Calleigh let her eyes focus and unfocus on the numbers ticking over as she rode the elevator up to the lab. Yawning, she laughed silently as her hair was awkwardly pulled over her face, covering both her mouth and the face of the small boy, resting on her hip. Andrew, stop it. She smirked as she met his smiling green eyes with a wicked grin. She knew he liked the feel of her hair and late at night when he couldn't sleep, she'd often indulge in letting him play with it. But it was early and she was at work, so she tapped his little hand and brushed her hair behind her ear. When he looked saddened, she grasped the hand that had pulled at her hair and kissed it gently, safe in the knowledge that she was the only one in the elevator and that no one would belittle a small moment of motherly comfort. He seemed to brighten and she grinned, because he was a child that bounced back easily.

The elevator pinged, indicating that they'd reached their destination, so she readjusted the large Coach diaper bag on her shoulder and took a deep breath as she headed out towards the reception desk. "Good morning, Officer Duquesne," the bright-eyed receptionist greeted her, though her eyes were trained intently on the little boy, as was the norm.

"Good morning, Sally." She smirked as she signed in and took the offered day-care pass that Sally held up on the desk.

Sometimes Calleigh wished that she didn't have to trudge the entire length of the crime-lab with Andrew on her hip to get to the on-site day-care centre; because sometimes, that simple walk had the ability to make a bad morning, worse.

She knew that carrying the son of Eric Delko on her hip, through these halls, drew curious eyes. So she received no end of silent smiles and giggly faces as she passed the labs. Most often, it didn't bother her; sometimes she even silently revelled in the fact. But some days she wished she could simply pass without incident.

Today was not that day.

She almost audibly groaned when she heard Valera's screech from behind her and she had to school her features into a kind smile before she turned and suffered several moments of giggles and Andrew wriggling on her hip as Valera tickled him and greeted her good morning at the same time. She barely had it in her to fault the woman, because Andrew was an adorable kid. But sometimes she thought that it would be nice if she could arrive in a manner that didn't have all the women in the lab fawning over her and her son.

With a promise of returning before her shift was over, so that Andrew could say goodbye to Valera, Calleigh once again headed for the stairs but rolled her eyes when Natalia came running out of the lab.

"Calleigh. Hi." She greeted, grabbing Andrew's hand and squeezing it. Though to Calleigh's surprise, her friend s attention was trained on her.

"Hey, Natalia, what's up?"

"I just got the tox results back on Rosa Mendes; remember the Sala s house-keeper?"

Calleigh nodded. "You know I'm not working that case, Natalia?"

"Yeah, I know, but this is really hinky. She overdosed on a drug called, Desoxyephedrine." Natalia held up the file for Calleigh to read and Calleigh eyed her before she relented and looked down at the file. She had to readjust Andrew on her hip to be able to get a close enough look and only winced slightly when his little heel came in contact with her belly.

"Meth?" Calleigh questioned, glancing at Andrew's blank expression with a slight smile.

"In its legal form, Desoxyn. Ryan found a prescription for it in her medicine cabinet. Apparently she was narcoleptic."

"That drug can t be sold in these kinds of amounts; that's definitely not from a prescription," Calleigh commented, still looking over the report in Natalia's hand as Andrew and Natalia made faces at one another.

"Exactly. But why drug the housekeeper, if it's the family you want?"

"Well that is interesting. Crime of opportunity? She had the drugs and she was in the wrong place, at the wrong time?" Calleigh suggested.

Natalia nodded, considering it. "But that doesn't explain the quantity."

Calleigh shrugged. "I'm sure you'll figure it out. Ok, Andrew. Say goodbye to Natalia, we've got to go now."

"Bye N'talia," he said shyly, letting his head fall onto Calleigh's shoulder and both women grinned.

"You're going to get those results to Horatio?"

"Yeah, I was just on my way now, I'll see you later."

"Seeya." Calleigh gently urged Andrew to let go of Natalia's hand and smirked as they parted ways.

