AN: Thank you, here is the next chapter.
Chapter 11: Found a purpose?
Six Months later
April 4, 2011
When the elevator opened, Kyle wheeled out of it and down the hall until he reached the ballistics lab, and once he got to the doorway of the room, which no one was in the main area, he said loudly as he rolled in to it, just in case Calleigh was in her office.
"Mom."
He moved a little bit closer to see if she had the door shut to her office and she couldn't hear him, but when he noticed through the window it was empty, he sighed a little.
He was suppose to meet his dad here at the lab so they could go out and have lunch together just the two of them, but he would have liked to say hi to his mom before he had to go. He then shrugged his shoulders before turning his wheelchair to the right so he could get out of the lab, but halfway down the aisle he was in, he stopped when he saw a gun sitting on a silver tray that had wheels attached. There was also a cleaning kit next to it, so he knew the gun was going to be or has been cleaned, and he knew after seeing the exact gun for years that it belonged to Calleigh.
He rolled closer to it and stopped while staring at it with his heart racing. He hadn't been this close to a gun since that day seven months ago.
With unstoppable tears slowly coming to his eyes, remembering those he lost. He took a breath as he lifted his hand up, and after clenching his hand in a fist once, then twice, he picked it up, which just as he did, Calleigh walked in the room with an apple, sandwich and a bottle of water, and she was about to ask what he was doing, but kept her mouth shut and just watched him with curiosity since one, it was empty so there was no chance of him hurting himself even if he wanted to, and two, he could have picked it up just to prove to himself that he could hold one again, and she didn't want to interrupt him.
A few seconds later, Calleigh couldn't help but smile as she watched him take the gun apart, and once it was, she cleared her throat, making him turn his chair around in surprise as he looked at his stepmom in surprise. "Mom, I'm..."
She cuts him off as she walked further in the room. "It's ok." He took a breath and looked down at his hands while Calleigh walked up to him, and after placing her food and drink items on an empty table, she asked while kneeling in front of him and placed her hands on top of his. "Was that the first time you've held a gun since..."
She trailed off, and he nodded while he looked into her caring green eyes. "Yeah."
"And how did it feel?"
He took a breath and gave her a smile with a true sparkle in his eyes. "Good, like a giant weight had been lifted off my shoulders."
She nodded in understanding, then she stood up and asked. "So, how about a test?"
Kyle raised his eyebrow. "And what would that be?"
She nodded her head towards the gun. "To see how fast you can put it back together."
He chuckled. "Are you really challenging me?"
She smirked in return. "Why, you afraid your mom might beat you?"
He chuckled again as he moved so he was in front of the tray again. "OK, but don't say I didn't warn you about me being the bullet king around here, where they call me the 'bullet boy'.
She chuckled because her nickname around the lab was 'bullet girl' mostly because she could dissemble and assemble any gun quicker than anybody around.
"Ok son, we do like confidence around here, but remember overconfidence can..."
Kyle cuts her off with a smirk. "Lead me to the dark side?"
Calleigh chuckled. "Something like that."
Kyle then nodded with a genuine smile. "Then I guess my work will have to speak for itself." Calleigh just nodded with a smile in return.
When she was ready, she told him to go as she started her stopwatch on her phone, which as she saw him put the gun back together there was a certain look to him that she hadn't seen since he's been back. Now don't get her wrong, he was overjoyed to see her and the rest of his family, but there was a dull look in his eyes every once in awhile, especially lately, like he felt lost, not sure what he was going to do next. But watching him now, he was in his element, and that gave her an idea that she wanted to run by him.
But first, she had a challenge to win, so when it came to her turn, her focus was solely on the task at hand, eventually smiling a little wider as she placed the last piece together, making Kyle sigh as he looked at his watch. "Dang, four seconds faster. How do you do it?"
She smirked in return. "Do you want a better answer than practice makes perfect?"
He shook his head with a smile. "I guess that is the ultimate answer."
"I'm afraid so."
Kyle held out his hand in defeat. "Well, hats off to you, bullet girl. You win this round, but I'll be back."
She took her son's hand with a smile. "I'll be looking forward to it, and thank you."
As they release hands, he nodded, and after she grabbed her food and water items from the empty table, she asked. "Can I ask you something?"
Kyle followed her to her office while he replied. "Of course, what is it?"
She sets her items on her desk before sitting down in her office chair and continued. "I'm not trying to put pressure on you or anything, but have you thought about what you want to do now?"
He nodded in understanding before he replied after a sigh. "Well, I thought I would have at least a few more years before I had to think what I wanted to do post-military, but I guess now I have no choice and they are limited."
She looked at him with sympathy and love before asking. "Ok, what did you think you wanted to do before?"
"I don't know, I guess I could have seen myself being a cop, you know going out and getting the bad guys." He then sighed as he continued. "But now, even if there was a possibility, which I know there isn't, I would more than likely be at a desk, and as a cop, I couldn't see myself doing that.
Then there was I could follow yours and dad's footsteps and be a CSI, but after what happened." He winced a little and shook his head before looking down at his hands. "I don't think I could have handled that."
She nodded in understanding before she gave him an option he probably didn't think of. "Ok, what do you think about working just in this part of lab?"
Kyle looked at her with confusion. "But this is your territory." He paused for a second before asking in a little shock. "Wait, is there something you have tell us, are you leaving the lab?"
She shook her head with a smile. "No, I'm not leaving the lab, but I do want to find a way to cut some of my hours a little. With Anthony starting school in a few more years, I want as much time with him as I can."
Kyle nodded in understanding before he asked shyly. "You really think I could do this?"
"I don't see why not, you'll be strictly in the lab, and while you would need training on some things, you already know your way around guns, so as far as I'm concerned, you're more than qualified for this job."
"Wow, thank you, mom."
