TWO MONTHS LATER

S/C-----

Tim looked up when he heard a knock on his office door. He smiled slightly, seeing Calleigh there.

"It's odd." she started. "I thought when Horatio retired the office would be the same but you bring such cheer to the place."

Tim snorted at the thought of his boring, leather and wood office being cheerful.

"What's up?" he asked. Calleigh tossed a file onto his desk.

"I finished my report. Figured you would want to see it, Lt." she teased. Tim rolled his eyes. Horatio had gotten out of the field ten years ago and passed his reign down to Tim. He still worked at CSI but not in the field, just ran tests and filled out paperwork, though Horatio did finally retired five years ago. But still, after all these years everyone still teased Tim about his title. He hadn't even wanted the title of Lieutenant Timothy Speedle but... it had its advantages. Tim nodded and went through the report.

"Good. I'll sign it later." he mumbled. Calleigh nodded and watched him for a second. "What?"

"I think something's going on with Sammy."

"Calleigh... I'm not getting in on it."

"Tim..."

"She said she did not want me watching out for her so I'm going to do just that." he said. "But go on..."

"Do you think she and Jason broke up?" Calleigh asked.

"Wouldn't surprise me."

"I bet you'd be very happy if that was true."

"I plead the 5th."

"Very funny. What do you think's wrong with her?"

"Normal seventeen year old stuff." Tim replied. "Honey, I'm sure it's nothing."

Right then his phone rang and Tim had to move some papers around to find it.

"Yeah... Cindy how many times have I asked you to call me Tim? Or Speed? Or Speedle? Okay... whatever... what? Alright... uh yeah tell her to come up." he hung the phone up and looked at Calleigh. He never hated her anymore than right then. Why must she always be right? He asked it out loud too.

"Because I'm a mother and I noticed these things... unlike you, who is unobservant of our children." Calleigh replied sweetly. "What did Cindy want?"

"Sammy is out in the lobby and she's coming up here."

"Why isn't she in school?"

"We're going to find out." Tim muttered. He was hoping that it wasn't Sammy and Jason broke up because he was not in the mood to listen to the tears. Sammy walked into his office then and closed the door behind her.

"Oh hi Mom." she smiled.

"Why aren't you in school?" she asked.

"Um... for the past couple of months, since I started dating Jason probably, I noticed that this car was always around the house. Now I've been seeing this guy and he's been around places that I've been. Not looking at me, but I get the feeling he was. Today during gym, he was outside the fence that barricades the track field in. So I have study hall now and I came here. It's creeping me out."

Immediately, like a normal woman reaction, Calleigh went to Sammy's side and held her tightly.

"Why wouldn't you say something before?"

"I didn't think it was that big of a deal."

"Sammy," Tim started. "I'm sure that this guy is just some parent that wanted to watch his kid."

"I could believe that except every time I've been somewhere that this guy has been, no one from my gym class is around."

"You have to have at least forty kids in that class and you say you know all of them by face and none of them were around."

"Yes! I'm not kidding about this! If I didn't think it was important I wouldn't have come here." Sammy said. Calleigh gave Tim a look.

"What kind of car was it?"

"Mercedes, black, tinted windows... caught the last few numbers of the plate. 984."

Tim nodded, writing it down quickly.

"I'll run it later. Okay?"

"So what am I supposed to do in the mean time?" Sammy asked.

"Go back to class." Tim replied. "Alright?"

"Whatever." Sammy muttered and stood up. Her hand was on the door when Tim spoke up again.

"Don't get an attitude. I'm going to look into it."

"Yeah later." Sammy said, glancing behind her. "When you have nothing better to do."

"Sammy, I can't help if I'm working a homicide or not."

"It'll take you five minutes to run a license plate."

"Fine. Go back to class."

"Thanks for caring." Sammy snapped and walked out of Tim's office. He stared at Calleigh, his jaw hanging open.

"Is this is the same girl that told me not to look out for her?"

Calleigh glared at him.

"You could try to be at least a bit more supportive."

"Why are you ganging up on me?" Tim asked. "I said I'll run it!"

"Because Tim you... you're like, yeah okay I'll do it later." Calleigh replied exasperatedly.

"I have a case!"

"Then why are you in here sitting on your ass?"

"Jesus Christ Calleigh if you want it done so bad, then go do it!"

"This isn't about wanting something done!" she exclaimed. "Tim, she is your daughter!"

"Yeah, I may be stupid but I'm not that stupid. I think I've realized that an extra person has been around for the past seventeen years." he muttered. "There isn't even a case! If I just show up on this guy's doorstep and say you're stalking my daughter without any evidence but her word I'll lose my badge."

"So your badge is more important than your family?" Calleigh asked.

"I didn't say that." Tim said quietly, signing papers again.

"Not in those words but that's what you meant."

This made Tim look up again.

"If you think that..." he started. "I suggest you start rethinking our marriage because I would never put anything before you and our kids. Never."

Calleigh stood up and walked to the door. She stood there for a few minutes, looking at the door.

"I'm sorry."

Tim nodded.

"Don't worry about it."

"I am though. Tim, I didn't mean it like that. It just slipped." Calleigh said.

"It's okay. Look... I'm gonna be stuck here doing paperwork and then I have to go arrest some jackass. Do you want to run the plate number?" he asked. Calleigh nodded as she walked back to his desk. She leaned over and grabbed the paper off Tim's desk. "I'm not mad at you Cal."

"Didn't say you were." she mumbled. "I'll see you later."