Thanks for the reviews everyone on the last chapter. Something weird is happening my with account on fanfiction, but it seems like everything is working out. Enjoy the chapter! x
-Chapter 50-
"Taking Chances"
Even though Calleigh was determined and took every measure to ensure a pregnancy, conception wasn't as easy as it was when she'd gotten pregnant with Jayden and Landon. Part of her was frustrated when she picked up the testing stick and it read "not pregnant." She didn't want to give up so easily, but this was her third test; her first one showed one line instead of two, the second one had a very faint second line, so for a little more clarity, Calleigh switched tests only this one indicated that she wasn't pregnant.
Calleigh sighed and threw the test away. According to her doctor, they were doing everything right. To Eric's delight, they were trying once a night, they both had adopted stricter diets and Calleigh tried her best to manage her stress levels. She sighed again and washed her hands. "It's a no," Calleigh said once she made it back to the bedroom.
Eric wrapped his arms around Calleigh's waist. "It's okay," he said, kissing her cheek. "We're eventually going to hit."
"What if I'm just not fertile anymore?" Though she wouldn't admit it out loud, Calleigh felt somewhat insecure that her body was betraying her. All of her life, it had done what she expected; she knew once she hit puberty, she'd get breast, if she exercised, her body would stay toned and she expected if she had sex, she'd get pregnant, only now, it wasn't happening.
"Calleigh," Eric began. They were six months into their journey of trying for a baby and it seemed like it wasn't going to happen. "Hey, if it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, then it doesn't. I know we'd both love to have another child biologically, but we're not limited to just that. We have other options."
Calleigh smiled and leaned her head against Eric's. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
Eric grinned. "I love when you say that."
"Say what?" Calleigh said.
"That I'm right," Eric said.
Calleigh punched him lightly and rolled her eyes. "Of course you do."
Eric laughed and pulled Calleigh closer to him. "Do you ever just sit back and think about how far we've come?"
Calleigh swallowed. From the first moment they met, Calleigh knew they would have a great friendship, but never imagined it would lead to this moment. Calleigh looked at Eric as she burst into tears. She bit her lip to stop the rush of emotions, but once again, her body was betraying her.
"Calleigh," Eric said, sitting up. "What's wrong?"
Calleigh shook her head, silently letting him know that it was nothing, because there really wasn't anything wrong with her. She sniffed. "It's nothing. It's thinking about how far we've come in the course of a year. Last year around this time, I thought I would have to say goodbye to you forever. You were on life support and nobody expected you to make it. Then we went through it with the kids – Jayden's depression, Landon was cutting school and then of all things, I ended my relationship with my mother." Calleigh wiped her eyes. "Coming out on this side, I couldn't ask for anything more. Our relationship is stronger, Jayden isn't having so many problems anymore and Landon is excelling in school and sports. Even through all of that, it's been one of the best years of my life."
"I love you, Calleigh," Eric said, squeezing Calleigh into a hug. He loved the optimistic side of her. It's one of the many reasons why he fell in love with her.
Calleigh kissed Eric's lips, silently telling him her feelings.
Eric closed his eyes and poured his half into the kiss. Things moved very quickly from there as he turned Calleigh on her back and climbed on top of her. Once they broke for air, he looked her in the eyes. "Do you want to try one more time for a baby? If it doesn't work this time, we can just take that as a sign that we're meant to be where we are now."
Calleigh nodded her head. "One more try," she whispered, closing her eyes as Eric had already begun to place kisses along her jawline. She tilted her head to give him easier access to her neck.
Eric felt Calleigh shiver as his lips coasted down her neck. He took a deep breath to revel in the scent that he fell in love with. He could never get enough of Calleigh. His hands roamed her body as he settled between her legs.
Calleigh bit her lip as she felt Eric's erection pressed against her. She already knew tonight was not going to be anything of the ordinary. She grabbed Eric's face and pressed her lips to his, her tongue meeting his as the kiss deepened. Every thought in her mind had withered away, all she could think about was how much she loved Eric.
And Eric felt the same way too. Once they broke for air, Eric looked in Calleigh's eyes again as he ran his hand through her hair. "I love you. Calleigh, for the rest of my life, I plan to show you just how much. Rarely in life are you ever blessed to find your equal...I'm so glad for my blessing."
"Eric…" Calleigh said, wiping her eyes. She wasn't expecting Eric to say something so sweet to her. She didn't know what was wrong with her tonight. She couldn't say anything without the rush of emotions behind her words.
"Shhh," Eric said, just before dipping down and kissing her lips. "I already know."
Calleigh closed her eyes and moaned appreciatively as Eric moved into her. She wrapped her legs around his back to push him deeper.
Eric took it all in, biting his own lip to keep from moaning himself. It was still fairly early in the evening and he didn't want Jayden and Landon to hear them. That proved to be a failed attempt as each thrust led him further in ecstasy. He was in love. "Mmmm, Calleigh," he groaned in a low voice. He kept his pace slow so he could enjoy the moment.
Calleigh moaned as she met Eric's thrusts with her hips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her.
