, trying to hold him where he was, deep inside of her. "Sometimes it just blows me away." She sighed. "How much I love you, I mean."
"I know." Eric mumbled against her hair. "I feel the same way."
"After everything that he did to me." Maria said, looking at their entwined hands, "I didn't think I'd ever even speak to another man."
"He's gone." Eric reminded her, kissing her forehead.
"No more nightmares." Maria added. "We're safe, and...we can actually start thinking about the future, because we actually have one." Just as she thought it might be the right time to tell him, the phone rang, leading her to wonder if she had done something terrible that had somehow involved a phone in her previous life. That belief only grew stronger as Eric carefully turned her onto her back and pulled out of her as he reached over to answer the phone. She sank back against the bed, pouting.
"Are you sure?" Eric was saying. "Well, did he tell you what she said? Okay. No, yeah, you're right. Thanks for letting us know." He hung up the phone and turned back to Maria, pulling her close. "That was Hagen. He said...he said that Aimee Westin confessed to killing Grant, and she said it wasn't in self-defense."
"Oh my God." Maria bolted out of the bed and started gathering up her clothes, which had ended up all over the room. Looking for her bra, she happened to glance up, and had to smile a little when she saw it dangling from the ceiling fan.
"Oops." Eric managed to say as he cracked up.
Maria glared at him. "Yeah, it's hilarious. Can I get a little help here?"
"Yeah." Eric stood and reached up to retrieve the undergarment. "You've got the day off."
"Don't care." Maria replied. "You can't tell me that you believe that she killed him in cold blood. He was doing the same shit to her that he did to me. Maybe worse, I don't know. She deserves to be rewarded for what she's done, not punished."
"Maria." Eric embraced her, pulling her head against his shoulder.
"So it was John who called you? The man who is comforting his fiancée after the loss of their unborn child, had to be the one to tell us what's going on with the case? Why the fuck didn't Horatio call?" Maria demanded.
"He wasn't going to tell you yet." Eric explained. "From what Hagen told me, I think H wanted to let you get some rest before letting you in on it, because he knew how you would react-"
"Horatio does not fucking know me!" Maria interrupted, closing her eyes and pressing her hand against her forehead. "People like Adam do not change. He was a predator, a sadist...a monster. I don't care what Aimee's saying, she had a good reason for killing him."
"Maybe Horatio was right to try and keep you out of the loop." Eric stated. "He was just trying to protect you, baby. You have to know that."
"Someone's gotta protect Aimee Westin." Maria replied.
"Yeah, but that someone's also gotta take care of herself." Eric insisted, grabbing her around her waist and pulling her back to the bed. "Try and get some sleep, it's still early."
"I'm going over there now, Eric." Maria snapped, shaking him off of her. "You don't have to come with me. You should stay here, eat something, take a shower. And when was the last time you shaved? I've got stubble burn in some pretty interesting places." She touched his face affectionately. "Really, I can take care of myself. I'll be back soon."
Eric kissed the tip of her nose lightly. "Nice try, gorgeous, but you're not gonna fool me that easily. I know when I'm being tested. I'm going with you."
Maria sighed and leaned against him, burying her face against his chest. "Thank you."
_________________________
"Eric and Maria just got here." Calleigh said. "Joseph, please tell me we've got good news for them."
The lab tech looked up and shook his head. "Based on the prints I got off the gun? The only person to handle it in the last twenty-four hours was Aimee Westin."
"So, there wasn't a struggle over it." Calleigh concluded, biting her lower lip and thinking for a moment. "Doesn't mean that she wasn't defending herself."
"Wasn't he taking a shower when she capped him?" Joseph asked.
"Yeah." Calleigh sighed. "I know, it doesn't look good for her."
Joseph nodded. "If she killed him in self-defense, why would she confess to murder?"
"If he was torturing Aimee even half as much as he tortured Maria," Calleigh said, "Anything a jury could sentence her to would probably seem like a blessing."
