Something called to Calleigh from far away. She tried to block it out. She didn't want to leave; she was safe here. He couldn't hurt her here.

There was no music. She could breathe through her mouth. She heard Horatio, clearer than before. He was real here; she could smell his cologne.

"She's not awake yet?" It was a woman's voice. Not Alexx, not Adele, not Yelina.

"No. The doctor says it might be a while still." Someone's fingers stroked her arm. Horatio's? she wondered. It was definitely his voice.

"Mansell made a full confession. He said it was all part of his research," the woman said.

"Research! He kidnapped Calleigh, kept her tied up, starved her . . . research?!"

"For the novel he's supposedly working on. He said he wanted – Hey, look who's joined us."

Calleigh blinked at the stranger. Then she looked at Horatio and she knew it was really over.

"Calleigh."

She licked her lips, oddly nervous.

"Cal, this is Samantha. She worked on your case."

"Sorry." It hurt to speak.

"Don't be." Samantha smiled. "It's not your fault. I'm just glad we found you."

"Sorry you had to put up with him," Calleigh said.

Samantha laughed and Calleigh decided she liked her. "Yeah. I don't think you should disappear again any time soon though."

"Never again." Horatio tightened his grasp on Calleigh's arm.

"Right. I'm, uh, going to be on my way. It was great to finally meet you, Calleigh." Samantha slipped away unnoticed.

Horatio brushed Calleigh's hair away from her face and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "I was lost, Cal. I've forgotten how to live without you."

"Horatio . . ."

"When you get better, I want to show you how important you are to me, okay?" He wiped away her tears with his thumb. "I love you."

"Horatio, I . . ."

"Shh, you just rest. I'm not going anywhere."

Calleigh was too exhausted to answer. She drifted to sleep; her fingers entwined with Horatio's and a smile on her face.

"She's dehydrated and her joints are pretty stiff, but she wasn't assaulted in any way." Horatio spoke softly onto the phone, reluctant to wake Calleigh. "There's some minor damage to her eardrums but the specialist said it's probably temporary. The doctors are positive that she'll recover quickly."

"And her mental state?" Alexx asked.

Horatio shrugged, though he knew Alexx couldn't see. "I don't know. She . . . she hasn't spoken about it to me. Or anyone."

"Give her time, Horatio. She won't be better overnight."

"I know."

Alexx sighed; Horatio sounded so dejected. "Look, make sure she takes some leave when she gets back here. I'll convince her to see my friend Susan."

"Good." He'd gone to see Susan after Ray's death and even now, when things got too bad at work, he'd give her a call. He hoped that Alexx would be able to convince Calleigh to speak to her.

"When are you guys coming home?"

"In a couple of days. The sooner the better."

"Mansell was right about one thing." Samantha leaned against the doorjamb of Jack's office.

"And what was that?"

"It would have made a great novel." When Jack didn't respond, Samantha came into the office and sat down. "You think he would have killed her?"

"Probably."

Samantha shuddered. "And he wanted to 'discuss' things with me. Who knows what he really had in mind?"

Jack reached across the desk and covered her hand with his. "You know I'd look for you, right? If you were ever missing, I wouldn't rest until I found you."

"Uh . . ." Samantha's voice stuck in her throat, not that she could think of a reply anyway.

"I've treated you badly, Sam," he continued, and she wished that she were anywhere else but in his office. "I'm sorry for that. You deserve more. You deserve the best."

Samantha closed her eyes, remembering that last night together. Remembering the awful fight, the tears after he left, her words echoing through her mind: I won't be your mistress anymore. I can't. It isn't right. It isn't fair to you, to me, to Marie, to the girls.

"I'm sorry, Sam." His other hand brushed her cheek and, despite herself, she leaned into his touch. "Maybe we'll get it right in our next lifetime."

She nodded and pulled away from him. "I, uh, have a thing I need to do."

She didn't look back as she walked away from him.

"He showed me this scene of a shooting. It was awful! He had bullets flying from every direction, dead bodies everywhere and the lead character was in the middle of all of it and didn't even have a scratch!"

Horatio listened with a smile on his face; it was good to hear Calleigh laugh and he thought that maybe she would be okay after all. She still wouldn't talk about what happened after the breakfast, but hearing about William Mansell's terrible writing was a start.

"But at least the waffles were good. Only thing was, I couldn't figure out if our waiter was a guy or a girl!"

He decided to test how far she would go. "You know, Max was the break in the case."

Calleigh chewed her thumbnail. "I knew you'd find me. It didn't matter whether I lived or not, I knew you wouldn't just let it go. At one stage I wished he would just kill me and dump my body somewhere so that you could have closure."

Horatio wasn't prepared to hear that. "Calleigh . . ."

"Do you think you could get us some ice cream or something? My throat's pretty sore."

"Sure." At the door, he turned back to her. "You'd let me know if you were ever unhappy, right?"

"Yes. Of course. Why?"

He shrugged. "Just something someone said."

Calleigh groaned. "You spoke to Andy, didn't you? Forget whatever he said. He's still bitter about me breaking up with him. Truth is, I'd have broken up with him even if I'd stayed in New Orleans."

Horatio smiled, relieved. "Okay. Chocolate chip?"