A few minutes later, they both were calling out each other's name as pleasure took over their bodies. Eric leaned in and kissed Calleigh's forehead. "You know, this is my favorite part of trying for a baby."
Calleigh rolled her eyes playfully. "Of course it is."
Eric laughed. "Seriously though, I love you," he said. "I guess we'll see in a few weeks if there's something."
Calleigh shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah."
Eric kissed Calleigh on her lips. "I love you, Calleigh."
"I love you, Eric," Calleigh said, snuggling into his arms comfortably as they prepared themselves for bed.
…
Landon tugged on his tie as he sat at the table with his laptop in front of him. Thanks to his parents last night, he didn't really finish writing a conclusion for his assignment about the importance of the American constitution. "In summary, the constitution is important because without it the government would crumble…" Landon said out loud then typed it.
Eighth grade, the last grade of elementary school, one of the most important grades and Landon was feeling every effect of it. Even though each year he had to take and pass standardized tests to move to the next grade, in addition to testing this year, he had to take and pass the U.S. Constitution test, give five public speeches – in class only – which were graded on content and length, and all of his coursework had to be at seventy percent or better. It was quite a load considering Landon was playing football for the school and still playing all-star football too. It was so much that he had to drop baseball, which he wasn't too happy about. His life was so busy, he didn't have time for a girlfriend. His life was consumed by sports and school work.
"Exactly why is the constitution important?" Landon asked himself as he found fault in his previous statement.
"Talking to yourself?" Jayden asked jokingly as she came into the kitchen. She walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed a yogurt and walked back to the table, briefly glancing at the work on Landon's computer. "Ah, the constitution. It's really my favorite part about social studies. Did I mention how I only missed two questions on my test?" Jayden bragged. "I even had the highest grade in my class last year when we had to take it."
Landon rolled his eyes as Jayden boasted, but honestly, he didn't care. He bragged about sports; Jayden excelled in school. "I have to take this again?"
"Yeah, for U.S. History in high school," Jayden said. "I thought you finished your homework yesterday?"
"No thanks to our parents," Landon said. A smirk appeared on his face. "I'm surprised you didn't hear them."
"Well, I know they're trying to get pregnant so it's what they do…"
"Ha," Landon said louder than intended. "This is something that was going on way before they thought about having another baby. It's like their favorite hobby."
Jayden shook her head. "Do you think we're pressuring them to have a baby?"
"No," Landon said. "It was their idea…"
"Good morning," Calleigh said, walking into the kitchen.
Landon blushed and looked at Jayden, wondering if their mother had heard them. He then looked at her shoes as they were usually a dead giveaway that she was close, but he noticed she had on wedged knee boots. "Good morning," Landon said.
"Good morning," Jayden said.
Calleigh smiled and walked over to Landon. "What are you working on?"
"I'm done, I'm just reviewing," Landon said, knowing how his parents felt about last minute work.
Calleigh read over the last few lines of Landon's essay. "I don't think so," she said, looking at him. "I mean, yes there wouldn't be a government to stand on without it but the constitution is the highest law with specific guidelines. What does that mean to you?"
Landon sighed. It was really too early for analytical thinking for him, but he knew his mom wouldn't let him off the hook. "The constitution is important because it sets forth rules and guidelines that must be upheld in order for the government to run effectively.
"Good," Calleigh said, smiling. "Write that." She looked at Jayden. "Is your homework finished?"
"Yes," Jayden said, nodding her head. She was happy when her dad came into the kitchen.
"Good morning," Eric said to the kids first, before giving Calleigh a kiss.
Landon looked at Jayden and raised his eyebrows. Then he mouthed, "That's what I'm talking about."
Jayden smiled and shook her head.
"Come on guys," Eric said, glancing at his watch. "We don't want to be late."
"We're on time," Landon said, looking at the time at the bottom corner of his computer.
"...If we were driving, but Jayden's going driving us this morning and I want to make sure she has enough time," Eric said, looking at Jayden.
Jayden opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off.
"We've already figured it out," Calleigh said. "How else are you going to get your fifty hours of practice?"
"In a parking lot," Jayden answered.
Calleigh smirked. "Unfortunately, traffic doesn't move in a parking lot. So…you're going to take Landon to school first, then yourself. We'll take over from there." She looked at her own watch. "If you want to beat the morning rush, we need to leave now."
"I'm not ready to drive," Jayden said, shaking her head. It was morning…she was better practicing when there wasn't a schedule to follow. They couldn't force her to drive if she didn't want to... so she thought.
"Yes you are," Eric said. "You already have your learner's permit. As long as you're in the car with either one of us, you can drive." He wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Come on, we are not driving you to school and we can't be late for work."
Landon smirked and put his laptop in his bag. "Come on Jayden, I can't be late for school either." He walked out the door.
Jayden sighed. "Since nobody want to be late, I don't think I should start this morning," Jayden say, trying one more time. She grabbed her backpack and headed towards the door.
"Jade," Calleigh said, smiling. "You're forgetting the keys."
