I am on a roll this week so I thought I would let you guys have the chapters when I finish them. I hope you all like this one.
Back at the crime scene where they found the girl, Eric was in the room where they had found Emily when they went down the secret hallway. Eric stood there for a minute before he went into the room. "What is it Eric?" Horatio asked. "This is just too real as to what could have happened to Calleigh." Eric replied. "Yes but it was not her so we can be thankful for that." Horatio said. Horatio was walking down the hallway, when he saw some blood on the wall. He called Eric over from the hall. "What is it H?" Eric asked when he got out there. "Does that look like blood to you?" Horatio asked, shinning a flashlight on the wall at the red drops. "It kind of does yes. It looks like medium velocity blood spatter from like a punch." Eric says as he takes a swab of the blood. "It can't be from the girl at this height." Horatio noted. "Well I am going to run the DNA and see just who it came from." Eric told Horatio, holding up the swab. "Keep me updated."
Horatio walked into the autopsy room where Tom was working on the post of the dead men. "Horatio, I am glad that you are here I have something to show you." Tom said with some excitement. Tom walked over to the man that Horatio had shot. "Look here, he has bruising on his ribs and he has a broken nose. I got some skin that was not his from the side of his nose and I sent it to Eric." Tom said. Horatio's cell rang and he picked it up. "Yes Eric." "H, I got the results back from the DNA sample from the wall that you found and it belongs to the man that you shot. Also the DNA that Tom sent is from the girl H."
"Thank you Eric" Horatio said then he hung up with a smile on his face as he figured out a little more about what happened at that house. "Why are you smiling?" Tom asked Horatio when he saw Horatio smile just a little bit. "The girl is the one that broke his nose Tom. And I think that she may also be the one that gave him those bruises." Horatio said with a small smile. Tom thought for a moment then said "Yes she may have been able to do this kind of damage." Horatio got another call. "Yes alright I will be right there." Horatio hung up and looked back at Tom. "If you find anything else call me ok?" Horatio asked. "Yep no problem." Tom replied.
Horatio found Calleigh in the break room with an envelope in her hand. She looked stressed as she waited for him to join her in the room. She had found the envelope in Emily's car exactly where she said it would be. She turned around and looked at Horatio when she heard him enter. "What is it Calleigh?" He asked her. Calleigh teared up as she handed him the envelope. "Emily asked me to give this to you and if you don't mind I am going back to the hospital." Calleigh said and walked past him, leaving. Horatio looked at the envelope and saw that the only thing written on the envelope was his name. He watched as Calleigh left the lab. He walked into his office and sat down. He carefully opened the enveloped and took out carefully written sheets of paper.
Dear Horatio,
If you are reading this then I am no longer here. I wish I was there with you to tell you in person. I wish that I had the courage to have told you before I left. Do you remember that lunch we had, the one where I told you that I was transferred to Utah? I had planned on telling you but when I saw the look on your face when I told you that I was leaving I couldn't tell you. I couldn't make you go through that. I made up my mind and stayed quiet. You were doing so well there in Miami and you were so happy. I wanted to tell you but I knew that if I did you would have dropped everything and gone with me. I loved you too much to have you do that. I almost called you the next day at the airport before I got on the plane to tell you but I chickened out. So I decided that I was going to try and keep some memories for you so that may be one day I when would not chicken out and I would tell you.
After a few months I realized that I couldn't do it on my own so I got some help from a couple that took me in. They helped me through the whole process and when the day finally arrived the only thing I kept thinking was that I wish that you had been there. From them on I took as many pictures as I could for you. A year later I about called you again but again I got scared. I thought that you would be mad at me for not telling you. I now know that I made a good decision when I didn't tell you. My friend kept me updated about how you were doing and that you were happy again. I was happy about the decision. Horatio… I was pregnant when I left for Utah.
We have a daughter. She has my grandmother's red hair and my brown eyes but she has your spirit Horatio. She always wants to know the answer to things and she notices things that I don't. Just like you did when we were together. When she was seven, we visited my friend in Miami and I almost brought her to you. We walked by the department but we didn't go in. She wanted to go in but I told her that everyone in there must be busy but I could tell that she still wanted to go in. We came and visited Miami a few more times but we never went by the department again. It was just too painful for me. When we were there, she would watch the news and say what she thought about the case that your department was working on. She loved it when they showed you and said that if she had a dad like you that her life would be complete.
