A/N: If you didn't know, I was locked out of my account 11 or 12 years ago and did not finish several stories. I am working to complete these! So, here I am adding a new chapter, hoping to bring this story to a proper, fitting close, and hoping someone is still reading! There are a couple made-up elements of Eric's backstory in this chapter you may have seen me use in some of my other stories. Namely, Eric going to the Olympic swimming trials after college ("A Thousand is Never Enough") and him growing up knowing Pavel is not his biological father ("The History That Haunts, The Story That Drives"). All your reviews and feedback are appreciated, especially since this story hasn't shown me its ending yet :D


Chapter 3

"You're just saying that so I'll take the bet," Calleigh laughed as she helped Eric clear the table from their late dinner.

"No, really! It's true," he grinned. "Next time we're at the zoo, I'll show you."

Calleigh set the last of the dishes in the sink and flipped up the faucet to fill it with hot water. Adding soap to the water, she said, "Eric, when have we ever gone to the zoo? Now that I think about it, I've never been to the zoo here."

"Calleigh!" the man gasped in mock-horror, capturing her from behind and spinning her around to face him. "You've lived here ten years and you've never been to the Miami Zoo? I'm shocked."

"It's just a zoo, Eric." Calleigh smiled at her best friend and wrapped her arms around his neck. "And they're just otters."

Eric's eyes were alight with childlike excitement, and a bit of affront. "Not just any otters, Cal. I'm telling you—"

A sharp rap on Eric's front door cut the rest of his statement short. Both he and Calleigh jumped at the sound; they'd spent a peaceful, quiet day alone at Eric's condo. With the exception of a quick errand to pick up Calleigh's car and run to her house for a set of clothes, they'd not ventured out at all. The only other person either one of them had talked to all day was Jake Berkeley. Calleigh's eyes shot to Eric's in alarm.

"He wouldn't... It's alright," Eric muttered quietly, although he wasn't entirely sure that was true.

The knock sounded once more, this time more loudly, and the two CSIs heard a deep voice from the other side of the door. "Delko, it's Bur. The guys are with me."

Outside, five men stood nervously on Eric Delko's front porch. The lights were on and they could see his car in the driveway of the first-floor condominium; he was home, but so far he wasn't answering. "C'mon, man. Don't be an ass," Burwell called out again.

From somewhere inside the condo, the men heard a muffled noise and then, "Go away, Bur. I've got nothing to say to you."

"Eric!" they heard a woman's voice chastise.

"Oww! What was that for?"

The guys shouldn't have been surprised to hear another voice ring out softly from behind the door, and they couldn't help but grin when they realized that Calleigh had probably just smacked their best friend upside the head.

"For being an ass."

The next second, Aaron, Courtney, AJ, Conner, and Bur heard the deadbolt turning in the lock, and the door opened to reveal a beautiful, apologetic-looking blonde.

"Come on in," Calleigh said quietly, standing back to open the door wide for the five men. Eric made eye contact with Bur, only to turn his back on the man and stalk angrily into the kitchen, throwing the dish towel in his hand onto the far counter as he went.

When Courtney crossed the threshold, the last one of the group, Cal closed the door behind him and re-fastened the lock. She turned around and came face to face with five pairs of anxious eyes. The room was silent, filled with awkward tension.

Calleigh threw a hand in the air and muttered, "This is ridiculous." Walking past the group toward the kitchen, she said, "You guys sit down. What do you want to drink?"

Conner, always one to break the ice, plopped himself on Eric's couch and hollered after her, "I'll take a beer, por favor!"

Cal smirked at the man's antics. "One beer, coming up. Anyone else?"

"Just make it five beers," Courtney answered for everyone. The guys all found a place to sit around the living room, Aaron grabbing a chair from Eric's dining room table. They left two seats on the sofa for Eric and Calleigh, who were currently holding a furiously-whispered conversation in the kitchen which the friends were pretending they couldn't hear.

Cal was digging in the refrigerator for the drinks when Eric wrapped his hand gently around her upper arm to still her movements. "Calleigh, what are you doing?" he hissed.

She turned to face him. "We owe them an explanation, Eric. Whether we like it or not."

He wanted none of it. "We don't owe them anything!"

