DISCALIMER: I don't own CSI Miami and i don't make any money from it
Chapter 11.
Friday.
Cassandra was outside the court room waiting for the rest since she was early when she heard someone say: Cassandra Stetler.
"It's actually Stetler McCain now and I could recognize that voice anywhere, Danny Jeter how are you?" she asked and gave him a big hug.
"Great I'm a judge now, what about you I haven't seen you in like 30 years or so have it really been that long" he said.
"I think it must be, married, well bout to send him the divorce papers as he's an ass, got two girls that I'm on my way in to battle for, the state wants them and I'm a judge to" she said.
"Hang on did you say McCain, then you married that no good Dustin and why do the state want to take your children, how many and how old?" he asked.
"I did and yes he's no good, boy do I regret putting out with him, they are seven, two girls and I love them very much, but I messed up cause of Dustin and now they say I'm not fit as a mother" she said.
"You little angerball, you be a bad mother, now that can't be right and what other don't loose their temper these days, let me guess their names, Brittany and Courtney" he said.
"But how did you know?" she asked surprised.
"Well you used to say back in the days if you ever got two girls that was what you would name them" he said and smiled at her.
"I can't believe you remembered it" she said and blushed.
"I got a strong memory and as far as I recall it's your birthday today isn't it" he said.
"That it is yes, but I doubt it will be a happy one" she said and looked down.
"My poor princess" he said and without thinking he put his arm around her and held her.
"I missed you" she said.
"Oh and I you, mind if I watch your case" he said.
"No, not at all" she said and looked up in his ocean blue eyes.
"I just gotto find my self some coffee" he said, gave her a peck on the check and left.
"Hitting on guys on the day of your hearing" she heard Sebastian say from behind.
"Oh give it a rest Sebastian, he's an old friend I haven't seen in ages" she said annoyed.
"Easy, I was only joking" he said.
"Umf" she said as she heard Jessica Devlin say: Back of Sebastian.
"I will, see you inside, get ready to loose" he said self confident.
"In your dreams, ready Cass" she said.
"As ready as I can be" she said and walked inside with her lawyers.
"I am telling you dear judge she's not fit as a mother as she has hit her children more than once and she is bound to do it again if she snaps. Now is that a woman you want your children with, I say we end this now before we take it any further" said Sebastian before he sat down.
"Your honor although she may have acted wrongly, but there is no sign of neglect, the only neglect I can see is the one givin by the father for both mother and children and she should not be held responsible for their children, I say you put and end to this and let her have her children back" said Rebekka Nevins before she sat down.
The judge looked at them and said: You both got a strong case, but my diction is to take this to court so see you there Monday in six weeks in the mean time the children will stay in foster care.
"Your honor if I may come with a suggestion instead of foster care" Rebekka interrupted without thinking with Sebastian looking shocked at her.
"Yes Miss Nevins" said the judge.
"Wouldn't it be better if they stayed with family, I was thinking of Cassandra's brother Rick Stetler, he has shown capable of taking care of them in the past" she said.
"Mr Stark do you have anything to add to that?" the judge said.
"Just that if you choose to agree to that the mother is still not allowed to see them" said Sebastian.
Rebekka sent him a "Damn you Sebastian look" before she looked back at the judge.
"I can agree to that, the children stay with their uncle until the case goes to trail, but are not allowed any contact with their mother" he said.
"Sebastian was that really necessary" said Rebekka annoyed.
"I think it was yes" he said and looked over at Cassandra who was now struggling to keep her tears back.
"We'll fight you for as long as it takes you know" she said.
"I'll be looking forward to it" he said with a smile and left the courtroom.
"I lost them" Cassandra cried.
"At least they are with Rick now" said Jessica in a suiting tone.
"What good is that gonna do when I can't have any contact with them" she said and run out in tears.
"Now what do we do" said Kenwall with a sigh.
"As of tomorrow fight over visitation rights" said Rebekka and headed for the door.
Cassandra didn't really see where she was running because of her tears and ended up running right into Frank Tripp so they both fell over in the parking house.
"I'm really sorry" she apologized quickly and got up.
"My mistake Miss, rough day huh" he said and looked at her.
"Yes, you may say that" she replied looking into his blue concerned eyes.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Lost my children in court" she said, her tears was still falling.
"Ex?" he asked.
"State kinda, but the judge let my brother have them, it's a good thing, but I still can't see them" she said sadly.
"How old are they?" he asked.
"Seven" she replied.
"You poor thing, I know all about that" he said.
"You got kids to?" she asked.
