Slightly Condoned
Disclaimer: Don't own anything…
Rating: R (later)
Pairing: Eric/OC, Speed/Calleigh
Summary: I'm introducing another peripheral original character, Speed is MIA though, so don't get mad at me. this is mostly Eric.
Spoiler: Tinder Box, Body Count
A/N: Warning: This part is sad, and a little cheesy, but oh hell, just roll with it.
***
Part 14- A Mother's Touch
Driving down his old neighborhood, the closer his car came to the destination in mind, the more pensive and reluctant Eric became.
Visits here were never out of necessity like they just so happened to be today, and frankly, he didn't know if it was such a good idea.
He passed the sights with a side-glance, not wanting to remember any more.
He never wanted to remember, but it just so happened that he had nowhere else to go.
There had been an alternative, in the neat blonde package, just a phone call away, and he'd have pop tarts and beer at his disposal 24/7, oh and a good fuck.
But that was for once, not what Eric really craved, and that frightened him as well.
Right now he needed some comfort food and a lot of his mother's loving, and that's why he pulled into his former home.
It never ceased to amaze him how much he missed this place, he visited occasionally, and of course holidays always reserved him a place here, but it never quite felt the same.
Waking up to the smell of coffee and breakfast in the morning, or to an empty apartment?
Eric wasn't going to deny that in the depths of his soul he was just a momma's boy, but like hell was he going to admit that to any body but himself.
Needless to say, Delko made sure he got the mail before entering the house…
***
Rita Delektorsky was a slender, petite brunette of 48, with three kids under her belt, and three of them reproducing constantly, Eric assumed that by the time she hit 50, she'd have about three more grandkids.
She married young, fell in love, and burned all bridges for her husband, leaving her family behind as she crossed some of the Pacific to start a better life and open doors for her children.
And for all that, and more, Eric respected and loved his mother dearly.
Not just for sacrificing her home for him, but for doing so like there was no other option. Like this was how it was meant to be, even though she now hadn't talked to her family overseas for about 20 years.
When Eric was little and noticed that at times she was sad, he'd ask her why, and wonder if it were because she missed her parents and her brothers and sisters, and he remembered her response all the time.
" I've got all the family I need right under this roof." She used to say, and after some time Eric started to believe it.
Except he knew that the sadness in her eyes wasn't ever going to go away.
The problem with aging was the fact that along with years lived wisdom accumulated, until you just didn't have faith in people anymore, nor what they say.
And as much as Eric hated to admit, he was now one of those people.
He slipped into the house; using the spare key he'd obtained as a birthright, and dropped the mail on the small bureau, as he took off his shoes in padded into the kitchen in his favorite slippers.
Over the chaos happening in the other part of the house, no one had heard him come in, but over the years Eric became accustomed to it.
With each year came a new addition to their family, and now more than ever Eric was grateful for all his little nieces and nephews, it kept his parents' minds off of other matters, like health and politics, that his father loved to comment on.
Just as soon as Delko stuck his unsuspecting head through the kitchen foyer, he wished he had gone some place else.
Over the pair screaming three-year-old twins, courtesy of the eldest Delektorsky child, Eric hadn't suspected that his mother had company, in the form of his oldest sister Cilia who was currently struggling to feed the right twin while her mother cuddled the second in her arms.
It still amazed Eric to no end, that with five children bared and being a stay at home mom by the time she hit 25, Cilia still managed to act clumsily and inexperienced with her children.
Thankfully, the three older boys were in day care now, and taking a load off of her shoulders. And sometimes, Eric babysat, knowing just how much a little down time was important to Cilia and his brother in law.
Yet that didn't change the fact that usually, after a night of chasing after his nieces and nephews Eric swore to himself that he'd never have children, and then when they were fed, entertained and asleep he'd soften and remind himself that it was times like these that parents treasured the most.
And it was times like these that Eric wished he'd made the decision to come see Horatio and not give into the craving of a home cooked meal.
One Delektorsky woman he could handle, especially if she were his mother, but two Delektorsky women and he was a dead man.
They were both pushy individually but together they were unstoppable, and Eric feared that with his reason for coming here, under his belt, and his mouth shut until it was time to spill the beans, he would be eaten alive by these two.
However, before he could just as inconspicuously slip away, his own niece sold him out, when she turned her head in his direction and cooed at him while spitting something back into the plate for her mother to clean up.
" Ewic, momma, Ewic is hea." The little brunette pointed her finger toward her uncle, and Delko made himself known.
