I can't believe I've finally got to the last chapter of this! The end of an era for me!Wow it's been amazing to write and I got such good feedback for it! I'd like to thank, first of all you for reading this far! And everyone who has read, reviewed, favourited etc...I love you all! And a special thank you to Dayna... for being on MSN almost every night to talk to me and listen to me complaining about my writers block! THANK YOU! Now please... nothing left to do but read!
The air was totally electric, filled with static and energy. All over the city, heat and life buzzed like bees out of a hive.
The bomb, though it had injured many people, some fatally, had brought life to the rest of the city.
Gossip was everywhere and it was impossible to here the same story twice.
The job of the CSIs however, was to sift through the rumours and evidence to find a story that was true.
--------------------
Calleigh crouched down, careful to keep her cream trousers away from the dust as much as possible.
Something had caught her interest so I also looked down at the dusty floor that was covered in debris from the explosion.
She held the camera to her eye and took three photo's of an empty space.
Why is she taking photos of an emp…
Oh.
There isn't meant to be an empty space.
Someone's taken evidence away between the explosion and Calleigh being there.
Suddenly I heard a clicking.
Tinny, mechanical clicking.
Almost like…
Almost like…
… A gun.
I swivel around and see Calleigh, with her head bowed and her eyes closed.
She had heard the clicks as well.
And then my eyes fell on the gun.
From the on, it was all I could see.
The black metal that pressed against the back of her head filled my vision and my thoughts.
Calleigh, totally submissive and at the mercy of her attacker, didn't move or make a sound.
He was going to kill her, I realised.
He was ready to do it.
It had taken the thought that long to sink in.
And then, I reacted.
With strength I didn't know I had, I pushed the attacker away.
Away from Calleigh.
Only then did I see his face.
The face of John Hagen.
A man that Calleigh thought she could trust.
A man that Calleigh thought she could love.
The shock of seeing a familiar face stopped me in my tracks. For a split second, I couldn't move, but it didn't matter.
Hagen, stunned from my initial blow, fled the room and I breathed a sigh of relief.
Calleigh was safe again.
She was still crouched on the floor, her eyes closed, waiting for a fatal shot that never came.
After a moment, she cautiously opened one eye, then the other. She stood up, green irises scanned the room for someone. Anyone.
All that was there was an empty room.
Back and forth her eyes flickered, like a terrified rabbit.
She was scared. More scared than she had ever been in her life.
And then she was running.
Out of the crime scene she went, her gun held tightly in both hands.
I tried to follow, but some invisible force held me back.
As I struggled with this force, I heard Calleigh outside, asking if he would hold a gun to her head. As if.
I tried to escape until a soft voice whispered in my ear to stop struggling, so I did.
At that moment, I noticed a dark-skinned hand resting on my shoulder.
"Eve," I muttered quietly as I turned to face her.
She nodded by way of reply to my greeting.
"Eve…um…" I stuttered, "I need…um… to get back to Calleigh."
There was something about her expression that told me that whatever was coming next was not good news.
"No Tim. No you don't. Tim, you are no longer Calleigh's guardian angel. It's over."
My heart sank to the very bottom of my chest as a wave of remembrance crept over me.
"But this time… I haven't made any mistakes! I just saved her life! I need to keep going with this!"
Eve shook her head.
"You saved her life Tim and that's why it's over. The term of being guardian angel ends when the guarded one's life is saved by the actions of their angel. You just saved her life, so you are no longer her angel."
Totally dumbstruck, I stepped back in shock.
I managed to stutter out "What happens now?"
"Now, Tim, you go to heaven because you have truly earned your seat there."
The world was moving too quickly for my brain to keep up with it.
That was it? Nothing else? Just ascension to heaven?
"I shall give you a couple of hours to say goodbye to your friends and then you shall join me where you belong."
And she was gone.
--------------------
"Alexx?"
I gently opened the door to the morgue and called her name.
It echoed off the cold steel cabinets that lined one wall and filled the silence.
Alexx looked up from the form she was filling in and smiled her usual warm smile.
"Hey Timmy!"
As she came over, she saw my downcast face.
"Timmy? What's wrong?"
I sighed.
