They had established the routine five years ago. Every Friday: Eric, Calleigh, Calleigh's backyard pool and a lot of laughter combined with some pretty intense swimming lessons.

For the first time in five years, Eric Delko had failed to call her and confirm that he was coming over for their weekly swim. It was 8 o'clock, which was the time the swimming session should've ended. Her phone had been silent- save for a tiny beep alerting Calleigh that the battery was low.

Calleigh consoled herself quickly: he was probably out with his girlfriend, he was exhausted, he had plans with family. But then another nagging, irritating thought entered her brain: he had had plenty of girlfriends in the past. Plenty of exhausting Friday afternoon shifts. Plenty of family plans. But he had always moved things around for those cherished 2 hours. What would make him stop now?

Jake. Calleigh shoved the thought out of her brain as soon as it wriggled its way in. But it was true. She and Jake were official again. Well, they had been official long before, but they weren't hiding it anymore. Everyone knew.

Her fears were confirmed when she remembered that this morning, her mug of Cubano had been absent- Eric had neglected to make her morning coffee: another thing he had been doing for innumerable years. To top it off, she knew he was purposely avoiding her- he had chosen to push papers rather than work in the field with her.

The dread started to seep in slowly but surely. On one hand, she felt like breaking down and crying- why was Eric acting so cold all of a sudden? One the other, she chided herself. Why should I care? I have Jake, that's all the matters right?

Right! Her brain insisted, but her heart was screaming wrong.

--/--

"Well hey there, pretty girl" Jake gently grabbed Calleigh's arm in the hallway of the crime lab Saturday morning as she power walked past him. "Missed you this morning. I did enjoy the note taped to my forehead, though"

Calleigh laughed, recalling the memory of the hastily written note- she hadn't figured out where he would find it first, so she had opted for scotch-taping it to his forehead. She stopped to take in his clean shaven face and inhale his cologne- Armani, her absolute favorite. "Sorry, I got an early call out"

"Too bad, I was looking forward to a morning shower with you" Jake winked at her, moving them off to the side.

"Jake! Behave!" Calleigh said, her cheeks tinting pink. "We're at work"

"I know, I know. I was actually going to hand deliver these files to you" he said, handed her a stack of manila folders.

"What a great present" Calleigh laughed. "Thank you, you didn't have to do that"

"Well, I wanted to see you" Jake reached out and touched her hair. "You look very pretty today"

"Thanks" she blushed again. "I'll see you at lunch?"

"It's a date" Jake said.

Calleigh walked into the processing room and caught sight of Eric lifting a fingerprint. She walked over to him, dreading the cold response she was surely going to get.

"Hey Eric" she smiled her sunny smile- the one Eric had dubbed her '300 watt smile'.

"Hey, Calleigh. I'm almost done with these fingerprints" he said, resolutely avoiding her gaze.

"Missed you yesterday" she said timidly.

"Yeah, well, I was busy" Eric said shortly, punching a few keys and waiting for AFIS to start up.

"Eric" Calleigh sighed, exasperation evident in her voice.

"By the way" Eric said as he watched AFIS scan fingerprints. "You and Jake should probably avoid playing Romeo and Juliet in the hallways. The lab is made of glass, you know"

"So that's what this is about" Calleigh said. Eric opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by AFIS. "Got the suspects name: Mallory Landon"

"I'll call Horatio" Calleigh said, stalking out of the lab without a goodbye.

Eric looked longingly at her retreating form. He sighed when he saw her pause to run her fingers through her blonde hair- a weakness of his- and punch in Horatio's number. Why was this so hard?

--/--

"Calleigh! I've got a present for you" Ryan said, stumbling into the lab. "It's debris from the car shooting"

"And it isn't even my birthday" Calleigh smiled at Ryan, helping him unload the box onto the table. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Eric walking into the room and making his way over.

"I need to run those for fingerprints" he said gruffly.

"Okay" Calleigh said, refusing to meet his eyes. "Take what you need"

Eric opened his mouth to argue but then realized he didn't have anything to argue against. Usually, Calleigh put up a hell of a fight to process the evidence first. It was then that he realized the magnitude of the argument they were in.

"What's wrong with the two of you?" Ryan demanded as the tension in the room grew.

"Nothing" Calleigh replied. "I'm going to get back to ballistics"

"Try not to trip and accidentally fall into Jake's arms in the middle of the hallway" Eric snorted. His expression stayed the same but his heart sank when he saw tears prick Calleigh's eyes. She bit her lip to stop from responding and walked out of the lab, heading in a straight line to firearms.

"Eric? Are you insane?" Ryan elbowed him. "What are you doing?!"

"She's with JAKE now" Eric spat, the hurt evident in his eyes. "After everything he did to her, she's back with him"

"Eric, you nearly made her cry. And we BOTH know that Calleigh doesn't ever cry. She obviously has a very weak spot for you" Ryan reasoned with his best friend. "She never said anything about your multitude of girlfriends"

"That was different, Ryan. We've been dancing around each other for months now. It wasn't like that between us before"

"Still. Just don't throw caution to the wind, okay?"

"I'll try. This is really hard" Eric sighed. "I know I'm being an asshole"

"Yeah, you are" Ryan said. "Stop it before you destroy her"

"Yeah" Eric heaved a sigh. "Let's dig into this pile of nonsense. I need some good solid debris-digging to get my mind off my disastrous life"

Ryan nodded, snapping on a pair of gloves and began sorting through the pile with Eric.

--/--

"Is something the matter, Calleigh?" Jake asked over lunch. "Do you not like your quesadilla?"

"No, it's great" Calleigh forced a smile. "I'm just tired"

"Sure?" Jake pressed. "Do you feel sick?"

"No, just tired" Calleigh said, squeezing his hand affectionately. "I'm okay, Jake. Really"

"Okay" he conceded, intertwining their fingers. "How did your cases fare today?"

"Well, Eric refused to communicate with me so I was behind the entire time on what was going on. But we have a suspect in custody and hopefully he's talking"

"What is going on between you two anyway? It doesn't seem that you guys are getting along too well these days" Jake inquired.

"Well, Eric's got issue's he has to deal with" Calleigh said, resolutely avoiding the subject. "And we're all getting the backlash"

"I'm sorry. That's rough"

"It'll work itself out. Are we ready to go?"

"Sure. Feel like heading home for an afternoon nap before the next shift begins?"

"I could use a nap with my favorite boy right now" Calleigh smiled, leaning against him.

"Good. Let's go" he wrapped his arm around her and they walked to the car together, seemingly happy and at ease with themselves.

I'm happy Calleigh tried to convince herself as she laid bed with Jake. He had passed out five minutes after they had gotten home. His arm was slung across her stomach and she was cocooned into the shape of his body. She tried to conjure up the butterflies she got in her stomach when Jake kissed her, or the way his naughty smile melted her heart.

But she could only concentrate on one thing.

Eric.