A/N1: Set a week after the events of S.6 Ep.9, "Stand Your Ground." I own zero rights to Ray LaMontagne's song, "Trouble."

A/N2: I'm making progress on dwindling my archive, folks! I posted Chapter 6–probably the longest and most important chapter–of "Lilies Of The Valley" yesterday, and I'm halfway done with the next chapter of "The Idiot's Guide." I found this little story and completed it. If you like it, I might build another one-shot out of it. Let me know what you think.


The team sat around a group of tables, just enjoying each others' company, for once not worrying about the grizzly crimes they dealt with every day. Situated across from them was a dance floor, where a young officer named Peters and his fiancée moved to an upbeat song. Two other couples joined them as a fresh song flowed through the speakers set up for the party.

"Nothing? They did nothing to you?!" Ryan spat at Natalia. He was in absolute shock. How did I miss that small detail? he wondered, more than a little miffed.

Natalia smiled demurely, "Nope. I guess they just liked me better than you."

She might have hit a serious nerve if she'd said that to Ryan only a few years ago, because, in truth, he did have a hard time transitioning into this team. Now, looking around at his colleagues, his friends, Ryan knew better than to let the comment get under his skin.

Still, he thought. Nothing at all?

Turning to Calleigh first, then Eric across the table, "That is so unfair! I get a severed head, and Natalia gets nothing. What the hell, man?"

Laughing, Cal swooped in to save the day. "Ryan, Nat brought us a state-of-the-art lab. We couldn't haze her after that, could we? A little teasing never hurt anyone."

"Besides," Eric chimed in, "It's tradition. I was constantly harassed my first six months on the job. You got it easy."

Valera spoke up. "It's true, Ryan. Eric and Calleigh kept rearranging all the supplies in my lab for two weeks after I started."

Ryan shook his head. "Yeah, but, a severed-freaking-head…"

Everyone burst into laughter at his outrage. That is, everyone except Calleigh and Eric.

They didn't even catch Ryan's last words, because right as Valera spoke, the music from the speakers melted into a new song.

The first note had the partners frozen in their seats. Eric's eyes snapped up to meet Calleigh's, and he knew she was remembering, too. With a crooked, sad grin, he stood and offered his hand to her. She took it without question, and he guided her to the dance floor.

The rest of the team quickly noticed their departure, and all they could do was watch...

Trouble.

Trouble, trouble, trouble.

Trouble been doggin' my soul since the day I was born.

Calleigh felt Eric's hand in hers, twisting, spinning her lightly around and into his embrace on the dance floor. His other hand came to rest at the small of her back, her fingers brushing against the nape of his neck. The first strains of the song had Calleigh tingling from head to toe, or maybe that was Eric.

She hated him for having that effect on her. Hated him for it, and loved him for it. He spun their bodies slowly with the beat, his innate Latin rhythm keeping time.

Worry.

Worry, worry, worry, worry.

Worry just will not seem to leave my mind alone.

Eric had seen the look on Calleigh's face when he mentioned his first six months at the crime lab. He tactfully left out the fact that Calleigh and Speedle were the ones harassing him.

Speed. His name was rarely spoken between Eric and Calleigh, although they spoke of him often. The look on her face told him she knew exactly what he was thinking, and he dipped his head in acknowledgment.

They swayed to the music, listening to the words and thinking back to a time when things didn't seem so hard. Eric hugged Calleigh a little closer, and her left arm snaked tighter around his neck as the song lulled them into the past.

Well I've been… saved by a woman

I've been… saved by a woman

I've been… saved by a woman

She won't let me go

She won't let me go now

She won't let me go

She won't let me go now.

Calleigh sighed. Her head was tucked next to his collarbone. She didn't have to move her head for him to hear her. "He's still here, after all this time."

A huge grin broke out on Eric's face at her words, and he gave her a little squeeze. At the sound of his soft laughter, she brought her head up to meet his gaze and they smiled at each other as they danced, and remembered.

-FLASHBACK-

Speedle was sprawled out in the brightly colored hammock hanging on the back porch of the Delko residence, beer held up in a toast to some inane proposition offered by one of Eric's cousins.

"Tim, seriously, how many is that?" Calleigh questioned through her laughter. "I'm thinkin' your next drink should be a tall glass of water."

Eric sat beside her on the red picnic table, only half-paying attention to their conversation. The other half of his brain was focused on his parents, slowly revolving to the music playing on the radio.