" Hi, sweetness, how are ya today?" He jumped right in, trying to avoid the piercing gazes of his sister and mother.
" I'm good."
" I'm happy for ya." Eric was especially proud of this little one because she was sort of his namesake.
Erika.
" Hello to you too, estranged brother." Cilia said from behind him, wiping her hands against the dishtowel before pulling Delko into an unexpected hug.
" Hey sis how's everything?" Eric realized he hadn't seen his sister since her 30th birthday two months ago.
He ran into her husband Brad, at the supermarket three days before, but it didn't seem that a quick hey and brush off was worth mentioning. Plus seeing the twelve pack of beer Brad was buying, Eric decided that it wouldn't do any good for anyone, if Cilia found out.
And he knew she didn't.
" Peachy keen." She said in a fake southern drawl and Eric only wished Calleigh could witness this.
" Same here, mom?" Delko looked up to find Rita staring at him intensely.
Almost beckoning silently, and he walked around the baby, right into his own mother's arms, embracing her with his deepest strength.
He realized it didn't matter if his sister was present, or that Erika's sister woke up through their exchange, because it was truly something only a mother's touch could heal.
And unnerved heart.
***
Elisabeth slipped out of the break room fifteen minutes later.
She decided to pay a visit back to the DNA Lab in hopes of catching Speed only a little pissed at her for leaving him to explain things to Calleigh.
However, all Elisabeth found, upon entering the room was the ballistics expert perched up against the table, and on the verge of tears.
She could immediately detect that by the discouraged position she found Calleigh in.
And no Speed to be seen.
" Calleigh." Elisabeth voiced gently, aware now that her newfound friend wasn't in the best of spirits, if at all in any.
Calleigh looked up, alert, but was slow to reply.
She first gave Elisabeth a obviously forced smile and then wiped the invisible tears from her cheeks, before saying, " I'm okay, it's not what it looks like." She admitted quickly, and that gave Elisabeth all the more ammo for suspicion.
" Like hell it doesn't." Elisabeth exclaimed, and took hold of Calleigh's hand, in affect whatever she held in her palm fell out and when Calleigh made no effort to pick it up, Elisabeth did it for her.
What she read took her for a fool perhaps, and a little confused, " Who's Josh?"
Calleigh looked at her, slightly embarrassed, but not showing signs of it.
Elisabeth could detect the humiliation in her aura from miles and miles away.
It made her wonder what the hell happened in the short ten minutes that she'd spent away from the DNA Lab, and watched Speed race by the break room.
She hadn't read much into it then, but now felt guilty for it.
Perhaps she could've somehow stopped the intolerable sadness in Calleigh's glossy stare.
" Liz, it's really uh, nothing." Calleigh stammered over her own lie and Elisabeth would've been mad on any other occasion, but seeing a usually strong woman in such distress won over her heart not her brain.
" C'mon, I'm gonna take you home okay?" Elisabeth walked up to Calleigh and without further question wrapped one arm around her shoulder.
Calleigh tried to shake off her embrace mentally, trying very hard not to come off more pathetic than she already looked; yet nothing was working to help her achieve that.
It's not until the taller woman wordlessly slips the scrap of tainted paper back into her pocket, that Calleigh finally gives herself into the touch.
Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad idea.
Maybe she could substitute Elisabeth's friendship for Tim's.
Maybe she could call up Josh and schedule a date.
Maybe she could forget she was ever in love.
Maybe…
" Fine, let me just sign off." Calleigh took a deep breath and felt like she'd been pushed off a cliff.
Maybe wasn't good enough anymore.
***
Rita didn't know quite what to make of her son's rendition of "welcome back from the front" hug, or what it held for her.
He hadn't been inside this house for what seemed like the longest time, although in reality it'd been two months.
For a mother, however, that could be hell easily.
It felt all too familiar to the wise woman as she released her son and cupped his cheeks. Kissing his nose lightly as she used to do when he was little and needed a little uplift of spirits.
This time however his eyes remained discouraged and as much hell as she knew her son had gone through in his short 27 years old on earth, she'd never seen him so…so crestfallen.
And lord but she didn't like it.
" What's wrong baby?" Rita inquired lovingly, stroking her son's hair.
Behind him Cilia looked on to her children, no doubt wondering two things.
When she'd be able to see her babies so grown up, and two, why her brother was so depressed.
It seemed his smile hadn't reached his doe eyes today.
This worried her more than it should have, but with her mother instinct growing, she tended to over analyze the well being of her family and Eric was no exception.
