Disclaimer: I don't own anything, not CSI: Miami, or the characters.

Thanks to all the people who left a review, you are the reason why chapter 2 is being posted that quickly. We'll see about chapter 3... ;o)

As usual if you don't like, don't read :oP. If you did, please take time to leave a review.


Calleigh was reading her newspaper leaning against the counter of the kitchen when she heard a key turning in the lock and the door opening. Her whole body immediately tensed. Eric was finally coming home and she felt like throwing something at him.

She knew she was being irrational but since she had witnessed his little stunt in the lab, she hadn't been able to cool off. She had spent the whole day being constantly reminded of that scene by various females and keeping an unaffected demeanor had almost killed her. Now she didn't know who she was most angry at: the girls for making such a fuss over nothing, Eric for having given them an occasion to torture her or herself for reacting like a jealous teenager.

She lifted her eyes from the article she was reading and saw a smiling Eric enter the house. With a big grin he walked towards her for their usual kiss, but at the crucial moment she simply dodged him and resolutely turned her back on him. It was childish but it felt good to misbehave and he definitely deserved it, she decided with a grin.

Eric froze at her strange behavior. He had started to take her easy smile and joyous banter once they were home for granted. Now seeing her so remote, so far away just hurt. Being ignored was the worst punition. With a frown he studied her stiff nape and wondered what the hell was wrong.

"So how was your day?" He tried cautiously as she kept her back resolutely at him.

If he had learned anything by growing up in a mainly female family it was that talking it out was the only way. It was better to face a woman's wrath than to let her brood. They hadn't seen each other the whole day, so there was logically no reason why he should be the reason of her anger.

"Not as good as yours I'm certain." After a short silence her answer came curt and one had to be deaf not to get the irony in her voice.

As he stared at her unyielding back, he sighed. Well now at least he knew she was mad at him. That morning she had been her smiling self wishing him a good day with a scorching kiss and now she was behaving like he was infected by some deadly disease. During the day something happened that had irked her.

"Did I forget something?" He wondered a little uncertain, jumping to the usual main reason for his sisters to be mad at their husbands.

He quickly looked at the calendar taped against the fridge. The day didn't seem to have any special meaning for them, but then they had known each other for over 7 years... Well if he had forgotten an anniversary he could probably head back home.

"Maybe…"

"Calleigh you know I'm bad with dates." He started apologizing. "If I have forgotten an anniversary, I swear I'll make it up to you."

She turned around and looked into his big brown eyes. So the louse was sweating, good she thought satisfied. She took her coffee mug and walked into the sitting room leaving him behind. Eric closed his eyes as his exasperation grew. He hated it when women did that. Marisol had always manipulated him that way and it had never failed to work. Whenever one of his past girlfriends had tried that one on him, he had usually ended their affair right away. But this was Calleigh and of course he would run and grovel like he always had for the women who mattered to him. He took a deep steadying breath before following her into the other room.

She was casually seated on the couch her newspaper clutched in her hand as she went on pretending not to notice him. She had to admit that one of Eric's main qualities was that he had never been afraid to confront her even when she was at her worst. Most of her previous boyfriends would have already given up. Some would have left because they hadn't cared enough, others because they never dared to face her when in that mood. Even some colleagues regularly backed off. Eric was different. He knew that avoiding the issue wouldn't lead him anywhere and he would use a frontal attack to get to the heart of the problem. She saw his deep intake of breath and waited for his next move.

"Are you going to tell me what is wrong or are we going to play twenty questions?"

She finally looked up from the paper and studied him with annoyed eyes. She looked like a sulking kid and he couldn't help wondering if their daughters would one day turn rounds around him the way she was. Probably he decided as it seemed to be written in the genes of the females of both their families. Maybe he would get lucky and they would only have boys…

He raised his shoulders waiting for her to finally say something.

"Do you want me to go back to my place?" He asked when the silence seemed to stretch endlessly.

"Sure, choose the easy way out." Calleigh snorted her attention back on the newspaper.

"Okay I have had enough." With two quick steps he stood next to her and ripped the paper from her hands before sending it flying across the room. "If you want a fight let's have one and stop hiding behind that paper. So tell me what the hell I did wrong."

