Disclaimer: I own anyone you don't recognize. Everyone else belongs to Anthony Zuiker.

S/C---------

"Calleigh, come on! H wanted us there ten minutes ago! Traffic is going to be horrendous now that the bridge is out!"

"I'm coming!" she yelled downstairs. Tim sighed and let Ashley, the babysitter in.

"So I saw everything on the news." she said as they walked into the living room. "You gonna be gone long?"

"Yeah most likely." Tim nodded. "Calleigh!"

"I'm right here. You don't have to shout." she said. "Ashley I'm sorry about this. We expected to be on vacation today."

"Calleigh, it's fine." she said. "I wasn't doing anything today anyway."

"Well thank you for coming on such short notice." she said. "Sweetie, Mommy and Daddy have to go to work okay?"

Lizzie nodded, her blonde curls bouncing. Her eyes were glued to the big screen TV, where The Backyardigans were on. (I swear this is a real show. LOL so I don't own them.) Her arm was wrapped tightly around the teddy bear Tim had given her for her birthday a few weeks ago. Calleigh sighed and kissed her forehead.

"I love you."

Lizzie nodded again and Tim hugged her tightly, kissing her cheek.

"Lizzie, I love you so much." he murmured in her ear. Lizzie hugged him back, kissing his rough cheek quickly.

"I wove you." she gave him a toothy grin and Tim smiled.

"Now why does she talk to you?" Calleigh whined, grabbing his hand. "We're now twenty minutes late. Bye angel."

"Bye." Lizzie's eyes were glued to the TV again.

"Tim, come on. She'll be here when we get back." Calleigh dragged him towards the door. Tim's eyes were focused on Lizzie and reluctantly he followed Calleigh to their Tahoe.

S/C--------

THREE YEARS LATER

Calleigh rubbed her eyes as she signed what seemed her hundredth report. There was a knock on the door and she smiled, seeing Horatio.

"Hi."

"Hey boss." he smirked.

"Horatio, you're still my boss. I don't care what IAB says." Calleigh said. "I still haven't gotten used to this yet."

He shrugged and sat down in front of his old desk.

"I'm learning from you Calleigh."

"You taught me how to do this job." she said. "You taught me everything I know."

"And you're teaching me new things that I never knew." Horatio said, picking a picture frame up off the desk. It was a picture of Calleigh and Tim on their wedding day five years ago.

"Put it down." Calleigh said quietly. Horatio obeyed and looked at her.

"How's Lizzie?"

"She's fine. Do you have that report? I want to get this all done at once."

Horatio nodded.

"It's downstairs in DNA." he replied. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Calleigh mumbled. "Horatio do you miss this?"

"Calleigh, I screwed up. I don't deserve this job. You do a terrific job at running the lab."

"You did not screw up. It's not your fault Tim didn't clean his gun. I really don't want to talk about this."

Horatio nodded.

"Calleigh, how long are you going to act like this?"

"For as long as I want." she replied. "Horatio, I'm not talking about this anymore. He died. I've tried moving on. I can't. Let's forget about it. Please go get me your report."

He nodded and walked out of the room. Calleigh grabbed the frame off her desk and stared at it, her finger lightly tracing over Tim's features. She felt tears coming on and quickly set the frame down and swallowed a cry. It didn't work. She began crying silently and pressed her hand over her mouth, trying to muffle her sobs. Calleigh stood up, breathing deeply and walked over to the window that overlooked Trace. Oh God she missed Tim so much.

S/C----------

"Mom, I'm home." Calleigh called, walking in from the garage.

"Mommy!" Lizzie ran in, her blonde curls flowing behind her.

"Hey sweetheart!" Calleigh swept her up into her arms, hugging her tightly. "Were you good for Grandma?"

Lizzie nodded.

"How was school?" Calleigh asked as they walked into the living room.

"Fun. We finger-painted. Grandma hanged the picture on the refigator." Lizzie replied.

"That's good. I'll see it in a few minutes." Calleigh set her daughter down on the floor and smiled, seeing her son sitting on the couch. He smiled up at her, his chocolate eyes sparkling happily.

"Momma!" he quickly moved across the couch to where she was and Calleigh pulled him up into her arms.

"Hi."

"Timmy was bad!" Lizzie yelled.

"Not!" he stuck his tongue at her. Lizzie stuck her tongue right back at him.

"Guys, stop!" Calleigh exclaimed. "What did he do?"

"He tried flushing Snowball down the toilet!"

Calleigh sighed. Snowball was their kitten.

"No!" Timmy screeched.

"Timmy, sweetie you hurt Mommy's ear." Calleigh winced. "Mom!"

"Mommy, you hurt my ear." Timmy said.

"Sorry baby. Where's Grandma?"

"I'm right here." Margaret Duquesne appeared from the kitchen. "Where have you been?"

"Sorry, I run a lab." Calleigh retorted. "Have they eaten dinner?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Well I'm going to put them to bed."

"No!" Tim whined. "Mommy, no!"

"That's his favorite word." Margaret smiled. "Wonder where he gets it from."

Calleigh glared at her.

"Don't start right now."

"Well he's exactly like him in every other way. Why not his attitude too?"

Calleigh chose to ignore her mother and grabbed Lizzie's hand.

"Sweetie, I want to you get your pajamas on and I'll be in soon okay?" she said. Lizzie nodded and ran upstairs to her room.

"Okay, come on my cute, little boy." Calleigh cooed, tickling Timmy under his chin. He giggled and allowed his mother to carry him upstairs.

S/C---------

"Why do you have to be so negative about him?" Calleigh asked, putting a few dishes away.

"Calleigh, he left you to raise two kids on your own."

"You make it sound like he said, 'Okay I hate my wife and want to make her suffer so shoot me and let me die.'" she snapped, tears filling her eyes. "God Mom you'd think you would want me to be happy. You hated Tim. You most likely still do. Well I don't care. I loved him and I still love him and I will not stopping loving him."

"I want you to be happy! Move on Calleigh. Find some man that will take care of you and my grandchildren!" Margaret exclaimed.

"I can take care of them just fine!" she yelled. "I don't want another husband!"

"Honey, you think I'm doing this to hurt you but I'm not. You can't be like this. You need someone."

"I have someone! I actually have two someones. I don't need someone to love Mom because I have my kids."

"Calleigh, he killed himself! He was a jackass that did not clean his gun and got himself shot! Maybe if he cleaned his gun, he'd still be here!"

"SHUT UP! Don't you dare talk about him that way!" she screamed. "I can't believe you! I can't listen to you anymore. Get out of my house!"

Margaret didn't argue. After the door slam shut, Calleigh collapsed to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. This was not how her life was supposed to be.