Meanwhile Eric was all but too reluctant to pull back from his mother's warm embrace. Although it was a boldfaced lie, he felt save within her arms, free of the treacherous world around him.
A world with murderers and child rapists. A world with prostitutes and underage drug dealers, but most importantly a world with women like Elisabeth Kaytlin.
Who tended to blow his mind away.
That was the one thing he didn't think he could handle.
" Nothing Ma." He spoke cryptically, fervently, and contradicting himself on every move.
Rita released him then and sent an overdue look to Cilia.
The younger version of the Cuban born beauty smiled in understanding and nodded.
Erika and Erin were already asleep and cleaned up while the mother/son exchange and Cilia quietly slipped them away, mumbling something undetectable about going for an after lunch stroll with the twins.
After they'd gone and Eric sank down on a chair next to the kitchen table, and watched his mother silently fuss around the stove and sink, he felt guilty for barging in on her wonderfully planned out day and spoiling it.
He watched her open oven and pull out a casserole dish, she kept her back to him the entire time, and as much as he wished, Eric couldn't tell what she was thinking.
However, this was not the case with Rita. If it were rumored that mothers had eyes on the back of their head, then Delko had proof that it wasn't just a myth.
His mother turned around and leaned against the counter pensively.
Smiling up at her tentatively, but sadly, he forced the demons plaguing his brain out, but they weren't budging.
He knew in about ten minutes he'd be broken down and upset, retelling his mother everything that'd been bothering him for the equivalent of eight weeks.
Eric shocked himself even when he thought about the distance of their last visit. He just hoped that it wouldn't be the case anymore.
He also wanted to let her know that he didn't come to her only when he needed help…mental help.
She wasn't just his therapist, but also his mother and he never wanted her to forget that.
After about another minute of brooding, in front of Eric appeared a bottle of Heineken and his mother right behind it.
" Why don't we go into the living room? I'm done here, unless you'd like to eat something?" Rita spoke with severed emotion, not because she really wanted to, but likely because it came out that way accidentally.
Sure her son had been considered on some level a homebody, but he'd been so long away, and distant that she figured to rid her mind of his presence she could take care of everyone else who wanted her around.
It was just easier that way.
Eric wanted to desperately nod, and say I want to eat something, anything to soothe the scratchy throat and pained heart, but he knew food could never fill that void, so earnest with in him.
" No, I'm not really hungry." Delko shook his head, but didn't touch the beer as they walked the short distance across the foyer into the spacious sunny room.
It was just as he remembered.
The love seat was covered with a quilt, and the throw pillows that he had gotten his mother for Christmas still lay there proudly.
He smiled.
Then stopped, around him were pictures of his family.
The nine grandkids, his three older sisters and their husbands. His father.
And nothing.
Was he really so cut off?
He didn't know, but most importantly he didn't want to know, because sometimes being in the dark, was easier than knowing the truth.
" Not much of a drinker?" Rita asked, referring to the left beer in the kitchen.
Eric shrugged, then shoved his hands in his pockets, " Can't drink on the job." He explained and watched his mother's face snap back to reality.
It seemed as if she'd forgotten that for a moment, Eric was a cop.
" Right, so what did ya want to speak to me about?" Rita asked, taking a seat in the single armchair in the room.
Leaving Eric with two options.
1. Sit on the love seat.
2. Sit on the couch.
He chose the love seat because it was closer to his mother. The sunlight hit him directly in the face, but he ignored the blinding rays, this was his punishment for not coming sooner.
" Do I need a reason to visit my family?" Eric snapped back, and wished he didn't.
However, Rita wasn't fazed one bit. Taking a slug of her own beer, she gave him a sympathetic smile and said, " Eric, if you never needed a reason then what kept you away for two months?" she questioned.
He loved how blunt she was, but right now he wished she wasn't.
" I had uh, stuff to do." He excused lamely, and wanted to kick himself so hard that the part of his brain that had thought of that, would be gone.
" We all have uh, stuff to do." Rita mimicked him and for a split second Delko felt like fleeing out of this house and never coming back.
But he knew that wasn't the answer. For once independence wouldn't solve his problems.
" But that doesn't stop us from seeing each other." She continued, and Eric was sure that when she said 'us' she meant his entire family.
All twenty of them.
It even came out to an even number, and he was the 21st person. How uncanny.
He didn't even belong numerically.
" That is true, I'm sorry Ma." Eric finally cracked, yet it wasn't as triumphal as he expected it to be.
There were no tears, or sad expressions, no hugs or kisses, just those few words and his mother was once again his savior.
