Eric walked back upstairs to Calleigh's apartment with purpose. He took the stairs again instead of the elevator because he needed time to plan what he was going to say to Calleigh. This was going to be hard and knew that Calleigh was going to be having a hard time handling everything that just happened, but if there was one thing that about Calleigh that Eric loved it was that she was strong and she possessed the ability to take everything in stride and act with purpose. He knew that with their leader down that someone had to take point and he knew that he would do it, but it had to be Calleigh, she was next in line and it was her right to take control. If she wanted him to do it, then he would, but he knew that he could not leave Calleigh out of this. She was independent and strong and as much as he loves the idea of her depending on him and him protecting her, he knew he loved more to see the qualities that made him fall for her in the first place. The 'Bullet Girl' was needed and if they were going to get Peter then they needed her, all of her. Plus this could help them take the next steps to exorcising their demons. That bastard Peter was going to pay for what he did to Horatio.
At the thought of Peter, Eric's blood boiled. He remembered the conversation that he shared with the man before he headed downstairs to see what the commotion was about. It still irked him that there was the possibility that Calleigh was with him before she came to him. This was very upsetting to him. The idea of the woman he loved more than anything being in the arms of psycho like Peter was more than he could handle. He knew that he was going to have to hash this out with Calleigh, but the idea of bringing that up seemed to make him uncomfortable. Calleigh and him were just beginning to start to work things out and it was like the bastard decided what he did was not enough. It was like he felt justify in destroying their relationship and taking the life of their unborn child. Eric growled as he near the door of Calleigh's apartment. He sighed, this day just seemed to be getting worst and worst with each passing second. This was like a living nightmare.
Eric sighed again as he entered the apartment and walked slowly down the hallway to the apartment. He reached slowly for the doorknob when he heard what sound like dial tone on the other side of the door. Eric wasn't sure how he heard it but he knew that somebody had been on the phone. Eric pushed the door open and he froze as he saw Calleigh sitting on the floor clutching the phone to her chest. "Cal?" he asked tentatively. She merely glanced up at him. Her eyes were rigid and her face was streaked with what looked like fallen tears. It broke his heart to see her broken and hurt. Eric could guess who was on the phone with Calleigh and it made his blood rush to his head, as he knew that when he saw Peter he was going to take Peter's life with his own hands. "Calleigh? What happened?"
Calleigh didn't answer his question as she replied, "Is Horatio okay?"
"Calleigh." Eric sighed.
"No Eric. I need to know. I need to know that he is okay. I need to know that he is alive."
"Calleigh, I don't thinkā¦"
"I don't care what you think right now Eric!" She snapped at him. She saw the hurt that flashed into his eyes and she softened. "Eric please, just tell me."
"Well, I assume Peter informed you that he got to H, right?" Calleigh only nodded to him. "Well, H is in critical condition at the hospital, which means he is out of commission Cal."
Calleigh looked at Eric as if he was from another planet. She looked down and kept her eyes from meeting Eric. Eric wanted to go out and reach out to her but he knew that she needed to process this; she had to come to understand this on her own. When he saw her with the phone clutched in her hand, he wanted to run to her and forget about telling her about Horatio, but that bastard Peter got to her. Why couldn't he protect her? Not even for an hour since they find out that Peter escaped could he stop her from being hurt by Peter again. What kind of boyfriend was he? How could he expect her to trust him and depend on him if he couldn't protect her from the evil in this world? Eric shook his head and squashed his thoughts as he realized that this was not the time to be thinking about that. They had work to do and what was done was done. "Calleigh. We have to head into the lab, now that H is out you're in charge and I think it is time that we took care of Peter. We can't let him get away with what he did to Horatio."
Calleigh looked up to Eric and nodded. She rose slowly and headed into the bathroom to shower and get ready. Eric sighed as she waked by him without so much as acknowledging him. He knew that whatever progress they had made before was probably out the door. He sighed and went about cleaning the room. When she exited the shower, Eric walked by her to shower as well, trying to ignore how beautiful she looked in a towel. Eric turned the water to steaming hot and stepped under the heavy spray. It was moments like these that Eric wished he could just hide but he knew that his luck was never that great. It just seemed like a bad thing was going to happen when something finally goes right for him. He sighed as he leaned against the wall and the let the tears that he had been fighting before fall unhindered. The water from the shower mixed with his tears, the tears that were taking from him all the strength he had at the moment. Eric closed his eyes and let the heavy sobs wrack his body. His pain was so powerful that he did not hear Calleigh enter the shower. Eric jumped when he felt her arms wrap around him and Eric felt a calm come over him. He looked down to her and she offered him a strong look and Eric understood she was giving him some of her strength, giving him what he did not have at the moment. He wrapped his arms around her and leaned his head into her neck breathing in.