"Yes, we do! Eric, our actions have consequences," Calleigh countered. Seeing the twinge of guilt in Eric's eyes, she stepped closer to him and rested a comforting hand on his waist. "Babe, we owe them an explanation, not an apology. Okay?"

Eric's eyes darted to the floor, and Calleigh could see that they needed to get a few things straight before they tried to talk to their friends.

"Stay right here," she whispered and pecked a kiss to his cheek. Scooping the beer bottles into her arms, Cal left Eric in the kitchen and returned to the living room.

"Here you go," she said, unloading her cargo on the coffee table and snatching up the remote. "Give us a sec, 'kay? There's basketball on Fox."

She tossed the remote to Conner and he tuned the TV to the right channel. "Take your time," he said distractedly, making himself comfortable on the couch and stretching his feet out to rest on the table.

"And take your nasty shoes off," Calleigh quipped with a grin over her shoulder as she retreated.

Con Man rolled his eyes and the guys laughed as they reached for their drinks. "Yes, Ma'am."

No one missed the fact that Calleigh felt right at home at Eric's; she had for years, but this was on another level. They watched as she returned to the kitchen and slipped her hand in Eric's, pulling him out the sliding door to the back patio and the small, fenced-in area behind his condo.

Delko's place backed up to the ocean, a small wilderness being the only thing separating his complex from a private beach. He could smell the salt in the air and hear the waves crash distantly on the shore as soon as Calleigh pulled him outside, and his nerves instantly calmed.

"I'm sorry," he apologized softly. He sat down wearily on a padded lounge chair and dropped his head to his hand.

"Sorry for what?" Calleigh challenged, sitting gently by his side. "We both decided what we wanted. You're not forcing me to stay here, are you?"

Eric's lips turned up in a half-grin and he tilted his head to look at her. "No, I'm not."

"Then don't be sorry, Eric. I love you." A beautiful, contagious smile spread across Calleigh's face at the last three words.

"I like the way that sounds," Eric said, leaning in to kiss his best friend tenderly on the lips.

"Me too," she sighed. "So, do you want to tell me why you reacted the way you did in there?"

Eric let out a deep breath and lowered his gaze to his hands. "It's just something that Bur said to me last night at the bar."

"What?" Calleigh lightly prodded.

Eric raised his eyes to her, and she felt his turmoil. "He said, 'We all know how you feel about her, but you need to do this the right way.'"

Calleigh thought about that. Was there a right way for them? Could they have found each other the way 'normal' people did, waiting for the right moment, following the straight line?

No. First, there was no such thing as 'normal people.' Second, the idea of straight lines leading to love came from a false narrative carefully constructed throughout history that perfection did exist. That storybook romances were real, and loving someone should be easy and not require work. She knew it was all a lie.

The path that led Calleigh and Eric to each other was not one they built for themselves. Time did that for them. Their friendship, their partnership, every case they worked and personal battle they fought together—all of that unfolded naturally without their input or design. Sure, they made choices, but weren't even those dictated by circumstance?

Jake, for instance. Calleigh didn't make the department rules. She thought she was doing the right thing by pushing Eric away. The truth was, given their history, only the experiences brought on by the last few months of being with Jake could have catapulted Calleigh to crash into Eric last night, or take the leap of faith she did this morning.

Whatever tapestry fate was weaving for them, Calleigh knew without a doubt that she had to walk that path to get to this one, the one intended for her all along.

"I don't think we ever really had that option," she replied carefully. She paused for a second and re-phrased her response. "I think this is our 'right way,' Eric."

Eric contemplated her words, eventually nodding in agreement. "I believe that. It's just…that look in Bur's eye when he walked through the door tonight…" He shut his eyes tight against the memory.

"Eric, do you really think Titus is going to judge us? Truly, actually judge us, at the end of the day, when everything is said and done? You know him better than that," Calleigh contended.

"I don't know. Maybe he won't, but what about everyone else, Cal? What about people at work? Everyone knows about you and Jake, and the rumors are going to fly," Eric said. In a quieter voice, he added, "I never wanted that for us."

She understood he mostly meant "I never wanted that for you," because just as she had taken the brunt of Jake's anger that morning, Calleigh would be the recipient of most of the judgment in the office. As a woman, as the one who 'jumped' from one man to another, she'd be painted as the culprit. Her character would be questioned far more than Eric's.