"Three, boy at fifteen and a couple of girls age thirteen, spend most of their time with their mother, we divorced about six years ago" he said.
"On what grounds?" she asked.
"Well I was married to the job and she cheated since she got feed up, it's better this way, she's with another guy" he said.
"You have pictures of them?" she asked.
"Here" he said and showed them a couple he kept in his valet, she did the same.
"Cute" they said at the same time and laughed a little.
"So can I offer to take you out for dinner?" he asked.
"Could we say lunch tomorrow as I feel like being alone" she said.
"Mind if I have your number so I can check on you later then?" he asked.
"Mhm" she said and handed him her card.
"Stetler, your brother is Rick then" he said.
"He's my younger brother yes" she replied.
"Hmm I'll call you later then Cassandra" he said and walked over to his car.
"Wait I didn't catch your name" she said.
"Frank Tripp" he said as he turned and smiled at her.
"Well nice to meet you Frank" she said.
"Same here" he replied before he got in the car and drove of.
Not long after Rick went to pick up Brittany and Courtney, as he walked up the house they were staying at he wondered how he was going to take care of the two girls and how to explain to them that that they were going to live with him, not their mother.
He sighed and rang the doorbell, a man quickly came to open and said: Yes.
"I'm here for the children" said Rick.
"And you are?" asked the man and looked at him.
"Their uncle" said Rick and shod the man the papers that said he had now the custody of the children.
"They are not home from school yet, but they should be here any second, you are welcome to come in and wait" said the man.
"Thanks" said Rick and walked into the house, it was perfect, almost to perfect, not dust or mess anywhere, with pictures of family on the shelf over the fireplace.
Rick wondered what was beneath this perfect place, it kind of scary and it almost made him shiver, it was like there was no sign of anyone living there.
At that moment the door was blown open and Rick heard the children's voices coming towards the living room, he looked towards the door as they appeared.
Brittany and Courtney let out screams of joy, run over and hugged him before Brittany asked: Uncle Rick what are you doing here?
"I have come to get you" he said honestly.
"You are, are we going to see mummy" said Brittany.
"Oh please say are, we just gotto it's her birthday" said Courtney hopefully.
"I have come to take you to live with me for a while" he said.
"But what about mummy" said Brittany.
"Uncle Rick you have to let us see her, we got her presents and everything" said Courtney.
"I'm really sorry, but I can't, now go and pack your things" said Rick and the two girls run upstairs and quickly came back down with their things.
"So ready" he said.
"Yeah, please let us see mummy" Brittany begged as they got in the car.
"Just to drop of the presents at least" said Courtney.
Rick knew it may make matters worse, but he chose to agree and drove over to Cassandra's house.
Calleigh Duquesne was looking at her self in the mirror after taking a shower. She stood sideways, her hand was stroking over her belly. One day there would be a little one in there, and hopefully it would be soon.
She knew she was finally ready for it, and she know Horatio was to.
"Calleigh" she suddenly heard Horatio yell from outside.
"In here" she yelled back.
Horatio came in and said: Dreaming again.
"A little maybe" she said and smiled at him.
"Been out running?" he asked.
"Mhm, gotto keep fit and I'm too overenergic these days" she said.
"I've noticed that" he said as he watched her every curve, when they suddenly got interrupted by the doorbell.
"Would you, I just need to get some clothes back on" she said.
"Mhm" he said and gave her a soft kiss before he went to open the door and found Calleigh's father outside.
"Hallo Duke" said Horatio and let him.
"Hello, is Calleigh in?" he asked, his voice sounded a bit sad.
"Hey daddy" said Calleigh who just joined them.
"We lost the case" he said.
"Oh no, what happens to the children then?" Calleigh asked.
"Rick has them until the trail goes up, but hopefully we can get some visitation rights" he said.
"Poor Cassandra" said Calleigh sadly.
"I can not picture Rick as a father" said Horatio.
"Neither can I, but I bet he still be great with them" said Calleigh with a sigh.
"I better go" said Kenwall.
"Daddy please don't do anything" Calleigh stopped knowing it probably was a pointless request.
"I won't, I'm going home" he said and left.
"Imagine Rick as a father" Horatio said again.
"That would probably make Natalia a mother, but I wonder how the children will feel about it" she said with a sigh.
"They will be ok I'm sure" said Horatio.
"I hope so, so why are you home so early?" she asked.
"So I need a reason to be with you now" he said.
"No, not at all, but since you are here would you mind helping me clean?" she asked.
"No, but I was wondering when will you ever move in with me" he said.
"When you ask" she replied with a giggle.
"I think I just did" he said.
