The next morning Calleigh's alarm went off at seven and Eric groaned at the bright sunlight in her room. Calleigh moved to press the snooze button but was held down but a large arm around her waist.
"Eric..." she started and Eric hugged her tighter to his body. "Eric I need to turn off the radio."
Eric shook his head into her hair and pulled her body tight to his. "No moving. I'm not getting out of bed for another five hours."
"Eric, get up," Calleigh said, poking him in the arm.
Eric slipped his hand under her night shirt and his other hand slipping into the hem of her underwear. "I have just enough energy for one thing, then I'm going back to sleep until I can do it again."
Calleigh laughed as she tried to shrug off the temptation. There was a big part of her that wanted to stay in bed all day with the gorgeous man who held her so tightly in his arms. But the rational part of Calleigh knew her duty came before all else. She knew Eric was joking as well but she hoped he would stop before she was too far gone to know what time it was.
Eric kissed her neck and bit down, hard enough she knew she would be marked. His hands began to move under her clothes, one cupping her breast and the other slipping down to her sex. Calleigh gasped and her body responded willingly.
Calleigh moaned. "Okay, I'll just tell Horatio you were too tired to come in because we were having sex."
Eric's eyes opened and he released his grip on her. "I'll get the coffee."
"Letting me use the shower first? You're quite the gentleman," Calleigh praised and slowly walked toward the bathroom.
Eric could hear the shower turn on immediately and he stumbled toward the kitchen to start the coffee. It felt so domestic to be with her in her apartment, making coffee while she showered. Eric brushed his teeth and waited patiently for Calleigh to finish when he got a wicked idea and joined her inside.
"Excuse me?" she asked, looking him up and down. She was rinsing the conditioner out of her hair and looked a little concerned there was a naked man five inches from her body.
Eric smiled. "I thought we should conserve water. Miami is in hurricane season right now, you know."
Calleigh laughed and leaned up on her toes to kiss him. Eric touched her She ran her fingers through her scalp one last time. "All right, Environment Man. I'm getting dressed now."
Eric pulled her back into the shower and kissed her under the stream of water deeply before letting go of her arm.
"Okay, go. I've got a lot of Environment Man problems to face today," Eric put his fists on his hips, standing like Superman, smiling at her as though he were a super hero. Calleigh laughed and shook her head. Eric smiled to himself, enjoying their new found intimacy.
Ryan arrived at the lab just after Calleigh and Eric, finding them in the lab, looking over prints.
"Hey guys, what did I miss?" Ryan asked, buttoning his lab coat.
Eric looked up from the photographs. "We're waiting on DNA. We need to go around to local stores, to ask if they saw anything yesterday. I can stay in the lab to work on the gathered evidence."
Ryan nodded. "Calleigh and I will go around to the stores in the area, see if anyone saw anything."
Calleigh followed Ryan out to the Hummer and got in the passenger side and waited for Ryan to start the car.
"Are you okay?" he asked. Although Ryan was agressive and zealous when it came to case work, he wasn't completely oblivious to her. He asked about her transfer to Trace Evidence from Ballistics and when he tried to press the issue later Calleigh's eyes welled up and she changed the subject.
"I'm fine, why?" she asked with a tight smile.
"You seem different today," Ryan noted and Calleigh shrugged. "Tired?"
Calleigh nodded. "I don't know what time I fell asleep at but it wasn't until after three."
Ryan started the car. "Need some coffee?"
Calleigh shook her head. "I think just some breakfast."
Ryan said nothing as he drove them to a nearby diner.
Calleigh smiled at him affectionately. "You're going to feed me?"
"But then you have to get lunch," Ryan warned.
Calleigh nodded. "That's fine."
Inside the diner, nearly half the tables were filled with patrol cops or detectives. Calleigh and Ryan took two seats at the counter and Ryan immediately ordered a cinnamon waffle for Calleigh and a big breakfast for himself.