"I didn't want this for us, either," Calleigh sighed. "But it is what it is. We made our decision. And I refuse to go one more day with someone else telling me how to live my life. I'm done with it."

Eric still hesitated. "You're really not worried about what people will think?"

Calleigh reached over to link her fingers with his. "Not about what they think. How it affects our jobs and our relationships? Sure. Eric, the only person I have to make happy is me, and right now…I am very happy."

Eric smiled. "Me too. Okay," he said, standing and pulling Calleigh up with him, "let's go talk to our friends."

Cal kissed him soundly on the lips. "That's more like it," she said and led him back inside.

Returning through the sliding glass door, Eric and Calleigh heard the conversation in the next room come to an abrupt halt, the complete absurdity of which caused Eric to laugh. "Oh, don't stop talking on my account," he joked.

His humor finally dispelled the awkwardness between all of them, and after retrieving two more beers from the fridge, the couple joined the men gathered around the living room.

AJ reached for the remote and turned the volume down to a faint hum as Eric and Calleigh settled into the couch. No one missed the easy chemistry flowing between the two best friends, or the way Cal's hand rested naturally on Eric's thigh, or how when she moved, he seemed to move, too. All the pent-up sexual tension from the previous night was gone, replaced by something solid and profound, something that was new but that seemed…familiar and ingrained.

Eric placed his hand on top of Calleigh's on his leg. He looked around the room, making eye contact with every one of his friends, before his gaze finally fell on Bur's. "Please don't be angry with me."

Bur looked away, a hint of outrage still playing behind his dark eyes. Calleigh gave Eric's leg a small squeeze, and he pressed on, swallowing the lump forming in his throat. "The last thing I wanted to do was ruin our weekend together."

Conner spoke up with a smirk on his face. "It's okay, we went ahead and went fishing without you. Besides, we figured you had better things to do." A gleam shone in his eye that caused a blush to creep up both Eric and Calleigh's necks.

Aaron sensed the impending explosion of Bur's anger and sought to head it off. "Conner, now's not the time."

Conner's eyes snapped to Dub's, but soon his attention was drawn to the tall black man who was rising to his feet across the room. "No, go ahead, Con Man. Crack all the jokes you want. This is hilarious!"

Calleigh was on her feet in a flash, calm and under control, but with fiery passion burning in her eyes. "Don't, Titus. We're not going to fight tonight."

"So you're going to stand there and tell me you didn't sleep with him last night?" Bur asked, fury in his eyes.

"Whatever happens between Eric and I is our business," Calleigh answered heatedly, throwing out a hand to stop Eric, who was already half-standing in her defense. He sank back to the couch without protest. In her response to Titus, Calleigh let the entire group know-not that she really needed to-that this fact was not up for further conversation or debate.

AJ had watched Calleigh and Eric closely since he entered the condo twenty minutes ago. He could tell the moment he walked in that something monumental had changed between his two friends. Calleigh looked at Eric the way only one woman had ever looked at him in his life: Sara.

"Burwell, sit down," AJ commanded his old team captain. Once upon a time, Big Titus Burwell gave the orders. Tonight, Andrew Cavazos would have his say.

The room went silent as Bur stared at AJ in shock. "What did you say?"

"I said, sit down," AJ repeated firmly. "Calleigh's right, we're not going to fight tonight. And I have something to say."

His hazel eyes traveled around the room and he looked all his friends in the eyes, much like Delko did earlier. Bur's anger turned to curiosity, and he hesitantly took a seat, although he did cross his arms in indignation to show he was still upset. Calleigh returned to her seat by Eric's side; he slipped his fingers through hers and they shared a brief look before AJ spoke again.

AJ took a deep breath and began. "Court, do you remember the day we first met Sara?"

Courtney smiled, his white teeth standing out brightly against his dark skin. "Of course I do. Mack forced her to dance with you at his momma's Memorial Day party. Scottie nearly died laughing because you kept steppin' on her toes."

"Okay, that's not the part I was talking about, but thanks anyway," AJ said, smiling as wide as his friend.

"Wait," Conner interrupted. "I thought you and Sara met the next week during our first summer tournament?"