"I can't be Calleigh's guardian angel anymore, but this time, it's for real."
Alex, who had now reached me, gently raised her hands to my upper arms and patted me comfortingly.
She looked at me expectantly, waiting to hear the whole story.
So I told her.
She waited for me to finish before speaking.
"You saved her life Tim. If you hadn't been there for her, you wouldn't be the only one going up to heaven right now. Remember that."
At this statement, I felt guilty, like I had many times before, for almost wanting one of my friends dead so I could have some company.
If I hadn't been Calleigh's guardian angel, she'd be dead now.
She'd be with me.
I tried to shake that thought so I could keep talking to Alexx.
"Alexx, I really came here to say goodbye."
"Goodbye?"
"Yeah. Because I'm not a guardian angel, I have no purpose on this earth. So I have to go to heaven soon. I wanted to say goodbye to you before I left."
Tears started to glisten in Alexx's eyes, so I pulled her into a hug.
For a minute or so, she cried into my chest.
"Why do I have to loose you again Timmy? Everyone else? They only lost you once and I… I… it's not fair!"
"I'm sorry," I told her truthfully.
It was only at that moment that I realised how much hurt I had caused.
Not just to Alexx, but to everyone that I knew and loved when I was alive.
And the chance to put things right, to clean my gun, had slipped through my fingers.
It all comes down to that damn gun.
Or maybe it doesn't.
Maybe I was meant to get shot on that day, so I could save Calleigh's life today.
I realised that Alexx was still in my arms.
"Goodbye Alexx," I said as I walked away.
When I reached the door, I turned back to see her one last time.
Alexx, the closest thing I'd had to a mother since I left home as a teenager.
The person that you could always come to if you had a problem.
The reason I kept going during the first few months of my death.
I could see that she was still crying, but she was also smiling.
I waved a quick goodbye and left before I cold change my mind.
--------------------
During the rest of the day, I said goodbye to everyone in the team, except Calleigh.
I wanted to wait until the very last moment I had on earth.
I wanted to spend that moment with the woman I love.
--------------------
When I had done everything I wanted to do, I headed to the ballistics lab.
Unsurprisingly, that's where I found Calleigh.
And Hagen.
A shiver ran down my spine when I saw that Calleigh was talking to him like everything was normal.
He has some nerve!
And then fear struck me.
I cannot defend Calleigh any more. She has to fend for herself now.
And if Hagen tries to kill her again, he might succeed.
"I became a cop to help people. To be a hero," said Hagen, interrupting my thoughts. "And I don't feel like one."
And that's a surprise? You hold a gun to someone's head and you want to feel like a hero? It doesn't work like that.
"Everyone knows you're a great detective…"
Except me. I know that Hagen isn't a great detective at all.
"Even you?"
"I would really like to be friends with you."
As Calleigh spoke, she turned away, to fetch a gun from the cage behind her.
It was at that moment that Hagen pulled his gun from the holster.
My heart rate increased and panic rose in me.
"The harshest thing a girl can say to a man."
He cocked the gun, causing Calleigh to freeze.
At that moment she realised who had tried to kill her that morning.
A look of betrayal passed over her face, along with a look of terror.
She thought that Hagen was going to try and kill her again.
But when the explosion of gunfire came, she didn't feel anything.
No bullet ripped through her flesh or spilt her blood.
She turned around to see Hagen's body, slumped on the floor, a pool of red seeping out from under his head.
A gun fell from his hand.
--------------------
"Speedle?"
I wheeled around upon hearing my name being called.
"Hagen," I replied curtly.
"Speedle! It is you! Do you know where we are? Is this heaven or-"
"If it's heaven, how did you get here?" I spat.
Hagen put on an innocent face.
"What are you talking about?"
"What am I talking about? Let me explain. You nearly killed one of my best friends and you took away the one thing she truly loves. If I hadn't stopped you, Calleigh would be dead and because I couldn't stop you from killing yourself she's lost the only way she has of coping! If you think you are getting to heaven then you are very much mistaken!"
I stood, breathing heavily for a moment, almost daring Hagen to speak again.
All of a sudden, my anger took hold again, but this time it was violent.
I lunged at Hagen with my fists, throwing punches left, right and centre.
