I'm so sorry for the delay. Life's got ridiculously busy and I've been hit hard by writer's block again. I must have sat down to write this chapter about ten times now, and everything I wrote sounded so unlike me.

But, I struggled through anyway. Although major thanks have to go to lostladyknight and Adorelo for dragging me out of this inspirational slump.

Enjoy!


Hope is What Brings Forever...


A small yawn escaped Eric as he woke, causing him to remove an arm from Calleigh's body to stifle it. And after doing so, his gaze immediately fell to the sleeping form beside him, searching for any sign of consciousness.

As always, however, there was none.

Slowly, he sat up and after placing a soft kiss to her mouth, he slipped himself off of the bed. As he stood, he took a moment to rub the sleep from his eyes before he wandered into the adjoining bathroom just off of Calleigh's hospital room. Once there he reached for the toothbrush he'd brought from the gift shop a couple of days ago now. And after brushing his teeth, he splashed his face with cold water, attempting to remove the last traces of sleep from his features.

As he left the bathroom, he spied the photo album that he'd left on the chair next to her bed last night. And he immediately reached for it and settled himself down into said chair, flipping open the pages until he found where he'd left off from.

Smiling down at the next photograph, he relaxed against the soft cushioning and took a few moments to study it. Both he and Calleigh were laughing, looking just past the camera at their source of amusement. They'd been invited to have dinner round his parent's house that night and, if he remembered correctly, Freddie and Christian - his two nephews - had been entertaining themselves with a pair of toy swords as the picture had been taken.

That had actually been the first time that Calleigh had met his family as his girlfriend. And he laughed as he recalled how nervous she'd been...

/EC/

Calleigh sighed as she stared at her reflection in her bedroom mirror. She wanted the evening to go well, wanted to ensure that Pavel and Clorinda approved of her relationship with their son. Sure, they'd always been friendly and polite whenever she'd met them before, but... this was different. Huge even.

And then there were his sisters to impress, not to mention his nieces and nephews...

"Calleigh, honey, we really have to leave now," Eric called out to her, slicing through her thoughts. He was sitting on the bed just behind her, patiently waiting for her to get ready - as usual. With a sigh, she met his gaze in the mirror. He had that boyish grin playing about his mouth, the teasing one that told her he knew exactly where her mind was right now. And sure enough, her suspicions were confirmed with his next sentence, "You have nothing to worry about."

"I just - " she began, running a hand through her hair in an attempt to calm her nerves. "Your family is so close, so together, and mine... I'm just worried that - "

"You're worried you won't fit in?" Eric finished for her, a soft frown colouring his features. He stood up then and moved behind her, slipping his arms around her waist and resting his head on top of hers. "Calleigh, you couldn't not. My parents love you," he paused as he gently spun her round to face him. "It will be fine, I promise." Pressing a finger to her lips as she opened her mouth to speak, he told her firmly, "No more protesting. You look gorgeous, I love you, we're leaving." Then after stealing a quick kiss, he tugged her out of the room and effectively all the way to the car - "I'm perfectly capable of walking on my own, Eric!"

As they pulled up outside the Delko home, he reached for her hand to give it a reassuring squeeze. "You ready?" he asked.

She flashed him a determined smile and gave a small nod. "Think so," she murmured softly as she climbed out of the car.

They'd just made it up the front steps when the door was flung open and Clorinda Delko surged forwards, enveloping her son in a hug. "Miejo!" she cried, finally releasing him. "I can't believe how long it's taken for you to bring Calleigh round!" Before either of them had a chance to answer, however, she threw herself at the woman in question and drew her in. "Welcome to the family, mieja. It's taken long enough!"

Temporarily rendered speechless, all Calleigh could do was laugh and she flashed a smile at Eric as he looked away shyly, bringing a hand to the back of his neck in a nervous gesture. "Come on, come and meet the grandchildren," Clorinda insisted as she let Calleigh go. As she ushered them into the house, she caught sight of Eric's questioning glance and explained, "I told your sisters to bring them. Besides, it's only right that Calleigh here gets to meet the whole family."

"Clorinda!" a voice suddenly shouted from further inside the house. "The oven's making a strange beeping noise!"

"I told you not to touch anything, Pavel!" she roared back, leaving Calleigh alone with Eric in the hallway as she attended to whatever potential disaster his father had just created.

"Wow," Calleigh murmured, a little blown away at the intensity of his mother.

"I'm so sorry," Eric breathed back, bringing his hands to his face.

She simply laughed and took a step closer towards him, tugging his hands away and making them meet on the small of her back. "You shouldn't be," she told him, leaning up to place a soft kiss on his mouth. "You were right, I had nothing to be worried about."

"I'm always right," he whispered, pulling her in tighter against his body. He was just about to kiss her when a loud shout interrupted them and his two nephews stumbled into the hallway, thrusting at each other with their plastic, pirate swords.

"Freddie! Christian!" a female voice scolded. "Stop it! You're going to break something. If you want to play, you go outside." She glanced up when she caught sight of her brother and his partner, and she shook her head in exasperation. "I don't know what you two are laughing about," she began pointedly; but before she could continue, a camera flash startled her and she turned to face her eight year old daughter.

The young girl beamed and held up her camera. "Look, uncle Eric! Mama gave it to me for my birthday."

