Notes and disclaimers in part one
Circle Unbroken
Part 4
The world seemed to rock ever so slightly around Tim as Calleigh's words registered with him, and he turned wide eyes on the woman in his arms. "Excuse me?" he asked, the words emerging from his lips without conscious thought, and when he saw her look down, saw the flash of pain in her eyes, he wished that he could take them back. "Babe, I'm sorry…"
"It's ok Tim," she told him quickly, one hand reaching up to pat his chest. "It's ok…I mean, it's pretty unbelievable." She shot Mike a quick glance out of the corner of her eye, and Tim followed her gaze, seeing curiosity and concern on the other man's face.
"Later, ok?" he said quietly, squeezing her waist, hoping that she'd understand what he wasn't saying, and when she nodded, giving him a tight smile, he knew that she did.
"Yeah," she breathed, before turning her gaze back to Mike, though she was leaning against Tim heavily. "I appreciate you telling me this Mike," she said, looking past him to the house. "Somehow, I don't think Joshua would have passed the message along."
Tim's jaw set at the mention of the name, once more seeing Calleigh sprawled on the ground, wishing that he could have a few minutes alone with Joshua to teach him some manners. Mike sighed, but didn't otherwise comment. "I should go in there…" he said instead, sounding reluctant to leave, and Tim felt a stab of jealousy despite himself. He chastised himself for being ridiculous, but the feeling only intensified when Mike continued with, "You should come for dinner tonight."
Tim looked down at Calleigh, saw her looking doubtfully up at him. "You're sure?" she asked, looking over at Mike. "Sally won't mind?"
Mike laughed out loud at that. "You kidding me? I come home and tell her you're in town and that I didn't ask you for dinner, I'm sleeping at the water tower tonight."
Tim didn't quite understand that, but Calleigh laughed, a joyous sound so at odd with the seriousness of the situation. "Wouldn't be the first time," she said, and Mike nodded as if in understanding.
"True. So, we'll see you tonight? About eight?"
Calleigh looked up at Tim again, her eyebrow raised in question, and he shrugged a shoulder, leaving the decision up to her. "We'd love to," she told him. "It's the old Camden place right?"
"Yep, can't miss it." Mike glanced over his shoulder, taking a step back. "I'll see you there."
With that, he was gone, and Calleigh turned, settling herself into Tim's embrace, resting her forehead against his chest. Her arms slipped around his waist, and he felt her exhale before she straightened, looking up into his eyes. "Can we go?" she pleaded, green eyes wide in a pale face, and he nodded, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair back behind her ears. Wordlessly he reached for her hand, leading her over to her rental car, holding his hand out for the keys when they got there. She grinned tiredly, handing them over, slipping into the passenger seat and closing her eyes.
She didn't say anything on the drive back into town, didn't even open her eyes until Tim parked the car as close to the hotel as he could manage. Still without a word, they walked down the street towards his car, where he grabbed his bag before they walked back to the hotel. He'd hoped that they would be able to go straight up to Calleigh's room, but he'd evidently reckoned without the eagle eyes of Violet at the reception desk. The second they walked in the door, she called to them. "Oh, I see you found her." Her eyes landed on Tim, stayed there, eyeing him up and down, lingering on their joined hands. "I take it you're going to be staying a spell?"
Calleigh squeezed Tim's hand, and he knew that if they weren't standing in front of Violet that she'd be rolling her eyes. "That's not going to be a problem, is it Violet?"
Her voice was sweet as could be, but it served to fluster Violet, as she nodded hurriedly. "Oh, no, of course not. I just…I didn't get your name Sir."
She was all politeness too, and before Calleigh could say anything, Tim leaped in. "My name is Tim Speedle ma'am," he said politely, not missing how Calleigh's head turned sharply in his direction, not that he could blame her. "I'm Calleigh's partner." Those words had Calleigh looking at him again, and he glanced down at her with a shrug before looking back at Violet.
The older woman was looking at him suspiciously. "And you let her come up here all on her own?" she asked disapprovingly.
Calleigh might have been gearing up to reply, but once again, Tim beat her to it. "I would have come, obviously." He wasn't sure if he was talking to Violet or to Calleigh, but either way worked fine for him. "But I had some work stuff to take care of…I'm sure you understand how it is, a businesswoman like yourself…"
He stopped abruptly as Calleigh's nails dug into his skin, but his charm offensive seemed to work on Violet, for she smiled at him, nodding. "Of course Mr Speedle…"
"Tim, please."
Violet practically simpered. "If there's anything you need…"
"Well, right now, I'd just love to get the road dust off me," he told her with a smile, before adding, "I'm sorry if that appears rude, but…"
"Not at all, not at all." By this stage, Violet was practically shooing them up the stairs. "Miami to Darnell, you need to recharge your batteries, not be talking to an old woman like me…"
"I'm sure we'll talk again," Tim said, as Calleigh practically dragged him towards the stairs, waiting until they'd rounded the corner on the first flight before she spoke.
"When did you get so obsequious?" she muttered, an amused little smile on her face, and he bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing.
"Working with Horatio has its advantages," was his instinctive response, and she just shook her head, before leaning against him.
"This is us," she sighed, stopping in the middle of the hallway, reaching into her purse for the key, opening the door and stepping inside. She threw her purse on the dresser and he dropped his bag on the floor beside it, looking all around him as he did so. The room was fairly simple, a comfortable looking double bed in the middle, bedside tables with lamps on either side. There was a dresser across from that, and a wardrobe beside it, near to which was a door leading into the bathroom. In the middle of it all, right beside the bed, stood Calleigh, and while her mood had lightened during the conversation with Mike, and again after the conversation with Violet, now she looked drained again, eyes closed, arms wrapped around herself. As he stared at her, her shoulders rose and fell in a deep breath, and she opened her eyes to meet his. The lost look that he saw there broke his heart, had him stepping towards her without even having to think about it.
