Calleigh had been driving around in her Hummer for hours; she didn't know were she was going or what she was looking for. She was just driving, listening to Natalia's iPod trying to fight back her tears.
Calleigh looked down at the clock and saw that it was 6 in the morning; she hadn't gotten a call from Horatio or anyone else on the team. So in her mind Natalia was till missing, 'only two more hours' she thought to herself.
That thought was the last straw for Calleigh, she pulled the Hummer over and her head fell into her hands and the waterworks began.
For 15 minutes Calleigh sat on the side of the road crying till finally she was able to pull herself back together. Adjusting her make up she told herself that she was ready to face what was going on back at the lab, so she put the car in drive and started to drive again.
Another 15 minutes later Calleigh found herself knocking on a door of a Spanish style house in an upper middle class neighborhood.
After a few moments the door opened and before Calleigh had time to register the person at the door, she found herself tackled by four boys, two girls screaming "TIA CALLEIGH!"
Calleigh dropped down to one knee and gave all six of the kids hug at the same time. With the feel of the their hugs around her body giving her so much love and attention at once, finally made her relax just a little bit.
Gabriela was the first one to let go; she looked out doorway and then turned back to Calleigh. "Tia Calleigh? Where is Tia Natalia?" she asked.
Once Gabriela asked that question, the rest of the kids let go and just looked at Calleigh.
"Mom and Tia Anya have been in the kitchen all night crying. We heard them saying at Tia Natalia ran away." Fernando continued "Did you hurt her like Tio Nick did?"
"FERNANDO?" Christine yelled. All six of the kids froze and turned back to face their mother. "How dare you ask that question to Calleigh!"
"No, it's okay" Calleigh started "No, Fernando I didn't hurt her like Tio Nick, I could never hurt her like that."
"Go upstairs and get ready for school, I have to talk to Tia Calleigh alone" Christine said pointing upstairs.
The kids went upstairs while Calleigh followed Christine to the kitchen were she saw Alex, Christine's husband and Anya sitting at the table. "Tell me you found her?" Anya said with tears flowing down her eyes.
"Yes and No. We know who has her and we know she is still alive right now, but we don't know where she is."
"Who is this person? Who is the sick bastard that has my wife's little sister?" Alex said in a stern voice.
"You know I can't tell you that." Calleigh said
"Cal, please. It's Talia we are talking about." Christine said.
Calleigh bit her lower lip and sighed they were right it was their sister and who knows maybe they could be of some help, "His name is Brian Falco his a real estate agent with houses and business up for sale around the country... She could be anywhere."
Alex and Christine exchanged looks before Alex got up and went into his office. A few moments later Alex came back with a card. "Is this the man?" Alex said handing Calleigh the card.
Calleigh eyes got wide when she looked at the card to see Brian's picture, "Where?" Calleigh started to say.
"Brian was the one that got us this house, he is in the process of helping us find a summer home in the Keys." Alex continued, "It's him isn't it?"
Calleigh didn't say anything, but then again it wasn't like she hiding her facial expressions. "I have to go," she said as she started to walk out the kitchen. Stopping at the doorway she turned back around to face Alex, Christine and Anya. "Promise me that you guys won't do anything stupid by looking for him. From the few times that we have been in contact with him I can tell he has a temper, and anything could set him off. So please I beg you don't go looking from him."
Calleigh took a minute to look at each of them; once they agreed not to go looking for him Calleigh was out the door. Reaching in her back pocket she go out her cell phone and called Horatio as she got into her Hummer.
For the past 5 hours Horatio and everyone back at the lab were working hard at trying to locate Natalia. Horatio, Frank, Ryan and Eric had been looking thru the files found at Brian's house. Dave and Walter were working together on trying to find out the exact location of the computer that tried to hack them earlier.
All of them had been coming up empty handed, right when they thought there was no hope of finding Brian and Natalia Horatio got a phone call from Calleigh.