Jayden sighed as she grabbed the keys from the counter and continued walking out the door.
Eric looked at Calleigh and shook his head. "When I was her age, I couldn't wait to take the car."
"Same," Calleigh said, shrugging her shoulders and grabbing her purse. "This should be interesting."
…
Natalia glanced at the clock in the hummer which read 9:50AM. The morning was extremely busy with two crime scenes – she and Calleigh heading to one, while Eric and Ryan worked the other. Normally Calleigh drove to the scenes, but she seemed slightly distracted. "Oh come on, I'm sure her driving was okay," she said, commenting on what Calleigh had told her earlier about Jayden driving.
Calleigh snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Natalia and shook her head. "No, she did great," Calleigh said. "We still need to work on her turns but other than that, she's okay." Her mind wandered back into her thoughts as she felt off. It was something that started once they left Landon's school. Her stomach clenched and she swallowed.
Natalia pulled up to the crime scene and turned off the engine. She looked over to Calleigh, noticing the uneasiness in her face. "Is everything okay?"
Calleigh smiled at Natalia. "Yeah."
"Alright," Natalia said, grabbing her kit and stepping out the hummer. The smell of rotting flesh and blood hit her nose when she opened the door to the crime scene. "I can't believe how much crime takes place in the course of a few hours," she said, wrinkling her nose.
Calleigh cleared her throat as the residual smell hit her and caused a wave of nausea. She swallowed again and looked around the scene. "Yeah…" she exhaled. "How long was our victim in here?"
"We don't actually have a timeline," Natalia said. "Liver temp says well over two days, but Miami has been unseasonably hot and humid so that may have been a factor. Gases collected in his body…he popped before making it to the morgue."
Calleigh grabbed her stomach and shook her head. The smell was so nauseating that she didn't know what to do. "I'm going to try to find the bullet," Calleigh let out before walking over to the blood pool on the floor. She used her flashlight to examine the wall. There! She found a bullet lodged in the wall. Calleigh grabbed the camera, snapped a picture of her evidence and collected it. She wanted to get out of the house as soon as possible.
An hour later, the scene was all processed. Seeing how Calleigh was holding up in comparison, Natalia opted to drive again. It was so unlike Calleigh to be so disgusted at a crime scene to the point that it made her sick. "Was it that terrible or is there something you're not telling me?" Natalia joked.
Calleigh wondered that herself. She was feeling a lot like how she was when she was pregnant with Jayden and Landon, but she'd taken three tests, all negative. Even though she and Eric had tried the night before, it was impossible to have this much activity so soon after. Still, she knew something was going on with her body. Calleigh looked at Natalia and smiled. "I'll do much better once this case is closed."
"Okay," Natalia said in a way to let Calleigh know that she didn't believe her. Twenty minutes later, she pulled into the CSI parking lot. "Here we go." Natalia jumped out of the hummer and grabbed her evidence box.
Calleigh laid her head against the headrest as she tried to gain some type of strength because honestly, she didn't feel like doing anything, which was unlike her. Something was definitely going on in her body and she planned to visit her doctor on her lunch break.
…
In the two hours that Calleigh was at the doctor's office, patrol had picked up a suspect whose DNA matched the sample found at the scene. Fingerprints were already running through AFIS and the only thing left to do was process the collected ballistics evidence.
"One shot," Calleigh said just before firing into the target. The smoky discharge set off her stomach again and she shook her head and touched her stomach. "Please let me do my job," she said, reasoning with the fetus growing inside of her. She couldn't believe it. She'd gotten a blood test at her clinic only to discover that the test she'd taken last night had turned out to be a false-negative. She was pregnant, six weeks pregnant at that. Turns out, her second pregnancy test had likely indicated that she was pregnant.
Thinking over it, Calleigh didn't understand how she didn't know. She was somewhat more emotional lately, her breast had swelled a bit, but after the pregnancy tests had ruled out a pregnancy, she associated it all to her menstrual cycle. Other than those symptoms, added with the nausea, she wouldn't have known. Her new baby was tricky…and wouldn't let up on her at all. All Calleigh had enough time to do was finish writing the report before she had to go to the bathroom.
"Calleigh," Eric said as soon as Calleigh came out of the bathroom. He knew she was going to the doctor, but he was in interrogation when she came back. "What's going on?"
Calleigh raised her eyebrows and smiled.
"Really?" Eric said in a low voice. "That's great!"
"Six weeks already," Calleigh said. "If only it would let me work. Apparently it has a strong dislike for my job, especially ballistics." Just thinking how she felt when she inhaled the gun's discharge made her nauseous.
Eric laughed. "Oh well, it'll fit right in with Jayden and Landon who constantly remind us how much they dislike our job."
"Yeah," Calleigh said. "At least they let me work." She let out a breath. "I need to run this down to PD…they still have my suspect. I'll catch up to you later."
"Okay," Eric said. "Talk to you later."
Yup so Calleigh is pregnant. :D Each section of the chapter had indicated some clues that she was though. :)
More soon!
