a/n: This is for my manatee-loving friend, Frost Deejn. I love them, too. I got to feed a rehabilitating mother and calf not all that long ago. They were so badly hurt by a boat's propeller that they were never going to be released back into the wild. It might have killed them. So contact with humans was rehabilitating and healing for them. I have always wished them well. I feel privileged to be able to touch a mermaid.
If some readers are unfamiliar with the peaceful manatee, they are entirely innocent and gentle vegetarian marine mammals that live in several spots around the world. We are dealing with the Florida Manatee. They are a dying race. There aren't even 2,000 of them in the waters off the Florida coast where there were once thousands. We humans have to save them. We are unspeakable monsters if we don't. They are as innocent as newborns.
Dancing With Manatees
The night had been a rough one for Calleigh. She had fallen asleep fairly quickly but she didn't stay that way. A new and more terrifying nightmare formed; a nightmare that starred Eric.
They were at Club Descent and it was as it had actually played out at first. Seth had her at gunpoint and they entered to where Frank, Eric and Ryan sat, pretending to be the high stakes poker players. Seth demanded their money and the men drew their firearms. This was where it had changed. Seth had panicked and first shot her in the back. As she lay bleeding and immobile on the club's floor she heard another shot go off and looked up to where she could see Eric fall. She tried to move but couldn't. She could see the blood pooling around Eric's body as he bled to death and screamed his name over and over.
Suddenly he was there, in her bedroom, waking her and holding her as she shook uncontrollably, clinging to him, gasping for air and sobbing. It took a while for him to get the story out of her and he continued to hold her until she could calm herself. He held her all night as she slept; peace hers at last.
Eric had awoken first and watched her features as they shifted as she dreamed. She smiled once and he felt safe enough to leave her alone to make them both a decent breakfast. After showering and dressing, he made his way into her kitchen and raided her cupboard and refrigerator. He wanted to give her a pleasant surprise.
Calleigh had awoken while he was away. At first she panicked and then remembered that Eric had to be in the house somewhere. She stretched and remembered that he had promised to take her diving where the manatees fed. Manatees made her smile. They were such gentle and innocent creatures and she loved going to that special cove to watch them feed. Watching the great sea creatures was a unique pleasure. She loved them without question. They were innocent and gentle. Smiling to herself, she took a fast shower and got herself dressed. She exited the bathroom to the most enticing aroma. Following it to it's logical place, she leaned in the doorway to her kitchen and watched as Eric displayed his culinary wizardry.
"You amaze me," she said, nearly purring.
Eric half turned toward her, not wanting his breakfast to burn. "Yeah? Well, get ready to be enchanted."
She chuckled and sat down. "Do you need any help?"
"Nope; I'm almost done." he said. Eric slid his mandarin orange stuffed french toast onto a couple of plates and dropped orange infused butter on top. He had made the butter the night before, knowing that he wanted to give Calleigh something special in the morning, even if she would have had a peaceful night. He was doubly glad he thought of it since her night had been terrible. He inwardly shuddered at her halting and tearful description. She had been terrified. Eric grabbed the syrup and took everything to the table.
"Wow," Calleigh breathed in admiration. "This is amazing. I didn't know that-"
"Cal, you know I can cook. My mom taught me and I had one girlfriend that was a chef before I joined the Lab. She taught me plenty of cooking skills. I had to learn if I wanted to be with her," Eric said. "This is mandarin orange stuffed french toast with orange infused butter. Dig in."
Calleigh poured the syrup over the toast and cut it, allowing the tiny orange slices to protrude. She took the first bite and it was sheer bliss. "What ever happened to her?"
"She owns a restaurant in Key West. We ended up being better friends than lovers. You'd like her," Eric said honestly. He was enjoying the way Calleigh was relishing every bite of her breakfast. "So I'm thinking that you're liking this?"
"This is delicious. You can make this for me any time you want," she confessed and then devoured the rest in blissful silence.
After giving the dishes a good washing, they made their way to the marina where they rented the scuba equipment and boat. The trip to the manatee cove was short and Eric cut the engine and coasted in gently. Not only did he not want to scare the big mammals, but even more: he didn't want to hurt them with the boat's propeller. They were such innocent and curious creatures that they routinely got hurt, sometimes very badly, by unknowing boat owners.
Eric and Calleigh carefully fit themselves with the equipment before slipping into the calm water of the cove. The scene was tranquil and something that Calleigh desperately needed to calm her jangled nerves. The gentle turquoise of the water soothed her and she began to relax, taking note of all the marine life around her. Bright fish darted around her and she took delight in them. A jellyfish lazily puffed along above her and she rolled on her back to watch it in all it's deadly glory. It was beautiful. She reached out to Eric and tugged at his hand, pointing upward at the jellyfish. He, too rolled on his back and watched it go by.
