The Miami morning dawned bright and early, too early for her taste, as her alarm radio switched on, the radio announcer giving the daily morning traffic report. Birds chirped incessantly outside Calleigh's window. She turned over and slapped the snooze button, clamoring for a few more minutes of precious sleep. With what lay ahead of her that morning, between that delayed talk with Speed, more than likely a talk with Eric as well regarding boundaries, and of course, another day on the job, she knew that she'd need all the sleep she could get.

Much too shortly, her alarm went off again, this time in the middle of "A Moment Like This." She sighed and glared at the radio. It wasn't that she didn't like the song; she did, maybe, in a guilty pleasure sort of way. But it wasn't what she wanted to wake up to first thing in the morning. Sighing, she hit the off button, and the room fell silent. She looked over. "Good," she thought, shifting her weight and getting out of bed. "Maybe I can take a shower before he wakes up."

She slid a robe around herself, and walked over to the bathroom. Normally, she wouldn't have bothered, but, as she thought grimly, she didn't know where Eric was lurking, and after the events of the night before, she didn't trust him not to spy on her in the shower. Humming brightly as she turned on the water and shed her robe, she willed herself, mentally, not to let the events of the day get her down. She squeezed the shampoo bottle, and a small dime of shampoo landed in her hands. Feeling the lightness of the bottle, she made a mental note to stop at the grocery store on the way home and buy a new bottle of shampoo.

She stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel off the rack, feeling the coolness of the tile beneath her bare feet. Hopefully, this day wouldn't be as bad as she feared it would be. A good, strong cup of coffee could help with the optimism, she thought, and after wrapping her hair in the towel, she stepped out into the hallway.

"Good morning," she said, to no one in particular. Her curiosity piqued as to who would respond first.

"Good morning, Cal," Eric replied from his position on the couch. "Sleep well?" In its innocence, it was the most loaded question he could have asked her, given the circumstances.

"Amazing," came the curt reply from the kitchen. "Was the couch pleasing to you?"

He stood up and began walking toward the kitchen to join her. "Very. Thank you."

She slumped back against the counter as a fresh pot of morning coffee began percolating, pinching the bridge of her nose and letting out a sigh. "You know, Cal, a watched coffee pot never boils," he said, gently teasing her.

"Coffee doesn't boil, Eric," she said, more edge in her voice than she really intended. "Sorry. I didn't mean to-"

It was that moment that Speed chose to enter the kitchen, wearing no more than a pair of low-slung boxers. "Morning, Calleigh, morning, Eric," he said, rifling through the cupboards before finding his coffee mug.

Eric raised his eyebrows at the sight. It felt like he had landed in the Twilight Zone. The Twilight Zone where his two co-workers were going at it like bunny rabbits behind his back, without his knowledge, even. How had they managed that? Having a secret at the lab, especially for any extended period of time, was almost akin to possessing the Holy Grail. "How long?" he asked, not realizing he was saying it out loud.

Calleigh laughed. "What has it been now? Six months?"

"Something like that," Speed said, glancing over at Calleigh, allowing a small smile to tug at his lips, before returning to a more neutral expression. "Time flies."

"That it does," Eric replied, finding his way blindly over to one of her kitchen chairs. He was feeling light-headed. Maybe some breakfast would help. He had had thoughts, before last night, that he would wake up early and cook her breakfast, as a thank you. Somehow, that didn't seem quite right now. No, he felt slightly nauseous as well. This wasn't how he had anticipated his first morning after with Calleigh. It was almost more like the walk of shame, and he couldn't wait to get out of it. Never speak of the events that had transpired.

"So, who's up for some coffee?" Calleigh said brightly, holding up the pot joyously.

As he blindly took the acceptance of steaming hot coffee from her hands, he let out a pained sigh and sloughed half of the cup in one gulp, not feeling the pain as it coursed down his throat. It was all so screwed up, and there was no easy fix for any of it.


Later that afternoon, as Calleigh walked out of the lab at the end of shift, Speed pulled her off to the side. "Calleigh, now can we talk?" he asked, almost insistent in his tone.

"Let's get in the car first," she said, opening her door and fumbling for her keys in her purse. After both were seated and buckled, and driving on the road leading out of the lab, she broke the tense silence. "Talk."

"It would seem that the simplest course of action last night would have been to invite Eric in."

"And I told you, I've never even considered it."

"Why not? Are you really that adamant against it?"

The silence and tension in the front seat was thick enough that both were fairly sure that if one of them had a butcher knife, they could slice it without much problem.

"Why are you so for it?"

"I asked you first."

She thought back. It wasn't much in the way of a secret that she worked with two of the best-looking guys in all of Miami. But she was happy with her relationship with Speed as it was, in all of its uncomplicated simplicity. Adding a third unknown variable to the solution, even temporarily…well, she was a physicist, not a chemist, but she was pretty certain that it would lead to an explosion that none of them would be able to recover from. And the last thing she wanted to do was toy with Eric's heart. He was a good friend, and he didn't deserve her doing that to him.

"I don't want to hurt our relationship," she said, finally, eyes glued to the road ahead of her.

He let out a low chuckle and shook his head. "Calleigh Duquesne, afraid of unpredictability. I never thought I'd see the day."

"Why do you say that?" She found herself on the defensive now. She liked unpredictability. Tolerating unpredictability was practically in the job description for crime scene investigator, right alongside copious amounts of blood and having to possess the ability to discern when people were lying to your face.

"Oh, I don't know. But don't you think that maybe it's time to let down your hair a little? I know you know how to," he said with a smirk.

She bit her lip. It almost felt like the car was smaller than she ever thought it was, nearly a coffin. "One time."

"One time for what?" he asked in reply, wanting a confirmation for what he felt her intention was.

"One time, the three of us, but only if he's agreeable."

"And if it goes well?"

She narrowed her eyes and turned to him. "We'll see how things go, and talk from there. We don't even know how he'll react when we ask him."

"Is he staying over again tonight?"

"He'll probably be making alternate plans if he still doesn't want to stay at home," she said with a sigh. "After how last night went…"

"Yeah." They both knew how her sentence would end.

"I can call him when we get back to my place," she said. "But first, we need to stop at the store."

"Why?"

"I'm out of shampoo, among other things. Should I cook, or do we want to go out for dinner?"

He shrugged and turned back to face the window. "Whatever you want, Calleigh. The longer you put off that call though…"

"I know, I know," she said, placing her free hand over his and squeezing gently. "Don't worry. I'll make the call."

"Good."

-to be continued-