Title: Two Lives
Author: innocent choir girl (ff-dot-net), shannyfish (From Out of the Lab)
Summary: Calleigh Duquesne is kidnapped and isolated from the world. She's trapped between trying to escape and protecting what she treasures most. Crossover with CSI.
Category: Crossover – Ship Ahoy! Calleigh/Horatio
Genres: Established Relationship, Suspense
Characters: Calleigh Duquesne, Horatio Caine
Warnings: none
Rating: PG
Chapter: 2 "The Closet"
Author's Notes: fanfiction (dot) net still does not play nicely with my formatting, so by the grace of God, this may actually post correctly…
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"What did you tell him?!" Miller ranted as he pulled the door shut and quickly secured all of the locks on it. He would go out and get the bags of groceries in a moment. Not that they had even finished, he had been far too spooked by the man who had known her.
"Nothing," she defended quickly. "I was with you the whole time. I didn't have a chance to say anything." She held Lilith close, kissing her forehead trying to shield her from the yelling. Shielding her daughter from the abusive treatment had been something that she had tried to keep up, but that didn't always happen.
"Who is he?" Miller demanded walked towards her, his hands down at his sides clenched into fists.
Taking a step back out of reflex, she covered Lilith's ears and cried inside for her daughter. She wished she could protect her…to take her away from the house they were forced to live in…to take her home… "He's a CSI, a Las Vegas CSI," she clarified. "We're in or very near to Las Vegas, aren't we?" she ventured. She knew he wasn't happy and she was already in trouble with him, but she wanted to know… She knew that he knew that she wouldn't risk trying to leave without Lilith or that would involve her daughter possibly coming to any harm.
Lashing out, he brought his hand up and brought it across her face. Miller pulled Lilith out of her arms listening to the baby scream, he simply hauled her to his left arm, and held her against his chest with the one arm and then grabbed Abigail's arm and hauled her in the direction of the bedroom. "Don't make this worse for her," Miller warned knowing that his wife hated to scare the baby. He stopped by the crib and watched as she stayed still so that he could safely deposit the screaming child in before dragging her towards the closet.
"No! Please!" she screamed. She hated the closet. It scared her…not the closed space or the darkness…the unknown of what was happening outside of it. Lilith would always cry when she was in the closet, and Miller would ignore her…and it killed her heart. Most of the time she would cry and try to find a way out so that she could get to her daughter, but she never managed to escape. Miller had locks on the outside of closet that did their jobs in keeping her in. She stared at him, begging him with her eyes.
Miller gave it a minute, thinking about it before pushing her into the closet and slamming the door shut. He heard her body slam against the other side, obviously trying to get the door open before he could get to the locks. But she was too late; he had the locks in place before she could get to the knob. "This is what happens, Abigail! You are to follow your vows! You honor and obey!" he shouted.
Sliding down the door, she let tears fall down her cheeks. Is Miller going to feed Lilith? Is he going to take care of her? How long does he plan on keeping me in here? Her stomach growled remembering that she hadn't had anything since that early afternoon. She was starving, but it was something that she had learned to live with. Food was one of the ways that Miller liked to control. That morning he had let her have one scrambled egg and an apple with water, and then that afternoon he had allowed her a turkey sandwich that could barely even be considered that with an apple and a glass of milk. It wasn't much that he rationed her, but it seemed like barely enough to keep her alive.
"I'm sorry, Baby," she whispered to Lilith through the door feeling bad that her daughter was suffering. She just hoped that Warrick would call. She allowed herself a small smile; it had been so long since anyone had spoken her true name… She had almost gotten used to being called Abigail. Though, she thought that by the time she was finally rescued (which she hoped would be happening soon) that she would never want to hear that name, let alone be called it, ever again. Closing her eyes, she willed herself back to Miami… "Horatio," she whispered so only her ears could hear. It wasn't a memory; it was more of something she wanted to happen…
o
o
o
Being lost in Horatio's arms felt like the best feeling that Calleigh ever felt, she had missed it terribly while she had been incarcerated in Miller Lewis' house for a couple of years. He had come to Las Vegas to be part of the group that had rescued her and Lilith. It had felt unreal at first, like a dream… But his strong arms around her was all she needed. His gentle lips caressed her forehead as he placed a gentle kiss there. "God, I've missed you…"
"I've missed you," he whispered back. "My strong Calleigh…"
His words felt more like lies. Back before Miller had taken her, she had felt strong…like she could take care of herself, but now…now she only felt helpless. She hadn't even been able to take care of Lilith; Miller would take her right out of her arms and wouldn't care if she screamed all night. "I'm not strong, Horatio…" she told him, reluctantly pulling away to look up into his blue eyes.
"You are."
"I'm not," she argued. "If I were strong…I would have never let myself get captured, let alone held for so long…" Her eyes flooded with tears, which forced her to blink her eyes. "Horatio, I can't take care of my baby…I haven't been able to protect her… I'm not strong, not anymore."
"You are strong, Calleigh…" he told her. He stroked her blonde hair for a minute, before letting it finally rest so that it was cupping her cheek. "Never forget that…" Horatio pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly. Putting his lips to her ear, he whispered, "Hold on, just for a bit longer… We're coming…
Calleigh let those thoughts comfort her as she closed her eyes and let the tears stream down making her cheeks wet. "Please hurry…
o
o
o
The memory she desperately wanted to be a future memory had turned into more of an unconscious cry for her to hold on. Is he coming? Is Horatio really coming? Opening her eyes, she put her hands together and just prayed…for her daughter, for herself, and for rescue… "God help us," she whispered as she looked upward into the dark of the closet.
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TBC…