AJ shook his head. "Nope. I don't remember why you guys weren't there, but—"

"First week of summer school. We had an exam that Tuesday," Aaron said.

"Dub, do you remember everything?" Conner asked.

His friend grinned. "Just Momma Mack's pie. Mmm-mm, I wanted to go to that party."

"Guys!" Bur called. "Can we please get on with the story? AJ—you and Sara met on Memorial Day, and…"

"Yeah," the man smiled as he recalled the day he met his wife. "Mack and Sara had been friends for a while, I guess. He basically shoved her in my arms and said, 'Meet Sara, Andrew. You're gonna love her.'" The room filled with deep laughter; that was definitely something Mack would have done.

The smile faded from AJ's face as he continued, his eyes turning softly to Eric and Calleigh. "She never left my arms after that. He was right, I fell in love with her. What Mack never told anyone, what we never told anyone, was that Sara was engaged when we met."

Calleigh's eyes went wide and she sat up a little straighter on the couch; around the room, everyone shared pretty much the same reaction.

"What?"

AJ wasn't sure which of his friends had asked the question, but he answered all the same. "She was engaged. To a guy back home in New Orleans. And I knew that the first time I ever kissed her. She knew it when she kissed me back."

Eric looked at the man sitting in the armchair next to him. "She couldn't have been more than eighteen," he stated.

AJ nodded. "She turned nineteen three weeks after we met. Sara was young, but she wasn't naïve; she knew what she was doing when she took that man's ring. And we both knew what we were doing when we started a relationship while she was still engaged." He looked around the room at the men he called brothers. "Would any of you sit there and tell me that Sara and I weren't absolutely meant to be together?"

Not one of them answered. They knew that no two people on earth belonged together like AJ and Sara. They were handpicked for each other by the universe.

All the anger suddenly went out of Big Bur, replaced by a whole host of other emotions he couldn't begin to understand. He reached up a hand to scrub the back of his neck as AJ continued.

"We don't choose who we fall in love with. Or the circumstances under which we fall in love with them. I looked in Sara's eyes once, and I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. You guys never knew that her fiancé came to Miami to kick my ass, or that Mack stepped in and took the beating for it. You never knew that her family hated me the entire first year we dated. All you know is 'AJ and Sara.'"

"Wait a minute," Conner said, holding up his hand. "You're telling me Mack didn't really get into a fight with Todd Hampstead that summer?"

AJ laughed. "No, that's just what he told everyone."

"That sneaky little bastard!" Conner exclaimed before he took a thoughtful swig of his beer.

Without warning, Bur stood up, crossed the room, and walked away, leaving six people in stunned silence behind him. Wordlessly, Eric got up and followed him out the front door.

Calleigh sighed as she watched them go, and AJ moved to sit beside her in the place Eric just vacated. He slipped an arm around her shoulders.

"I understand what it's like, Cal. Sometimes our timing is shit and we have to fight battles we never expected. Sometimes doing the wrong thing is the only thing you can do," AJ paused for a second, then added, "Doesn't make it right, but sometimes there's just no path forward where everyone will win, so you do the best you can. If Sara were here, she'd tell you the same thing."

"Well, I'm not letting him go now," Calleigh declared. "I love him."

Conner scooted close to Calleigh and wrapped his arm around her, too. He leaned down and pressed a big, noisy kiss to her cheek that had her squirming to get away.

"Took you guys long enough!" he said, laughing, as he pulled away. Cal shoved him hard in the chest.

"Well, it was a little complicated," she defended with a short laugh of her own.

Aaron came to sit in front of them on the coffee table. "Yeah, about that…"

Calleigh understood what Dub was asking, and her eyes darted down to her hands fidgeting in her lap as she answered. "Jake and I aren't together anymore. We, um, we talked this morning."

AJ squeezed her shoulders tightly. He remembered that sick feeling in his stomach well, the one that came from knowing he'd done something totally against his character, something that hurt someone else, and knowing he didn't regret it. He and Sara made peace with that part of their lives a long time ago, and Eric and Calleigh would, too.

"The Lord works in mysterious ways, Ms. Calleigh Duquesne," Courtney stated from his seat in the armchair a few feet away. "Only someone as stubborn as you could ever get to Eric Delko, and only someone as patient as D could break through some of your walls. What y'all have together is pretty special."

