"I'm home..." Calleigh trailed off seeing Tim and Hannah asleep on the couch. She leaned in the doorway and gave a smile, watching the two. Ralph was lying near the couch, his big eyes focused on Hannah. Calleigh walked over and knelt down next to the sleeping pair and though back to three months ago. She brushed a strand of hair out of Hannah's face and let out a small sigh. Tim had refused to believe that she was dead and continued to do CPR on her. Finally Calleigh pulled him away from their daughter and held him as they both cried until they heard someone coughing. Realizing it was Hannah, the couple immediately went to her until an ambulance came minutes later. A few hours and some tests later, a doctor told Calleigh and Tim that there was nothing wrong with Hannah and she would be fine. Calleigh thanked God everyday that Hannah was still with them and she and Tim became a bit protective of her, as did Ralph.
The phone rang, jolting all the Speedles into reality.
"When did you get home?" Tim asked. Hannah scratched her head and curled up next to Tim, falling back asleep.
"A few minutes ago." Calleigh replied, grabbing the phone. "Hello? Oh hi Mom. Yeah... yes Mom I know. She's doing better. We go tomorrow. Okay. I love you. Bye."
Tim absentmindedly stroked Hannah's hair lightly, his eyes following Calleigh.
"What did she want?" he asked.
"If we took Hannah to talk to someone yet." Calleigh replied quietly, sitting on the edge of the couch. "How was she?"
"The usual." Tim muttered. "Calleigh, I hate this."
"I know. I do too." she whispered. Hannah had decided that she wasn't going to talk about the incident. She wanted to be by herself and was jumpy when someone spoke to her. They had gone through four child psychologists, none of whom could get through to Hannah. "Tim, is she gonna be okay?"
"Yes. It's just going to take a while."
Calleigh opened her mouth to say something but the front door opened and a woman of about 55 walked in. Calleigh sighed and Tim squeezed her hand gently as his mother walked over.
"Hi Timmy." she leaned down and kissed his cheek. Beth Speedle completely ignored her daughter-in-law and fussed over her sleeping granddaughter. "Oh my poor angel..."
She reached over to touch her slightly and Hannah recoiled, burying herself deeper into Tim's side. Even when she slept, she couldn't get away from the horror of what had happened. She only trusted Calleigh and Tim, no one else. Horatio and Eric were annoyed but Alexx and Valera told them that they had to be patient, though they too were upset that the young girl wouldn't confide in them.
Beth gave Calleigh a scathing look and went into the kitchen.
"What do you want for dinner sweetheart?" she called. After the incident happened, Beth had decided that Calleigh was incompetent for caring for a family and moved from Syracuse to Miami to care for Tim and Hannah.
"We were just going to order a pizza." Tim replied, gently prying Hannah off him and sat up.
"You can't live off pizza for the rest of your life."
"Actually last night we had spaghetti and the night before that we had chicken." Tim said.
"I'm going upstairs." Calleigh said quietly. Tim shook his head but she went upstairs anyway.
-----------S/C---------
"...she's a horrible person. I don't understand why he's with her. I mean, she caused such a commotion..."
Tim narrowed his eyes at his mother as he listened to her talk on the phone. The doorbell rang and he opened the door, smiling at Dina.
"Hey." she hugged him and kissed his cheek. "Where's Calleigh?"
"Upstairs. My mom's here."
"Oh." Dina said flatly. "I'll come back later."
"No, stay. Really. It's not a big deal."
"Tim, don't worry about it. Tell Calleigh to call me."
"Dina, please come in."
She sighed but nodded.
"How's Hannah?" she asked, petting Ralph affectionately.
"The same." Tim replied. "I'll go get Calleigh. Hannah's in the living room if you er... want to try and talk to her."
Dina nodded and disappeared through the entranceway as Tim headed upstairs. He opened his bedroom door and Calleigh looked up from her book.
"Your mom's here." he said, sitting next to her. Calleigh nodded and placed a bookmark in her paper.
"Honey,"
"Yeah?"
"Do you—"
"Do I what?"
"Never mind."
"Calleigh, please talk to me."
"Later." she promised. "Come on."
They went downstairs and were elated to see Hannah talking quietly with Dina. But Beth was still on the phone...
"I can't stand her. She nearly ruined this family. Anyway I have to go. They're all here. Bye." she hung the phone up and walked out into the living room. "Timmy, dinner's ready."
"I'm not hungry." he said, refusing to meet his mother's eyes. "Hannah, baby can you go upstairs for a while? You can watch TV in my room."
She nodded and ran upstairs. Dina climbed to her feet and looked Beth straight in the eye, her southern temper rapidly growing.
"I don't know who you think you are," she began, her accent thick, "but I will not allow you to talk about my daughter that way."
"Mom, stop." Calleigh said quietly.
"No Calleigh. She did nothing wrong Beth."
"She got my granddaughter killed almost!" she exclaimed.
"She happens to be my granddaughter too." Dina said. "But I don't blame her one bit."
"Of course you don't. She's your daughter. I'm sure if Tim do something stupid like marry into the mob, then you'd hate him too and I'd back him up 100. Not saying my son would ever do something like that. Well... I suppose he did. He married your daughter."
The room went silent and Tim was the first to speak again.
"You hate her Mom?" he asked quietly.
