"Calleigh, I'm sorry for laughing in your face, I'm sorry for leaving you, I'm sorry for not giving you a chance. I don't know what else to tell you except that I'm sorry, and I want to give us a chance, if you'll let me. I know I let you down before, but now that I think of it, I didn't even love Erin. I think she was only a distraction. She distracted me from thinking about you. After you'd left, I always thought about you, I never saw you again and it bothered me. You wouldn't answer your phone calls or your door. You left me in the dark Calleigh, I'm sorry for putting you in that position."
Calleigh was about tiered of hearing Tim's excuses. After what he had said to her back at Eric's, she wasn't sure if she could ever forgive him, but one thing she knew for sure was that she was never going to stop loving him. She looked down and fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "That day, when I told you I loved you, I was almost positive you were going to say you loved me back. When you laughed at me, it was a big slap in the face. I felt like my whole world had collapsed right on top of me, and no one was helping to pick up the pieces. I had to do it all by myself. I went home and cried until I fell asleep, I was depressed, I thought about moving away. I thought about quitting my job, and moving far away, but I didn't. You just………you hurt me so much Tim," she finally finished.
Tim looked at her sadly and sat there in silence for a few minutes. After a while he finally mustered up a few words that he knew probably wouldn't help Calleigh's broken heart. "Calleigh……I'm so sorry, I love you," he said lightly, not even realizing what he had just said.
Calleigh looked up at him with tear soaked eyes. "What did you just say?"
Tim thought about it for a minute, realizing what he had said. He pondered on it and then nodded, believing what he had just subconsciously said. "I said I love you Calleigh," he repeated.
The Bullet Girl sniffled again and then nodded. "That was all you had to say the first time Tim," she informed him, smiling.
A WEEK LATER
A week to Calleigh seemed like a year. Within a week she'd started dating Tim, moved in with him, but yet they hadn't even kissed yet. Neither of them knew why, but there just seemed to be some kind of barrier there. Every time they would get close, Tim would pull away. There was just something that Calleigh didn't like about this. Something didn't feel right. It was like he was trying to hide something, and she wanted to know what it was. But today, Calleigh was going to figure it out.
They were sitting silently on the couch, Tim's arm causally wrapped around Calleigh, and her head was resting lightly on Tim's shoulder.
"What are you hiding from me Tim?" she asked him, point blank.
Tim flinched away from her and looked at her funky. "What the hell are you talking about Cal?" he asked.
Calleigh looked up at him, almost as if saying 'you know damn well', but she obviously needed to explain. "Well, every time I try to kiss you, you pull away. Every time I tell you I love you your eyes dart around the room looking at everything but my eyes. You just don't seem like you love me Tim, what's wrong?" she asked him.
"No Calleigh, I do love you it's just……I lied to you," he said regrettably.
Calleigh looked confused. "About what Tim?" she asked.
"Erin didn't cheat on me. When I finished talking to you on the phone, I took a walk, when I came back, she was dead Calleigh. Someone came looking for me, and she's the one that got shot. It all happened so fast, and then I came to talk to Eric about it and you came in, and……..I just overreacted. But the thing is, when Erin died, the only thing I could think of was you. I thought of how that could have been you, you would be on Alexx's table with a toe tag. Every time I look at you I think of how it should have been you, and how I'm so glad it was Erin and not you. That's horrible of me to think. I was engaged to the woman and all I can think of is that I'm glad it's not you."
Calleigh was baffled. She had no idea that Tim had gone through that. She looked up at him sadly and cupped a hand to his cheek. "At least she died thinking that someone loved her," she said lightly. "If she thinks the same way I do, then she probably thought that you made the last few days of her life the best ever."
Tim placed his hand over hers as a tear slid down his cheek. "I love you so much Calleigh," he said shakily.
Calleigh nodded and closed her eyes a bit. "I know you do baby, I know, I love you too," she said as she wrapped her arms around him. That was when Tim started to sob. To him, just the idea that it could have been her killed him inside. Cal let him cry on her shoulder, just as he would have let her do if it were the other way around. It was then that Calleigh lifted up Tim's chin, and gave him a soft kiss. She pulled away and pressed her forehead to his. "It's okay Tim," she cooed.
If Calleigh knew how to do anything, it was to calm him down. The brown haired man had always had somewhat of a short temper, and with just a few words from Calleigh, he would be calm. There was just always something about her that cheered him up. When he thought about when he'd laughed in her face, he thought about why he did it. And at this exact moment he knew why. He was afraid. He was afraid that he was going to do something to hurt her, but little did he know that he'd hurt her the only way he possibly could have in that situation. He hated himself for it, and wanted to make it up to her.