"I guess crime is taking a day off," Ryan said, leaning in to her ear.
Calleigh smiled at Ryan and gave him a playful nudge.
"Do you want some coffee?" the waitress asked, tapping her order pad with her pen.
Ryan held up two fingers. "She's going to want a large glass of ice and a small glass of orange juice." Calleigh nodded to the waitress. "Oh, and can you get her some whip cream and syrup for her waffle? And we'll both have water."
Ryan handed her two packets of sugar and some cream before she could even ask for it. He looked past her, out the window, with a sigh, as though his actions were perfectly normal.
"Since when did you learn my breakfast?" Calleigh asked, in disbelief.
Ryan looked at her like it was the most obvious answer in the world. "I've gone for breakfast with my old partner enough times to know that you learn what a lady likes."
Calleigh thanked the waitress when she brought the her juice and ice. "Your last partner was a woman?"
She poured her juice over the ice and took a sip, looking satisfied at the sugar now in her system. She brushed her hair back over her shoulder, which she was wearing long and straight today, down her back. Ryan studied her for a moment and leaned against the back of the stool.
Ryan nodded. "Her name was Erin Dean, she was from Louisiana and she is probably the complete opposite of you."
"How is she so different from me?" she asked.
"She was tall," Ryan started and Calleigh gave him a playful nudge. "Short brown hair, raised in New Orleans. I'm pretty sure she said her parents were mormons. Oldest of three sisters."
"If that's not the anthithesis of me, I don't know what is," she replied with a chuckle.
"But she didn't mind if I knew how she wanted her breakfast," he said.
Calleigh smiled. "You've never really talked about her. You know, I didn't even know her name."
"She was really cool," Ryan said, pointing outside as the rain started coming down. "I hope we got any evidence we might have needed from outside the building."
Calleigh looked over her shoulder, to the rain coming down. "Eric checked outside, took some shoe prints and lifted some evidence. I think that's what he's going over at the lab."
"Don't tell him I took you for breakfast," Ryan teased. "He'll be a jealous."
Calleigh looked up from her plate as she carefully spread whip cream over her waffle. "Why would he be jealous?"
"He's always trying to get me to fork over money for his food," Ryan said and took a large bite of peanut butter covered toast. "It's disgusting."
"Oh charming," Calleigh laughed. "Eat up, we have to go be cops in a minute."
They had interviewed thirteen storeowners, all who said they hadn't witnesses anything out of the ordinary. They offered their surveillance tapes over and Calleigh was ready to turn in when Ryan pulled in front of the corner store near her home.
"What are we doing here?" Calleigh asked, suddenly worried.
Ryan stretched. "They're the only other store which has a surveillance camera outside. This could be on the killer's escape route. It's the closest place which sells Band-Aids and if the killer cut himself when he stabbed Elena it would make sense to come here."
Calleigh was worried the cashier from before would recognise her and make another comment, telling Ryan and then eventually the whole lab. 'Just suck it up and go in there. He might not say something if he knows you're on duty."
The sky cracked with thunder and suddenly the rain was pouring down harder than the weatherman predicted. Calleigh approached the young man behind the counter.
"Hi there. I was hoping you could help me out," Calleigh started with her southern charm and a smile.
The young man gulped. "What do you need?"
Calleigh opened her jacket enough to show her badge and gun. "Is there anyone around who was working Sunday morning to late Sunday afternoon?"
The young man nodded. "That was me and my father."
"Did you see anyone come in on Sunday out of the ordinary? Anyone who bought Band-Aids in a hurry?" Ryan asked, approaching the counter next to Calleigh.
The young man thought for a minute. "I sold some super glue to a guy I haven't seen before."
Calleigh took out her notepad and wrote down that his name tag said Greg. "What time was that at?"
"He came in around 6 a.m. with a cut on his hand," he replied.