________________________
"Hey." Maria said, catching up to Calleigh as she left the print lab. "So?"
"Nothing new just yet." Calleigh felt bad about lying to her friend, but didn't see how she had much of a choice. "And you've probably heard this about a hundred times in the past five minutes, but you should be resting."
"Are you channeling Eric now?" Maria sighed. "I just want to see her, Cal."
"In the interest of saving time, is there anything I can say to change your mind?" Calleigh asked. "Didn't think so. Well, I'll be around if you need anything."
"See you later." Maria replied. She hadn't gone five feet when another figure blocked her path. "Jesus! Don't fucking do that!"
"My name's not Jesus." Tim said, deadpan. "Did you talk to Eric?"
Maria blinked. "About what?" Tim gave her a look, and she rolled her eyes. "No, I didn't. Fuck, in case you haven't noticed, we've got other things to worry about right now."
"Yeah, things you're not supposed to be worrying about." Tim reminded her. "You're not working this case, and neither is Eric...and why the hell do I even bother trying? Look, I'm not going to tell anyone. But I'm really not comfortable with this. I don't like keeping something this important from Eric. Or Calleigh."
"Great." Maria said. "I'm the one who's knocked up and you're the one who's 'uncomfortable.' You think I'm enjoying this?"
"I'm sorry, that came out wrong." Tim insisted, looking around to be sure no one was paying too much attention to them.
"I don't even know why I told you." Maria continued. "I just...I panicked. I will tell Eric when I'm ready to...when I know how I feel about it." She blinked back tears and placed one hand on her stomach. "I don't want this. I thought I did, but now..."
Tim didn't know what to say. "Maria, really, I didn't mean-"
"Forget it." Maria interrupted. "I'm gonna head down to the morgue, if anyone's looking for me."
______________________
TBC...
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters (including Maria. She's made it quite clear that she owns her own damn self, thank you very much.) I'm just borrowing them and will return them when I've had my fun, somewhat dazed and disheveled, but otherwise in their original condition. Also, Maria and I have decided to keep Eric for a while, and we're sending Tim to Yana...
Rating: R for now, but ya'll know me, this story will veer off into NC-17 once or twice. But hell, if you don't like smut, what the hell are ya doing reading one of my stories?
Pairings: Eric/Maria, Tim/Calleigh, John/Yelina, Horatio/Adele
Summary: The CSIs try to prove a confessed murderer's innocence, while Eric and Maria face another change in their relationship.
Feedback: Hey, you! Yeah, I'm talking to you! You're reading this, right? Well then review it! Come on, pretty pleeeeeease? It only takes a minute or two, and it makes my day. Besides, we both know you've got the time. What else are you going to do, work?
Dedication: Yana, for, as always, putting up with my crazy self. Jackie, Tina, Mel, Annie, Dorothy, Nonnie, and all my other loyal reviewers, what would I do without ya'll? I'll tell ya what; I'd stop writing! And that would suck. So, thanks!
Note: This is a continuation of my series. All the stories are archived at fanfiction.net under the pen name ChestyMcBoobs, and the order is: "Blood Ties," "Isolation," "Ripped," "Damaged Goods," "Catalyst," "Raining on Sunday," "Stolen," "Bad Moon Rising," and "Cause and Effect."
So, I'm not thrilled with this part, but it's the first chapter, so I guess it's kinda transitional or whatever. Still, if you guys disagree with me, feel free to let me know...
__________________________________________
"Got a time of death?" Taylor Walsh asked Nick Jones, the graveyard shift M.E., as they both leaned over the body in the motel bathtub.
"Liver temp tells me he checked out around midnight." Nick replied. "As for cause, the second bullet in the chest did him in. The one in his head was overkill."
"Maybe she just wanted to be sure." Taylor said, almost to herself, as she recalled what Horatio had told her about Adam Grant, and the torture he had inflicted on Maria.
