Calleigh opened her eyes in confusion and panic set in. Where was she? Her vision was blurry and her long blond hair was matted to her face with something warm and sticky. The only thing she could hear was the pounding in her ears, and the tinkle of broken glass as it fell off her shirt when she shifted in her seat. Calleigh was trying to clear her head because she knew that something was missing, but thinking made her head hurt worse. She just wanted to drift away in the darkness that pulsed around the edges of her vision. The throbbing in her head also made sleep sound like a very good idea. Just as she was falling into the abyss of unconsciousness Calleigh snapped awake. She knew what was missing. Why was David not crying? He was only four, and if she were to lose David her life would be like deep space, void of light, warmth, oxygen, and most importantly life. She twisted in her seat to look for David, but all she saw was his empty booster seat and his seat belt that had been cut. The hair on the back of her neck and arms stood up and the acid churned in her stomach. Where was her son?
Calleigh reached to her right hip for her cell phone, it was gone but her badge was still there, so she reached for her left hip praying to feel cold metal, but all she felt was her empty gun holster. Calleigh closed her eyes to think for a moment, her head was still hurting but her baby needed her now. She had to put the pieces together. Just like at work. She was a detective. She could do this. What did Horatio, her husband and mentor always tell her? Follow the evidence. What was her evidence? Her son was missing, his seat belt straps had been cut, her phone was missing, and her gun was missing. The situation was not looking good from Calleigh's point of view. Another fact that worried her was that only a few people knew that she was left handed, which means that she had a left hand draw, and therefore wore her gun on her left hip.
Calleigh looked around her Ford Escape. If she was going to help David, then she had to get out. All that she could tell from the inside of the Escape was that it appeared that the truck had been in an accident, and both doors had been rumpled under the force of impact, and would not open. She was able to undo her seat belt and wiggle onto the center console. She braced herself against the seats with her arms as she kicked with everything she had. After her third kick the shattered windshield began to give, two more kicks and it fell out onto the Escape's hood. Calleigh wiggled through where the windshield had been and jumped off the hood. Once she was out of the Escape she gave herself a quick once over. She noticed that she had cuts and scrapes but nothing that seemed too bad. Her face hurt but she knew that was from the air bag. Her main concern was for her unborn child. She was two months pregnant. She hadn't even told Horatio yet. In fact she had just found out today. She didn't seem to be bleeding so she would deal with that later. Right now she had to save her other child.
She looked around and realized that she was in a ravine. It appeared that her Escape had been hit from the driver side and careened off the road and down into the ravine and slammed into the trees on the passenger side. Calleigh knew that she had to get out of the ravine so she started the haphazard trek up the side of the ravine. When she reached the top of the ravine, she knew why she was missing her gun; David's father Jake had him and was putting him in the passenger side of his F250. Jake knew that she was left handed, and so he knew that she wore her gun on her left hip.
Jake had not seen David since he was two, when Judge Simpson had taken his parental rights away from him because he had beat Calleigh so bad that she had spent eight days in a coma and another two weeks in the hospital. When Jake had finished with Calleigh that time she had a fractured wrist, a concussion, a punctured lung, eight broken ribs, and internal bleeding. Calleigh knew that she was not a physical match for Jake, especially when she as unarmed, but she also knew that if she did not do something that Jake would take her child away from her. Jake finished fastening a crying David into his passenger seat and turned to walk around to the driver side of his truck when he spotted Calleigh. A thin cruel smile spread across his face as he told her that she should really take better care of her self, because she looked like hell. Calleigh did not say a word as she took a step towards his truck and Jake pulled out her gun and leveled it at her said "Calleigh, don't be a hero, I'm taking my son and if I have to kill you…I will." Calleigh knew that she only had to stall for a few minutes; Horatio would be coming home down this street any minute now; it was the only way to get to their house.
