A/N: I just updated one of my favorite old stories, "Caution to the Wind," for the first time in a decade, and I dropped the rating from M to T. It does have strong language and a fair amount of sensuality, but it's not explicit enough to be rated M, as I decided after putting new eyes on it.

Chapter 8

At first, Eric wasn't sure what roused him from sleep, until he felt Calleigh's restlessness beside him in the bed. He glanced at the antique clock on the nightstand and saw the small hand pointing to four.

4 a.m. She made it a whole two hours.

At some point, Calleigh had maneuvered out of his arms, and that was Eric's indication all was not well.

He knew, partly from his own experiences with her over the years and partly because he just knew Calleigh, she was a consummate snuggler. So was he, which meant they inevitably found themselves tangled up together on the odd occasions they shared a sleeping space.

Eric's mind flashed back to some of those times. Camping trips with Speedle, nights when one of them drank a little too much, after his shooting, the day Marisol died…

He also thought of the times he needed her and she stayed out of his reach. After Speed was killed, for instance, she shut him out. He'd asked her to stay with him the night of the funeral, but she said she needed some space. He honored it, but the rejection stung. The consequences of the distance she put between them–and that he maintained out of hurt–were damaging to their relationship for a long time.

Eric sighed and watched Calleigh toss to her other side. That will never happen again, he promised himself. Ever.

He scooted his body closer to Cal's and reached a hand to touch her shoulder before he thought better of it. He didn't want to frighten her. Instead, he called her name gently. "Cal, wake up."

Her only response was an indecipherable murmur and a small jerk of her head. Eric could see the fear etched on her face, even in sleep. He needed to stop this.

"Calleigh," he said more loudly this time. "Querida, you gotta wake up. It's just a dream."

The woman's eyelids fluttered slightly as she struggled to escape from her nightmare. "No, no, no," she whispered and turned onto her back. Her head started to shake back and forth, clearly fighting demons Eric couldn't see and, seemingly, not winning.

"Come back to me, Cal," Eric murmured softly, his concern growing. "It's not real. You're safe."

Seconds passed and Calleigh still tossed and turned, and Eric continued to talk her through it without touching her, as he so longed to do. Finally, her body began to still and her eyes slowly opened.

The first thing she saw was Eric's worried face hovering above her. The second thing that registered was his lips moving, although it took a moment for his words to make sense to her foggy brain.

"I'm going to touch you now, Cal, okay?" she heard him say.

"What?" she asked groggily.

"I'm going to touch you," he repeated.

And she felt a strong, warm hand caress the length of her arm and back down again, squeezing her wrist before finding a home on her hip. Her instinct was to flinch but the reflex never came. The near-whisper of reassuring words kept it at bay.

"I'm here. You're safe, it's just me. It's over now," his voice sounded quietly in the small space between them.

"Eric," she breathed. "What happened?"

She could feel his body relax some against hers and see the relief in his eyes that she was gradually rejoining reality.

"You had a nightmare," he explained. "But it's over. Are you okay?"

Calleigh took a deep breath, closed her eyes and tried to remember her dream. Unlike the visions that haunted her the last few weeks, this one seemed less distinct around the edges. The details were harder to recall and the fear gripping her heart wasn't as unyielding. Still, she did feel it.

Cal brought one hand up to rub her eyes and swipe her hair from her forehead. She left her fingers tangled in her golden locks, which Eric–despite the current situation–couldn't help notice shone bright in the moonlight beaming in from the window.

"Cal?" he pressed. "You okay?"

She expelled the breath she'd inhaled and simply echoed her words from earlier in the evening. "No, but I'm better now. I'm sorry I woke you up."

"Don't apologize," Eric replied. His eyes told Calleigh how serious he was. "I'm here for a reason."

She sighed again and rolled over to close the space between their bodies, nestling her head right below Eric's chin and sneaking her arm under his to wrap herself around him. Eric tugged her a little closer and interlocked his legs with hers, then he readjusted the blankets over them and they took a moment to just settle in together.

Eric broke the silence first. "Wanna talk about it?" he asked.

"Not really," Calleigh responded. She tilted her head back so she could make eye contact with the man currently enveloping her. "Not because I'm trying to push you away, but because it wasn't as bad this time. Honestly," she added, seeing the question in Eric's eyes.

He leaned down to press a soft kiss to her forehead. "'Kay," he said.

"'Kay," she said with a smile.

She buried her head back into the crook of his neck and breathed him in. I will never get tired of this, she thought to herself.

If Calleigh thought she knew how much Eric loved her before tonight, she now felt it in her bones. Eric trusted her to be honest with him. In giving her that trust, he was giving her so much more.

"Eric?" he heard a small voice say somewhere below his chin.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Thanks," Calleigh said.

She wasn't ready to say 'I love you' back to Eric. She knew the right moment would make itself known to her, and honestly, tonight she just didn't have the words. Eric didn't need the words, though, and she loved him all the more for it. She nuzzled her nose against his neck, and he knew.