"It's good to see you again, Calleigh," Jack said. "I'm only sorry we couldn't find you sooner."

"Better late than never." Calleigh chuckled. "But that's the last time I ever speak at a conference."

"Agent Douglas will be sorry to hear that. I think he's already planning next year's conference."

"Well, it's the last time I agree to meet any wannabe novelists!"

Jack smiled, glad to see Calleigh's sense of humor had remained intact. "So you're getting discharge this afternoon?"

"Yes, thank God. We're flying back to Miami tonight."

"So soon?"

"My father won't believe I'm fine until he sees me with his own eyes. You know how parents can be. Besides, I want to go home."

"I hope this hasn't put you off New York for good."

"Of course not." She laughed. "I'll have to come back to finish my sightseeing."

"Maybe with Horatio, hmm?" He smiled, but there was a wistful note in his voice. Calleigh was pretending too hard that she was okay to wonder what was with him.

"Maybe."

"I hope you two manage to work everything out."

It was a different, quieter Calleigh who asked, "He took it badly, didn't he?"

"It was hard on him, yes."

"This changed everything. He's different now. I suppose I'm different too. God, I don't even know why I'm telling you this but I can't tell him."

"Calleigh?" It struck Jack that she wasn't fine. He didn't know what to say.

"He looks at me like he's afraid I'll break and I can't stand it. Before . . . I had hoped that we would someday be more than friends but now . . ." She shook her head and stared out the window, her eyes glistening. "I don't know if I want that anymore."

"Are you in love with him?"

"I don't know. It's like I don't know anything anymore. All I want is to go home and get back to work and pretend this never happened."

Jack sighed; he was hardly the right person to talk to when it came to relationships. "I think you should be discussing this with him."

"I'm scared. I had everything figured out before. I was in control and everything was fine and now . . . it's all changed."

"No one expects you to get over this immediately."

Calleigh rolled onto her side, away from Jack. "I think I'd like to be alone right now."

"Okay. Uh, can I get you anything."

"I'm fine."

"Okay." Jack was reluctant to leave her but he did as she asked. As he walked down the hallway, her words echoed in his head: I was in control and everything was fine and now it's all changed. She might as well have been talking about him and Samantha.

Calleigh took the window seat on the plane. She wondered if she should even bother to pretend or if she should let Horatio know how she really felt. She felt his gaze on her and picked up the in-flight magazine.

"Calleigh—"

"Thanks for packing all my stuff."

"No worries."

"I meant to get presents for everyone but with being kidnapped and all . . ." She trailed off when she saw the look on Horatio's face. "Sorry."

"Why do you keep apologizing? None of this is your fault." He took her hand. "I'm just relieved that we found you in time."

Calleigh pulled her hand away. "I'm sorry about us. It isn't going to work. I'm too . . . I don't know. I'm confused."

"I'm not going to lose you, Calleigh. I will wait as long as it takes, but I won't give up on what we have."

Calleigh stared out the window. A long time later, she said, "I can't promise that I'll ever be the same person I was before all of this. I'm just . . . I feel like a part of me died in that room and . . . I don't know. I don't want to rush into anything with you when I don't even know myself anymore." She turned to look at him, surprised to see he was smiling.

"You're going to be just fine, Cal."

After a while, she smiled too. "As long as it takes?"

"As long as it takes."

She slipped her hand in his and leaned back in her seat. "Wake me when we land."

Samantha sat in her apartment, absently petting her purring cat. Bogey rolled onto his back, offering her his belly. She shook her head. "Get over it, Bogart. You're not a dog."

His response was to stretch, opening his mouth in a yawn.

"So, Horatio and Calleigh are on their way back to Miami. I'm happy for them. I think he'd have been destroyed if we'd found her too late."

Bogey let out a contented sigh.

"Too bad we can't all get a happy ending, huh? But I do have you, so that's got to count for something." Samantha laughed. "And so, it starts. I'm going to be one of those old women who sits and talks to her cats!"

When the knock came, Samantha didn't need to look through the keyhole to know who it was. She sighed, pushed Bogey off her lap and stood. She opened the door and slowly raised her eyes to meet Jack's.

"She left again."

Samantha bit her bottom lip. She knew what would happen if she let Jack in. On the other hand, he was clearly upset and she couldn't, in clear conscience, turn him away.

"I won't be your mistress," she said.

"Understood."

The door swung shut as he stepped into her arms.

The End.

Author's notes: For various reasons, this story was surprisingly difficult to write. At one stage I left it to gather dust on my hard drive (not that files on hard drives can gather dust, but you know what I mean). Many thanks must go to Diane for betaing.

I listened to Evanescence almost continuously while I wrote this and one song in particular stands out when it comes to the meaning of the story:

Taking Over Me

You don't remember me

But I remember you

I lie awake and try so hard

Not to think of you

But who can decide what they dream?

And dream I do . . .

I believe in you

I'll give up everything just to find you

I have to be with you to live to breathe

You're taking over me

Have you forgotten all I know

And all we had?

You saw me mourning my love for you

And touched my hand

I knew you loved me then

I believe in you

I'll give up everything just to find you

I have to be with you to live to breathe

You're taking over me

I look in the mirror and see your face

If I look deep enough

So many things inside that are

Just like you are taking over