After Kerner had hung up on them, Tim had gone upstairs, shutting his bedroom door behind him. Somehow everything became screwed up for them. Why? What had they done? They were good people. Hell they were cops, CSIs, they saved people! But it seemed that this past year all that had happened was they had dug a hole and now it kept getting deeper and deeper. Would someone finally save them? Tim slid down onto the floor and rested his head against the wall. Why did everything have to be so hard? Other families can go about their daily lives without going into witness protection programs, or getting kidnapped. Why couldn't they? Just because they were CSIs didn't mean they were superheroes. They were just normal people, trying to get on with their lives.
Tim snapped back to reality when the door opened and in walked Calleigh. She closed it softly and sat down next to him.
"You know, we do have a perfectly good bed over there." she smiled weakly, tears shining in her eyes. Tim looked away from her. He hated when she cried. Usually when she cried, it was because he had made her.
"I know." he whispered. He was afraid he'd start crying if he talked any louder.
"You know, everything's gonna be fine."
"Now that I don't know."
"Well it is. We've got Tyler working on an address right now. Scent dogs going through the streets..." Calleigh trailed off. Tim nodded and felt Calleigh's arm slip around his shoulders, pulling him closer to her.
"I just... I feel like we're working for nothing." he said quietly. "I get the feeling of deja vu."
"We got Abbie back."
"I'm not waiting another fourteen years because of one of my mistakes."
"This wasn't one of your mistakes." Calleigh said.
"Yes it was."
"You can't make me change my mind about not going into protection."
"I'm talking about me letting her out of the house."
"Are we going to shelter them now?"
"Now we are. I don't want to lose Nicky or Abbie."
"We're not and Tim, how were you to know that Kerner would grab her?" Calleigh asked. She felt Tim shrug and she kissed his forehead lightly. "Everything is going to be fine. We're going to find her."
There was a knock on the door, making the couple spring apart from each other.
"Yeah?"
"Dad, there's a package outside for you."
Tim opened the door and held a hand down to Calleigh. She took it and he pulled her into a standing position, then ran downstairs to the door.
"You Tim Speedle?" a bored UPS guy asked.
"Yeah." he nodded. The UPS guy handed over a manilla envelope and a sheet.
"Sign."
Tim scribbled his signature onto the paper and shut the door on the delivery man's face.
"Have a nice day." his voice came through muffled. Tim was already in the kitchen, going over the envelope. All it said was his name and address.
"Tim, what is it?" Calleigh asked.
"I have no idea." he replied, opening it cautiously. "It's a USB." (Those are the things that go in your computer... it's a compact floppy and holds way more than ever.)
"A USB?" Eric repeated. A few people were staring at the three of them now. Tim nodded, then emptied the rest of the envelope. He pulled out a short note and read it out loud.
Speedle,
I'm giving you twenty-four hours to meet my demands. If you don't, then I will kill Jennifer. My demands are, hand over Calleigh and your daughter doesn't get hurt. Twenty-four hours. But right now, here is some entertainment for you.
"Well there's a new ransom note." Eric smirked. "Hand over your wife so I can kill her but I'll give you your daughter back. So Speed, what will it be?"
Tim threw his fist at Eric's face and he stumbled back.
"Shut up Eric. Just shut up!" he yelled. Eric nodded, his hands over his nose. The room was silent and everyone stared at Tim in shock.
"Speed, I'm sorry." he mumbled. "I was just kidding around but I shouldn't have said it."
"Damn straight you shouldn't have said that." Tim snapped. "What the hell do you think Eric? I just got Calleigh back! And even if this year hasn't been the year from hell, I still wouldn't have handed her over because she's my wife!"
He snatched the USB off the table and walked down the hall to his office, slamming the door behind him. Calleigh walked over to the counter and grabbed a few paper towels. She proceeded to go over to the refrigerator and get some ice, which she wrapped up in the paper towels, then handed them over to Eric.
"He's shouldn't have done that. I don't care what you said." she said quietly. Calleigh walked out of the room and went down the hall to Tim's office. It wasn't really an office. It's just where the computer was and where most of Tim's things were so it had been dubbed 'Tim's office.'
"Close the door." Tim mumbled, fumbling to get the USB into its port. Calleigh did and pulled a chair up next to him.
"That was so uncalled for." she said. "I can't believe you did that."
Tim sat up straight and clicked on the new icon that had appeared on the desktop. He went over the documents in the file and saw what he was looking for straight away. The file he wanted was titled 'Jennifer.' Tim clicked on it and sat back in his chair. Calleigh scooted over so she could see.
"Turn it up." she ordered gently. Tim turned the volume up and they could hear Kerner's voice.
"...two are trying to make up your minds about saving her, how about you get to watch her?"
The black screen suddenly changed as a light turned on and Calleigh let out a cry as she saw Jen, bound to a chair.
"She can't do much of course but uh... I'm sure you'll just find it good to see her, alive."
S/C-----
Jen glared at the camera. She hated cameras. She hated anything to do with cameras. Well this camera had been on her for the past two hours and she was beginning to get very agitated. She had to do something about it.
S/C------
Tim tried, unsuccessfully, to get comfortable in his chair. He had been sitting here for the past two hours and even though he wanted to move, he wouldn't. If he took his eyes of Jen for a second, it could've been the last.
