A/N: I finally got back to writing this because work got complicated and I am working more days than I expected to. I also took a while figuring out what to title this chapter seeing as I want Calleigh to think about Eric. Not so much as a romantic side for this chapter though, sorry. Also, this story is going to be a bit… Well, strange at the end. You see, with me making it T-rated I have to cut some things I've planned down to Cliffhangers. I'm sorry in advance but those won't come up for another 6 chapters at the very least. Also, this chapter is longer than the first, I think- if only slightly.

Warnings: OOC perhaps, violence, blood, bullets, the whole nine yards. What, it is a CSI Miami fanfic, you want ponies and fluff? Too bad!

Disclaimer: I… Do… Not… OWN!

Chapter Two: De las Complicaciones de Amistad (Of Friendship's Complications)

Calleigh looked through the microscope to the bullet below. Even with the absence of Eric and the uncertainty his leaving brought life in the Crime Lab went on uninterrupted. Before the revelation that Eric thought of Calleigh in a sense of wanting to settle down with her Calleigh had not thought of Eric of anything more than a friend. But even friendship was complicated, especially for the ballistics mistress. She'd never really needed friends seeing as she found more comfort from facts and data then the friendship of another. But Eric, he made all that cease. Her self-induced loneliness seemed to melt away, the stone walls she'd cased herself in crumbled. But now, they were more present than ever as she stared at the blood coated piece of metal on the microscope. The groves were imperfect due to the bullet having hit bone on its way into the body of a victim but they were good enough to run through any decent database. The thing was figuring out what kind of gun produced this striation first then run a search. Or at least that was how she did it, how she always seemed to do it. She blew her bangs out of her face, whatever strings of hair had fallen out of the pony tail she wore as soft footsteps entered the lab. "Calleigh… What do you have?" Came a male voice as the footsteps stopped directly behind her.

"Horatio… It's what I don't have that should be the question because these striations are pretty common." She answered before raising her head off the sight of the microscope and turning to face Horatio.

"Mm… Sometimes you have to look at it in another way." Horatio said slyly, more hidden than she'd expected. "Sometimes things aren't what we hope they'd be. Or expect them to be."

"You aren't talking about the bullet anymore Horatio… Are you? I already told you…" The look on his face stopped her in mid-sentence "I never considered him anything more than a really good friend." If it had been a suspect the next words out of Horatio's mouth may have been similar to 'you're lying' or 'tell me the truth' but no such admonishment came.

"Is that what you truly believe?" Horatio said in a tone that sounded like a father more than a boss or superior. He could always take himself out of certain tones and place others so easily, it was like five or six different personalities could easily exist in one sentence. "Or is that what you want to tell yourself because it's easier not to hurt?"

"Easier, no… But perhaps I am telling myself a lot lately. Like he'll be back again when he's ready, that he didn't say what he did, et cetera. But facts are…" Calleigh stopped again and lowered her gaze to his chest, trying to hide the changing shade due to whatever emotion was hitting her. "Facts are unchanging. He doesn't want to come back and he doesn't want to endanger any of his friends' lives and that I understand. If I were…" She paused, she didn't know what she'd do if she were in his shoes because she didn't know the full truth, the struggle of mind over heart that the man had just prior to essentially breaking up with her. "If I were in his position I would probably have done the same thing."

"But you don't know what his position was. It was something that he had to force himself to do. His heart was…" The rest of the sentence stung worse than a cut or wound ever could "breaking into pieces just thinking about ever losing what he wanted with you, whatever that was. He wanted you to be something that could never be." Horatio said this softly, shaking his head. He'd wanted much more from something as well but that ended tragically enough for him to have doubts about any relationship in which his team was involved, even Eric who was as a brother to him, well a brother-in-law for the day of perfection that he found. But with all things that came to an abrupt end. "I don't blame you for feeling a bit betrayed and hurt but things are not always as straight forward as facts."

"Life never is…" Calleigh finished, watching Horatio nod before he took his leave again. "Life never is simple… It's complicated. And relationships are more complicated because of emotions." She turned back to the project she had left when Horatio had entered, something else striking her interest. The small differences were piecing themselves together and this bullet was now clearer to her. Walking away always helped, even for a few brief moments. But walking away from someone was different than walking away from a project or a case. "Why did he do what he did? Why did he have to make me feel like we could make it work? What have I done to deserve this breaking feeling?" Silence was never pleasant company especially when thoughts seemed to echo into nothingness. She sighed heavily as thoughts bounced off of one another, becoming warped and muddled but retaining their meaning through it all. "Why do things have to be so complicated when it comes from Eric Delco? Even his little smiles hold so many second meanings that even seeing underneath the underneath leaves you wondering. I guess that's why I always liked him as a friend because he wasn't what he appeared and neither am I…" With this thought in mind she put the data she'd gathered on the bullet through the database and waited for the match to pop up. In the mean time, there was always silence…

Secondary A/N: Not what I planned but it is still good. Next chapter: A case brings Calleigh and Eric closer to reuniting but can they handle it or is fate still trying to push them farther apart?