Eric tugged her hand in turn and lead her to a beautiful outcropping of black coral. If she didn't have the regulator in her mouth, she would have exclaimed over it's lace-like delicacy. She explored the coral, finding something wonderful and new with every glance.
As she neared the surface, attention solely on the living coral before her she felt it. Something brushed her leg. She held completely still, knowing that it could be a shark. It brushed her again, this time with a nudge and firmer contact. It wasn't the hard, razor-like feel of shark skin. She froze, her head the only thing turning. It was at the very edge of her vision. It was some animal; very large and very there. Then it swam into her full vision and she relaxed, even though it nudged her again, this time with more force. It was huge, but definitely nothing to be afraid of. She swam away from the big creature just the same. She knew better than to touch manatees in the wild.
It was bad enough that they were completely innocent and without natural predators, save for humans. In their innocence, they still didn't know enough to be afraid of humans. They flocked to boats and begged for contact only to be hurt and scarred by uneducated or uncaring boat owners. Their sweet faces and lovely eyes were so enticing and endearing that people often played with them and they never learned to fear humans for the cruelty that they could deal.
Calleigh swam over to Eric and pointed. He turned his gaze and his eyes softened to see the big female with her calf. They were happily munching seaweed. Eric remembered back to his history classes.
When the Spanish first came to Florida they named it La Tequesta and returned to Spain with tales of mermaids in the sea. They looked like Nordic walruses but were gentle and nurturing. Many sailors drowned, charmed by these sirens of the sea. Manatees were gentle and trusting creatures and fatally drawn to humans. Perhaps in some way they found a sort of kinship. It was unfortunate. Humans usually ended up hurting or killing them with a fatal combination of thoughtlessness and alcohol and speed boats. Some honestly didn't know and some sought them out, playing with them like a house pet, not understanding the damage they they had done. Manatees needed to fear humans and steer clear of them. It was for their own continued existence.
Suddenly, Calleigh was bumped again and again. The calf had wandered over, it's curiosity getting the better of it's innocent nature. She went deathly still, not knowing what the mother would do. She knew she needed to discourage the calf from contact with her but didn't know how to do it without upsetting the two ton female. She gently pushed the baby away.
"Go on, little one, go on," she thought. "You don't need to know me today."
The young manatee had other ideas, however, and began nuzzling her, treating her like another manatee. No matter how much Calleigh pushed him away, he just came back for more. Soon the mother joined in and Calleigh found herself caught up in a manatee love fest. Eric, knowing the 2,000 pound female could inadvertently hurt Calleigh, came over to offer assistance and got himself caught up in manatee love. They nuzzled and rubbed up against the two humans and there was nothing that Eric and Calleigh could do to make them go away, short of hurting them, which was unthinkable. While it was an amazing experience to have such intimate contact with such rare and shy creatures, they both knew that it had to end before something unfortunate happened to either of them or the sea mammals.
Finally, Eric grabbed Calleigh's hand and headed for the surface. The manatees followed, nudging and nuzzling the whole way. The two broke the surface and climbed onto the boat, watching the gentle faces of the two manatees hover nearby.
"I can't start the motor; I don't want to hurt them," Eric said.
"Yeah, it doesn't help that they're so very not afraid of us." Calleigh shrugged her tank off before going to the cooler. "I'll give up my lunch if it'll get them to go far enough away so they're safe."
"Let's try it," Eric replied, going to the cooler himself and pulling every vegetable off his sandwich he could. "Let's feed these big guys."
"We're not supposed to do this, you know," Calleigh said as she threw her veggies in the water well far from the boat.
"Yeah, but it's better than hurting them. I don't want to ever hurt something so innocent," Eric said, flinging his veggies as well.
The manatees swam after the food and when they were safely away, Eric started the engine. Both he and Calleigh wished them a good and long life free from fear and pain as they gently drove out of the cove.
They returned to the marina a short while later, noting that all of the good dive spots already had too many people in them. Reluctantly, Eric docked the boat and then they began to hand over all the rented equipment to the puzzled manager
"Somethin' wrong with the 'quipment, Mr. Delko?" he asked, scratching his graying head. He was not pleased at losing the money he knew that he had to refund them for the hours they'd not used.
"Nope, everything was great. Our dive spot got invaded," Eric said as the man handed him back a portion of the money for the rental.
The manager scrunched his forehead in puzzlement. "Invaded? Invaded how?"
Calleigh could sense that things were not about to go well and turned her brilliant smile on the rental manager and ramped her charm up until it oozed from her pores. "Manatees. A mama and her calf came on by for a snack and y'all know were not supposed to encourage contact."
God but she was devistating...."What are people; Greenpeace?" he mumbled, trying to sound ill-tempered despite being drawn in by Calleigh's smile, charm and knee weakening drawl.
