Trunk

Eric sat by his friend's bed, not sure how much he knew. "Kaya and Lina are okay. They've got Mari for a slumber party. Kaya and Mari think we're still all working."

"Nat's going to be okay, H. Look at what she's survived already. She's one of the strongest women I know." Tied for the strongest with Calleigh in his book, followed by his mom and sister in second, then Lina in third.

"I know." He made sure Calleigh hadn't come back before he said the next. "I'm proud of Calleigh. Only she and Natalia could ever put up with any of us, much less the field. But honestly, I'm scared to death. It doesn't matter if she's working a scene with me or not. There's no guarantee that I could protect her any better than she could or you guys could. I love her. I love our family. And I can't lose anyone else." He paused. "But I don't say anything because I know that's where she wants to be. She wouldn't be happy staying in the lab all the time or being anything but a CSI. So what it all boils down to is trusting both that she's going to be okay and the family's behind us either way." He wasn't sure that his words were coming out the way he wanted them to, but he just wanted Horatio to know that he understood how his friend felt about Natalia because he felt the same about Calleigh.

"Kinda have to be to put up with us, right?" Eric grinned.

"Shaken. She's close to both of you, H. She thinks of you as a dad, maybe the closest she's gotten to a real one."

Eric did as Horatio told him, as he always tried to do, and returned holding Calleigh's hand.

Calleigh put on her typical Southern belle smile, not the real one, but the one that she wore when she was upset and trying not to cry and not wanting to admit it. "I'm fine, Horatio. I'm not hurt. We need to get you and Nat better so you can go home to the girls..."