On The Street Where You Live

By The Scarlet Trombone

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Calleigh/Speed

Spoilers: None, I made them up

Summary: Tim's in love with Calleigh, Calleigh's in love with Tim…neither knows about the others feelings…yet.

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of this but the plot. CSI: Miami belongs to CBS and my main man Jerry B.

Eric was looking a little flustered by the time Tim and Calleigh got back to the lab. "So, what'd you have for lunch?" he asked casually.

"It was Italian, actually." Tim answered.

"Oh, did you actually go to Italy!" Eric snapped. "You guys have been gone forever!"

Calleigh was about to say something, but Tim quickly cut in, "My fault, sorry."

Calleigh shot him a grateful look. "Well, while you two were out wining and dining, we solved the case." Eric said smugly.

"You- you did?" Tim stuttered.

"Yep, the murderer was an idiot. He didn't wear gloves, then left the knife in his victim; his prints were all over it. We ran them through AFIS and our guy was Adam Lightly, was charged once before for getting in a bar fight. We got Sevilla over there to pick him up and he confessed to the whole thing, said Bradley Harrison was sleeping with his wife. He's still in the interrogation room, says that before they take him away he wants to hold a press conference for something or other." Eric smirked.

"Adam Lightly, like the county judge Adam Lightly?" Tim exclaimed.

"The one and only," the younger CSI told him.

"Which brings me to my next point; Calleigh, I want you to be at this press conference. Take notes and keep an eye on this guy." Horatio said.

Calleigh nodded, still in awe over the quick capture. Tim looked uneasy though. "H, if this guy is a murderer is it really such a good idea to send Cal? I mean, this guy is dangerous, I just don't want her to get hurt." He added, seeing Calleigh about to protest.

"Tim, I'm perfectly capable of-" she started, but Horatio interrupted, "Calleigh's a strong woman, she'll be fine."

"I'm standing right here you know!" She reminded, but it fell on deaf ears.

"But-" Tim started.

"Tim, I don't want our murderer to be intimidated and feel like he can't say something at this conference. To a stranger, Calleigh looks very petite, but we know better, don't we?" Horatio smiled admiringly at his blond CSI. "Besides, it's going to be broadcasted live; we'll know everything that happens as it happens."

"Fine," Tim relented. There was no point in arguing with Horatio, much less with Calleigh, stubborn as a mule, she was, but it was all part of her charm.

Horatio led Calleigh, with Tim tagging along, to the interrogation room just as Adam Lightly was being led out. "Mr. Lightly, this is Calleigh Duquesne, she's going to be accompanying you and Officer Trowell to your conference." He told the handcuffed man.

Lightly looked Calleigh up and down and winked. "Yeah, she'll do."

Calleigh rolled her eyes, but Tim's fists clenched. Why did men who were all kinds of wrong for her insist on hitting on her? As they started walking out to the car, he grabbed her arm. "Promise me you're going to be careful, ok?"

Calleigh smiled at him. "I promise I'll be fine." She gently kissed his cheek before going out to the car. Tim sighed, her lips still burning on his cheek, and went to turn on the TV in the break room.

Once they arrived at the press conference, Lightly was uncuffed and went up to the podium, flanked by Calleigh and a cop named Drew Trowell. Lightly started talking, babbling on about how he was being convicted unfairly and how he was just protecting what was his. Then he took out a big yellow envelope. "And now, I'll make history," he said, and pulled a gun out of the envelope. Before anyone could react, he grabbed Calleigh and dragged her closer to him and wrapping his other arm tightly around her waist, waving the gun around, shouting for everyone to calm down.

At the lab Tim jumped up and moved closer to the TV. "What the hell is he doing!" he exclaimed fearfully. Eric gripped the arm of the couch, his knuckles turning white and Horatio's face was etched with terror. All they could do was watch and wait.

"WOULD EVERYONE JUST SHUT UP!" Lightly screamed. "YOU'RE ALL GOING TO BE FINE!" then he turned to Calleigh. "Thank you for making my last few moments on earth pleasurable." He said and suddenly kissed her hard. Without warning he stuck the gun in his mouth and fired, falling to the ground in a crumpled heap, Calleigh still in his arms. Blood gushed out of his mouth and nose and out of the top of his head, which was blown open, pieces of it everywhere.

Calleigh pulled herself out of his embrace, covered in his blood, sobbing. She didn't have the strength to stand up and sat there sobbing in the ocean of his blood that lapped up around her, daring her to move away, until Trowell pulled her up out of the sticky, crimson pool. "I'm taking you home." He said.

"No!" Calleigh found her voice. "Take me back to the lab."

Trowell shrugged. "Wherever you want, I'm just getting you out of here."

Everyone stared at Calleigh as she stumbled through the lab looking a mess, covered in blood, not knowing what to say; each wanting to offer an apology, some form of consolation, but she wasn't interested in any of them, she didn't even see them. She made her way into the break room where Tim, Eric, and Horatio were still standing. She stood in the doorway, eyes red and brimming with an encore of tears, threatening to fall al any moment. "I've, uh, I've never seen so much blood in my life." She choked, every word suffocating her more than the last.