"Mr. Jacobs, I've never seen this side of you," Calleigh teased. Courtney was not a man prone to show a lot of affection, at least not like the other guys in the group. He was raised by a single mother in a tough neighborhood, and all his young life was spent fending for himself and his two younger sisters. Showing his sensitive side wasn't exactly encouraged where he grew up.

"Hey, I'm a romantic at heart," he grinned.

On Calleigh's other side, Aaron burst into laughter. "Do you guys remember the time Court showed up with—"

"No way, Dub, we agreed …" Courtney objected, both hands held up in front of him.

Calleigh sat back and surveyed her friends. Aaron, Courtney, AJ, and Conner were lost in old memories, and she was lost in thought. Maybe Court was right and the Lord did work in mysterious ways. She didn't go to Mass every week like Eric, but she believed in God, and she was willing to believe Courtney—because right now she sat in the living room of her best friend, heart full and surrounded by friends who loved and supported her even when she probably didn't deserve it. Maybe she was finally cashing in on all her good karma.

As the guys continued their never-ending banter, Cal's thoughts wandered to the two men outside, and she hoped beyond hope that Eric and Titus could work things out. She couldn't bear the idea that something she did might end a friendship like theirs. She wouldn't let that happen.

When Eric walked out the door after Big Bur, she could see the strain on his face, and she recognized how hard he was fighting to keep his anger in check.

She was right. Eric had followed behind Bur, his thoughts swirling and temper flaring. He was attempting to process AJ's shocking news, figure out what that could mean for him and Calleigh, think of how to approach this conflict with Bur, and suppress his desire to just punch the guy in the face…all at the same time and in a matter of seconds.

But as he approached Bur, Eric remembered Calleigh's words. Anger wouldn't get him anywhere, and while he did owe his old friend an explanation, he was under no obligation to offer him an apology.

Even with Bur's back to him, Eric could tell the man's anger was also past. His shoulders were square and set with tension, and Eric got the sense Bur was waging all-out war within himself, trying to grapple with the idea that everything he thought he knew about his best friends could be wrong.

"Bur," Eric said quietly.

Bur stood still, deep in thought, considering what to say to Eric and not quite willing to face him yet.

"Man, we can't do this," Eric persisted. He walked past and around Bur to stand directly in front of him. "What the hell is going on with you?"

In all the years Eric and Bur knew each other, they never once clashed like this. Bur did tend to judge others, but the people around him generally accepted it and attributed it to the high standards he held for himself and others. It was the same characteristic that made him an excellent team captain and leader.

But there were times when he gave that side of himself too much freedom. To his credit, he almost always course-corrected when Eric or one of the other guys called him out on it. Eric, more than anyone, played that role in Bur's life. Like true brothers, they butted heads, disagreed, pointed out faults…but they never fought like this.

Bur crossed the line last night, the razor thin line that distinguished righteous character from self-righteousness, high standards from sanctimony.

The two men locked eyes, hardness showing in Bur's gaze. "Me? What's going on with me?" he asked.

"Yeah," Eric challenged. "This isn't like you. So talk."

"I said my piece last night, D," Bur volleyed back.

Eric crossed his arms and steeled himself. "No, you picked a fight. Same thing just now with Cal. I'm asking you why."

"What you did was wrong," came the unwavering reply.

"What I did is none of your fucking business," Eric countered with ice in his voice. Coolness, not anger, he told himself.

But Eric could see the fire starting to build back in Bur, could see him starting to shake with it.

"You're better than that," the man said, voice tight with restraint against the fullness of his temper.

"Yeah," Eric replied. "You said that last night. First, that's bullshit. You don't get to put that on me. Me or Calleigh. Second, I'm not buying the 'disappointed friend' act, so let's be straight. What's your problem?"

For a split-second, Eric saw pure rage flash in his friend's eye. Bur froze in place, glaring at Eric with hatred and combating a familiar, complicated thought in the back of his mind.

"Fuck you," he spat. He pushed past Eric, making hard contact against his friend's shoulder with his own as he barreled past.

Eric turned on the spot and witnessed Bur roughly scrub a hand over his jaw before beginning to pace with his hands on his hips.

