Title: Damaged Goods (4/?)
Disclaimer: (To the tune of "You Don't Own Me," by Leslie Gore) I don't own it, I'm not trying to claim it in any way. I don't own it, don't hunt me down cause I'll never pay!
Rating: This one's still PG-13, I *think.* Some bits may veer off into R territory, for language and violence.
Pairings: Eric/Maria, Tim/Calleigh, Maria/Hagen (What? Quit looking at me like that, it was her idea.)
Feedback: Review it, or I'll send Maria to your house.
Dedication: To Yana, Tina, and Jackie, cause they write some awesome fics, and make me laugh. Also to Mimi and lildreamer9, for reviewing previous parts of this fic. This one hasn't been the easiest for me to write, and the feedback really does help.
Note: There's not too much of it in this part, but be warned that this is the beginning of this fic taking a more disturbing turn. Future parts will be rated R, at least.
******** = beginning or end of a flashback.
__________________________________________
"It's all over the news." Eric announced, bursting into the morgue.
Alexx looked up, not the least bit surprised to see him. "I had a feeling, as soon as Horatio told me you weren't working on this case, that I'd be seeing you today. How's Maria?"
"She was asleep when we left." Eric said. "She seemed fine, but I'm guessing she's a lot less fine if she's seeing the news. They got hold of everything. The name of the bar, the hotel." As he rambled on, he stared down at the once pretty face of Natalie Mullaly. For a second, he saw Maria's face, and he stumbled back slightly.
"I know, it's hard not to think about it." Alexx said, understanding.
"Makes me feel like such a bastard." Eric admitted. "An innocent girl got murdered, and all I can think about is how glad I am it wasn't Maria."
"There's nothing wrong with that." Alexx reassured him. "You're in love with Maria."
"A lot of good that's done me." Eric groaned. "I'm miserable, while she's fooling around with Hagen. And how the hell is that going to last, anyway? The only thing they have in common is hormones. Plus he's too old for her."
"You're older than her, too." Alexx pointed out.
"Two years." Eric said. "He's eight years older than her. Thirty-two's pretty old." Alexx gave him a look, and he quickly amended, "Compared to twenty-four, I mean."
"You know what my mother would call you, Eric?" Alexx said, shaking her head and smiling slightly. "A real pain in the ass."
Eric shrugged, returning the smile. "That's what my mother calls me, too."
"The next time you see Maria, try looking at her, looking into her eyes. You might be surprised by what you'll see." Alexx said cryptically.
Before Eric could ask her what she meant by that, his pager went off. "It's from Horatio." He said. "I'm so busted, huh?"
Alexx nodded, amused. "Looks like it."
_____________________
"Come on in." Horatio said before Eric spoke, not even looking up from the file on the desk in front of him.
"Uh, yeah, okay." Eric said sheepishly. "Look, H, I'm sorry-"
"Do I look mad?" Horatio interrupted. "I might be, if I hadn't expected this. Have a seat."
Eric sat down, still nervous, although it was true, his boss didn't seem the least bit surprised or upset.
"I wanted to talk to you about last night." Horatio explained. "What, exactly, was the occasion?"
"There wasn't one." Eric admitted. "Other than that we felt like it."
"Felt like going out and getting wasted?" Horatio asked. "That doesn't sound like any of you."
"That was kinda the point." Eric admitted. He was looking down at the desk, which proved to be a mistake. His mind was immediately filled with images of Maria, stretched out on the smooth surface, writhing and moaning as he leaned over her. He shook his head a few times to clear it. This had to stop. "I guess we all just needed to unwind, to forget that, as Maria put it, 'our jobs make us reek of death.'"
Horatio chuckled slightly. "That does sound like something she'd say. She has quite a way with words." He would know, having been on the receiving end of Maria's way with words more than once. 'Pompous, ignorant ego-monkey' was a favorite of hers. She always apologized after she'd had time to cool down, but he had to admit that there had been a few times when maybe she'd been right. The youngest of his CSIs had a strong personality, a short fuse, and a stubborn streak a mile wide. As small as she was, there was something about being yelled at by Maria that could make a man go to great lengths to avoid having it happen again.