I don't remember having felt such anger inside me ever before.
I just hope he was feeling the blows and I hope they were really hurting him.
Because he hadn't been expecting me to attack him, I soon got the upper hand, despite Hagen being much bigger and stronger than me.
My fist made contact with Hagen's left eye, he cried out and I felt someone try to pull me off him all at the same time.
"Tim! No!"
The familiar voice brought me back to my senses and my temper lost control of me and my rational thoughts took over.
I stood back as Eve helped Hagen stand.
I looked into his eyes as he brushed down his clothes and I could see a look of pure hatred and anger.
The feeling's mutual.
Eve stood by my side and faced Hagen.
"John Hagen, you have committed sins in your lifetime and you cannot ascend to heaven. You must go now."
Hagen looked from Eve to me, utterly bewildered.
"What are you talking about?"
Eve looked to me.
I explained what Eve had said in as simple a way as I could think of.
"Hagen, go to hell."
Hagen glared at me with furious eyes again.
Eve ignored him and turned to me.
"Go to Calleigh. She needs you."
--------------------
It took me quite a while to find Calleigh.
First I went to the department and checked the ballistics lab and was surprised by the scene there.
On the floor was a lab coat with "Duquesne" embroidered on the left breast.
There was a small spot of blood on one sleeve and for a second I panicked, before remembering Hagen.
I looked up at the ceiling and saw that there was a large blood splatter from where Hagen had shot himself.
Okay, so Calleigh wasn't hurt.
I went to the firing range and saw that there was a gun, some eye protection and earphones that looked like they had been in use and then the user left in a hurry.
I started to panic again.
Why would Calleigh have left in a hurry?
I searched the rest of the department and found that she wasn't there, so I decided to try her apartment.
--------------------
When I got there, I found the place in a total state.
Calleigh's things had been dropped carelessly on the hall floor, very unlike her.
When I actually found Calleigh, she was in a worse state than her apartment.
Her eyes were red and it looked like she had been crying for a long time.
She was pacing around the small coffee table in her living room and biting one nail.
A mug of coffee, that was undoubtedly cold, was on the floor next to the sofa.
Calleigh, who had obviously forgotten about the mug's existence, kicked it over as she paced past it.
She glared at it and cursed under her breath.
She seemed to be heading for the kitchen to find some way of cleaning it up when she doubled back and simple threw herself onto her sofa.
"Where are you Speed?" She whispered. "Where are you when I need you?"
Calleigh let out a sigh and in that pause, I sat down beside her.
I gently placed a hand on her knee and spoke.
"I'm here Calleigh. Right beside you."
At my words, she leapt to her feet, a look of fear upon her face that wasn't unlike the expression she wore when she had had a gun held to her head.
It hurt me to know that I was the cause of her fear, but I had to tell her; I had to speak to her.
Eve had granted me my single wish because she needed me and I needed to be there for her.
I had to speak to her.
I took a step towards Calleigh, who backed further away.
"Who are you?" she murmured, her voice quavering slightly.
"Calleigh… it's me. Tim Speedle."
She took another step back and found herself backed against the wall.
"No, you can't be! There's no way… Tim Speedle died… seven months ago… he was shot… in the chest… he died. You can't be…"
Her voice trailed off as I stepped closer to her, close enough to touch her.
I reached out and took her hand in mine. As I did, she looked into my eyes and I looked back.
There were tears brimming inside her. I could see them, behind her light green eyes.
Suddenly there was a look of recognition in her eyes and she gasped.
"You really are Tim Speedle. Aren't you?"
Even before I answered, I could see the tears that she had been blinking back for seven months about to spill.
"Yes. I am Tim Speedle."
Suddenly a great sob shook her and in an instant, she was crying.
Her head was resting on my chest and she grabbed at my shirt with her fists.
All I could do was wrap my arms around her and let all her grief pour out of her.
--------------------
Ten minutes later, Calleigh had calmed down.
She and I were sat down on the sofa and she was hastily wiping away at her eyes with a tissue, trying to hide the fact that she had been crying.
"Speed, how is this possible?" She asked after a moment of silence. "You died Speed. I saw your dead body. Alexx even did your autopsy! And you are sitting here, a solid human and I'm having a conversation with you…"
Her voice trailed off again.