"Well then is next weekend ok with you?" she asked.
"It is" he said.
"But I still wanna keep this place though" she said.
"I never asked you to see it" he said.
"Good, now start with the dishes" she said.
"As you wish my lady" he said and headed for the kitchen.
Rick had hardly parked the car before the twins run out and ran up to the house, rang the bell and ran inside, but for once there was no one home, so they ran disappointed back to Rick and Courtney said: She isn't home.
"Then she's probably at work, bet she went there after court, you want me to take you there to check" said Rick.
"No she's probably bizzy, but we can leave the stuff we have for her right" said Courtney.
"Of course, I'm sure she would like that" said Rick.
The two children quickly went through the bags before they found what they were looking for and ran back inside while he waited by the car.
Inside Brittany asked: So where should we put it?
"I dunno her bedroom maybe as it is where we would have given it to her if we lived here" said Courtney.
"Good plan" said Brittany and they run upstairs and put it on the neatly made bed.
"It's not fair, I mean we still got each other, but she has no one" said Courtney.
"Yeah poor mummy, hopefully this will help" said Brittany.
"Hope so, we better go down to uncle Rick again" said Courtney.
"You think Natalia is living with him?" she asked as they walked down the stairs.
"Dunno, but we'll find out soon enough, will you lock" said Courtney.
"Uhm ok" she said and did so before they both looked one last time before they went back to Rick.
Cassandra didn't come home until 8PM that day, and by then she was pretty much exhausted in every way, she opened her door and heard the phone ring from inside, got it just in time and said: Cassandra Stetler, hello.
"Hey Cassandra this is Frank" said Frank in the other end.
"Oh hey Frank, what are you doing?" she asked.
"Overtime very boring" he said with a sigh.
"That I can imagine" she said with a giggle.
"What about you then?" he asked.
"Just came home and now I was about to make dinner" she said.
"You sound tired, sure I'm not interrupting you" he said.
"No, no, long day, that's all" said Cassandra.
"You poor thing" he said.
"I'm ok, just not the kind of birthday I planned that's all" she said.
"You lost your children on your birthday, that's the saddest thing I ever heard" he said.
"Well I try to not think too much about it" she said.
"So if the children were there what would you be doing?" he asked.
"Eat cake right about now and just watch old movies or play games" she said.
"No presents?" he asked surprised.
"We do that in the morning" she said.
"And this year you don't even get a cake, now that's not right, are you going to be home?" he asked.
"Yes, to tired to go out why?" she asked.
"It's a surprise, I gotto go" he said and hung up.
Cassandra just sighed and went up to her bedroom to rest, she didn't feel like cooking at all, just sleep, but when she opened the door and saw the presents on her bed her heart skipped a little of joy.
She read the cards and smiled, it was like she though from her daughters. She opened the presents and found a book, a bracelet and a teddy bear that had a t-shirt that said: The world's greatest mummy.
She hugged it hardly and smiled, so maybe her girl's wasn't there, but this still helped a bit.
Cassandra hugged it even harder closed her eyes and dreamed about what it would be like if they were in fact there.
Rick had just put the twins to bed when Natalia walked through the door and said: So you are a father all of a sudden.
"I am yes" he said with a sigh.
"What is wrong?" she asked concerned.
"It's not right, they should be with Cassandra, not me, I feel like I'm taking them from her" he said.
"More like barrowing and you will give them back" said Natalia.
"What if the court won't let it happen, what if they are never to get back to her, are I then suppose to raise them as my own pretending that nothing ever happened?" he asked.
"You know you can't do that handsome, what you can do is give the girls what they need when they are here" she said.
"I'm tired" he said.
"Yes I can tell you are, you better lay down and get some rest" she said
"But what if the children wake up and need me" he said concerned.
"Then I'll be here" she said and smiled at him.
He gave her a soft kiss and went into the bedroom.
Not long after Natalia heard soft cries from the children's bedroom and went to check it out, she opened the door and found both the girls whimpering in their sleep.
She sat down next to Brittany, stroke her gently and said: What's wrong.
"Miss mummy" she cried softly as she opened her eyes and looked at Natalia.
"I know you do little one" said Natalia and let her hand stroke her check gently when she got one idea and added: You know what you can do to make this go better?
"No what?" she asked as Courtney looked over at them from the next bed.
"Pretend that you are at vacation and think of all the things you do as fun things you can tell your mummy about" said Natalia.
"So you mean like write letters and such about things we do with you and uncle Rick" said Courtney.
"Something like that, you can write right" said Natalia.