I almost choked on my drink. If only she knew. I kept a few pictures for you and wrote a little about each event for you. I left them with the couple for when our daughter would find you. I told her to wait until she was 16. Forgive me Horatio, I deprived you of our daughter's childhood but I wanted you to be happy and you were happy there in Miami. I almost forgot to tell you our daughter's name. I remembered the conversation we had when we were thinking about a family and you mentioned about naming one of the children we might have Emily. When I saw our child I knew that Emily would fit her perfectly. I hope that you love her as much as I did and that she doesn't give you too much trouble although I advise you never to give her a hard time for something that she doesn't need a hard time for. You will be surprised at how alike she is to you. I am afraid that you two as so alike that you won't get along with one another but I have hope that you will. With all the love in the world…Sara Heart.
Horatio looked up from the letter. It had happened to him again. He had another child that he never knew about. He was frustrated at how this could happen to him twice! He took off to the lab to see if it was true. He still had the towel from earlier that had her blood on it. He walked out to the hummer and found it on the floor in the back. He carefully picked it up and took it to the lab. He took a small piece of the blood soaked towel and ran it through CODIS. He got her DNA profile and ran it against his profile that was already on CODIS. He waited for a bit before the computer beeped at him. The two samples were a familiar match. The girl that was in the hospital fighting for her life was his daughter. A thought ran through his mind. What will Kyle think of this? Horatio shook his head. He needed to get back down to the hospital but he didn't move.
He leaned on the table in front of him and just stared at the computer screen. How old would she be now? Horatio thought back and tried to count the years. She would have been born in 1997 so she would be 17 now. Horatio finally came to terms with the fact that this was all real and stood tall. He walked out of the department with a purpose. He was going to give support to his teenage daughter who was fighting for her life. Was that why the people had taken her? Because she was his daughter? Horatio shook his head of those bad thoughts. From what he understood from Sara's letter was that not many people knew that Emily was his kid. There was hope that he could keep it under wraps until he could get ahead of it. His phone buzzed and he answered the phone after the second ring. He looked at the ID and saw that it was Alexx.
He quickly answered it once he saw who it was. "Yes Alexx?" Horatio answered. Alexx immediately noticed from Horatio's tone that he was worried that she was going to give him bad news. "It's alright Honey. I was calling to tell you that the surgery went well and that we are moving her to the ICU. I would like to talk to you more about it but I would prefer that I tell it to you face to face then over the phone. When do you think that you could come in?" Alexx asked. "I can be there in 20 minutes Alexx thank you." "No problem honey." Horatio closed his phone and left for the hospital. There was something Alexx wasn't telling him and he was worried about what it was.
Horatio arrived at the hospital 23 minutes later and met Alexx in the waiting room by the ICU. "There you are Horatio now come into my office here so we can talk." Alexx said as she brought Horatio into a spacious room not far from the ICU. "Alexx what are you not telling me?" Horatio asked as soon as they were in the room and Alexx had closed the door. Alexx sighed. She knew that Horatio would catch on pretty quick. "Ok first off Horatio the girl is alive and last I checked was doing fine." Horatio interrupted her. "But what Alexx?" He was getting nervous. They were talking about his daughter and he could hear the 'but' in Alexx's tone.
"Horatio, the bullet grazed one of her arteries and lodged its self in her right lung. The hole in her lung was small and we were able to patch up the graze on her artery but I am worried about the lung. She flat lined again during the surgery but we were able to bring her back. The other thing that I worry about is that because of the wound in her lung she quite breathing on her own. The good thing about it is that it will allow the lung to heal but she needs to breathe on her own soon so she doesn't become dependent on the defibulator." Alexx told him. Horatio sighed.
"What are her chances Alexx?" Alexx looked at Horatio quizzically. She knew that he got attached to the victims but he seemed to be acting like this girl was more than just another victim. "If she survives the night then there is a good chance that she will get better. It is not a guaranty but her chances are better." She told him. "Thank you Alexx." Horatio said and went to look for Emily's room. Leaving Alexx looking at him like he had two heads.