OMG, Sorry its been a while since the last update. The last chapter was big chapter and alot of stuff happened in it. I'm really trying to get the day over with because I think they have been in the same day for 4 chapters now. I hope you all like this one. I tried to keep it simple but you know me, I'm just full of drama for the characters...

Chapter 21:

"Calleigh, are you alright?" Horatio asked.

"Yes," Calleigh said plainly. "Its just, really hard having family."

"Yes it is, but you know having family is rewarding too."

Calleigh nodded. "What's going to happen to them?" She looked through the window again and her mom was laying on the table, her head on her arms.

"I'll take their statements. From what they said, it seems like a self defense case." He shifted his position a little. "Why don't you go home and get some rest. I'll take care of things here."

Calleigh nodded her head. "Okay. Well I'll see you tomorrow." She walked out in the hall and as soon as she passed interrogation, she noticed her mom stand up. Calleigh quickened her pace.

"Calleigh," her mom called simply.

Calleigh turned around. She didn't want to draw attention to herself with the other people walking around the lab. "What now?"

"Calleigh, why are you so mean to me? I really want to talk to you," her mother said with tears coming to her eyes.

"Mom, I'm busy right now," Calleigh said, sighing. "How about we talk about this later or some other time."

"I might not see you later at the rate you're running away from me," she said. "I'm your mother and I want to be in your life. You're be absent from my life long enough and I don't think I can deal with that anymore. Things happened and I'm not proud of them but that doesn't give you an excuse for leaving me."

"I," Calleigh started off, rubbing her lips together. "I...I don't know when to trust you. Like now, I don't understand what you are saying." She stopped talking when she saw tears fall from her mother's eyes. She waited a few seconds before she started talking again. "I mean, you're saying all of this now, but two weeks ago, you nearly broke my arm. And what about the other stuff you did to me during my childhood? Are you even thinking about that?"

"It was the alcohol, Calleigh," her mother said, crying. "I love you but the alcohol gave me a numbing sensation. I was hurting and I didn't know what else to do then. I didn't have money and you know me because its a lot like you, I was too proud to beg. That's just something that's not in my nature to do."

"You know, I'm still trying to figure out why your alcohol fueled rage always seemed to target me," Calleigh said. "Not only yours but dad's too. But you were the worse. You dished out verbal abuse. You hurt me so bad. You made me feel so insecure about certain things and I think about those things everyday."

"Calleigh its in the past. Can we please just talk present time? And I'm not talking about two weeks ago, I'm talking about today, at this moment, right now. Can we please talk about right now?"

"I...I can't do that," Calleigh said. "At least not until you realize how much hurt you put me through. I can't just forgive you. My whole life, you made my life hell. How do you expect everything to disappear?" She changed her position a little. "You know earlier you said the things you did wasn't an excuse for me running away. I'm still trying to figure out how can you tell me that when it seems to me you ran away from your problems. You drank to run away from reality. You didn't want to live with the realization that you didn't have money or whatever else was going on so you ran away. You could've just dealt with your problems, right. Maybe got a job or something. So how is it that you say that my running away wasn't an excuse? I just wanted to be happy." Tears almost fell from Calleigh's eyes but she blinked and forced them away.

"I know Calleigh," her mother said. "I know how much I hurt you. I have been thinking about it for the past years and I hate myself for what happened. But I deserve a second chance, don't I?"

"This is not a second chance," Calleigh said. "I gave you chances upon chances to do right. And you're lying anyway. Two weeks ago, Mom. Two weeks ago you insulted me. You did everything again-"

"Calleigh I'm sorry," her mother said, cutting her off. "Is that what you want to hear from me? I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for what happened then. We still have time to make everything right. I don't want to lose you Calleigh. I really miss you. I really do." She was now crying.

Calleigh stared at her for a while and then she blinked. Her mother was just standing in the hall crying, almost as if she wanted Calleigh to just pull her into a hug and comfort her. "Mom," Calleigh said nervously. "I think you should go back in the room. At least until everything is figured out about this murder."

