Chapter Three:

A/N: Still sore, more so than before, but that is okay. I am in a writing mood. I'm supposed to sleep hah, because I have to get up and go out early tomorrow with friends, but ohwell. Thank you for the wonderful reviews, they keep me writing! Here we go:

--&

As predicted, five minutes later, Eric was knocking on Calleigh's door. She answered, silently this time, and let him in.

"Cookie dough ice cream." He handed her the bag, and she showed him the two spoons she had been holding by her side.

"Milk and sugar?" She asked.

"Thanks." He nodded, moving to the living room of the condo with the ice cream and spoons. Just being here with Calleigh made him need to break down, it was overbearing, but he couldn't. If it was this hard for him, he couldn't imagine how hard it was for her. She had to live here every day like she used to with him. Sleep here, eat here. That couldn't be easy.

"Here you go." Calleigh handed him the coffee and he offered a faint smile in response. "Do you want to watch TV or something?"

"Sure." Eric shrugged. As long he was here, trying to support her as best he could. She flicked the TV on and proceeded to flip through the channels until she reached a crime show. As they watched it, they didn't even bother make fun of the TV investigators like they usually would. It didn't seem right without him. Nothing did.

--& Flashback &--

"Hey man, want to come over and hang out for a while?" Speed asked as he entered the locker room after shift.

"I don't know." Eric sighed. He did want to hangout with his friend, but he had also promised his temporary girlfriend he'd make plans with her that evening. "I told Rachael that I'd take her somewhere tonight…"

"You can take her somewhere after. Just come over when you're done in here alright?" Speed told him, before heading out the door.

"Sure." Eric replied. Rachael could wait. He quickly packed up his things and headed for his car. When he got out to the parking lot, Eric saw Speed's bike disappearing down the street and he shook his head with a chuckle. Speed. Minutes later, he pulled up at his friends building, a place he hadn't been in quite a long time. They were both busy with their new girlfriends when they weren't working, which wasn't often, so there hadn't been much guy-time on the clock. Eric buzzed himself in, and headed up the elevator.

"Hey." Speed smiled as he answered the door. Something was up, Eric decided, if Speed was smiling like that. Or maybe Calleigh was just rubbing off on him.

"Hey," Eric nodded as he stepped inside. "Wow, this place is…"

"Clean?" Speed finished his sentence. "I know. I've been spending most of my time at Calleigh's."

"Right." Eric nodded. That made sense. He knew Speed wasn't, but he'd hung out with Calleigh at her place more than a few times, and he knew she liked things to be very neat. She would have hated how Speed's condo normally looked. "Are you okay, you seem to be acting different." Eric noted.

"Yeah, never been better." Speed answered as they made their way to the living room. "I just had to talk to you about something and you have to promise not to freak out or anything."

"Okay…" Eric replied.

"So Calleigh and I have been dating for four months now." He told Eric, who nodded, seeing now that this could go in two directions from here. Both of them made him a little frightened. "Do you think I'll be rushing things if I propose?" A little frightened, indeed. But it was better than him breaking up with her, he supposed.

"Well, the way you two look at each other… you're in love." Eric started. "And if you think it's going to last forever… then I'd say go for it. I'm happy for you guys." Eric smiled, giving his friend a pat on the arm.

"Thanks." Speed sighed. "I just… I wanted to do it so badly, but I didn't know if I was rushing things… and well, I consider you to be my best friend, so I figured I could ask you."

"Anytime." Eric smiled again. "But you should calm down a bit first, it's a little predictable that something's up."

"Okay." Speed nodded, taking it into account.

"When are you going to do it?" Eric wondered.

"Tonight. I've got a big date planned…" Speed explained.

"Sounds great. Well, I guess I should leave you to get ready then." Speed nodded. "So good luck, and I guess I'll find out tomorrow how things went."

"Thanks." Speed smiled again as Eric got up to leave. "Have fun with Rachael."

"I always do."

--& Present &--

Eric remembered that night clear as day. He remember the smiles on Speed and Calleigh's faces as they entered work the next day together and told everyone the news. They were ecstatic. When had things begun to change? It was only five months ago that he had been sitting with Speed on this couch as he explained his intentions with Calleigh, and now… well now he was gone.

"You okay?" Calleigh asked, noticing Eric had a faraway look on his face and tears in his eyes.

"I should be the one asking you that." Eric smiled faintly, and Calleigh shrugged.

"I'm not the only one that was close to him, Eric. You guys were best friends. You miss him too." She reasoned.

"I guess." Eric shrugged. No doubt, he did miss Speed… but Calleigh… did she feel responsible? He didn't hold her responsible, but he knew, from dealing with countless families of suicide victims, that they often blamed themselves. But Calleigh dealt with those families too, but that didn't necessarily mean she would react better.

"I didn't see it coming." Calleigh told him suddenly. "At first, he was ecstatic at the prospect of having a child. We'd even talked about it before. It just doesn't make any sense." The tears that had been welling up in her eyes, threatening to fall for minutes now, finally made their way down her cheeks, and Eric took her into his arms.

"It doesn't make any sense at all." Eric sighed, as he held her tight. He held her tight until she fell asleep, at which point he carefully and gently laid her out on the couch and found a blanket and pillow from the linen closet to make her more comfortable. He scribbled a note saying that he'd be back in a few hours, just in case she woke up before then, and he left. It was days like this he hated living in Miami. They had just lost a best friend, a colleague, a husband… and the Miami sun was a bright and cheerful as ever, a constant contrast with him mood. Getting in his car he drove carelessly and quickly to the crime lab. He walked at double speed through the building until he found the man he was looking for.

"Horatio," He said breathlessly, as he entered his boss's office.

"Eric," Horatio drawled, "What can I do for you?"

"I… I need to know about Speed." Eric told him, and Horatio's face had a sudden change in dynamic.

"What about Speed?" Horatio asked.

"The case. Can I see the file?" Eric wondered, and Horatio sighed. He should have taken more cautious measures, he should have known that they'd get curious sometime or another.

"No." Horatio answered plainly.

"Why not?" Eric pressed.

"I'm not allowed to show you the file of an ongoing case if you're not working it." Horatio told him.

"Ongoing case? It was a suicide." Eric had found what he was looking for. Something was off all along. This could be it.

"Eric, you know I can't give out information about this case to you. And I hardly know the details of the case myself. We're compromised." Horatio explained.

"We're grieving. Have you been to visit Calleigh? Have you seen her?" Eric knew his voice was raising. He knew this could cost him his job, but at this point, he didn't care. "She blames herself Horatio, and if there was any way this wasn't a suicide… she needs to know."

"Eric, you know false hope does no good." Horatio reasoned. He had tried to see Calleigh the previous day, but she wouldn't see him. She wouldn't see anyone. Well, anyone but Eric, evidently.

"What if it's not false hope?" Eric argued.

"Eric," Horatio began. "As soon as I know anything more concrete about this case, I will let you know, but until then… please do not tell Calleigh about this conversation. I can only imagine how broken she is right now… and giving her false hope and then taking it away will only worsen things." Eric knew he was right, but it didn't make him any less angry.

"Fine." He nearly spat at his boss, turning to leave.

"And Eric?" Horatio called, before he left the room completely.

"What?"

"Take care of her." Horatio gave him a small smile. And the anger was gone.

--&

A/N: Sorry, I didn't really know how to end this chapter. Okay, so I definitely wanted to start getting more of the actual storyline rolling. It will get more Speed-friendly soon. Please review!