After a few minutes of crying on Calleigh's shoulder, the elder CSI pulled away and looked back into her eyes. "I'm sorry Calleigh," he said lightly. Before Cal had a chance to tell him it was okay, he leaned in and gave him the most passionate kiss of her life. She'd never been kissed like this before. Mainly because she'd never kissed a man that truly loved her back. Little did Calleigh know what she was getting herself into…….
A few minutes after Tim and Calleigh had fallen asleep that night, Tim's beeper went off. It was about midnight, and Calleigh had no idea why his beeper was going off when he wasn't even working for CSI anymore.
"Baby, I've got to go," he said to her. "Do me a favor baby, if someone knocks on the door, don't open it. Okay? Don't let anyone in, I love you," he said quickly, and before Cal even had a chance to question him, he was out the door.
Calleigh sighed a little and listened as his car pulled out of the driveway and sped into the city. She brushed off all of the questions running through her head and fell asleep again.
It wasn't until about two in the morning that Calleigh was interrupted from her slumber again. There was a loud and angry knock at the door. Calleigh knew that Tim had told her not to open the door, so she picked up the phone and called him immediately. He answered, but by the time Calleigh picked up, the man at the door was now standing over her. "Where is the package?" he demanded. Calleigh looked up at him.
"Package? What package?" she asked him, facing a .9 mm in the face. Her voice was trembling, and Tim was talking frantically over the phone, telling her that he would be there soon, but Calleigh didn't hear a word of it. The man slapped her hard, causing the phone to hit the ground, and Calleigh to fall out of the bed. He picked up the phone and spoke into it.
"You have twenty minutes to get back here Tim Speedle, or I get to have a fun time with the pretty girl," he said, before closing the phone. Calleigh looked up at the man, with frightened eyes.
"I know I told him twenty minutes, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him will it?" he asked her with a smirk.
Calleigh shook her head. "No, please don't," she pleaded. She was crying hysterically, which was apparently what the man wanted.
"Too bad little missy, you're too pretty to pass up."
About fifteen minutes later, Tim arrived, finding his door busted in. He followed muffled voices to the kitchen to find Calleigh tied up to a chair. All she had on was her bra and panties, and she looked terrified.
"Julien….." Tim said, looking at the man as he came around the corner.
Julien laughed a little and walked closer to him. "Well well, isn't it Timothy Speedle, the negotiator. Where is my lovely package Tim?" he asked.
Tim shook his head. "I told you you couldn't have it Julien, it's illegal, and I promised you I wouldn't put you away if you just let me take it."
"Well well Mr. Speedle, that's not the way I heard it. You said to me that if I didn't commit any more murders, then I could have the package, and stay free, but we've apparently had a misunderstanding," he said as he took out his gun again, which made Calleigh start to shake a bit. Tim looked at her, and his heart broke immediately.
"Let her go…….please," he told him.
Julien just laughed a little. "Or what? Are you going to sick one of your little CSI friends on me?" he asked.
Tim shook his head and threw his cell phone on the ground. "There, now I can't call anyone, I don't have my gun with me, and no one needs to get hurt, now just put down the gun, and I'll get it for you," he said calmly.
Julien shook his head and put the gun to Calleigh's temple. "No can do Mr. Speedle, either you give me the package right now, or you get to investigate this pretty woman's murder," he threatened.
Cal was crying as she watched Tim sigh and go to the attic. He came back down with a small envelope in his hand. Speed gave it to Julien and stepped back. Julien inspected it, and then nodded. "If anyone ever gets wind of this Speedle, I swear to God I'll come back for her, and next time I won't wait for you," he told him as he briskly walked out the door and slammed it behind him.
Tim rushed over to Calleigh and took the tape off of her mouth, and untied her. "Baby, I'm so sorry," he told her softly. "I'm so sorry."
Calleigh was heavily crying, so much that she couldn't talk right now. She felt so violated, and so scared that she didn't know what to do right now.
"Baby, what did he do to you?" Tim asked her. Cal looked down at him, and looked at the bruises all over her legs, and her wrists. She looked back down at him, and he knew. He didn't have to ask anymore, and Calleigh didn't have to explain.
"Calleigh, I'm so sorry, I swear, I'll never let anything happen to you again, I'm never leaving you," he assured her. Calleigh just nodded and wrapped her arms around him tightly as she sobbed. Tim held her close and kissed her cheek, neck, and temple. He rubbed her back, and tried to soothe her. He felt horrible for what he'd done, and he was going to make sure that he never left Calleigh by herself again.
