Horatio slid something across his desk to Tim. He picked it up and saw it was a picture of him and Hannah.
"She held onto that." he said. "Wanted something to remember you guys by."
"I still don't understand." Tim muttered. "I saw her down in Autopsy. She was dead Horatio."
"That's what we had to make you think. I'm not sure of the specifics but Calleigh was forced to go into Witness Protection. She wouldn't tell me why; just said that we had to come up with some way to make it look like she died. So we went to a crime scene. It was not real. A fed was there and made it look like Calleigh got shot. We took him back to the station, knowing you would want to talk to him..."
"Oh Jesus I punched a fed." Tim moaned, remembering that day.
"He was put in lock-up for a few hours, then secretly released." Horatio went on. "After you saw Calleigh down in Autopsy, there was a car waiting for her out back. She wasn't supposed to have any contact with you at all. But obviously a year without you or Hannah got antsy and she saw you sign onto whatever chat room you were in."
Hi. You seem like the only interesting person in here.
Those words flashed over and over in Tim's mind.
"She sent me that message because she knew it was me." he muttered. "She came up with that stupid screen name because I wasn't home when we got the computer. Oh God everything clicks now! Last night... all those times... she typed y'all... AND YOU KNEW!"
Horatio jumped back from Tim's sudden outburst.
"You knew! You saw the hell that I was going through and... and you didn't even say anything!"
There was a sudden knock on the door and Eric burst in.
"I went back to the scene. There was blood. I'm running it through DNA now."
Tim let out a choked sob and ran from the room.
"His girlfriend may be dead huh?"
"Eric, his girlfriend is Calleigh." Horatio said quietly.
"What? But..."
Horatio repeated his story and Eric sighed.
"So... she could be dead for real this time?"
"I hope not."
--------S/C--------
Tim grabbed Calleigh's laptop and signed back onto AOL. To his surprise, she saved some of their conversations. But Tim saw one that he didn't recognize.
Have you been good for Daddy?
Yes. I miss you Mommy.
Oh I know baby and I miss you too but I'll be home soon.
You promise?
I promise Hannah. I love you so, so, so much.
I love you too Mommy. Daddy's coming.
Okay. Don't tell him I talked to you okay? Click on the X in the corner of screen.
Hey. I'm back. Sorry about that. Hannah must've x'ed out of the program and I couldn't find it.
That's okay. Your dinner okay?
Yeah. A little burnt but that's okay.
Hannah had talked to Calleigh?
"Daddy, do you... do you think that Mommy could still be here?"
Her words echoed in Tim's head and he gritted his teeth. Then he thought back to when he was at CSI yesterday. The brunette... Hannah did know better than to talk to strangers. But her mommy wasn't a stranger.
---------S/C--------
Tim slammed his truck door and walked into his house through the garage.
"Daddy!" Hannah ran into the hallway and Tim quickly picked her up, holding her tightly against him and buried his face in her hair. Hot tears streamed down his cheeks from sadness mixed with frustration. Hannah pulled back from Tim and frowned. "Daddy, what's wrong?"
"Nothing baby." he lied. "Did you have fun with Nana?"
Hannah nodded and looked down when Ralph barked.
"Daddy, look at Ralph." she giggled. Tim looked down and groaned.
"Honey, Ralph is a boy. He's not supposed to wear bows."
"But he likes it."
In Tim's opinion Ralph looked very uncomfortable and wanted his owner to take the pink nightmare off him. Tim set Hannah on the floor and leaned down.
"C'mere Ralph." he untied the bow from his neck and the dog gave a bark and ran off. Hannah raced after him, giggling and trying to catch his tail. Dina walked in and looked at Tim.
"I'm gonna go."
"Dina, wait a second. Was Calleigh having problems?"
"What? No! She was fine. Why?"
"Just asking." Tim muttered. "Thanks for watching Hannah again."
"No problem." Dina kissed his cheek and walked out. Tim heard Hannah laughing in her bedroom and walked upstairs.
"What did I tell you about having the dog in your room?" he asked, sitting down on the bed.
"Not to have him here. But I thought you meant just to sleep." Hannah replied. Tim nodded.
"Hannah, remember when you asked me if I thought Mommy could still be here?"
She froze but nodded.
"Hannah, did you talk to Mommy?"
She shook her head quickly.
"Honey, I know you were talking to her."
"She told me not to tell you." Hannah mumbled.
"Why?"
"I dunno. She just asked me not to. Why?"
"No reason. Come on. Go to sleep." Tim leaned over and kissed her forehead.
"Daddy, is Mommy okay?"
"Yeah. She's fine baby."
"When can we see her?"
"Uh... I dunno."
"How come you didn't tell me you were talking to her?"
"I didn't know it was her. You were special. You got to know it was her while you were talking to her." Tim said. Hannah smiled.
"Can Ralph stay here tonight?"
Tim gave her a look.
"Pleaaaaaaaaaase Daddy?"
"Fine."
Hannah grinned evilly and opened her blanket. Ralph hopped in and curled up next to her. Tim shook his head and laughed.
"Good night."
"Night Daddy."
----------S/C--------
Tim woke up when he heard someone banging faintly. He walked out into the hallway, rubbing his eyes slowly.
"Daddy?" Hannah appeared in her doorway, a sleepy look on her face.
"Go back to sleep honey. It's just Ralph."
"Daddy, Ralph's sleeping." Hannah said.
"Okay. Just go back to sleep. Everything's fine." Tim kissed her forehead and she ran back into her bed. Tim closed her door and ran back into his room, grabbing his spare gun out of the dresser. He quietly when back downstairs and saw a silhouette in the window. Tim raised his gun and slowly made his way to the door. He swung it open and whoever it was gave a yell and fell onto the floor. Tim dropped his gun and fell to his knees.
"Tim..."
"Calleigh," he helped her sit up and flipped the light on.
"Daddy?"
"Hannah I told you to go to bed!" Tim yelled. He turned his attention back to Calleigh and looked her over but it was rather hard as she kept slumping against him. She didn't look good. It looked like someone had beat her up. "Oh honey..."
Tim stood up and lifted Calleigh into his arms. She moaned out in pain and rested her head against his shoulder.
"I'm sorry." she mumbled.
"Shh..." Tim carried her up to their room and set her down on their bed gently. "I'm gonna call Alexx okay?"
"No... Tim they... they can't know I'm here." Calleigh whispered, her eyes closing. "Hannah, they... they said they'd hurt Hannah.."
"Baby, no one is gonna hurt Hannah." Tim grabbed the phone off his night stand and dialed Alexx's number. "Hey, it's me. Yeah I know what time it is. Look C-Calleigh just showed up on my doorstep."
