Diamond in the Rough

A/N: This is the final chapter for this fic, but not the end of Tim and Calleigh's journey. Many, many sincere thanks to all the readers, and especially to the reviewers.

"True love doesn't have a happy ending, because true love never ends.
Letting go is one way of saying I love you." – Author Unknown

By an unspoken yet mutual agreement, Calleigh and Tim steered clear of each other the next day at work. It wasn't that they didn't want to see each other; rather, it was a desire to remain professional while at work and to prevent another episode like the one the day before. As enjoyable as that incident may have been, both Calleigh and Tim knew that pulling away from such an encounter a second time wouldn't be as easy.

Calleigh's excitement was well-hidden in her usual cheerful demeanor, so it was the normally reserved Tim who had a harder time containing his joy. Delko made more than one comment during the day, usually along the lines of, "Was that a smile I just saw on your face? What's going on?" Unfortunately for Delko, the jabs only served to wipe the smile off Tim's face and replace it with his usual scowl. "Now there's the Speed I know," Delko would say, chuckling to himself. "What's so hot with Kate that you can't keep it to yourself?" The mention of Kate would only deepen Tim's frown, much to Delko's delight. "It's okay to smile every now and then, Speed," Delko would continue. "You of all people could certainly use the practice."

By five o'clock that afternoon, Tim's patience was worn thin – both with Delko's good-natured ribbing and with not seeing Calleigh. He'd just thrown the last of his gear in his locker and had slammed it shut, and was reaching down to grab his phone off his belt to call Calleigh when it rang. He didn't recognize the number.

"Speed."

"Tim?"

"Yes?"

"Tim, this is Mallory, Kate's friend?"

Tim shut his eyes and pressed his forehead to his locker. Kate's best friend, Mallory, tried his patience even on a good day. "Hi, Mallory."

"Tim, have you talked to Kate today?"

The question surprised Tim. Mallory and Kate were inseparable, and he would have assumed that Kate's first call after he'd walked out two nights earlier would have been to her. He wasn't about to break the news to Mallory, knowing that it would only serve to entrap him in a conversation he didn't want to have. Mallory had really liked Tim, and he knew that there would be not a small amount of convincing on her part for them to get back together.

"Nope."

"Oh." Mallory's voice took on a small and hollow quality that froze Tim's blood. "She's missing, then, I suppose."

Tim's body went rigid. "What do you mean, she's missing?" His voice had a hard edge to it, and Mallory immediately became defensive.

"She left, Tim, and no one knows where she is. I got a message on my voicemail today from her, saying that she loved me very much and that she hoped I would understand. I haven't talked to her in two days, and her phone's going straight to voicemail. None of our other friends have talked to her either. Tim, I'm really worried."

"Me too, Mallory," Tim said succinctly, before flipping the phone shut. Kate hadn't been at his apartment when he'd returned the previous night, and most of her stuff had been gone as well. She was efficient, if nothing else. Tim pictured the apartment in his mind, going over it with the eyes of a CSI. Kate wasn't one for dramatics. There had to be some clue as to where she was. Tim opened his eyes and headed for his bike. He knew just where to look.

Once he arrived home, Tim went straight to the living room. He'd barely noticed the pile of papers on the coffee table the evening before, caring about nothing more than falling face down in bed and going to sleep.

Tim made quick work of the papers, shuffling through them until he found what he was looking for. He should have noticed them last night. Kate was neat to a fault, and leaving such a mess out was very unlike her. Amidst the flurry of bills, mail and magazines was a plain white envelope, with his name printed in Kate's neat script. Tim wasted no time at all in ripping open the envelope and reading the short note inside.

Dear Timothy,

I hope that you will forgive me for my behavior earlier tonight, and that in time you can forgive me for what else I am about to say. I have been keeping something from you, but it wasn't until tonight that I realized why. We were good together, but I believe deep down we both knew that it wasn't meant to be forever. I've thought about walking away without telling you, but I feel that you deserve to know. Timothy, I'm pregnant.

I've given the matter a lot of thought, and even though I never felt as though I was cut out for motherhood, I can't give up on this child, even if I am giving up on us. Perhaps now you can better understand why my behavior has been so erratic these last few months. Before this happened I liked you fine for who you were, but when I found out that I was pregnant I thought that you would need to change if you were going to be a good father.

I'm going home to my parents to have the baby, and I'm not sure where we'll go after that. I know that it is horribly unfair to keep your child from you, Timothy, but I knew that if I told you in person, then you'd insist on doing the honorable thing and marrying me, even though neither one of our hearts would be in it. I hope you can still trust me enough to believe me when I say that this child will be incredibly loved and never want for anything. Please don't try to contact me. It pains me beyond belief to do this to you, but I think in the end it will be the best for all involved.

