Author's Note: I'm bored, so I wrote another chapter. I'm thousands of miles away from my nearest family member, so I'll proably update tomorrow, too. I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving. Read and review por favor!

____________________________________

A month had passed since Calleigh and Eric went to Louisiana for Christmas. Calleigh, for her part, was certain that she'd never been as happy as she was with Eric. He was…good to her…all the time. He never made her feel like she was a burden to him – and Calleigh was aware that she wasn't always the easiest person to be around. Eric was similarly content. Calleigh was amazing. She did little things that meant so much to him. One day he found a note in his shirt pocket. Another day he came home – to his home – to find her already there, dressed to the nines with dinner reservations at Azul. She had insisted on paying, saying it was her turn to treat him to something special. Every time he thought of that evening his heart skipped a few times. Calleigh had been a vision. She was always gorgeous, but something about that simple navy blue dress and the candle light; he was ready to propose on the spot right then and there. The only problem was he didn't have the ring with him. He hadn't decided if he wanted to pick a new setting or leave it as-is. Did she like yellow gold? White gold? Platinum? Would she want something flashier, with more stones? His sister, Cristina, promised him that these were all important pieces of information that he MUST obtain before doing anything. And he didn't know Calleigh's ring size. It could be resized after, but the moment wouldn't be perfect if she tried to put it on and it was too big. He wanted it to be perfect, and wasn't willing to sacrifice that just to satisfy his own selfish desire to put a ring on her finger and "mark" her as his.

He watched her at work sometimes; when she didn't know he was around. She was so graceful. Her movements flowed so flawlessly that Eric found himself mesmerized. Horatio caught him staring once, and Eric discovered what it was like to blush twelve shades of red.

"Mr. Delko?" Horatio knew exactly what the younger CSI was doing. He had tipped the chair he was sitting in back onto two legs and was craning his neck to see around the door jam of the DNA lab. Calleigh was engrossed in what looked to be a very amusing conversation with Valera. She threw her head back a few times in laughter, and even though Eric couldn't see it, he knew she was smiling. "Mr. Delko, I'm sure you have work to do."

Eric had been so startled by Horatio's sudden appearance that he had actually lost his balance and gone sprawling onto the floor, chair and all. "H." He scrambled to his feet and tried to come up with a decent excuse. Finding none, he just shrugged sheepishly. "I couldn't help it."

"Mr. Delko." Horatio was going to scold him, but the blush that appeared instantly appeared on his face told him it wasn't necessary. He was like the kid with his hand caught in the proverbial cookie jar. "Get to work, Eric." Walked away quickly shaking his head as he went, but that was only to hide the slight smile that had taken the place of his ordinarily stern features.

________________________________________

"Thank you so much for meeting with me, Doctor." She rose and shook the woman's hand.

"It was my pleasure." The older woman responded warmly. "I'll make my final decision and be in touch soon."

"Thank you so much for your time." She thanked her again and left, feeling very confident. Her heels clicked on the floor, echoing in the empty halls. Rounding the corner, she almost collided with another person.

"Excuse me." She froze. "I'm so sor-"

"What are you doing here?" Calleigh tried to steady her voice, but found the battle to be more difficult than usual.

"I had a – what are YOU doing here?" Coralee was confused.

"I WORK here." She hadn't raised her voice, but the tone was unmistakable. "So I am going to ask you one more time. What are you doing here?"

"I had an interview." Coralee was actually a little afraid right now. Calleigh was a little intimidating when she was angry.

"You're trying to…what…take my job now?" Calleigh knew she was being ridiculous, but she was to thrown by the sight of this…girl…at the lab.

"I wasn't trying to take anything." Coralee leveled her voice, working furiously to not raise it or let it shake at all. "I just had an interview. I thought you were a physicist."

"I AM a physicist!" Calleigh exploded. "I'm a ballistics expert for Miami-Dade Police Department!" She moved her hand a little, exposing her badge and gun in the process.

If it was supposed to be perceived as a threat, it was, because Coralee physically shrank back, taking several steps to put some distance between them. It didn't work, however, because Calleigh drew herself up to her full five feet three inches, five six in her heels, and followed her slowly.

"I was just here for an interview." Coralee tried to diffuse the situation. "There's an internship this summer…"

"I don't want to hear it."

They were starting to draw a crowd, all the noise in the hallway. Alexx had been on her way back to the morgue when she'd heard the commotion, so she quickly fetched Horatio, who grabbed Eric along the way, who was actually working this time.

"Eric, Honey." Alexx questioned him softly. "Do you know what's going on here?"

"Uhhh, sort of." He didn't want to lie, but honestly he had no idea why Coralee was here. And he knew Calleigh wouldn't want her personal life spread around the lab.

