Hey people whats up? Hope your all doing fine, because I'm doing pretty good!
The chapter for this story took me a while to make so please be nice to me.
I do not own CSI: Miami!
Okay now for the story!
"Hello?" Shana said answering her phone, "Oh hey Ysabel, how are you?"
"I'm doing great. I just got off work and now I'm heading home, I just felt the need to call and chat with you."
" Ah well it's always nice to chat with you" Shana replied back chuckling, "My family and I just finished eating dinner at Sonny's and now we're heading home." Shana happily replied back just as her daughters started sing to the radio from the backseat.
Overhearing Noelle and Calleigh she smiled, "I think I can hear a couple of future choir members."
"I wouldn't doubt it, they love spending time with you."
"Yeah…you may have given birth to them, but they're my girls." She said with love seeping into her words. She heard Shana laugh and the door slam shut letting her know that they were home.
All the laughing stopped suddenly when over the phone Ysabel heard the loud, ear-deafening sound of a gunshot, then Shana and Noelle yelling 'Peter' and 'Daddy', before hearing two more shots being fired. After about a second of complete silence she heard a blood-curdling scream from Calleigh.
"Mom! Dad!" Calleigh cried out as she saw them lying on the ground with blood beginning to soak the carpet around them.
"David! Call 911! Tell them I heard gunshots and screaming at 105 West Jinkins Circle!" she yelled as she came running into her home.
She continued to hear Calleigh's wailing sobs before she called out to her, "Calleigh! Can you hear me? Calleigh!"
The sobs quieted down for a moment, "Hello?" her voice was quiet and broken.
"Calleigh it's Ysabel. What's going on over there?" she asked in a 'I'm trying to calm down and soothe the kid but it's not working' manner.
Calleigh started hiccupping, "Daddy's dead." Then she burst into tears.
"Calleigh what about your mom and Noelle?" she asked trying to get her to focus.
"They're dying. Mom is worse off though, Noelle was shot in the shoulder."
"Where was your mom shot Calleigh?" Ysabel asked while trying not to lose it herself.
There was a pause, "Somewhere in her side, I can't see it because of her clothes."
Over the phone she could hear the sirens getting closer, "Calleigh we called an ambulance, they should be there soon. I want you to go with them. I'll meet you at the hospital, ok?"
There was a quiet ok before the line went dead.
"David I'm going to meet Calleigh at the hospital. I don't know when I'll be back. I'll call you and tell you what's going on." Ysabel called out to her husband before grabbing her purse and running back out the door, wiping away stray tears in the process.
Jogging through the open doors of the emergency room, Ysabel looked around and spotted Calleigh sitting in one of the chairs crying her eyes out.
"Cal." She said trying to get the girl to look up. When she did her eyes were bloodshot and there was a river of tears flooding down her face. Her long hair was disheveled in her ponytail.
Calleigh's arms latched onto Ysabel's midsection and she started crying even more. Ysabel sat down in the chair behind her and slowly pulled the girl into her lap.
"What's happening now, Cal?"
"She's dead." The 11 year old mumbled through sobs. Ysabel's eyes widened.
"Who?" she asked slowly.
"Mom." After her answer Ysabel pulled her into a tight hug and started crying with her, crushed over the loss of her best friend since high school.
Minutes after, when Ysabel's sobbing slowed, she looked at Calleigh with red-rimmed eyes, "What about Noelle?"
"She's in surgery right now." She paused thanks to a hiccup, "They said it should take two more hours before we'll know anything."
Calleigh had dosed off with her head on Ysabel's shoulder at some point during her crying, Ysabel didn't want to wake her because she probably wasn't going to be getting much sleep for a while.
Sometime later while Ysabel had been running her fingers through Calleigh's hair, after she had settled herself comfortably on Ysabel's lap, Calleigh woke up, blinking the sleep out of her eyes.
"Hey Cal let's go get a snack ok?" Ysabel suggested trying to sound somewhat chipper. Calleigh just nodded her head quietly and they both got up and headed to the vending machine.
"What candy do you want?" Ysabel asked trying to get her to respond, but she just pointed to the Twix bar and looking up at her with a pitifully sad expression in her emerald green eyes.
After getting the candy and returning to their seats Calleigh didn't touch her snack, Ysabel became worried, Calleigh never left chocolate sitting untouched.
"Is there someone here for Noelle Duquesne?" the doctor asked the crowd. Calleigh immediately stood and rushed to him. Ysabel followed swiftly behind.
"How is my sister?" she asked the second she reached him.
"She's doing just fine, she has come out of surgery and is in her room. You can see her if you like. Be warned she may be a little out of it from the stuff we gave her."
Calleigh grabbed Ysabel's hand and dragged her toward Noelle's room. Ysabel yelled a thank you to the doctor before turning a corner in the hallway.
Calleigh slowed down when she reached the right door, coming to a stop in front of it, but made no move to open it.
For a whole minute she stood there staring at the doorknob, fearing that the doctor had been wrong and that her sister wouldn't make it.
Taking a deep breath she reached for the knob, slowly turned it, and entered the room.
