Title: A Voice in Ramah

Author: Melanie-Anne

Rating: PG-13

Archive: Anywhere, just let me know so I can visit.

Summary: Follows Because the Night. Calleigh and Speed investigate the death of a teen while a homicide investigation turns personal for Yelina and Horatio. H/C.

Disclaimer: Only in my dreams do they belong to me ::sigh::

A/N: Sixth in my series. The other stories are Kryptonite, But She Breaks, Bulletproof, Twilight Time and Because the Night. Thanks to Hgirl for betaing, you're the best.

Warning: This story deals with rape and abortion. No offence intended to anyone.

Dedicated to those who suffer in secret and in silence.

A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.

Jeremiah 31:15

Calleigh was excited for her first day of work as Detective Caine, though she wished that the honeymoon had been longer. The week was wonderful; they'd sailed up and down the Miami coast, resisting the temptation to just keep going wherever the tide took them.

Now, they were back in the real world, and there was no gentle easing into work. Horatio didn't even make it into CSI; he went straight to a crime scene at the Sleep 'n Eat motel near the airport.

Calleigh, Alexx and Speed were called to a crime scene in Coconut Grove. The minute Calleigh arrived, she wished she'd taken another week off.

A teenage girl lay on her back in her bed, horribly pale. She looked to be no older than sixteen, and the bedroom still bore remnants of childhood. Porcelain clowns sat on top of a bookshelf; Calleigh couldn't help thinking that they looked almost sinister, their glass eyes reflecting the horrible scene. There was a faded teddy bear in bed with the girl; her fingers still wrapped around its arm. After Speed took a few photos, Alexx carefully pulled down the bedspread.

"Oh, God."

The three CSIs stared at the girl. The bottom half of her nightgown was soaked in blood.

"What do you think happened?" Speed asked.

Alexx shook her head, her expression pained. "We'll find out soon enough, won't we, sugar?"

Hagen spoke from the door. "Her name's Adrienne Oxley. She's fifteen. Her parents say she went to bed early last night, she wasn't feeling well. When her mother couldn't wake her up this morning, she called the paramedics, who called us. Mom insisted we pull the covers back up. Said she wanted to keep her warm." He shook his head. "We had a hell of a time trying to get her to leave the room."

"Fifteen years old," Calleigh said. "It isn't right."

"The window's locked from the inside," Speed said. "No one got in that way."

"You're going to have to wait to talk to the parents. Mom just realized the kid's not going to wake up and the paramedics have sedated her." Hagen flipped his notebook closed. "Welcome back, Calleigh."

She frowned. "This is one hell of welcome."

Horatio and Delko entered the motel room, unsure of what to expect. Yelina stood in one corner, staring down at a small table. When she turned to greet them, Horatio saw crank. Meth. His jaw tightened imperceptibly.

"Drug deal gone bad?" he asked.

"It looks like it."

Horatio looked around the room. Three bodies lay on the floor. There were bloodstains on the bed.

"There was a woman," Yelina said. "They took her to the hospital. It's pretty serious; I doubt she's going to make it."

Horatio thought of his brother; he couldn't help it. He knew Yelina was thinking about him too. Every drug case brought up memories of Raymond, and of how he died. It was something Horatio and Yelina would live with forever. "Are you okay with this?" he asked, too low for Delko to hear.

She nodded. "I'm fine."

"Okay." Horatio knelt next to the body nearest to the bed. As he bent to retrieve a bullet casing, he heard a sniffling noise from under the bed. Very slowly, he shone his torch into the darkness, surprised to find a little girl looking back at him.

"Hello."

She said nothing, but shrank further away.

Horatio knew she'd probably seen everything that had happened, but wished she hadn't. No child deserved that kind of trauma.

"I'm Horatio. Can you tell me who you are?"

Again, no reply.

"You must be pretty hungry, angel. I bet, if you came out, we could get you some breakfast."

"Is the bad man gone?"

Horatio wasn't sure who the bad man was. "Yes."

"I'm not s'posed to talk to strangers."

