Author Notes: Finally this chapter is done. I have the episode on my last computer, but I didn't have it anymore because it didn't get save on the transfer from the hard drive, weird right? It was a subscription to this story that brought me back to fanfic after almost 2 years of being AWOL and I promised I'd update it to a reader but I couldn't. I updated my other two stories, but not this one. I didn't have the episode and I wasn't going to buy it again because I'm cheap. So I searched Youtube only to find nothing. One day after I pretty much given up, Netflix had CSI: Miami available on instant view and I could finally got it done. Dictating with close caption makes my job a thousand times easier. I'm happy the part of the story that I had to included from the show is over, even with closed captions to took forever. So hope you enjoy it, it was hard work so you better leave some reviews.

Chapter 4

Knock You Down

Calleigh washed up quickly and was headed to the lab in no time, leaving almost thirty minutes after Ryan had originally dropped her home. She didn't take kindly to being set on fire or murder attempts on her life, so she was eager to find the guy who was responsible and bring them to justice.

As she drove to the lab, she ignored the burning pains that she had started to feel in her chest. Her throat would hurt for a moment, but the pain would quickly reside and she'd feel fine again. She didn't feel hundred percent, but she wasn't expecting to, she had just been trapped in a fire. She felt about ninety-five percent so that meant she was working.

When she walked into the lab she was greeted by anxious Delko, who looked as if he was probably lingering by the door for all of the fifty minutes it took her to get back to the lab.

"Hey Eric, any news?" Calleigh asked

"Um I haven't been in the lab really yet" Eric stammered, he scratched the back of his neck "Cal, are you sure you're ok? Natalia and I can handle this if you're not feeling up to it. If anyone deserves a break it's you." Eric continued with a worried look on his face.

"No I'm fine" Calleigh said forcing a smile as she tried to stifle the cough that was burning in her throat, her face felt hot. On the ride to the lab she was starting to feel progressively worse, but she was going to working through it, it wasn't like she was dying. She didn't want Eric to see her look one bit not less than her normal healthy self, he would worry which was cute but annoying at the same time. However he saw right though that forced smile.

"Yeah, you're looking quite red" He said, shooting her a worried look.

"Well Ryan and I did have the pleasure trip to El Spa de Fuego, so I'm sure we're both a little tan" She joked, as she smothered her cough in her laughter.

"Well—" Eric said, still worried and not finding the humor in her joke, but she cut him off.

"So you don't have anything for me?" she said, getting down to business.

"Well" He sighed in a slightly annoyed manner "Tara should probably have some news by now about the John Doe; but I was waiting on you, I thought you'd want to be the first to know. It's all yours if you're up for it." He knew arguing with her was a lost cause, she was not leaving.

"Great" Calliegh said then quickly turned whisked through the hall and towards the morgue.

Eric watched her, "Just too stubborn for her own good"

Calliegh walked into the lab to see Tara hunched over the John Doe.

"You got news for me?" Calleigh said as she entered.

Tara looked up from the body and up at Calliegh "Hey, I thought you'd be taking slow after you close call this morning" she said looking at the CSI with surprise.

"Nope, I really want to get this one. The trail is fresh, so it's no time like the present" Calliegh replied eagerly

"I'm sure you are" Tara responded as she went back to the body and started to take nail scraping samples as Calleigh questioned her once more about the John Doe.

"The sooner we can I.D. him, the better." Calleigh said eagerly to the M.E.

"We are working on that," Tara Price sighed, a little annoyed of CSI.

Calleigh was hovering around the M.E. office, scavenging like a vulture for any new info concerning the John Doe she'd dragged from the fire. It seemed like every few seconds she'd ask what you get for me or anything new. She was very anxious and annoying. Tara couldn't blame her though; she had risked her own life in hopes to bring the victim's killer to justice "God, the lady was persistent."

"But I can put his time of death at yesterday evening" Tara add hopeful.

"What about a cause of death?" Calleigh added. She needed to know everything she possible could.

"Gunshot wound" Tara replied quickly.

"Are you sure you're not looking at bullets from this morning, I saw at least four hit'em" She said matter-of-factly.

"Actually, there were five, but no bruising with those." Tara replied, fingering the bruise-less holes the bullets the body sustained postmortem.

