A/N: Oh. My. God. I am royally pissed. Just FYI you are about to read a major spoiler (or at least major in my humble opinion) so if you don't want to know it skip this whole section! This may or may not be old news to some of you, but Emily Procter is pregnant and – here's the kicker – they aren't writing it into the story! I don't know if any other EC fans out there were hoping for a little Delko baby in season 9 (because I sure as hell was) but it's not going to happen. I don't think we'll be in for any of those intimate scenes that we were treated to season 8 but that's how it is, unfortunately. I will probably still watch the show… okay I definitely will, just in case.

This is very spur of the moment and I wrote it right after reading the spoiler to make myself feel better and fulfill my ridiculous romantic desires for those two. This chapter takes place early season 9, how I want it to be.

It's just TV, Mariah, it's just TV…

I appreciate your smile; thank you
I know how much it takes to carry and birth a child; thank you…
How you never bite your lip to say what's on your mind; thank you
How you a lady in the streets and a freak when it's bedroom time…
I appreciate your glow; thank you
And when you get angry with us the way that you let us know
And I think it's so cute when you get so emotional; thank you
You know 'til you prove your point, you just can't let it go
But I like that though.
I appreciate so much; thank you girl
Like the I-love-you feeling, girl, when we touch…
Ain't nothing like making love
Woman, woman, woman
Strong, woman, woman, woman
Grown, woman, woman, woman
Special, woman, woman, woman
Beautiful, woman, woman, woman

-Woman, Raheem Devaughn

Eric Delko watched from his lounging position on the bed his girlfriend of over a year and a half get dressed for their evening out with the team. It had become a rather regular thing since the 'incident' as they all referred to it a month or so ago. As per usual he was ready much earlier than she was. The delicious yet casual Mexican restaurant-slash-bar they were going to was always fun, with a live modern day, mariachi-ish band that struck up excitement and playfulness in everyone. He was glad it was not a place to dress up for, because the Miami humidity was typically unforgiving and the breathable cotton jeans, stylish yellow tee, and his favorite plain white, worn-in Stan Smiths were all he wanted to don that night.

Thinking of this, he watched with curiosity as Calleigh stood in front of the floor-length mirror, and sighed, frustrated, at her extraordinary appearance. The flowy white skirt came about three inches above her knees so that it was not too short and not too long, and the fuchsia ribbed tank to she wore clung to her feminine curves deliciously. It was one of his favorite tops on her; the material hugged her perfectly and the straps were just narrow enough to give her shoulders and arms the appearance of being stronger than they're tiny form implied. Eric smirked for a second at the thought that he really knew how strong those arms really were, not only because they often worked out together, but because they were more often than not wrapped tightly around his neck, or his own broad shoulders, or his waist… the list goes on.

His happy thoughts and admirations, however, were diminished when she gracefully pulled the top over her head and threw it in a heap inside the walk-in closet. She stepped inside it, clad only in her white cotton skirt and thin, pale pink, lacy bra – another one of Eric's favorites. He sat up straighter against the pillows and watched her rifle through her many clothes hanging up before turning to the drawers against the back wall of the closet.

Against his better judgment, he asked hesitantly, "Cal, what was wrong with the other shirt?"

She emerged from the large closet, pulling a pale yellow crew neck tee over her head that went surprisingly well with her complexion. "It didn't look right," she mumbled, adjusting the shirt over her abdomen, looking very much defeated.

Eric decided that the shirt (though he heartily disagreed) wasn't the only thing that didn't look right on Calleigh. That expression on her face was very contradictory to her all-smiles-and-sunshine attitude. He decided to tell her this right now wouldn't be very productive, so he settled for talking about it later.

"Well, if it makes a difference, I think this looks very nice."

His heart skipped a beat and his breath caught in his throat when she turned around with a genuine, appreciative smile on her face. She looked absolutely gorgeous with that shirt, her butter yellow hair pulled back in a loose half-up do that curled around the middle of her back. She grabbed some pale gold sandals from the shoe rack and slipped them on before striding over to him.

"Have I told you how much I love you today?" she asked, sitting on the side of the bed, making room for herself and kissing him on the nose. Eric chuckled happily. He would never tire of hearing her say that, for as long as they were together. Which he hoped was going to be for a long time.

"Once or twice," he said. Eric returned her kiss on the corner of her jaw, right below her ear, and he heard her sigh and close her eyes. "I love you, baby."