Horatio unclipped his badge and slid it to her. "Do you know what this is?"

The child nodded. "Are you a policeman?"

"Yes."

"Mommy says it's okay to talk to policemen. She says policeman are the only strangers you can trust."

"Your mom's a very smart woman." Horatio held out his hand and was rewarded a few seconds later when a tiny hand stretched out and took it. The girl crawled out; keeping her eyes fixed on Horatio. He wondered why she didn't look at the bodies, then realized she'd had the whole night to look at them.

"Is your name really Horatio?"

"Yes, it is." He studied the girl. She was pretty, though a little underfed, and there was something disconcertingly familiar about her.

"My name's Madison."

"Well, Madison, I'm very pleased to meet you."

Madison smiled shyly at Delko before turning her attention to Yelina. "Who's that? Is she also a policeman?"

"That's Yelina. She's a detective."

"She's pretty."

"Yes, she is." Horatio had an idea; he hoped it would get Yelina's mind off Raymond. "Tell you what, I've got to be here for a while. Why don't you let Yelina get you something to eat?"

Madison nodded slowly. When Yelina picked her up, she fingered Yelina's curls, and broke into a smile.

"Are you a princess?"

Yelina blinked in surprise. "I'm sorry?"

"Princesses have hair like this," Madison stated in a superior tone. "Or yellow hair, like my mom. My mom's a princess. But the bad man hurt her."

"Did you see the bad man, Madison?" Yelina asked.

Madison buried her face in Yelina's shoulder. "I don't want to talk about the bad man."

"Okay. Why don't you tell me more about your mommy."

Madison shook her head. "I'm hungry."

"Madison, could you do something for me before you go?" Horatio asked.

"What?"

He took a Q-tip from his field kit. "Could you let me see your hands?"

Madison looked at Yelina, who gave an encouraging nod. "Okay."

When Horatio finished taking the swabs from her nails, Yelina said, "Alright. Let's get you something to eat. Horatio, if you need me—"

"I'll call. Thank you, Yelina." He held her gaze for a moment, then nodded.

Calleigh went straight from the autopsy lab to the interview room where Adrienne Oxley's boyfriend was. She studied him through the glass before she entered. Doug Radford was sixteen, on the honor roll and the swim team. He was also very upset. Calleigh smiled as she sat down.

"Hi, Doug. I'm Calleigh Caine. I'm working on Adrienne's case. Can I ask you a few questions?"

"Yeah, whatever." Doug's eyes were glazed; Calleigh recognized the look and sighed. She didn't think she'd get very far with him.

"Okay. Doug, I've got the autopsy results back—"

"You cut her open? Why'd you have to do that?" His voice broke, and he covered his eyes with his hand.

"Doug, did you know that Adrienne had an abortion shortly before she died?"

Doug paled. Calleigh knew without him having to speak that he hadn't known.

"Did you know she was pregnant?"

Doug shook his head. "You must have made a mistake. She couldn't be pregnant. That's impossible. We hadn't, you know, had sex. Adrienne said she was waiting for marriage. I thought that was cool. You're wrong."

"Unfortunately, Doug, I'm not. Something went wrong during the abortion. The wall of her uterus was torn and she bled to death."

Doug's mouth opened and closed, but there was no sound. "This isn't happening."

"Doug . . ."

"Can I see her? Maybe you've got the wrong person."

"I'm sorry." Calleigh stood, her heart breaking for this kid. Either he was telling the truth, or he was a very skilled liar. Calleigh's instincts were telling her it was the former.

Speed tapped the glass.

"Excuse me." She stepped out. "What's up?"

"I've been speaking to the best friend. She seems pretty shaken up. Started going on about what a great person Adrienne was: cheerleader, youth leader at her church, student council, good with kids . . . She sounds too good to be true, you know?"

Calleigh nodded. "It matches what I got from her boyfriend. He says they weren't sleeping together."

"You think Adrienne had a darker side? Miami's own Laura Palmer?"

"That's one explanation. Did you speak to the parents?"