"Fuck all this," the man said, surrendering to what seemed like an abiding sense of what Eric could only call bitterness.

Silence, fraught with tension, descended on the pair. A battle of wills ensued in which Bur refused to speak and Eric refused to do anything but listen.

Finally, Bur relented.

"There are real consequences to your actions, Delko," he said.

Eric wanted to retort that he was fully aware of that, but he held his tongue. Not receiving the expected comeback, Bur simply paced harder and sunk deeper into his thoughts. Eric waited.

"It's not supposed to be this way," Bur stated cryptically.

This time, Eric spoke up. "What's not supposed to be this way?"

"Any of it," his friend responded. His words held less anger now, and more angst.

Eric still didn't understand. "You're gonna have to explain."

"I don't know," Bur sighed.

Bur did know, actually. And Eric could see it in his countenance, although he had no clue how to draw it out of him. So, again, Eric waited, standing firm with his arms crossed, eyes following every move Bur made to and fro, to and fro, as if willing him to talk.

And, again, it was Bur who relented. He stopped pacing and planted his feet in front of Eric, pinning him with fiery, conflicted eyes.

"I hate you," he said, finally. He almost whispered the three words, whether out of anger or because he fought so hard against saying them, it wasn't clear, and it wasn't exactly important to Eric at the moment, anyway.

Eric's eyes went wide, and his jaw dropped slightly open of its own accord. Whatever he expected to hear from Titus Burwell tonight, that was not it.

Bur tore his feet away from their resting place and resumed pacing. Eric remained frozen.

"What?" he finally asked in numb shock.

Five feet away from him, Bur stopped once more and turned back in Eric's direction. Something seemed to break in Bur as he swung both hands up and clasped them behind his head. He ducked his head only to tilt it to the sky and fix his eyes on the few stars starting to peek out with the sunset.

"It's barely there. And it doesn't make sense. But it's there, in the back of my mind," he admitted in a low voice Eric strained to hear. "I don't hate you as much as I hate myself."

"I'm not really sure I…" Eric trailed off. How exactly was he supposed to respond to this?

Big Bur exhaled loudly and threw his arms up before letting them fall again, then extended a supplicating hand toward Eric as he started to speak.

"I know your life hasn't been a cakewalk," he said. Especially in the last few years. I know that."

Eric waited patiently for Bur to put all the puzzle pieces together for him. Right now, Eric couldn't see the big picture.

"But it's like everything always just works out for you," Bur explained. "Your dad knows you're not his kid and he raises you like his own. You dislocate your shoulder and go on to compete in the Olympic trials. You get shot and go back to work three weeks later. You cheat…you cheat, and you end up with the love of your life."

Eric sat and listened, and it took every fiber of his being not to lash out at the man across from him in anger. Is that really what Bur thought? That it's easy knowing you're a product of rape and your parents never intended to have you?

Did he really believe Eric didn't nearly destroy himself trying to swim his way to the Trials, only to lose and retire because his broken body could no longer take the heat? He was so defeated, so lost in the world after that, he ended up hauling tin in the goddamn Glades.

As for his shooting—that was off-limits. Bur knew that and for him to stand there and suggest that Eric's pain, the recovery, the daily physical reminders of the hell he endured—for him to suggest Eric had it easy…

Eric's blood boiled.

And what about Cal? Even more off-limits. To so summarily dismiss the challenges they faced during the last seven or eight years of their friendship, to define their characters by one decision, to paint the picture that they didn't deserve to be together after making that one decision…no.

The anger he fought to control for so long broke free with a roar as Eric advanced on Bur and shoved him hard in the chest.

"Who do you think you are?" he seethed.

Bur raised his hands in a defensive posture and took a step back. He knew his words were unfair and promised himself a long time ago he'd never utter them out loud. But just as Delko felt like he owed his friends an explanation for his behavior the night before, so did Bur.

"D, please just listen, I'm not finished," he entreated.

"Get to the point, quick," Eric responded with fury now fully coursing through his veins.

"Look, I know the reality of things, that this isn't entirely rational," Bur leveled. "I know you've been through hell. But you land on your feet, and as much as I hate to admit it, part of me is jealous."