"Yeah totally, mummy thought us to read and write when we were younger" said Brittany.
"So if you wanted to tell her something about today what would it be then?" asked Natalia.
"Uhm that school was boring and then we got home and found uncle Rick" said Courtney.
"Yeah that was really cool and he let us go to out house and give our presents to mummy since it's her birthday, really hope she liked them though" said Brittany.
"I'm sure she did, so what happened after that?" Natalia asked curiously.
"Uncle Rick took is out took us out to eat pizza and let us rent movies before he sent us to bed" said Courtney.
"Sounds like you had fun" said Natalia.
"We did, but would be even more fun if mum was with" said Brittany.
"Make sure to tell her that" said Natalia and smiled at her.
"We will, Natalia can you sing to us" said Courtney with a yawn.
Natalia though and said: Hush little baby don't say a word, mummy's gonna buy you a mocking bird, I that mocking bird won't sing mummy's gonna by you a diamond ring.
She didn't get much further as she noticed the children had fallen a sleep so she went over to the master bedroom where she saw Rick had fallen a sleep reading a book, she smiled, removed the book, turned of the light and went back into the living room to watch TV.
Cassandra woke up by her door bell ringing and looked at the blinking alarm bell it was 11 pm, which meant she had more or less slept for three hours.
She yawned and stretched before she went downstairs to open, she smiled when she saw Frank outside and let him inside and asked: What are you doing here and what have you brought with you.
Frank smiled back and said: I brought you a birthday surprise, but it looks like I woke you up.
"You did and it's completely ok" she said and lead him into the living room.
"Ok, this may be silly" he said a bit embarrassed.
"I need a bit silliness right now" she said and smiled at him again.
"I baked you a cake" he said and took up a chocolate cake with a picture of her and the children in white chocolate frosting.
"Oh Frank it's beautiful, I love it, but how did you know I like chocolate cake" she said.
"Lucky guess" he said and smiled.
"I better find some plates" she said and got up.
"You would need glasses to" he said.
"Oh why is that?" she asked curiously.
"I brought soda to" he said.
"I could have made coffee" she said.
"No because that would keep you up all night and make you grumpy in the morning and I couldn't have that on our lunch date tomorrow now could I" he said with a chuckle.
"How would you know" she said.
"I have my ways" he said.
"You know Frank you just saved my day" she said with a giggle and went into the kitchen to find plates and glasses.
It was the next morning and the clock was about 9.30 at the lat, Ryan was doing his best to bug Samanta that was trying to get some work done when he heard Eric asked: Ryan have you seen Natalia or Horatio?
"No, not yet, but have you seen Calleigh I need some news on that car" said Ryan.
"Car, I thought Calleigh worked with weapons not cars" he said.
"When it is expensive ones she does, besides the rifle was taken apart and stashed in the engine so I was wondering if she had gotten the parts out and found out what kind of rifle it is, but she isn't here yet" said Ryan.
"How the heck can you get rifle parts in an engine" said Eric surprised.
"No idea" said Ryan and laughed.
"Hang on if all of them are late do you guys think any of them are together" said Sam, just as Calleigh came running through the door wearing not her regular clothes, but training clothes.
"Calleigh since when did you start running to work" said Eric almost shocked.
"Car broke down about well doesn't matter" she said trying to get her breath back.
"Heard of cab" said Samanta.
"I have, gosh I so need a shower later" said Calleigh.
"Any chance you saw Natalia and Horatio out running" said Eric.
"No not at all" said Calleigh and run over to her firearms lab and Ryan quickly followed her.
"Calleigh how did they manage to get a rifle into the engine any news?" asked Ryan.
"Well they used the barrel to make parts for the water pump, the patron was used to housing dowel pins and the shaft was remade into a motor mount, it would have gone of as a bomb had it not been for the gas tank was faulty" she said.
"So a gun rifle bomb then" said Ryan.
"Yeas and like a faulty gun it didn't go of, I pulled some prints you can check" she said.
"Thanks Call you rock" he said just as he saw Horatio come into the lab.
"Thanks babe, you better find out whom that rifle bomb belong to" she said.
"Running to work" Horatio said.
"Hey not my fault you forgot to fill up my tank so I got engine trouble" she said a bit annoyed.
"Though I filled up your tank plenty last night" he said.
"Ha, ha, very funny, but seriously, now I gotto go round all day in sweaty training clothes" she said.
"Go and buy your self a new outfit or use my car to go home and change" he said.
"You sure" she said.
"I can spare you for an hour sweetheart" he said and gave her the key to his car.