Eric gave her a gentle squeeze and kissed the top of her head, but said nothing. Calleigh was fully aware of what he was telling her: 'you're welcome,' 'I love you, too' and 'always.'

The two best friends relished in the unspoken feelings floating between them, and they finally fell into undisturbed slumber, not waking until the sun was high in the morning sky.

"Welcome back from the dead," Derek greeted them when they traipsed down the stairs just before noon. "We were starting to wonder if you'd miss lunch."

Right on cue, Eric's stomach growled loudly. From the kitchen, J.J. yelled, "I heard that grumble! Get in here, folks."

Derek led them to the kitchen where they found J.J. hard at work at the stove, stirring something in a large pot. Steam billowed from the top of it and whatever was boiling inside smelled delicious. Calleigh grinned at the sight. It'd been too long since she saw her little brother or eaten his famous cooking.

"What's on the menu, John Jamison?" she asked playfully.

"Watch it, sis. Ooh!" J.J. blew on the ladle he was taste-testing. "Hot! Hot, hot."

"Some kind of fancy soup," Derek answered for him with a roll of his eyes. "Look he may be the world traveler with all the weird recipes, but I am the master sandwich-maker!"

He gestured to the kitchen island. Set atop the counter was a stack of perfect-looking sandwiches. Tuna salad, turkey, club, roast beef…

"I didn't know what you'd eat and Momma had a bunch of supplies, so…" he trailed off. The mention of their mother immediately put a damper on the mood in the kitchen.

Eric stepped up beside Calleigh and placed a hand on her back. "It looks great," he said with a grin, breaking up most of the sad tension.

Calleigh gave Eric a grateful smile which morphed into a grin as she turned to her brother. "It ought to, Der, with all those school lunches you pack."

The three siblings stood looking at each other for a split second, and something passed between them. A silent agreement that they would mourn their mother, but not right now. Right now, they just needed to get through lunch. Then, they would deal with what came next.

Derek cleared his throat and managed a chuckle. "Well, I didn't cut them horizontally, so you'll have to live with it."

J.J. laughed and Calleigh rolled her eyes. "I went through one phase, 25 years ago…honestly, Der, you're in for it with Jasper."

Her brother groaned. She was right. His son was already a picky eater, and he didn't seem to be growing out of it anytime soon.

"I'll set him straight," J.J. said with a laugh. "Do you think he'd like paçoca? Hey, Eric, can you grab me four bowls? Top right cabinet."

Now, Eric was chuckling as he crossed the open kitchen and retrieved the bowls from the cabinet J.J. indicated.

Derek asked, "What the hell is paçoca?"

"It's like a kind of peanut candy," Eric answered, setting the bowls on the counter next to the stove so they could serve the soup. "It's from Brazil."

Both of Calleigh's brothers looked impressed. "How did you know that, Delko?" J.J. asked.

First, Calleigh noticed the ease with which J.J. addressed Eric. Second, Calleigh wondered how the latter would answer. Talking about Brazil was pretty much off-limits. Eric usually got a haunted look in his eyes whenever the topic was mentioned.

Calleigh was the only person on the planet besides Eric and Horatio who knew everything that went down on their trip to Brazil. Eric had told her, and then said he never wanted to talk about it again. She'd respected his wishes until three weeks ago. The night he took her home, it came up in conversation and Eric didn't shut down. He seemed to be a little less broken and it showed her there might just be a light at the end of her own dark tunnel.

"-in Brazil," she heard Eric say. She was lost in thought and missed the first part. "Any three-year-old would love it."

Derek laughed. "Well, Leah will be here in a few days with Jas and maybe we can test out that theory. Eat up!"

Calleigh snatched a plate from the stack next to the sandwiches and carefully selected half a roast beef and half a turkey.

"How is she getting here?" she asked Derek. Leah was currently 6 months pregnant with their second child. "Managing Jasper will be hard enough, let alone packing and driving."

Derek shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. Clearly, he and Leah had already had a discussion about this, one in which opposing opinions were expressed. "I told her not to come, but she's insisting. I said I'd come pick them up but she says she's fine. You know how she gets."

Calleigh and J.J. both responded with grins and quiet 'yeahs.' Leah gave Derek a run for his money.

J.J., who had ladled soup into bowls while Derek spoke and everyone grabbed sandwiches, declared, "Soup's on."

They opted to eat at the kitchen table rather than in the dining room, despite the fact it offered them more space, and this left Eric knocking elbows with Cal as they ate. Both of them smiled when they inevitably bumped each other, because although they'd sat like this many times over the years, this time they felt a new energy, a zing full of promise and happiness and desire every time their elbows touched. Calleigh needed this distraction in so many ways, and for what could be the thousandth time since last night, she sent up a prayer of thanks that Eric followed her to Louisiana.

"This soup is incredible," Calleigh told J.J. when she sipped her first spoonful.

