Notes: I forgot to mention: "Nothing belongs to me!" (But I will put that on my list for Santa Claus! Do you hear me, Santa?) I also forgot to mention my wonderful beta-reader in Germany! A huge "THANK YOU!" to Mara Jade. Okay, with that said…here we go again.

Chapter 2

Caine's Hummer pulled into the driveway only 12 minutes later and he literally ran towards the house. He stopped as he saw Officer Evans and Speed at the police car. He walked over to them. He could see the first aid kid at the ground and Speed sitting at the trunk of the car. He was holding his right hand, which was bandaged. Evans turned towards Horatio. "He should go to the hospital, but he refuses to leave."

"I take it from here, Evans. Thank you." He stood besides Speed, who was looking down the street, apparently not aware of Horatio's presence. "Speed?"

"I'm fine" he answered after several seconds not waiting for a question.

"You're telling me this the whole day. But right now I'm not buying it. So, do you care to tell me what happened?"

"Nothing happened."

"Speed, don't play games with me. Your hand's not nothing. It would be better to go to the hospital to have this checked out. Why don't you sit into the Hummer and I'm getting the things from out the house. After that we take a ride to the hospital. You okay with that?"

"Yeah whatever" he said in a low voice and got down from the trunk in order to sit into the Hummer instead.

"Did you see what happened?" Horatio asked Evans.

"No. He was inside all the time. Then all of a sudden he storms out, took several good hits at the front doorframe. He was out of his mind saying 'She was a baby' all over again. I tried to calm him down, that's when I called you."

Horatio nodded. "Okay. I'll take a look inside. Stay with him."

Horatio walked up the stairs to the front door. His look fell on the door frame. A bloody smear and some cracks on it told him about the force that Tim used to let his anger out. Inside he could see that Speed did a good job, as all the samples were bagged and marked. Horatio took the kit and also his cell phone to call Calleigh. "Yeah, I need you at a crime scene. Tim had a little accident and I'm going to take him to the hospital. I need you to finish. Thanks."

After that he went outside and as he approached the Hummer he said to Evans: "Calleigh Duquesne is on her way to finish the crime scene. I'll take him with me."

"Alright, Lieutenant."

The ride to the hospital was quiet. Speed just looked out of the window, refusing to talk with Horatio who was trying to figure out what had happened just before.

As they entered the emergency room, it was obvious that it could take a while – the room was filled with all kinds of people in need of a medical treatment. Horatio sighed then turned to Speed. "Are you willing to stay here? Or do I have to call an officer to watch over you?" he sounded serious.

"I can do this alone", Tim answered and went to the front desk, but quickly came back. "They are really busy. I have to fill in the forms…but…yeah, well…" he said some kind of ashamed. "I can't do it."
So they did all the paper work and then Tim went back to the front desk. As he came back, Horatio said: "I'll have to go back. Give me a call when you're finished here, okay?"

Horatio drove back to the crime scene to meet with Calleigh. As he entered the room he was greeted by the woman. "Hi. How's Tim? What happened? Is he still at the hospital?"

He held up his hands. "Whoa. One thing at a time, Calleigh. First, hi to you, too. Second, he's alright. At least that's what I think. Third, I don't know exactly what happened. Officer Evans said Tim was working quietly but all of a sudden he stormed out of here, punched the front door frame. Fourth, yes, he's still there. They were swamped up. I had to leave him there."

Calleigh stood still for a moment, letting the information sink in. "Strange. I mean, those cases are never easy to deal with. But he never acted like this before, didn't he?"

"No. Not that I know of."

"Did he say why he reacted this way?"

"No. He refused to talk to me all the way to the hospital. I get the feeling that there's more behind this here", he said and looked around. "Found anything?"
She frowned. "This place's a mess. Got several sets of fingerprints. Footprints of course, too. The whole house is…creepy. I found more blood stains at the baby room. Maybe the little one wasn't beaten for the first time."
"Certainly for the last time 12 hours ago." His cell phone went up again. "Caine. Hi. Are you sure? Okay. Later", he said and hung up. "Adelle called. We have the father."

"Really? How?"

"They found him drunk a few blocks away. Blood all over him. They asked him about his address and so…we have our first suspect. How long do you need to finish?"

She looked around. "I'm almost done. I'll meet you at the lab."

"Okay."

After he had arrived there, he went looking for Adelle and the suspect. He found them together with Eric who already had taken several samples from the unkempt man. He was as filthy as the house had been. Eric walked towards him. "Hey. Any news from Tim?"

"Not yet. Do you have all you need from him?"

"Yes."

"Good. This man definitely needs a long shower and get to be sober before we start questioning him."

Adelle said: "I'll take care of that."

tbc…