Dreaming Blind
By bahocean
Summary: "you will never convince her that loving and losing someone is worse than being without them at all."
Disclaimer: If you recognize them from CSI: NY, then they ain't mine. Otherwise, they are.
Feeedback: I LOVE Feedback! But no flames, my muse doesn't have marshmallows
Author's Note: I started writing this a year ago, and then quit. Therefore it was written before Season 7 happened. I found it recently, and decided to finish it. It's my first CSI: NY story and I hope you like it.
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She was far from perfect. She was messy, stubborn, ill-tempered, and hated getting up before morning had already made its presence known to the world. But because of her life and her choices, she made known to one man the road to healing grief, and showed two others the truth of their own hearts.
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Calina Caldecott was tired. She was grumpy. She was wishing fervently for coffee…and that was SO NOT her drink of choice! And she was also hoping that she had some duct tape around. Maybe Andra Montague would stop talking if her mouth was taped shut! Knowing Andra, though, that option was about as likely as tropical temperatures in Alaska. She sighed. "What do I have to do to get you to quit talking about this topic?"
Andra looked at her best friend since elementary school. Calina was smart, funny, sweet… and a pain in the ass when she wanted to be. Apparently, Calina felt like being dense too. "Humor me and do it!"
Calina scowled. "You want me to do this? Just out of the blue… Hey Calina, jump off the train? You feeling a little reckless?"
Now Andra's face wore a grimace. "Please. Do this one little thing. I won't bug you about it for at least a week."
"Can I get that in writing?"
"Ha ha Caldecott."
The aforementioned Caldecott woman stifled a grin, then a weary expression. "When and where?"
Andra grinned and hugged Calina. "Thanks so much!"
"Yeah yeah yeah. I really wanted to go on a blind date. Always been my dream. You owe me, Montague." She sighed again. "Ah, well. What's the worst that could happen?"
Those words could very well come back and bite the woman who said them in the…well, let's just say she could have trouble sitting down for the next little while.
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Calina hurried along the darkened New York City streets. She couldn't believe she had agreed to this. She HATED blind dates! Well, not so much blind fruit, just… Her mind was very unique. She shook her head at it, and caught the skulker behind her as she did. She sighed. She didn't have TIME to be mugged, blast it! She turned around, little defense bottle hidden in her hand. The would-be criminal stopped. "Okay, let's talk. I really don't have a lot of valuables on me. You really don't have time for a jail visit, which is what will happen if I scream in this nice neighborhood. So let's not do this, okay?" The mugger blinked, then swaggered. "Well if you can't scream, I'll be fine! Now hand it over." She shrugged. "Okay."
Then squirted the lemon-juice and cayenne pepper mix into his eyes.
As the man went down screaming, Calina picked her cell phone out of her purse. She turned slightly…and saw the dead body just out of the foot traffic of the Central Park West neighborhood. "Well, that's one way to get out of a date!"
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Detective Donald Flack Jr. had been having a couple of rough days…okay weeks…all right all right, make that a rough year. He was still dealing with the actions that had nearly messed up his relationships with his friends and co-workers. But in his defense, he missed her. He KNEW he wasn't dealing with Jessica's loss well, but he didn't know how else to cope. And it didn't help watching two of his best friends dance around each other like they were in the Bolshoi Ballet. He honestly wanted to lock Detectives Mac Taylor and Stella Bonasera in a room together until they saw that they loved each other as more than the almost freakishly close best friends they were! But he knew that until Mac saw and Stella admitted, and they both stopped running, they would continue their slow and shy dance. Jess would have helped him lock them in that room by now. She so would have groaned at Mac's newest attempt at moving on with his life.
As always, the thought of his late girlfriend, Detective Jessica Angell, brought a pang to his chest. He thought grieving was supposed to ease by now. Why was it still so hard to face each morning without her?
He snapped back to the crime scene, watching as the aforementioned blind idiots walked toward the body. The victim had been incredibly pretty, with long brown hair and a slender build. She had unfortunately been stabbed, by the looks of it, her blood staining the obviously expensive coat she wore.