Eric was iritated. It was folks just like this guy that posed the threat to begin with. "Man, have you been asleep for the last 20 years? How can you have missed the radio and television ads as well as the billboards? Manatees....let them be. I don't know about you, but I want my grandkids to be able to see live manatee in their natural habitat."
"Yeah, yeah. Look, you folks are nice and all. I don't mean to be a bad sport, but the economy ain't great right now and I have a feelin' it's gonna get worse before it gets better," he said in a sort of apology. "I'm losing money with havin' to give it back. It's fair that you have it. I just ain't happy givin' it"
If Eric didn't already have his wages being garnished by the bloodsucking Carmen Henney, he'd have let the man keep the rest. As it was, he was hard-pressed to make rent, food and car insurance payments with a little left over to save. "Yeah, no offense taken. I get it. And if it wouldn't be helpful to make sure I have all my bases covered, I'd let you keep it."
"No hard feelin's, Mr. Delko. You and the lady have a good day now," he said, stumping over to a small group that seemed to be contemplating a rental.
"Eric, you never told me money was tight for you right now. I would have put in," Calleigh said softly on the way back to his car.
"No, Cal, I wanted to. I'm not strapped that tight that I can't afford to take my favorite CSI out for a little diving," he lied, knowing that the extra money in his pocket would help a little.
Calleigh was silent a long while. "Still, let me contribute and buy you dinner. Anyplace you want; even if you want to go back to Little Bombay again tonight. Please?"
Eric looked down into her caring green eyes and caved. He knew that he could deny her nothing and give her everything her heart desired. If she wanted to pop for a meal, then he'd let her if it made her happy."Okay. But we now need to decide what we're going to do for the rest of the day."
Calleigh thought for the briefest of moments. "Well, we're dressed for scuba diving, so why not hit the beach and just relax?"
"You really want to darken that pale skin of yours?" Eric teased. "You'll lose all that peaches and cream look you've been sporting."
"I have sunblock," she sassed back.
"You'll freckle," he continued.
"I'm already freckled. What's the matter, don't you want to lounge on the beach with me?" Calleigh purred seductively.
There was nothing he could think of, save one or two things of a more intimate nature, that he would want to do with her than lounge on the beach and relax. "Sounds like a plan. Got any idea where you want to go?"
"I'll leave that up to you since you're familiar with almost every beach and dive spot from here to the keys," Calleigh said happily, dark dreams of pain and death a distant memory in the bright sunlight and pleasant breezes of a Friday in early May.
"I know the place," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her gently toward the car.
ECECECECECECECECECECECECECECECECECECECECECECECECECECECECECECECECE
They stood at her front door like two nervous teenagers, the already open. The afternoon had been idyllic and the dinner just shy of romantic. The day was coming to an end.
Eric brushed a lock of hair back from Calleigh's face. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay again tonight?"
She looked down. "I don't want to impose on you. You need your rest, too and I'm off again tomorrow, but you're not. Eric, I don't have words to express how much it meant to me for you to stay last night. But, the truth is, is that I'm going to have to deal with this, myself. The longer I lean on you and not face it, the longer it'll take me to get over it. I don't want to be afraid of chasing down leads on my own or even going to process a crime scene alone."
Eric was disappointed and afraid for her. "I know that, but I can still stay. Calleigh, you were terrified last night. It's not wrong to lean on someone while you're dealing with something troubling. I've learned that in therapy. It's okay to need a little help sometimes."
Hearing the worry in his voice, she was sorely tempted to give into him; his need to stay at her side. She wasn't deluding herself. She knew she'd sleep better if he stayed another night with her. There would be that safety net. She had think about him, too. It wouldn't do his concentration any good if he had to get up in the middle of the night to take care of her if she woke. "Eric, I don't want to-"
"It doesn't make you weak to need someone else sometimes. I've leaned so heavily on you in the last year and you've held me up and protected me from myself some days. I'll stay, even if you think I shouldn't because whether you admit it or not, it'll help you sleep," Eric said, eerily mirroring what was going on inside of Calleigh.
If he understood her inner turmoil so well, then she couldn't tell him not to because she did need him to stay and help her mind rest. She was certain that the memories of the day full of relaxation, laughter, good companionship and an unexpected and rare encounter with gentle giants would help ease her mind into pleasant dreams, but it would help even more if Eric were there, just in case things went bad in the wee hours. "If you're determined, I won't stop you," she said softly.
"I'm determined."
Not weighing the action in her mind at all, she stood on tiptoe and brushed a light kiss across Eric's lips. "Then stay."
Eric went numb as her petal soft lips brushed his in a feather light kiss. It was all he could do just to follow her inside. It was going to be a sleepless night for him, no matter what.