They've been married almost forty years, and they still look at each other like giddy teenagers, he thought. He was used to it, but then again, it wasn't something you ever really got used to.

"Delko, earth to Delko. Speedle coming in. Over," Speed called.

Eric looked up to see his friend (poorly) attempting to extricate himself from the hammock.

"Delko, listen." Calleigh leapt to catch Speed under the arm as he stumbled a bit, finally free of the hammock. "When are you going to dance with Calleigh?"

"We've been dancing all night, Tim," Calleigh answered.

She was literally exhausted. Eric's sisters were busy wrangling kids, which left an uneven number of dance partners. She had danced with Eric, two of his cousins, a brother-in-law, his father, a couple of his nephews, and Tim.

Speed set his beer down on the table and snatched Calleigh into an embrace. "Yeah but I love this song. Eric, isn't this a great song?"

Drunk Speedle was either much perkier or much grumpier than sober Speedle. Eric was just glad he didn't have to deal with a grumpy drunk tonight.

When his friend began to stumble over his feet trying to dance with a very amused Calleigh, he pulled himself off the table and took over. Speed reached for his beer and plopped back down in the hammock, raising another toast.

"That's more like it!" his slurred voice rang out.

Eric snorted and Calleigh giggled as Tim closed his eyes and laid his head back with a satisfied smile, content to listen to the music. He was officially out of commission.

Eric brought his attention fully to the woman in his arms. He felt like he'd known her forever, when really they'd only been working together for eight months. He glanced at Speed and smiled, recalling the first day they met, out in the Everglades. Things hadn't exactly been smooth sailing with Tim at first.

Calleigh was the one originally nervous about the "new guy," worried about how he would mix with Horatio, Speed, and herself. All fear dissipated when she found out exactly who the new guy was. Delko.

Then it was Speedle's turn to worry. His big brother instincts kicked into overdrive when he saw the way Calleigh reacted to the newbie.

Eric thought it might have been part jealousy, too. Who wouldn't be attracted to Calleigh Duquesne?

Nevertheless, Eric proved himself to Speed and, in a way, to Calleigh, over his first few months as a CSI. He endured the intense hazing, the practical jokes and endless ribbing, and somehow they had become the Three Musketeers. He looked to Speedle as a mentor and brother, and to Calleigh as a surprising best friend.

Calleigh's thoughts were running along similar lines. As the first chorus ended, she burst into laughter at a particular memory. "Eric, do you remember, like the third week you were here, when we switched out your sandwich?"

"Ugh, Cal, I thought we agreed to never mention that again. I still can't eat turkey meat without gagging. Thanksgiving was terrible!"

She only laughed harder, and he hugged her close. He wasn't really mad at her. He grinned as the second verse began.

Trouble...
Oh, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble
Feels like every time I get back on my feet
she come around and knock me down again

Worry...
Oh, worry, worry, worry, worry
Sometimes I swear it feels like this worry is my only friend

Calleigh had never heard this song before, but Tim was right—it was a great song. She turned with Eric as the music played, and they talked about everything and nothing, laughing at drunk Tim, sighing at the sight of Carmen and Pavel a few feet away.

Calleigh loved these moments, when she felt like she had family again. She trusted Eric and Speed with her life, and marveled at the ease with which they had fallen into friendship.

More spinning, and Eric said with a smile, "Remember when we rigged Speed's locker with the latex glove filled with flour?"

Uncontrolled giggles erupted somewhere below his chin.

We'll I've been saved...
by a woman
I've been saved...
by a woman
I've been saved...
by a woman

She won't let me go
She won't let me go now
She won't let me go
She won't let me go now

Calleigh was truly tired now. She let her hand fall from Eric's neck to his shoulder, and laid her head on his collarbone. She suppressed a contented sigh when he dropped his head to rest on hers.

Somewhere in the background Speed was apparently awake, and singing the last words of the song. Eric and Calleigh snickered as they listened…

-END FLASHBACK-

Eric spun Calleigh out at the end of the second chorus, bringing her back to him, back to the present, and turning them on the spot to sway to the last refrains of the song.

Oh..., Ahhhh...
Ohhhh

He couldn't help but hear them in Tim Speedle's voice. Calleigh's glistening eyes and wistful smile told him she heard it, too. He tugged her in close and changed their rhythm to move again with the music.

She good to me now
She gave me love and affection
She good tell me now
She gave me love and affection

Speed sang, "I Said I love her."

Eric swung Cal out in a twirl.

Tim's voice cracked, "Yes I love her."

