1.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Horatio asked Calleigh before they were about to enter the house that was the crime scene of two murdered children and their mother. His hand rested on the door knob to the front door as he shot a concerned look Calleigh's way. He knew Calleigh would be more vulnerable to these sort of crime scenes now when she had a five year old baby half sister to take care of. The mother went to jail for first degree murder and child abuse, and their father wasn't really reliable with his drinking problems. Calleigh was the little girl's only hope, even though they didn't knew each other then. Now they had a really strong bond. Almost like a mother and daughter sort of bond.

Calleigh took several deep breaths before she nodded.

" Yes, I'm sure." she lied. The truth was that one part of her didn't want to see what was behind that door but the other part wanted her to be able to do her job and not let her personal life getting in her way.

"All right then" Horatio said and opened the door.

Calleigh held on tight to her kit as she walked into the hallway, almost afraid to look. What was the matter with her? She'd been to at least a thousand crime scenes like this one before. Only once when involving a child, though. She swallowed hard and followed Horatio towards the children's bedroom.

The first thing that caught Calleigh's eyes was the mother on the hardwood floor, half in, half out of the children's room, the phone in her hand and a pool of blood surrounding her white silk blouse. Peeking around the doorframe, Calleigh saw the children. Her body stiffened and her heart skipped a beat or two. Both of them was in there. A boy and a girl. Calleigh made a guess they were approximately 5 and 8 years of age.

"Oh God..." she said bringing her free hand up to her mouth in shock. Both of the children were lying, as it seemed, in their own beds, hands and feet tied together with duct tape and black plastic bags covering their faces.

"Who would do something like this?" Calleigh said in barely an audible voice, fighting the urge to run in and rip the plastic bags off the children's faces in hope they would take one big deep breath, but she knew better than that. There was no chance they would still be alive by now. She sighed deeply and shook her head before turning it away.

"Calleigh. You okay?" Horatio asked placing a supportive hand on her shoulder.

Am I okay? Two small innocent children, one of them Molly's age, have been murdered, for crying out loud! Of course I'm not okay! She wanted to shout at him but knew better and nodded instead.

" Yeah. I just...I'm okay" Calleigh replied with another sigh and put her kit down to take out a pair of white gloves so she wouldn't compromise the evidence while processing the crime scene.

Eric pulled up outside the yellow crime scene tape surrounding the Canning family's house and front yard. Collecting his kit from the passanger seat he walked up to one of the officers and signed the klipboard before ducking under the tape.

It was a beautiful day. The the sky was blue, the sun was beaming down on him and it was not too hot and not too cold out.

Entering the house he put on his gloves and made his way to the others. Calleigh was photographing the scene and Horatio stood at the sideline, watching and thinking.

"Good, you're here Eric." Horatio smiled.

" Yeah, I'm sorry I'm late H. Got caught up in traffic."

" It's all right."

" So we've got the mother and the children. Where's the father?" Eric asked.

Just when Horatio opened his mouth to answer his question Calleigh cut him off.

"I'm sorry. I can't do this" She said giving the camera to Eric and made her way out of the room feeling both Horatio's and Eric's gaze at her back.

Without looking back once, she walked out of the house and didn't stop until she reached the curb. She ran her fingers through her hair and sat down. She hadn't noticed that her heart was pounding in her chest until now. Trying to fight back the tears she felt burning behind her eyes, she lowered her head so that her blonde hair could fall down and sheild her face just incase she would fail. She wasn't the kind of person to cry in public.

Hearing her breath turning into small sobs, Calleigh shook her head slightly. She couldn't remember the last time she had let a case get to her like this. It had probably never happened before. She just couldn't stand seeing those children like that. Lifeless and helpless.

"Calleigh."

Calleigh heard someone call to her from behind. She knew who the voice belonged to. It was Horatio's. Wiping away the only tear that had escaped her eye with the back of her hand, she stood up, tugged at her shirt and then turned to face her boss.

" I'm sorry, Horatio. I don't know what got into me. I just can't bear seeing those kids like that. It makes me think of Molly and..."

" Nothing will happen to Molly, Calleigh." Horatio said softly

" I know. It's just that...."

" I know, Calleigh. I know." Horatio said wrapping his right arm around her shoulders and leading her towards her hummer.

" Tell you what. It's almost lunch time. How about you go eat lunch and then drive back to the lab to process the evidence that has probably gotten in by then? Does that sound like a better idea?" He asked opening the door for her to the driver's seat.

Calleigh hesitated before she climbed inside and looked at Horatio.

" Are you sure?"

" Yeah. I'll just call Ryan down here. It's no problem."

" Thanks Horatio." Calleigh said and got a smile and a nod in reply from her boss before buckling up and pulling away from the curb.

Keeping her eyes on the road she couldn't get the pictures of the murdered Canning siblings and their mother out of her head. What if Molly and she was next? " Don't be silly" She said to herself out loud. Great, and now I'm talking to myself. Rolling her eyes, she thought maybe she could put on some music. Maybe it would make her think of something else. Reaching down to the stereo she pressed the play button. In the next second the happy tunes of child music filled the car. Calleigh smiled to herself remembering how Molly wanted to listen to her CD while riding to school.

" Rain, rain go away, come again another day. Daddy wants to play, rain, rain go away." Calleigh sang along to the childish adult voices and laughing a little before turning it off and changing CDs. Pressing the play button a second time it didn't take long before John Mayer's song Free Falling started to play and Calleigh sighed. She could really relax to this song, but it did not get her on other thoughts.

Half an hour later she had finished her lunch at a restaurant and was back inside her car. Feeling more and more worried and anxious for every minute that passed, she picked up her phone ready to call....who exactly? She tossed her cell into the back seat. She was angry. Angry at her herself for not being able to work the case like she use to. Maybe she should go see a therapist or something. No, no way. What was the matter with her?

Suddenly her cell started to ring in the backseat and she glared at it for a moment before crawling over there to answer it.

" Duquesne" She succeeded to answer without sounding too angry.

" Calleigh. It's me, Katlyn, from the bar. Your dad's here and...."

Calleigh closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead with her free hand. She wasn't in the mood for this at all. In the past three days she had had to go pick her dad up from the bar because he had been too drunk to drive home on his own. And what was he doing there now? It was only 1:30 in the afternoon!

" It's okay, Katlyn. I'll be there in ten minutes" Calleigh said, trying to sound as casual as possible before hanging up and tossing the phone in Molly's five point harness car seat. Now she had another reason to be angry and disappointed.

Crawling back to the drivers seat she buckled up and stared out the windsheild. This was just not her day. Now she had to drive to pick her dad up and after that she had to drive back to the lab.

It took a few seconds before it hit her. Today was the day her dad had promised to pick up Molly from school and be with her until Calleigh got home since she had to work late. Why would her father do this to her? It was really hard on her and she couldn't be everybody's mom!

"Goddamn son of a bitch" She muttered and slapped the steering wheel then pummeled the seat beside her. " Shit, crap, fuck, fart!"

Shit, crap, fuck, fart? she repeated in her head before bursting out laughing. What was she? Five years old? Like Molly?

Like the little boy who had his feet and hands tied together and had been smothered with a black plasitc bag.

" Shit" Calleigh said again, then burst into tears.