About an hour later Natalia finally walked into the crime lab, she looked tired, her hair was messy and so were her clothes.
"Natalia you like awful what happened to you?" Samanta asked as Natalia came into the AV lab.
"The children had a rough night and then Rick got a stomach flu so he was throwing up all night and all morning" said Natalia with a tired sigh.
"The joys of married life" Sam joked.
"Hardly and we're not married yet" said Natalia.
"Hey look at that, Frank looks really happy" said Samanta as he was headed their way.
"Good morning ladies" he said and smiled brightly.
"Why are you so cheerful all of a sudden?" asked Natalia curiously.
"Well I met this lady and we just had a lunch date, even though she's going through a rough time she's really nice" he said smiling.
"You meet a girl where?" asked Samanta curiously.
"Parking lot at the court house yesterday" he said.
"That's nice" said Natalia and smiled at him.
"It is, but you look like crap" he said.
"That's really nice of you to say, well I suddenly got two children and a sick man" she said.
"Yeah that's right you're with Rick, I was suppose to give him this thing to give to the children, maybe you can pass it on" he said hopefully.
"I can yes, hang on the girl you've been dating isn't by any chance Cassandra?" asked Natalia.
"Uhm maybe, will you just give this to them" said Frank and handed her and envelope.
"Sure will" she said.
"I better go I was supposed to back up Ryan, talk to you later" he said and left again.
"I need to see Calleigh about something" said Natalia and headed towards firearms.
"Horatio were kissing Calleigh's breasts hungrily as he pressed her against the back wall at the gun valut and he, crap I gotto get back to that report" Calleigh though as she realized what she was writing had nothing to do with what she was supposed to write and deleted it and started over.
"Bullet 1, 2, 3, 4, they walked out the door, God this is boring, and when is my break" she wrote and pressed the send button on the screen.
"I surly hope you are doing something more constructive than this at the moment" she got back from Horatio.
"Body 1, 2, 3, 4 are all dead on the floor, what a mess I can't take this stress" Calleigh wrote and pressed send.
"So you really have 4 dead bodies and 4 runaway bullets in your lab" she got back.
"I do, and I'm so very bored" she wrote back.
"And I though you liked your job" Horatio wrote.
"I need to get laid soon or I'll go crazy" Calleigh though and logged of to continued on the report.
Calleigh though a moment and started to write: Bullet # 1 matches the gun we collected at suspect # 1 house. Like that wasn't obvious as he as killer written all over his face, but he still was kinda handsome. Handsome Horatio. Bullet # 2 and 3 matches the rifle we found hidden in the car. To build it into the engine very clever. And what a nice car, minds me I should buy a new car one of these days, sick of the crossfire.
Suspect # 1 shoot victim one and two. How boring these reports are, I want time of, a couple of days would be really nice.
"Calleigh you can't write your personal thoughts into the report" she suddenly heard Horatio say, she hadn't noticed him come in and he was now reading over her shoulder.
"I didn't mean to, my mind was just drifting" she said honestly.
"I have been a lot of that lately haven't it" he said.
"It has, couldn't we just go away, just for a little while, just the two of us, I feel like I hardly getto see you and when I do we either you know or sleep" she said with a sigh looking into his sapphire eyes.
"Hmmm, I would like that to, but when are we ever going to find time for that" he said.
"Let me have your day planner" she said and he handed over his A plan.
"Ok so we both are bizzy a lot, this suck, only opening is Friday six weeks from now" she said frustrated.
"Then I say we go then, where do you want me to book?" he asked.
"Dunno, some hotel by the sea, but not Miami" she said.
"Ok, but will you now finish the report" he said, bent down and gave her a light kiss before h left.
"I will" she said and started to delete what she had written when she heard Natalia say: So you're with Horatio.
"Uhm yeah" said Calleigh.
"That's great always knew you two had a thing" said Natalia.
"So what can I do for you?" Calleigh asked.
"Wanna hear some gossip" said Natalia.
"Pends on what and who it involves, you look like crap by the way" said Calleigh.
"Thanks a lot, children and man made sure of that, either way it involves Frank and a lady" said Natalia.
"Really he found someone" said Calleigh.
"Uh huh, Cassandra Stetler" said Natalia.
"You're joking" said Calleigh a bit surprised.
"I'm not, they meet yesterday and had a lunch date today" said Natalia.
"That's nice" said Calleigh and smiled.
"Yeah maybe he can undo some of the damage Dustin has caused" said Natalia.
"Hopefully, so what do you think about being a spare mum?" Calleigh asked.
"To early to say, but I have to get back" said Natalia and left.