"Canie... Calleigh... Where are you?... Did you find anything there?... Really...Okay Tripp and I will meet you there." Horatio hung up the phone and looked over to the guys. "Calleigh might have the break that we have been looking for. Keep working guys and I'll fill you in when I get back." The guys shook their heads and watched as Horatio and Frank walked into the elevator.
20 minutes later Horatio and Frank meet Calleigh outside of Brickell real estate agency. "Calleigh, how did you find this place?" Horatio asked as they made their way to entrance.
"Christine and Alex said that Brian was their real estate agent and that he helped them get the house they have now and that he was in the process of helping them find a summer home. They gave his card." Calleigh said as she handed Horatio the card.
Horatio continued to study the card as the three of them made their way into the office. "Hello, welcome to Brickell real estate. How can I help you?" a young lady said from the behind the counter.
"We need to talk to who ever is in charge here." Calleigh said looking around, "Horatio" she said pointing over to the corner.
Horatio looked over to see Brian's office, his door was open because the cleaning lady was dusting his desk and emptying the trash. Horatio grabbed Calleigh's kit and with Frank by his side the two men walked into Brian's office.
A few minutes later a young man came out from the back room. He had blonde hair and was wear a red dress shirt with a white tie and black slacks on. "Hello, I'm Jeremy Glass, the manger how can I help? He said sticking his hand out.
Calleigh shook his hand and smiled, "Hello Mr. Glass, I'm Calleigh Duquesne with the Miami crime lab. I have a few question about one of your employees, Brian Falco."
"He is one of our best agents, he is on a semi vacation right now."
"Semi vacation?"
Jeremy gave a weak smile, "Sorry, let me explain. He took all of this week off for a real vacation, and next week he will be in New York for conference."
Calleigh shook her head and glanced over to Horatio and Frank who were now talking to the cleaning lady. "You're office seems pretty empty right now, when do your workers start showing up for work?"
"My agents aren't required to come into the office, they can work at home if they please. Plus this is a real estate company, majority of my agents are out in the field showing houses. As long as they get their work I don't complain."
"Do you know if Brian operates from another location?"
Jeremy paused to think about Calleigh's question, "I think he has three other locations that he works from."
"That's great do you know them?"
"I believe I have them written down in my office, if you hold on for one moment I can get them for you."
"Please," Calleigh said as she motioned from him to go get the list.
Jeremy disappeared to his office for only a few moments before he returned with a paper that had three different addresses on them. "Is everything okay, is Brian in trouble?" Jeremy asked as he hand the paper over to Calleigh.
Calleigh just sighed, "I'm not at liberty to say," she said as she studied the list.
"Horatio," Calleigh said as she waved for the boys to come over. "Thank you for time."
"Anytime, if you need anymore information, just let me know." Jeremy said with a look of concern.
Horatio was now holding on to the paper, as the three of them walked outside to their cars. "It would seem that he uses Nate's car shop for a place of business as well as his own house, but I don't recognize this last address."
"Nate? As in Nate Mulder." Frank said as he put his hands on hips, "This kid is seriously starting to piss me off."
Horatio just gave a smile as he got his phone, "Well Frank, you can act out your revenge because you and I will be going over that car shop with a fine tooth comb. Calleigh I want you go the last address on the list, you're looking for anything out of place. I'm going to call Eric and have him and Ryan go back to his house at Coal Gables. Natalia has to be at one of these places."
Horatio and Frank went to Frank's squad car while Calleigh went to her Hummer, and soon after everyone made their way to their new destinations.
"These Christmas cookies are so good mom just like always," Pepe said before looking over to see Calleigh still holding Natalia in her arms.
"Come on Tia Natalia and Tia Calleigh, come have cookies with us." Gabriela said waving them over.
