Eric Delko - Relationships With Colleagues

Relationships With Colleagues

Eric has been involved with a number of women, including co-worker Natalia Boa Vista (who at one point thought she might be pregnant with their child). Despite Natalia's apparent duplicity (he told an FBI agent that she slept with him to get information regarding the lab), he remains protective of her when her ex-husband harasses her at crime scenes under the pretext of performing his duties as crime scene cleanup.

He also had a relationship with the unstable Gloria, who broke both Natalia's car windows (because of Eric's former relationship with her), and also of Eric's sister Marisol (thinking she was Eric's wife). She stole Marisol's purse from the car, and later was suspected of being the sniper who shot Marisol, when Gloria is found to have been in hotel room below the source of the sniper's shot, and when a sniper rifle turns up in the trunk of her car. She ends up having been there with her own rifle to shoot Marisol, but couldn't do it, and then hearing the shots from the room above her. However, she did provide some important information that lead to the capture of the real suspects.

At one point, Delko "tooths" - text messages - someone for anonymous sex, though he later seeks counseling when his badge goes missing after one such encounter. Despite any appearance of womanizing on his part, Eric Delko is actually protective of women in general, standing up for them against abusive men.

He has a close relationship with colleague Calleigh Duquesne. They care greatly for each other; when he was shot in the head, she stayed by his side in the hospital. Early in season 7, it is shown that after the shooting, Eric started thinking about his future and admits to his therapist that he's been thinking about settling down and he'd like for it to be with Calleigh, revealing he has fallen in love with her. Later in Season 7, Eric finally admits to Calleigh that he "can't imagine living his life without her" as she lies unconscious in the hospital after suffering from smoke inhalation, and they kiss in the episode, "Sink or Swim", after Eric is released from ICE custody. Eric is seen waking up nude in Calleigh's bed in the episode, "Wolfe in Sheep's Clothing", and they share the bathroom as they get ready for work. As of Season 7, they appear to keep their romantic relationship under wraps, especially at work. In the season 8 episode, "In The Wind", Calleigh and Eric are seen kissing passionately in bed early in the morning. Further on in season eight, Calleigh is shown to have a key to Eric's apartment, and their relationship seems to be serious.

Delko was good friends with fellow CSI Tim Speedle, who was killed in a shootout when his firearm jammed because of poor maintenance. It had been Speedle who "welcomed" a rookie Delko to the lab with a friendly hazing. He is at first deeply resentful of Speedle's replacement, Ryan Wolfe, especially when some of Speedle's previous cases come under review. For some time, there is a measure of verbal sniping between the two. At one time, Delko fails to show at a crime scene to which Ryan is called on his day off, and Ryan is injured when a suspect shoots him in the eye with a nailgun; unsurprisingly, Ryan is upset with Eric, but in the end they manage to work out their differences. Eventually, Delko comes to accept Ryan's presence, and they become close friends. Since Season 4, the two regularly partner in solving cases and there were several instances where they bail each other out.

Delko was also friends with audio-visual lab technician, Dan Cooper, and they are seen in one episode watching a beach volleyball tournament together with a group of bikini-clad women. When Cooper unwittingly reveals their activities to Natalia, she becomes offended at Delko. He and Cooper's friendship ends when he and Calleigh discover that Cooper had stolen Speedle's credit card and used it.

Delko became Horatio Caine's brother-in-law when his sister Marisol married Horatio, but their family bond was tragically severed when Marisol succumbed to the gunshot wound she suffered at the hands of a Mala Noche sniper. They uncover the member who ordered the hit, Antontio Riaz, and pursued him all the way to Brazil. Riaz was killed with his own knife after refusing to surrender.

Delko is shown to be protective of his family and those he cares about, even if it brings him into conflict with his work and colleagues. Towards the end of season 7, he chose to help his biological father, who is a Russian mobster, despite Calleigh expressing her concern about his choice. When his sister Marisol, also Caine's wife, died as a result of a Mala Noche sniper attack, he follows Caine in tracking them all the way to Brazil to bring them to justice.

Delko is usually the one who plays practical jokes on CSI newbies. When Ryan first started out with the department, he and Calleigh ostensibly send Ryan to supposedly help Alexx with the autopsy only for a hapless Ryan to witness a headless cadaver for the first time, shocking him. He and Ryan play a prank on new coroner, Tara Price, by putting a robotic dummy under the sheets and making it sit up, thus frightening her.