Setting - still in 4x09

Note: I adore both Eva La Rue and Emily Procter and from what I have seen, they are good friends in real life as well as on the show. So, I wanted this chapter to be about them having a close moment together; and Calleigh's reaction to the whole Monica West thing annoyed me. She played it too cool. If that was me I would slapped him across the face and broke down into tears. So I wanted to play on her anger here also. And lets be honest... we love it when our girl loses her cool.

Natalia was walking out of the locker room, feeling a little more relief after Eric's embrace. Wiping her eye with the back of her hand, she spied Calleigh walking into Firearms and closing the door behind her, a hand over her mouth and her other hand wiping her eyes furiously. Calleigh was crying; something she had not seem her do before, let alone at work. Something must have happened to her, something awful. 'Odd...' Forgetting her own angst for the time being, and figuring she could try and help Calleigh out, she carefully walked across the hall from the bathroom to Firearms, peaking her head inside the empty range.

"Calleigh?" She called, walking quietly across the tiled floor. Her own voice echoed back to her. Wait a minute... Calleigh isn't usually in Firearms... "Cal, are you in here?" She tried again, but again all she was greeted with was her echo. Turning back on her heel to leave, she spun around when she heard the door to the office open. Natalia took one look at the older woman and instantly felt her heart break for her. She knew that look; Calleigh had had her heart broken and it had been broken bad. She could see the red rims of her eyes and the tear tracks down her cheeks.

"What is it, Natalia?" Calleigh asked, her voice coloured by her accent that seemed a bit thicker than normal. It was then that Natalia remembered something Eric had told her: Calleigh's accent varied depending on her mood. Right now, Natalia guessed, that mood would be improved by a nice shot or two of a good friend of hers called Jack Daniels.

"I just..." She stepped into the office when Calleigh went to close the door. She turned to face her; Calleigh folding her arms across her chest and Natalia keeping her hands clasped together in front of her. "I saw you coming in here and you looked upset... Is everything ok?" She figured the best approach with the southerner was honesty and she hoped it would pay off. Calleigh unfolded her arms and looked down, shaking her head as her shoulders began to shake.

"No..." She sniffled and looked up, fresh tears in her eyes and beginning to make their way down her cheeks. "I, uh... I found out something that I really didn't want to find out about someone I was..." She sat down on her desk, Natalia sitting in the chair in front of it. "I guess you could call it dating..." \

Natalia leaned forward, curious to find out what happened. "What was it?" She asked. Since coming to Miami-Dade, she had formed a bond with Calleigh. Not because they were the only girls on the team, save for Alexx, but because they both knew what it was like to come back from angst and fear. Calleigh with her parents and their drinking and Natalia with Nick. While she thought she knew a lot about the second-in-command, she figured she was wrong since she didn't know that she had been dating anyone.

"He uh..." Calleigh's voice began to break a little. "He had a fiancée and yet he neglected to tell me... even though we were still sleeping together!" The tears she was holding in fell free at their own accord, Calleigh's head still down and her shoulders now beginning to shake. Natalia stood immediately, shuffling closer to her and pulling her close to her, allowing her head to rest on her shoulder. Calleigh Duquesne was not one to cry at work, but Natalia knew that she had been trying so hard to keep it in but she just couldn't take it anymore. She began to rock her slowly, the same way Anya and Christine had done to her many-a-times before.

"Sweetie..." Natalia rested her cheek on Calleigh's head, her heart breaking for the woman two years her junior. She put her index finger and thumb on her chin, causing her to look Natalia in the eyes. She suddenly had a line from one of her favourite movies pop into her head, and she figured it was very fitting for this situation. "Listen to me. Men are rats." Calleigh's cries softened, so she continued. "Listen to me... they're fleas on rats. Worse than that... they're amoebas of fleas on rats." That made Calleigh smile a little, and let out a giggle as Natalia reached for a handful of tissues. "They're too low for even the dogs to bite." She dabbed at Calleigh's eyes, thanking her lucky stars that Eric would not do to her what Calleigh's man had done to her. "The only man a girl can depend on is the daddy..." She reasoned, knowing that since moving away, Calleigh had regained a relationship with her dad and she knew that she would tell him almost everything.

"Yeah..." Calleigh sighed a little and wiped her eyes, clearing her throat. "Well," She rested her hands on her thighs and looked to Natalia, smiling a little. "I think after this crap hold of a day I could use a drink. Care to join me?" She asked. Natalia felt torn in two; she had promised Eric that they could spend time together after the case but she also didn't want to leave Calleigh alone when she needed it.

