The day turned from happy, to horrid, in a matter of seconds.

Sirens were blaring, people were shouting and you heard cries of distress.

He knew what his duty was; he had already passed the uniformed officers and was standing at the scene. But he was also incredibly worried. As he walked closer to the big scene, he took out his cellphone. Hitting speed dial one, he pressed the phone to his ear, and stopped to look around.

She wasn't at the scene, he would have spotted her already. And he knew what she was wearing. His worry was starting to get more priority than the smashed car in the monument. The car could wait. He had to find her first. There were a lot of brunettes around, so you would think that searching for a blonde would be easy.

He was redirected to her voicemail, and though it could be good or bad, he couldn't help but dwell on the bad.

The large crowd was being cleared, except none of the officers seemed to notice a girl—child, really—standing in the middle of the blocked-off street.

"Daddy!" It was ultimately the anguish in the girl's voice that made him change route and go to her. "Papa!" The girl was close to crying. Eric stopped near her and squatted down to her level. A solemn tear trailed down her face, but she turned to Eric.

"Hola, mi nombre es Eric. Como te llama?" he asked her, and the girl's eyes went wide, not expecting the man to know her native language.

"Amalia, but they call me Mia," she said softly. The girl couldn't be older than four years old, had light brown hair and brown eyes. She had a sad expression on her face, and she tugged at one of her brown curls.

"Mia, are you looking for your dad?" The girl nodded. "What happened?"

"We were standing over there," she said as she pointed. "And then people ran and now I can't find'im!"

"Okay, sweetheart, calm down." Eric gently stroked the girl's hair. "What's your daddy's name?"

"Mario Rodriguez."

"I'll tell my colleagues to look for him, okay?" The girl nodded.

"Did the car hit my daddy?" she girl asked, distress and agony visible in her eyes and tone.

"I don't know." It was then that he noticed the bloodstain on her dark-green shirt, and he feared the worst. "Let's get you checked out, okay?" The girl nodded and slipped her small hand into his seemingly big one, when he led her to the nearby ambulance. Despite the day's events, he couldn't help but smile at the girl easily trusting him.

Ten minutes later, Mia was still sitting with the paramedic's, and Eric finally caught up with Horatio.

"H, it's a mess," he said. The man nodded and removed his sunglasses.

"Eric, where is Calleigh?" Eric took a deep breath.

"I don't know." Upon the boss' look, he continued. "We got split up, I didn't think it mattered, we agreed that if we lost each other we'd meet each other at the Chinese place down the road at noon." Upon saying that, he looked at his watch, and realized it was ten past noon.

"Go to that place, Eric, see if she's there." Eric turned to go, but hesitated.

"H, there's a little girl, she can't find her father. Her name's Mia."

"Where is she?" Eric pointed to the ambulance.

"Over there, her father's name is Mario Rodriguez."

"I'll handle it, Eric, you go find Calleigh."

"Thanks H." Eric turned and left. As he walked across the cleared street, he looked at all the innocent, scared bystanders. It had been exactly 30 minutes, and there were still ambulances coming and going. It was a horrible sight, people bent over family members. He saw officer Walden performing CPR and yelling for a paramedic. There were bodies covered by white sheets. People were crying. An ambulance had just arrived, and ran to help out officer Walden. They rushed the man into the ambulance, and the woman who was bent over him was left behind, sobbing.

He noticed a teenager leaning against a monument, blood seeping from his leg and arm, yet nobody was helping him. He couldn't help but run over to him and helping him. After paramedics arrived to help the injured guy, he could finally leave, but the feeling of helplessness engulfed him. His chest constricted and he could feel a knot in his throat.

There were families everywhere, people huddled together in small groups. He wasn't sure he had ever experienced something so heart-wrenching. Some Presidents' Day this is, he thought.

He muscled his way through the crowd of people standing behind the police tape, trying to see if their friends or families were okay.

Within a few minutes he was at the Chinese place, and as he stood in front of the empty restaurant, he looked at his watch. It was already twenty minutes past noon, and he couldn't suppress the feeling of dread that passed through him.

Calleigh was never late.