"I'm a medical examiner, I would know" she wanted to add, but she knew the lady was just being thorough; she hadn't been working here very long, so she held her tongue. She wanted Calleigh to one day come to trust and respect her like she did the previous M.E. Alexx Woods; The CSI's always speak so highly of her. Snappy, cocky come back would just make her seem rude and make the wrong impression.

"And that's cause he was already dead" Calleigh answering rested of her own questioned, she raised her eyebrows thoughtfully. She was satisfied with Tara explanation, but she still wanted more she grimaced clearing her throat, trying to shake a cough. "All right, which one was the fatal shot?"

Tara paused and looked at Ms. Duquesne, the way she clear her throat seems as if she was hiding something like a cough or maybe ignoring it. Tara knew the risk fires could cause, Officer Duquesne should have gone to hospital to get checked out. Tara didn't know if she should mention it or not, they were colleagues, not friends. Calleigh could take it the wrong way and she didn't want to pry.

"You ok?" She asked casually, trying to mask her worry.

"Can I have that water?" Calleigh asked ignoring the question, pointing at a bottle of water on counter behind the M.E. She'd ignored question because there were instants when she felt horrible, but for the most she really felt fine then she'd go into a coughing fit. At moments it felt like her lungs were on fire all over again. Water cured these instants and she'd eventually feel better. She didn't want her colleagues to worry about her; she was going to be fine. "It will pass" she thought to herself.

"Course of" Tara said worry tugging at her mind, she was a doctor when she saw a symptom she couldn't help but diagnose them. She could tell Ms. Duquesne wasn't feeling as good as she let on. She had to do something, ignoring symptoms was a stupid thing to do. Tara's worried eyes followed Calleigh as she walked over to the counter to claim her water bottle. Tara couldn't hold her tongue any longer she had to say something.

"Calleigh," She said gently "I think the fire maybe have been too much." She pause watching the CSI's careful choose her words, she continued "Ryan said you went above and beyond"

"I'm fine." Calleigh lied, taking a big gulped of water. "When do think I can get the bullet?"

"There deep - A while." Tara give Calleigh a comforting look "but I can tell you one thing right now, Mr. Doe here had a dirty secret" Tara walked over the foot of the body. "Track marks between his toes" she moved his big toe away from the other revealed a small hole. Calleigh took another gulp of water.

"He was hiding a habit" Calleigh added intrigued, she was getting somewhere. She took another gulp of water.

"Most likely heroin" Tara remarked.

"All right, maybe this wasn't a real estate deal gone bad, maybe it was a drug deal." Calleigh said, considering the possibilities.

Tara nodded her head thoughtfully, still worried about her fellow colleagues.

"Either way I'll get this fingernails scraping to DNA" Calleigh awkwardly smiled, giving Tara a reassuring head bob. She had noticed the expression on the M.E. face, but she said she was fine. Why did they just take her word for it?

With that Calleigh exited the morgue and straight to DNA, Tara watch her until the CSI was out of sight.

As soon as she was out of view, Tara pulled off her gloves and whipped out her cell phone, hit a few button. It rang and someone picked up on the other line.

"Eric, its Tara I worried about Calleigh" she said into the phone.

Calliegh tried to walk as swiftly as she could toward the lab. Eager to get the results to Natalia asap, but her body wouldn't let her. She had barely gotten ten feet from the morgue and it had felt as if she'd run a marathon. She was winded, her chest and face were burning and she could barely breathe. Panting, however she continued to the elevator. She pressed the button and waited, leaning on the wall, all the while gasping for air. She was trying her best to keep it together in the morgue, but it was going hard to hide.

"I'm fine" she whispered to herself for reassurance, but she was not doing well and she knew it. Nevertheless, that she wasn't going to quit, she had to get this guy. The elevator dinged and opened slowly, revealing it was empty. "Thank God" Calleigh thought. She couldn't keep up this rouse any longer. She slowly stumbled in and laid her head on the back of the elevator and the doors closed. Taking in some deep and wavering breathes she thankfully for her solitude. She hesitated to press the button to the lab's floor in hope to gain some composer. However, before she could the elevator started to move. She propped herself up, not wanted the elevator caller's to see her in this distressed state. The elevator stopped of the third floor, the labs floor and slowly the doors opened. There Eric stood, waiting.