"I didn't even want to go." Eric continued. "But they talked me into it, and it's a good thing they did, too. If I'd held out, or if we hadn't gone at all...God, H, I can't stop thinking about what would have happened to her if we hadn't shown up when we did."
"I know." Horatio said sympathetically. The thought had crossed his mind more than once. "But you understand that's why you need to sit this one out, don't you? Why all of us do? I'm not overseeing the investigation, I've handed it off to Lieutenant Walsh. Alexx isn't doing the post, she's just supervising. We all care about her, Eric. So we can't be anywhere near this."
"I know." Eric said. "I know that, but it just makes me crazy, just sitting around, doing nothing while this guy is out there."
"I understand that." Horatio told him. "Why don't you go see Maria? If she's seen the news, she's going to have a lot of questions."
Eric shook his head. "I doubt she'd want me to answer them."
"All right, I'll put it another way. Go see her, before I have to dock your pay for disobeying a direct order." Horatio said, smirking.
"I don't have to go home, but I can't stay here, huh?" Eric chuckled. "All right, I'm gone."
_______________________
"I.Ds, please." Calleigh and Tim were stunned to see a security guard posted outside the closed door to Maria's room. They could hear slightly raised voices coming from inside.
"I'm Calleigh Duquesne, this is Tim Speedle. We work with Maria Santiago, and I'm her roommate." Calleigh explained. "Has something happened?"
Ignoring her question, the guard tapped on the door and opened it a crack. "Senator, I'm sorry to interrupt, but the roommate's here."
The door was pushed open more, and a middle-aged woman peered out. She was maturely attractive, but her eyes held a certain sorrow, the kind that came from years of worry. "Calleigh. It's so good to see you again."
"You too, Senator." Calleigh replied. "This is Tim Speedle. Tim, this is Maria's stepmom, Senator Yolanda Santiago."
"It's an honor to meet you, Senator." Tim said politely.
"Tim. I've heard quite a bit about you from both of these young ladies." Yolanda said, stepping aside and opening the door fully. "Please, come in."
"Hey guys." Maria said brightly, sitting up slightly as her friends entered the room. She looked less pale, but still not her old self.
"Calleigh, perhaps you can help us settle this." Yolanda began. "Do you think it's fair that I had to hear on the news that my own daughter was almost raped and murdered?"
"Okay, first of all." Maria said. "I'm your stepdaughter. Second, if it hadn't been leaked to the press, you wouldn't have found out at all, because I knew you would freak out like this."
"First of all, I adopted you and your brother and sister when I married your father." Yolanda retorted. "And I raised you, so as far as I'm concerned, you are my daughter. And second, you should know by now that nothing that happens to our family stays secret for long. That's a fact of our lives, Maria, whether we like it or not."
"Yeah, well I never chose it." Maria huffed, folding her arms over her chest.
"Don't be like that." Yolanda pleaded. "I just want to know how this could have happened. You're always so careful, you never let your guard down. How could someone have gotten close enough to do this to you?"
"I already told you, I don't know." Maria sighed.
"What were you wearing?" Yolanda asked.
"Oh, God, Yolanda!" Maria snapped. "What kind of question is that? Especially coming from a woman who sustained a twenty-five hour filibuster to prevent voting on a bullshit crime bill, arguing, among other things, that if a woman's provocative clothing was justification for rape, then little old ladies in their homes and twelve-year-old alter boys would never be assaulted?" She shook her head. "Besides, 'what were you wearing?' Such a typical mom thing to say!"
"Fine, you should show off your goods more." Yolanda said, smirking. "How's that for a typical mom thing to say?"
"Creepy." Maria replied, wrinkling her nose.
"You're not even my mother, and I'm a little creeped out." Calleigh spoke up, reminding the two Hispanic women that she and Tim were still in the room.
Both of them looked somewhat sheepish. "Everything okay?" Maria asked. "I know I wasn't able to give much of a statement, but..."
"No, everything's fine." Tim said. "We just saw that this was all over the news, and we figured we'd better get over here, make sure you were all right."
Maria laughed hoarsely at that. "God, see what I mean, Yolanda? They hover over me even more than you do! I'm fine, you guys, really."
