Title: Southern Swan
Author: Melanie-Anne
Email: melani_anne@yahoo.com
Rating: PG
Pairing: Horatio/Calleigh
Summary: "But she wanted more. She wanted the fairytale."
Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: Inspired by all the sad-Calleigh fics being posted lately. I needed something to smile about :o) Minor spoilers for the sniper ep.
~*~*~
She'd been worried at first. Scared that she was too much like her father. Afraid that he'd been right, that she was worthless. That there was nothing left in her to give.
She hated that feeling.
So, she'd done her damndest to prove she wasn't a nobody. She'd poured everything into her job so she could be the best. And she was.
But she wanted more.
She wanted the fairytale.
When she was little, she'd pretend that she was Cinderella and instead of an evil stepmother, she had an evil father. She never found her prince though, because nobody matched the picture in her head.
Until she met Horatio.
She didn't know what it was about him that first attracted her: his confidence, his desire for justice . . . or something as simple as his smile. If anyone had asked, she wouldn't have been able to name the feeling. He was just Horatio. And somehow that was everything.
Just like the fairytales she'd loved so much, it had taken one small conversation for her to no longer feel like an ugly duckling.
"Black's not my color."
"I beg to differ."
When he'd asked her to dinner some time later, she'd said yes. When he'd told her she was beautiful, she hadn't contradicted him because, for a change, she actually felt beautiful.
When he'd said, "I love you," she'd smiled. Kissed him. Said, "I love you, too."
But when he'd asked her to marry him, she'd panicked. Regressed back to being the ugly duckling her father had always told her she was.
With infinite patience, Horatio broke through her barriers once again. And this time, she let him all the way in. This time, she said, "Yes."
Now, she lay in a hospital bed and absently let her fingers travel to her latest scar. Horatio hadn't been able to rid her completely of all her insecurities. She'd felt fat and ugly and useless. He'd told her she was more beautiful than ever.
When he entered the room carrying their son, she decided that she'd been wrong. Giving birth was the most wonderful thing she'd ever done. Horatio was looking at her with such love that she felt tears spring to her eyes. She held out her arms to hold her baby, and smiled down at her son.
He had soft, downy hair, red like his father's. He was perfect. This moment was perfect. She wanted to remember it forever.
She looked at Horatio and saw the tears in his eyes. "Thank you, Cal," he said.
She didn't try to stop her own tears. She grabbed his hand and pulled him closer to her so she could kiss him.
She was Cinderella, Horatio was her prince, and they had found their happily-ever-after.
~*~*~
