Chapter 10:

Calleigh walked into the parking lot and got in her car. She'd just finished her therapy appointment. She would like to think that it went well. She talked about how she was nervous about going home and we all know, Calleigh Duquesne never got nervous.

She ran a hand through her hair as she started the car. Step two in her preparation for tomorrow. She pulled out her cell phone to check messages. After noticing she had none, she started the car and headed towards the highway.

Twenty minutes later, Calleigh pulled her car inside the huge shopping mall. It was her favorite mall in the city. She got out and headed inside; Her first store: The Children's Place.

She'd only planned on spending about three or four days in Louisiana so her goal was to at least get four or five outfits for Layla. Also, she wanted to buy a Christmas dress for Layla. It was something that she and Eric and planned for the holidays. They were going to take holiday pictures as their first holiday as a family. She browsed around the store, casually picking up clothing items and piecing them together to make outfits.

"That look is cute." Calleigh turned her head in the direction she heard the voice coming from.

"You think so?" Calleigh asked. She held out the pieces of clothing. She didn't want to make the mistake of dressing Layla in something ridiculous. The way her own mother put it, it was her mistake as a child.

"I would buy it for my own daughter but she's only two now."

Calleigh smiled. She felt it very easy talking to her. "I'm Calleigh."

"I'm Julie. Nice to meet you."

"Same here," Calleigh nodded and smiled.

"Christmas shopping?" Julie asked. "Because kids don't actually like clothes for Christmas."

Calleigh laughed. "Actually, I'm taking my daughter on a pre-holiday trip to visit some family and I was buying her new outfits for the trip."

"Oh okay, good luck," Julie said. She continued browsing around for her own little fashion girl.

Calleigh smiled. So many things were going on in her life. She wished that the trip she was taking was only to visit family. Yeah, her statement was true but no truth was behind it. She was actually going to visit strangers and in reality, she really didn't want to go. Calleigh finished picking out the outfits and headed to the register to purchase them. Once she finished shopping for Layla, she headed to her toy store: Baker's Shoes.

Calleigh finally finished all of her shopping and headed home. It was almost 12:00pm and she decided that she would start packing until it was time to pick up Layla.

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Eric had been over Natalia's house for about an hour and a half and he actually got a chance to enjoy fatherhood while he was there. He fed Andria, burped her and he and Natalia discussed some of Andria features: how tall she would get, how long her hair would be, what her official eye and hair color would be, after all Natalia and Eric did share a lot of features; the same eye color; same hair color; similar skin tone.

"Well she's growing," Natalia said, laughing. Her voice was a little squealy high. "She's keeping her hands in her face though." She laced her fingers and her eyes wandered across the room. There was a comfortable silence in the room until Andria made a sound, a gurgle actually, they smiled.

Andria's small fingers were wrapped tightly around Eric's finger. He smiled. He really did love Andria and he'd just wished that...his cell phone ringing, brought him out of his thoughts.

Eric looked at Natalia almost telepathically telling her who it was on the phone. "I can take her," Natalia said. "She needs to be changed anyway. Don't you sweetie?" She picked Andria up from Eric's arms.

"Hello?" Eric answered as soon as Natalia was out the room.

"It's Calleigh," she said. "I was just worried about you; I didn't know where you were."

"I'm fine," Eric said, laughing. "Did everything go okay today?"

"Yeah, the appointment was fine and I bought Layla and I some new clothes. For Christmas, we should be back Sunday night. So what have you been up to all day?" She dramatically changed the subject.

"Calleigh, I went over to Natalia's place. I talked to Horatio earlier. I need to be a part of Andria's life. So I came over here to see her."

"Okay," Calleigh said. She noticed Eric had a little defense in his voice. "I was just asking if you were okay..." Get it together, Calleigh. You just talked about this. Remember how it used to be? "I'll talk to you later."

Eric heard the dial tone before he had a chance to say anything else. He let out a loud sigh and put his phone in his pocket.

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What was becoming of her life? Calleigh honestly did not know. She also knew that she would not marry Eric until she found out. Something was wrong and the feeling went down to her bones. Glancing at the clock, she noticed it was time to pick up Layla. Another part of her plans changed. She wanted for the three of them to sit down and have a nice lunch. She would still take Layla out but as far as Eric...it just didn't matter anymore. Her heart was breaking and she felt it happening before her eyes. Calleigh grabbed her car keys off the table and headed to the school.