Calleigh set Natalia down and the two of them made there way over and grabbed cookies from Christine. Christine looked around the living room and shook her head "I'm going back to the kitchen for a few moments, when I get back this living room better be as clean as when we first got here. Or else I'm calling Santa and telling not stop by here because I have six naughty children."
Their eyes got big and before Calleigh and Natalia knew it the kids were running around cleaning Natalia's living room.
"Wow, that was fast. It only took them like 87 seconds to clean this room." Calleigh said as she took a seat next to Natalia who was seating on the couch.
A few minutes later Natalia and Calleigh were joined in the living room with the kids, Anya, Christine and Alex.
For the next two hours the kids bombarded Calleigh and Natalia with information about all of their after school activities. They even tried to teach Calleigh one of their cheers, 'the right shift 47'.
Finally Natalia stretched her arms with a yawn before she looked at her watch. "It's 11:30 already, I sure hope Santa doesn't pass this house because there are children in house that are up past their bed time."
Calleigh couldn't help but smile and join in on the fun with Natalia, "I'm pretty sure I heard sleigh bells down the street not to long ago."
Christine didn't get the chance to say anything because the kids were running upstairs to get ready for bed.
"You're lucky that it Christmas eve, because getting them to go to bed on time is no easy task." Alex said with a smile.
"Okay Alex," Natalia said with a soft chuckle as she patted him on the back and made her way to garage to help Christine get out all the toys.
"I'm just sayin', they can be evil. If you ever want to take them off our hands for a weekend or two be my guest." Alex said as he leaned to grab a cookie.
"Maybe," was the only response he got, as she set down two big bags filled with toys. "Cal, you want to make sure the kids are in their room?"
"Sure, no problem." She said as she got up and walked upstairs.
Once she got upstairs she could hear giggling coming from the far guest bedroom, Calleigh popped her head in to see the kids laying in bed laughing. "What's so funny?" Calleigh asked with a perplex look on her face.
The kids were silent.
"Okay, Calleigh said with a grin. "Did you guys wash your faces and brush your teeth?"
"Yes, Tia Calleigh." they said in unison.
Calleigh took a moment to study their faces, "Okay, just remember that your Tia and I work in a crime lab and can test your toothbrushes to see if you have been using them at night."
"Really?" Pepe asked.
"Yep, only takes 97 seconds to test it." Calleigh said with a knowing face as the walked out the door.
The kids were quiet for a few moments before Pepe spoke again, "I think we should start brushing our teeth before we go to bed from now on."
The rest of the kids just shook their heads agreeing with him.
Calleigh walked into the master bedroom to change into her pajamas before returning downstairs to help Natalia, Anya and Christine clean and set up the toys under the tree.
An hour later, once everything was set up Anya went upstairs to go to sleep, and Calleigh and Natalia soon followed her.
Calleigh glanced down the hallway to see two of the three bedroom doors were closed and the lights were off. Taking a step into the room she could see that bed was messed up with six tiny bodies hiding under the sheets.
Natalia walked in after Calleigh and looked over to the bed and smiled. "Hmm, Calleigh, I just came from the kids room and they aren't in there. Have you seen them?"
"No, I haven't Natalia," Calleigh said with a smile.
As the two made their way further into Natalia room the split up, with Calleigh going to her left and Natalia going over to her right.
"Maybe they are hiding... In the bathroom?" Natalia said as she walked into the bathroom and looked around for a few seconds. "Nope, not in here."
"I think I know were they are, the closet." Calleigh opened the closet door and glanced around for a few seconds before she huffed. "I guess I was wrong."
Once Calleigh said that they both heard giggling coming from the bed.
"Nat, did you hear that?" Calleigh said with surprise.
"I did, it sounded like it was coming from the bed." Natalia said as both her and Calleigh slowly walked on opposites of the bed.
"Nat, I think they are hiding under the bed," Calleigh whispered.
Both women got on their knees, looking over at each other Calleigh whispered. "On the count of three."
Calleigh counting down from the three and they simultaneously lifted the sheets up and looked under the bed.