After a good ten minutes, Calleigh had told him that she was sleepy, and wanted to go to bed. Tim picked her up and carried her into the bedroom. He laid her down gently on the bed and kissed her forehead. She fell asleep almost instantly after Tim cuddled up with her and wrapped an arm around her. Doing that made her feel safe, which is why she probably fell asleep so easily. Tim wondered how long it would be before something really terrible happened to him. He wondered if maybe he should hurt Calleigh to save her.
Over the next few weeks, Tim and Calleigh's relationship was full of fights, and arguments. Calleigh was at the point where she was so fed up with it, that she broke it off with Tim, and started seeing Eric again. She had been back at her old apartment for about two weeks before Eric came back into her life. Calleigh would cry when she was at home by herself, but now that Eric was with her, she was happier, and enjoyed her life more. She'd once again cut off contact with Tim. He didn't try to call her, and she didn't try to call him. Eric and Tim still remained best friends, even if now they weren't totally honest with each other. Eric didn't tell Tim that he was dating Calleigh, and obviously he had no way of hearing from Calleigh about it either.
While watching a weekly baseball game, Eric and Tim sat on the couch with a beer in hand, talking about past girlfriends and experiences that they've had with them. Everything was good, that is, until Calleigh came into the conversation.
"She told you about that?" Tim asked, not believing that Calleigh would have mentioned anything to Eric about being tied up in a chair.
"Yeah man, she told me everything. She said that after you got her out of the chair and put her to sleep you'd been nothing but an ass to her. She swears you did it on purpose, that you pushed her out of your life. But I don't know what to believe man, did you?" he asked.
Tim's heart almost stopped beating. She really had figured it out. But he couldn't tell anyone what he was doing, which was why he had to push Calleigh out of the house. He didn't want her hurt. "No man, you've got it all wrong, she constantly fought with me. I tried to breakup with her, but she insisted that she stayed, to try to work things out. She just didn't understand that I couldn't have her there. She was in the way."
"In the way?" Eric asked, not being able to believe what he was hearing. "She's not an object Tim, she's a person. She has a job and a life, unlike you."
"I have a job!" Tim defended, and soon cursed himself for saying it. No one was supposed to even know he had a job, he wasn't supposed to let that secret out to anyone.
Eric was baffled. He'd never mentioned anything about a job. "What do you do?" he asked.
Tim sighed. "Listen, you cannot tell this to ANYONE, not even your closest loved one," he said, which immediately made Eric think about Calleigh. "I've been working for the FBI, I'm an undercover agent, I negotiate with killers that plan mass murders."
Eric's eyes were wide. "So that's why you pushed her away," he said, immediately putting together the pieces. "You didn't want her to be put in dangers way, that's why you said "in the way" because she was in the way of danger," he said, putting everything together, and noticing that all of this actually made sense. "Sorry man," Eric said lightly. "If I had known-"
"It's alright, I just don't want Calleigh hurt, even though she already is hurt, I don't want her to have to put herself in danger because of me, it's not fair to her."
Eric nodded. He was right. The only thing was, Tim didn't know that Eric was going out with her now. He knew that he was the second choice over Tim, but he didn't care, he was helping her and that was all that mattered.
Eric's phone rang.
"Girlfriend of the week?" Tim asked.
Eric shrugged. "I've actually had a girlfriend for three weeks," he said, hinting to Tim that it was Calleigh, but Tim didn't pick up on it.
"Hey baby…………yeah, I'll do that. You pick out the movie and I'll pick out the snacks, okay? I'll be there in about an hour, love you sweetheart………okay, bye," Eric said, before shutting the phone.
"So she lives with you," Tim gathered.
Eric nodded. "Yeah, she is,"
"She hot?"
Eric looked to him and shook his head. "No, she's beautiful," he corrected.
Tim nodded a little. "What's she like?"
Eric sighed, knowing that this wasn't going to end well.
"She's got long blonde hair, green eyes, about 5'2, she's got an amazingly bright personality, and she works at the Miami Dade Crime Lab as a ballistics expert," he said with a sigh.
Tim's face was blank. "It's Calleigh," he said, defeated. He never thought that Calleigh would go back to Eric, but apparently he was wrong. He couldn't wrap this around his head. He still loved her, but he couldn't put her in danger with his job. "Could you tell her for me please?" he asked.
Eric was confused. "Tell her what?"
"Tell her why I broke up with her, and why I can't be with her. And tell her…………tell her I still love her," he said lightly.
Eric nodded a little. He was going to lose his girlfriend over this……..again, but Calleigh deserved everything she wanted. And he knew she wanted Tim.