Calleigh and Yolanda exchanged looks, but there was a knock on the door before either of them could say anything.
"Sorry to intrude." Dr. Anders said cheerfully, opening the door. "Maria, I'm going to need to check your heart rate and breath sounds before you can be discharged, and go over your at-home care with you."
"That's fine." Maria replied. "Do you need the peanut gallery over here to wait outside?"
Dr. Anders nodded. "That would be best. If you don't mind, that is."
"Not at all." Yolanda said. "And I just wanted to thank you, Doctor, on behalf of my husband and myself, for everything you've done for our Maria."
"You're very welcome, Senator." Dr. Anders told her. "And thank you for voting against that last health care bill. I don't think I need to tell you what that would have done to our hospital."
"Of course." Yolanda replied. She nodded to Calleigh and Tim, who followed her out of the room to a row of chairs in the corridor. Sinking into one, Yolanda sighed. "Calleigh, Anton told you...everything...didn't he?"
"Yes, he did." Calleigh confirmed, sitting down next to her. "I know all of it. Tim doesn't, though."
"It's so horrible." Yolanda sighed, closing her eyes. In just those few moments, she seemed to age ten years.
"I know." Calleigh said sadly. "I literally got sick to my stomach when Anton told me. I mean, my father wasn't exactly a saint to me, and he was even worse to my mother, but there were some lines he would never, ever have crossed."
"I'm worried about her." Yolanda's voice broke slightly as she spoke. "She puts on such a brave face, she always has, ever since she was a little girl. But she's devastated, I can see it when I look at her. I'm afraid that this is going to bring it all to the surface."
"That may be for the best." Calleigh pointed out. "If she can deal with everything that happened, maybe she can move past it."
"I hope so." Yolanda sighed. "Thank you for being there for her."
Calleigh nodded. "Of course."
"You can all come back in now." Dr. Anders announced, opening the door. "Maria's in the bathroom, changing to go home. I just have some paperwork to take care of, and then she's free and clear."
"Okay, thank you, Doctor." Calleigh said, as cheerfully as she could manage.
"You're welcome."
The bathroom door opened and Maria stepped out, in flared dark jeans and a red t-shirt. "Hey. We all set?"
"Just about." Calleigh replied. "Dr. Anders is just taking care of a few more things, and then we're out of here."
The door to the room opened slightly again. "Senator, we've got another one of Maria's friends out here. Name's Delko."
"Have him come in." Maria replied. She smiled when she saw Eric. "Hey. Eric, this is my stepmom, Yolanda Santiago. Yolanda, this is Eric Delko. He works with us at CSI."
"Nice to meet you, Senator." Eric said, once again unsure of quite how to act around a member of Maria's family.
"It's a pleasure, Eric." Yolanda said, shaking Eric's hand. She looked at him for a moment, then at Tim, and then winked at her stepdaughter. "Maria, you didn't tell me you worked with such handsome boys as these two."
"Yolanda!" Maria gasped, burying her face in her hands. "Why do you always have to act like this in front of my friends?"
"Because I'm your mother, dear." Yolanda replied casually. She looked at Eric again. "Besides...a friend? I don't buy it."
"Yolanda! God!" Maria shrieked. "That's enough!"
"All right, all right, I'm leaving." Yolanda sighed. She hugged Maria tightly. "Call me tonight, okay? Your father will want to hear from you, too. We love you, Maria."
"I will." Maria promised. "I love you guys, too." As soon as her stepmother was gone, she sighed and rolled her eyes. "Sorry about her, you guys. Parents, stepparents, they're all the same. A real pain in the ass." She saw that Eric and Tim were smirking at her. "What?"
"She thinks we're handsome." Eric teased. "She's a smart woman."
"Yeah, smart enough to know that you nailed me." Maria shot back. "I hope for your sake you never have to meet my dad, because he's just as 'smart' as she is. Come on, let's get the fuck outta here already."
__________________
"I call shotgun!" Eric announced loudly as they approached Calleigh's car in the parking garage.
"Oh my God, are you ten?" Maria groaned. "Besides, no way, I call it. I'm the patient here, which means I get first dibs."
"Kids, don't make me separate you two!" Tim chided them sarcastically.
