Chapter 25:

"Breaking news, there's been a shoot out in McGowan Park. Three people were seriously injured, two police officers, actually CSI's suffer minor injuries with gunshot wounds to the limbs and a child is missing. There's an Amber Alert going out as we speak. Let's go over to Jerry Watson who's live at the scene.."

"Oh my GOD!!" Natalia thought. She and Ryan sitting in the living room watching TV. "Calleigh said that she and Eric were taking Layla to the park and this happens. I'm about to call her."

Ryan sat with his mouth opened, surprised at what he saw. His boss was on television, with a angry expression on his face, hands on his hips.

"Sir, I'm not going to comment on the situation at hand," Horatio said.

"Can you at least tell us how the mother of the child, who was also shot, is doing?" Jerry Watson said, his mouth to his microphone.

"Sir, we're dealing with a situation right now, I am not going to comment on the status of the parents. Our main goal is to find the child," Horatio said, walking away.

"There's just a busy signal," Natalia said, coming back into the room. "Oh my god, I know Calleigh is so distraught right now."

"Yeah," Ryan said, wiping his face. "I have to go right now. I'll call you as soon as I get to the park."

"Okay, Okay. Ryan be careful," Natalia said.

"I will," he said, standing up and kissing Natalia on the cheek. It was the first time and just like the time when Calleigh kissed Eric's cheek, Ryan's kiss with Natalia held passion and heat. He walked out the door.

"It was crazy," a man's voice boomed from the television. "One minute, everything was cool and the next moment, it was World war three."

"Okay thank you," Jerry Watson said. The camera panned back into his face. "Well police are unsure whether or not the CSI's were the attended target or not. They seemed to be really tight lipped about this. However, what we do know is the missing child was the daughter of one of the wounded CSI's. So we're almost certain that the CSI's were targeted. As you heard earlier on, lead Criminalist and Lieutenant Horatio Caine says their main concern at the moment is finding this child alive.

"Horatio said he wanted to find Layla," Natalia repeated. "The media is twisting his words."

"So we're looking for a white van with the license plates BAZ 103. If you see anything suspicious you should call the authorities immediately. Stay tuned as we continue to give you updates on this situation. I'm Jerry Watson and I'm live from McGowan Park."

----------

Calleigh sat on the hospital bed, her hand covering her eyes, her body shaking. She ran a hand through her hair and looked up. Then she ran a hand across her bandaged wound. A few tears fell from her eyes but she wiped them away when someone came in the room. She turned around and noticed that it was Eric and he was in a wheelchair.

"Oh My God," she gasped. "I'm so sorry Eric."

"Calleigh, you didn't shoot me," Eric said, wheeling over to her bed.

Calleigh couldn't help but cry more. "Life just doesn't want me to be happy," she said, crying more. "Layla is kidnapped, I'm hurt, you're hurt and no one has an explanation." She cried some more.

Eric touched her arm reassuringly. "Calleigh, everyone is doing all that they can to find Layla and we'll be okay, okay?"

She shook her head no. "Eric, I will never be okay." She put both hands over her eyes and cried hard. "It's my fault. She depended on me to save her. She cried out to me. I'm trained to do this, especially with firearms."

"Shh," Eric soothed. "It's not your fault. You were out of control of the situation.

Calleigh sat up sharply in pain and Eric looked at her. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Please, please," she grabbed her stomach and cried. She pushed the button for the nurse. "Eric one of the men tackled me to the ground and also kicked me in the stomach."

"Oh my god," Eric said. His lips tightened. He hoped that their baby was okay.

The nurse came in the room the next minute. "Ms. Duquesne, can I help you?"

"I'm experiencing pain in my abdomen," Calleigh said. "And I'm pregnant."

The nurse gasped. "Sweetie, we have to get you to fetal ultrasound immediately." She pulled out her pager and called down a doctor. "A doctor will be here immediately," The nurse said.

Eric grabbed hold to Calleigh's hand. "The baby will be okay."

Calleigh started breathing hard and sweat rolling down her forehead and tears coming out of her eyes. Her fingers got really clammy.

"Calleigh," Eric called.

The nursed looked at her and pulled out her stethoscope. She called out into the hall, "I have a panic attack happening now!!"

A team of nurses and doctors rushed in the room and began helping Calleigh.

-----

Horatio had just come into the hospital when he noticed the commotion going on around a room. He saw Eric sitting in a wheelchair outside of the room and knew immediately it was Calleigh.

"What happened?" Horatio asked.

"Calleigh," Eric said, drying his eyes. "She had another panic attack."

Horatio moved his body and looked towards the room. There were still in the emergency room. He saw blonde hair falling over the sides of the railing and then he heard Calleigh's voice and she said 'No.'

----

"No, don't do that," Calleigh said, looking at the doctor as he put a dose of medication in her arm. It didn't even take a minute before the effects of the dose started taking effect on her body. She closed her eyes and drifted away.

----

Layla continued to cry and cry and cry.

"Little girl, you think we're playing with you," the pepper sprayed man said. His face was now swollen and he looked so disgusting. Layla looked at him one time and continued crying, then he pulled out a gun.

"Have you ever seen how these things work?" the man said, pushing it in Layla's cheek. "Did you see what happened to your mother? That'll happen to you if you don't shut up crying."

Layla continued to cry. She cried harder when he put the gun on her cheek.

"Get that thing away from her," the other man said who was driving. "Yeah, that's going to get her to shut up. Dude, she's scared of that damn thing. She's not going to shut up if you keep scaring her. Give her some candy. I got some chocolate somewhere back there."

The other man searched around the van for the candy. He found it and unwrapped it and handed Layla a piece.

She smacked it from his hand and continued crying.

He grabbed snatched Layla head up by her hair and she threw her hands up to stop the pain; her tiny hands; She continued to cry.

"Man let that girl go!" the man driving the van said. "How do you expect us to get out money if she's hurt or dead?"

The men, the came in from Louisiana and were sent there by Josh's mother to kidnap Layla but that's when a twist happened. They'd been following Calleigh all week but they had just made the plan to make they're attack. Initially, they were just going to attack CSI but when the case was solved about the other Kindergarten murders, they seized the opportunity to take the little girl from Calleigh. Especially since it was their friend who was now doing time for killing the three kindergarten kids and raping and beating the other one. When the man put away found out that the men had kidnapped a CSI's kid, he offered to pay $150,000 for them to keep her until he broke up and he would avenge his sentencing by killing the little girl.

"Well she's going to die anyway," the peppered sprayed man said. "She might as well get used to the pain."

Layla cried some more. It was a lot her little mind couldn't process but one thing that she understood was death and putting 'she' and 'death' in the same sentence, she knew that she would die.

Sorry about the cliff hanger right here. I'm not purposely trying to do it. Okay, well I just wanted to leave a little suspense and figure out what I wanted to do for the next chapter. But don't worry, you guys won't be in suspense for too long. I should have another post later tonight or sometime tomorrow.