Eric was going through the photographs and casts taken that morning. He was frustrated. He hadn't been able to find a single usable print. His only lead so far was some small pieces of coloured glass he'd found in the foot prints. They were stuck all over the casts, and he had picked more out of the mud.

They hadn't found a primary crime scene. They hadn't found the murder weapon. They hadn't even been able to ID the guy. It was looking more and more like this case would join the growing pile of unsolved cases they were already working on.

"Hey Delko. How's it going?" Ryan breezed into the lab, thumping Eric playfully on the back.
"Hey Wolfe. Not great. No prints, no primary scene, no weapon…"
"What do you have?"
"Glass."
"Glass?"
"Yeah. Tiny pieces of coloured grass in the shoe prints. It must have been on this guy's shoes."
"Well, that doesn't exactly narrow things down. He could have picked that stuff up from any number of places."
"Tell me about it." Eric sighed. "So did you just come in here to chat or is there something you need?" Eric needed to focus, and Ryan was an unwelcome distraction.
"Oh nothing really, I was just wondering if you're free Friday night after work."
"Friday? I guess so. Why?"
"It's just I'm going to visit family for the weekend and I kinda need a lift to the airport."
"Can't you just take a cab?" Eric was irritated. He had no plans to speak of, but he didn't fancy battling through the Miami traffic just to take Wolfe to the airport.
"Oh, you know, cabs, germs. OCD." Ryan gestured vaguely, as if that would help illustrate his point.
Eric sighed. "OK, whatever, but you owe me, OK?"
"Great. Thanks Eric." Ryan skipped out of the room, nearly colliding with Calleigh on his way out.
"Sorry, Calleigh, in a rush." He called over his shoulder.
Eric shook his head. "That guy gets weirder every day."
Calleigh smiled "Don't I know it. I caught him and Natalia giggling over something in the trace lab this morning. They're up to something."
"Yeah, well, he's just conned me into taking him to the airport on Friday."
"Ooh, lucky you. I'm going out for a drink with Natalia Friday night, otherwise I'd offer to come with you guys." She smiled playfully, clearly not disappointed that she'd be missing this particular road trip. "Any progress on those casts?", she shifted easily into professional mode.
"Nothing. I couldn't get any prints. They only thing I've found has been this glass. See that? Tiny shards of different coloured glass. It must have been in the guy's shoe."
"So maybe he was at a church? Stained Glass Window?"
"Maybe. I'll see if I can find any reports of broken church windows. It's a long shot, but you never know."
"Listen, I'm on my way down to see Alexx, but I was wondering if you wanted to grab a late lunch when I'm done?"
"Sounds good. Come and find me when you're ready."
"Great. See ya." She smiled, turning to leave.

Eric watched her go. He'd never tire of that view. It was almost as nice as when she walked towards him.

Calleigh knew he was watching her. He always did. She didn't mind. Anyone else and she probably would have pulled her weapon on them, but Eric was different. She knew his feelings for her ran far deeper than the odd lustful glance, even if he hadn't had the courage to act on them. She knew how he thought about her. She knew he wanted to settle down. With her. And he knew she knew. But did he know she knew he knew? She wasn't sure. It was a delicate situation.

Trying – and failing – to push Eric from her mind, Calleigh pushed open the door to Alexx's autopsy lab and walked in.

"Hey Alexx" she chirped.
"Hey Calleigh." She looked up at Calleigh's grinning face. "Just been to see Eric have you?"
"How did you know that?" Calleigh asked, puzzled.
"Honey, you always grin like a Cheshire Cat when you've been with him. Why you two don't sort yourselves out I'll never know."
Calleigh blushed. "Is it that obvious?"
"About as obvious as this hole in our vic." Alexx waved her gloved hands over the body.
"That's pretty obvious."
"Uh-huh." Alexx nodded.
"Anyway, speaking of our victim, have you found anything?"
"I've found a heart attack waiting to happen. This guy would have been dead within months if somebody hadn't helped him along the way. Look at this."
She waved a large bag of a sloppy looking substance.
"Stomach contents?" Calleigh asked, wrinkling up her nose.
"Two double cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, coleslaw, all washed down with chocolate ice-cream."
"Two double cheeseburgers?"
"Like I said, heart attack waiting to happen."
"So what was the cause of death?"
"Technically, heart attack. The weapon pierced the left ventricle. His heart would have stopped almost instantly. No defence wounds that I can see, so he either knew his attacker or he was surprised. Tox screen came back clear."
"So nothing we can work with?" Calleigh was disappointed.
"There is one thing. Look at this." Alexx inserted a spreader into the hole in the man's chest. Calleigh peered in as Alexx continued. "There's glass in the wound."
"Eric found shards of coloured glass at the scene…"
"I'm not talking shards. This glass is actually melted into the body."
"You're kidding?"
"I wish I were." Alexx shook her head.
"So the glass must have been hot when it went in." Calleigh pondered.
"Hot enough to be a liquid."
"You'd need a temperature of something like 2600 degrees to melt glass."
"A weapon that hot would glide through a body like a hot knife through butter. Cauterizing the wound as it went."
"Thanks, Alexx. Call me if you find anything else?"
"Sure thing."