Eric smiled and stepped away from Calleigh, kneeling down in front of his niece so that he could peer at the digital display. "Wow, Sophia," he smiled up at her, "could you send me this when you get it developed?" She nodded and planted a wet kiss on his cheek before she skipped into a room on the left after her two brothers - who were still flailing wildly at one another.

"Are you going to introduce us?" his sister enquired, gesturing between herself and Calleigh.

He laughed and stood up, reaching out for Calleigh's hand so that he could tug her over to him. And after introducing her to Camille, his oldest sister, he led her into the living room to meet the rest of the family.

/EC/

As soon as they'd settled down on the sofa, Eric and Kieran - Camille's husband - had been coerced by Freddie and Christian into playing a game of soccer with them. And Eric smiled when remembered how much fun the evening had been.

Calleigh had fitted in perfectly, just as he'd known she would. And Tianna, his other sister, had taken him aside and told him how happy she was for him. Apparently it had been a long time since she'd seen him smile like that...

Marisol had always liked Calleigh, too, he remembered with a sigh. And his heart tensed when he realised that he couldn't go through losing yet another person that he loved.

"I need you, Cal," he whispered, glancing up from the photo album to look at her. "I miss you."

She didn't reply. Stayed silent. Unmoving.

And Eric pinched the bridge of his nose, forcing the sinking feeling of despair from his body. He refused to give up hope.

Because she would wake up.

So with his new-found determination, he lowered his gaze back to the photograph and breathed out as the memory of what happened after they'd got back home that night seeped in. They'd gone to bed shortly afterwards, and he remembered how... distant Calleigh had seemed. She'd tried to hide it, of course. Had smiled and recounted various conversations that she'd been involved in that night, told him how lovely his family was. But it had been clear that she was thinking about something, and it wasn't until he'd woken up in the middle of the night to find her not there next to him that he'd discovered just what...

/EC/

He found her outside, on the front porch, just staring at the sleeping world. She'd snuggled herself under a blanket that she'd brought out and was lying comfortably across the swing sofa, sipping at a mug of coco.

She looked up as he took a step towards her and instinctively lifted her legs so that he could sit down. He settled them back on his lap after he had done so and shot her a questioning look, watching as she bit her lip shyly and averted her gaze to the mug in her hands. He knew better than to push it, however, and instead occupied himself by trailing random patterns along her legs, patiently waiting for her to tell him what was going on.

And sure enough, after a gentle sigh, she opened her mouth to speak. "Eric, do you ever..." she trailed off, taking a moment to think about what it was exactly that she was trying to say. "Do you ever think about us - the future?"

He said nothing for a moment, merely went back to tracing lines across her skin. "All the time," he murmured eventually, raising his eyes to hers. "I want everything with you, Calleigh." He held her gaze then, a little worried that she was going to withdraw, was going to clam up and shut him out.

She didn't, though.

Instead she placed her mug down and shifted her position, turning her body round so that she could place her head in his lap. Then after drawing the blanket back over her, she glanced up at him and flashed him a shy smile. "You know, Camille said something to me earlier."

"Oh?" he asked, raising his eyebrows a little. And he made a mental note to yell at his meddling sister later - she could have at least given him a heads up.

"Yeah," Calleigh continued. "We were watching you playing soccer with Freddie and Christian and she uh," she paused, "she mentioned how you'd make a great father someday..." Eric smiled at that, and began to play with her hair, running his fingers through it as she murmured quietly, "She's right, you know. You will."

"Well," he began, lifting her up a little so that he could slide his legs under her, his head coming to rest against the arm of the swing chair. And as he pulled her back against his chest, he lowered his mouth to her ear and whispered, "You'll make a great mother." He felt her smile, rather than saw it, and wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head as he did so.

"I love you," she said softly, one of her hands travelling to her waist to entwine with his.

He sighed and nuzzled against the back of her neck, tracing his lips across it, before he replied, "I love you, too."

/EC/

Eric smiled to himself as he remembered how they'd sat like that for a while. It had been so typical of Calleigh - to over-analyse the situation to the point where she'd closed off, only for everything to come out in so few words.

But then she rarely needed words with him. He instinctively understood her, knew every look she had, knew what her every gesture meant... knew her.

And he had meant what he'd told her that night, that he wanted everything with her - effectively wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

Still did.

And always would.

But the longer she stayed like this, the more that reality, that dream, fell away from him.

Calleigh's doctor had informed him that two to five weeks was the length that an average coma lasted for, and she'd been under for over a week now. He'd also been told that if he were to see a twitch or a jerk, it didn't necessarily mean anything. Apparently it was common for patients in comas to move, talk or perform other functions that might sometimes appear to be conscious acts, but in reality they weren't at all.

But so far, he hadn't seen any; because as far as he was aware, Calleigh had done none of those things.

She was lifeless.

And he hated it.

Refusing to give up hope, however, he stood up and sat himself back down on the edge of her bed. He took a few moments to watch her and as she slept, he found himself wishing that he could see her green eyes again. Even if just for a second, just to catch a glimpse of emerald...

Instead he saw nothing, only the peaceful, sleeping face of the woman that he loved.

So after leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead, he reached for the photo album and turned the page, desperately searching for the next romantic memory. One that would grant him a form of temporary escape.

And one that would remind him of the Calleigh that he was used to... the Calleigh that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.


I forgot to mention that I'm hoping to update Sunday. There's an EC scene that I desperately want to write so hopefully I'll be able to type it up before the next wave of writer's block hits me.