I'm done with disclaimers. If you've read this far, you already know.
Part 7: Happy Hunting
Calleigh Duesquene's phone rang at midnight. She rolled over and groaned to grab the phone. "Somebody very important had better be dead since you're waking me up."
Horatio's voice sounded on the other end "Had there not been a strong gust of wind, you might have been getting your wish."
Calleigh sprang up. "What's going on?"
"Someone took a shot at Leah and her siblings."
By now, Calleigh was buttoning a blouse over her tank top. She put her phone in her ear, "Where is she?"
"She and Luke and the kids are here at the lab. They are in trouble and we need to find her parents."
Calleigh grabbed a leather jacket out of her closet and ran into the kitchen to grab a smoothie to drink. "I'm on my way. What can I do?"
"Leah said she and her family haven't eaten since lunch and the kids have already eaten all of the food the Lab has."
Calleigh smiled at this. She had made the mistake of having the Wilson clan over for lunch the previous Saturday. The food bill was enormous and the kids were still hungry. "I'm on it."
Luke and Leah were not happy about staying in one place as long as they had. To add to that, the three eldest Wilson siblings were out for blood. "You can't make us stay!" Michael said angrily.
Leah tried to reason with her brother. "Michael, I need you to stay here. If something happens to Luke and me, then you're the only one left who can take care of Katie and Amy. Now if that happens, here is what I need you to do." She outlined her scheme. "I'm counting on you."
Michael finally calmed down at this and agreed.
Horatio, who had been standing in the corner while Leah was trying to make her brother understand, spoke up. "I'm not sure I want you two on this case, either."
Leah, however, was ready with an answer. "H, there is no one on this earth that knows this case better than Luke and me. We are your best chance at catching these killers."
"I'm not sure."
"These people did bad things to us, Horatio. We want to see them brought down." Luke said.
Horatio thought for what felt like an eternity to the twins. "Okay," he finally said. "But you two are to go nowhere without another member of the team. Understand?"
"Yes sir." The twins said and then they joined their siblings in scarfing down the Chinese food Calleigh had brought.
"Good. Leah, Ryan, Frank, Walter, and Jesse I want to go over the scene where the shooter was positioned. Natalia, Luke, and Eric, take the house. Calleigh, I want everything you've got on that bullet. I'll be here looking into some of the old Harrison's victims. I want to see if there is anything that we could use to help pinpoint where they could be hiding out."
As the twins headed towards the Hummers, Horatio pulled aside Ryan and Eric. "Watch them carefully. I really don't need anyone getting hurt today."
At the crime scene, Leah felt a little reluctant to go near the house, so she steered directly towards the figured sniper's position. The other CSIs noticed that Leah was jumpy and hyper-vigilant. "Why is Leah so jumpy?" Jesse asked. "And why isn't Luke?"
"Leah was here when the shots were fired. Luke was driving home." Ryan answered.
"That would shake me up, too." Eric chimed in, making sure that Leah wasn't within listening range. "Oh, wait. I can already tell you that it does." He referred to the time he had been shot in the arm while staying at the De-Luca Motel.
Leah grew impatient and walked up to the three men. "Shouldn't we get busy?"
"Yeah, we should." Jesse replied.
Leah retraced her steps back towards the sniper's position. As she walked, she heard a couple of comments pass between the two CSIs. "She's not going to let us get any sleep, is she?" Eric asked quietly.
"Not a wink." Jesse said under his breath.
Leah looked over at Ryan, who was walking beside her, and smiled. "I wonder if they'll ever figure out that I have sharper than average hearing."
Ryan, who also had excellent hearing, smiled at his partner. "Probably not."
Leah grinned. "I guess I should enlighten them." She raised her voice slightly so that Jesse and Eric could hear her. "If you guys talk any louder, they'll be able to hear you in Hawaii." Leah never broke her long, even strides.
Eric and Jesse stopped where they stood and Eric went back to his task of checking the grounds for any potential evidence. Jesse kept walking though both Leah and Ryan knew that he had been thoroughly reprimanded.
It took a long time to cover the sniper scene because the team decided to perform a grid search. It was finally Jesse who found something. "Hey Walter," he said. "Come take a look at this."
