Author's Note: Tricia plague update - still sick, but feeling much better. I had lots of time today to type, so here go you. I hope somebody likes it. R/R

__________________

The rest of the week passed without too much incident for Coralee. She loved working at the crime lab with Dr. Woods; the doctor was a real role model, the kind of person Coralee had bee looking for all her life – someone to look up to. She had only worked at the lab for nine days, but her break was over, and it was time for her go back to school.

"I'll see you in the summer?" She'd asked as she'd hugged Alexx goodbye after her last shift.

"You better, baby!" She hugged the younger girl tightly. What a find! She had an inkling that Coralee would really blossom during the summer. It wouldn't be long, though. Her classes would be over in early May, so Alexx wouldn't be without her sidekick for too long.

"Calleigh!" Alexx called out to the blonde CSI when she spotted her in the parking lot.

"Alexx." She greeted her friend. "I haven't seen you in forever." It was her own fault, of course, but it was still true. She had avoided the morgue as much as possible when Coralee was working there, and after she'd left Calleigh had just gotten caught up in work. They hadn't had a really gruesome crime in a week or so, and Calleigh hadn't needed to have Alexx explain ME speak for her in a while.

"Calleigh, I was just wondering how you are doing?" She drew out the last part of the sentence, watching Calleigh's face carefully for anything of import.

"I'm fine, how are you?"

"Pretty good." She had an ulterior motive for this conversation, and she planned on getting to the point. "Listen, you do know that my intern is coming back to work in two weeks, right?"

"I do now, why?"

"I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

"Alexx, I'm fine." It had bothered her at first, but honestly she didn't have to interact with the girl as much as she'd thought anyway. She bit back the nagging guilt and pasted a smile on her face. "But thank you."

"You just remember what I said." She wagged her index finger at Calleigh in a motherly fashion.

Calleigh was confused, but only momentarily as memory surfaced in her brain. "There's nothing more important than family." Her words echoed in her mind, danced off her anger and confused her. "I remember, Alexx."

"You do that." She gave her a stern look and walked to her car.

Calleigh just shook her head and smiled. Alexx could be so…motherly sometimes. Shaking off the interaction, Calleigh climbed into the hummer and drove to the crime scene.

__________________________________

"We're finished!" Sarah squealed, jumping up from where she'd been waiting for Coralee to finish her exam.

"One year down." Coralee sighed tiredly. "How many left? A million?" She sagged against the wall, exhausted from the long weeks of nonstop studying.

"Come one." Sarah grabbed her arm and led her into the warm Florida sunshine. "Let's go celebrate."

"I can't go to the club with you." Coralee protested. "I have to work tomorrow."

"What?" She was only a little annoyed with her friend, but she did want someone to celebrate with. "We just finished a WEEK of exams. Come on. Don't you ever rest?"

"I just want them to know I'm serious about this." She defended.

"Fine." Sarah settled. "No drinking. How about a little retail therapy? What always makes up feel better, no matter what?"

"Shoe shopping!" Coralee shouted happily. "Count me in!"

The girls each treated themselves to a new pair of shoes. Sarah chose a pair of ridiculously high heels to wear out that night. Coralee, much to her friend's chagrin, chose a stylish pair of brown heels to wear to work. Now she could wear those brown pants of hers. The shoes were a little flashier than she usually bought, but Sarah – her self-proclaimed personal stylist – assured her that they were appropriate.

__________________________________________

"Ryan!" She greeted the young scientist. "How've you been?"

"Great!" He high-fived Coralee, smiling. "How 'bout you?"

"Can't complain." She grinned. "Nobody's listening even if I did, hey!" She'd developed a real rapport with the staff on the dayshift.

"Good to have you back." He called after her as she made her way to the morgue.

"Good to be back." And she'd worried that she wouldn't be welcome! Apparently everyone was glad to see her.

"Hey, Nat." Coralee poked her head into DNA and greeted her friend warmly.

"Hey, you're back." Natalia looked up briefly. "How'd exams go?"

"They went." She shook her head trying to rid herself of the memory. "At least they're over, that's all I can say."

"Well, I'm sure Alexx has plenty of paperwork for you to proof." She changed the volume dial on her micropipetter and jammed on a new tip. "Let's do lunch sometime, okay?"

"Sure." Coralee resumed her jaunt through the halls in her new shoes. Perhaps these shoes would bring her luck today. So far so good, anyway!

It was good to be back. She pushed the door to the morgue open and grinned. "I'm back!" She thought to herself.