Standing back up and scratching her head Natalia said, "Their not there, were could they be?"
"We're right here!" they said in unison lifting the covers.
Calleigh up her hands on her hips, "you guys are sure good hider, I was getting scared that we might have lost you there."
"Don't be silly Tia Calleigh we would never run away from two of the coolest Tia's in the world" Fernando said.
"Well that is good to know" Calleigh said as she climbed into the California king size bed with Natalia and the kids.
Calleigh was lying on her back when Pepe and Jorge climb on her chest and had Nicolas curled up under Calleigh's arm next to Isabel. While Gabriela climbed on Natalia's chest with Fernando under her arm.
"Tia Natalia you forgot to read us the Twas' the Night before Christmas. We can't go to sleep without hearing that." Isabel said.
"I'm so sorry I forgot. Okay... Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse..."
As Natalia kept talking one by one the kids and Calleigh fell asleep. It was 1:30 in the morning when Alex and Christine finished with everything downstairs. Natalia and Calleigh left their door open; Christine was walking to her room when she looked in Natalia's room to see her, Calleigh and kids sleeping on her bed. Christine smiled and whispered to Alex to bring the camera up with him.
A few minutes later he was upstairs with the camera "Why do you want the cam..." he trailed off with a wide grin when he looked in Natalia's room.
Christine took two pictures hoping that the flash would not wake them; lucky for her the eight of them did not stir.
"Calleigh and Natalia would make great parents, don't you think?" Christine whispered.
"Yeah, they are great with kids. But if they have kids they will need a bigger bed" Alex said with a chuckle.
For Calleigh and Natalia it seemed like they had just closed their eyes, when they were shaken awake, to find the kids jumping on the bed screaming "Its Christmas!"
"Come on sleepy heads, it's Christmas, we can't open presents till everyone is awake." Alex said standing the doorway.
"You guys better go wake up Tia Anya then" Natalia said rubbing her eyes.
With that the only thing that was heard was footsteps running down the hall to wake up Anya.
Alex went downstairs to join Christine while Calleigh and Natalia just sat in bed. "Merry Christmas beautiful" Natalia said as she leaned over and gave Calleigh a nice slow passionate kiss.
Calleigh found herself leaning forward causing Natalia to lean back as she the continued to kiss. Calleigh had positioned herself between Natalia's legs, Calleigh finally pulled back to breathe and just stared into Natalia's warm chocolate eyes. "Now it's a Merry Christmas," she whispered. "We should probably get go downstairs, before we get attacked again. Plus I don't want to get cooties, I have work tomorrow" Calleigh said with grin as she rolled off Natalia.
"Who said I'm the one with cooties missy?" Natalia said in shock.
"The boys, I mean it is four to one," Calleigh said as she shrugged and walked downstairs.
Natalia was close behind when she was forced to stop when six kids rushed downstairs with wide eyes when they saw all the toys. For the next few minutes the kids argued about which toys were theirs.
"Come on guys you know traditions. We need to pick out whose going be Santa before we open gifts." Christine scolded.
"Tia Calleigh, because it's her first Christmas with us" Gabriela said.
"I think that's a good idea" Alex said handing Calleigh the Santa hat.
Calleigh took the hat and put it on giving Natalia a confused looked.
"You get to pass out presents to everyone" Natalia whispered.
"Ohhh" Calleigh said as she got and walked to the tree and began to pass out presents to everyone.
Calleigh and Natalia watched as the kids, Anya, Christine and Alex opened their presents laughing and playing with them.
Calleigh put her arm around Natalia and gave a sigh, "You know I can't help you anymore Nat."
Natalia lifted her and looked at Calleigh confused, "What are you talking about?"
"This memory, I know its one of your favorites. Our first Christmas together, the fact that your family accepts us. The kids call me Tia, this is probably the happiest you have been in a long time. Which is way when things get tough, you always seem to go back to it."
