A Criminal Trial & An Impromptu Wedding

I love Jack McCoy as the prosecutor on "Law & Order." I think it stinks that the writers no longer have him in the courtroom. Therefore. I made him the lead prosecutor in the Miami-Dade District Attorney's Office and Calleigh's case.

The chief witness for the prosecution had a surprise for the defendant when she testified at his trial. A surprise Jake Berkley would not like. After she was sworn in on the stand, the first thing he did was apologize to her.

"I'm sorry but I believe I got your last name wrong. It's Delko, formerly Duquesne. You married your husband ten days ago according to what I have here."

"Yes," Calleigh answered, looking at Jake who was clinging his fists white, his face almost purple with rage. A bailiff stood on either side of him, the couple hadn't been there to see it but the defendant had had several outbursts in the first days of his trial. The judge had warned him that another outburst and he would be shackled for the remainder of the trial.

Eric had proposed to Calleigh the Friday of the week she had returned to work at the lab. He had done so by leaving the ring in an evidence bag.

He had Horatio's permission to do this and everybody knew his plan.

It was near the end of the day when he walked into the ballistics lab and put the bag with the ring on the table next to Calleigh's microscope, attached to the ring was a red evidence tag on which he had wrote "Will you make an honest man of me?"

Calleigh had exited the room for a moment thanks to Ryan. When Eric saw her in the hall when she was on her way back he told her he had left her something he wanted her to take a closer look at. She said "okay."

When she saw the ring in the bag with the tag next to the microscope, she screamed. Everyone heard her and Eric smiled. Their engagement period was seven days. They were married the following Friday at 3:30 at City Hall in a small, informal ceremony. Eric's parents were there, along with Horatio and Alexx, who served as witnesses, and Frank and of course, Chloe.

Why did they tie the knot so quick? Simple. They wanted to. They had waited long enough to let each other know how they felt for one another. Now that they were finally together, not to mention raising a daughter, so why wait?

Calleigh still used her former name on the job just because it was easier. Outside the job she used her husband's name. Weeks before they got married, they filed a motion in family court for Calleigh to legally become their daughter's mother. Calleigh was listed as "adoptive-mother-to-be" because they did plan to marry very soon. Eric had just wanted to make it extra special by surprising Calleigh and proposing. The therapist and social worker who conducted the interviews and family evaluations "highly" recommended the judge approve the adoption. Now all they could do was wait. Their attorney had told them the process would much shorter considering the first step, the longest one, the termination of the biological mother's rights had been completed and finalized a long time ago.

Chloe had attended her parents' impromptu wedding ceremony at city hall along with uncle Horatio, Frank, Alexx and her grandparents. Her parents had told her this was a very special event, although she behaved for the brief ceremony, she wasn't that impressed.

What kind of "very special event" didn't have clowns, or at least, balloons? The child thought.

She did, however, enjoy the cake that Alexx had bought to their house afterwards, especially the surgery frosting.

"What do dat say, daddy?" Chloe asked Eric, pointing to the writing on the cake. She sat in his lap, licking icing off of her fingers.

Eric was one very happy man on this day. He kissed his child's cheek. He and his now-wife knew it was Chloe's birth that finally bought them together but for Eric, even if she hadn't, he wouldn't taken back being Chloe's father for anything in the world.

Calleigh was just as happy as her husband. She had wanted to be Mrs. Eric Delko since she had got to know him 5 years ago. At the moment she still couldn't believe her dream had finally come true...

The prosecution had already shown the jury the "shrine" of photos taken from Jake's home and the some of the many photos that Jake had secretly taken of the Delko family. Calleigh was asked to describe her relationship with the defendant. She told the jury that a little over three years before she had an "on again, off again" relationship with Jake Berkley. She considered it to be "barely serious." The two had not been exclusive. Then when she started a committed relationship with the co-worker who was now her husband after he had a baby girl Jake had approached her in the parking garage of crime lab, visibly very angry upon hearing Calleigh was not single, wanting them to "hook up" again. She had refused and told him stay away. She was with the man she wanted to be with and they had a family.

"Were you or your husband aware that any of these photos were being taken? Did you give consent for this?"

"No. Absolutely not," the CSI replied. "I would have never let him so close to my daughter."

The two other witnesses from the highway had already testified witnessing Jake, wearing a disguise, force Calleigh's car from the highway. Frank and Ryan had testified about discovering the car, the remains of the disguise and linking the car to Jake's aunt.

The last question the prosecutor asked was knowing him for as long as she had, did she believe that Jake was "unstable?" Did he seem consumed in grief by losing her? Or was it just pure jealousy that could make him a threat to her or her family prior to what happened. Calleigh answered no, Jake wasn't "unstable" from what she thought. He didn't react with sadness at the news she had moved on, he reacted with immediate anger. Still she hadn't thought for one second he would follow her every move and try to kill her. If she had she would asked for protection. She managed to say this before the defense could object and the judge could sustain it. Calleigh knew the jury couldn't un-hear what they heard.

Just as she exited the courtroom, a way of sickness overcame Calleigh. She barely made it to the ladies' room where she threw up. She thought it was just the aftermath of the stress of having to face the man who tried to kill her or maybe her little daughter had passed the flu onto her. Chloe was somewhat better today but had been sick with the flu and throwing up that week.

Calleigh was wrong.