About a year later...

Calleigh glanced up when she heard a cell phone ringing. She realized it was her own and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Ms. Duquesne?"

"Yes. May I ask who's calling?"

"This is Miss Pryce, Anna's teacher."

"Oh hi. Um... my fiancé isn't here at the moment."

"Yes I tried calling him but he was unavailable. You were next on the list."

"Oh. Okay. Well what's going on? Is Anna okay?"

"I'd rather talk to you in person."

"Well... I'm at work. Is it important? Or can you call Michelle, Anna's mother?"

"Yes. Quite, actually and Anna asked for you or Tim."

"Okay. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thank you."

"No problem. Bye." Calleigh hung up and went to find Horatio. She found him in the break room and gave him a charming smile.

"Hello handsome."

"Don't let Tim hear you." Horatio smirked. "What's going on?"

"There's a slight problem at Anna's school. I need to go take care of it. I'll probably be about an hour."

"That's fine. I hope everything's okay."

"Yeah me too."

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

Calleigh entered Anna's classroom and saw it was empty.

'Must be recess.' Calleigh thought.

"Miss Pryce? Anna?"

"Honey?"

She turned and saw an out of breath Tim standing there.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"I just got the message on my cell phone. What's going on? Is everything okay?"

"I don't know. The teacher called me because she couldn't get in touch with you." Calleigh said as two more people joined the room.

"Daddy!" Anna hugged Tim around the legs and he stumbled to turn around.

"Hey." he lifted her up into his arms, not noticing her wince. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

She nodded.

"Anna, can you go sit out in the hallway for a few minutes?" Miss Pryce asked. She nodded and closed the door behind her. Tim stared at the door for a few seconds then turned to the teacher.

"Okay. What's going on?" he asked.

"I've noticed a change in Anna's behavior." Miss Pryce said. "She's not as happy as she usually is. She's a lot quieter. If someone asks her something she seems afraid to answer."

Tim glanced at Calleigh, who was wearing the same confused, yet concerned look as her fiancé.

"Does Anna live with you or your previous wife Mr. Speedle?"

"She lives with her mother. Why?"

"Anna's been sporting some bruises. I only found them today because she had long sleeves on and I asked her to roll them up when we were painting. She reluctantly agreed and went off to a near empty spot of the class to do her work."

"What do you mean?" Calleigh asked.

"It's not my place to say but I think that your ex-wife, Mr. Speedle, may be... abusing your daughter."

This knocked the wind out of Tim.

"N-No. She... she probably fell or something."

Miss Pryce shook her head and went into the hallway to get Anna.

"No. There's no way." Tim said, looking at Calleigh.

"Tim, if she has been... this may be the reason why we haven't seen Anna since we went to Disney." she said quietly, rubbing his back. "I think she's right. We've only talked to Anna on the phone. When we talk on the phone, it's like she's hiding something..."

Miss Pryce and Anna came back into the room and Anna cast her attention to the ground.

"Anna, come here baby." Tim said, holding a hand out to her. She quickly grabbed it and allowed him to pull her onto his lap. "Can I see your arm?"

Anna bit her lip and shook her head.

"Please? I'm worried." Tim unwrapped one of Anna's arms from his neck and pushed her sleeve up.

"I'll leave you three alone for a few minutes." Miss Pryce said but they ignored her as she quietly slipped out of the room. Tim swallowed and looked over at Calleigh. She looked pale as she saw the bruises, forming a hand. Anna buried her face in the crook of Tim's neck and he rocked her slowly. Tim let out a shaky sigh and kissed the side of Anna's head, burying his face in her dark curls.

"Baby..."

"Take her back to the lab. I'll go sign her out in the office. And call Bradford."

"He's not gonna listen to me." Calleigh hissed. "What are you gonna do?"

"It wasn't Mommy." Anna mumbled.

"Who was it then baby?" Tim asked. Anna mumbled something but Tim heard her loud and clear. Calleigh saw his jaw tighten. "I'm going to go take care of this. Forget about Bradford, I'll call him in the car."

"Tim, you're still on the clock."

"I'll call Horatio."

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

Tim stopped at a red light and dialed his lawyer's number.

"Evan Bradford's office."

"Yes this is Tim Speedle. I need to speak with Mr. Bradford."

"One moment please."

Tim sighed and waited for someone to come back on the phone.

"Tim, what's going on?"

"I want full custody."

"What? What's going on?"

"I don't know. I'm on my way to Michelle's house..."

"Tim, tell me what's going on."

"Look I haven't seen Anna in a year. I've talked to her on the phone but that's the closest Michelle will let me get to her. Her lawyer sent me papers saying that I'm not allowed to get her after school, anything."

"Yeah I got a copy of those."

"So why the fuck didn't you do anything?"

"She said that you were being nasty to her and she was fearful of Anna. I couldn't do anything even if I tried."

"Yeah well we got it the wrong way around."

"What?"

"Anna's teacher called me today. I don't care what some friggin' papers say, that's my daughter. She said something was wrong so Calleigh and I went and... dammit Evan, Michelle's abusing her! She's got bruises all over her and everything."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure. The bruises are her arms form a hand. I don't know where else she has them."

"Alright. I'll talk to Cecilia."

"I hate that woman."

"I know. So do I. Your ex-wife's got taste in attorneys though."

"Haha."

"Just hang in there."

"Will you call Ms. Wilhelm and tell her? I want those papers reversed."

"Alright. Um... where is Anna now?"

"She's with my fiancee at CSI."

"None of them are gonna know right?"

"Not yet at least."

"Okay. You know, legally this is kidnapping."

"Yeah and logically, it's making sure my daughter's safe." Tim hung his phone up and tossed it onto the passenger side seat, just as it rang. "Speedle."

"Where are you?"

"Delko... um... I have to do something..."

"You don't have another kid do you?"

"Haha. No. I have to run an errand. Cover for me?"

"Whatever." Eric hung up first and Tim pulled onto Michelle's street, parked in front of her house, and headed towards the door. He knocked loudly and waited, and waited, and waited.

"Michelle! Come on!" Tim pounded on the door again. The door swung open to reveal Jack Clark, Michelle's new husband. Tim threw his fist at Jack's jaw, making the man stumble back into the house. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"I should be asking you that." Jack mumbled, rubbing his jaw.