Disclaimer: I do NOT own CSI Miami or its characters. If I did, we would have gotten a CSI Miami wedding between a Latino and Southerner.
Takes place in 6x04 'Bang Bang Your Dept'. Car scene where Calleigh found Speed's credit card.
"What are you? Digging for change?" A wide smile spread on his face as he watched her struggling to lock in her seatbelt.
She giggled, "Ooh! I think I found something even better." Turning forward, she revealed a bright yellow and red gradient credit card in her hand. Her smile dropped as she inspected it. "Oh my god".
Eric, not noticing what she was looking at, asked, "What, is it a Platinum card?"
Calleigh looked at him in shock, "This is Speedle's credit card."
"I knew it." Eric mumbled to himself
"What is going on?"
Eric exhaled, "Nothing."
But Calleigh didn't accept that. "Look, Eric, if we are going to be working together, you have to talk to me."
"Look, I said it's nothing". Eric wanted to end the conversation there. But Calleigh didn't.
"Does it have something to do with me and Jake? Is there a problem?"
"No, Calleigh. Don't be ridiculous." He interjected. Though she was not completely wrong.
"Well, you've been acting strange with me all day. So, what else am I supposed to think?"
There was a moment of silence. Calleigh stared at Eric for answers. He thought about what he could say to her. Yes, it was true that he had issues with Jake but that wasn't the case at that moment. How can he tell Caleigh that he's been seeing and talking to a dead man. And not any dead man, Speed.
He then turned to her and tersely replied, "Let's just forget about it." He stretched his hand, palm up, out to her, "Can I have Speedle's credit card, please?" but she refused to hand it over.
"Calleigh! Give me the card." He was starting to get impatient.
Calleigh shook her head, saying "No", while pulling the card further away from his reach. "Not until you tell me what's going on."
"CALLEIGH! I'M NOT PLAYING!"
"SO, AM I!"
"GIVE ME THE FREAKING CARD CAL!" Eric was getting extremely angry.
"No." Before Calleigh knew what was happening, Eric unbuckled his seat belt and sprung at her, trying to snatch the card from her hand. Calleigh fought with him. "Eric. Eric! Stop!" Arms reaching out and pulling away. Tucking the card under her leg, she used whatever strength she had and shoved him on his chest. "STOP!" He landed back on his seat. The hummer was filled with no other sound but their loud panting. Both silently coming to turns of what just happened.
Suddenly Eric felt something wet on his fingertips. Looking down at them, he saw that it was blood. He was confused until he looked over at Calleigh. That's when he saw it. Two long scrapes across her right arm; the hand that held the card. She looked down at her own arm and gasped. When she looked up at him slowly, tears pooled in her eyes. "Why won't you just talk to me?" Her voice sounded so small; he almost didn't hear her. "Why?"
Before he could answer, she cut him off, "and do not tell me it has nothing to do with Jake because ever since we started dating, you've been pulling away from me. We stopped hanging out. We stopped talking; we used to talk about anything and everything." There was a slight crack in her voice. Eric remained silent, head bowed in shame, as he continued to listen to her. "When you had your flavour of the month or when I was dating Hagen, we still made time for each other so thinking about it, it has nothing to do with us dating others. You just have a problem with Jake."
"Look! This has NOTHING to do with that man! Not everything is about him. Or you! I just…." He paused. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and continued. "I've been-Calleigh, I'm not crazy."
"I know you aren't. What's going on?"
'It's now or never'. He sighed, "Earlier today, when you asked me if I had seen a ghost?" She nodded. "Well, I think I did or maybe he is alive and was just in hiding?"
"Who?"
"Speed"
Calleigh's eyes widen, "Tim Speedle? You-you saw him?"
"It was like he was helping me find the evidence for the case. And he answered when I asked a question. Was it real? Was it just all in my head? Maybe, I should be the next Melinda Warren" He snorted, trying to lighten the tense air between them.
"Eric, you're recovering from a serious brain injury. I think things like this are going to happen. Unfortunately. Are you taking your medication and keeping up with your appointments?"
"Yeah. I uh, I have an appointment in a few weeks. Guess I'll have to bring it up early." There was a pause, contemplating what to say to her next. "Cal. I'm truly sorry for the way I acted. I was just so frustrated with what was going on; stuck between what was or wasn't there. But I know that should not be any excuse for my behavior."
"Eric, it's okay."
"No, it's not Calleigh. Look at your arm. Look at what I di-". His voice cracked. He was so disgusted by himself for what he did to her that he couldn't even finish. His parents always taught him to treat a woman right; to never lay a hand on her no matter how angry he was. Even though he was the baby boy of 3 older sisters, he always made it his responsibility to take care of them.
