A/N: Okay, you don't have to wait...here comes one of my favorite chapters!

CHAPTER 7

Eric gathered the pictures into his own hands, then he indicated the one in his right.

"This one is my favorite," he confessed. "You're beautiful."

He never expressed such a sentiment to her so plainly, and Calleigh's cheeks flamed. She reached over a delicate hand to rest on his thigh just above his knee, and her brave touch solidified to Eric that he made the right decision in showing her his most precious, most highly-guarded possessions.

Calleigh recalled that day as if it happened last week, not ten-plus years ago. The image depicted her on a boat on one of their first dives together, before they were both CSIs. Even before Tim, back when Eric still hauled tin and worked underwater recovery part time for MDPD.

Eric snapped the photo when she wasn't looking. The sun had begun to sink behind her as they prepared to head back to the marina, the sunset illuminating the golden strands of her hair which flew freely in the wind. A bright, content smile adorned her face, almost a laugh, as she looked out over the bay. The perfect picture. A perfect day.

"And this one," Eric said softly, showing her the photo in his left hand, "Reminds me every day how grateful I am for you."

Calleigh's heart stopped for the second time tonight.

In the several days Eric spent in the hospital after his shooting, he grew weak. With gunshot wounds to the head and leg, the brain damage he suffered, and the subsequent time spent in bed to recover, Eric wobbled somewhat when he first attempted to walk.

The doctors insisted on getting him up and moving with a walker almost as soon as he fully gained consciousness. He needed to build on what strength he had left in his injured leg to regain his mobility.

Calleigh was with him that first day, walking along his side as he painstakingly put one foot in front of the other, exhausting himself with the focus required to keep his balance and fighting against the pain that shot up his leg with every excruciating step.

He reached the end of the hallway and the nurses cheered, and Calleigh embraced him in a tight celebratory hug, partly because he was about to collapse, but mostly because everything hit her all at once in that instant—she almost lost him.

Maybe he still held power in his arms despite the trauma to his body, or maybe he just mustered the strength to hug her for those few moments, but either way, he held her fast, and Calleigh felt relief so great she could weep. She tucked her nose in the crook of his neck and clung to him tightly to hide her teary eyes, reluctant to let him go but knowing she must at some point. She poured all of herself into that hug. He was alive.

Unbeknownst to either of them, one of the nurses must have captured a lightning quick photograph. Calleigh studied it carefully, tears beginning to well in her eyes even now.

"I've never seen this," she said with a sniffle.

"I found it with my things when they released me from the hospital," Eric explained. "I never knew who took it. But I've looked at it every day since."

The well-worn edges of the glossy paper told no lies: Eric clearly handled this photo often. The growing lump in Calleigh's throat prevented her from responding with words. All she could do was lean forward to wrap Eric in a new embrace, burying her nose along the line of his neck just as she had almost two years ago.

Calleigh breathed in his scent as he encircled her with his arms and pulled her close against his chest. At least, as close as he could given the angle of their sitting position. They stayed that way for a long moment before Calleigh gently broke their hug. She retreated only enough to see Eric's face, never relinquishing her hold on him.

"How does Ryan know about these pic—"

"Uh, guys?!" a loud voice shouted from somewhere near the side door on the far end of the room.

Eric and Calleigh's eyes fell shut and they each sighed in frustration. Eleven years of friendship, of ups and downs and back-and-forth games and firmly-held secrets culminating in this pivotal, honest moment, and they just couldn't catch a break. Thoughts about the cruelty of the universe struck them both the very second they heard Wolfe call out.

Nothing but the urgency in the man's tone could tear Eric away from Calleigh right now. He didn't know, but Calleigh's feelings ran along the same lines.

They stood from their perch, and Calleigh squeezed Eric's wrist and said, "Later?"

He nodded with the same disappointment Calleigh felt in her bones. She needed him to know this conversation was tabled, not over.

"Later," she confirmed, and she took a miniscule step forward to place a slow kiss to Eric's cheek that sent a zing through both of them from head to toe and caused the heat to rise up Eric's neck.

"Delko, Calleigh! Now!"

"Something's wrong," Eric muttered worriedly when he heard Wolfe's second shout.

They hurried to the far side of the room, very quickly realizing why their partner's voice held so much urgency when their shoes hit water.

Then, they heard the last thing they expected, but the first thing they should have been prepared for…