Disclaimer - I don't own the Miami characters - sadly, they belong to Jerry Bruckheimer and CBS. I do own Tim's wife and son, though and any other characters I might introduce as this little story progresses.

Rating - PG

Summary - Horatio finds one day that nothing is as he thought it was. Although some characters named can be found in my other stories, this one is completely independent of anything else and stands alone.

"Miller? Collins. Speedle is back in town." Jack took a swig of beer; then set it down on the counter with a thud.

"How do you know this?" Miller demanded from the other end of the phone line.

Jack Collins smiled. "My wife called. She's taking my kids and Speedle's kid out of town for the weekend."

"What about the cop friend?"

Jack shook his head. "Caught a plane back to Miami this morning."

Miller was quiet for a moment. "Stay by the phone. Mr. Bruckson will call you soon."

Jack disconnected and smiled again – already counting his money in his mind.

Tim loaded the last of Nicholas and Leanna's suitcases into Shelby's Expedition and secured the back door. Leanna was outside the vehicle, chewing on her thumbnail, as he knew she was prone to do in high stress situations.

He gathered his wife in his arms and immediately felt her hot tears through the thin fabric of his shirt. "No crying," he scolded gently. "This is supposed to look like you and Shelby are taking the kids for a weekend away."

"I'm scared," she said weakly, burying her nose in the crook of his neck, breathing in his scent and praying it wasn't the last time she'd be in his arms.

Tim swallowed hard and tightened his grip on her waist. "Me too, baby," he answered softly, bringing one hand up to her hair. "Me too."

He pulled away from her grasp and pretended to study her face. "What?" she demanded curiously, cocking an eyebrow at him.

Speed laughed. "Nothing," he answered with a grin; then took a lock of her hair in his hand. "Will you do something for me?"

"Anything," she replied honestly.

"If this works, and we're free," he began, "I wouldn't mind having a red-headed wife again by the time I get to Miami."

Leanna closed her eyes to the tears threatening to fall. She swallowed hard and looked him in the eye. "Red it is, Mr. Speedle."

He took her into his arms again. "I'm going to spend the next few nights fantasizing about your hair."

Leanna laughed as she disentangled herself from his embrace. "You're weird," was all she could manage as she stepped onto the running board and took her seat in the Expedition.

Tim watched helplessly as the vehicle backed down the driveway. He waved as Shelby maneuvered onto the road and took off. He waited until he couldn't see them anymore before making his way into the house.

Eric was at the kitchen table, cleaning a variety of weaponry. Speed didn't ask whether the ammunition had come from and Eric didn't volunteer the information.

"This one is yours," Delko said flatly, pointing a nine-millimeter handgun at Speed, handle first. "I cleaned it…personally."

Speed opened his mouth to retaliate, but thought better after seeing Eric's stern expression.

"It's not funny," Eric continued, staring his best friend down. "You died once for Christ's sake. You're not doing it again because you are incapable of cleaning your gun."

"I'm not incapable," Speed argued, "it was just never very high on my list of priorities."

"Well, it's high on mine. Do you have any idea what Alexx is going to do to H and I if we don't bring you home alive?"

Tim smiled mischievously. "H said he had to bring me back in one piece. You only want to bring me back alive. What's up with that, man?"

Eric threw a box of bullets at him. "H is optimistic. I'm realistic."

"Gentlemen," Horatio scolded as he made his way into the kitchen. In reality, though, he was delighting in the pair's banter, not realizing until that moment quite how much he'd missed it. He tossed a file onto the table and opened it. "Jack's been a bad, bad boy."

"Excellent," Speed answered, scanning the file carefully. The FBI log inside the file was a transcript of Jack Collins' conversation with a man named "Miller". It occurred less than 10 minutes after Shelby had called Jack about the last-minute trip. "He told this Miller guy you caught a plane back to Miami."

Horatio smiled. "Mmm…I guess I'm a better actor than I thought."

Tim's cell phone rang at his hip. He glanced at the caller ID and grinned before answering. "How is my favorite Bullet Girl today?"

Calleigh choked back a sob. "I can't believe I'm talking to you!" she exclaimed.

"I've missed you, Cal," he said quietly. He closed his eyes and tried to picture what Calleigh looked like – five years after the last time he'd seen her.

"Gawd, Tim…you just don't even know….Alexx and I are still in shock…I mean one minute you're dead and the next minute you're alive…and you have a child…" she rambled.

"Doubting my abilities as a father already?" he teased.

He heard the grin in her voice as she answered. "Of course not. I'm warning though, when I get my hands on that little boy in…." Tim heard a rustle of fabric and imagined that Calleigh was probably checking her watch, "…four hours and thirty-eight minutes, you may never see him again. I'm just warning you."

He laughed. "You said that already. What else you got for us?"

"My, my, aren't we impatient? Someone might think you'd been dead for five years or something," she shot back.

"Ha, ha, ha," Timanswered sarcastically.

"Bruckson," she began with the sweet Southern drawl Speed had always adored, "boarded a privately chartered jet this morning. Wanna guess where it was going?"

"Gee, I don't know, New Orleans?" he deadpanned.

"Wow," she teased, "you should be a detective or something."

"Okay, that's really enough taunting," he replied somewhat irritably.

Calleigh snorted a reply. "Whatever. I have five years to make up for, so get used to it. But, since you are clearly reverting back to your cranky self…there were a total of three passengers on the flight, not counting the crew."

"So that puts two of Bruckson's men in the air and at least one on the ground," Speed surmised aloud.

"If the odds stay 3-2, you could have yourselves a fair fight," Calleigh replied.

Tim's forehead crinkled in confusion. "Where are you getting 3-2? Bruckson has two men with him, another here, that's three; then there's me, Delko and H. That's 3-3."

Calleigh laughed again. "Please, Horatio's not going to let you anywhere near any place you could possibly need a gun. None of us want to re-live the last time you had a gun in your hands, Tim."

He rolled his eyes and massaged his temples with his free hand. "Done yet?"

"For the moment," she answered sweetly. "Take care of each other. All three of you. I mean it. I love all of you way too much to lose any of you. Do you hear me, Speedle?"

Tim's head fell back from sheer exhaustion and he took a deep breath. "Loud and clear, Cal."

TBC…