"Hello?"
"Is Calleigh Duquesne there?"
"Uh... not at the moment. May I ask who's calling?"
"Tell her it's Melanie Wilkes and to call me back at this number, 555-2167."
Tim scribbled this down on a notepad and nodded.
"I will. Bye."
"Bye."
Tim hung the phone up and looked at the name. 'Wilkes...'
"Hey babe." Calleigh smiled, walking into the kitchen.
"Hey. How was shopping? Did you do enough damage to our credit cards?" Tim grinned, kissing her softly.
"No."
"Ooh don't play innocent with me."
"I didn't see anything I liked." Calleigh said. "Well except for this,"
She handed Tim a bag and he peered into it.
"Yankees aw... honey this won't fit me." he said, pulling out a New York Yankees onesie.
"Of course not silly. It fits a baby."
"Oh right." Tim nodded then did a double take. "A baby?"
Calleigh smiled and nodded.
"Really? We're... we're gonna have a baby?"
"Yeah." Calleigh whispered tearfully. Tim smiled and swept her into his arms, kissing her tenderly.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
"Are you okay?"
"Of course I'm okay!" Calleigh laughed. Tim laughed with her and wiped her cheeks.
"Then why are you crying?"
"I'm just happy."
"Oh okay. I thought maybe for a second you didn't want a little Speedle running around, you know my baby." Tim smirked. "You got a message from a Melanie Wilkes, asking you to call her back. It sounded urgent."
"Wilkes... Dana!" Calleigh grabbed the phone and dialed the number Tim had written down.
"Hello?" A gruff voice answered.
"Hi. Is Melanie there?"
"Hold on... hello?"
"Melanie?"
"Yes."
"This is Calleigh Duquesne, you called my husband a few minutes ago."
"Oh Calleigh! Dana has told me so much about you. I was wondering if we could meet somewhere to talk."
"That'd be wonderful."
--------S/C-------
"I'm glad you could come." Melanie smiled as Calleigh slid into the booth. "Um... my husband doesn't know I'm here but Dana wanted me to meet you. She wants to get to know you now that we live near each other. I don't want her intruding in on your family."
"Oh no!" Calleigh laughed. "It's just my husband and I. I told her that it was fine when I got around to telling my husband and if you and your husband said it was alright."
"Calleigh, I think you misunderstood. She doesn't want to be with me and Jake anymore. Frankly, I don't want her to be with him anymore. He isn't what I expected he'd be when we adopted Dana."
"I saw the bruise yesterday."
"Well that's just one of many."
"She said it didn't happen often."
"Try every night." Melanie muttered.
"Why don't you stop him?" Calleigh asked.
"I can't. He'll get rid of me and keep beating on her. If you don't mind, I want you to take her."
"I would love to. I don't mean to sound so enthused. I mean, I know she's been your daughter for the past fourteen years. But I can't."
"Why not?"
"She's not my daughter legally anymore and I'd be committing a crime if I just took her."
"Jake wouldn't let you take her anyway and I'm scared to take him to court."
"Why don't you take him to court on abuse charges and then say you want to turn Dana over to my husband and me?" Calleigh suggested.
"I don't want to take Jake to court on any charges."
------------S/C----------
"How did it go?" Tim asked as Calleigh walked into the living room.
"She wants us to take Dana." she replied, sitting next to him.
"Is that what you want?"
"It's not about what I want. Are you comfortable with this?"
"Yes. She's my daughter too now."
"Then we need to gain custody of her. I can't just walk up to their door and say, 'hi this is my daughter. I want her back.'"
"I know."
"I'm scared for her Tim." Calleigh said.
"Why?" he asked.
"The man, Jake... he hits her. I'm afraid if we take them to court he might lash out on her. He doesn't know she's been meeting me."
"Then how are we going to get them there?"
--------S/C-------
"Listen, I don't want her anymore." Melanie said.
"Yeah well I do." Jake snapped.
"Her mother wants her back."
"You are her mother!"
"Her real mother Jake! She loves her after all these years!"
"That was her problem giving her up!"
"I hate you! Can't you see that this woman is miserable without her daughter?"
"SHE'S NOT HER DAUGHTER! SHE'S OUR DAUGHTER!"
"Dad..." Dana started. Jake swerved around, a menacing look in his eyes.
"Get out of here."
"Look, I don't want to stay here."
"Shut up Dana. Go to your room."
"Jake, leave her alone."
"Melanie, stay out of this." he snapped. "Dana, go upstairs."
"No!"
"GET UPSTAIRS!"