Thanks so much for the reviews everyone! I loved them so much! This chapter has a little EC…Natalia has so much angst, I had to offset it just a little with some romance/humor (I'm sorry, they're my OTP so I had to include them.)

I borrowed a few lines from episode 5x21 "Just Murdered" and 5x04 "If Looks Could Kill." Hope none of this sounds out of character, but here we go. Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Fear of Flying

"That dust lift you collected is pristine," Calleigh commented as she wrote out notes that pertained to the case. They'd been working the domestic abuse case for two days now and finally had a break in the case.

"Thanks," Eric said. He was currently working on his collected evidence of a shoe print collected on the victim's door, indicating a break in. The victim's husband was still a person of interest and currently Eric had his shoes. "I'm preparing it against Michael Benton's shoes…they must be his favorite pair…they have a nice wear pattern."

"Is it unique enough for a match?" Calleigh questioned with a slight lilt in her voice.

"Hmm, I tell you what," Eric said, turning the screen in Calleigh's direction. "Why don't you tell me."

Calleigh let out a breath as the treads matched up. "That's a match." She smiled at Eric.

"I'd like to see him explain his way out of this," Eric said. "I can't wait to sink him." Finally, Eric felt relieved. There would be justice for the victim, justice for the victim's son, peace for Natalia and a few points in his corner for Calleigh. Since his accident, Calleigh had been there for him the most, assisting him in everything that he needed. He looked up at Calleigh as she was about to leave the lab. "Calleigh, I want to thank you…for taking care of that girl today."

Calleigh smiled and shrugged it off. "It's no problem. You would've done the same thing for me."

But that wasn't the point Eric was trying to make. "Yeah…it's just that you've helped me out a lot this year."

"Well, I appreciate you for appreciating me," Calleigh said. "I appreciate you for appreciating me? To her, it was easily one of the cheesiest things that has ever come out of her mouth, but then again, it wasn't hard for someone like Eric Delko to make her say things like that. His personality, his charm, his smile all combined with a slight touch of innocence made her fall in love with him. Before Calleigh's mind could process what she was doing, she was already leaning into his face, her mind registering just in time to let her know that she was about to kiss him. She turned slightly to kiss his cheek. The electricity still soared through her body, making her feelings for him come alive. She had to walk away.

Eric felt the same jolt of electricity. Just in a matter of seconds, his mind replayed the moment over at least ten times. He wanted it to happen again, wanted to relive the moments leading up to it. A smile played at his lips as his mind went through the moment one more time…

"What was that all about?" Natalia said, opening the door to the lab.

Eric snapped back to reality. "Nothing, nothing," He was caught off guard and knew it. "What's up?"

Natalia smirked slightly, wanting to taunt, but her heart wasn't in it. If she was completely honest, her stomach wasn't in it either. The last two days were so upsetting to her that it made her physically sick. She shrugged it off and handed Eric a case file. "Trace we found on Michael Benton's shoe was a match to the sample Alexx provided from the victim…"

Eric scoffed. He didn't want to think about what their victim had been through. "Case closed, then. We got him."

Natalia nodded and smiled. "I'm heading down to interrogation now."

Eric nodded. "Alright, I'm going to finish writing these reports."

…

Nothing was more satisfying in life than putting a criminal away and making the streets a little safer. The domestic abuse case was finally closed which caused Natalia to walk with a little more pep. She couldn't wait to get home to cuddle next to her husband in a nice warm bath. The thought brought a smile to her face. She soon lost it at another familiar sight. "Nick?"

Nick looked up to see Natalia and gave a crooked smirk. "I'm so glad I found you," he said.

Natalia couldn't believe Nick had found her. She purposely moved miles away just to make sure he wouldn't.

He stepped closer to her, closing the gap between them. "You left our home in California to come here? I see you're a CSI now…crime scenes are your thing now, huh? Collecting DNA, but then again, you always knew a thing or two about collecting that…"

A chill ran down Natalia's back and she took a step back as Nick continued. She wondered how he knew so much about her. Who was giving him this information?

"…so you're living in the condo next to Biscayne –"

"I –"

"Don't open your mouth to lie to me," Nick snapped. "You should know me well enough by now to know that I always get what I want and right now I want you."

The words caused goosebumps to flare on Natalia's arms. Before she could say anything, Nick started talking again.

"Come on, Nat…" he touched her forearm gently. "Let's go back to California…we can start that family you wanted…"

Natalia pushed at him. "Stay away from me! STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

"Woah, woah," Eric said, stepping in to break up the fight. It was the first time Eric had ever seen Natalia lose it like that. He turned to the guy. "Why don't you get lost."

Nick cocked his head sideways. "Oh I get it, you're sleeping with her…" He looked at Natalia.

Eric rolled his eyes and scoffed.

"I'll see you later," Nick said to Natalia. He walked back to the elevator, smiling at Natalia just as the doors closed.

"Who was that?" Eric asked.

"My ex-husband," Natalia said nervously. "I…I have a protection order against him…I need to get it checked out…he's not allowed within one hundred feet –"

"Calm down, Natalia," Eric said. "Everything is going to be alright."

Natalia nodded. Her stomach clutched. She looked at Eric. "I need to check on some things…"

Eric nodded and looked at the clock. "Do you want me to walk with you to PD?"

Natalia appreciated the gesture but she had other things planned. She looked at Eric and shook her head. "Thanks, but I got it."

"Okay," Eric said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

…

"I appreciate you for appreciating me…" And then she kissed him. Calleigh couldn't believe that she kissed Eric. She kissed him, she kissed him, SHE KISSED HIM! Only on the cheek, but still… "What were you thinking, Duquesne?" she said, scolding herself out loud.

"Talking to yourself?"

Calleigh's head snapped towards the voice, her eyes relaxing when she saw it was Jake, her ex-boyfriend from the academy. Of all places in the southern United States, Jake ended up in Miami, in the same police department. It was a small world.

"I see you still like to do that," Jake said with a cocky grin on his face.

For once, Calleigh was grateful Jake wasn't inquiring why she was talking to herself. She rolled her eyes. "Give it a rest, Berkeley."

Jake shrugged his shoulders as he walked closer. He wanted to rekindle whatever he and Calleigh had before but needed Calleigh to give him a chance. "How about drinks tonight?"

"Not tonight," Calleigh said.

"Why not?"

Calleigh shook her head as her mind searched for an excuse. She had a mental block and nothing came up except that fact that she'd fallen in love with Eric. Surely she wasn't going to say that to Jake. She didn't even know how Eric felt about her to begin with. After all, they were best friends and admitting those feelings could complicate things. Calleigh shrugged it off. "What time?"

The cocky smile returned to Jake's face. "I'll be at your house in an hour." He waited for Calleigh to get in her car and pull off before he climbed on his motorcycle and pull out of the garage.

Hope you all enjoyed! More soon! xx