"Cal!" Noelle shouted when she saw her sister enter the room, causing her sister to jump three feet in the air and Ysabel to chuckle.
"Don't do that!" Calleigh said firmly while walking towards her sister's bed.
"Hey Cal, you wanna straw kiss?" she asked excitedly holding out her cup of water that had a straw sticking out of the top.
"Huh?" Calleigh looked at her with an extremely confused look covering her small features.
"OH MY GOSH! Do you see the purple elephant in the corner?" Noelle shouted while animatedly pointing to the left corner of the room.
"Uh…yes?" she answered as more of a question then a statement. Ysabel felt like she was about to die from holding in her laughter.
"I love you." Noelle said in a happy go lucky tone.
Chuckling Calleigh responded with I love you too.
"I'm glad to see you awake Noelle." Ysabel said with a smile covering her happy expression. She then came forward and gave her a light hug trying to avoid her injury.
Calleigh came closer to her sister, pulling out her Twix bar, and handing it to her, "I picked this out for you."
Noelle took the candy with a grin, "Twix, my favorite!"
"I know." Calleigh said looking a bit sheepish.
Ysabel then spoke up, "Noelle, Calleigh and I are going to go home to shower and grab a change of clothes, we'll be back in a few hours."
Noelle's smile dissipated, "Oh, okay I guess I'll see you later."
"I love you." Ysabel said to her before giving her a kiss on her forehead.
"I love you too." She answered back, her smile returning.
"Why did we have to leave?" Calleigh almost whined as they were walking down the hall towards the exit.
"Well we need to get you and Noelle some clothes for a few days and you would probably like to take a shower." She answered looking down at the child.
Calleigh just nodded her head.
Before they could exit the hospital two cops came up to them.
"Good afternoon." The dark-haired woman said while pulling out an official badge, "I'm CSI Priscilla Mendez and this is Adam Rodriguez. Are you Calleigh Duquesne?" she questioned pointing to Calleigh.
"Yeah." She answered quietly.
"We need to ask you a few questions if you don't mind."
Calleigh looked up at Ysabel, who nodded her head lightly, she then turned back to the cop, "Okay."
"Where were you and your family coming from last night Calleigh?" Mendez asked the question when they reached some of the waiting chairs and had sat down.
"We had just finished eating dinner at Sonny's, we were heading home to watch a movie like we do every Friday night, tonight was supposed to be dad's turn to pick the movie." Calleigh said while looking down at her hands, suddenly very intrigued with the fingerprints on her fingers.
"Where were you when the shots started?" Rodriguez then asked.
Calleigh looked up into his eyes, "I was still sitting in the car; I was trying to finish the page of the book I was reading when I heard the first shot. I threw the book down while unbuckling my seatbelt. By the time I got out of the car I heard two more shots. I ran inside and found my family on the floor." She finished with tears in her eyes from the memory of seeing her family bleeding to death.
"Did you see who shot them?" he asked.
"No, they were gone before I got inside." Calleigh choked out as some of the tears leaked out of her eyes. Ysabel wrapped her arm around her shoulder trying to comfort her.
"That's all the questions we have. We'll be in touch if anything comes up." She said looking at Ysabel before looking back at Calleigh with pity, "I'm so sorry for your loss."
The cops then left without another word.
With tears still coming Calleigh looked at Ysabel, "Could we go now?"
"Yeah let's go." Ysabel replied while looking at her with a sad expression then taking the child's hand in her own and walking out of the hospital.
"Cal, are you almost ready?" Ysabel called from the end of the hallway.
"Yeah, almost!" Calleigh yelled out over the music playing on her IPod Touch while pulling her new clean shirt over her head.
"Are you dressed?" she asked from outside the door.
"Yeah." Calleigh answered.
Ysabel opened the door and looked at Calleigh. She could swear she was looking at a mini Shana, she looked so much like her mother.
Calleigh looked over at her confused, "What?"
"Tu sei bella." Ysabel said before she took on a dazed look.
Calleigh's face scrunched up in loss of understanding, "Huh?"
Ysabel didn't answer her so Calleigh came forward and started waving her hand in Ysabel's face. "Hello…you in there?"
"Huh? What did you say?" she asked when she came back to planet earth.
"What did you say?" Calleigh questioned her again.
"Tu sei bella?" she smiled, "It's Italian. It means you are beautiful. I taught it to your mom when I first told her I was Italian, we would say it to each other all the time pretty much, a code between us I guess."
"You know you guys never told me the story of how you met." Calleigh said giving her a not at all subtle hint.
"Alright fine I'll tell you. You know my husband and your dad don't even know how we met. We've kept it a secret for fourteen years."
Story flashback
Ysabel heard the sobs the moment she entered the restroom. She had originally planned to just fix her makeup and head back out to the homecoming dance and be with her date, but being the caring girl she was, her plan changed the second she walked in.
She knocked lightly on the stall, "Hey are you ok?"
"I'm fine." She replied choking back a loud sob.
"I'm having a hard time believing that, why don't you come out and we can talk." Ysabel said kindly to the girl.