The hitch in her breath did not go unnoticed, but he brushed it off as the same feeling he had whenever she said those words to him. Eric ducked his head to brush his lips with hers softly; caressing them in a way that he hoped conveyed everything he had already said. Calleigh pulled away a moment later, leaning her head against his shoulder and snuggling into his side.

"I wish we could just stay here for the rest of the night," she murmured, bringing one arm to rest lazily across his rock-hard abdomen.

He nuzzled his nose into her gardenia-scented hair. "I know," he agreed. "But I think we'd be missed. Alexx is going to be there, you know, and we haven't seen her in quite a while."

There were a couple moments of comfortable silence until Eric glanced at the clock. "We'd better go soon or we'll get stuck in traffic," he reminded reluctantly. When there was no response of any kind, he looked down to find her asleep. Not just restlessly dozing, but actually asleep. "Calleigh, baby, get up."

He absolutely hated to wake her. She was having trouble sleeping lately, tossing and turning in his arms all night and frequently getting out of bed, but precisely where Eric was too tired to register. It was rather tiring for the both of them, but he didn't dare complain. He assumed it was a combination of a lot of pills and a lot of stress, and this nap would no doubt be good for her. But still, their schedules rarely allowed them to interact with their colleagues outside of work, and they hadn't seen Alexx in over a month. As much as sleep would help her, a nice drink and a couple of hours of relaxation would do wonders for her overstressed body.

Calleigh mumbled sleepily and yawned widely. "Oh, Eric, I'm so sorry. I've just been so tired the past couple of days."

"Don't apologize," he assured, hugging her waist and pressing a kiss to her temple. "Some fresh air will do you good. Let's go."

Half an hour later found them at their regular patio table with Horatio at the end, Ryan, Natalia, Walter, Travers, Valera, and Alexx, whom Calleigh had wasted no time in hugging graciously. Eric smiled at the encounter. During Alexx's extensive time at MDPD, she had been like a second mother to himself, Calleigh, and Tim. But it had always seemed more so for Calleigh. She grew rather overprotective of the petite blond after learning some of the finer details of her past, and it gave Eric great comfort that if ever there was a time that he wasn't there for Calleigh, Alexx was. And for that he would be forever grateful.

He kissed the African-American woman on the cheek and gave her a big hug before taking his seat next to Calleigh. Not a moment later the waiter came to take their drink orders, and he made the rounds before reaching Calleigh.

"And the usual for you, ma'am; raspberry martini?" he asked politely.

Calleigh smiled. "Actually, I think I'll just have an iced tea tonight."

Alexx raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, honey, with your workload you need something way stronger than that!" she exclaimed.

Calleigh's eyes connected with Alexx's and they shared a look that Eric couldn't read. He ordered himself whatever they had on draft, too preoccupied with the short, hushed sentences his girlfriend and Alexx were sharing. He still couldn't read Alexx's expression, the only one of the two he could see, but as soon as she glanced at him, Ryan pulled him into conversation across the table from himself.

All in all it had been an enjoyable night, filled with laughter and enjoying each other's company without the drama of work. It had even driven away Calleigh's sulky mood, for now at least. When everyone's bills were paid and yawns became frequent, they went their separate ways to the parking lot.

The ride home was uneventful and, despite the fact that she was stroking her fingers against his, it was done rather absentmindedly as she stared contemplatively out the windshield. If he didn't have to drive, Eric would have watched her intently so as to make sure she didn't fall over, she looked that out of it.

She seemed to be on auto pilot as they went through their bedtime routine, and it wasn't until they were tucked in bed together that Eric finally decided to speak up.

"Cal, are you okay?" he asked concernedly. "You haven't been acting like…yourself."

From its resting place on his chest, Calleigh raised her head to look at his face, half of it in shadow and half of it lit up by the lamp on the nightstand. She smiled ruefully. "That's because I haven't been myself for a while now."

"Well, do you need to see your doctor?" he was getting more worried by the second.

Calleigh shook her head, lying it back comfortably where it had previously been. "I've already seen one," she said quietly.

This slightly frustrated Eric. Why hadn't she told him? And, more importantly, why did she go? "And?" he questioned. "Would you like to share what he had to say?"

There was a good three minutes where she said nothing and that, coupled with her slow breathing, made him assume she had fallen asleep. "She said I'm pregnant."

The huge gasp he let out was his instinctual reaction. There were suddenly seemed like there were a million different things running through his head. Pregnant, baby, those nights she was waking up to puke and I wasn't there, God I'm stupid, work, IAB, father…I'm going to be a father.

"Eric?"