"C'mere," he whispered, pulling her into his arms, and she went willingly, wrapping her arms around his waist. His hands settled on her hips, holding her gently as he kissed the top of her head. He didn't know how long they were standing there before he shifted slightly, nodding towards the bed. "C'mon, let's get you lying down."
"I don't need to lie down," she protested, but he wouldn't let her get away with that.
"Maybe I do, you ever think of that?" he challenged, and she smiled up at him.
"OK then," she breathed, allowing him to lead her to the bed, where she kicked off her shoes, as did he, before lying down side by side, his arms around her, her head on his chest, right over his heart. He could feel her relax as he ran his fingers through her hair, and she murmured softly, "I can't believe you followed me all the way here."
He would have shrugged had he not been holding her. "I'd have followed you a lot further than that." He blinked when he heard how the words sounded, amending hastily, "That sounded a lot less crazed stalker-y in my head."
She chuckled, twisting against him and propping herself up against his chest, placed a kiss on his chin. "That's not what it sounded like," she told him firmly as she settled herself back down again. "It sounded sweet."
He didn't say anything about that, instead concentrating on some of the many questions he had. "You want to talk about this?"
She sighed. "I guess we really should."
She didn't sound too eager though and he frowned. "If you don't want to, that's ok," he told her. He'd known that he didn't know much about Calleigh's life before she'd come to Miami, but it was only in the last twenty-four hours that he'd learned just how little he truly did know. He knew now that she had her reasons for not discussing it with him, and he didn't want to cause her any additional pain now, much as he might want to find the answers to his questions. He was here for her, not the other way around. "It's whatever you need to do babe."
He didn't expect to hear her chuckle. "You said that to me last night too," she said quietly, and it took a second for him to realise what she meant, to remember their conversation of the previous night. "Seems like a lifetime ago," she continued, voicing his own thoughts.
"You don't have to tell me Cal," he murmured. "It's ok."
"No." Her voice was strong, and she raised herself up from his chest, scooting herself up on the bed slightly so that her face was level with his. She was lying on her side, and Tim turned so that he was on his side too, facing her, their arms still around one another. "I want to tell you Tim…" Her bravery seemed to falter for a moment, and she gave him a weak smile. "Though it may be the Reader's Digest version."
He ran a hand up her arm and back down so that it rested on her hip. "Whatever you need," he repeated.
With a nod and a deep breath, she began to speak, and he listened, not interrupting her, just letting her talk. She told him about her father, about growing up as the apple of his eye, about only seeing his good side, never his bad. About how it had felt to be seventeen, and to realise from the evidence of your own eyes, and the testimony of some of your closest friends, that your father was a racist. She told him about her mother, about what it was like to watch her slowly losing her mind, about the effect that had had on her brothers. Her voice faltered every now and again, trailing off on occasion, but her eyes never left his, and she never once cried, though he wouldn't have blamed her if she had. His jaw tensed when she spoke about Joshua, the baby of the family, because she tried to excuse his behaviour, behaviour that, to Tim, was inexcusable.
"I don't blame him, not really," she said. "After all, growing up there can't have been much fun. And he's right. I did leave."
"You had to," he told her quietly, lacing his fingers with her. "There was nothing else you could have done. You know that, right?"
She nodded, jaw clenched so tightly that he could hear her teeth grinding together, a thin film of tears shining in her eyes. "Yeah," she whispered. "But it doesn't stop it hurting." There was nothing he could say to that, so he just waited, trusting that she'd continue in her own time. "He wasn't even going to tell me about it," she told him quietly. "It was Mike who called me."
Pain raged in her eyes and Tim pressed himself just a little closer to her. "What happened?"
She swallowed hard. "The details appear to be a little sketchy. Best he could tell me was that Joshua was in the shack day before yesterday. Heard shouting, screaming, crashing. The usual. He didn't think anything of it, didn't go over. A few hours later, he heard gunshots. When he went to investigate, he found Daddy lying on the couch, dead, blood everywhere. And Momma, standing there, the gun in her hand. He called the Sheriff, who took things from there, and it was early yesterday afternoon before Mike realised that no-one had called me."
Tim shook his head, hardly able to believe that this had happened at all, or that she was being so calm about it all. "Calleigh…"
"She didn't say anything about it, about what she'd done or why…she just sat there. Didn't even cry. The Sheriff knew that Momma hasn't been 'quite herself' for a long time..." There was a bitter smile on Calleigh's lips when she spoke. "Lord knows, it's hardly a secret around the town, much as we've tried to hide it. They took her to Shreveport, to the hospital there, to examine her. She's still there I guess." She screwed her eyes shut tightly, and a single tear escaped, tracing a silver path down her cheek. "I hate to think of her in a place like that."
He reached up, brushing the tear away, surprised when she reached up, her cold hand finding his and holding it there. "I never wanted to come back here," she told him, her eyes still shut, as if she couldn't say this when she was looking at him. "And I never wanted you to see any of this. I was so scared of what you'd think, of what you'd say…" Her voice faltered, and she opened her eyes, staring right into his. "And now you're here, and I have no idea how I thought I could do this without you."
Tim leaned forward, brushing his lips across her forehead. "You don't have to worry about that," he told her. "I'm not going anywhere."