"Ah. Soupe au pistou. A good ol' vegetable soup," J.J. explained, savoring his own spoonful of broth. "I figured French wouldn't be overly exotic for y'all. Plus, it'll keep for Dad."

Calleigh's brow furrowed. "Where is he, by the way?"

Derek ducked his head, Cal's hint she wouldn't like the answer. "At the hospital. He went to pick up Momma's personal effects and talk to her doctors."

Seeing the look on Calleigh's face, the one that said she should have been included in that trip to the hospital, J.J. quickly interjected. "Dad didn't want to wake you up. But you are gonna have to swing by the hospital. Um, there's some stuff you need to sign off on. You're listed as next of kin."

She would have to formally identify and claim her mother's body. Calleigh felt a squeeze of Eric's hand on her thigh and the rising feeling of grief and tiredness dissipated before it even had a chance to form in her heart. She took another sip of her soup and nodded. "I understand."

Derek scrutinized his older sister for a moment before he decided to speak up. "Cal, you don't have to go alone. Or handle all this stuff by yourself."

She took a deep breath and set her spoon down in her bowl, her fingers seeking Eric's where they rested on her leg. While they lay in bed this morning, Eric and Calleigh had a conversation about this very thing, namely, Cal accepting help instead of trying to do it all herself. She wasn't in a place where she could shoulder all the logistics, all the arrangements, on her own. As a family, they were not in that place.

Eric still didn't know all the details, but it became evident this morning that there were a lot of hurts to heal in the Duquesne family beyond what she'd told him previously, and deeper than what he could see or sense on the surface. Outside of the healing Calleigh needed, she confessed to him that J.J., Derek and Duke each had their own demons when it came to their relationships with Caroline. She worried what her mother's passing might dredge up.

Calleigh could already see the warning signs. Derek was irritable and unfocused; Duke was shutting down, keeping his emotions bottled until she knew he'd seek comfort from the wrong place; J.J. was very near the point where he started taking on everyone's burdens as his own; and she, well, she was what she was.

Eric listened to her explain her concerns this morning and, together, they came up with a plan for next steps.

"About all that…Um, I was thinking this morning," she began before she looked up at Eric. "Actually, Eric and I were thinking…"

Derek and J.J.'s eyes slowly followed their sister's to look at the man beside her.

"I'll have to take care of a lot of legal paperwork. J.J., you're so beautiful with words, maybe you could handle the obituary? And Derek, you've kept in contact with so many people over the years, you'd be perfect for getting the word out about the funeral when the details are settled. Daddy...you know how it is. I think we just need to find ways to keep him busy. If it's alright with y'all, Eric will run point on everything else. That way we can just…be."

The conciseness with which Calleigh conveyed the plan let her brothers know just how much forethought had gone into its formation. Also, how nervous she felt proposing it. What stood out to them the most, however, was 1) that Calleigh was again admitting she needed help, as she had last night, and 2) that she seemed to relinquish control so easily.

They both knew it wasn't that simple, and each of them wondered how long it had taken Delko to convince her to let him do this for her. For them. They considered this for a moment, both coming to the same conclusion: their dad was right about Eric Delko. He was Calleigh's family-her everything. And if that was the case, he was their family, too.

Eric watched as the two men sized him up, and studied their sister, silently searching her. They never asked her a question, but she nodded anyways. The answer was 'yes.'

Yes, they could trust Eric. Yes, she was okay with this. Yes, it was the best thing for their family.

"Okay," J.J. said. With that look in her eye, when he knew she was so sure, J.J. would follow his big sister anywhere, without question.

Derek echoed him. If Calleigh, with her guarded heart, could lean on this man, so could they. "Okay, Cal."

Eric locked eyes with J.J. and Derek. "It's not lost on me the amount of trust you're giving me. I'm just here to help. This is a one-day-at-a-time kind of situation."

The youngest of the Duquesnes was an excellent judge of character, and he could see Eric Delko was a good man, not just because of all the stories Calleigh had regaled them with over the years about her best friend, but because Eric so clearly loved his sister unconditionally, and she so clearly loved him back.

"Looks like Calleigh's got herself a keeper," J.J. grinned and winked at his sister.

Both Calleigh and Eric blushed, but they shared a look and grinned, too.

For his part, Derek watched the pair and chuckled. He'd already put Eric to the test on the trip from the airport, and the man passed. Now, seeing the unbelievable effect Eric had on his sister when she was so obviously in pain…he definitely passed.

"Get ready, Delko. This family is a downright circus," Derek warned, only-half joking.

"Yeah, well, aren't all families?" Eric bantered back easily, also speaking truthfully and from much experience.

They spent the remainder of their lunch hammering out what needed to be done immediately and what could wait until tomorrow or the next day. By the time Duke returned, they all had their marching orders for the day.

Duke, a little taken aback by the determinedness of it all, gave them an update and retreated to an upstairs office that used to be his escape many years past. Calleigh, concerned, promised herself she'd keep an eye on her father, but right now, she needed to prepare herself for one of the hardest things she'd do in her life.