"Uh..." She found the cogs in her head turning and before she could give her an answer, her phone chirped. "Give me a minute, I just need to check this then I'm all yours. Calleigh nodded but said nothing, getting down from the desk and gathering her bag. With her attention away, Natalia took the chance to read the message. It was from the last person she wanted to be hearing from.

Peter told me about his little fling with blondie. Now I need confirmation from you. The more details the better. And I still need information about Delko. You didn't mention that at our last meeting. Natalia raised an eyebrow but got out of the message before Calleigh turned back around. It looked like she had some prying to do, and it was not the kind she wanted to be doing tonight.

CSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSI

Natalia sat in one of the booths at Brennan's; the labs go to hangout place after a tough case. Thankfully, Eric had decided to join them so it was a little less awkward when Natalia had to ask the question she had been dreading. Eric and Calleigh returned from the bar, the two of them managing to carry three drinks between them and Eric smiled, sitting next to Natalia and sliding her Vodka Sunrise while Calleigh sat across from them with a green drink which she guessed was Midori; one of her personal favourites. She smiled, watching Calleigh take her drink and Eric wrap his leg around hers under the booth. Natalia bit her a lip and gripped her drink as well, dreading asking the question she was pretty sure she knew the answer to thanks to Monica.

"Hey, Cal..." Calleigh took a sip of her drink and sat it down, an eyebrow raised slightly. "Forgive me for thinking this is too personal, and feel free to not answer this but, who was it who-"

"A fed." Calleigh's answer threw both of the CSI's across from her as she took a heavier drink and set her glass down a little harder than she intended. "It was a Fed. And it was one that both of y'all know." Now that the day was over, Calleigh did not have the time or the patience to play nice about the matter. "Peter Elliot." Natalia almost choked on her drink and Eric laughed a little. Calleigh shot him a look of anger. "And what's so funny?" She demanded, her words almost laced with anger.

"Nothin I just..." Eric saved himself by taking another drink. "I knew he had a thing for you but I didn't..." He sobered a little seeing the hurt in Calleigh's eyes. "I'm sorry, Cal." Calleigh sighed and felt her anger dissipate a little more as she finished her drink.

"It's ok. It had nothin' to do with y'all it was all Hagen." Calleigh finished her drink and stood, gathering her bag and jacket. "I'm sorry guys I'm not very good company tonight I think I'll just call it a night." She shuffled out of the booth, both Natalia and Eric caught off guard by her behaviour. "I'll see you tomorrow." With that she left, leaving Natalia looking at Eric with wide eyes and a raised eyebrow.

"You wanna tell me what that was all about?" She asked, taking another sip of her drink and resting her left hand in her pocket. Biting her tongue inside her mouth, she pressed 'record' on the side of her phone and rest the phone on the table; screen down so Eric would be none the wiser.

"That?" Eric sighed heavily. "Hagen was a Detective that worked with us on and off for three years. He and Calleigh dated for a while, but she called it off when he made a dig about her dad. The two of them have been through a lot in their lives but she loves her dad unconditionally and that was the last straw for her. A few months later, she must have started seeing Peter Elliot, the Fed who was at the lab today."

"Yeah, I..." Natalia rested her hand on the glass. "I know him." She sighed heavily, smiling a little as Eric's foot began to play with hers. She cleared her throat, reminding herself why she was here. "So this Hagen guy... Where is he now?"

It was Eric's turn to sigh heavily. "No... Before you started with us, Calleigh was working in Firearms. She is our Bulletgirl; you had a question about any sort of firearm or any that needed to be fired, and she was able to do it. But... Hagen came to her and Calleigh was the witness to his suicide." Natalia gasped, genuinely shocked and sad for the woman who she was lucky enough to call a friend. "She transferred out immediately. He found a key piece of evidence on a bombing we were working, and he took it; figuring that he could 'discover it' later and look like the hero but he was scared that he had been seen by Calleigh so he put a gun to her head and ran off." He explained, taking another mouthful of his drink.

"Oh, my god..." Natalia instantly felt guilty. Not only had Calleigh gone through hell and back once at the hands of a man who was supposed to love her, but she had had it happen again twice. Nobody deserved to be going through what she was. Eric stood, causing Natalia to look at him in surprise. "Where are you going?" She asked, genuinely surprised. Eric smiled and kissed her forehead.

"Just heading to the bathroom. Then," He kissed her knuckles on her right hand. "I do believe I owe you dinner." He winked away, Natalia smiling after him. As soon as he was out of her line of sight, she sighed heavily and pressed stop on her phone before opening it and opening a new text message.

If you want information on this lab, get it from another source. I'm doing being your mole.