"Yeah. They had no idea she was pregnant."

"Okay. I'm going to go back to the house. If she was hiding something, I'll find it."

Elizabeth Oxley sat in a sedative-induced stupor on the edge of Adrienne's bed. Calleigh's first instinct was to ask her to leave the crime scene, but she didn't have the heart. The poor woman had just lost her only child.

"Mrs. Oxley?"

Elizabeth looked up and blinked slowly. Calleigh could almost see her mind work as she tried to figure out who she was.

"I'm Calleigh Caine. I was here this morning. I'm with the—"

"Adrienne's not here." Elizabeth smoothed her hands across the bedspread.

"I know. Mrs. Oxley, I need to take another look at her room."

"Why?"

"I'm with the crime lab."

Elizabeth's mouth formed a small 'O' and she stood. "Your friend said that she . . . that Adrienne was . . . that she had an . . ."

"Mrs. Oxley, I understand this is difficult. Why don't you wait downstairs while I finish up in here? I'll be more than happy to answer your questions then."

Elizabeth nodded and made her way to the door. "She was a good girl, you know. I don't know how this happened."

Calleigh bit her lip. There was nothing she could say to ease this woman's pain. Elizabeth sighed, and left. Calleigh set her field kit on the floor and snapped on a pair of latex gloves.

She looked through the drawers first. There were a couple of letters from someone called Nadia; a quick phone call to Speed confirmed she was Adrienne's best friend. The letters weren't extraordinary, just the usual teen stuff: how hot Brad Pitt was in 'Troy', how Adrienne just had to hear the new Usher CD, and did she think Danny from algebra class was interested in Nadia? Calleigh smiled; she remembered the thrill of young love. Almost immediately, she shook her head, laughing at herself; she wasn't that old.

The closet was next. Again, Calleigh found nothing unusual. Same story with Adrienne's backpack and gym bag.

She hit paydirt when she picked up Adrienne's bible. Adrienne hadn't zipped the cover closed, so when Calleigh lifted it, a notebook fell out. A journal. Calleigh didn't feel comfortable reading it with Elizabeth downstairs, and bagged it as evidence.

On her way out, she peeked into the living room. Elizabeth was asleep in an armchair and Calleigh breathed a sigh of relief at being spared her questions.

"As soon as I know anything, I'll call you," she promised the sleeping woman.

April 3, Oh God, oh God, I don't know what to do. I feel, I don't know. I'm scared. No. I feel, sick. Why'd you let this happen to me, huh? I don't understand. What did I do? It hurts, I never thought it could hurt so much. I feel like I want to die and right now I don't care that wishing that is a sin! Are you even there? Do you care? How could you let this happen to me? I HATE YOU!!!

April 4, I went to church today. I don't know why, 'cause clearly you don't care about me anymore. But Mom would have known something was up if I'd stayed at home. I just want you to know I didn't want to be there. If you really loved me the way I've always been told you did, you would NOT have let this happen. So screw you. I'm done with you. You got a sick sense of humor, you know that? Having Rev. T talk about Job and how much he suffered and how it was all a test. You don't love me, you didn't love him. This is all one big sick joke to you. Isn't it? Maybe you're not even in control. Maybe you just get to watch. Did you feel anything when he hurt me? Did you cry when he hit me? What about when I screamed, what did you feel then? Did you even hear when I prayed to you? When I BEGGED you to make him stop?

April 5, School today, and wasn't that fun! N. asked how my weekend was, and what could I say except, "Fine"? I sat out of gym class. I didn't want people to watch me get dressed in case they saw the scratches and the bruises. You know what the worst thing was though? I still felt like they could see anyway, like they were all looking at me and they just KNEW what had happened. And I hate it. I hate you. I don't know why I'm still speaking to you. Are you even listening? Did you ever? We read a poem in English today: how do you like your blue-eyed boy, mr. death? I thought of you. How did you like him, huh? I figured out why you don't love me. Because if you loved me, you'd have to love him too. So I guess it's okay.