**

"Hey Delko, what'ya got?" Ryan wandered into the fingerprints lab, just as Eric was scanning the lone, partial print through AFIS.

"Tara found this match book on the vic. And I managed to lift a partial; we'll just have to see if it leads us anywhere."

Ryan nodded, resting his hands on his hips. "So I heard you were a little shaken up at the scene."

Eric snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well if you'd seen what I saw..." He let the sentence fall as he noticed Ryan crossing his arms over his chest out of the corner of his eye.

"If this one s too close, Eric-"

Snapping his head up, Eric glared at him. "Look, I already told H. I'm fine, really."

"Yeah but Eric, it was a three year old kid. How old is Andrew?"

"Wolfe, let it go, alright."

"Fine, fine. You need any help?"

Eric shook his head and Ryan waited for a moment for some kind of verbal response, but when he got none he simply rolled his eyes and left the room. Eric felt a slight tinge of regret for snapping at Wolfe, but his friend had an uncanny ability for getting under his skin and right now, he just wanted to be left alone.

Before he dropped his eyes back down to the screen, he smiled slightly, because he noticed Calleigh walking past the lab. She glanced in and she winked her eye with a playful smile, completely unaware of what he d seen that morning as was a requirement of them working the same shift, they could no longer work the same case - and somehow, it managed to warm his heart just a little, knowing she was happy and he could go back to his work with his mood a little brighter.

**

"Good morning, Mrs Delko." Horatio smirked as Calleigh turned away from the fingerprinting lab and continued her walk towards him, by the elevator. She narrowed her eyes at him and she couldn't help but notice that there was a mischievous glint in his eyes, something that could rarely be found with Horatio Caine.

"It's Officer Duquesne, if I don't recall. It's been three years, Horatio. Is it never getting old?" She smirked, passing him and turning around to face him.

"I believe that depends on the situation, ma'am." He chuckled slightly. "And no, I don't believe so." He smiled and her expression softened, because she wasn't ever really mad at him; she still smiled goofily when a check-out girl referred to her by the name on her credit card, or when she rifled through the mail and came across something addressed to 'Mr and Mrs Delko'. She loved it and all that it implied; though, even if she agreed. "Perhaps" was the response that he received.

"How is your son?" He twirled his sunglasses between his fingers and adjusted his footing, the way that he does.

Calleigh took a deep breath and tugged on the hem of her shirt. "He's good. He s just the happy, smiling little boy that he always is. He gets that from Eric." She laughed gently and Horatio nodded, knowing that wasn t entirely true. "Oh and Mareike is doing very well." She patted her stomach and Horatio turned his eyes down to her hand with a fond smile.

"She has a name?" Some people would think it strange, that their daughter had her name complete and she was barely a bump of four months old. But Calleigh and Eric were both set in their decisions and the moment they knew that they were to have a daughter; they decided that her name would be Mareike.

Calleigh grinned. "Yes, she does."

"Listen, Calleigh," She took a step closer to him, knowing by the look in his eyes that what he was about to say, was for their ears only. "The Sala case has hit Eric fairly hard. The bodies of Elizabeth Sala and her young son were discovered on the beach this morning."

Her eyes widened. "That was the call-out that Eric got?" Horatio nodded.

"Yes. Now, here's what I'd like you to do; Eric insists that he's fine, but I'd like you to watch him; the boy was about Andrew's age and there is something about this case that isn't sitting quite right with me."

Slowly, Calleigh glanced towards the fingerprinting lab, seeing Eric hunched over the laptop deep in thought and she found herself nodding. "Yeah, of course. I'll talk to him."

"Thank you, Ma'am." He smiled and she patted his forearm.

"Now, if you ll excuse me Lieutenant, I've got fifty-four shell casings to process before I can have lunch with my son, so I d better get to it."

Horatio nodded and with one last look over at Eric, Calleigh turned on her heel and headed for her Ballistics lab.

**

"Eric," Horatio walked into the fingerprinting lab and set his sunglasses on the bench, just as Eric's computer beeped. "-what have you got?"