Calleigh was pulling her hair out trying to catalogue a multiple-round shooting. There were at least eleven different stria on the bullets she'd recovered, and that was just the tip of it. Hopefully Alexx could shed some light on something that would lead to a breakthrough.

"Hey, Alexx" She started talking even before she was all the way inside the door. "Have you had a chance to look at the…" She stopped moving altogether; speech and motion ceased.

Coralee straightened and turned, shocked to find herself face to face with her half-sister.

"I didn't know you were back." Calleigh stated lamely.

"It's my first day."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

They stood there awkwardly, both girls staring at the ground and trying to avoid looking at the other one.

"Dr. Woods will be right back."

"Okay."

Calleigh tamped down the urge to say something just as Alexx breezed back into the room. Sensing the tension between the sisters, she quickly gave Coralee a task, then turned her attention to Calleigh. "Calleigh, what can I do for you?" The words were pleasant, but the displeasure in her voice was unmistakable.

"I was just hoping that you were having more luck with the van Doren case than I am."

"Not yet, but we're not done yet." She narrowed her eyes and gave Calleigh a 'look.'

"I was nice." She whispered.

Alexx didn't respond; only glared at Calleigh some more, nodding in the direction of her intern.

Calleigh rolled her eyes and huffed, "Fine." Raising her voice to be heard across the room, she tried to get her 'sister's' attention. "Hey." No response. "Coralee?" The girl's head shot up and turned in the direction of the voice so quickly that Calleigh was surprised she didn't give herself whiplash or a herniated disc…or both. "Do you want to have lunch?"

Coralee looked from Calleigh to Alexx and back again; reading their facial expressions carefully. "No, thank you." She politely declined. "I have plans."

Calleigh smirked at Alexx and whispered, "See?" Then she left.

Alexx was genuinely confused by Coralee's response. "Why did you say no, Baby?" She moved to stand beside her helper. "It was a genuine offer."

"No it wasn't." Coralee could read people, too. "It was offered under duress." She suspected that Dr. Woods had coerced the invitation out of Calleigh, thereby making it ingenuous. She appreciated the effort – a little – but she had no intention of forcing any relationship with her half-sister.

Alexx was impressed – very impressed, actually. "You don't want to get to know her?"

"Not if she doesn't want to get to know me." Coralee hated having her business so public here. "And that is something she does not want to do."

Calleigh felt much vindicated, and more than a little relieved that Coralee had declined her invitation. Alexx was meddling, and she was displeased about it. At least Eric had the sense to keep his opinions to himself.

_______________________________

"Eric?" She asked him over dinner that evening. He had insisted upon taking her out to a nice Thai restaurant for dinner. He looked up from his plate of curry, waiting for her to continue. "What do you think about Coralee? Really."

"Do you want the honest truth?" He tread lightly, knowing how sensitive the subject was with her.

"Yeah, I think I do."

"I think she's a sweetheart." He tried to use only adjective that he'd just to describe a younger sibling. "She has a good heart, and she's…nice."

"What else?" She knew him well enough to know he was being evasive.

"What are you looking for?" He wasn't sure what she wanted to hear.

"I don't know." Calleigh put her fork down and took a sip of her water. "I was just thinking about it."

"What about?"

"I don't know." She grabbed her fork again and pushed the chicken around the bowl, swirling patterns in the sauce. "I was just thinking about my dad." He paused and took a deep breath. "I mean, he had this whole other family, and he never said anything about it." Eric just nodded, not really knowing where she was going with this.

"She…I don't know." She shuddered. "I feel kind of guilty, you know?"

"Guilty, why?"

"I don't really know." Calleigh was unaccustomed to analyzing her own emotions. She usually just suppressed them, ignored them until they went away or she forgot about them. "I really had it easy compared to her. I mean, we had the same father, and I got all these advantages that she didn't have. It seems kind of unfair. To her. This is crazy." She shook her head, and wrung her hands in her lap. "She's an orphan, did you know that?"

"No, I didn't." Eric spoke softly. This was news to him. "Did she tell you that?" He was unaware that the girls had spoken.

"No." Her voice was soft as well. "I did a search for her mother. I found a death certificate."

"Did it mention a COD?"

"Natural causes." It had been vague and unsatisfying. "She had a couple of arrests, though."

"For?"

"Possession and DUI."

"Mother of the year." Eric grumbled, unimpressed with Coralee's mother, but very awed by Coralee's personal and professional achievements. She had overcome a lot in her life, and she deserved some credit. "When did she die?"

"Huh? Oh." Calleigh thought for a moment. "2001."

Eric stared at her for a few minutes, unable to formulate an adequate response. What was there to say? It was an impossible situation for both of them. She really had no family at all…except for Calleigh.

