I Appreciate You Chapter 5
I'm on a mission. When I'm in "super-cop" mode (my brothers' little nickname for me) it's best to stay out of my way.

Ryan's been staying with me the past few days and he's getting more and more miserable every day that he's not with Eric. They've managed to be civil at work and I'm so grateful Horatio hasn't given them a case to work together. That might be because I asked him to. He looked curious, but didn't ask me what was going on. He probably already knows. After all, he's Horatio Caine.

Tonight's the night Marisol, Alexx and I are going to talk to Eric. When I told them what had happened... well let's just say they weren't too happy. Marisol is going to snap if she doesn't yell at someone soon, and Alexx is ready to wring Eric's neck. It took awhile but I convinced them to act like nothing's wrong.

Right now I'm on my way to find Calleigh and talk to her about what happened. I swear to God, if she's trying to get Eric for herself I'm going to... I just spotted her. She's in trace, with Ryan. Uh-oh. I can tell by the look on his face, he can't take much more. It looks like he could use a little help.

Show time.

I push open the door and say,"Hey Cal? I need you to do something for me." She smiles at me and says, "Sure."

"Okay. Wait for me in the break room."

She smiles at me and Ryan and heads towards the break room.

Ryan sighs, "Thanks. I don't know how much longer I could've held in all the things I wanted to say to her."

I wink at him and say, "No problem darlin'."

Once I'm in the break room with Calleigh, I decide to be blunt. "This is your fault."

Calleigh looks at me with a confused smile on her face. "What do you mean?"

"You didn't know Ryan and Eric broke up?"

Calleigh gasps, "What? Why?"

"Ryan saw you kiss Eric and he heard Eric tell you how much you've helped him the past year. You should have seen how upset Ryan was."

Calleigh slowly sits down on the couch. "Oh my God. Sara, I never meant anything by that kiss. I just wanted Eric to know I'm here for him." I sigh and nod. "That's what I thought."

Calleigh gets up and starts pacing. "How's Ryan doing?"

"He's been staying with me the past few days, and he seems to be hanging in there. At least that's what he's telling me.

All of a sudden Calleigh stops dead in her tracks. "We have to do something. Those two belong together!"

"Chill Cal. Marisol, Alexx, and I are going to talk to Eric tonight."

"Should I talk to Ryan?" she asks me.

I shook my head. "I don't think Ryan would be too keen on that idea."

"You're right." she agrees. "Do you think your plan will work?"

"I hope so." She smiles at me and we hug before she leaves the room.

Later That Night

"You idiot!" Marisol snarls as she, Alexx, and I back Eric into a corner. Alexx, who looks ready to punce says, "What is the matter with you?"

Eric swallows nervously. "Ladies? Could I please tell you my side of the story?"

Marisol scoffs, turns to me and says, "Can we keep Ryan and get rid of him?"

I look at her and say, Maybe we should hear what he has to say." Eric sighs and says, "Thank you."

"Don't thank us yet honey. You still have to convince the three of us why we shouldn't kill you." Alexx says.

Eric sat down and finally everything came rushing out. "I know I hurt Ryan and I'm so sorry about that. I just felt so suffocated with him always asking me if I'm okay or if I need anything. I love him, but I need a little room to breathe." Then he whispers, "I just want him to come back."

I looked at Mari and Alexx. I could tell he'd won over Alexx. I know he had me. But he didn't have Marisol.

She walked over to Eric and hit him on the head. "Now listen you idiot! You're going to have to do more than that to convince me. You broke his heart and now it's time for you to suck it up, and beg Ryan to take you back!" She pulled Alexx and I out the door and before she slammed it she yelled, "Do you understand!?"

We walked back to the car in silence. Once we were inside, we burst out laughing.

"Did you see the look on his face?" Marisol said.

"You girls were amazing!" Alexx said.

"What about you? You were fantastic!" I told her.

We started laughing again, harder this time.

I finally stopped laughing long enough to say, "What are we going to do if this doesn't work?"

"The two of you know how to hide dead bodies right? Marisol asked.

Alexx and I looked at one another. I hugged Mari and said, "That's my girl!"

We drove back to my place and we all agreed on one very important thing: if Eric didn't go crawling back to Ryan, we would kill him with our bare hands and they'd never find the body.

TBC