Chapter2

Disclaimer: In the first part. Reiteration, though, I don't own them. Those unfamiliar names are mine though. Some language won't be suitable for the young ones.

Summary: Calleigh and Speed are together at last, but will a tragedy cost them happiness?

She entered her apartment clearly upset, throwing the keys onto the table in the hallway, then taking her gun off of her side. Sometimes she hated guns. Guns were her life, but she saw the damage they did. She loved them one day , the next she despised them. Today was one of those days that she hated them. This was the day from hell, and Calleigh had just gotten off of the expressway. Tim had been involved in a shootout on the way to disposing of some drugs that they had to retest, and she had spent the better part of the day picking up numerous spent shells. She also found that Tim had not been cleaning his gun. When she met him in the hallway, she gently let him know that it was important that he clean his gun, because she couldn't bear to live without him. Now , in the stillness of her home, she hoped that she had gotten through to Tim. She really couldn't see herself without him. She walked into the kitchen fully intending on drowning her stresses in alcohol, but she realized that it wouldn't help. She was just exhausted.

Just the same, she grabbed the bottle of vodka and reached for the cabinet to get a glass. She poured her drink and held the glass in her hand, her mind straying from the present. She thought about Tim and how much she loved him. Since that moment in the break room, Calleigh and Tim had begun to loosen up to one another. They went on dates and shared tender moments alone, and she really got to know him. She sighed heavily, wanting him to be there now, but she had left him at the lab, working. She thought to call him but she was startled by a sharp knock on her front door. Calleigh put the glass on the counter and walked to her door. I'm not expecting anyone, she thought to herself. As she approached the door ,the knocking turned into pounding, and her senses picked up. Whoever this was, they were going to find out Calleigh Duquense had a ugly side. Then all at once, the pounding stopped. Calliegh stopped short, surprised by the quietness of her home.

" Wrong address probably," Calliegh said out loud. She then thought that someone could've been truly lost. She would peek out and see if she could help them, and maybe give them a lesson on courtesy while she was at it. Calliegh opened the door slowly to an empty front yard, no one was there. She looked from left to right at her neighbor's homes, noticing that their doors were closed. Weird,she thought.

Before she went back in the door, something caught her eye. Lying on the ground, was a bullet. She bent down to look at it, then thought to pick it up. Realizing what she was doing , she stopped and straightened up, she needed to get her gloves. Turning to walk back into her house to grab her kit, Calliegh felt a hand come up from behind her place a cloth on her face. She struggled against the sweet smell as it invaded her senses, finally giving in to the darkness.

S/C

The pounding of the music helped him to relax and also to think. He bobbed his head while scraping a substance off of a piece of evidence. While Speed was in his trace lab, life stood still. He wrapped himself in the details, nothing was more important than his work. Well almost nothing. He looked at his watch and swore to himself. It was late and he hadn't called Calleigh. He realized how much the day's events had affected her when she stopped him in the hallway to let him know about his gun. He looked into her eyes reluctantly , he already felt responsible for officer Hollis' death. Calleigh pleaded with him to clean his gun. He agreed, wanting to take the pain that swam in her eyes away from her. Before she left for home, she came by the trace lab.

" Timothy James Speedle, you need to put this away for the night and go home," she had said her southern drawl thickening.

" No one calls me Timothy, Calleigh. Besides I have a ton of work to do. Now if you would excuse me, mother," he said sharply.

" Call me before you leave. I might need you do something for me before you go home," Calleigh replied lightly.

Speed looked at her and her eyes screamed the lust that he felt for her. He raised his eyebrows in astonishment. " Are you insinuating sex?"

" Maybe. You will just have to come by to find out won't you," she replied giving him a wicked smile.

" Tease," Speed said with a smirk.

" A Promise," Calleigh simply said provocatively. " And remember, I don't make empty promises."

Speed smiled as he remembered the exchange fondly. He took the headphones off and flipped open his cell phone. He dialed her number then waited. He heard the answering machine pick up then left a short message, " Calliegh, it's me . I was just calling you to let you know that I finally got my head out of my ass and I put my toys away. I'll be there shortly. I love you."

After hanging up his phone, he catalogued the evidence that he had already processed then went about putting his tools away. He didn't want to keep her waiting.