"I kind of feel bad for her." Calleigh surprised him with the words. "I'm not saying it's my fault, I just…" She didn't want to tell him the real reason. In truth, she'd watched Eric interact with his sisters a few weeks ago when they'd had dinner at his parent's house. There was something there, something real that drove each of their dealings. The camaraderie they shared was undeniable. The girls especially had an unspoken bond with each other; each sister knowing what the other was thinking before it was voiced aloud. Calleigh had been an only child, raised alone. She was always alone at home. Maitea and Warrener did their best to bridge the gap, but that serenity only extended as far as their property line. She'd never had that closeness with anyone. Eric knew her better than anyone, but it was different. He loved her – she never doubted that at all, and she loved him. They had a great relationship, and her life was running smoothly for the first time in years – and she still had this unexplainable desire for…more. She wondered if forging a relationship with Coralee would fill the void any – and if Coralee was even interested in a relationship. After their blowup in the lab earlier that spring, Calleigh couldn't blame her if she never wanted to speak with her again.

"I never had any siblings." Her voice was soft, and Eric had to strain to hear her. "When I was younger, I always wondered what it would be like to have a little sister."

Eric was speechless for a moment, but recovered quickly. This certainly was a new turn of events; and a good one at that. "Have you talked to her at all?"

"No, not really."

"Well, you could go for coffee." He offered. He had tried to stay out of this. It wasn't his place to tell Calleigh what to do here. "That wouldn't take long. If it's horrible and you want to leave, it's just coffee."

Calleigh considered his advice, but didn't respond to it. "Can you believe how big Anya is getting?" Subject changed.

"Nice segue." He thought, but didn't say anything about it. "Uh, yeah." He loved all his nieces and nephews, but he had to admit the little girl held a special place in his heart. "She's growing so fast."

"I can't believe she's crawling already."

___________________________________

It had been a week and a half since Calleigh and Eric discussed Coralee over Thai food. The girls had little interaction in the meantime, and Calleigh almost forgot about the whole conversation. She was in the locker room, rummaging in her purse for some painkillers one day when Coralee walked in.

"Damn it." She had a massive headache, and she couldn't find her bottle of Tylenol.

"Oh." She halted, seeing Calleigh. "I'm sorry." She turned to go, but was stopped by Calleigh's voice.

"You don't have to go." Calleigh tried to even her voice.

"Oh." Coralee almost tiptoed in, eyeing Calleigh warily, carefully opened her locker and grabbed her water bottle, taking long swig. Touching up her lipstick, she noted Calleigh's frustration and the way she rubbed her forehead.

"Here."

Calleigh looked up, surprised when Coralee offered her a bottle of Motrin.

"Will this do?"

"Uh." Calleigh was unsure of how to respond. "Yeah, thanks." She took the proffered bottle of pills and shook out two carefully, capped it and handed it back. "Thanks a lot."

"Sure." Coralee shut her locker back, and turned to go.

"Wait." Calleigh couldn't stop the words before they flew out of her mouth.

Coralee halted, and then slowly turned around to face her.

"Do you want to go get some…coffee…or something?" She knew she shouldn't leave work during the day, but maybe this was more important. Maybe Alexx was right.

Coralee tilted her head to the side and eyed her suspiciously. "Is this a joke?"

"No." Calleigh closed her eyes and shook her head. "No joke."

"Are you going to shoot me or arrest me or something?" Coralee nodded toward the firearm tucked into the holster.

"No." She smiled tightly. "Just coffee. There's a good café a few blocks away."

Coralee remained silent, but her mind was racing. Her sister, her big sister, had just extended a spontaneous invitation to her. She had asked her to accompany her to a coffee shop for a warm, caffeinated beverage. The invitation was a dream come true, but she was still cautious.

"Why?" Okay, so maybe it was rude to ask, but she had to know what the ulterior motive was.

"I just thought we could…ya know…talk…or something." Calleigh was nervous now, too.

Coralee thought about it a moment longer before offering a small smile and nodding. "Sure. I'd like that."

Calleigh was terrified. She hadn't actually thought this through any farther than the invitation. Now she was going to have to…talk.

"Let me check with Horatio." She secretly hoped he'd say no and spare her from this…train wreck.

"I'll talk to Dr. Woods." Coralee similarly hoped her request would be denied, but only a little. The rest of her was jumping for joy. She had always wanted a sister, and this, she supposed, might be the first step.

"I'll meet you at the front desk in ten?"

"Yeah, okay." Coralee's heart soared. She had dreamed of this moment her entire life.

___________________________________

R/R