Chapter Five:

A/N: Wow, so I just read the last chapter again so I could remember what happened in it and there are a TON of grammatical mistakes. Ohwell. This one will be better. Here we go:

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Horatio left Calleigh's with a sigh. He wasn't leaving tomorrow morning at six, there was no way he could wait that long. There was also no way that he could let Eric come with him. He knew there was a chance he would never come back to Miami. It was a dangerous decision to go to Brazil seeking revenge, especially without backup and without knowing the actuality of what he was up against, but he had to do it. Eric and Calleigh had what he had with Marisol. He could tell that just from being around them, and they weren't going to lose that by making bad decisions clouded by tragedy. He already had his bags in the car, and he was on his way to the airport now. He just hoped that Eric would come to his senses today, and choose to go to stay with Calleigh on his own, because if he didn't, Horatio wasn't sure if Calleigh would ever forgive him.

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"Cal," Eric began, giving up hope on sorting out his thoughts.

"I don't want to hear it Eric." She told him, pouring the coffee silently, willing herself not to break down.

"Calleigh… I have to go." He reasoned with her.

"No Eric!" She spun around, slamming the coffee pot down as she did so. "You don't have to go. You don't have to do anything. This is a choice." There was silence as even the swishing of the coffee in the pot began to die down, and settle. Calleigh focused in on the ripples of the coffee, willing herself not to cry. None the less, a tear slipped down her cheek.

"Cal," He began. "I…" He paused again, gently cupping her face with his hands and wiping the tear away with his thumb. "I don't want you to cry."

"But I love you." She argued. "I don't want you to leave me!" More tears. It broke Eric's heart to see her cry.

"I love you too." He assured her.

"Then why are you leaving me Eric? You know that Horatio might not come back here. You know he might get killed because he has no idea what he's walking into. He is blind with fury, with sadness. He can't see clearly, he can't think clearly. I can see that because you're the same way. You don't understand what you're walking into because you're too much a part of it."

"You just don't understand." Eric shook his head, never breaking the eye contact they had. It was almost smouldering. Suffocating. "I just… Marisol… I promised her."

"Eric, your sister wouldn't want to see you dead. Ever. You kept her alive. You were there for her every time she needed you and when she didn't. But you can't be there for her anymore Eric. I do understand. And look at me. What would have happened if I had gone to Iraq and tried to kill the soldier that killed Conner?"

"But Calleigh, that was a war. It's a totally different situation." Eric tried to reason, but his defence was failing quickly.

"And you think that Riaz is any safer than a war? If anything, it's probably more dangerous. At least I wouldn't have been killed without a second thought. Riaz, and Noche member, they'll kill you without thinking twice." Calleigh reasoned. "Please Eric. I wouldn't have even had anyone to come to. No one else loved me. But Conner did. He always did." With this, Calleigh broke down again. And that's when Eric realized he had to deal with this. Seeing how broken Calleigh was all these years later, all this time… she hadn't really healed. She hadn't allowed herself to heal. She still wanted Connor to be alive because she couldn't see how any one else loved her. How he loved her.

"Calleigh," He sighed, gathering her gently in his arms and carrying her back to the bedroom. She was still sobbing, shaking in his arms when he set her down on the bed as gently as he'd picked her up. She shut her eyes as he laid her down on the familiar bed, savouring the comfort it brought her. She shivered, mostly from crying. And as her sobs died down to small shuddering breaths wracking her body, Eric climbed into the bed behind her, securing his body behind hers. "I'll always be here for you. I love you. I always will." He took a breath, and said a silent prayer to his deceased sister, even though he knew that he was making the decision Marisol would want him to make. "And I'll never leave you. I'm not going to Brazil."

"I'm sorry." She turned in his arms to face him, her tears still damp and red from crying, her eyes bloodshot and her blonde hair a mess. "I just made you choose between me and your dead sister. How selfish am I?"

"Cal, you're not selfish. But you are beautiful. I don't know how I was ever thinking of leaving you." He sighed, cupping her face once more, and running his thumb over it like he had earlier.

"Of course you were. Marisol was your sister. You've known her for longer than you've been alive. Longer than you've been in the United States, Eric. You fought cancer with her! You beat it too. You two were a team. And she just died. You're broken, and you're angry. You deserve to be. I feel like I'm taking away your right to be."

"Cal, I'm still broken. And I'm still very angry… but not at you. I don't think I ever can be angry with you." He reassured her.

"I'll remember that." She smiled weakly, he did the same.

"But you're broken too. Not necessarily over Marisol, because you'd only met her once or twice… and not only for me, but for yourself. You never got over Conner. You never dealt with his death, and this is dragging up all of those old feelings for you. We're both broken, we're both angry, and we both need to heal. We have to do this together."

"There's no other way." Calleigh shrugged. "I've tried long enough to do it alone. It's not easy, and it's sure as hell not fun."

"And I want to help you." Eric added.

"I want to help you too." Calleigh told him, giving him a light kiss on the lips which he feverously returned.

"Good. 'Cause I couldn't do it without you."

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A/N: I never know how to end my chapters, so they just end. Hah. Ohwell. Hopefully that one's a little easier to read/better written. My last one was REALLY brutal, I apologize, again. I'm going to try and update more, but reviews alwaaaays help:)!