Calleigh stopped reading. She marked her place and closed the journal. She was glad she'd decided to read it in Horatio's office; now no one could see her cry. Her heart was breaking for what Adrienne had endured.

Horatio found her there, staring into space. He took one look at her and knew something was wrong.

"Cal?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you okay?"

She shook her head. "This poor girl. I'm reading her diary now and it's . . . Horatio, I can't even begin to describe what she was going through."

Horatio sat next to her and took her hands. "The abortion?"

"More than that. She was raped. I don't know why this is getting to me though. It's not as if we've never dealt with rape cases before."

"But you've never read a firsthand account, have you?"

"No."

"Does she say who it was?"

"Not yet. I'll keep reading. So far she's just using initials to identify people, but maybe I'll get lucky."

Horatio raised her hands to his lips. "Let me know how it goes."

"How's your investigation?"

"Looks like a drug deal gone sour. Two survivors. One is in ICU; the other is a little girl who doesn't want to talk about the bad man. So it's up to the evidence. I'm waiting on ballistics from Aaron . . . if you want I could put you on my case and put Eric with Speed?"

"No," she said, her mouth set in a determined line. "I need to see this through."

Horatio smiled. "That's my Cal."

Speed knocked on the door. "Calleigh, Nadia's here."

"Thanks." She gave Horatio a quick kiss on the cheek, picked up the journal, and followed Speed downstairs.

Nadia Petrof was a slim brunette with dark, frightened eyes. She sat in the interview room, nervously shredding a Kleenex. Her chin trembled as Calleigh and Speed entered, and she blinked quickly to hide her tears.

"Hi, Nadia. I'm Calleigh. You've met Tim, right?"

Nadia nodded.

"Right. Nadia, you know Adrienne died because something went wrong with her abortion."

"That's what he said." Her eyes darted to Speed, then back to Calleigh.

"Did you know she was pregnant?"

Nadia studied what was left of her Kleenex. After a while, she nodded.

"Do you know who the father was?"

"It isn't what you think. Adrienne's a good person. She would never sleep around or cheat on Doug—"

Calleigh opened the journal and slid it across the table to Nadia. "We know."

"Oh." Nadia looked everywhere except at the journal.

"Do you know what's in here?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"She didn't want anyone to know. She was embarrassed. And scared."

"Nadia, is this diary going to tell us who raped her?"

Nadia pressed her lips together.

"Do you know who did it?"

Nadia wiped her tears away. "No. I don't know anything else. Can I go home, please?"

Speed and Calleigh exchanged a glance. It was clear that Nadia was lying, but they both knew she had said all that she was going to say.

"Yeah," Speed said. "You can go home."

Yelina was completely charmed by the little girl she was looking after. After breakfast, she'd taken Madison home. She'd bathed her and washed her hair, and couldn't help wondering if she and Raymond would have had a daughter, if he'd lived.

She'd been thinking about Raymond all day. It was the case, she told herself. She could no longer look at drugs without thinking of her husband.

And it followed, when she thought of him, she thought of how he'd died. Of the rumors and the suspicion. Of all that had been left unsaid between them.

"Yelina, can we get ice cream?"

Yelina smiled. "We can get ice cream, if you'll talk a bit about last night."

All the light vanished from Madison's eyes. "No."

"Okay. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, got that?"

Madison said nothing.

Yelina sighed. "I have to fetch my son from school. I think he'll want to come for ice cream too."

Madison still looked distant, but she took Yelina's hand and didn't protest as they went out to the car.

It was only when Madison saw Ray that she smiled again. "Is that your son?"

"Yes."

"Is he nice?"

"Sometimes."

"Do you think he'll like me?" Her eyes were wide, expectant, and Yelina felt something inside her melt.

"Of course he'll like you."

When Ray climbed in the car and greeted his mother with a smile, Madison smiled shyly up at him. Yelina's grin froze in place as she realized, only now, what it was about Madison that had first struck her.

Her eyes. Her mouth. Raymond.

Oh God.