Its 9:58am, and still no sign of Calleigh.

"I think the world is going to end." Said Speedle in his monotone voice, as he lifted a fingerprint off a glass window.

"Why?" questioned Eric.

"Calleigh is late and ignored dispatch."

Eric chuckled, "Oh." Then got serious again, "Yeah, that is weird. I'm kind of worried though. The only time she ever came in late was because of that car accident she was in 3 years ago."

One night, three years ago, Miami was experiencing a bad rain storm. Day shift were advised to get home quickly, to not get trapped in it. Calleigh, however, had outstanding reports that she just did not want to leave it for the next day. That caused her to leave around 7 that night when the rain was building up heavily. The morning after Calleigh called and said that her car had skidded off the road and crashed into a tree. The tree branch also fell on top her car. They visited her in the hospital, where she wore a neck brace, cast on her leg and had a few scratches and bruises on her skin. She was lucky to be alive. Eric remembered her emotional struggles weeks after when she couldn't work and had physiotherapy. It was one of the rarest times he ever saw her cry.

"Yeah," Speed's voice snapped Eric out of his thoughts, "but she still called to let us know."

"I'll give her call when I'm finished."

After a few more minutes, they packed up the Hummer and hopped in. Speed drove while Eric sat in the passenger seat and made the call. No answer. He tried again. Same results.

Speed glimpsed Eric's troubled face, looking down at his phone. "You think it's something serious?"

He sighed, "I hope not."

When they got to the lab and into the elevator, Eric decided to try calling Calleigh again. This time, she answered.

"Calleigh?"

"Morning Eric."

Something was off. That does not sound like the bubbly, sprightly, southerner he knew and loved. Wait, what? Where did that come from?

"Good morning to you too. Are you okay? Where are you?"

There was silence and what Eric thought to be a grunt, but it was soft. "I'm in the locker room. I just got here. I'm so sorry I missed the call out. I….I got caught up in something. I already spoke to Horatio so, I'll process whatever you boys have for me when you get back."

"Okay. Well, I'm glad to hear from you. I thought, I mean, we thought, something seriously bad had happened to you." The doors opened to the lab floor. "We're in the lab now. We have a few, bullets and two discarded weapons for you, but you would have to check on Alexx for the rest of the bullets. The victim's body was riddled."

"Okay. I'll pay her a visit. See ya." Then she hung up. Speed and Eric walked into Trace with boxes of evidence.

"What did she say?" When Eric told him, he replied, "Has to be something serious to make her ignore a call out."

Both relieved that she was on the premises and seemed fine, they processed the evidence each recovered in separate labs. Eric was running the fuming chamber when Calleigh called. "Sup"

"I'm only seeing the casings. Where's the gun and the other bullets?"

"Oh yeah. I'm processing the guns for prints and there was blood on the bullets, so I dropped them off by Valera to confirm if they all matched the Victim's. But when we're done, I'll bring them to you."

"Okay great. Thanks."

When Eric was finished, he walked over to DNA. Valera relayed her results. Out of the 6 blood covered bullets recovered, on 5 had the victim's blood, but the blood on that 1 bullet came back X,Y; male.

"So, there is a possibility someone else, a man, was near the victim when the shootout happened. His shot was a through-and-through."

"Most likely."

"Yeah. Well, thanks Valera." He left with the envelope of bullets and the boxes that held the guns he processed and was on his way to Calleigh.

Opening the door, he saw her bent over, looking through the microscope. Her wavy, golden hair curtained the side of her head, obscuring his view from her face. She was so focused on what she was doing, that she didn't notice him standing there. As he was about to greet her, she raised her right hand to adjust the scope. That was when Eric noticed how red her knuckles looked on her pale hand. "Calleigh?"

She was startled. "Eric! Don't sneak up on me like that." She turned her head to him for a fraction of a second before looking back into the scope. "Just leave them on the table. I'll buzz you when I get the results." But Eric didn't say anything. Instead, he grabbed her hand to get a closer look at it. She pulled it away.

"How did you get that?"

"It's nothing." She replied, head still down in the scope.

"Cal, that's not nothing. I've had that a few times. You either punched something or someone. Which is it?" He leaned onto the counter, arms folded. He was not leaving until he got an answer.

She sighed and pulled her hand in towards her. Even though she was no longer looking into the scope and was now looking down at her hand, her hair still hid her face. "I may have punched someone."

"What? Why?" He was flabbergasted. He knew Calleigh was a tough gal and could handle any situation sent her way, but she was also calm and professional and never used violence to diffuse a situation. "Wait, is that why you came in late?"

"Yeah." Her voice dropped lower, "Kinda."

"How?" She stayed quiet. "Calleigh." While talking to her, he noticed how she would only angle her head slightly, as if to keep her hair from uncovering her face. Strange. "Cal, look at me." She didn't move. "Calleigh." He placed a finger under her chin and carefully tilted her head towards him. He gasped. She had a black eye, a small, stitched cut above her brow and a busted lip.

"Trust me, the guy looks worse." She said with a smirk.

"GUY? A guy did this to you? How did this happen? Wait, was it a boyfriend? Cal I swear, If he did this, I'll knock him the f- "

"Whoa, whoa." She interrupted his tirade of questions, "Relax, it's not a boyfriend. I don't even have a boyfriend. Look, this morning, as I was driving out my driveway, I saw my neighbour, Lianne, tussling with some guy on her lawn."

"Lianne. That's the new neighbour who just moved in across the street from you, right?

Calleigh nodded. "The guy was throwing slaps and punches left and right, so, I intervened. I'm a cop. I couldn't just drive away. I identified myself but since I rushed out of the car, I forgot my badge, so he didn't believe me. Told me to mind my business. Made fun of my height and said I looked like a child and need to stay out of grown people's business." Then mumbled, "I mean it didn't help that I was wearing a baby pink blouse and a matching flower hair barrette."

"They do make you look cute." That earned him a death stare before she continued to recount her morning events.

"Anyway, I tried to push him off Lianne but then he backhanded me and then turned around and punched me in the face. When I fell, he sent some kicks to my torso and went right back to her. I got up, kicked him in the nuts, and when he dropped to his knees, I packed a few punches to his face until he knocked out. Officers came and took him away."

Eric was speechless. "Wow."

"Yep. After I gave the officer my statement, I went to emergency to get a quick stitch and now I'm here."

"And you're okay, right? No internal bleeding or concussion."

"A little bruised up and slight pain that can be easily cured by painkillers but otherwise, I'm fine."

Eric sighed in relief then smirked. "You know what's funny? I was in this similar situation about, what, 4,5 months ago? Weird."

"Oh yeah." She giggled, "Prize fighter."

He laughed with her, "Now who's the prize fighter."

"More like the prize punching bag."