She smiled at him all the more warmer than before, and set her beer on a coaster before moving to the small sofa beside him.
Laying one of the throw pillows on her lap, she forced him set his head on the velvet.
He complied happily and meanwhile breathed in the scent of the woman that brought him into this world.
" I know your sorry baby, but don't be, just tell me what's on your mind." She ran her fingers through his hair.
Fingers that had touched so many in her long existence in this world, fingers that had threatened and hurt, but also loved and soothed the heartache.
This time Delko hoped would be no exceptions.
He wasn't at all as hesitant to say the next thing, as he thought he would be.
It became somewhat of a habit for the last 48 hours.
" I think I'm in love Ma." He spoke, shielding away his eyes from Rita's gaze, hoping she didn't think he was ashamed, just a little bit freaked out.
Okay a lot freaked out, but yet he still hoped she wouldn't take it to heart.
Time passed in slow motion as the silence weighed heavily on Eric's conscience.
He was afraid that his mother had passed out or became speechless from his confession, but as it turned out, it was actually quite the opposite.
" Oh my goodness at least now I know why you've been MIA. Love does strange things to people." Rita exclaimed soothingly and finally Eric had the courage to look up and find her identically chocolate eyes sparklingly.
A smile crept to his lips.
He actually made his mother happy, and then for a split second he allowed himself to think he wouldn't disappoint her with his follow up.
" But she doesn't know and I don't think she loves me back." Delko admitted and immediately looked away.
Simultaneously avoiding his mother's faded smile. However, he hadn't noticed that her eyes carried an empathetic expression in them.
She was definitely unconvinced by her son's self-pity. Either she'd heard it too many times or not enough, anyway you went about it, she knew her son was only seeing this from his point of view.
And lord but Delektorsky men were at times very clueless. No, actually, all men were clueless, especially about love.
" What makes you think she doesn't love you back?" Rita asked logically, still running her fingers through Eric's scalp.
Leaving him a bit dazed in the comfort he seldom experienced.
" I don't know. Just random things, and then there's the small detail of us meeting only two days ago." He pointed out and now Rita was sure he was only being negative.
" That's just it honey, it's a small detail, at times you don't need years to figure out that you love some one. It sometimes takes only one look, or a gesture to realize it."
" I don't believe in love at first sight Ma."
" Well you best start believing." Rita said half scolding.
" Why should I?" Eric sat up, but Rita managed to push him back down.
He complied.
After all, he couldn't argue when his mother wanted to baby him.
No one was around to call him a momma's boy anyway, and not like he cared anyway.
" because then you wouldn't be here right now." Rita said knowingly.
" So, you mean, you and dad?" Eric didn't finish the sentence because his mother nodded.
" Yup, like father like son." She smiled, and forced one out of Delko.
" This just isn't the case here." He deadpanned and Rita frowned.
" Your stubborn."
" I am not."
" Mother knows best."
" Mother knows nothing."
" Hey I resent that."
" You can, but you haven't met this one. She's a lawyer Ma."
" So?"
" Isn't that dangerous? Look at what happened with Horatio, he went down the same road and ended up getting divorced." Eric exclaimed now successfully dodging his mother's comfort.
" Look, no one is talking about marriage here. I just advise you to talk to her, then decide what you want to do. Don't count your chickesn before they hatch Eric." Rita advised, picking up her beer again.
" isn't that supposed to be an aphorism for people who are hastily in luck?" Eric questioned folding his arms over his chest as he watched his mother stand up.
He followed suit.
" It's just how you look at it baby, now c'mon, I'm gonna fix you something to eat." Rita walked halfway into the kitchen and then stopped.
Turning around and looking at Eric she asked cautiously, " You can eat on the job right?"
Eric rolled his eyes, " yes we can ma." He nodded and followed her, still slightly annoyed.
" Good, now while I heat everything up, tell me what this girl is all about." Rita emptied her beer, " What's her name?"
" Are you drunk?" Eric asked, raising his eyebrow.
" Eric, I had *one* beer."
" One too many." Delko said hoping to change the subject.
" You're not getting out of this young man, now what's her name?" Rita didn't budge; she knew exactly what her son was trying to do.
" Elisabeth." Eric sighed, wondering why a name could have such a big affect on him, " her name is Elisabeth."
Rita was silent for a moment and then looked at her son.
His eyes filled with involuntary love.
" He's a goner." She thought wisely, before replying, " I like it, Elisabeth."
" Yeah, apparently so do I." Eric commented bitterly and shamelessly gave into the beer on the table…
TBC…