I should have been expecting this. She was going to want to know everything.
I took a deep breath and started at the beginning.
Calleigh listened intently as I told her about watching my own funeral and my own autopsy.
I told her about how I could talk to Alexx and how much she had helped me since my death.
Then I told her about Eve.
"… And I had to be a guardian angel to one of you. One of my old team…"
I decided not to finish that sentence because Calleigh wore a look of slight annoyance.
"So you chose me?"
I had expected this.
I remember when I chose Calleigh, I could imagine her reaction.
To tell me that she didn't need protecting from anything or by anyone.
To tell me that I should have chosen someone else.
I nodded weakly in response to her question.
She let out a great sigh and took both of my hands in hers.
"Why me? Why not one of the others? I can look after myself. You should have become Alexx's angel. She really needed someone when she got kidnapped and-"
"I was there. I was there with Alexx, looking after her. And Calleigh? For once, you did need protecting; I saved your life today."
A silence passed over the room as Calleigh thought about what I had said.
When she didn't seem to want to break it, I decided to keep talking myself.
"I pulled Hagen off you and when he died, I made sure he went to his rightful place. He's gone to hell now… he's never coming back."
Calleigh nodded.
"Thank you."
I nodded as well.
Another uneasy silence filled the room again.
I could feel Calleigh's eye's boring into me so I turned and locked my eyes with hers.
We were suddenly sitting very close together on the sofa.
I knew what I had to say… the only problem was actually saying it.
I took a deep breath.
"But Calleigh, they aren't the real reasons I decided to be your guardian angel. My reasons were far more important to me than that. It's because… because…"
I was still looking into Calleigh's eyes and she was looking back, expectantly.
"I chose you because… I love you Calleigh."
I looked away, not wanting to see what impact my words might have on Calleigh.
I didn't want to see the mixture of shock and disgust that was surely spreading across her face.
I stared at the floor for what seemed like an eternity, until I felt soft skin against my cheek.
Calleigh turned my face so our eyes made contact again.
Our faces were so close now that I could smell her breath.
It smelt slightly of coffee.
Now, both of Calleigh's hands were cupping my face, bringing me closer to her.
And then, Calleigh's lips were on mine.
I looped my arms around Calleigh's waist and hugged her even closer to me.
I had finally found my missing piece. The final part of the jigsaw was added and I was complete.
Calleigh was my missing piece, what I'd been longing for, for years.
There was so much passion and emotion behind the kiss that I felt tears well up in my own eyes.
And all of a sudden, it was over.
Calleigh had moved her lips away from mine for long enough to reply "I love you too."
Just as she spoke, I felt a familiar feeling that had once been a comfort to me, but was now the last thing I wanted to feel.
The warm, humid stillness that rolled over me when Eve arrived.
Calleigh noticed it too and her head snapped up, looking around anxiously.
When she saw the look of, what must have been despair in my expression, her panic levels increased.
"What is it?" she asked, in barely more than a whisper.
"That means I have to go."
Suddenly, Eve was in Calleigh's living room.
She looked down at us, together on the sofa with my arms around Calleigh's waist and her head on my shoulder, a look on her face that I couldn't decipher.
It could have been disgust or amusement.
I couldn't tell.
"Tim," she said slowly. "It's time for you to leave this world."
Calleigh and I had both got to our feet at some point.
I nodded to Eve and turned back to Calleigh again.
She had started to cry again; tears were already falling down her cheeks.
In an attempt to comfort her, I pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her forehead gently.
We stood in silence for a minute or two before Calleigh spoke.
"Wait for me."
Her voice was muffled so she stepped back from my embrace and lifted her head.
"Wait for me in heaven."
I was taken aback that she even had to ask me to.
"Of course!"
She smiled slightly through her tears and I smiled too.
We were walking away from each other but our eyes were still locked together.
I got to Eve's side and she took my hand.
Finally I drew my eyes away from Calleigh and I looked towards Eve.
She nodded to me and I nodded back.
We walked forwards into the light.
And as I walked, I looked back and saw Calleigh's face, smiling at me.
That was the last thing I ever saw on Earth.
/End\