Hey, guys! It's been quite some time since I uploaded anything on here. I'm so shocked to see that people are still reviewing my stories! (Disclaimer: Remember the characters of the series are not my own). Enjoy!
"Hey, got the ballistics results yet?"
"Eric, I've only just started. I know I'm a miracle worker but even I can't work that fast."
Calleigh smiled her signature bright smile on hearing her on-and-off again boyfriend and coworker. Bullets, casings and a supposedly corresponding small hand gun were presented on her table before them. Eric rested against it watching and waiting intently.
"Eric," she prompted whilst focusing on the evidence.
"I'll wait," he responded.
She sighed and finally faced him, "No, I will call you when the results are ready. I don't need you breathing down my neck."
"Oh," he replied in a suggestive voice and stepped away, "if that's what you want."
He caught her blushing as she turned around realizing what her words might have implied. Eric took the hint and left.
Calleigh began loading bullets into the gun found at the crime scene earlier. In order to prove the gun was the murder weapon, she would have to compare striations after firing it. She stood up and suddenly felt woozy. Her vision blurred slightly but she blinked it away. Thinking nothing of it, she approached the firing station.
The station had protective earmuffs and glasses on a shelf meters away from a target.
"Two shots!" She yelled in preparation.
Only one of the bullets hit the target before it began morphing into vague shapes before her. As she realized what was happening she fell backwards.
A series of bangs sounded right before a loud crash and scream accompanied them. Horatio heard the commotion from the hallway nearby and rushed in. His eyes widened upon seeing Ryan moaning on the floor while clenching his bloody arm.
"I need rescue in here, I got an officer down!" Horatio shouted.
Ryan struggled to stifle groans as his boss hurriedly wrapped his belt around the upper part of his injured arm.
"H!" Eric ran into the lab to see the ordeal. Immediately his eyes found her. "Calleigh!"
He ran around Ryan and his boss. Calleigh lie unconscious on her back with her right arm stretched towards the gun.
"Calleigh?" He held her upwards by her shoulders. Slowly her eyes opened and searched the room. "Are you okay?"
She faced his concerned eyes with her confused ones for a second before looking around the room. Fragments of glass that once formed the table were scattered across the floor and Ryan's arm poured deep, red blood. Seconds felt like hours as a paramedic came and took him away.
"What happened?" Eric forced her to face him. Horatio was also beside them now.
"I," she paused to think, "I don't know."
"It's okay, we'll figure it out," Horatio reassured, "let the paramedic take a look at you…"
"Horatio, I…" she began to protest.
"Calleigh, I found you unconscious on the floor," Eric strongly reminded.
A female paramedic tended to Calleigh in the hallway since her lab was now scattered with glass. She checked her eyes with a pen light and began checking her head for further injuries. Eric watched quietly from the entrance of the lab, catching her wincing from time to time. The worrying thoughts in his mind were hard to keep at bay. He'd never known Calleigh to be a person who got sick or even miss a work day.
"Eric," Horatio joined him, bringing him out of the thoughts.
"Yes, H."
"IAB is gonna be all over this."
"I know, H., she needs to get her story straight before Rick gets here," he suspiciously surveyed the halls.
"And fast," Horatio added before leaving.
Eric had grabbed his kit quickly and began processing the lab. He knelt near the spot where he found Calleigh.
"Wow," Walter said on entering, "in here looks like a war zone."
"That's not helping," Eric snapped. He was known to have a bad temper and the fact that this incident had his favourite person involved made it worse. But he had to remain focused. Soon he noticed a small chipped portion of the bulletproof glass wall. "The bullet ricocheted off this wall."
"I'm sorry," he apologized and started pointing his flashlight around, "i'm still on the case: just here for the evidence."
"Well it's all in the rubble," he responded calmly as he scanned the floor with his own flashlight, "try not to mix up the evidence with the recently spent bullet."
"You mean casing," Walter corrected, "the bullet's still in Wolfe's arm. Are they okay?"
"H is on his way to the hospital now and Calleigh's," he hesitated, "look, I don't know. Could you please help before Stetler gets here?"
"Sure."
Delko searched the dark floors and found two of the casings. Walter looked near the counter where Calleigh would fire weapons from.
"Hey Delko, I found a casing."
"So did I, I found two. But is it from the case or the lab mishap? We know Calleigh's won't have prints…"
"I know and this one's still warm," Walter smiled.
"So that's hers," Eric noted.
"Yea, and we know that there were only two casings found at the scene. So the next one…"
"Must be hers as well," Eric finished as he bent down for it, "still warm."
They gave each other their respective casings. Walter proceeded to recover the test bullet from the target and Eric left.
Calleigh sat in the empty lunch room. She really couldn't fathom why that ever happened and the whole ordeal made her nervous.
"Nice lunch," Eric joined her at the table. His attempt at lifting the mood failed. She simply stared solely at the pasta salad and chicken before sighing and grabbing the soda beside it.
"What the paramedic say?" He prompted again.
"Low blood sugar," she admitted flatly. She took a sip of the drink before placing it back on the table. "Maybe I took too long to eat."
Eric glanced from the full plate of food to her sad eyes, "Calleigh, you haven't eaten anything."
"I know, I just," she dodged his intrusive stare, "I can't. I don't have an appetite."
"You're worried about Ryan, I know. H said he's fine," he placed his arm around her, "he's gonna be okay…"
"Eric, I shot him," she cried, "I could have killed him!"
He was shocked by the lines of tears on her face that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
"But you didn't. It was an accident, Calleigh: you passed out." She stared at him in disbelief. He continued, "I saw what happened in the surveillance tapes. I had to take a look at them… Look I can show you…"
"No!" She shouted so loudly it startled him.
"Okay, okay," he hushed. Eric scanned their surroundings to see if they were truly alone before embracing her. "You're fine, stop worrying."
"Okay," she wiped her face with her hands.
"You need to know what's on there," he urged.
She looked at him tentatively and pressed her lips together. Seeing her cry was a rare sight and his heart ached for her.
"You fired a test shot, then when you passed out the gun fired when your hand hit the table. It ricocheted off the table, hit the wall and then Ryan as he was entering the room. Okay?"
Calleigh nodded before facing her untouched lunch.
"Please eat something," he pleaded, "for me?"
He placed a lingering kiss on her forehead. Eric always knew the right thing to do to make her feel better. Her heart eased as the scent of his cologne and warm touch adorned her.
Halfway through her meal a knock on the window startled them. Luckily, it came from Natalia.
"Stetler at twelve o' clock," she announced on entering the room.
Eric stood up from beside Calleigh and they all watched as Rick waltzed inside.
"Miss Duquesne, you're needed in interrogation now."
Please note that I'm using British Standard English, so some words might be different.
