CHAPTER TWO

Back at the station Eric entered the lab where Calleigh was busy processing the evidence with Ryan. Neither one of them looked up or responded to Eric's question whether they had come across something significant. Eric knew Calleigh would be angry for leaving her, definitely since he was gone a lot longer than he said he would be, but Ryan. He didn't have any reason to treat him like he did. Eric was getting more and more tired of his behaviour. "You know what Ryan, I got this." "I'm sure you do" Ryan shot back in a sarcastic way. "What's that suppose to mean. Huh" Eric now stood right in front of Ryan so he was forced to answer instead of working further. Ryan wasn't the only one who now felt the tension, Calleigh quickly tried to intervene but not before Eric pushed Ryan.

"Eric" "It's okay Calleigh, I just want to know what Ryan meant by his comment." Both men were staring real intense at each other. There had been a kind of competition between them right from the start, well not really a competition but something close to that. Eric could just never get over the fact that Speed, his best friend, was replaced by some young rookie, who even worse, got closer and closer to his other best friend.

"I'm just saying, that maybe I need to help Calleigh, you know, since you're never here anymore." "Guys" Calleigh still trying to calm her men down. "Let's not do this." She placed her hand on Eric's chest, hoping to push him back but Eric wouldn't back down.

"I have my reasons."

"I'm sure you do" Again that rotten comment.

"You know, I don't need to explain myself to you." Eric was about to walk away but then Ryan made another comment about him and Marisol, still thinking Marisol was some chick Eric neglected his work for. Eric snapped, he rushed back in, pushing Calleigh aside and grabbing Ryan by his shirt. "You need to back off man." Eric yelled at Ryan, "You don't know what you're talking about." Still grabbing him by his shirt.

"I'm not afraid of you" Ryan yelled back.

"Guys, knock it off." This time Calleigh succeeded to calm Eric down and made him let Ryan go. She shook her head, Eric could see the disappointment, the sorrow in her eyes. He stared at the ground for a minute then looked up to see Ryan, still shaking. "I…I'm" that was all he could him bring himself to say. He felt his eyes tearing up and left for the door & just as he was to leave he stopped, turned around and said "just so you know that chick you're referring to… She's my sister and she's dying." … Both Ryan and Calleigh suddenly felt even worse, Ryan for being such a jerk and Calleigh for letting them get so estrange, he even couldn't confide in her.

"This is a nice place. It's new right." Yelina tried to break the uncomfortable silence between them. "Yes, it opened two months after you left." Yelina nodded and smiled.

She looked so beautiful, a long white dress, her hair down. Horatio needed to snap out of it, in the beginning he wouldn't admit it but now he couldn't deny it anymore, her return had made his life more difficult again. He finally managed to move on and now she's back. Every time she smiled he realized his feelings for her hadn't faded at all.

Horatio cleared his throat and said she looked beautiful. "Thank you, you don't bad yourself." They both laughed. The tension seemed to be fading…until Horatio asked the following question: "Yelina, why are you really here?"

"I already told you." Yelina sounded nervous. She knew she couldn't keep the truth, at least not for long. Horatio kept staring at her while looking down once in a while.

"I left Ray."

A silence fell. Horatio couldn't believe what he heard although it wasn't such a big surprise. He had faked his own death, hurting his loved ones. Then there was the matter of Susie… he cheated on her, something some women would never forgive. "What happened?" He asked concerned. But Yelina didn't want to talk about it. "Let's just enjoy dinner."

In the mean time Ryan found a lead on the murder of Kate Tyler. He ran into Eric in the hallway. "Eric, look I'm sorry." Eric nodded, accepted Ryan's apology and they shook hands. Together they left to arrest the prime suspect.