Calleigh turned and left her friend to carry on working on the body. Her stomach rumbled – she had grabbed an apple for breakfast but that was all she had eaten all day. She made her way back to where she had left Eric.

"Hey Eric, ready to go?"
"You bet." He responded, pulling off his latex gloves.
"So where are you taking me?" Calleigh asked.
"Hang on, I thought you asked me out?"
"I did no such thing."
"I'm pretty sure that you did." Eric protested, smiling.
"Hey. Don't argue with me. I'm armed." Calleigh threatened.
"OK. OK, I am taking you to…Lou-Lou."
"Oh, wow. What have I done to deserve that?"
"Just being you." He flirted.

She smiled, enjoying his flattery.

They made their way through the busy hallways of Miami Dade Police Department, chatting easily, teasing one another, Eric flirting as he smiled his usual cheeky smile. They reached the parking lot and climbed into Eric's car. As Eric drove them towards her favourite restaurant, Calleigh lapsed deep into thought.

It had been six months since she had admitted she loved him, in the dark night that had followed her kidnapping. She had reached out to something safe and familiar, and had regretted it. Not making the statement – it was the truth and she would not deny it – but her timing. She worried that Eric thought she had said it purely because she was feeling frightened, vulnerable. It hadn't helped that the stressful days and weeks that had followed, her friends working on the case and processing evidence, had lead to a court-case that Calleigh would rather forget. Sure, Seth had been convicted and would spend years behind bars, but she had had to recount every thing that had happened over and over. She had not been able to forget the way she had wanted to. Her relationship with Eric had stalled as she tried to come to terms with what had happened. She had told him she just needed time.

He had nodded, sadly. "Take all the time you need" he had said. He would wait.

Then she had read the file. Calleigh had wondered if Eric had moved on, but reading those words… She had listened to the tape, too, though he didn't know that. There was no doubt that Eric wanted to be with her. She just needed to find the courage to pick up where they had left off. To move their relationship on from the platonic safety they had found.

Gazing through the car window, Calleigh watched the city move past her. Her eye was drawn to the couples, walking hand in hand down the street, sharing coffee, going about their lives. Together. Was she so different to any of them? Sitting in the restaurant, would people look at her with Eric and assume they were a couple? A real couple, not two people stopping and starting like they did. She found herself hoping that they did. She liked the idea of it. Being Eric's girlfriend. His fiancé. His wife.

"What are you smiling at?"

She hadn't realised he was watching her. He should have been watching the road.

"Nothing. Just… I'm happy, is all. Going out to lunch with my favourite guy."
"Your favourite? You like me more than your Dad?" Eric teased.
"Sometimes." She replied, more seriously than he had expected.

He smiled at that. Maybe Calleigh Duquesne wasn't officially his girlfriend, but he was her favourite guy. Sometimes.

The last six months had been hard on them both. Watching her suffer was the most difficult thing he had ever had to do. Listening in that court room as she had recounted in minute detail everything that Seth had said and done. Looking at the photographs of her injuries. It was little wonder that she had backed off. It was all too much at once. But Seth was behind bars, she could move on with her life now. And he wanted to be right next to her when she did.

He found a spot to park the car not too far from the restaurant. He told her to wait where she was whilst he ducked around to her side of the car to open the door for her.

"So chivalry isn't dead after all." She smiled.
"Hey, when Eric Delko takes you on a date, he treats you right."
"So this is a date?"
"I think so. Don't you?"
Calleigh thought for a moment. Was this a date? She had to be honest with herself. She wanted for this to be a date.
"Yeah, I think it is."
"Great. Come on then." He offered her his arm, and she took it. They walked up the street arm in arm, looking to all the world like any other couple enjoying lunch together.
The waitress guided them to a table near the window, where Eric pulled a chair out for Calleigh before sitting down himself.
"You should be careful, Eric, I could get used to this treatment." Calleigh warned.
"Fine by me. I'll still be pulling chairs out for you when we're old and grey."
Calleigh looked up from her menu. "Old and grey?"
Eric grinned at her. "Well, maybe you won't go grey."
Calleigh rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?"
"I meant, do you think about us being old and grey? Together?"
Eric was suddenly embarrassed. He didn't want to tell her the truth – that being with her was pretty much all he ever thought about. He didn't want her to back off. Again."
"Sometimes." he answered.

They ordered food, chatting easily as they ate. They debated what Ryan and Natalia were up to. Eric thought they were planning on some sort of practical joke. Calleigh disagreed. Eventually, after a few minutes where they ate in silence, Eric worked up the courage to steer the conversation back to the subject of their relationship.

"Calleigh?"
She looked up from her Cesar Salad to meet his gaze. "Yeah?"
"Will you be my girlfriend?"
She swallowed her mouthful and stared at him. "Just like that? No build up, no lead in, just "will you be my girlfriend?""
"Yeah. Just like that. I'm tired of beating around the bush. I want to tell all our friends we're a couple. I want to introduce you to my parents…"
"I already met your parents."
"Not as my girlfriend."
Calleigh smiled. "Well, I guess you better call your Mom. I'm free Saturday."