"I don't know, boss." Nick continued. "You see any signs of a struggle in here?"
Taylor grimaced as she looked around the small, dirty bathroom, and out into the rest of the motel room. "Hard to say, just look at the mess. They must have lived here for a while, never let housekeeping at it. Does this motel even have housekeeping?"
"If by housekeeping, you mean a bunch of malcontent high school drop outs who come in, go through the guests' belongings, and then knock back a few cold ones in the back office, sure they do."
"Maria." Taylor stood up, shocked. She saw her day shift counterpart behind the young woman. "Horatio, what is she doing here?"
"Had to see it to believe it." Horatio explained. "And she wasn't taking no for an answer."
"Oh, please." Maria snapped. "Somewhere in the Guiness Book of Records, the world's biggest pot just looked at the world's biggest kettle and said 'wow, you're looking black today.'" The two lieutenants looked at her blankly, and she sighed. "You're the last person who should be calling me stubborn. Sheesh."
Out in the hotel room, Calleigh, Tim, and Eric surveyed the absolute disaster area.
"Looks like my room when I was in high school." Eric said. "And my room in college, and...you get the idea."
"Yeah, it's him, all right." Maria announced cheerfully as she joined them. "The bullet through his forehead kinda messed up his face, but the fact that his dick's invisible without a magnifying glass is a dead giveaway." She looked around the room and shrugged. "Some things never change."
"Oh my God." Calleigh said. She looked at another CSI who was processing the scene. "Skye, has this been tagged yet?"
"Yeah." The woman replied. "Glove up, though, just in case."
Calleigh nodded and did so, then picked up the photograph on the bedside table. "Look at this. He kept this wedding picture of him and Maria, for all this time..."
Maria glanced at the picture and shook her head. "That's not me. I was still in a wheelchair when we got married. And I didn't wear a white dress, I wore a Class A uniform." She paled slightly, but quickly steadied herself. "She really does look like me, though."
"More like exactly like you." Eric said. "You shouldn't be here."
"I'll leave as soon as I get to see karma personified." Maria said. "Where is she?"
"They just took her in." Hagen said from behind her.
"What?" Maria turned around. "She's in custody? This was self defense, it had to be! God, she should probably be in the hospital, who knows what he did to her?"
"Calm down." Hagen told her. "She went willingly. She's going to be asked some routine questions, graveyard's gonna process the room, and if the evidence says that it's self defense, she'll be fine. Come on, you think I liked having to arrest her? She killed the son of a bitch who...if it were up to me, Maria, you know that-"
"Yeah, I know." Maria interrupted, sighing. "I'm sorry. Oh, God, I'm so sorry about everything."
"If I have to tell you one more time that it wasn't your fault, I'm going to snap." Hagen told her. "You shouldn't be here, you need to get some rest."
"I'm not the only one." Maria reminded him as Eric took her by the arm and started guiding her towards the door. "Wait...John, what's her name? And how old is she?"
"Her name is Aimee Westin." Hagen replied. "She's twenty."
_____________________
Calleigh hugged Maria once more. "Get some sleep. It's over."
"For me." Maria sighed. "You get some sleep, too..." She glanced past her roommate, at Tim. "Oh, who am I kidding?"
"Yeah, yeah. Smartass." Calleigh said, unable to suppress a grin. "Goodnight."
"Night." Maria replied. "Later, Tim." She waved to her friend, who returned the gesture.
"Ready?" Eric asked, sliding his arms around her waist from behind.
One of his hands came to rest on her stomach, and Maria tensed. She told herself to calm down. There was no way he could tell, she was only four weeks along. "Uh, yeah."
"Are you okay?" He knew her all too well.
"I don't know." Maria admitted. "It's so late...well, early, actually." The sky was already starting to turn light.
"Let's get you home." Eric said, kissing her forehead softly. "Everything will be easier to deal with when you've gotten some sleep."