Twenty minutes later, he was walking to his Ducati in the parking garage. He flipped his phone again and hit redial. Again her voice came on and told him to leave a message. He sighed then left another message. " Cal, where are you? I was calling to see if you wanted anything from the market, Strawberries , wine maybe? Any way, give me a call when you get this."

When he hung up , he immediately dialed her cell phone number. Again he waited. Then he heard, " Hi!"

" Calliegh,..."

" This is Calleigh Duquense , I can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave a message , I'll get back to you. Have a good day!"

" Dammit!" Speed exclaimed out loud. His voice echoed in the empty parking garage. She hadn't picked up at home ,and now he couldn't raise on her cell phone. Something wasn't right and the heaviness in his stomach did nothing to dissuade his fears.

S/C

Perfect. Everything had to go perfect. If not , it would be ruined, he thought. He sat in his car and waited. She would be coming home in a minute. Hopefully, she would be alone and not with that scruffy guy she had started dating. He gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles were white at the thought of her boyfriend. Moments passed by, and then he saw her yellow jeep as she swung it in her driveway. He watched her as she got out of the jeep and closed the door. Her hair swayed gently in the soft breeze that was blowing. He imagined his hands in her pale blond locks. He gleefully chuckled to himself as she walked into her door and slammed it shut. She's upset. Probably that prick of a boyfriend's fault, he glowered. He waited for a couple of minutes to make sure that he wouldn't be seen, then he got out of the car. He crossed the street quickly and dropped an unspent shell onto her front yard. He knew this would grab her attention , after all she was known as the 'bullet girl'. He then knocked on the door softly at first, then he pounded on the door. Figuring that she was trying to guess who would be at her door, he fled under the cover of her parked jeep. He saw her as she opened the door and looked out. The mere sight of her this close, left him almost unable to contain himself. "Easy. In due time," a voice that wasn't his said. Many voices came to him but hers was the sweetest.

" You're such a sweetie pie, Therrin. Thanks," she had said to him, pinching his cheek. He hadn't washed his face since that moment.

He shook the thought away from him as he noticed she was turning to go into the house. He got up quickly behind her and slipped the chloroform riddled cloth over her face. He smelled the faint scent of her vanilla shampoo as she struggled for a slight second , then he felt as she lost the struggle and fainted. He carried her to his car, then went back to close the door. As he got in, he glanced at her in the back seat, a deranged smile peeling across his face. His goddess . Perfection.

S/C

Speed turned his bike into the drive way noticing the jeep parked there. Something had crept into his soul. It was dread. If Calleigh was home , she wouldn't be ignoring the phone, not after the proposition she gave him at the lab. He walked to the door not noticing anything out of the way , and knocked. When she didn't answer, he knocked again. Still no answer.

" Calleigh! It's me . Open up," Speed said as he pounded on the door louder. " Cal. C'mon, open up!"

Quiet.

Fear seeped into his heart as he fumbled to find the spare she had left for him. Something wasn't right. He turned the key and walked in the door noticing her keys on the hallway table. He then turned into her modest kitchen to see a glass next to the bottle of Absolute, half empty.

" Calleigh!" he called out. Silence replied to him. He came out of the kitchen and bounded up the stairs. He walked through every room, finding them empty. Coming to her bedroom, he heard her voice as it spoke over her answering machine

" Sorry, I'm unable to come to the phone right now..."

Speed's eyes welled as he heard her melodic voice. She wasn't here. He checked her messages, hearing himself on the other line ,twice. He walked down the stairs quickly and pulled out his cell phone, dialing Horatio's number.

" Caine."

"H. It's Speed. We've got a situation." He didn't want to say the next words ,saying them would make it a reality. " Calleigh's missing."

" What?" Horatio asked .

" She's missing, Horatio. I came over after work and when I got here, she wasn't here. The door was closed, and her keys were on the table. Her jeep's still in the drive," Speed said his voice tight with emotion. He couldn't lose her.

" Okay , Speed relax. I'll be there in ten minutes. Everything's going to be okay. Alright?"

Speed walked outside and stood. He noticed something on the ground.

" Speed?"

He knelt down to take a look. A bullet.

"Speed. Sit tight, I'm on my way," Horatio replied. His concern had grown with each moment.

" H, hurry up. She's in trouble..."

TBC...