Twirl.

"I said I love her."

Another twirl.

"I said I love..."

One last spin, and Calleigh was back in his arms, swaying smoothly against him and laughing at the bittersweet memories.

She good to me now
She's good to me
She's good to me…

The song ended, and an up-tempo Latin beat began to course through the speakers. At first Calleigh and Eric simply stood still, her hands on his hips, his grazing the sides of her arms. He leaned down to whisper something in her ear, and Calleigh burst into laughter once more and leaned into his body.

In one fluid motion, Eric swept her off to the other side of the dance floor, showing off some pretty impressive dance moves in the process. Surprisingly, Calleigh kept up with his movements, not missing a step.

Ryan, Valera, Natalia, Alexx, Frank, Horatio, and Yelina couldn't help but continue their stares. The past eighteen months had been hell for all of them. And they knew the torture began well before that for the two CSIs on the dance floor.

It started with Speedle.

Then Marisol.

Gambling, kidnapping, a crazy ex-husband. Eric's shooting, Jake, Kyle, Cooper, and the attempt to run Calleigh down last week.

The list went on and on, but the team held strong.

They had this one thing that didn't fracture, no matter what…even if the pair on the dance floor were completely oblivious to it: despite all of Calleigh and Eric's ups and downs, the mutual and implicit trust of their relationship never broke. That trust formed the beating heart of the CSI team and kept them going.

Finally, Valera felt the need to interrupt the moment. "Alright, who had this week?"

Six heads spun to gawk at her.

"What? You know you were all thinking the same thing. It's about damn time," she stated.

"I think Ryan had this week, but since you are officially out of the game, my friend, I think we could just split the winnings amongst the whole pool," Natalia offered, sneaking a grin in Ryan's direction.

He'd only just been reinstated, but the team welcomed him back with open arms and even managed to joke about his past gambling (provided it remained in the past).

"Now, I don't think that's fair. We don't have any proof yet. Y'all are CSIs, you need evidence," Frank supplied. He was down for next week.

"Evidence?! What more do you need than that? They look like they've been dancing together their entire lives," Maxine piped up.

"And, Eric doesn't just look at anyone that way," Natalia added.

Alexx jumped in. "Now sweetie, Eric's been lookin' at Cal like that with those puppy dog eyes of his since the day they met. That doesn't mean they're together."

Horatio decided he needed to put a stop to this before Eric and Calleigh lost every last shred of their privacy, or this conversation got out of control. 'You never know who's listening,' ran through his mind.

"Okay people, enough," he paused. "You're all correct. However," another pause, "we need to respect their privacy."

The boss had spoken. Conversation over.

But wait, how can all four be right? Ryan thought. "How is that possible, H? How can they all be right?"

Horatio sighed. "They have been dancing together for what seems a lifetime, Eric doesn't just look at anyone that way, he always has looked at her that way, and we need evidence, not gossip. Anything I missed, Mr. Wolfe?"

Natalia looked at Ryan's quizzical face and thought, my God is he actually going to ask another question? Ryan opened his mouth to speak—Yup.

"They dance together?" the man asked.

There was something in Ryan's voice that Horatio couldn't quite pinpoint, but it almost sounded like Wolfe felt left out. The other faces pointed in the lieutenant's direction mirrored the same sentiment.

It was a silly thing, really, that Eric and Calleigh should have a secret like dancing together.

But it just proved how little the rest of the team knew about the pair sometimes. And it reiterated the fact that Eric and Calleigh were Eric and Calleigh, and intensely private about their friendship. Their world could rarely be accessed from the outside. Those moments like today, when they let their guard down just a little, were few and far between.

Out of nowhere, Natalia answered simply: "Delko Family Dinners."

Ryan nodded, then stopped. Delko Family Dinners, of course! I knew that… wait, what the hell are Delko Family Dinners?

Now, the team's inquiring eyes pointed in Natalia's direction.

"It's a tradition," she explained. "Weekly dinners at the Delkos' in Little Havana. Dinner, games, music, dancing. Family."

Nat stopped there, not wanting to say too much. Her colleagues were well aware of her brief relationship with Eric Delko, but it's not something they normally talked about. "I've never been, but I know Eric always has plans on Sundays."

Horatio smiled affectionately. He glanced at the dancing couple a few yards away. Another slow song floated in the air, and the two friends held each other close, talking low and laughing at something only the two of them knew.

"And so," he said with a twinkle in his eye, "does Calleigh..."