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Eric was at the house when Calleigh and Layla came back. Calleigh checked the wall clocked and noted that it was almost seven. "Layla, why don't you go change your clothes."

"Okay mommy," Layla said. She headed to her room.

Calleigh moved over to the sofa, running a hand through her hair as she sat down, sighing in the process.

"Calleigh, are you okay?"

"No," she said lowly. "No I'm not." She let go another sigh. "I just don't know what's becoming of us anymore. Maybe...I don't know. I don't even know where my feelings are coming from."

"I do," Eric said. "Calleigh, I love you and that's real. This all started the day at the lab when you thought Natalia and I had a moment or something. Natalia got dizzy. She's in the lab after having her baby and all that combined with other stuff, made her dizzy. So in an attempt to keep her from splitting her head on the floor, I grabbed her. Anyone walking around at the wrong moment, would've seen it probably how you saw it. But along the lines of other things. Calleigh, Natalia has my baby also. I need to be part of Andria's life. I don't want her growing up and think I was some low life. So I talked to Horatio and he was giving me suggestions on what I should do and how to handle this situation. I never meant to hurt you or Natalia or anyone else effected by this situation." He held his head down.

Calleigh sighed and the side of her lip curled up into a half smile. "I know you aren't trying to hurt anyone," Calleigh said softly. "Andria's not going to think that about you. No one does."

There was silence in the room for a moment and then Eric spoke. "Calleigh, are you going to be okay?"

Calleigh started at him intently. She wanted to ask him the question that's been lingering her mind for the past day but she didn't know if this was the right time to bring it up. But she just had to know... "Eric. Yesterday you said we've been together for four months but I know it was longer. Natalia was in the first stages of her pregnancy when we were together. So...why did you think four months?"

Eric sighed heavily and raked his hands along his hair.

Calleigh knew she probably shouldn't have brought it up, but it was better having it out in the open no matter how much it hurt. They could work through whatever else.

"Calleigh, of course I know how long we have been together." He couldn't believe he was having this conversation right now.

Calleigh's head dropped low. Lately, nothing in her life made sense. Maybe Horatio was right when he said she needed to go back to Louisiana and fix things in her past.

"Sometimes," Eric started, breaking Calleigh out of her thoughts. "Sometimes, I forget certain things. It doesn't mean that they're not important to me or I don't care but...the bullet. Its still lodged in part of my brain and when I'm under extreme stress, I forget stuff. Sometimes my mind goes back to that day."

"Eric, I am so sorry." Calleigh put her head in her hands. Her hair fell around them. "I'm causing your stress."

"Well the situation I'm in is stressful," Eric said. "But things are going to be okay." Eric glanced around for a moment as Layla came back in the room. She sat on the sofa between Eric and Calleigh. "Layla, are you happy about going back to Louisiana?"

Layla nodded her head, smiling. "I can't wait. Mommy says we're leaving tomorrow. And tomorrow is parents day. Are you going to come?" She looked up at Eric.

"Yeah," he said.

"Come on," Calleigh said, looking at Layla. "Its your bedtime."

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"No Daddy, I promise I won't do it any more!" the little girl yelled, trying to squirm away but to no avail. Her dad had his grip on her. He sat on her back and continuously whacked the belt to her behind. "Please."

"We told you to be in bed at 9:00. Didn't we?" His strong arm came down hard, putting more force into the belt. His voice was also slurred.

"But I was going to bed!" The little girl cried even more.

Calleigh. She laid under the force of her dad's body as he continued to hit her with the belt. She was only eleven years old, never one to ever disobey. She'd only stayed up to help her brother finish his homework. Just in fifth grade herself, she studied hard and worked hard to get all A's on her report card. Her younger brother, Jeff was in third grade and needed help on his multiplications.

"When we tell you to do something, you better do it," her dad said. With another hit to Calleigh's backside, he climbed off her body and left out of her room.

She lay on her bed, crying, sweating, hurting and embarrassed. Her brothers were in the door way, watching as their dad spanked her. Pain went through her body and she rolled off the bed and onto the floor...