Calleigh placed her good arm on his in reassurance. "Eric, stop. It's okay. Really. It's just an accident. Nothing serious. To be fair, I was stubborn too. I shouldn't have pushed you and just handed you the card when you asked."
"No. No Cal. It's not your fault. I hurt you. That's inexcusable."
"Eric!" She grabbed his face with both hands and turned it towards her. Looking into his glazed brown eyes, "Listen to me. With all that you've been through, your brain can only take so much. You were stressed and frustrated with the tricks your mind had been playing that you were just adamant in trying to figure out what was causing it. Plus, I should not have pushed your bottoms so hard which was the cause of your reaction. So how about we just call it truce, huh?"
He was hesitant but Eric stared into her eyes and responded in agreement, "Okay. Truce". Calleigh released his face and turned back in her seat.
"And next time, just talk to me, okay? No matter what we're each going through, whenever you need someone to talk to; a listening ear, you can confide in me. Even if it's in the middle of the night, you wake up from nightmares, call me. I'm here." At this point, a tear ran down his cheek. "You are my best friend. Yes, I have Alexx, Natalia, Ryan, Horatio and even Jake but you're the only one I'm closest to. You're the only one I share all my secrets with. So basically, you're all I have. Losing you-"
"Hey." He held her hand. "You're not going to lose me."
"Are you sure? Cause by the looks of it, I am. I don't want relationships or anything else to get in the way of what we have."
"I'm not going to let that happen. I'm so sorry Cal. I promise. I'll be a better friend to you." She nodded, accepting his apology and promise. A few seconds of silence passed until Calleigh broke it.
"Well, you've always been a great friend to me. It's just these past couple weeks you've been a douche." She teased, a smile slowly appearing on her face.
Looking at her, Eric's smile mirrored her own. "Okay, okay. I admit I was being a-a douche." Then his face turned serious, "But as I said, I promise to be better."
"Good. Now let's head back before they send out the search team"
As they were putting back on their seatbelts, Calleigh remembered the credit card under her leg. "Oh. We need to find out how this card got in here."
"Yeah. When we get back to the lab, I'll call the bank and get some info."
Handing the card over to Eric, he noticed the scrapes on her arm. He had forgotten about it. Ignoring the card, he leaned over to open the glove compartment and pulled out a first aid kit. Gently, he held her arm closer to him, on his lap.
"Eric, you don't-" she whispered but was cut off.
"Will you stop? I don't want you getting an infection." He continued his gentle care. He cleaned the blood in and around the scrapes, applied an ointment then wrapped a gauze bandage. Before releasing her arm back to her, he placed a kiss on the bandage and apologized to her once more for good measure. This made her heart melt.
"Apology accepted."
In no time, they were back at Headquarters and walking into the elevator at the lab. "So, uh. Are you. Are you free after work?" Eric asked a little nervously.
"Yeah. I don't have any plans. Why?"
"So, no plans with Jake?"
"Eric, I'm free."
"Well, I was wondering if we could hang out. Maybe on the Pier we used to go to?"
"Hmmm." Finger tapping her chin. "On one condition."
"Anything."
"You buy me an Aunt Sherly's Ice Cream."
Aunt Sherly's Creamery was an ice cream shop located near the pier that they both frequented few years back. They had the best ice creams for Calleigh and the best milkshakes for Eric. It was the main reason they always hung out at that pier.
"Okay."
"And it has to be-"
"One scoop of chocolate fudge brownie and one scoop rocky road with a drizzle of chocolate fudge and rainbow sprinkles on a waffle cone."
"Aww. You remembered."
"It's a wonder you don't have diabetes."
"Hey. I have a sweet tooth. Besides, I barely eat it. The last time I had that was 2 years ago when we last visited."
"Ooh, you're going to crash tonight. Remember that time I took you to my twin nieces birthday party and you sat down and ate every sugary thing available."
"Oh gosh." She palmed her face. "Don't remind me."
"You jumped on that trampoline for what felt like hours, then jumped into the ball pit and crashed. I had to pull you out before the kids trampled you. You slept like a baby that night." They both laughed and giggled at the memory.
"I missed this." She said looking up at him. "Just us laughing and feeling happy. Even if it's just for a moment"
"Me too." The elevator doors opened on the lab floor and they both stepped out. "So, I'll see you later?"
"Well yeah. Who else is going to buy my ice cream?" They both smiled at each other and went their separate ways.