"I get that this is a memory, and yes it's my favorite one. But what I don't get is how you were helping me."
Calleigh gave a weak smile, "Think about it Nat, nothing in this memory seemed odd to you?"
Natalia just stared off into the distance trying to think.
Calleigh was now looking straight ahead when she spoke again, " First Jorge saying how many bullets he and Pepe had. Then when the kids were picking up the living room, I said it took them at 87 seconds to clean, kind of an odd number don't you think? The kids taught me the right shift 47; you and I both know that doesn't exist. Then last but not least I told the kids it will take us 97 seconds to test their toothbrushes to see if they have been brushing their teeth."
Natalia sat up straight and was know looking forward just like Calleigh. It was as if she was hit with a ton of bricks, "Add A with 18 and 6, Clear A with 87, then shift the right with 47 and then Test A with 97. That's what I was missing earlier, that is missing syntax..."
Natalia slowly opened her eyes, and looked around the room. The sun was starting to come up, and Brian was nowhere to be found.
Taking a deep breath she managed to maneuver her hands in front of her body, she had Calleigh to thank for that, all the yoga sessions that she would drag her to.
With her hands in front of her she started to remove the tape around her ankles. A few minutes later she completely removed the tape. She then moved on to trying to bite the tape off from around her wrist, after another few moments of getting nowhere she just gave up.
Standing up on her feet, she took a few moments to let herself get use to the pain from her knee. Once she could handle the pain she slowly limped her way over to the laptop.
She started typing on laptop, but this time things were going a little bit faster seeing how she had did this once before. When finally made to the part were she failed earlier, she typed the code that came to her memories.
With a smile on her face, she watched as the laptop started lag, all there was left to do now was wait. Wait for the hidden message that Dave had set up in the networks severs.
Back in the AV lab, Dave and Walter were going over different algorithms to help figure out who tried to hack into the lab earlier.
The two sat in silence, when the computer in the back started beeping again. "Man, that is like the one millionth time that thing has gone off. How do you put up with it all day?" Walter sighed.
"Usually I just mute, if it is a real threat then that computer will override the big screen to let me know. I decided to leave the sound on just incase Natalia is trying to reach out to us."
Walter looked at the timer to see they only had 20 more minutes till the clock reached zero. "Man, I don't think I have been in this much pressure since my last semester of college." he sighed as he continued to write in his notebook.
Silence took over the room once more, the two worked for a few more minutes when the big computer screen went black.
Both men looked up at the screen with blank expressions, "Please tell me that its about to go into a screen saver," Walter said.
"Sorry Walter, the big screen is not set up to go into a screen saver." Dave continued, "Do you think Brian is trying to contact us again?"
"I hope not," Walter said as he grabbed his radio.
Before Walter could say anything a message popped up on the screen 'Unauthorized user in network, waiting for confirmation.'
"Waiting for confirmation, what does that mean?"
"It's kind of like a virus, I can't locate the computer without my program. So they need to download it.
"Great, what's the message? You're trying to hack into the Miami Dade Police Department server. Will you download this program so we can find and arrest you?" Walter yelled sarcastically.
"I realize that this is a tense situation, with Natalia missing and we are running down to the last wire but your sarcasm is not needed."
"Sorry, stressfully 24 hours. So how is this person going to download your program without them knowing?"
"Well the minute they access the server a cookie gets downloaded on their computer. It searches the computer for frequently used programs, once it finds one, it will then mask itself as an update for that program. You're not going to turn down an update for a program, so when they click the update button they are not really updating their software they are downloading my program to locate them."
Walter turned to face Dave, "Does Natalia know this? I mean she could exit out of it, you know she may actually think that its a real software update and close the tab."
Dave shook his head yes, "I told her about it and I even showed her what the message looks like."
Walter just shook his head before turning back around and looking at the screen, "Come on BV, click accept." He said under is breath.