"Calleigh, I wanted to protect you that's all. I can't go without you in my life anymore. Remember when you left? You were right, I would need you more than you needed me. Just don't leave me." She cried some more tears and walked back into the interrogation room with her husband.

----

Rick Stetler walked off the elevator, walking in a stroll through the CSI lab. He walked passed the break room and noticed Layla sitting at the table quietly, eating her lunch. He walked inside when he noticed she was by herself.

"Hello," Rick said, walking over to the table. "What's your name?" She looked just like Calleigh right now.

Layla looked up at him with worry in her green eyes. "Layla," she said quietly.

"Okay Layla, where's your mom?"

Layla shrugged her shoulders. "I think she's working." She put her sandwich down on the table and looked down. "Am I in trouble?"

"No," Rick said. "But your mom might be," he mumbled. "Who's watching you?"

Even though Rick thought he was mumbling, Layla heard everything he said. In attempt to stop anyone from getting in trouble, she started talking. "My daddy," Layla said. "He's coming back so I'm not going to run around."

Rick raised his eyebrows, "Who's your daddy?"

Layla sighed, looking around, hoping that either her mom or Eric would show up.

"You can tell me," Rick said softly.

"My daddy died and he's in heaven now," Layla said, tears filling her eyes. "My new daddy is watching me. He just went to the bathroom and he'll be back. I'm not going to run around," Layla said the last part quietly.

"Whats your new daddy's name?" Stetler asked. He found this simple, easy and amazing. Calleigh's daughter would inadvertently dish out this secret that he was sure going on around here.

"Er-" The door opened, stopping Layla from talking. Layla smiled. "Mommy!" She said excitedly, running over to her and wrapping her arms around Calleigh's legs.

Calleigh smiled and hugged Layla back. "Sweetie, why don't you go finish eating."

"Okay," Layla said, looking at the door as it opened again. This time Eric came in.

"I knew it!" Rick said, standing up. "I know you two were a couple. Eric, Calleigh, ya'll daughter over here practically already told."

"Rick, why were you interrogating my daughter?" Calleigh said angrily. She was already on edge from her conversation with her mother earlier.

"You shouldn't be worried about why I was talking to her," Rick said hastily. "Your thoughts should be about how you're going to be suspended. You broke two rules here. No kids on this floor, no fraternization and you broke both of those rules. I'm surprised. You're a good cop." He shifted his position. "I blame you too Delko," Rick said. "This child says that both of you are her parents so I hold both of you accountable for this."

Eric got ready to say something but Calleigh spoke before him.

"Did Layla say that? Were those her exact words?" Calleigh said.

"She practically said it-"

"Rick you know there's a huge difference between actually saying something and practically saying it," Calleigh said.

"Okay then Duquesne," Rick said. "You tell me. Are you and Delko in a relationship?"

"That's none of your business," Calleigh said.

"Well not letting me know makes you guilty." He slapped his hand on the wall. "Thats it Duquesne. As of now, you're suspended," he yelled, walking out the door. "You too Delko, until I figure this out."

Calleigh sighed and looked at Eric.

"I had no idea Rick was here," Eric said. "And I definitely didn't know he was going to come in here."

Calleigh smiled. "Eric I wasn't worried about that," she said. "Stetler is just a problem."

"Yeah, I know," Eric said.

"Mommy," Layla said, interrupting. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No," Calleigh said. "Finish eating though and we're going to go home."

---

"Eric, I need a real vacation away from everything," Calleigh said. They'd been home for about three hours and were reflecting on everything that happened through the day. Layla was in her room, playing with her toys, of everything that happened through the day, Calleigh couldn't make Layla's punishment stay and Calleigh and Eric were on the couch, she was laying in his arms.

"My mom," Calleigh started. "She wants me to forgive her for what she did to me." Calleigh sat up. "I just can't forgive her like that."

"Calleigh," Eric started. "You know, family is a beautiful thing to have. Maybe you should probably give her a chance."