Maria laughed. "Right. Except by 'home,' you mean your apartment, so the odds of me getting any sleep are slim to none."
"Relax, my intentions are completely pure." Eric assured her.
"You're too tired to fuck me." Maria translated.
Eric shrugged and nodded. "Yeah. You should probably drive."
_______________________
"She signed a confession?" Yelina asked. "With an attorney present?"
"You two shouldn't be worrying about the case." Horatio said.
"No disrespect, Horatio, but how are we supposed to not worry about it?" Hagen asked. He sat down next to the bed and put one arm around Yelina protectively.
"You've got more important things to worry about." Horatio pointed out. "The doctor tells me that you could go home by Friday."
"With any luck." Yelina said. "And I figure we're due for some luck."
"How are you feeling?" Horatio asked.
"I'm going to be all right." Yelina insisted. "We're going to be all right. It just...it wasn't meant to happen. Not this time."
Hagen squeezed her hand gently, then looked back at Horatio. "What did Aimee say?"
"That she was having an affair, Grant confronted her about it and told her to get out, and she then got his gun and shot him while he was taking a shower." Horatio recited.
"Sounds bogus to me." Yelina said. "Have you talked to Maria yet?"
"I'm going to hold off on getting her involved." Horatio replied. "When she left the hotel with Eric, she seemed to be in a state of shock. I'm afraid that this whole experience may have brought a few more repressed memories of what Grant did to her back to the surface."
"When she does find out, she's going to be pissed at you for not telling her sooner." Hagen said. "Ever been hit over the head with a five-hundred dollar Manolo Blahnik pump?"
"I'll take my chances with Maria, and her overpriced footwear." Horatio said with a shrug. "You two should get some rest." As he left the hospital room and looked back, he saw Yelina sink back against Hagen as he put both arms around her and kissed her forehead.
________________________
"Well!" Maria gasped out. "So much for 'too tired.'"
Eric caught his breath enough to laugh. "I guess I had a little more energy than I thought."
Maria kissed his chest and clenched her muscles, trying to hold him where he was, deep inside of her. "Sometimes it just blows me away." She sighed. "How much I love you, I mean."
"I know." Eric mumbled against her hair. "I feel the same way."
"After everything that he did to me." Maria said, looking at their entwined hands, "I didn't think I'd ever even speak to another man."
"He's gone." Eric reminded her, kissing her forehead.
"No more nightmares." Maria added. "We're safe, and...we can actually start thinking about the future, because we actually have one." Just as she thought it might be the right time to tell him, the phone rang, leading her to wonder if she had done something terrible that had somehow involved a phone in her previous life. That belief only grew stronger as Eric carefully turned her onto her back and pulled out of her as he reached over to answer the phone. She sank back against the bed, pouting.
"Are you sure?" Eric was saying. "Well, did he tell you what she said? Okay. No, yeah, you're right. Thanks for letting us know." He hung up the phone and turned back to Maria, pulling her close. "That was Hagen. He said...he said that Aimee Westin confessed to killing Grant, and she said it wasn't in self-defense."
"Oh my God." Maria bolted out of the bed and started gathering up her clothes, which had ended up all over the room. Looking for her bra, she happened to glance up, and had to smile a little when she saw it dangling from the ceiling fan.
"Oops." Eric managed to say as he cracked up.
Maria glared at him. "Yeah, it's hilarious. Can I get a little help here?"
"Yeah." Eric stood and reached up to retrieve the undergarment. "You've got the day off."
"Don't care." Maria replied. "You can't tell me that you believe that she killed him in cold blood. He was doing the same shit to her that he did to me. Maybe worse, I don't know. She deserves to be rewarded for what she's done, not punished."
"Maria." Eric embraced her, pulling her head against his shoulder.
"So it was John who called you? The man who is comforting his fiancée after the loss of their unborn child, had to be the one to tell us what's going on with the case? Why the fuck didn't Horatio call?" Maria demanded.
