Falling Down
Disclaimer: I own nothing connected with CSI:M. If you recognize it from your teleivision set, it's not mine. If you don't recognize it from TV, it is mine.
Order of Operations: Blind Memory, The Edge of Darkness, All These Things, Thrill of Hope, Engraved Invitations, Making Reservations.
Do you eat, sleep, do you breathe me anymore?
Do you sleep, do you count sheep anymore?
Do you sleep anymore?
"Do You Sleep," Lisa Loeb
"Lord, what a day," Calleigh said as she walked into the house.
"Bad day?" Tim asked from where he was sitting cross-legged on the floor with his back against the couch, doing homework on the coffee table.
"You look like you're about 14 when you do your homework like that," Calleigh said, smiling. She walked over and kissed the top of his head as she sat down. "No, it wasn't really bad. Just very long. Court took forever, and I never got back to the lab until about 4:30, so I had to cram an entire day's worth of work into about four hours. Have you eaten dinner?"
"Yeah, sorry. I got hungry around 7, and you said you'd be late," he said, leaning his head back against the couch to look at her.
"No, not a problem. I'll scrounge something up in a minute, unless you left me leftovers?" she asked.
"Of course," he said. "They're in the blue Tupperware in the fridge. Pasta."
"Mmm, yummy," she said. "Have you been doing homework all day? No, wait, it looks cleaner in here, somehow. What the hell am I saying?" she laughed. "Lord, I can tell when it's cleaner in here. I must be going crazy," she teased.
"Humph," he said, but he was smiling. "Yes, I cleaned house. And did homework. And saw Andy. So, uh, I don't think I'm going to be going to bed tonight."
"What?" she asked, frowning. "What do you mean?"
"Well, he took me off the sleeping pills. So I'm probably not going to be able to sleep tonight. Or tomorrow," he explained, watching her expression shift from confusion to concern. "Cal, it's ok, really. It's rebound insomnia, it happens. Andy thinks I'll be fine after the first couple of days."
"Yeah, but you won't get any sleep," she said. "I know how you get when the insomnia hits."
"It's really ok, Calleigh," he assured her. "I've done this before. It'll be fine. Don't worry so much."
She snorted. "Right. And what happens when you're still not sleeping after three days?"
He shrugged. "Cross that bridge when we get there, I guess. I don't think that's going to happen. I think it'll be fine. I did sleep before all this. I slept more than not, most of the time. Just not for quite so long as most people."
"What's 'not so long as most people' mean?" she asked, warily.
He sighed. "Somewhere between 4 to 6 hours."
"Tim!" she said. "That's not enough sleep!"
"It is for me," he said. "Really. That was normal for probably nearly 20 years."
"No wonder you get so much done," she said. "You've got all these extra hours to fill."
"I guess," he shrugged. "But, well, you sleep more than me."
"There's a switch," she sighed. "We'll figure something out."
"I just don't want you losing sleep because of me," he said.
"Too late," she said, ruffling his hair.
He stuck his tongue out at her. "Go eat, will you?"
"Yes, sir," she said, smiling. "I'm going to change and all first."
"Fine," he said, turning back to his homework.
Calleigh reentered the room a little while later, looking much more comfortable. She sat back down on the couch with her bowl of pasta. "So, do you want me to stay up with you?"
"No, of course not," he said, looking up at her. "You need to sleep. No sense in us both being tired."
"Tim, part of being a partner means you share stuff like this," she sighed. He'd come a good long way in the past four months in terms of figuring out how to be in a relationship, but every so often, she still had to remind him he wasn't alone anymore.
"I know. But you don't need to share my insomnia. That wouldn't be good for you," he said.
"All right," she said, resignedly. "Will you at least come to bed for a little while?"
"I don't think what you have in mind is going to work, but you're welcome to try," he said, smirking at her.
"Hush, you," she said, swatting his shoulder. "I wasn't thinking of doing anything. I'm too tired, even if you aren't. No, I just didn't want to fall asleep alone. It's nicer when you're there."
"Then I'll come to bed with you until you fall asleep. But I probably won't stay unless I get sleepy. It's worse to just lie there," he said.
"Understandable," Calleigh said. She put the bowl on the coffee table and stretched. "Want to put a movie in?"
"Sure," he said, standing up and walking over to the cabinet that held the DVDs. "Any requests?"
"Something fun," she said, stretching out on the couch.
"Ok," he said. He frowned at the movies, trying to find on they both would like. "Hmm. The Big Lebowski?" he asked.
"Sure," she said, nodding.
"Allrighty then," he said. He popped in the movie and went back and sat down on the couch with her feet in his lap.
The next thing Calleigh knew, Tim was shaking her gently. "Hey, you should go to bed," he said.
"Mmm?" she said, blearily.
"Come on, up you go," he said, tugging her to her feet. He walked her into the bedroom and tucked her in.
"No, stay," she said, catching his hand.
"Ok, for a little while," he said, lying down next to her. She snuggled into him, hoping to lure him into sleep with her, but she drifted off completely before she knew whether she was successful.
The next morning, she found that she hadn't been. Or at least not entirely. She sighed as she found herself alone in the bed without even a cat for company. "Well, then," she muttered as she climbed out of bed and went to investigate Tim's whereabouts.
She found him in the kitchen, working the Sudoku puzzle from the morning paper while he kept an eye on a skillet. "Are you cooking me breakfast?" she asked.
He smiled at her as he looked up. She studied him critically. He needed a shave, as usual, but didn't seem otherwise too worse for wear. "Figured it was only fair. I don't guess you really got a good sleep, since you were worried, so I thought a good breakfast might help."
"It might," she said, pouring herself a cup of coffee as he bent down to take something out of the oven. She sat down at the table, and he brought her a plate a moment later. "Wait, are these…these are the apple pancakes!" she said. "Your dad's recipe?"
"Of course," he said, shrugging as he poured syrup over his plate.
"I didn't know you knew how to make these," she said.
"Well, I've got to keep some secrets to surprise you with," he said, shrugging. "It would get really boring around here pretty quickly otherwise."
She smiled. "I think even if I was with you for a hundred years, I still wouldn't know all your secrets."
He looked down at his plate with a strange expression. She bit her lip. She'd meant it fondly, but apparently he hadn't taken it quite that way. "Thank you for the pancakes," she said, after a moment, hoping to smooth over whatever was running through his head.
"You're welcome," he said, giving her one of the smiles she knew he reserved just for her.
She finished her breakfast and cleared the table for him. "Would you please try and take a nap today?"
He nodded. "If I get tired."
"Well, ok, on second thought, don't if you think it would make it harder to sleep tonight," she said.
"Doesn't usually matter," he said, shaking his head. "I've got class this afternoon anyway, though."
"Ok, well, just think about it, ok? I'll try not to be so late tonight," she said.
"Ok. I'll be home probably around 6:30 or so," he said. "Maybe 7. Depends on how long the lab work takes."
"Sounds good. I've got to get ready to go," she said, glancing at the clock.
"Go, go. I'm going to run to the store before it gets ridiculously hot out there," he said, standing up and grabbing his car keys from the counter.
"All right, sweetie. See you later," she said, kissing him quickly before heading down the hallway to the bathroom for a shower. She really did hope he could sleep today. I don't know if I can take it if he doesn't. We've been doing so well… she thought. Sighing, she turned on the shower and tried to push her worries away under the spray of water. Dwelling on it wasn't going to help any, and she had work to do.