"Tim, she nearly got you and Hannah killed. She left you to raise a five year old on your own."
"She had no choice." he said.
"Oh yes I thought that is what you'd say. She had a choice. She had a choice from the beginning."
"You don't know the real story." Dina said. "You don't know what she went through."
"Can y'all stop talking about me as if I wasn't here?" Calleigh asked. "Beth, I know you don't like me. I know you've never liked me."
"I always knew there was something wrong with you Calleigh. It just took a while to surface."
"Don't talk to her like that." Tim said.
"Excuse me?"
"I said don't talk to her like that." Tim repeated. "She's my wife. She's part of this family and I won't allow you to downtrodden her like that."
"Well she's not part of my family."
"Then I guess I'm not either."
"Tim, don't do this. You threw your life away for a girl,"
"That I love so much. I didn't have a life before I met Calleigh so I don't know what you think I threw away."
Tim didn't notice Calleigh slip out the patio door to their backyard and Dina silently went after her. Beth stared at her son, a stern look on her face.
"She doesn't deserve you. She's way below you and you could've done so much better and yet you settle for such garbage." she hissed. "The only good thing that came out of this marriage was your daughter, who you nearly lost because of that girl's stupidity."
"No. Not her stupidity. Her father's."
"What does her father have to do with this?"
"A whole lot. You never even gave her a chance."
"She doesn't deserve a chance."
"Oh but Janice did? Dawn did? Emily did? I don't know why I didn't realize this before. You're a bitch Mom and anyone that you think doesn't come from a good family or from money doesn't deserve to be alive."
"How dare you talk to me like that?"
"You don't even know half the shit she went through growing up so don't sit there and judge her."
"You know Tim, once you realize your mistake it might be too late."
"I didn't make any mistake."
"Like I said, once you realize it, it might be too late." Beth said. "And when you finally do, don't come crying to me that she's a bad mother or a bad wife or she's cheating on you or she ran out on you again. You know why? Because I'm going to remember this conversation for the rest of my life and I'm going to throw it right back in your face, showing how you didn't know her at all. And I'm not going to want to listen to your bitching and complaining."
"Get out of my house." Tim said quietly, looking his mother straight in the eye. "I don't want to see you again."
And Beth left without a word. Tim ran a hand down his face and saw Dina come in through the back door.
"Where is she?"
Dina pointing over her shoulder.
"Can you get rid of whatever she made and make Hannah something for dinner? Watch her for a bit?"
Dina nodded and rested a hand on Tim's arm.
"Just take care of her Timmy."
He nodded and walked out into his yard. Calleigh was sitting near their pool, her feet dangling in the water. Tim sat down and pulled her towards him.
"Do you think I'm a bad mother?" she whispered. Tim stared at their reflection in the water and saw the tears sliding down Calleigh's cheeks.
"No. I think you're the best." he replied. "Along with your mom. She rocks."
"How about yours?"
"She can go to hell for all I care." Tim muttered. "I told her off. About time I did too."
"I blame myself every night for this." Calleigh said. "We almost lost Hannah because of me."
"No." Tim shook his head and cupped Calleigh's face in his hands. "It's not your fault. If we should blame anyone it's Michael. But baby... we don't have to worry about this anymore. He's in jail."
"I should've stayed away."
"Calleigh I do not blame you. Hannah doesn't blame you. No one blames you so stop blaming yourself."
"Your mom blames me."
"Who gives a shit to what my mom thinks?" Tim asked. "Calleigh, I love you so much. Nothing is ever going to change that. I don't care what my mom says. None of this was your fault. You didn't have a choice. Your father was an idiot to make you marry Michael. But that's in the past. We're over it. Not a lot of people get a second chance. We got one Calleigh. Let's not worry about what happened before. Everything's fine now. Hannah's fine..."
"No she's not."
"Well she will be. You saw her talking to your mom. She hasn't talked to your mom since this all happened. She's making progress honey."
"I just feel so bad." Calleigh started to cry and Tim held her tightly. "I just... I just keeping seeing her lying on that shore so pale and not moving and thinking she was gone and we lost our baby..."
"But we didn't." Tim said softly. "Baby, we still have her. She's still here."
"I watch her at night. I watch her toss and turn, dreaming about God knows what and Jesus Tim I just wish she would open up to us."
"I know Cal but everything's going to be fine."
"I keep wondering if this is all a dream and I'm going to wake up and Hannah's really gone."
"But it's not Calleigh. She's alive. She's fine. We're gonna get past this."
Calleigh squeezed her eyes shut, hoping to stop the tears and she felt Tim's hands on her cheeks again.
"Calleigh..."
"I just want it to be over." she whispered.
"Honey, it is."
"No it's not. Now we have to deal with the aftermath and it just sucks."
"Honey I know it does but don't you remember when we were outside that church and you asked me to promise you that everything would be okay?"
Calleigh nodded, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks. Tim quickly wiped them away.
"I know this sucks right now and it doesn't seem like it's gonna get better but it has to get worse before it does and do I ever break promises to you?"
"No."
"I'm not going to start with this one. Everything is going to be okay." Tim said. Calleigh finally opened her eyes again, her tearful green ones meeting Tim's warm brown ones. And then she realized she had nothing to worry about.
the end.