I love you, Timothy, but I'm not in love with you and I don't want to marry you just because of a small complication. I am so sorry.

Love,
Kate

Tim read through the letter once, quickly, and then more slowly a second time. When he was done he crumpled the letter up and threw it across the room, swearing under his breath as he did so.

What nerve, he thought. In an instant, his mind was made up. He quickly threw some clothes in an overnight bag and headed outside. Kate must have forgotten that she'd told him where her parents lived. He wasn't about to let this go so easily.

DITRDITRDITRDITRDITRDITRDITRDITRDITRDITRDITRDITRDITRDITRDITR

He was almost to I-95 when he felt his phone vibrate. "Shit," he muttered. He knew without checking that it was Calleigh. They'd made loose plans to grab some dinner after work, both knowing that a late afternoon murder could wreck said plans instantly. Tim wanted to pull off the road and return Calleigh's call, but he wasn't sure how to justify what he was doing to himself, much less to her. Either way, he had a sick feeling in his stomach that whatever might have been about to happen between them was ending before it could even begin. Even if Calleigh was willing to forgive his behavior, he would never be able to forgive himself, and he refused to let her break her heart over someone as pathetic as him. He loved Calleigh deeply, without reservation; even though he would always be too busy making a mess of his life to be in a relationship with her.

Tim made good time out of Miami, considering that it was nearly six pm when he left, heading out of town with everyone else. Still, it was almost midnight by the time he hit the city limits of Jacksonville and decided to pull over for the evening. It was at least another 120 miles to Savannah, and there was no way he was about to venture out onto the coastal island that her parents lived on in the middle of the night. He probably wouldn't even be able to get on the island without bypassing some sort of security checkpoint. Kate had never said too much about her upbringing, but he'd always had the impression that her parents were extremely well-to-do.

Disheartened, Tim pulled off into the nearest motel parking lot that looked halfway affordable. For once he was glad that it was hurricane season. If he'd gone chasing after Kate during peak tourist season, he wouldn't have even been able to afford the crappy motel he'd chosen. Tim checked in with the sleepy-eyed clerk, grabbed his key and headed off to his room.

Once inside, Tim went to throw his duffel bag on the floor, then thought better of it and sat it down gingerly on the dresser. The dresser probably wasn't much cleaner than the floor, but it was worth a shot. Tim hated hotel rooms, having processed too many to live under the delusion that they were clean. He sat gingerly on the edge of the bed, testing the box springs. They gave easily under his weight, and Tim sighed. He reached forward and plucked the remote off the TV. He depressed the power button, which stuck after he removed his thumb. Tim tossed the remote aside and then leaned forward to turn the TV on by hand, but it wasn't cooperating either.

Tim sighed and flopped back on the bed. There was only one thing left to do now, and that was to call Calleigh, something he'd rather put off for eternity. Still, she deserved to know that he wasn't lying dead in a ditch somewhere, and he certainly didn't want Horatio breaking the news to her tomorrow.

Tim first put in a quick call to Horatio, letting him know that he would need a few days off to take care of some personal matters. As always, Horatio's brief answer implied that he knew exactly what was going on.

"If that's what you think you need to do, Speed."

"I'll call Calleigh and let her know," Tim offered weakly.

"You do that," he said gravely. "You do that. And Speed, before you call her, make sure you know exactly what you want, ok?"

Tim had no answer to that, so he mumbled a goodbye and snapped the phone shut. Know exactly what he wanted? Hell, Tim had no idea. Actually, all he wanted was for this whole mess with Kate to have never happened. He wanted to have kissed Calleigh all those months before when he first had the chance. He wanted to be back in Miami right now, kissing Calleigh on her doorstep. He wanted to hear her offer for him to come inside and say yes when she did. He wanted to find out if Calleigh really was a night owl who stayed up too late watching MTV. He wanted to discover where on her body she'd gotten the tatoo. He wanted to know what it was like to wake up in the morning with Calleigh in his arms.

He wanted his heart to stop aching.

Unfortunately, everything he wanted was impossible, and the one thing he didn't want to do, call Calleigh and tell her the truth, was the only thing he had to do.

Tim closed his eyes and begged for mercy from a God he'd long since abandoned, hoping that his younger years as a reluctant altar boy had bought him some leniency with the Almighty.

His only answer was the steady hum of the ice machine that lay just beyond the wall of his room.

Tim opened his eyes and flipped open his phone, dialing a number he already knew by heart. On the second ring, Calleigh's warm voice filled the line, and Tim's mouth turned to sawdust.

"Cal? It's me. There's something I need to tell you…"

The End