"Do they know each other, Eric?" Alexx filled Horatio in on the details on the way down the hall. "Why is Ms. Duquesne yelling at Alexx's interviewee?"

"They kind of know each other." He gestured toward the women.

"I realize that, Mr. Delko." He knew Eric was hiding something. "How do they know each other?"

He just nodded to the women. "Look at 'em. You don't see it?"

Alexx turned to look, but Horatio wanted answers. "Eric." He warned.

"Are they related?" Alexx couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"Uh, yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Calleigh is an only child." Horatio knew everything that was in his employees personnel files. That left cousin?

"Actually, H." Eric didn't want to do this. "She's not."

No one said anything. Horatio and Alexx just stared at him. "They're half-sisters. Calleigh only found out a few months ago." That was enough information. He didn't want to say more.

Calleigh and Coralee continued their altercation.

"Ooh. Cool. A catfight." Ryan joined Horatio and crew in the hallway, gawking. "Who's winning?"

"Quiet." Eric shushed him.

"No one wins, Mr. Wolfe." Horatio shook his head sadly. "No one wins."

They remained silent for a while, watching, but Ryan had to interject. "Twenty bucks says Calleigh beats the crap out of her."

Eric just slapped him on the back of the head.

"The whole time I was interviewing her, I kept thinking she reminded me of someone. It's Calleigh. She reminds me of Calleigh." Alexx spoke mostly to herself, but loud enough for the others to hear.

"So what, you thought you could just waltz in here, and what?" Calleigh was fuming, literally shaking with rage. This girl intruded on HER life. Here.

"I had in interview." Coralee repeated, hoping Calleigh would believe her eventually.

"You can't take this from me, too you know?" Calleigh inched closer until they were face to face.

Eric watched Coralee cower against the wall that Calleigh had backed her into. Calleigh truly was a force to be reckoned with, but this was out of character for her. If the situation had been different, if she wasn't yelling at her little sister – half sister – he would have been proud of her. Something about Calleigh's last words engendered a change in Coralee's demeanor, though. Eric saw her draw herself up and face off with her older sibling.

"I never took anything from you!" She defended, standing up straight. Even in heels, she was several inches shorter than Calleigh, but she tried anyway. "YOU came to MY apartment, remember?" She was gaining steam and feeling the slow burn of anger – twenty seven years worth of anger. "YOU waltzed into MY life. I was NEVER going to look you up! I was NEVER going to interrupt you PERFECT life! DO you KNOW how much I wanted to be YOU?" It was Coralee's turn to step forward, noting with satisfaction how Calleigh took a half step back away from her.

"You and your perfect life!" She spat out. "I didn't take anything from you! You had him every day. I saw him once every couple of months!" She hated the memories. "You were all he ever talked about even when he came to visit! Calleigh did this. Calleigh did that! Do you think he wanted ME?" Coralee pulled back to unleash a lifetime of pain. "I was nothing to him but a constant reminder of his own shortcomings! Do you think he wanted to knock up a cocktail waitress? I wasn't planned. I was an obligation! Do you think he took me on trips? Do you think I had a college fund? He didn't love me. He tolerated me because it was the right thing to do!"

Calleigh was stunned at the outburst. She had never considered it from this point of view before. She opened her mouth, but Coralee continued. "Don't you DARE start in on me. I am not the cause of all your problems. I'm sorry to ruin your perfect life with my inconvenient existence, but you need to remember one thing: YOU came to MY HOUSE! You looked me up. Don't you DARE blame this one me!"

Calleigh was not one who took well to being attacked. "This is MY place of business." She hissed. "I recommend you get out." She spat the end through clenched teeth, barely controlling her impulses.

Coralee stared at her for a minute before spinning and dashing away from the altercation.

"Coralee." Eric reached out a hand and grabbed her arm as she ran past him.

"Eric." She stopped and straightened, immediately softening her facial features. "I apologize for the outburst. I'll be going now."

"Coralee." He tried again, but her attention was elsewhere.

"Miss Prynne, Sweetie." Alexx pushed Eric out of the way.

Coralee's face flashed a horrified look, but she recovered almost immediately. "Dr. Woods. I apologize for the waste of your time, but it seems I won't be needing that internship after all. I'm sorry to take up your time. I know you're very busy."

She whirled around and walked as quickly as she could toward the exit. When she felt she was safely out of view, she ran – sprinted, actually – until she was outside.

"You know her?" Alexx and Horatio asked simultaneously.

"I met her once." Eric shrugged noncommittally.

"How?" Ryan wanted to be in the loop, too.

"When Calleigh met her. I volunteered to go with her." He tried to keep the details of their personal relationship out of the picture.

"Calleigh's sister is kind of hot." Ryan sometimes let his mouth run faster than his brain when it came to women.

"Ryan!" Alexx scolded him this time, saving Eric the trouble.