"Hey" he smiled at her. Though he smiled she could read the concern that draw a line across his forehead.

"How are you feeling, Smokey" he added jokingly, trying to hide his worry even more. It wasn't working.

"I'm great" she lied then cleared her throat, trying to halt the cough that was threatening to make an appearance. It was burning in her throat but she wasn't going to let it out, especially not in front of Eric.

"I got DNA for Natalia, so I better be off" she said trying to escape him so she could release the cough that was brewing in her throat. She quickly walked away, Eric followed.

"Hey, I'll walk with you" he said jogging up behind her. "That is if you don't mind"

"Sure" Calleigh replied, slightly annoyed. "I just can't get rid of you" she thought. She liked that he cared, but she was stubborn too. She didn't want him to see her sick and try to send her home by ganging up on her with H and Natalia. So a second they walked in silence, an awkward silence until Eric broke it.

"So guess who not back yet?" He was trying to ease the awkwardness.

"Ryan?" Calleigh said.

"Yep and I sure he's not dragging his feet. I crashed at his place once and I swear the man woke at 5am to prepare for work at 8:30am." Eric laughed.

"Hey, I wake that early too" Calliegh laughed and playfully hit Eric on the shoulder. He always knows how make her open up, even when she was being stubborn. She might able to avoid the situation of the health, but Eric was going to make her talk about something, everything so he could keep an eye on her without making her feel watched.

"Well Calleigh, he doesn't have a rigorous walkout regimen and he's not a female, so he really has no excuse." Eric added chuckling. "He spent at least an hour in the bathroom in the mirror; he has vanity light on his bathroom mirror. He said it shows his true complexion and he can better see his flaws. I swear he was putting on makeup." Calleigh giggled and he smiled at her, those walls were coming down.

"Well maybe it's an OCD thing?" Calliegh laughed.

"No color coding the food in your fridge is an OCD thing, which something he also does. Nope it's not that, he's just a pretty boy" he laughed and Calliegh did too. Her laughs then turned to cough and her face got red and hot and she begin to sway, she stable herself on one of Eric steady pecs. Noticing she was groping Eric chest and instead of the walls, which was her original intent, she quickly release him and steadied herself on her feet again.

"I'm so sorry" she said, embarrassed.

"Wow, even I'm not the smooth. What that moved call the cough and grab, very subtle" he said jokingly, but his eyes were not laughing. "So you been coughing a lot today?" he added in a more serious tone.

"Just a little, my body is just letting out the bad, that's all" Calleigh smiled, however her face was baking and she felt as if she was about to breath fire. Eric didn't believe her and was about to make a comment when reached Natalia lab. Calleigh quickly walked in.

"Hey Nat, got DNA. I need it rushed. It from the victims nails from the house this morning." Calliegh said.

"Hey Cal, hey Eric" Natalia said started by Calliegh abrupt entrance, she got up from whatever she was working on and walked over to them. She gave them a weird look; she could see that something was going on. Eric sighed in an annoyed manner and Calleigh didn't react at all. "I'll get this back to you soon as I can" She grabbed the envelope from Calleigh and walked back to her workstation; Though she was curious what was going on between them, she know getting the guy was more important and she needed a clear head.

"Let me know" Calleigh said exiting the lab and sprinting to the nearest bathroom to escape Delko. He tried to follow, but she was too fast.

"Cal," she heard him called as she stepped into the women's bathroom and the door close. "Follow me in here Delko" She laughed to herself. She looked at herself in the mirror; her skin was extremely red and drenched. She splashed water in her face and took a deep breath. "Get it to Duquesne"

She tried regained as much composer as she could by sitting and taking deep breathes, but it was pointless with each passing moment she felt worse and worse, each breath was more wheezy and raspy than the last. So she waited in the restroom for fifteen more minutes to insure that the coast was clear and exited. She crept out and headed straight to the sanctuary of her ballistics lab to see if Tara had managed to get her those bullets, but there was nothing in her mailbox when she opened it. So she sit down and relaxed while looking through her open cases for any clues her many have missed the first few times. After some time had passed Eric bursts into the lab.