She crossed her arms in front of her and defied him with her green eyes. Eric disbelievingly looked at her. If possible she was even worse than his sisters.

"So let's begin with the questions. Did I forget an anniversary?" He offered.

"If you had I would have made sure you were unable to enter this house." She coldly told him. "Not to mention that your stuff would have waited for you in front of the door."

"Well now I know where I stand. Thanks for the warning." He sat down heavily next to Calleigh and tried to gauge her.

Last time she had been that angry with him was when he had let the info about her affair with Jake slip to IAB. He had seen Stetler that very morning so maybe that idiot had something to do with his current predicament.

"Am I getting the cold shoulder because Stetler got on your nerves today?" He pushed his eyes never leaving her.

"Do you really think I care about what IAB thinks?" She answered not caring about the very obvious lie. "This is about you, you did that."

"I did that?" Eric repeated in surprise and Calleigh absentmindedly nodded her eyes once more breaking contact with his.

His brows pleated in concentration as he replayed the events of the day. He had spent his whole shift trapped in the Prints lab. He had only left it once when Ryan had needed him to lift a tricky print under the hood of a car. The whole ordeal had ended with his shirt and T-shirt smeared with motor oil when he had leaned a little too much over the engine to lift the stupid print.

"I spent the whole day in my lab. I even had lunch in the damn place." He retorted feeling the anger build inside of him.

"Yeah that's not all you did there…" She whispered mockingly.

She shook her head with disdain not believing for a second that he could have forgotten his performance. She sure wouldn't forget and sadly not one woman at the lab would either. If some of them had been sending longing glares his way before, now hell was probably going to break loose. That was exactly what she needed she thought angrily. Women flaunting their attributes his way when there was nothing she could do to stake a claim.

"What?" He bent a little forward, crowding her with his larger frame. "What did I do there? The only person I saw during the whole day was Ryan."

"Sometimes it's not about the persons you see, but about the ones who see you."

"Damn Calleigh, do you have to be so cryptic? I'm tired and apparently too dumb to understand what I'm supposed to have done."

"'Supposed to have done'? That's a good one." She snorted as she crossed her legs under her and turned to face him. "I was there, there is no point denying."

He was about to reply in the heat of the discussion when he decided to take a little time to think. She seemed angry at something he had done, but despite his best efforts he had no idea what his pretended sin was. His puzzled eyes fell on her and she could see his hesitation. Somehow that he didn't even recall the event was increasing her rage.

"Maybe if I mention a dirty shirt you'll finally get what I mean." Calleigh reminded him, her eyes shooting daggers at him.

If anything the mention of the main actor in that sorry story was not helping at all. Eric looked at her as though she had sprung a second head and started wondering what could have been so important about that garment.

"So what?" He pushed eager to find out what the heart of the problem was. "I was careless and I didn't close my lab coat properly when I lifted the print from that stupid car. I certainly won't ask you to wash it for me. It's ruined any way."

He had barely ended his sentence that she hit him hard on the chest. He leaned back in surprise his eyes focused on her. When he didn't say a thing, she hit him once more this time more forcefully.

"What?" He questioned. "I know for sure that I bought it myself, so it wasn't one of your gifts."

"Do you really think that I care if one of your ugly shirts got ruined by motor oil? That's not the point." She rolled her eyes.

"What is the point then?" He asked at end's wits. The more information he had the less it made sense.

"You fucking stripped in front of every woman in the lab." She spat at him. That there had only been six witnesses, herself included, didn't matter at all at that moment.

"What?" His eyes shot wide open in shock.

He pictured himself in the Prints lab when he had changed. He remembered the whole event in a blur. The oil had effectively stained his floral shirt and he hadn't wanted to close his lab coat over it and ruin it too. When he had gone back to his lab he had remembered the bag he kept there and the spare clothes it contained. Getting rid of the dirty clothes and changing into fresh ones had happened in the blink of an eye. Sure a break room was close to the lab, but he hadn't paid attention to it. He had only wanted to have it done quickly and go back to the pile of evidence that was waiting for him.

She would have found his surprised stare comical if she hadn't been that mad at him. Now he was just plain annoying because he refused to understand her frustration. He made her feel foolish. And even if she was, he didn't need to make it that obvious.