The girl didn't answer; she just quietly slid the lock on the stall door and opened the sad excuse of a privacy door. She looked up at Ysabel with red-rimmed puffy eyes.
Ysabel pulled her over to the sink counter and they sat down. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
"My boyfriend dumped me in front of all his friends and started dancing with that slut Audrey." She said while more tears were leaking out of her sad hazel eyes.
Ysabel started to wipe the tears away, "Hey don't cry. He is not worthy of your tears. He is an idiot; he doesn't realize what he just lost."
The girl just looked into her blue eyes, "How would you know that? You don't even know me."
"What's your name?" Ysabel questioned her.
"Shana."
"And now I know you Shana. And trust me there are way better guys out there." Ysabel said with a sweet smile.
Shana laughed as her tears started to disappear, "Thanks. What's your name?"
"I'm Ysabel."
"It's nice to know you too, Ysabel." She paused for a moment, "You know I just wish I could get back at him or something."
"Well I'm not one for violence, but I think a good slap in the face is in order." She chuckled.
"Would you come with me? I could use the support." She asked shyly.
Ysabel smiled, "Of course I will. Let's go do it now, I wanna see his face. But before we go let's fix your makeup, we don't want him to know you were crying over him."
Shana smirked, "Very true."
Completing her fix up Shana looked in the mirror and did a half smile half frown, "Well I guess this is as good as it's gonna get. No wonder he picked Audrey over me, she is way more beautiful."
Ysabel's jaw dropped in shock for a moment, "Whoa whoa whoa! What on earth are you talking about? You look great! Audrey doesn't compare."
"Really?" Shana asked quietly.
"Tu sei bella." Ysabel said very straight forward.
"What's that?"
"It's Italian; my mom says it to me all the time. It means you are beautiful." She answered smiling brightly.
Shana smiled the biggest smile since they started talking, "Thanks. And you're Italian?"
"Yep! Now let's go give that guy a piece of our minds!"
End story flashback
"You should have seen his face after Shana slapped him, it was priceless. And we have been best friends ever since." Ysabel said smiling at the memory that felt like it had happened yesterday.
Calleigh had a look of awe on her face, "My mom slapped someone? But I've never seen or heard her do anything violent."
"Well she was a little different when she was younger." Ysabel said with a large grin crossing her features. "She was tough and she had a very independent personality. Of course that changed when she got married and had you guys then she was a softy, but she was still tough when she needed to be."
Calleigh was shaking her head, "I have a hard time believing that about my mom."
Ysabel laughed and came forward and gently took Calleigh's face in her hands, "Well you better believe it. Because it's the honest to God absolute truth."
Calleigh and Ysabel walked back into the hospital and headed towards the elevator. When they entered it they pressed the button for the third floor and watched as the doors closed in front of them. It was dead silent in the elevator with the exception of the elevator music playing. An awkward silence fell upon the two.
"So…" Calleigh drawled.
"Yeah…" Ysabel replied.
The doors opened a moment later, instantly receiving sighs of relief from the two. They headed toward Noelle's door and before they opened it they heard sobbing coming from inside. They rushed in.
Calleigh all but ran to her sister, "What's wrong Noelle?"
Noelle's dark blue orbs of sorrow landed on Calleigh's green ones, "I just heard about mom and dad."
Calleigh's eyes started to fill with newly unshed tears; she pulled her sister into a tight hug, avoiding her injured shoulder.
Ysabel sat in one of the two chairs sitting in the room and let the tears start falling as she watched the two children mourn the loss of their parents. She thought to herself that they were too young to lose their parents right now.
The tears started leaking out of Calleigh's eyes as she held onto her sister, "We'll be okay." She sobbed trying to convince herself along with her sister.
"How will we be okay Calleigh? We will NEVER be okay! OUR PARENTS ARE DEAD!" she yelled making Calleigh jump up into the air and out of her sister's arms.
Calleigh started to cry harder after hearing her older sister yell at her. Noelle's eyes softened from her quick burst of anger and were quick to fill with regret, "Calleigh I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."
Calleigh just nodded her head while looking at the floor. Noelle took her sister's hand to get her to look at her; she then scooted over on her hospital bed and made room for her sister. Calleigh silently laid down next to Noelle, her tears still sliding down her cheeks. With her uninjured side, Noelle rubbed soothing circles in between Calleigh's shoulder blades. Calleigh's eyes closed in comfort, "Noelle, mom and dad are both gone. What's going to happen to us?" she asked in a strangled voice.
Noelle sighed, "I'm not sure Calleigh…I'm not sure." She paused in silence while staring out the window into the afternoon sunlight, "We may be going into the foster care system…and we might get separated from each other."
Her answer caused Calleigh to latch onto her sister and began crying new tears.
Ysabel's head shot up at Noelle's words, "You are not going into the system." She stated outright like she knew exactly how the world would end this situation.
Noelle and Calleigh both looked up at her with confused and tired stares, "What do you mean? Where else are we going to end up?" Calleigh questioned.
Ysabel stood up out of her chair and went and stood over them like a guardian angel would, "Because you're staying with me."
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