Everything had started out as a normal day. Well, normal for a CSI. Horatio and his team had closed a murder case in the morning. A man had finally admitted of killing his entire family. His two daughters, his newborn son, wife, older brother and his mother. Apparently he had been under too much pressure. He was the only one working in the family and they all lived under the same roof. His daughters had been three and five-years old. His son only two weeks old. He had loved his family beyond anything else, but the constant arguing about his work-hours with his wife and the arguing about how he should work more with his mother, had caused him to snap and shoot them all. The team didn't feel pity for the man. He had never been forced to kill his family. He could have left or divorced. Moved out. But not murder them.

Eric was now the only CSI on a crime scene. Apart from him there were only two officers there to guard the scene. It seemed as if people had waited until lunch to start killing again and the team had six cases and were one CSI short, since Natalia was still on maternity leave with 9 months old Declan. Eric couldn't wait to get home to his wife and son. Eric sighed as he knelt down on the floor and swabbed some blood. His crime scene was a terrible one. It reminded him about the case they had just solved. Three bodies were lying in the kitchen. Three friends and roommates. The forth friend was out of town and had taken a flight to Vermont. Alexx had just left the scene and was on her way to Ryan's crime scene.

"It's going to be a busy week." Eric said to himself.

It was only Monday and the team would be working overtime. Eric hoped that the cases would be solved by the end of the week, so that maybe he could go home earlier on Friday and take Natalia out for dinner. Ryan and Kevin had agreed to babysit Declan. As Eric moved on from the blood, to some scratch marks on the wall, he heard the sound of something heavy moving across the floor. He stood up and put his hand on his gun, just in case he would need it.

"Did you guys hear that?" He called out to the officers.

"No, sir." One of the officers said, "Probably just the wind."

Eric snorted. It wasn't a windy day, so the officer's theory was completely wrong. Shrugging, but still on his guard, Eric picked out a finger-nail from the wall. He walked up the stairs and saw more blood on the second floor. He swabbed it and then moved to the first bedroom, he saw a bloody footprint by the door and photographed it. The he heard someone gasp. He stood up and un-holstered his gun.

"MDPD. Come out with your hands in the air." He said firmly.

As Eric listened more closely, he could hear some heavy breathing coming from the closet. Eric carefully opened the door and found a young man inside it. Sitting on the floor. He was only wearing underwear and had blood all over his hands.

"Who are you?" Eric asked as he aimed his gun at the man.

"Julius Ford."

"You're the forth roommate and supposed to be in Vermont." Eric said, "Stand up with your hands above your head and step out of the closet."

Julius nodded and stood up. Eric was about to yell for the officers to come and arrest Julius, as Julius suddenly pushed Eric hard against the wall behind him. Eric tripped and fell down on the floor. He accidentally pulled the trigger on the gun and shot Julius in the shoulder. But it didn't stop Julius. He kicked Eric in the head and then proceeded to stab him with a knife.

The officers were running up the stairs and saw Eric fighting to get Julius off him as Julius stabbed him over and over again. Eric felt weak, he was loosing blood and his vision was blurry from the kick to his head. Suddenly Julius stopped stabbing him as one of the officers shot him in the head. Eric saw how Julius's body fell down on the floor and a face appeared in front of his face. Then everything went black.

-I-

Natalia was pacing in the ER waiting area. She was holding little Declan while she did it and Calleigh and Alexx watched her. The boys were trying to solve the case that Eric had started and had found out that there were actually two murderers, and they had both been hiding on the crime scene. The team was also investigating how it was possible that the murderers hadn't been detected when the officers had searched the house for them.

"Why is it taking so long?" Natalia asked, "We've been here for two hours now!"

"Natalia honey. Since they're not here it means Eric is alive." Alexx said.

Natalia nodded and continued pacing. All she knew was that it had been a lot of blood on the crime scene and that the EMT's hadn't been hopeful. Calleigh softly guided Natalia to a chair and told her to sit there and calm down.

"I know it's hard not to worry, but try not to panic." Calleigh said.

She was six months pregnant now. She was due to give birth on the 24th June. By then the twins would be two-years-old already.

"I need some coffee, but I can't leave." Natalia sighed.

"Well, I need some coffee too, so I will go and get it." Calleigh said.

"Not so fast! I will get it. One of you is stressed and holding a baby and the other is six months pregnant. Both you of should take it easy." Alexx said firmly and walked away to the coffee machine.

Natalia looked at Calleigh and shook her head sadly. She was worried that she would cause Calleigh to worry too much about both her and Eric. And too much stress to a pregnant woman could cause a miscarriage.

"I'm sorry Cal. I don't want you to loose the baby." Natalia said.

"Nat, don't worry about it. It won't happen." Calleigh smiled, "When I found out I was pregnant with the boys, Horatio had been kidnapped remember? Believe me, I was so worried back then that I could had lost the boys too. I'm worried now too, but I control it pretty well."

"Yeah, you're good at it." Natalia said, "Here comes the doctor."

A gray-haired old man entered the waiting area and walked towards Natalia and Calleigh. As Alexx saw the doctor, she rushed back to her seat.

"I'm doctor Carmine Anderson, I'm in charge of Dt. Delko."

"Natalia Boa Vista, his fiancé." Natalia said, "How is he Doctor?"

"Well, he lost a lot of blood and has a concussion. He is in surgery right now and we have to remove his spleen. I believe that in time, he will make full recovery." Dr. Anderson smiled, "However, he will be very weak for a while."

Natalia let out a deep sigh in relief. She had feared the worst for a moment, but now she knew that Eric would survive. She kissed Declan on the cheek.

"Did you hear that? Daddy is going to be okay." She grinned.

"How long will the surgery take?" Alexx asked.

"About four hours." Dr. Anderson said.

The girls thanked him and watched as the Dr. left. Then they spent four hours together, just waiting to see Eric.

-I-

Declan was asleep as Natalia sat down in a chair next to Eric's bed. Eric was hooked up to several different machines and he was pale as a ghost. Natalia felt some tears fall from her eyes as she looked at the love of her life and remembered how close he had come to loosing his life. She put her hand in Eric's hand and felt him squeeze her hand softly.

"Hi baby." She whispered in his ear, "I know that you're tired, but I just wanted to let you know that I love you so much."

Natalia started to sob as she talked to Eric and she felt how he squeezed her hand harder. Eric stirred and opened his eyes and looked up into the eyes of the woman he loved.

"Nat…"

"Shh, save your strength. You're going to need it." Natalia smiled and kissed him on the cheek, "I was so scared Eric, but you pulled through. You're so strong."

Eric glanced down at Declan and smiled. Just seeing his woman and son made him stronger.

"I think Declan knew in his heart that you would make it. He was so calm." Natalia chuckled, "Though I was a nervous wreck for a while there. Until the doctor told me that you were going to be okay."

"I… love…" Eric tried to speak.

Natalia smiled, she knew what he wanted to say.

"We both love you too." She said and kissed his cheek again, "Now sleep my love. I'll see you again in the morning."

Eric smiled and closed his eyes. Quickly falling asleep. Natalia watched as Eric and Declan slept through the night. She wasn't tired and the entire night, she had a smile in her face. She knew that the coming weeks would be hard on her and Eric, but they would pull through and Eric would be back, chasing criminals again in no time.

AN: Please review!