Tim couldn't take it anymore, he walked over and pulled her into his arms, not caring she was soaked in blood, and let her sob into his chest. It broke his heart. Calleigh, who was so strong, who took everything life threw at her in stride, whom he'd never seen cry before, Calleigh the Great was crying in his arms and he didn't know how to make it better. Helplessly he held her tighter. Eric and Horatio left them alone.

A long time later, Tim still held Calleigh in his arms on the couch. The blood on her clothes, and now his, was dry and hard. Calleigh sniffed and nuzzled his chest.

"Feeling better?" Tim asked softly.

"Yeah, thank you. I just- I don't know why…I've seen so many people die before, you can't work this job without it. I don't now why it seemed worse this time. He was a murderer, he killed another man and he's not worth my tears. It was just-"

Tim stroked her hair, matted with blood. "This time you were almost the victim, the one Alexx would be examining in the morgue. That's scary, Cal. I felt so helpless and so terrified and so angry…I thought I'd never see you alive again. I don't know what I'd do without you, Cal. The thought of losing you nearly killed me…no pun intended." He told her, kissing her forehead.

Calleigh snuggled closer to him, feeling safe in his arms. He genuinely cared about her and wasn't afraid to say it. That wasn't something she was used to encountering. She was used to being Miss Independent, not needing anyone to get by, but now she needed Tim. "Tim?" she asked after a comfortable silence.

"Yes?"

"What were you going to say earlier?"

"When?"

"At the restaurant I asked you what was wrong and you were about to say something about Eric when Kevin came over."

Tim grimaced, remembering Kevin. "Oh, just Eric was teasing about some things…saying there was, uh, that there was something between us…" his voice trailed off.

"Oh."

"Yeah, uh, anyway, you should get home. You probably want to change out of that outfit."

"Yeah, then burn it. Sorry I got your clothes all…dirty too." Calleigh didn't want to say "bloody", she'd seen too much blood as it was.

Horatio came to the door as they sat up. "See you tomorrow, boys." Calleigh smiled weakly and Tim and Horatio watched her disappear into the elevator.

"Speed," Horatio turned to Tim. "You should never let a good thing slip away; you never how long it'll be around."

Tim stared at him for a second and Horatio nodded. Tim took off down the hall Calleigh had just left by, several lab techs jumping startled out og the way as he did.

"Calleigh!" he called when he reached the parking lot, seeing her unlocking her car. She turned around as he jogged over to her. "What is it?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.

"I- well…Delko can be pretty damn perceptive when he wants to be."

Calleigh's eyebrows shot up. "Tim- what-" but Tim slowly reached down and kissed her. At first Calleigh was shocked, but found herself kissing him back. She'd been afraid that all she'd be able to think of was Lightly kissing her before he blew his head off, but the only thing on her mind was Tim. He filled the entire capacity of her brain, draining anything she'd previously though. This was the security she'd been looking for.

When they pulled apart, Calleigh looked him in the eye. "Thank you." She whispered, leaning against his chest. "Drive me home, hot lips?" she asked, looking up at him.

Tim smiled and nodded. "Anything for you."

"You know how they say that when you think you're going to die, your whole life flashes before your eyes?" Calleigh asked on the way home.

"I've heard that, yes." Tim answered, reaching over to pat her knee.

"When I was up there and he was waving that gun around and holding me there, all I thought about was you. I was thinking that I would do anything if I could just get through this and see your face one more time, that I didn't get to say goodbye; that I would die without telling you how I really feel about you; that I wasn't going to die happy until I kissed you. I need you, Tim. I never realized how much before today." She sounded on the brink of tears again.

Tim pulled into a parking spot at her apartment building and turned to her, hugging her again. "And I was afraid I'd never be able to see your eyes shine again; that I'd never see a room light up again, just because you walked into it; that I'd end up living the rest of my life alone and bitter because the one person who really meant something in my life was taken away from me. I prayed for the first time since I was about 10 today, Calleigh. I prayed to God to bring you back to me safe and sound. I know there's someone out there listening, Cal, because here you are."

Calleigh smiled at him and he kissed her and the rest of the world no longer mattered. It was them against the world from then on.

Later that night, when he was sure she was sleeping soundly, Tim quietly left her apartment. He walked outside and crossed the street, sitting on a bench that faced her apartment. "I'm here, Calleigh. If you need anything I'm right here, right on the street where you live."

I have often walked down this street before
But the pavement always stayed beneath my feet before
All at once am I several stories high
Knowing I'm on the street where you live

Are there lilac trees in the heart of town?
Can you hear a lark in any other part of town?
Does enchantment pour out of every door?
No, it's just on the street where you live

And oh, the towering feeling just to know somehow you are near
The overpowering feeling that any second you may suddenly appear

People stop and stare, they don't bother me
For there's nowhere else on earth that I would rather be
Let the time go by, I won't care if I
Can be here on the street where you live

The End