Tim sat at his desk, playing with a pen and thought about his lunch with Anna.

"Can't you get an office on the floor?" Calleigh joked, walking in. "How's Anna?"

"She's fine." Tim said. "Do you like Richie?"

"I think he's a nice kid."

"Do you think... do you think that he um... would hurt Anna?"

"Well... I guess anyone is capable of anything." Calleigh said. "Why?"

"I was just wondering."

"Something happened."

"Nothing happened."

"Yes something happened or you wouldn't be acting like this."

Tim sighed and tossed the pen onto his desk. He hadn't told Calleigh about Anna's... injuries and wasn't sure he should. But he found himself saying it anyway.

"She um... she had a bruise on her face."

"She probably fell."

"Into a freezer door." Tim said. "It's not the first time either."

"You think Richie is hitting her." Calleigh said flatly.

"I wouldn't put it past him. Would you just... talk to her? She won't tell me anything and... with these cases I don't want her to be next."

"Okay. Just don't do anything stupid in the time being."

"She said she loves him." Tim mumbled. "She's just a kid Calleigh."

She sighed and kissed the top of his head.

"You need to let her go." she said, her fingers running through his dark hair. Tim sighed and leaned against her.

"I know. I just don't want to. It's not that I don't want to. I just... have this feeling that I... I need to protect her. Like something's going to happen."

"Don't worry about it."

"Will you call her?" Tim asked. Calleigh nodded. "No. Now."

She rolled her eyes and grabbed the phone off his desk. She thought for a minute, then dialed Anna's apartment number.

"Hello?"

"Richie? It's Anna's mom. Is she there?"

"Oh hi Mrs. Speedle! How are you feeling?"

"Good. Thanks for asking. How are you and Anna doing?"

"We're good. I'll go get her."

"Thanks Richie." Calleigh gave Tim a look and he fired one back at her.

"Hi Mom."

"Hey. How are things?"

"Fine. How are you?"

"Pretty good. How did lunch go with your dad?"

"Did he tell you to call me?"

"No." Calleigh lied. "I remembered you two got together today and wanted to know what happened."

"Oh. Things were good."

"That's good. How about you? How's school?"

"Fine."

"Richie?"

"...fine. Why are you asking?"

"I'm just wondering. It's odd not having you at home to talk to all the time."

"Yeah."

"I miss us talking. You haven't called in a while."

"I've been busy... with homework."

"Listen, Daddy did tell me that you had a bruise. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I whacked myself in the head with the freezer door."

"You sure?"

"Yes. Nothing else could've done that."

"Is Richie treating you good?"

"Do you want to go shopping?" Anna suddenly veered off topic.

"If you want to. I haven't seen you in a while."

"Okay. Can you get off work?"

"Now?"

"Yeah. I saw Dad today. I wanna see you now."

"Okay. Come here and we'll drive over."

"Okay. I'll be there in... fifteen minutes. Bye Mom."

"Bye honey." Calleigh hung the phone up and looked at Tim.

"Well?"

"She didn't answer me. We're going shopping."

"Now? What about your case?"

"Hey, you want me to find out what's the deal with her?"

"I don't want you coming home with anything." Tim muttered.

"Hey," Calleigh grasped his chin lightly and forced his head up so they were looking each other in the eye. "I am sure everything is fine. Okay?"

Tim nodded and Calleigh leaned over and kissed him quickly.

"Put Eric on my case." she said, walking out.

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

"So what's going on with you and Richie?" Calleigh asked. Anna shook her head.

"Nothing. Honestly."

"How did you get the bruise on your face and don't tell me you whacked yourself with a freezer door."

"He can get rough, sometimes."

"Anna..."

"It was just once Mom, I swear."

"And the other time Jess really elbowed you?"

"Okay twice." Anna said. "Please don't tell Daddy. I don't need to come home and find Richie dead on our floor."

"Anna, you told me when you started dating him that if he ever got physical with you, you'd break up with him."

"Mom it was only twice!" she exclaimed. "I love him. I'm not breaking up with him. He promised he wouldn't do it again."

"Anna..."

"I don't want to talk about this. This why I didn't want to tell you and Dad because I knew you'd make a big deal about it!"

"Anna this is a big deal!" Calleigh hissed. "He's hitting you! Let's put it this way. Remember when you were about ten and you talked to me about Michelle and Jack hitting you?"

Anna nodded.

"You told me that you felt so helpless and didn't want to go through that again."

"This is different! Richie loves me. They didn't."

"Anna..."

"You don't understand." she muttered. "I want to go home."