Her small, timid voice brought him back to her. "Calleigh…I just – how?"

That didn't come out right. "What I meant was, I thought we were, you, know, covered." To his immense shock and displeasure he heard her sniffle. "Oh, Calleigh, don't think I'm upset. This is great. Honestly, it's just a bit of a…surprise, is all." He wrapped his arms around her tightly and hugged her even closer to his broad, bare chest.

"You're really not upset?" she snuffled. "You're not mad?"

Eric sighed. "Cal, how could you ever think that? You know I've always wanted kids."

Despite telling her this, he felt tears continue to roll down her cheeks and onto his skin. "I'm sorry; I know that. But this is still all my fault. All those pills I've had to take really got me stressed and I forgot to take, out of all of them, that one a couple of times. And then my period started getting really irregular until one day I realized I had missed the general area it was supposed to start, so I went to the doctor, who sent me to a gynecologist, who told me I was pregnant."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

It was a question that had been nagging him through her entire story.

"I don't know. I guess I was…scared? That's not right, but it was just a natural reaction to maybe let you kind of figure it out on your own."

There was a silence. "Just for future reference, I'd rather you spare me a lot of worry and just tell me when you're pregnant. Or anything else like this, for that matter."

Calleigh gave a wet chuckle. "Point taken."

He couldn't resist letting his hand drift down her side and over her abdomen to feel the life within her that, of course, he couldn't really feel, but simply acknowledge it was there. "Baby thinks you should have told me sooner, too," he remarked with a grin.

Calleigh's heart melted, listening to him talk in that warm, velvety voice about their child. Their child that they created together. "Well, now that you know, I think I'm ready for some sleep."

Eric laughed and reached across her to turn of the lamp. As they snuggled together, Eric murmured quietly, "I love you, Calleigh."

She sighed, trailing a small hand up and down his side. "I love you too, Eric. We both do."

That statement, Eric decided, couldn't have made him any happier. With the words floating in his head, he went to sleep with the multiple images of his child in seven and a half month's time.

Calleigh was nearly halfway through her second trimester when Eric started to notice some definite changes that weren't there two weeks ago. First off, her breasts were getting huge (much to Eric's hidden delight) and her belly had grown considerably as well. Calleigh insisted that she looked like she was in that 'in between stage,' where people couldn't tell if she was fat or if she was pregnant. Eric tried to explain to her that she looked nothing of the sort, and that even if there was a little extra it just made her that much more feminine and beautiful, but she wouldn't budge. In contrast to all of these self-image issues, however, her sex drive had jumped through the roof, and as much as Eric enjoyed it, she was wearing him out quite easily. However, their next appointment would be the appointment they found out the sex of the baby. And when they walked out of that appointment, Eric felt like he had been transported back to that evening when Calleigh told him she was pregnant in the first place.

When Calleigh was thirty-eight weeks pregnant, she went into full-out labor. Eric had no doubt he would forever remember the day he was awakened at three in the morning by a ferocious series of punches to his arm, ordering him to get out of bed. As quickly as he could he threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt before helping Calleigh into a comfortable yet modest pair of lounge pants and a too-small t-shirt of her own before grabbing all their bags and getting in the car. Her uneasily repressed groans of pain all the way to the hospital were some of the worst sounds he had ever had to endure; her pain was his pain.

He could not have found how literal that was until they were in the actual delivery process.

She had refused the epidural, insisting that everything she had read had convinced her that it was better for both her and the baby to not risk it and go natural. Now, not only were her piercing shrieks of pain cutting through his heart like a knife, her fingers were squeezing his so hard that he wouldn't be surprised if a couple of them were broken at this point. But today wasn't about him. It was about Calleigh, and the birth of their child.

Two hours later, the room was filled with cries. Calleigh's sobs of relief, exclamations of the sex they already knew and congratulations, and finally that horribly beautiful cry that would forever be embedded in his head as that of his daughter's, Maya Alejandra Delko. Calleigh had fallen in love with the name, and she insisted on giving a twist on Alexx, wanting more than anything that she be named after the woman that was practically her real mother.

Many months ago Eric thought he couldn't be happier than hearing Calleigh tell him he was going to be a father, then that he was going to be the father of a daughter. But now he realized that absolutely nothing compared to watching her hold Maya, who would forever connect them. And at that moment, he couldn't be more proud of the woman sitting in that white, sterile bed, her hair piled ridiculously on top of her head, face still flushed, holding their five-hour old daughter. And at that moment he also knew he would never have to find another.