"You gave the girls at work a peep show. Have you never noticed that we have something called a locker room and that, my friend, this place is supposed to serve that purpose?" She questioned sarcastically.

"You're angry with me because I changed my shirt in the lab instead of going to the locker room?" He quietly rephrased her statement to make sure he had understood her point.

"It was not only the shirt…" She said between her teeth.

"You have to be kidding me." He burst out laughing, relieved that her anger had been over something as trivial as that.

"I don't see what is funny. I'd love to see how you would have reacted if the roles had been reversed."

"Calleigh, I was bare-chested maybe ten seconds, twenty tops because I had to clean the mess." He tried to reason with her. "I doubt that the sight created any havoc among the female population at the lab. Sure a lot less than if you had lost your blouse in front of all the guys."

She crossed her arms in front of her and turned her head to avoid looking at him as he was laughing so hard he was almost stifling.

"I'm glad to see you find that whole experiment highly entertaining, because believe me I'm not amused." She chided him. "Maybe you should spend the night at your place and think about that."

"Calleigh, you're not serious…" He sobered up immediately. "That was nothing. I never thought for a second that anyone could see me, let alone watch."

Sure some techs at the lab were flirting with him, but most of them were really discreet at least when he was around. But then he supposed that what happened once his back was turned was a different matter. He remembered conversations between his sisters when they were comparing the merits of the good-looking guys of their neighborhood. He doubted he would like to hear bawdy comments about Calleigh, not that anyone dared to make some when he was around.

"Oh believe me your fan base was completely entranced by the view." She told him with a pout. "You're a clever guy, how the hell could you not see the girls gathered in the adjoining break room? You did that on purpose because you love the attention."

"I certainly did not. I just thought I was being practical. If I had known that because of that episode you would give me hell tonight, I certainly wouldn't have changed." He countered annoyed. After a short silence he grinned and turned towards her. "But then I guess I should be flattered you are reacting that way…"

"Flattered?" She looked at him surprised by his sudden change of spirits and discovered a very smug smile on his face.

"You're being irrational because you're jealous…" He noted satisfied by the implications of her erratic behavior.

"I'm certainly not jealous." She shook her head, resolute to deny the obvious especially now that he was getting a hell of a kick out of it. "I just don't appreciate public displays of things that should remain private."

"Things?" He asked with a grin.

"Whatever…" She waved away, her gaze focused on the vase on the coffee table. His sudden good humor was becoming contagious and she struggled hard not to smile. "I would have reacted exactly the same way for anyone at the lab."

"My memory could be playing tricks on me, but didn't Speed once walk down the corridors of the lab only wearing his boots and briefs?"

"That was completely different. Horatio had needed his clothes because they had been contaminated on a crime scene."

"Weren't you the one who yelled after him not to get cold? You certainly didn't scold him for displaying a lot of skin. I seem to remember your regrets at not having been able to take a picture."

"You probably have me mixed up with someone else." She said as levelly as she could while she was fighting the urge to laugh. "As a supervisor I have to make sure that all CSI behave in adequate fashion."

"Of course, that's why you waited until we were home to give me your input about my improper behavior and you didn't tell me at work…" He said nodding as he spoke. "It makes perfect sense."

"Of course it does, I'm a highly sensible woman. And as I said I like private things to stay private."

"Things?" He repeated for the second time his left eyebrow questioningly raised.

"Exactly, your damn ass is mine and you better don't forget it the next time you even think about showing some skin to the female swarm at the lab." She turned towards him with a menacing grin.

"The point has been dully taken. I will not remove my shirt again." He promised very seriously.

"Exactly." She closed the distance between them and she pushed him on his back on the couch to sit on his lap. "I'm the only one who is allowed to see what is beneath your clothes."

With those last words she pulled the shirt out of his pants and started unbuttoning it.

"Do I get some food before you go on, because I'm really starving?" He asked matter-of-factly with a half-smile.

"No you're punished. You made my day hell and now I need some action to evacuate the frustration." She reminded him. "I had to listen to Valera giving a detailed report about your charms to a crowd of techs who had missed the performance. And I won't mention their comments or the plans they made to attract your attention. If I catch you glimpse even for a second at a deep cleavage, it will take you a lot more than amazing sex to get out of trouble."

He grabbed the back of head with a smile and pulled her down for a deep kiss.