Calleigh smiled at him again. "Greg, could you describe this man to me? Was he tall, short? Fat, thin? Hispanic or white?"
"He was a big Puerto Rican guy, maybe thirtyish," Greg guessed and nodded toward Calleigh. "He looked a little older than you."
Calleigh smiled. "Big as in muscular or big as in overweight?"
"He was muscular and he had a lot of tattoos," Greg said. "There are a lot of Hispanics in the neighbourhood, it's Miami. But not a lot that looked like him. Most of the people who come in are artsy or elderly."
Calleigh nodded in agreement. "Did he have long hair, short hair?"
Ryan was writing down everything Greg was telling them. "Bald? Afro?"
Greg made a face. "He had short, black hair."
"Is there any way we can get your surveillance cameras from inside and outside the store?" Ryan asked.
A middle-aged man, about fifty, walked behind the counter just then. He was wearing a blue apron with the store logo, 'Day's Pharmacy & Corner Store', on the front. The apron hung off his stomach as though it were maternity wear for a woman in her second trimester. Calleigh had always known him as Jimmy and hoped he wouldn't make an inappropriate comment in front of Ryan.
"Hello," Jimmy said, and his face showed a sign of recognition.
Calleigh looked up at his face and smiled tightly. "Hello, sir. We were just asking your son if you would be willing to offer the surveillance cameras from Sunday morning to Sunday afternoon to us."
Jimmy looked at Calleigh as though he was about to say something else but he nodded. "I'll go to the office to get them."
Ryan watched the man walk away and then studied Calleigh. "Do you know that man?"
Calleigh wasn't sure what to say. "My house is two blocks away, I come here when I run out of milk."
Greg's face lit up. "I remember you! I didn't know you were a cop."
Calleigh smiled. "I'm a CSI."
Greg nodded, impressed. "Cool."
Jimmy handed Calleigh four video tapes. She put them into an evidence bag, thanked the pair, and left quickly. Ryan caught up with her at the car.
"What's the hurry?" he asked, opening her door for her.
Calleigh looked up. It had stopped raining but she could tell it would start again soon. "If there's anything on the tapes we'll come back to print the store. Maybe we can get a print that's on CODIS."
Ryan started the car. "All right, let's go look at the tapes."
Eric found Calleigh in the locker room, after looking everywhere in the lab except for where he found her. She was standing at her locker, her hands on her jacket as though she was debating whether to take it off or not.
"Hey," he said, quietly approaching her.
Calleigh looked up at him and smiled, sadly. "Did you get anything from the prints at the bakery?"
Eric ignored her question. "Are you okay?"
Calleigh nodded. "I'm great. How are you?"
Eric put one hand on her back, tugging on her jacket to bring her close to him. "I'm good, better now."
Calleigh could smell his cologne and the natural scent of his body. It was dangerous for her to be this close to him at work. It was dangerous for the both of them to stand in a locker room alone, with their emotions running high on a lack of sleep.
Eric brushed her hair back over her shoulder and she licked her lips, glancing from his eyes to his lips. "Did you eat lunch?"
Calleigh recognised the tone in his voice. It was the same from the morning before and a chill ran down her back. "Not yet. I just had breakfast."
Eric glanced at his watch. "It's three thirty."
Calleigh smiled. "Then no, I didn't eat lunch yet."
"Want to get something?" Eric asked, his hand moving from her jacket to the hem, a finger moving along her back.
Calleigh nodded and took a step away from him. "What are you doing?" her voice suddenly cool.
Eric looked confused. "I'm trying to feed you."
Calleigh laughed. "Are you?"
"Yes, I want to feed you. Italian?" Eric offered.
"I'll meet you outside in ten minutes," Calleigh replied. "I just want to make sure Tyler doesn't start on the tapes without me."
Eric nodded. "I have to wrap things up with Valera anyway."
Calleigh shut her locker and looked up at him, her eyes suggestive but her voice professional. "Ten minutes."