"Eric, what about your car?" Calleigh asked.
"I walked here." Eric shrugged. "It's only about five minutes from the lab."
"Okay, fine." Calleigh said. "But it's my car, and Maria has been throwing her cookies all morning, so she gets the front seat. You boys are in the back."
_________________________
"Ow! Damn it, Speed, cut it out!" Eric shouted, doing a dead-on impression of a little kid on a long road trip. "Calleigh, he keeps putting his foot on my side of the car!"
Calleigh rolled her eyes. The two men had been bickering like children since the car had left the hospital grounds to amuse Maria, and it had been working, but it was starting to get old. "All right, that's enough, it's only cute and funny for a few minutes." The other three in the car looked at her, and she sighed. "Fine, I mean, damn it, you two! Knock it off, or so help me, I will turn this car right around!"
Maria giggled. "You guys are all insane, you know that? And I would know insane, too."
"Yeah, from an insider's perspective." Eric teased, leaning forward and poking the back of her neck lightly, causing her to squeal and shrink down in her seat.
"Stop it!" She shrieked, turning around and slapping at his hand.
"Guys, seriously, quit it." Calleigh told them. "Traffic's getting pretty heavy, I gotta concentrate on the road." Even as she spoke, an SUV barreled past them, veering into their lane. Yelping in surprise and anger, Calleigh swerved to one side to avoid being sideswiped, catching Maria off guard and causing her to smack the side of her head against the window. "Shit! Maria, are you okay?"
"Yeah." Maria said, rubbing the side of her head. "Yeah, I'm fine. You guys okay?"
"We're good." Tim replied.
"Okay." Maria sighed, leaning back against her headrest and closing her eyes as the traffic started to move again.
****************************
She had kept quiet for the past ten hours, since they had left the small town in Alabama that he had insisted they had to go to, dropping everything and driving for two days, for a reason he didn't tell her.
Standing in the small, poorly lit bedroom, watching him throw a few random pieces of clothes from her drawers and his own into a small duffel bag, she had desperately wanted to ask him why it was so important that they go, and go now. She had a feeling that she knew the reason already. Someone had 'something' for him. Something on which he would spend his entire paycheck, and probably the money from her parents that was supposed to pay for her physical therapy, which he had decided she didn't need any more. But they still needed the money, so when they saw her parents, he made her stay seated, or move very slowly and deliberately if she did get up. She never questioned him, and that moment, as desperately as she had wanted to ask, had been no exception.
Besides, his gun had been on the bedside table, just a foot away from him, well within his reach. A belt was slung carelessly over the doorknob. He was wearing those goddamn steel-toed work boots. She didn't dare open her mouth.
Ten hours into the drive, however, she was cold, hungry, and exhausted. The road was more dark and deserted than she remembered, and she wasn't sure his car, the same piece of shit he'd had when they were in high school, was going to make it much further.
"Are you..." She began hesitantly. "Are you sure we're not lost?"
Her head hit the window as he slammed on the breaks and pulled over to the side of the road. Just as she recovered, she felt the impact of her head striking the glass again before she even realized the back of his hand had hit her across the face. She felt a stinging pain and tasted blood where the cheap, ten carat gold band on his left hand had caught her lip.
"Shut the fuck up!" He screamed at her, grabbing her by her hair and pinning her head and neck against the window. He slapped her, harder this time. "You wanna fucking question me?!"
He lunged at her then, pinning her upper body against the door, still holding her hair in a painfully tight grip. As he forced his body against hers, rendering her completely helpless, he hit her in the face a few more times.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she winced in pained. She didn't know at the time that the pain he was about to cause her would be so much worse.
*****************************
"Maria? Hey! We're home." Calleigh's voice jolted her back into the present. Her roommate was leaning over from her side of the car, a concerned look on her face. "You okay?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." Maria said quickly. "I'm just feeling a little out of it. I'm kinda hungry."
"Well, that's a good sign." Calleigh said. She got out of the car and made her way over to the passenger door. Opening it, she gently took Maria by the arm and helped her out of the car. "Tim's gonna give Eric a ride home. Why don't we go inside and get you some lunch?"
Maria blinked a few times and shook her head to clear it. "Yeah." She said softly. "Okay."