"No problem, and I meant it."
"I know, and while I am thankful for your offer, can I have a little time to think about it?"
Calleigh smiled as she reached for her son's hand. "Of course. I'm not trying to push you or force you into anything you don't or are not ready for. I want to you be 100% sure."
As he smiled in return, his phone starts to ring in his pocket, so Calleigh removes her hand from his before he gets his phone, smiles at who was calling and puts it on speaker as he spoke. "Hi dad, you are on speaker, and I'm with mom."
Horatio smiled on his end of the phone. "Hi sweetheart."
Calleigh smiled in return. "Hi handsome."
He then sighed as his attention went to Kyle. "I'm sorry, buddy, but I won't be able to make lunch with you."
"It's ok, I understand, maybe next time. I'll see you at home later."
"Ok, love you, love you both."
At the same time, Calleigh and Kyle replied. "I love you too."
After Kyle hangs up, he does a little sigh as he places his phone back in his pocket. "I guess that's that."
Calleigh gives him a sympathy smile as she replied. "I know I'm not your father, but how does lunch with me sound? We can go anywhere you want."
He pointed to her lunch items. "What about..."
But she cuts him off with a wave of her hand. "Nah, I'll just have it for a snack later."
Kyle chuckled while nodding his head. "Ok, lunch with you sounds really good. How about Chinese?"
She gets up from her chair, grabbing her coat from the back of it. "Perfect."
After Kyle maneuvers his chair to go in the right direction, he rolls out of the office with Calleigh right behind, both happy for these turn of events.
In all years they've known one another, they haven't had many one on one times together, so they were really looking forward it.
Later that Night
Long after they had dinner and family time, Kyle and Lindsey was in his room laying in bed watching TV on low volume as she was studying, and after a few minutes of silence with an arm under his head while he was using the other one to run his fingers through Lindsey's hair, he spoke softly. "Lindsey?"
Lindsey, who was laying with her head on his stomach, replied. "Yeah?"
"How would you feel if I worked in ballistics at the lab?"
She stopped what she was doing before looking at him with curiosity. "How did this thought come to you?"
After he explained the whole story, which as he did, she saw the same look that Calleigh saw, and that made her happy that her man found something that could make him happy, but before she fully congratulated him and told him to go with his heart, she needed to make sure he would be ok, so she looked at him with concern. "If you do this, are you sure you can handle being there?"
He sighed before he nodded. "Yeah, as long as I take things slow."
She nodded in understanding before she started to smile as she took his hand that had been running through her hair. "And is this something you want to do?"
There was a pause before he slowly smiled with a nod. "I think I do. I may not be able to be out there with the action, but as Calleigh explained it to me during lunch, everything they do in that lab is important, no matter what the task is. One piece of evidence, no matter how small or insignificant you might find it, could change a case in an instant. I could still help get criminals and save lives, just in a different way than I had envisioned."
She kissed his hand before replying with her blue eyes sparkling. "Then if you feel that you'll be ok and really want to do this, then go for it, you have my support 100%"
He smiled with his blue eyes sparkling. "Thank you."
She moved up his body so her lips were close to his as she whispered. "I just want you to do something that makes you happy."
They kissed softly on the lips a few times before he spoke again when their eyes connected again. "You make me happy."
She smiled with a nod. "I know, but you should find something besides me."
He smiled with a nod in return, and after a few more soft kisses, she goes back to her original position and grabbed her book before his hand went back to her hair as he sighed in content while he continued to think about the job offer.
While they were getting ready for bed, Horatio asked. "So, how did he really do in the ballistics lab?"
Calleigh smiled as she turned the covers down on her side of the bed. "Really well, you should have seen him handsome, while I was watching him take my gun apart, he was in his element, it was like he finally found a purpose again."
Horatio smiled, happy to hear that as they got on the bed, then he smirked. "And let me guess, you challenged him, right?"
She chuckled with a nod before smirking in return. "Of course, he was in my territory, you didn't expect me to just let that go without defending it, right?"
He shook his head with a smile as he took her hand. "No way, I know how protective you can get in your domain." She chuckled again before he asked. "So?"
Knowing what that was about, she took a breath and replied. "He was one of the tougher ones, I was only four seconds faster."
Not only was he very happy for his son, but proud of him too, not a lot of people can come close to beating Calleigh when it came to her guns, let alone anywhere less than five seconds to her, so he took a breath and said. "Wow, that's pretty impressive."
"I know." She paused for a second before speaking again. "And couple that with the look on his face, I had offered him a job."
He got to admit he looked a little shocked at that. "Really?"
She nodded before continuing. "I've decided that I want to cut some of my time at the lab, you know with Anthony getting older, then Jenny, I..."
He cuts her off with a smile. "I get it, and I understand." She smiled as he continued. "What did he say?"
"He would like a little more time to think about it."
"I'm not surprised."
"Me neither." There was another pause before she asked a little cautiously. "Are you ok with me asking him?"
He smiled as he removed his hand from hers to cup her cheek. "Of course, I just want him to be ok being there."
She smiled in return. "Me too, and if he accepts, we'll take things slow. I got his back, you can trust me."
He nodded before speaking with a little emotion. "I know you do. If I only had one person to pick that was out there in the world that I would want to have his back, it would be you."
Feeling a little emotional at his words, that he trusted her enough with one of the most precious things he had in his life, she whispered softly. "Thank you."
He shook his head as he moved his head closer to her. "No, thank you, sweetheart. For loving him like he's your own."
A breath away, she whispered one more thing. "Always, handsome."
When their lips touched, like most cases, their connection was too much to deny, so they went along with it, whispering their love to one another.
AN: Hope you liked it. Next chapter will be the last, then one more full story after that in the series, hope you are interested. Thanks for reading and please review.