"We'll get through this. I promise." He barely heard her say it but he nodded his head in agreement before letting go of her and finishing his shower with her next to him. When they exited the shower, Eric could not stop himself when he reached out and grabbed her kissing her softly. Taking comfort from the fact that she returned his kiss, Eric held her tightly. He let her again and smiled faintly at her before following her out of the bathroom so they could get dressed. Eric called an escort to pick them up and take them to crime lab and to have Calleigh's hummer impounded so that they could check it for anything. He also called for taps to be put on Calleigh's phone so that just in case Peter called again they could possibly get something on him. Eric and Calleigh were silent on the car ride to the crime lab, thinking of what they could do. When they reached outside the lab, Eric and Calleigh gave each other a look before heading in. Ryan and Natalia greeted them at the front desk.
"Calleigh, hey. Glad to see you here." Natalia hesitated before reaching out and hugging Calleigh. Calleigh returned the hug immediately, knowing how hard it was for the other woman to show emotions sometimes. She was like Calleigh in that she was guarded with her feelings, for fear that they could be used against her. She looked over to Ryan and saw that he and Eric were mumbling something to each other. She was about to ask them what they were talking about when Rick Stetler walked up.
"CSI Duquesne." Calleigh scowled before turning a semi-bright smile toward Rick.
"Agent Stetler, how may I help you?"
"Well, you can tell me what you are doing here for starters. But I can already guess why you are. Of course you know that it is my job to extend my concerns about the situation that you CSI's are working but I'm sure that you can all assume that is not the only reason I would be here to see you. I am strongly advising you guys not to handle this case, considering all of your attachments to each other and the connection you CSI Delko and Duquesne have to the case. Not only could it jeopardize this lab and the wok that is done here, it could jeopardize your very careers."
"Like that has ever mattered to you before." Ryan scoffed out. Calleigh turned a glare on him and a look that pretty much told him to let her handle this.
She turned back to face Rick, seeing that he himself had a look of distaste toward Ryan. She cleared her throat, getting back his attention, "I can assure you Rick, that while you concern is touching and your advise is being taken under heavy consideration." She paused and stiffened when she heard Eric's scoff behind her back. She could sense that Eric got her message through her changed body language. She held back her sigh and carried on, "We can not simply sit back and let the night shift handle this case because it is so important. Now while Horatio is out, I am in charge and I say that this team works this case. If you want, I will not stop you from looking on the work we do so you could assure youself that we do not compromise any part of the case but as far as removing ourselves from the case that is not going to happen. If you still have a problem with my decision then well you can go to someone over my head but other than that you can just deal with it."
Rick looked at Calleigh with disdain. He knew that the woman was stubborn but he was hoping with everything that happened he could break through to her. He should of known that the attempt would be futile. She was just as hard to handle as Horatio was. Damn it. There was only one thing that he could do right now until one of them messed up and he could take over, but he hoped that it would not be too late for him to take over. He sighed and said, "I expect to be in the loop of every single thing that you four do, do you understand me."
"Oh I understand Rick, don't worry, we'll keep you in the loop." She forced a smile at him, hoping he would get the message and take a hike. Rick sighed and shook his head before heading out of the lab. Calleigh turned back to give both Ryan and Eric glares. They both returned sheepish looks before smiling at her. She shook her head in disgust before she turned back to Natalia. "So what did we get from the scene?"
"Well, we got some trace from around the vehicle, we did see some blood on the concrete near Horatio, so we're hoping that maybe we can find something. Also we found a bullet casing, so it's a good thing that you're here. The Hummer that H was in was brought into the garage and we have Horatio's clothes. I was about to go check out the trace and see if we could get anything on that. Valera's already working on the blood and that's about it." Natalia replied to Calleigh.
Calleigh nodded before turning to Ryan and Eric, "Well I guess you boys can get started on Horatio's Hummer." They nodded to her. She turned back to Natalia, "You can continue with the trace, I'll go work with the bullet and then you and I can meet up later to work on Horatio's clothes to see if we can find anything." Everyone nodded to her before they all walked off to do their tasks.
Calleigh sighed as she walked into her lab and smiled. She felt slightly at peace when she was in there and she knew that other than when she was in Eric's arms that this place was her sanctuary, even though what happened with John, this was her sanctuary. She walked toward the table and saw the bullet casing lying there waiting for her. It was time to get to work. She pulled on her lab coat and a pair of gloves before she put the casing on the microscope and tried to find the striations on the casing. She took out her notebook and took notes on the striations on the casing. She could already tell that it was revolver, a colt by the looks of it, but from which one she was not sure. She took the remainder of her notes before she headed to her beloved gun vault.
It seemed like it had been forever since she had been in there. She looked to the colt section and smiled when she saw her beautiful firearms. She smiled as she slowly reached out and took down each gun slowly. She paused and caressed the barrel of the Colt King Cobra. It truly was a masterpiece. She took the guns to the table and pulled on her headphones. She took a deep breath and raised the first gun, she pulled the trigger twice, releasing to rounds, flinching slightly at each shot. She then rested the gun down on the table and then took her headphones off. She walked from the table and went to go get the bullets. She compared the striations to the casing that she had and saw that they did not match. She sighed and continued this process with every gun until she found a match with the Colt Python. She smiled at her success and wrote down her findings. She hoped the others found something as well. She walked out of the lab with her folder to find Natalia. They were going to get Peter no matter what it took.