"He wasn't going to tell you yet." Eric explained. "From what Hagen told me, I think H wanted to let you get some rest before letting you in on it, because he knew how you would react-"
"Horatio does not fucking know me!" Maria interrupted, closing her eyes and pressing her hand against her forehead. "People like Adam do not change. He was a predator, a sadist...a monster. I don't care what Aimee's saying, she had a good reason for killing him."
"Maybe Horatio was right to try and keep you out of the loop." Eric stated. "He was just trying to protect you, baby. You have to know that."
"Someone's gotta protect Aimee Westin." Maria replied.
"Yeah, but that someone's also gotta take care of herself." Eric insisted, grabbing her around her waist and pulling her back to the bed. "Try and get some sleep, it's still early."
"I'm going over there now, Eric." Maria snapped, shaking him off of her. "You don't have to come with me. You should stay here, eat something, take a shower. And when was the last time you shaved? I've got stubble burn in some pretty interesting places." She touched his face affectionately. "Really, I can take care of myself. I'll be back soon."
Eric kissed the tip of her nose lightly. "Nice try, gorgeous, but you're not gonna fool me that easily. I know when I'm being tested. I'm going with you."
Maria sighed and leaned against him, burying her face against his chest. "Thank you."
_________________________
"Eric and Maria just got here." Calleigh said. "Joseph, please tell me we've got good news for them."
The lab tech looked up and shook his head. "Based on the prints I got off the gun? The only person to handle it in the last twenty-four hours was Aimee Westin."
"So, there wasn't a struggle over it." Calleigh concluded, biting her lower lip and thinking for a moment. "Doesn't mean that she wasn't defending herself."
"Wasn't he taking a shower when she capped him?" Joseph asked.
"Yeah." Calleigh sighed. "I know, it doesn't look good for her."
Joseph nodded. "If she killed him in self-defense, why would she confess to murder?"
"If he was torturing Aimee even half as much as he tortured Maria," Calleigh said, "Anything a jury could sentence her to would probably seem like a blessing."
________________________
"Hey." Maria said, catching up to Calleigh as she left the print lab. "So?"
"Nothing new just yet." Calleigh felt bad about lying to her friend, but didn't see how she had much of a choice. "And you've probably heard this about a hundred times in the past five minutes, but you should be resting."
"Are you channeling Eric now?" Maria sighed. "I just want to see her, Cal."
"In the interest of saving time, is there anything I can say to change your mind?" Calleigh asked. "Didn't think so. Well, I'll be around if you need anything."
"See you later." Maria replied. She hadn't gone five feet when another figure blocked her path. "Jesus! Don't fucking do that!"
"My name's not Jesus." Tim said, deadpan. "Did you talk to Eric?"
Maria blinked. "About what?" Tim gave her a look, and she rolled her eyes. "No, I didn't. Fuck, in case you haven't noticed, we've got other things to worry about right now."
"Yeah, things you're not supposed to be worrying about." Tim reminded her. "You're not working this case, and neither is Eric...and why the hell do I even bother trying? Look, I'm not going to tell anyone. But I'm really not comfortable with this. I don't like keeping something this important from Eric. Or Calleigh."
"Great." Maria said. "I'm the one who's knocked up and you're the one who's 'uncomfortable.' You think I'm enjoying this?"
"I'm sorry, that came out wrong." Tim insisted, looking around to be sure no one was paying too much attention to them.
"I don't even know why I told you." Maria continued. "I just...I panicked. I will tell Eric when I'm ready to...when I know how I feel about it." She blinked back tears and placed one hand on her stomach. "I don't want this. I thought I did, but now..."
Tim didn't know what to say. "Maria, really, I didn't mean-"
"Forget it." Maria interrupted. "I'm gonna head down to the morgue, if anyone's looking for me."
______________________
TBC...