_________________________
TBC...
Disclaimer: (To the tune of "You Don't Own Me," by Leslie Gore) I don't own it, I'm not trying to claim it in any way. I don't own it, don't hunt me down cause I'll never pay!
Rating: This one's still PG-13, I *think.* Some bits may veer off into R territory, for language and violence.
Pairings: Eric/Maria, Tim/Calleigh, Maria/Hagen (What? Quit looking at me like that, it was her idea.)
Feedback: Review it, or I'll send Maria to your house.
Dedication: To Yana, Tina, and Jackie, cause they write some awesome fics, and make me laugh. Also to Mimi and lildreamer9, for reviewing previous parts of this fic. This one hasn't been the easiest for me to write, and the feedback really does help.
Note: There's not too much of it in this part, but be warned that this is the beginning of this fic taking a more disturbing turn. Future parts will be rated R, at least.
******** = beginning or end of a flashback.
__________________________________________
"It's all over the news." Eric announced, bursting into the morgue.
Alexx looked up, not the least bit surprised to see him. "I had a feeling, as soon as Horatio told me you weren't working on this case, that I'd be seeing you today. How's Maria?"
"She was asleep when we left." Eric said. "She seemed fine, but I'm guessing she's a lot less fine if she's seeing the news. They got hold of everything. The name of the bar, the hotel." As he rambled on, he stared down at the once pretty face of Natalie Mullaly. For a second, he saw Maria's face, and he stumbled back slightly.
"I know, it's hard not to think about it." Alexx said, understanding.
"Makes me feel like such a bastard." Eric admitted. "An innocent girl got murdered, and all I can think about is how glad I am it wasn't Maria."
"There's nothing wrong with that." Alexx reassured him. "You're in love with Maria."
"A lot of good that's done me." Eric groaned. "I'm miserable, while she's fooling around with Hagen. And how the hell is that going to last, anyway? The only thing they have in common is hormones. Plus he's too old for her."
"You're older than her, too." Alexx pointed out.
"Two years." Eric said. "He's eight years older than her. Thirty-two's pretty old." Alexx gave him a look, and he quickly amended, "Compared to twenty-four, I mean."
"You know what my mother would call you, Eric?" Alexx said, shaking her head and smiling slightly. "A real pain in the ass."
Eric shrugged, returning the smile. "That's what my mother calls me, too."
"The next time you see Maria, try looking at her, looking into her eyes. You might be surprised by what you'll see." Alexx said cryptically.
Before Eric could ask her what she meant by that, his pager went off. "It's from Horatio." He said. "I'm so busted, huh?"
Alexx nodded, amused. "Looks like it."
_____________________
"Come on in." Horatio said before Eric spoke, not even looking up from the file on the desk in front of him.
"Uh, yeah, okay." Eric said sheepishly. "Look, H, I'm sorry-"
"Do I look mad?" Horatio interrupted. "I might be, if I hadn't expected this. Have a seat."
Eric sat down, still nervous, although it was true, his boss didn't seem the least bit surprised or upset.
"I wanted to talk to you about last night." Horatio explained. "What, exactly, was the occasion?"
"There wasn't one." Eric admitted. "Other than that we felt like it."
"Felt like going out and getting wasted?" Horatio asked. "That doesn't sound like any of you."
"That was kinda the point." Eric admitted. He was looking down at the desk, which proved to be a mistake. His mind was immediately filled with images of Maria, stretched out on the smooth surface, writhing and moaning as he leaned over her. He shook his head a few times to clear it. This had to stop. "I guess we all just needed to unwind, to forget that, as Maria put it, 'our jobs make us reek of death.'"
Horatio chuckled slightly. "That does sound like something she'd say. She has quite a way with words." He would know, having been on the receiving end of Maria's way with words more than once. 'Pompous, ignorant ego-monkey' was a favorite of hers. She always apologized after she'd had time to cool down, but he had to admit that there had been a few times when maybe she'd been right. The youngest of his CSIs had a strong personality, a short fuse, and a stubborn streak a mile wide. As small as she was, there was something about being yelled at by Maria that could make a man go to great lengths to avoid having it happen again.