Standing a few feet away were three people: two detectives and another young woman. She was attractive in a girl down the block kinda way: long blond hair, comfortable build, a coat bundled around her. As he glanced her way, the woman looked up and their eyes met. In them he recognized a kindred spirit: one who'd been wounded by life's cruel games. He walked toward the three, wondering about this woman. As he got closer, he noticed the color of those wounded eyes; a soft, dark brown. She smiled a greeting, following with a verbal one. "Hello, Detective."
Flack blinked once. "I'm sorry. How did…?"
"You crossed the crime tape, and you don't look like my idea of a M.E. Plus, your badge and no uniform."
Observant little warrior. He smiled, a smile that showed amusement. "I'll keep that in mind. Did you find the body, Miss…?"
Her whole face tightened in pain, then smoothed out. "Caldecott. Calina Caldecott," she said.
"And yes, I discovered the body. And though this may make me a suspect, she looks familiar."
Every investigative bone in his body peaked at the sound of THAT. "You knew her?"
Mac and Stella were by that time close enough to hear Don's comment. They, in tandem, swung to hear the young woman's reply.
She shook her head, then took another, careful look at the face of the young victim. She creased her brow, obviously trying for a positive ID. "Not know her, per se. Just seen her. My mother-in-law might…" that wince crossed her face again. "The woman in 512 East 81st might know who she is. Monica McGrath."
Oh, were the three detectives interested in THIS tidbit! "Your mother…?" Mac said, speaking for the first time.
"A script for a movie of the week I'd rather not get into. Monica's a wonderful person who's lived here for about fifteen years. I think the young woman lives around here too. If anyone would know her, Monica might. And I'm sorry to ask, but can I make a call? I have a promise to attempt to keep."
"Go right ahead," Stella informed her. "We have your information?" Calina nodded, then winced as she heard the voice of the reason she was in this spot at this time. "Calina! Calina!"
"Andra, I'm fine." Calina walked toward the stunning redhead with a willowy frame and hugged her. The three detectives, not intending to eavesdrop, heard the next words.
"You found ANOTHER body? How does this happen?"
Oh, did that get the attention of the NYPD!
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Mac Taylor was tired. That fact would be evident to a blind Seeing Eye dog. (Aubrey, somehow, had missed that fact.) He hadn't been sleeping well for days, and this new case was intriguing. That young woman, the witness, made him think of a song he'd heard somewhere, a song that haunted him with the refrain caught somewhere behind the curtain of memory. He wasn't interested in her romantically; he had enough trouble there, but she puzzled him. She had seemed so calm about the finding of someone she may have known and yet every inch of her tightened in pain at that slip of "mother-in-law". The way she spoke of the woman, however, held great affection and respect. It was all so strange.
The sound of his partner and best friend, Stella Bonasera's footsteps were clicking down the hall. It was sad that he knew those steps, the way he knew his own name. It meant he was probably spending too much time here. And he knew for a fact he was spending too much time here for Stella's liking. Why she cared so much… he shook his head. Better not to think of that.
Stella entered his office, papers and file in her hand. She sat down on his desk, her green eyes sparkling. "This is a very interesting case, Mac."
He grinned at her. "Do I want to know how so?"
"The witness was right. Mrs. McGrath knew our young victim. Says her name's Janice Tallentyre. Says she and the vic were neighbors, not incredibly close ones. She and her husband have lived in the area for fifteen years, and Janice moved in three years ago…with her boyfriend."
"We get a name?"
Stella looked mock-offended. "Don't you know me better than that? Steven Gladwell. He's apparently out of town. But I talked to a few of the other neighbors. Lately? There's been a young man coming to Janice's house when the boyfriend's not there."
Mac raised his eyebrows. "Sounds fishy."
"That's what I thought." She paused for a moment, a pause Mac took into account.
"What?"
"Well, it's nothing as regards the case, but I was asked how I found out she knew the vic. I told her about the wit. Mac, she almost teared up, she was so upset. Says the wit was, and I quote, "A brilliant young lady". She hasn't spoken to the wit in over a year. I was just wondering why."
Mac shook his head and smiled. Just like Stella, to get her curiosity riled. "Maybe they had a fight."
"Maybe. But I think it's more than that…Apparently, the wit- Calina?- has found two other bodies. And in both cases, she knew the vic."
Mac smiled slyly. "Well, well. That IS interesting. We should probably have another talk with Calina Caldecott."
End Part 1