"Hey, there you are. We got a hit on the nail scrapings. His name is Colin Astor, they just picked him up. He's in an interrogating room waiting, you up for it?" he asked slowly.

"Yeah" Calliegh replied. "Yes, we're finally getting somewhere." They exited the lab and headed over the interrogation rooms.

"I never shot anyone, not that guy you found and certainly no one as pretty as you." said Colin Astor smiling at Calleigh with his sleepy eyes.

"Can you explain to us how your skin got under his fingernails?" Calleigh asked in a quite irritated manner. Despite the fact that she had taken it easy in her lab for quite some time she was still feeling horrible, she was twisting her water bottle cap on and off the distract her from her condition. Delko walked over to Astor with a serious look on his face.

"I have no idea" Colin said, Eric handed him a headshot of the John Doe framed by the stainless steel of the slab of the morgue and Colin let out a slight chuckle as he look at the picture. "I have seen that guy. That's Elbows.

"Can you elaborate on that?" Calleigh asked, taking a deep breath then cleared her throat, screwing the cap on her water bottle once more before placing it down, it was serving its purpose and she couldn't ignore the pain.

"Met him at a pickup game last week, shirts and skins at Biscayne" Colin replied.

You happen to get his name? Eric asked, bracing himself on the table and looking down at Colin.

"I just told you, we all called him 'Elbows'" Colin replied

"Can you, um…" Calliegh started, but was interrupted by a strong cough. It passes and she tried to continue "Excuse me" she paused taking a breath and cough once more. Eric looked over at her, worried. It was starting to feel as if her airways were narrowing.

"Can you..?" she tried but was once more hampered by another cough; she tried to clear her throat. She coughed several more times.

"Can I what?" Colin asked smartly

Calliegh ignored his question.

"Do you have some gum?" she asked as she looked at Eric, clearing her throat.

"Yeah" Eric replied looking increasingly more worried.

Calleigh took a big gulp of water. Eric unwrapped a piece of gum and handed it to her. He was starting to freak out now, she was not ok. Calleigh put the gum in her mouth and started to chew. Maybe this will be the distraction she needs.

"You okay?" Eric asked with a super freaked out expression on his face.

"Mm-hmm" Calleigh murmured back to him. She coughed again; as she chewed she began again. "Mr. Astor, you said that you were playing basketball with, um…" Her face was on fire and looked glossy with sweat. Her balance was started to waver and she started to cough once more, but this time she couldn't stop it. She braced herself on the table; she was overtaken by a fit of coughs.

"Calliegh, you okay?" Eric asked totally bugging out, he walked closer to her. She was taking in deep, raspy breathes of air between the violent coughs that shake her body.

"What is this, good cop – crazy cop?" Colin chuckled calmly, not fully understanding the situation that was playing out.

Calleigh?" Eric asked panicky

"I can't breathe" Calleigh managed, after a few deep breathes. Eric narrowed the space between them.

Hey, Hey, hey" Eric said rushing to steady her, she went into another fit of cough before falling to the floor. He was prepared, yet still slightly surprised by her faltering legs. Eric tried his best to steady her as she ascended to the ground with his shaky hand.

"Whoa, whoa! Hey, officer down in here!" He yelled. Colin finally saw they weren't playing around and stood in alarm. Calleigh continued to descend into Eric's arms as her coughed.

"Yo, what's going on in here?" Colin asked, now he was starting to freak.

"Shut up" Eric yelled pointing at him. "I need an ambulance. Officer needs a 42! I need help now!" Eric continued to yell.

Cops stormed the room, panic started outside the interrogation room as everyone was rushing to help.

"Hey, I never touched her" Colin said, raising he hands in innocence as the cops stormed the room to help the fallen CSI. The cop pointed at Colin to silence him, handcuffed and begin to escort him from the room.

It was complete chaos, worry and panic surged through Eric's body as he held Calleigh, she wasn't stopping her coughing and her breathing was going weaker and raspier with each cough. He didn't know what was wrong that had made her coughs to take a terrible turn. He felt helpless as she coughed viciously in his arms. He said a silent prayer for her as he held her and waited for help.

Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll -Quitethefangirl