"I didn't even want to go." Eric continued. "But they talked me into it, and it's a good thing they did, too. If I'd held out, or if we hadn't gone at all...God, H, I can't stop thinking about what would have happened to her if we hadn't shown up when we did."
"I know." Horatio said sympathetically. The thought had crossed his mind more than once. "But you understand that's why you need to sit this one out, don't you? Why all of us do? I'm not overseeing the investigation, I've handed it off to Lieutenant Walsh. Alexx isn't doing the post, she's just supervising. We all care about her, Eric. So we can't be anywhere near this."
"I know." Eric said. "I know that, but it just makes me crazy, just sitting around, doing nothing while this guy is out there."
"I understand that." Horatio told him. "Why don't you go see Maria? If she's seen the news, she's going to have a lot of questions."
Eric shook his head. "I doubt she'd want me to answer them."
"All right, I'll put it another way. Go see her, before I have to dock your pay for disobeying a direct order." Horatio said, smirking.
"I don't have to go home, but I can't stay here, huh?" Eric chuckled. "All right, I'm gone."
_______________________
"I.Ds, please." Calleigh and Tim were stunned to see a security guard posted outside the closed door to Maria's room. They could hear slightly raised voices coming from inside.
"I'm Calleigh Duquesne, this is Tim Speedle. We work with Maria Santiago, and I'm her roommate." Calleigh explained. "Has something happened?"
Ignoring her question, the guard tapped on the door and opened it a crack. "Senator, I'm sorry to interrupt, but the roommate's here."
The door was pushed open more, and a middle-aged woman peered out. She was maturely attractive, but her eyes held a certain sorrow, the kind that came from years of worry. "Calleigh. It's so good to see you again."
"You too, Senator." Calleigh replied. "This is Tim Speedle. Tim, this is Maria's stepmom, Senator Yolanda Santiago."
"It's an honor to meet you, Senator." Tim said politely.
"Tim. I've heard quite a bit about you from both of these young ladies." Yolanda said, stepping aside and opening the door fully. "Please, come in."
"Hey guys." Maria said brightly, sitting up slightly as her friends entered the room. She looked less pale, but still not her old self.
"Calleigh, perhaps you can help us settle this." Yolanda began. "Do you think it's fair that I had to hear on the news that my own daughter was almost raped and murdered?"
"Okay, first of all." Maria said. "I'm your stepdaughter. Second, if it hadn't been leaked to the press, you wouldn't have found out at all, because I knew you would freak out like this."
"First of all, I adopted you and your brother and sister when I married your father." Yolanda retorted. "And I raised you, so as far as I'm concerned, you are my daughter. And second, you should know by now that nothing that happens to our family stays secret for long. That's a fact of our lives, Maria, whether we like it or not."
"Yeah, well I never chose it." Maria huffed, folding her arms over her chest.
"Don't be like that." Yolanda pleaded. "I just want to know how this could have happened. You're always so careful, you never let your guard down. How could someone have gotten close enough to do this to you?"
"I already told you, I don't know." Maria sighed.
"What were you wearing?" Yolanda asked.
"Oh, God, Yolanda!" Maria snapped. "What kind of question is that? Especially coming from a woman who sustained a twenty-five hour filibuster to prevent voting on a bullshit crime bill, arguing, among other things, that if a woman's provocative clothing was justification for rape, then little old ladies in their homes and twelve-year-old alter boys would never be assaulted?" She shook her head. "Besides, 'what were you wearing?' Such a typical mom thing to say!"
"Fine, you should show off your goods more." Yolanda said, smirking. "How's that for a typical mom thing to say?"
"Creepy." Maria replied, wrinkling her nose.
"You're not even my mother, and I'm a little creeped out." Calleigh spoke up, reminding the two Hispanic women that she and Tim were still in the room.
Both of them looked somewhat sheepish. "Everything okay?" Maria asked. "I know I wasn't able to give much of a statement, but..."
"No, everything's fine." Tim said. "We just saw that this was all over the news, and we figured we'd better get over here, make sure you were all right."
Maria laughed hoarsely at that. "God, see what I mean, Yolanda? They hover over me even more than you do! I'm fine, you guys, really."
