Back to Work

Calleigh couldn't believe she was doing this. It was only 8:00am and it was third time she had broken down in tears. She was going to back to work today. She couldn't believe that she was crying like this and she was only going to be at work for three hours.

"I'm sorry," she sniffled while Eric hugged her again. "This is so stupid. Why am I bawling like this? I've been away from her for more than three hours before."

"Don't apologize, mi amor," he said, kissing her brow. "This is different. This is the start of a whole new routine. But you'll be fine. We'll all be. "

Calleigh was quite careful not to let her baby see her tears. She and Eric were in their bedroom. Eric's mother had arrived and was playing with Nevaeh in the living room. As she was nearly every morning the baby girl was happy. Mommy wanted to keep it that way. Nevaeh had a good time with her abuela and if the girl did cry, Chlorinda was able to soothe her easily. Thank god for that. Calleigh thought if her baby started crying when she were going out of the door she'd start bawling all over again. Luckily, Nevaeh just smiled at her, threw her a kiss and waved This made Calleigh happy. She kissed her child's face and left with her husband.

Though she rightfully had her mind on what she was doing in the ballistics lab Calleigh was indeed looking forward to 11:30 when she got back home to her baby.

Nevaeh was getting ready to eat her lunch of macaroni and cheese when her mom got home. She had mastered feeding herself finger food with her hands and now was fast catching on to feeding herself with a spoon.

"See?" Chlorinda said to the girl. "Abuela said mami would be home to have lunch with you."

When she knew mommy was home Nevaeh wouldn't eat till mommy came back downstairs from locking away her gun and badge and changing out of her work clothes.

"Did you miss mommy?" Calleigh asked her daughter sitting down at the table with her.

Mother and baby were playing on the floor when daddy called after lunch. He had just returned from a call-out.

"I didn't get a chance to see you at the lab," he said. "How'd your morning go?"

"Good. Went faster than I thought."

"I bet you're glad to be home though," Eric said, smiling on the other end of the phone.

"You bet," his wife smiled.

"You gave her pizza?" Ryan said, a bit surprised when Eric showed pictures of a grinning Nevaeh on his phone, taken the night before, tomato sauce and crumbs all over her face. The family had ordered pizza for dinner the previous night.

"Sure!" Eric said. "She's got most of her teeth and it was only cheese and pepperoni. She loves it!"

Though it was just the second time she had been given it, pizza was now their child's new favorite food. Chlorinda thought Nevaeh was too young for the dish but she didn't say anything. It wasn't her place because the girl wasn't hers. The grandmother didn't want to critique every small thing her son and daughter-in-law did differently than she would.

Nevaeh had had no time for grandma once mommy was home.

"Mommy loves you, too," Calleigh smiled as her daughter wrapped her little arms around her neck and planted a pile of wet kisses on her face, leaving drool on her skin. "She can't imagine her life without you and daddy."