Incredulity flared in Eric's chest. "I land on my feet? You think it's that simple, like I don't carry that stuff with me every moment of every day? Would it make you feel better if your mom had been raped, or if you got shot in the head?"

"Don't even go there, Delko. That's not what I mean," Bur countered.

"Then tell me what you do mean," Eric demanded. "Because, you're right, none of this makes sense, or explains why you lost your shit last night."

"My dad cheated on my mom," Bur almost yelled.

A pause filled the air between them as Bur silently tried to take the words back and Eric tried to process them.

"What?" was all Eric could say, totally confused by the revelation and the sudden about-turn in the conversation.

"When I was in high school, my dad cheated on my mom," Bur elaborated. "Everyone knows they got divorced, but no one outside my family ever knew why. My mom took that to the grave with her."

Eric closed his eyes, sighed heavily, and scrubbed a hand over the back of his head. One puzzle piece just clicked into place. When they were seniors in college, Bur started acting strange. He was distracted and distant. Finally, after a lot of pushing, the guys elicited a confession: his mom had admitted herself to rehab. She spent two unsuccessful stints in two different facilities; the summer after they graduated, she overdosed and died. A small part of Bur died with her.

"Your mom, she started using after the divorce, didn't she? Because of your dad?" Eric asked, although he now knew the answer.

Bur nodded. "It destroyed her."

The second puzzle piece fell into place for Eric. "You aren't mad that Calleigh and I cheated. Or AJ and Sara. You're mad that we don't regret it. Because your dad never did, did he?"

Bur sent Eric a hard look but didn't respond, so Eric continued. "Look, man, what happened to you wasn't fair. What your dad did to you and your mom wasn't fair, but you gotta let it go."

"It's not that easy, Delko," Bur started to say.

"And living with bitterness is?" Eric hit back. "You plan to live your life thinking the grass is greener on the other side? Because I'm on the other side and I can tell you it's not."

"I get that, D," Bur objected.

Eric wasn't so sure he did. "If you got that, you wouldn't be jealous." Bur's eyes narrowed and he tried to interrupt, but Eric wouldn't let him.

"No, Bur, that's all this is. You're resentful because you were dealt a bad hand and you think you lost. I'm sorry about your mom, you know I am, but you're not the only one who has to deal with the consequences of a bad hand. You need a reality check."

"You think I'm blind?" Bur asked, anger seeping into his tone again at Eric's words.

Eric did think he was blind. Bur put his dad on a pedestal, and Eric and AJ, and created this perfect narrative of their lives, so that when they did something that went against his expectations, it shook his world.

But, Eric suddenly realized, he'd done the same thing with Bur, slowly, over the years. He ignored important signs and settled into the belief Bur was bulletproof, that he was fine. But he wasn't. When was the last time they actually sat down and talked? Honestly talked?

"I think you're hurting," Eric said quietly. "And I think neither one of us have been very good friends to each other for a while."

That took the wind out of Bur's sails. Eric watched the last tendrils of anger, the last bit of tension, lift from the man's shoulders and fade from his countenance. They stayed quiet for a moment, Bur because he was thinking, and Eric because he knew his friend needed time to do his thinking.

Eventually, Bur made a soft declaration. "You and Calleigh, you were made for each other."

Eric sensed a caveat. "But…"

"But, nothing," Bur said. "These aren't the memories I would wish for you to have at the start of your life together. But it's not my call and it's not my place to put my baggage on you. You were right."

"This isn't the start of my story with Cal, Bur," Eric explained. "That happened nearly eight years ago. And I wouldn't change anything. I couldn't if I tried, anyway."

"You're making a major sacrifice," Bur stated. "What about work?"

"I'm not giving up anything. I'm gaining everything," Eric said, never more sure of his own words. "As for work, we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Bur took a conciliatory step toward Eric, hand outstretched. "I have your back, always. And I'm sorry."

Eric slapped his hand away and brought the burly man in for a bear hug and a few hard pats on the back.

"Yeah well, same," Eric said and sighed deeply as they separated. He turned toward the condo. "Let's go talk to AJ."

They weren't completely fine, but they found themselves in a new place, pedestals gone, resolved to be better friends. When they passed through the front door, they left their anger behind for good.