Walter walked over. "Well, well, well. We have a paint transfer."
Jesse pulled out his radio. "Hey, Eric are you about done with the house?"
"Yeah, just finishing up. Why?"
"We've got a paint transfer up here and I want to know if you can process it."
"Yeah, Luke, Natalia, and I were about to wrap-up anyway. There's not much down here besides the bullet hole. Man, Leah has a small arsenal down here."
"What do you mean?"
"I thought Calleigh had a lot of guns. The Wilsons have a few dozen. I'd bet that Luke, Leah, and the teenager, what's his name?"
"Michael."
"Michael-I'd bet that all three are good shots with them."
"Judging from their past, they'd have to be. I've seen Leah in the ballistics lab, though. I defiantly would not want to be on the wrong end of her gun."
"Do you want me to come up there and pick up the paint sample?"
"I'll just have Walter run it down."
"The running part would probably do him some good."
Jesse chuckled lightly. "Eric, you know he's standing next to me, right?"
"That's alright, I tolerate you anyway." Walter said into the radio.
"Have you found anything else?" Eric asked.
"Not a trace of anything. I hope there is something to that sample, for the Wilson's sake." Jesse replied.
"Yeah, me too."
In the time it took for Ryan to drive her back to the Crime Lab, Leah realized that she was exhausted. The problem was, Horatio noticed once she got back. "Leah, I know you're tired. There's no use hiding it."
Leah let her tiredness show through just a little. "I'm fine."
"Tired CSIs make mistakes. Go to my house and get some sleep. Kyle can let you in."
At this point Leah realized that it was pointless to argue. "Okay."
"Can you drive?"
"Yes. I can get some caffeine in me and take my car. It's no big deal."
"Are you sure?"
"H, you sound like my brother. I can do this."
Horatio paused, assessing the young CSI. "Okay."
"One thing, where are Michael, Katie and Amy? I haven't seen them since I got back."
"Calleigh took them to her house and is keeping an eye on them while Michael gets some sleep. The school is going to need an excuse, though."
Leah smiled a little. "I'm a CSI. I'm sure I can find one."
"Leah, handle that later."
She nodded. "I'll be back in a few hours."
"I don't want you back in here until tomorrow unless something important happens. You need sleep."
"You will call me if we get something?"
"Absolutely."
Once Leah got to Horatio's house, Kyle was there waiting to let her in. "You look beat."
"I'm really not as tired as I look. I actually drank a 5 hour energy on my way here so I didn't fall asleep. That's why it took me so long; I didn't take the interstate in case I fell asleep while driving."
"Do you need anything?" Kyle asked as the two walked in the door.
Leah hugged him tight. "If you can give me a blanket, I can sleep on the couch."
"Are you sure?"
"Why does everyone keep asking me that today? Yes, I'm sure."
Leah sat down on the couch and kicked her tennis shoes off. She was dressed in very casual clothes compared to what she normally wore to work. Last night, she had grabbed the first change of clothes that came to hand, and that just happened to be the grey V-neck t-shirt and boot cut jeans that she was now wearing.
Kyle came back in with a brown fleecy throw blanket. "Do you need another pillow?"
Leah shook her head. "I sleep sitting up 98% of the time. When I was growing up, I had to be ready to bolt our of bed at a moment's notice and it usually took me too long to make it out of bed when I was lying down. Now, it's just a force of habit."
"Well, here." Kyle said, sitting down next to her. "Let me be you pillow."
Leah covered herself up with the comfy throw blanket and snuggled against Kyle. "You make a nice pillow." She said as she surrendered her consciousness to sleep.
The last thing she remembered before sleep completely took her was Kyle wrapping his arm around her and saying "For you? Anytime."
A/N. Once again, I greatly apologize for the length of time between my updates. I have been considering exactly how I want this story to end, and I had to make sure that this chapter would take it where I wanted it to go.
I also would like to apologize for the immense number of spelling and grammar mistakes made in Chapter 6. I will be going back to fix those soon.
As always, please let me know what you think. If you like it, tell me why and what you might want to see more of. If you don't like it, tell me what you think I'm doing wrong.