Calleigh and Yolanda exchanged looks, but there was a knock on the door before either of them could say anything.
"Sorry to intrude." Dr. Anders said cheerfully, opening the door. "Maria, I'm going to need to check your heart rate and breath sounds before you can be discharged, and go over your at-home care with you."
"That's fine." Maria replied. "Do you need the peanut gallery over here to wait outside?"
Dr. Anders nodded. "That would be best. If you don't mind, that is."
"Not at all." Yolanda said. "And I just wanted to thank you, Doctor, on behalf of my husband and myself, for everything you've done for our Maria."
"You're very welcome, Senator." Dr. Anders told her. "And thank you for voting against that last health care bill. I don't think I need to tell you what that would have done to our hospital."
"Of course." Yolanda replied. She nodded to Calleigh and Tim, who followed her out of the room to a row of chairs in the corridor. Sinking into one, Yolanda sighed. "Calleigh, Anton told you...everything...didn't he?"
"Yes, he did." Calleigh confirmed, sitting down next to her. "I know all of it. Tim doesn't, though."
"It's so horrible." Yolanda sighed, closing her eyes. In just those few moments, she seemed to age ten years.
"I know." Calleigh said sadly. "I literally got sick to my stomach when Anton told me. I mean, my father wasn't exactly a saint to me, and he was even worse to my mother, but there were some lines he would never, ever have crossed."
"I'm worried about her." Yolanda's voice broke slightly as she spoke. "She puts on such a brave face, she always has, ever since she was a little girl. But she's devastated, I can see it when I look at her. I'm afraid that this is going to bring it all to the surface."
"That may be for the best." Calleigh pointed out. "If she can deal with everything that happened, maybe she can move past it."
"I hope so." Yolanda sighed. "Thank you for being there for her."
Calleigh nodded. "Of course."
"You can all come back in now." Dr. Anders announced, opening the door. "Maria's in the bathroom, changing to go home. I just have some paperwork to take care of, and then she's free and clear."
"Okay, thank you, Doctor." Calleigh said, as cheerfully as she could manage.
"You're welcome."
The bathroom door opened and Maria stepped out, in flared dark jeans and a red t-shirt. "Hey. We all set?"
"Just about." Calleigh replied. "Dr. Anders is just taking care of a few more things, and then we're out of here."
The door to the room opened slightly again. "Senator, we've got another one of Maria's friends out here. Name's Delko."
"Have him come in." Maria replied. She smiled when she saw Eric. "Hey. Eric, this is my stepmom, Yolanda Santiago. Yolanda, this is Eric Delko. He works with us at CSI."
"Nice to meet you, Senator." Eric said, once again unsure of quite how to act around a member of Maria's family.
"It's a pleasure, Eric." Yolanda said, shaking Eric's hand. She looked at him for a moment, then at Tim, and then winked at her stepdaughter. "Maria, you didn't tell me you worked with such handsome boys as these two."
"Yolanda!" Maria gasped, burying her face in her hands. "Why do you always have to act like this in front of my friends?"
"Because I'm your mother, dear." Yolanda replied casually. She looked at Eric again. "Besides...a friend? I don't buy it."
"Yolanda! God!" Maria shrieked. "That's enough!"
"All right, all right, I'm leaving." Yolanda sighed. She hugged Maria tightly. "Call me tonight, okay? Your father will want to hear from you, too. We love you, Maria."
"I will." Maria promised. "I love you guys, too." As soon as her stepmother was gone, she sighed and rolled her eyes. "Sorry about her, you guys. Parents, stepparents, they're all the same. A real pain in the ass." She saw that Eric and Tim were smirking at her. "What?"
"She thinks we're handsome." Eric teased. "She's a smart woman."
"Yeah, smart enough to know that you nailed me." Maria shot back. "I hope for your sake you never have to meet my dad, because he's just as 'smart' as she is. Come on, let's get the fuck outta here already."
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"I call shotgun!" Eric announced loudly as they approached Calleigh's car in the parking garage.
"Oh my God, are you ten?" Maria groaned. "Besides, no way, I call it. I'm the patient here, which means I get first dibs."
"Kids, don't make me separate you two!" Tim chided them sarcastically.