Eric tried to follow Calleigh, but found himself held in place. "Where do you think you're going, Baby?" Alexx raised her eyebrows at him.

"Calleigh –" He pointed to the direction she'd disappeared.

"Oh, no, Honey." She shook her head. "You go get my intern back. I'LL deal with Miss Thang."

"She got the job?" Eric was thrilled for Coralee, but felt guilty for it.

"Go get my intern!" She wagged a finger toward the exit, giving Eric a very stern look. Alexx would have laughed if the situation were at all humorous.

Eric hustled down the hallway after Coralee.

Stopping just outside the door, Coralee leaned against the side of the building and bent at the waist, trying to stop the tears. She took a few shaky breathes and opened her eyes. Darnit. She was still wearing the visitor badge. Squaring her shoulders, she stood straight and marched back into the building.

"I'm so sorry." She drawled to the receptionist, and doing a remarkable job of acting like nothing was wrong. "I forgot to give you this." She unclasped the badge and handed it over. "Have a nice day." She waved with fake cheerfulness and turned to leave.

"Coralee!" A voice called, but she didn't stop.

"Coralee!" Eric ran, sprinted actually, to catch up with her in the parking lot. "Coralee. Wait."

She finally halted, but did not turn to face him immediately. "I'm sorry. Tell her I'm sorry. Please." She pleaded with him once he was close enough to hear her. "I didn't know she worked here. Honest."

"I know." He believed her. Something in her voice made him want to hug her. She sounded so lost and alone. Eric had always been surrounded by lots of people who love him. He couldn't imagine what Coralee's life was like.

"I'm sorry for the disruption." She withdrew her keys and attempted to unlock her car.

"Wait." Eric wasn't sure how to break the news. "You got the job."

She froze, then slowly turned to face him. "I. Got. The. Internship?" She asked him haltingly.

"Yeah." He smiled encouragingly at her. "Alexx wanted me to tell you."

Tears started streaming down Coralee's face. "Will you tell her I'm sorry? I can't accept it."

"Sure you can!" Of course it would be tricky, but this was a big deal. "Just say 'yes'."

"No." She shook her head. "I can't. It's okay. It's not a big deal, really." Eric didn't believe a word of it. "One of my professors just suggested it; it's not some huge thing. It doesn't even pay anything. I should get a job that pays. I could use the cash." She tried to make a joke, but it flopped.

"Hey." Eric placed his hand on the door, effectively preventing her from escaping. "Alexx doesn't just hand out internships. You should take this. It'd be a great career move, right?"

"Doesn't matter." She sounded so dejected. "I don't want it."

"Sure you do."

"She doesn't want me here." She was trying to stop the tears that stubbornly continued to flow. "I can't do that."

"She'll come around." Eric knew she was talking about Calleigh. "Plus, it's not like you'd be working together. You'll be in the morgue all day."

"I can't."

"Coralee, come one." Eric had one more idea. "Alexx will kill me if I don't get her intern back. Don't make her kill me. Please?" He tried the puppy dog eyes that worked so well on Calleigh. It appeared to be a genetic weakness, because he saw Coralee start to soften.

"You know you want this internship." He goaded. "I'll run interference for you. So will Alexx."

"I don't know. She was pretty clear on not wanting me there. Is she a cop?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "We all are. Except Alexx, of course."

"Right." She nodded. "I didn't know. Honest. I thought she lived in Louisiana." Her eyes pled with him to believe her.

"I know." He assured her. "I know."

She mulled it over for a few minutes in silence. "She could shoot me for this, you know?" Coralee was well aware of her half-sister's proficiency with firearms. Their father never wasted an opportunity to talk about his daughter. Even to his "other" daughter, who always seemed to be in the shadows.

"She won't." He smiled. "I promise." She was breaking.

She thought about it for a while longer. "Okay."

"Really?" He didn't think he'd been that convincing.

She nodded in response, looking very young and scared for a moment.

"You know." He bumped her shoulder with his fist in affection. "It was pretty amazing the way you stood up to her. Not too many people could do that." He had been impressed by her moxie. She had mettle; that was for sure – even if he'd been less than pleased that someone was yelling at Calleigh.

"I didn't mean to yell at her." She admitted. "It just made me so mad."

"She's probably sorry." Eric didn't want Coralee to get the wrong idea about Calleigh. "She's not usually like that."

"It was a shock for her, too." She nodded. "I know."

"Yeah. So I can really tell Alexx you'll take the job?" His life expectancy just increased – at least until Calleigh finds out he had something to do with convincing the girl to work there.

"I guess."

"It'll be fine. Don't worry." He wondered how fine it really would be, but didn't voice his concerns aloud.

"If you say so." He could hear the skepticism in her voice.

____________

Author's Note: Stay tuned for Alexx's talk with Calleigh…and more.