A/N: Another quick chapter update before the work week starts! Thanks for your reviews. I'm glad you like the story! It only gets better...

CHAPTER 6

Eric's jaw dropped.

"You wouldn't," he hissed.

Ryan stood his ground. "I just did."

Calleigh and Natalia watched the exchange go down between the two men, completely lost but recognizing: 1) that Eric must know exactly what Ryan was talking about, and 2) he was pissed.

Calleigh swore that if there were more light in the room, she'd be witnessing Eric's olive skin turn multiple, violent shades of red.

"Eric, what is—"

"It's nothing, Calleigh. Forget about it." He seemed to be regaining his control as quickly as he lost it. "I'm not playing this game."

Natalia objected, her own curiosity now itching to be satisfied. "Hey, you can't just quit. He dared you!"

Ryan crossed his arms. "You accepted the challenge."

Calleigh watched as Eric's walls immediately went up, a hardness darkening his features that she rarely saw and didn't like.

"This isn't up for debate, Wolfe."

Eric knew Ryan would call him out as a liar if he produced anything from his locker other than the photos which fell to the floor that fateful day. He remembered it clearly, and spent the better part of a year convincing himself that Wolfe would forget and move on, or not connect the dots in the first place.

"Fine, you can choose Truth."

Ryan caved too easily for Eric's liking. He narrowed his eyes and nailed the younger man with another glare.

Normally, Ryan would have retreated. Delko had a mean right hook and he did not want to be on the receiving end of it. But he started this, and he had to see it through. For his friends' sakes.

When Eric didn't respond to Ryan, Natalia leaned forward. "What's the Truth question, Ryan? If that's even allowed. I mean, a dare's a dare.

Calleigh finally objected. "He clearly doesn't want to play, you guys. It's fine, we don't need to push."

Ryan ignored her.

"What is the most private thing you keep hidden in your locker? Truth. You have to answer."

"Is this really what you want to do, Wolfe? You think this will solve anything?" Eric's angry tone reverberated off the metallic lockers.

"Someone's gotta do something," Ryan bit back stubbornly.

"It's none of you're goddamned business, and I AM doing something. But, again, not your business."

Eric's ice-filled words sent a chill down Calleigh's spine. She knew he kept his journal in his locker. She'd seen him writing in it, as had Natalia and Ryan. The journal wasn't a secret, so what on earth could cause Eric to become so defensive? Ryan inextricably knew something they didn't. Part of Calleigh felt left out. The other parts of her felt hurt that Eric would hide something from her, and mad that Ryan thought he had a right to force Eric to reveal it.

"Enough!" she interjected. "That's enough."

"This game isn't as fun as I remember," Natalia wisecracked before she turned serious. "What's gotten into you two?"

Eric and Ryan scowled at each other in the dim light.

"Nothing," Eric answered, the ice in his voice now gone, replaced by faint frustration. "Wolfe's just forgotten the rules."

"What rules?" Ryan asked.

"The one where you can choose not to do the dare, and take a shot of tequila instead."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "No tequila available, sorry. This isn't a drinking game. You're chicken."

"Call me what you want, but you're crossing a line and I'm not playing along."

Eric stood up, snatched the smaller flashlight off the bench next to them, and stalked off into the dark.

Ten minutes later, or it could have been twenty, he wasn't sure, Eric heard the soft calling of his name.

Calleigh. Winding through the darkness to find him.

Of course she felt the need to check on him. Her light weight didn't even shift the bench as she took a seat next to him, but he did sense the warmth of her body now inches from his own.

Eric met her eyes briefly then shook his head and chuckled wryly. "Hard to escape when there's nowhere to go."

"Talk to me," Calleigh said softly. "They can't hear us two rows over."

"Wolfe's an asshole," Eric responded.

His noncommittal response didn't satisfy Calleigh. "I thought you guys moved past the name calling years ago. What happened back there?"

She could hear his wheels turning and the answer straining to be free of his lips, but Eric still said nothing, so she bumped his knee gently with hers.

"You can tell me, you know," she prodded.

When Eric heard the hurt in her voice, his heart broke.

"I'm not keeping secrets, Cal. Well, I am, but…"

Some secrets needed to stay secret to protect the people he loved. Others he could afford to share, but the time and place should be of his own choosing, not Ryan Wolfe's.

He and Calleigh seemed to be making progress at their own pace. They had no obligation to share that progress with the outside world, nor did Eric feel the desire to. He liked holding this secret close.

Eric hesitantly stood from the bench and stepped to his locker, turning the combination lock until Calleigh heard a click. She watched as he reached deep into the back of the unit and retrieved something rectangular and thin. His journal.

She immediately balked. "Eric, you don't have to show me anything you don't want to just because Ryan's being a jerk. It's not—"

Eric interrupted her. "I don't want to keep secrets from you, Calleigh."

Her heart melted a little at his words. The light may be lacking, but even in the semi-darkness, Eric could instantly see her gaze soften.

"Eric…" she nearly whispered. Words failed her beyond that. What was she supposed to say?

The old Eric would have been struck with fear at her moment of pause, but he possessed more confidence after the last few weeks. He only needed the tiniest sign she would let him in now, and she'd given him that and more. When he regained his seat next to Calleigh, he sat close and turned slightly to face her.

"You read my file, Cal."

Her heart stopped when he tentatively reached and threaded his fingers with hers. Eric caressed her thumb with his, gave her a little squeeze, and turned her palm face-up.

Then, he placed the journal in her hand.

Her mouth fell agape and she had so many questions as her eyes flitted between Eric and the book, but all she could manage was another near-whisper of his name. " Eric."

"Open it," he encouraged. He nudged her knee with his as she'd done earlier. "Look at what's inside."

Calleigh reverently turned the journal's worn cover, expecting to see Eric's writing or a blank title page of some sort.

Instead, her own face greeted her.

Eric felt her breath hitch as much as he heard it. He watched as she brought the fingers of her free hand up to gingerly touch the picture, only to find another photo nestled behind it, also of her.

Emotion flooded Calleigh so strongly Eric sensed it running through her veins. She laid the book in her lap and removed both of the small photos to study them more closely.

"I remember." Calleigh's voice sounded soft, but full with the weight of memories.

She locked her green eyes with Eric's chocolate ones.

"Why?" she asked him.