"Eric, what about your car?" Calleigh asked.
"I walked here." Eric shrugged. "It's only about five minutes from the lab."
"Okay, fine." Calleigh said. "But it's my car, and Maria has been throwing her cookies all morning, so she gets the front seat. You boys are in the back."
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"Ow! Damn it, Speed, cut it out!" Eric shouted, doing a dead-on impression of a little kid on a long road trip. "Calleigh, he keeps putting his foot on my side of the car!"
Calleigh rolled her eyes. The two men had been bickering like children since the car had left the hospital grounds to amuse Maria, and it had been working, but it was starting to get old. "All right, that's enough, it's only cute and funny for a few minutes." The other three in the car looked at her, and she sighed. "Fine, I mean, damn it, you two! Knock it off, or so help me, I will turn this car right around!"
Maria giggled. "You guys are all insane, you know that? And I would know insane, too."
"Yeah, from an insider's perspective." Eric teased, leaning forward and poking the back of her neck lightly, causing her to squeal and shrink down in her seat.
"Stop it!" She shrieked, turning around and slapping at his hand.
"Guys, seriously, quit it." Calleigh told them. "Traffic's getting pretty heavy, I gotta concentrate on the road." Even as she spoke, an SUV barreled past them, veering into their lane. Yelping in surprise and anger, Calleigh swerved to one side to avoid being sideswiped, catching Maria off guard and causing her to smack the side of her head against the window. "Shit! Maria, are you okay?"
"Yeah." Maria said, rubbing the side of her head. "Yeah, I'm fine. You guys okay?"
"We're good." Tim replied.
"Okay." Maria sighed, leaning back against her headrest and closing her eyes as the traffic started to move again.
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She had kept quiet for the past ten hours, since they had left the small town in Alabama that he had insisted they had to go to, dropping everything and driving for two days, for a reason he didn't tell her.
Standing in the small, poorly lit bedroom, watching him throw a few random pieces of clothes from her drawers and his own into a small duffel bag, she had desperately wanted to ask him why it was so important that they go, and go now. She had a feeling that she knew the reason already. Someone had 'something' for him. Something on which he would spend his entire paycheck, and probably the money from her parents that was supposed to pay for her physical therapy, which he had decided she didn't need any more. But they still needed the money, so when they saw her parents, he made her stay seated, or move very slowly and deliberately if she did get up. She never questioned him, and that moment, as desperately as she had wanted to ask, had been no exception.
Besides, his gun had been on the bedside table, just a foot away from him, well within his reach. A belt was slung carelessly over the doorknob. He was wearing those goddamn steel-toed work boots. She didn't dare open her mouth.
Ten hours into the drive, however, she was cold, hungry, and exhausted. The road was more dark and deserted than she remembered, and she wasn't sure his car, the same piece of shit he'd had when they were in high school, was going to make it much further.
"Are you..." She began hesitantly. "Are you sure we're not lost?"
Her head hit the window as he slammed on the breaks and pulled over to the side of the road. Just as she recovered, she felt the impact of her head striking the glass again before she even realized the back of his hand had hit her across the face. She felt a stinging pain and tasted blood where the cheap, ten carat gold band on his left hand had caught her lip.
"Shut the fuck up!" He screamed at her, grabbing her by her hair and pinning her head and neck against the window. He slapped her, harder this time. "You wanna fucking question me?!"
He lunged at her then, pinning her upper body against the door, still holding her hair in a painfully tight grip. As he forced his body against hers, rendering her completely helpless, he hit her in the face a few more times.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she winced in pained. She didn't know at the time that the pain he was about to cause her would be so much worse.
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"Maria? Hey! We're home." Calleigh's voice jolted her back into the present. Her roommate was leaning over from her side of the car, a concerned look on her face. "You okay?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." Maria said quickly. "I'm just feeling a little out of it. I'm kinda hungry."
"Well, that's a good sign." Calleigh said. She got out of the car and made her way over to the passenger door. Opening it, she gently took Maria by the arm and helped her out of the car. "Tim's gonna give Eric a ride home. Why don't we go inside and get you some lunch?"
Maria blinked a few times and shook her head to clear it. "Yeah." She said softly. "Okay."
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TBC...