Title: Cause and Effect (6/7)
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters (including Maria. She's made it quite clear that she owns her own damn self, thank you very much.) I'm just borrowing them and will return them when I've had my fun, somewhat dazed and disheveled, but otherwise in their original condition. Also, Maria and I have decided to keep Eric for a while, and we're sending Tim to Yana...
Rating: Still R, but no smut, so all you conservatives and prudes (uh, maybe that was a little redundant) can chill, okay?
Pairings: Eric/Maria, Tim/Calleigh, John/Yelina, Horatio/Adele
"You're back late." Calleigh greeted Eric and Maria. "Everything all right?"
"Better than all right." Maria assured her. She held out a small piece of paper with an image on it.
"Oh my God." Calleigh gasped. "Is that what I think it is?"
Eric grinned proudly. "Our baby's first picture."
"Let me see that." Tim said. "Hey, Maria, it's got your...little wavy black lines."
"Wiseass." Maria laughed. "Anyway, we would have been back sooner, but since we were at the hospital anyway, we went to see Yelina, and John was there too. I figured I'd better tell them before they heard about it, or God forbid read about it somewhere." As much as she didn't want to think about it, she knew her condition wouldn't be a secret for long. A controversial United States senator's unmarried stepdaughter was knocked up. She was going to put a few gossip columnists' kids through college.
"How'd that go?" Tim asked.
"They were surprised, to say the absolute least." Eric spoke up. "They said they're happy for us, though."
"They'll be okay." Calleigh assured Maria, who looked uncertain. "And it's good that you told them."
"Yeah." Maria sighed. "And now, there's someone else I've got to talk to."
"Who?" Calleigh asked.
Maria shook her head. "Don't worry about it."
"Take as much time as you need, honey." Alexx said.
"Thanks, Alexx." Maria said, taking a deep breath. She walked over to the metal table and stared down at the body on it for a few seconds before she spoke. "You know, it's almost funny. I used to think I'd end up in a morgue because of you. I just never thought I'd be alive at the time." She laughed a little. "You always said I was dumber than a box of hair." She clenched her fists at her sides, so hard that her nails dug into her palms. "Well, if I'm so stupid, why are you the one who's lying there?"
"Then again, I can't be mad at you." She continued after taking a deep breath. "I almost feel sorry for you. You were so fucking pathetic. You couldn't keep a woman unless you broke her. But you didn't break me, and you won't break Aimee, either. I just wanted to say that to you. And I wanted to say that you didn't even come close to breaking me and Eric. I'm going to spend my life with him. I'm going to have a child with him. I'm damn grateful I never had any kids with you. You probably would have turned a boy into a soulless monster, just like you, and...I don't even want to think about what you might have done to a girl. But I don't have to think about it, or about you. I can walk out of here right now, knowing that you will never hurt me, or Aimee, or anyone else ever again."
Standing in the observation room above the morgue, Eric smiled proudly as he watched Maria walk out the door, totally calm and collected. Seconds later, he heard footsteps behind him and turned around, expecting to see her. "Hey there, sexy-" He stopped short when he saw Tim standing in the doorway. "I'm gonna be hearing about that one for a while, huh?"
Tim didn't even seem to notice. "We just got a call."
After leaving the morgue, Maria had felt like a huge weight had been taken off of her heart. But now, as she walked up the stairs, she felt that same weight returning. She ignored it until she reached the observation room and found Eric and Tim waiting for her close to the door.
"Hey guys." She said casually. "What's going on?"
Eric took a deep breath as he reached out and put his arms around her. "Come here..."
"What's wrong?" Maria cut him off, pulling away. "Eric, just tell me what's happening."
"It's Aimee." Eric began, moving closer to her.
"No." Maria gasped, stepping back. She put her hands up, as if she could block the bad news. "No..."
Somebody cries in the middle of the night
The neighbors hear, but they turn out the lights
A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate
When morning comes it'll be too late
"Maria, slow down." Calleigh said, not entirely sure why she was even attempting to keep up with the other woman.
She caught up with Maria outside the hotel room, where a crowd of officers, paramedics, and onlookers had gathered.
"You were supposed to be checking on her!" Maria was saying to a female cop, her face white and her teeth clenched. "How the hell did this happen?"
Without a word, Eric stepped in and pulled Maria away. She slumped against him, closing her eyes, then took a deep breath as she pushed him away suddenly and went into the hotel room.
Her friends followed her quickly, and found her slumped against the wall next to the closet. Tears slowly slid down her cheeks and one hand covered her mouth as she took in the scene before her.
Eric put one arm around Maria's waist, feeling her collapse against him as they both stared silently at the open mini bar, the small empty liquor bottles that littered the floor, the bits of broken glass where one of the bottles had been smashed against the bedside table. Then they both focused on the girl on the bed, and on the half of the broken bottle still clenched in her hand, and the shards of glass still embedded in her slashed forearms.
"She knew what she was doing." One of the paramedics was saying to Horatio. "The way she cut herself, she bled out in about two minutes."
The color drained from Maria's face, and she pushed Eric, Tim, and Calleigh aside as she raced into the bathroom.
Through the wind and the rain
She stands hard as a stone
In a world that she can't rise above
But her dreams give her wings
And she flies to a place where she's loved
Concrete angel
Maria was silent the whole way home. Eric made a few efforts to get her to talk to him, but quickly gave up. He kept one arm wrapped tightly around her as they walked up the stairs to the apartment.
She immediately went into the bedroom and shut the door behind her. He followed her a few minutes later, and found her already curled up on one side of the bed. Without a word, he lay down beside her and wrapped his arms protectively around her.
"What can I do?" He asked.
"Lie to me." Maria said hoarsely. "Tell me it's not my fault. Tell me I had no way of knowing what would happen."
"That's true and you know it." Eric insisted.
"Bullshit." Maria scoffed. "I did the same thing she did after I left him. The only difference is that she did it better than I did. Fuck, I can't do anything right. I couldn't even help Aimee." Rolling onto her back, she placed her hands on her stomach and addressed her unborn child. "You don't know what you're getting into. God, if you're really lucky, I'll have a miscarriage."
"Maria." Eric wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him, letting her press her face into his neck as she began to sob convulsively. He just held her like that, stroking her hair soothingly and rubbing her back until she finally cried herself to sleep.
A statue stands in a shaded place
An angel girl with an upturned face
A name is written on a polished rock
A broken heart that the world forgot
The last funeral Maria had attended had been for her brother, Anton. There had been well over a hundred people there. This one had seven, including the priest. In addition to the CSIs, there was a young woman who had introduced herself as Aimee's older sister Alicia. She was the only living member of Aimee's immediate family, and hadn't seen her in three years.
"I just wanted to tell you, don't blame yourself." She'd said to Maria earlier, fighting back tears. "I don't blame you."
Now, as Maria stood in front of the gravestone, a statue of an angel with her hands raised up, she focused on the two dates that were way too close together.
Eric came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Come on."
Maria just nodded and let him lead her away, to where the others were waiting for them.
TBC...