Chapter 26:

A/N: So it's Christmas Eve in the story. That means that tonight is their last night here. Hopefully I can get the ballroom dancing and then get them to sleep in this chapter. I kind of feel like I'm seven years old again, and playing with my Barbie dolls hah, when I say it that way. Anyways, haha. Here we go, thank you for the reviews! Halloween in three days. Oh, yes. It will be grand. Halloween stories! Hah I should write one.

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After dinner, which was as fabulous as always, they were off towards to a large room for ballroom dancing. Calleigh was slightly nervous. Everything with Eric had been going like a dream, more perfectly than she'd ever imagined it… but how long would it last? Would he forget this when they went back to Miami? Would she? Could they really make it work with work, and all the rules and restrictions IAB would find, or create, to make it as hard as possible for them? Questions always haunted her, no matter when or why. But she was determined not to let these thoughts worry her tonight. It was going to perfect. She was sure of it. Everything she did with Eric seemed perfect to her. He made her feel perfect, and she loved that. She loved how she felt around him. How everything else, everything bad, disappeared. Even the memories, the nightmares that no one could ever make go away. No amount of counseling, or intoxicating substances could make any of it less real. Nothing she tried could make it go away. But Eric could. And that reason, coupled with the fact that she loved him made her more afraid than anything else. Eric made her complete, and now that she was complete, she didn't want to be half and broken again. She couldn't do it. Especially not with him, not with completion so close to her. Things that were so close and untouchable were so much more painful than something untouchable that you can only dream about.

"Cal, are you okay?" Eric asked. She shook her head slightly and became aware again of her surroundings. It was a good thing that Eric had his arm placed around her waist pulling him close to her the whole walk from the dining room to the ball room because she had no idea when they'd come to get there.

"Yeah. I'm just distracted." Calleigh smiled.

"Are you sure you want to go in there? Because we don't have to you know. We can just go to the arcade, or swimming…" Eric suggested.

"I appreciate that. I really do." Calleigh smiled at him, "But I want to do this. I'm not scared."

"Okay." He nodded, lacing his fingers through hers. "Ready?"

"I'm not scared." Calleigh told him, but he squeezed her hand nonetheless as they followed a random couple into the room. Calleigh gasped as soon as she entered and smiled brightly. "It's so beautiful!!" The room was indeed beautiful. Three of the four large walls displayed huge floor to ceiling windows, which gave the effect that it was snowing inside. Along with that, it was decorated beautifully with Christmassy decorations, trees, angels, stars and everything under the sun creatively strewn around the room.

"It is." Eric nodded. "Speaking of which, have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?"

"Yes, you have." Calleigh blushed slightly. "At least five times."
"Well, you do." He smiled, and Calleigh didn't think he could be any sweeter. "Would you like to dance?" He asked with a flourish.

"I would love to." She smiled, placing her hand in his as they began to ballroom dance.

"Wow. I forgot exactly how long it's been since I've done this." Eric laughed as they messed up a few of the steps.

"Yeah." Calleigh nodded absentmindedly. She didn't want to remember how long it had been for her. She simply wanted to work on forgetting those memories, and creating these ones.

"I think we're getting it now." Eric noted with a concentrated look on his face as they began to dance more naturally and gracefully.

"I think we are." Calleigh smiled as they continued to dance. "More so than Hanna and Daryl anyways," She giggled, looking across the room at their friends as they struggling to get the moves correct while keeping up with the music.

"Oh well, they seem to be enjoying themselves just as much as we are." Eric shrugged with a chuckle. "We just have better memories."

"Yeah," Calleigh sighed. Maybe this dance wasn't such a good idea, as the topic of memories seemed to come up every other sentence. "They're such a cute couple."

"So are we." Eric smiled cheekily at her, making her laugh. Just then the song changed and they took a minute to adjust to the new tempo before continuing their easy dance, and having a conversation while doing so. "Are you really going to want to do this for the next…" Eric looked at his watch. ""Three hours?"

"Definitely not." Calleigh answered. "You can only ballroom dance for so long at a time."

"Agreed." Eric nodded. "What else could we possibly do?"

"We could…" Calleigh smiled teasingly before continuing, "Go swimming? The pool's heated all year round, it'd be cold until we got into the water, but after that we'd be fine. And there are hot tubs!"

"How could I resist?" Eric laughed. "We'll stay here for another half hour then?"

"Sounds good to me." Calleigh nodded. They continued dancing for a half hour, though both of them found themselves glancing at the large clock on the fourth wall.

"Want to get out of here?" Eric whispered into Calleigh's ear.

"Yes." She answered quickly. They smiled and waved at Hanna and Daryl, who were still struggling, though not so much as before, to get their moves right and flowing smoothly.

"So we'll go get our bathing suits, and then we'll head out to the pool?" Eric checked.

"Sounds good to me." Calleigh nodded. This night was going to be perfect.

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A/N: Okayy. Finished this morning hah. Now I'm hungry and cold and I need to get ready to sing in church this morning! So please review!