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Beyond the Crime Lab: Sweet Adriana

Adriana Delko grew fast. She surprised her parents each day showing them something new she could do. They were thrilled, as all new parents are, when Adriana held her head up by herself for the first time, when she sat up by herself without falling over, and when she decided that she was bored with laying on her tummy, pulled herself up and crawled to get her OWN toy early October the year she was born. She had her mother's determination and her daddy's eyes. She also had new friends. Every time she saw Natalia or Ryan, she would bounce up and down, smile and reach out for one of them to hold her. She would snuggle her head into Natalia's chest, close her eyes and fall asleep. She and Ryan had many, many staring contests as well. He was bound and determined to make Adriana's first word be "Ryan". So far no success!

In January of the following year, Eric, Calleigh and Adriana were at the crime lab. Eric had to grab something from his locker so Calleigh carried Adriana to Horatio's office to chat with him while she waited. Adriana was fussy and did not want to be held.

"Why don't you put her down and let her crawl, she'll be okay as long as we keep the door closed." Horatio told her.

"Are you sure?" Calleigh asked, as she sat Adriana down and gave her a toy. Adriana shook her toy and looked up at Horatio and Calleigh and smiled.

"Look at her," Horatio said, "she's right at home here, isn't she?"

"Yeah she is." Calleigh answered. Then turned her head back to continue her conversation with Horatio.

Not even 15 seconds later, they both turned to Adriana after they heard her laughing loud. Adriana had crawled over to the couch and pulled herself up, looking at Horatio and Calleigh as if to say, "Ha! When you weren't looking, this is what I did! I am soooo smart."

"Oh my God! Adriana! Ha ha ha. Wow we really are going to have our hands full aren't we? Look at you, such a big girl, pulling yourself up there like that. What is your daddy gonna say?" Calleigh said as she whipped out her camera and took a picture of Adriana, still smiling after conquering the couch.

"Guess I'm going to have to childproof my office. Didn't think I'd ever have to do that." Horatio joked.

At that moment, Eric walked in. "What is going on?" He asked.

"Miss thing over here decided she had enough of crawling and pulled herself up on Horatio's couch!" Calleigh answered.

"Awww, sweetie,"Eric said as he picked his almost one year old daughter up, "What do you think you are doing? You're not allowed to grow up. I want you to be my baby forever!" He spun Adriana around and kissed her forehead and sat her back down on the floor. She quickly crawled back to the couch and showed her daddy just how she pulled up before.

Eric just stood there, mouth open. "I can't believe it, wow Princesa, you are such a good girl. Ahh, she's going to be walking soon!" he said.

This time, Horatio picked her up. "Adriana," he said, bringing her face right up to his, "You are such a strong little girl. You can climb that couch all you want. It's all yours. Now don't worry your daddy so much. He's new at this."

Adriana responded, much to Calleigh and Eric's embarrassment, by reaching up, taking Horatio's sunglasses and putting them in her mouth. She grinned her little toothless smile at him. Calleigh looked at Eric, then at Horatio, unable to say anything for a moment.

"Oh my gosh," Calleigh said, her face getting redder by the second. "Horatio I am so sorry. I can't believe she just did that!"

Horatio chuckled and handed her to Calleigh. "Not to worry, they needed to be cleaned anyway. Thank you Adriana." He gently took his sunglasses from Adriana's grip and got out a handkerchief, rubbed his sunglasses and placed them back on the top of his head. "So, what's on the agenda for you three this evening?"

"Natalia is supposed to be meeting us at our house at six to watch Adriana. Cal and I are headed to Café Cordoba. We haven't had good Mexican in a while and Adriana doesn't do well in restaurants yet." Eric answered.

"Well, you two have a good time." Horatio said to Eric and Calleigh. Turning to Adriana, he said "Natalia will have her hands full with you, princess, you be a good girl."

Eric and Calleigh just laughed. Calleigh picked Adriana up and the three headed home to meet Natalia.