Calleigh jerked violently in her sleep. Her eyes shot open and she glanced at the clock. It was only 4:50am. She glanced at Eric, who was sleeping on his back, next to her. She wanted to climb under his arms, just so she could have some comfort, but she didn't want to wake him. Maybe a hot shower would do her some good.

Calleigh climbed out of bed and headed down to the bathroom. Today, was the day she would have to come back into contact with her past. Of course, she loved her daddy, she was more of a daddy's girl than a mommy's daughter...or however it would go.

Sometimes, it was just the worse. Both of Calleigh's parents drank. When her mother drank, it was the verbal abuse; When her dad drank, it became physical. When both parents were sober, than ran a pretty decent house and were pretty decent parents, but it was a rare that both were sober at the same time, so it was rarely ever peace.

Calleigh ran the water in the tub, adjusting the temperature of the water. Her dad...he taught her some amazing things. He taught her how to shoot a gun and she was only nine years old. She fell in love with them as soon as she held the first one. There were pictures of Calleigh holding the gun. She still could feel her father's hands on her hand, teaching her how to hold one properly.

"You have to hold it like this, Lambchop. You see this little section above the pistol. Well, you'll get a direct aim if you center your target between them. It's all about coordination. Now let me see you do it."

Calleigh held the gun, squinted her left eye, focused her right eye on what was between the two focus points on top of the gun. Once she was confident in a good shot, she fired off. Surprisingly, it was a near bulls-eye. And it was one of her first shots.

Calleigh still used that technique for ballistics, even now. She stepped inside the bathtub and let the shower water beat down on her body. Of course, there was those brutal times. Calleigh was probably ten years old. Her dad came in the house, drunk and ready to take it out on anyone that would be at the receiving in of his wrath.

She and her brothers were upstairs in the hallway; their mom was in the kitchen, her favorite spot, leaned over the table, cradling a bottle of liquor. Calleigh was playing with her dollhouse, her brother's; they pretended to be army men, protecting her Barbie from outside attacks. Just as the pretended, their imagination became real. First, the front door slammed and their dad called out for their mother. When no response happened, they heard the footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Go in your rooms!" Calleigh yelled quietly. Her younger brother's; five and seven at the time, ran to their rooms. Her baby brother only a year old at the time, didn't know what was coming ahead. Young Calleigh picked up her little brother and put him in his nursery before heading down to her own bedroom...but it was too late. Her dad was already at the top of the stairs and staring down at his daughter.

"What's this mess, Calleigh?" he yelled. "This is supposed to be clean but yet all of your toys are out in the hallway. Why?"

"Because.." she racked her young mind for something to say. She couldn't think because she knew what would come next. "I forgot to put them away." She decided that she would just say that. She was already in trouble.

"They weren't supposed to be out anyway," he slurred on his speech as he began unbuckling his belt.

Tears welled in her eyes and then she heard the doors open behind her.

"Leave Calleigh along!" Her five-year old brother, Shawn said. "She has done nothing wrong."

"Yeah," seven-year old Jeff stated.

By then, her father's belt was already out and in his hand, ready to make his attack. "How about I start with you then." He grabbed Shawn and he started screaming.

"He didn't do anything," Calleigh said, grabbing her father's arm. "Please daddy, we didn't do anything today."

Pretty soon, all three siblings were on their dad, trying to protect each other. One by one, they were all thrown to the floor by their strong father.

With all his children lying on the floor, he had his choice of which he would spank first. Again, he went after the five-year old.

"No," Calleigh said, getting up to her feet. She grabbed for her dad's arm again and he pushed her away. A little too hard than he intended. That little move sent Calleigh flying down the stairs and once her body landed at the bottom of the stairs, she let out a sharp cry, cradling her arm, heading to the kitchen to show her mom. She also her the sounds of the belt; her brothers screamed as she continued crying herself.

So, he broke her arm. They didn't even take Calleigh immediately to the hospital. They waited until they were sober and drilled Calleigh on what to tell the doctors. She finally arrived at the doctors two and a half hours later. The doctors asked her questions, she gave them the answer that her parents concocted and they sent her home.

Calleigh rubbed her left arm. Twenty-one years later, and she still remembered that day so vividly. This Louisiana trip was only going to bring more memories back to life.

Yep, so here's the chapter! Hope everyone likes it! Please review!