A/N: As promised, I'm back baby. Sorry to keep you all waiting but I've been trying to get in shape for a fairly quick change in jobs. I can't give much details but I will tell you I will be gone for awhile. Please have patience with me.

Warnings: Violence, cliffhangers, fluff, OOC, and of course a bit of time-skip may be implemented.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even the electricity to power my comp so please don't sue me…

Chapter 6: Mi Alma Canta Esta Noche (My Soul Sings This Night)

Eric inhaled swiftly as he flitted around the small dining area, trying to get everything ready. Of course he'd been here before, with her. But this was his chance, his dream. To spend one perfect night with her, with Calleigh, without all the interruptions. His own phone was on silent on his charger in his room, locked away where even if he wanted it to be it would not be a deterrent to his night. He felt his chest tighten as his eyes caught a glance at the clock from a distance, a shifting motion that seemed to mirror- nearly perfectly- his growing sense of exhilaration and anxiety. He moved into the kitchen and stirred the contents of a pot, trying to make something 'different' for supper tonight was challenging, knowing that he'd not actually 'cooked' for awhile excluding with helping his family around the Holidays. The number of 'guests' seemed to grow each year but that was their way, everyone that was family came and sometimes coworkers or girlfriends were called such. Calleigh met a good deal of his family that way, in a Holiday gathering of some form or another, which he couldn't remember but he did remember her meeting his mother. The two hit it off as well as any two women that 'loved' him could. He sighed at this thought, did Calleigh ever really love him or was he a means to an end? Or was he ever even that? It was hard to tell, she held herself to such high standards of masking her emotions that he doubted seriously that even Horatio knew the woman's opinion on Eric himself. Of course if the man did know he hadn't divulged his knowledge and Eric had never known the man to deliberately hide something if it wasn't a matter of the team's very lives being at stake and even then he only did what he had to do. He respected Horatio for this, even now that the 'split' from the team was made permanent. Or at least until things felt right again. He wrapped his fingers around a tall candle and sighed, placing it within the candelabra on the table before including another for 'romantic' affect. Who said a man couldn't have an eye for esthetics? If anyone would say such a thing one look at the perfectly arranged places directly across from each other on his small-ish dining room table would prove their argument a lie. He smirked as he smelled the scent of roasting garlic mixing delicately with the other spices. Garlic, he gathered, was always best when fresh roasted in the dish. He dashed to the kitchen and gave the pot another stir before looking within, a soup-like liquid within bubbled to the surface as it reached boiling temperature. He turned the dial down a bit before a knock at the door brought him out of his bliss.

Calleigh knocked softly at the door, looking at the lighted window to its right to see the man that had invited her coming towards the door and opening it to allow her to enter. The distinguishing scent of roasted garlic was the first to reach her, followed by the scent of a match being burnt as the man turned to light the candles on the table. "Sorry about being early, I figured you could use my help…"

"No, I don't mind. It's nearly done, just needs to simmer a few minutes…" Eric answered, motioning for her to sit at the table while he got things finished "you are my guest, Calleigh, you don't need to help. Just relax and I'll be done shortly…" He almost sang his last sentence, his heart's glee bubbling into his speech. He took his leave into the kitchen, getting two bowls from the cupboard and getting a ladle to serve with. Soup wasn't 'romantic' but it was 'homey' and right now it was what he could cook, given the short prep time he actually had. He brought out the bowls and placed one in front of Calleigh first.

"Wow, it looks good…" Calleigh said as she noticed all the fresh-cut vegetables that made themselves known to her ever observant green eyes. The fire of the candle seemed to bring the emerald even more to the attention of Eric, who took notice of the matching top and black slacks. She took a spoon and politely dipped it into the soup before Eric himself took his own utensil upon sitting down and nodding his appreciation for the complement. A soft motion dipped the liquid into the parted lips which seemed to smile upon the taste hitting the tongue within. "And looks weren't deceiving…" She said swiftly as she smirked somewhat in between passing glances at Eric, who seemed to be stealing glances from across the table at her. Was he trying to be romantic? She gathered that he wanted to make up for the past somehow but that was a long time coming. Or at least in her mind it was. Sure, they were friends and she preferred it that way, less heartbreak in the end, but something told her that even now that her once partner didn't agree. But this was nice. Not 'romantic' in the way she'd use the word, per say, but it was nice to get away from it all, if only for one night. How did Eric know that this kind gesture would be what she needed? Perhaps he wanted what she did, a night away from the shots and the bullets and the blood… At this thought she sighed softly, looking at the bemused Eric across from her who seemed to suddenly take interest in the bowl in front of him. This was so much different than what she came to expect from the Cuban man that she'd once called 'lover'.

A/N: I couldn't decide whether to 'rush' the night into one chapter or drag it out into a few but I decided on a combination. I will cut it in half, the first above with dinner and the second next chapter with the movies. I am thinking some form of Romantic Comedy but they won't, necessarily, be paying attention to the movie if you get my drift… Anywho, I might not be adding chapter 7 for some time, I am going away soon and I may not have time between now and when I'm leaving. I'll be back but not for awhile (at least three months or so).