Eric's eyes were wide and staring at the screen. Horatio became tense and studied his friend intently before the younger man grasped the top of the monitor tightly and turned it so that he could see. The partial print on the match book belonged to a Dimitri Brize, Russian Mob. "H, you know what that means."

Horatio met his eyes with the same degree of worry and Eric took that as an affirmative, letting his brain spiral into overdrive. "This could mean Sarnoff." He stated, fearfully.

Horatio cut him off before he could voice what the both suddenly feared. "Eric, calm down. As far as we know, Sarnoff is dead. I shot him myself. We don't jump to conclusions, remember?"

"Well, what could it have meant?" For once, Horatio didn t have an answer that could possibly reassure his friend entirely. So he opted for honesty, the best policy.

"I don't know, Eric. But I m going to find out." He grabbed his sunglasses and fled the room, leaving Eric breathing heavily and unsure of what to do with himself. He looked out to the hallway and all the bustling people. He saw that Ryan and Natalia were talking across the hall, but he couldn t bring himself to face them. Calleigh was likely busy with a case; she'd been backlogged with bullets, bombs and harpoons since she'd been confined to the lab and he didn t want to worry her with his insecurities, so tossing his lab coat over his chair, he dashed out of the room toward the only person that he knew, could ease his worry.

**

"Nat, is Eric out in the field?" Calleigh asked, walking into DNA with a very confused look on her face.

Natalia didn't look up from what she was doing, though she smiled gently at the worry in her friend's voice. "Not that I know of, why?"

"I can't find him. He was supposed to have lunch with Andrew and me, but I can't find him anywhere. I was thinking that perhaps Horatio sent him out on a lead?"

Stopping what she was doing, Natalia looked her in the eye. "As far as I know, the case hasn t got any yet; the drugged housekeeper turned up nothing and apart from a single match book Eric found on the victim, there's been nothing else. He should be here...somewhere."

Calleigh pressed her lips together and the worry was evident enough on her face, that Natalia noticed it and her smile fell away. "Calleigh, is everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah. It's fine. I m sure he's just preoccupied with something, I'll find him. Thanks Nat."

Flustered a little by Calleigh's sudden dismissal, Natalia nodded and barely managed to mutter her response before Calleigh was out of the lab. "Sure, anytime."

**

Almost certain that she d have to give up the search, Calleigh headed towards the day-care centre to find Andrew because that was a far easier task than searching for Eric when he didn't want to be found. It was the highlight of their son s day, when Eric and Calleigh would drag him away from his little friends and make lunch for him in the break room. The three of them would sit around the couch and he d tell them all about the fun things he was learning at school . Some days only she was free to spend time with him and some days only Eric was, so it was extra special, the days when they could both be there to hear his little stories. Sometimes he'd fall asleep and Calleigh barely had the heart to unwrap his little arms from her waist and take him back upstairs.

Walking up to the door, Calleigh took a moment to peer through the small window and when she set her eyes on her son, she smiled. And she wondered how it hadn't crossed her mind, that where she found Andrew, she would find Eric.

She watched them for a moment, as Eric eased himself down into the small couch. It was small enough to fit a child, not a six-foot Cuban. She covered her smile with her hand but as he pulled Andrew towards him, wrapping the small boy - that had her eyes and his everything else - in his arms; she found that her heart started to beat a little faster. Eric pulled him close and wrapped his arms around him. She watched as he buried his face in the little boy s neck and a tear came to her eye when she saw that Andrew was hugging him back, comforting his father.

She watched them talk and by the way they moved their mouths, she knew they were speaking Spanish. She wanted to walk in there, but she knew that Eric needed this. Turning around, she headed back to her lab and let Eric have Andrew all to himself, because he needed something to ground him in that moment and for a small change, it wasn t her.

Taking the stairs slowly, she made her way back down and headed towards her lab. She hadn t finished cataloguing all of her casings, so skipping her break would ensure that she'd get through it and have time to see Andrew that afternoon.