Just as soon as the thought crossed her mind she could hear a vehicle coming around the corner. Jake heard it too, and continued walking around the truck keeping the gun trained on her the entire time. Horatio brought his truck to a stop twenty feet from Calleigh and jumped out with his gun drawn. "Jake, put the gun down!" Horatio shouted. Jake just laughed and said "That is not going to happen. I'm taking my son and no one is going to stop me. I will shoot her if that is what it takes." Horatio calmly said, "Jake, you don't have a son. The only man that David calls 'Daddy' is me. You lost that privilege a long time ago when you put his mother in a coma." Jake turned the gun to Horatio and said "I just came to claim what is mine." Calleigh saw an opening and she charged him, but Jake spun on her at the last second and fired a shot. Calleigh took the shot in the chest and fell to the ground. Just as Calleigh hit the ground Horatio fired his weapon and the bullet found its mark in center of Jake's chest. He dropped the gun and slumped dead to the pavement. Horatio called out to Calleigh, terrified that he was going to loose the one woman he loved. As he got to her side she struggled to sit up. Calleigh still had her Kevlar on, and it did its job. The Kevlar stopped the bullet. He helped her up and she ran as fast as she could to Jake's truck and jerked the passenger door open to get to her son. All she wanted to do was hold David, and as she did just that Horatio called in the incident, and minutes later she heard her comrades coming to the rescue.
While Eric and Ryan processed the scene, Horatio held a crying Calleigh and told her over and over "It's going to be okay sweetheart. It's all over. Jake is gone. He will never hurt you again." After Alex finished with Jake's body she went over to Calleigh and David. She gave them both a good looking over and told Horatio that they were both ok and could go home. That night after they got David in bed Horatio was helping Calleigh clean and bandage her cuts and scrapes in their bath room.
After a few minutes Calleigh took Horatio's hand and told him that the rest of the scrapes were fine. She led him to the bed room and sat him down on the foot of the bed. She started to pace in front of him as she spoke. Horatio could tell that she was nervous because she was wringing her hands, which was something Calleigh never did. When she started to speak her voice offered more evidence to her troubled mental state. "Horatio, um….I know that this is not something that we had planned for…I mean we have talked about it but I'm not sure that we are ready for it…um…" "Calleigh…what is it." Horatio interrupted. Calleigh burst into tears and said "Please don't' be mad! Horatio, I'm pregnant…" Horatio jumped to his feet and said "What?!?" Calleigh just started to shake and said "I'm sorry, I didn't plan it." Horatio walked over to her and wrapped her up in his arms. "Mad? You thought I would be mad? Calleigh you have just made me the happiest man on earth! We are going to have a baby!" Calleigh's tears took on a whole new meaning. They were now tears of happiness. She said "When I found out I was so happy, but I didn't know how you would take it. I know you have been through a lot with Kyle and Julia. I just didn't want to upset you!" "Calleigh, sweetheart, you could never upset me!"
Just then Horatio remembered what all had happened that day. "Calleigh, maybe we need to take you to the Emergency Room, after what happened today I don't want to take any chances with our baby's health or yours." Calleighlaughed now. "Alex checked me out and gave me a clean bill of health…she also told me that the baby would be fine. The accident didn't hurt me that bad and all the cuts and scrapes just came from the glass from the windows. We are both fine, but if it will ease your mind, I do have my first prenatal appointment tomorrow. Want to come with me?" Horatio just shook his head and laughed, "So how did Alex know you were pregnant?" "She has been trying to get me to take a test for about a month. Today she came in with one and marched me to the bathroom and made me take it. You should have seen the smile on her face when she seen the positive result. She gave me a very smug 'I told you so!" Horatio laughed once again and kissed her on her forehead, "Lets go to bed sweetheart." That night he made slow gentle love to Calleigh. He had to show her just how much he cared for her and how afraid he had been to lose her that day. Afterwards he held her in his arms as she drifted into a deep and restful sleep. Later he fell asleep with a smile on his face thinking that Calleigh had given him what he had always wanted – a family.