Calleigh's eyes began to water. "I can't Eric. I can't trust her. You know, I was a little girl," Calleigh started. "Layla reminds me a lot of myself when I was her age. I was probably around four or five when my parents started drinking. My dad, well he was a defense attorney and he'd lost a case he was heading. So that night he came home, I waited for him because well when he came home, I would climb in his lap to watch TV. Our show was Wheel of Fortune and he was always amazed when I would solve puzzles. That day was different. He came in and slammed the door. My mom was in the kitchen making dinner. He told me to go upstairs and play with Jeff. At the time, it was only me and Jeff. Mom was pregnant with Shawn. Jeff was three-years old and we were playing. He was a strong three-year old. We were playing catch and Jeff threw his toy at his lamp and broke it. He cried and I tried to make him feel better and I tried to fix the broken lamp but my dad came in and assumed that I broke it and he laid that belt on me so bad." She shook her head. "That was his first time."

Eric pulled her closer. "I'm sorry," he said. He was lost for words.

"You don't have to be sorry. That was just the start of many things," Calleigh said. "I remember being in second grade. I was sort of shy but only because I was scared to get in trouble at school. I remember having a best friend and we were caught talking. My teacher sent me down to the principal's office to call my parent. I was so scared, my parents weren't going to have that. I cried, cried, cried. The secretary noticed I was crying and went easy on me. She said that if I would stop talking in class she wouldn't call home. I agreed and joined my class again. But one thing that topped it all, was I was a fairly good student academically. I remember I got my report card and I had gotten all B's. My teacher was proud and I made the B honor roll. So I thought I did good. I took my report card home and my dad ripped my report card up into a million pieces. He said that I should have done better. My mom stayed up all night taping my report card back together. She told me that I needed to tell the teacher that my little brother ripped my report card." Tears started to appear in her eyes. "My mom started drinking around this time." She stopped talking. "I'm sorry, I don't want to bore you, I know you don't want to hear any of this." She'd hoped that he wasn't getting bored. She had to get this out. Calleigh kept her life stories to herself her entire life, not telling a soul, not trusting anyone to tell. Plus, she was sworn to secrecy by her parents.

"No, no," Eric said. "I love when you open up to me. I want to know everything about you." He knew she had a bad childhood, but he didn't know it was like this. He pulled Calleigh into his arms and kissed her on the forehead.

"I just can't trust her," Calleigh said. "I used to cry for her but she never came."

"Do you still love her," Eric asked.

Calleigh hesitated a moment before she answered. "Yeah, I do," she said. "But its going to be a slow process with her. Not only her but my dad too." Calleigh sat up straight and put her hand on her stomach. "She kicked. The baby kicked."

Eric smiled and put his hand on her stomach. Calleigh placed her hand over his and moved his hand to the spot where the baby kicked. "I feel that," Eric said happily.

"I know," Calleigh said happily. For the first time she felt at eased. "Eric, I do look forward to having family, at least building it. It won't be long now," she said softly. "You, Me, Layla and the new baby."

Eric smiled and Calleigh lay her head on Eric's chest and Eric wrapped his arms around her stomach and they continued to watch TV.

I shared this before but I just wanted to say that the situation between Calleigh and her mom, is actually like the situation between Me and my dad. The only difference is, my dad, I was the center of his world when he was drunk, but I knew to step out of the way when he was sober. And so, I stopped trying and I left my dad in 2006 and since then he's come back to me a few times saying that he's changed and he needs me more than I need him. Its heartbreaking to watch him when he cries to me, but I'm finally happy in my life and I can't sacrafice my happiness. And, also, the stories Calleigh told Eric in this chapter are mines. The only diffence, I was a younger age and I would climb in my dad's lap to watch tv. Our show was Wheel of Fortune and my dad would also let me come to his band rehersals. He wasn't a lawyer though. He was in the Army Air Force and after the army, he did alot of stuff. Just a little glance inside my life.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and please review. Oh and Calleigh will probably reveal more of her life to Eric, but those probably won't be any of my life stories.