Love's Burden

by shannyfish

Sequel to Two Lives. When Horatio finally feels safe and comfortable with his family, an old burden is thrust back to him shaking the world he had so carefully kept whole.

3. In Need of Family

Title: Love's Burden

Author: innocent choir girl (ff-dot-net), shannyfish (From Out of the Lab/Miami Heat/LJ)

Summary: Sequel to "Two Lives". When Horatio finally feels safe and comfortable with his family, an old burden is thrust back to him shaking the world he had so carefully kept whole.

Category: Ship Ahoy! Calleigh/Horatio

Genres: Angst, Drama, Established Relationship, Romance

Characters: Calleigh Duquesne, Madison Keaton (Other), Emma Caine (Other), Sheryl (Other)

Warnings: none

Rating: PG

Chapter: 3 "In Need of Family"

Author's Notes: Must vent quickly about what has been keeping me from properly writing my lovely stories… First of all, going to school and working full time sucks…and stupid people suck too…especially when you have to deal with them on a daily basis. Also, allergies and sleep deprivation kill my creativity… The Santa Ana winds needa stop. Anyways, I have finished one of the first chapters to one of the next stories… I also made a music vid and after like an hour of figuring out youtube, posted it there. It was entertaining, I don't think good, but I found making it entertaining LOL And writing for Madison is hard I shall tell you this now, since it's been like forever since she's been on the show and it's hard to get a good feel for her.

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"Are you my aunt?" Madison asked as she sat in the passenger's seat of Calleigh's car. Her uncle had said that he'd see her later, that he had paperwork that he had to finish up. She was curious though, she hadn't been told who exactly Calleigh was, but that she seemed to work with the police, too.

Calleigh had prepared herself for the endless list of questions, and so just kept her eyes on the road. She was sure that Madison had seen them kissing, and kissing certainly led to questions…from children especially. "Not exactly," Calleigh responded trying to think of how to best explain the situation to the child.

"Where are we going?"

She supposed changing subjects was fine was her, it gave her more time to come up with better responses to questions related to her relationship with Horatio. "To the house…" Then Calleigh thought of something that she was sure should be warned about beforehand rather than when they got there. She didn't want the poor girl to be even more confused. "Madison—"

Madison noticed the picture enclosed in plastic on Calleigh's keychain and started to wonder, "Who is that?"

Calleigh let out the breath she had been holding, "That's Emma… She's two." She smiled thinking about her wonderful baby girl, "She's your cousin… We're going to go see her right now. I'm sure Emma and Sheryl will be excited to meet you."

"Is Sheryl your daughter, too?" Madison asked wondering if this Sheryl was maybe her age. She had always wanted a sister, someone to play with and tell secrets to. She had never had a family…not one where she felt safe in.

Laughing, Calleigh shook her head, "No Darlin', Sheryl is our nanny… She takes care of Emma while Horatio and I are at work." Calleigh saw that the house was insight, and figured she'd try to ease confusion that would definitely come from meeting Sheryl. "She calls me Mrs. Caine," Calleigh told the girl. "Even though I'm not married to your uncle."

Madison smiled, "Are you going to get married? Then you'd be my aunt."

Calleigh pulled the car into the driveway and then turned it off. She turned her attention to the girl in the passenger's seat. She allowed herself to smile, and Calleigh wondered if others wondered the same thing. She figured no one at work really touched the subject of their relationship…at least not in front of them. "Yeah…I think we will…" she finally said quietly.

"Can I come?"

"Come where, Darlin'?" Calleigh asked confused as she opened her door to get out.

"To the wedding," Madison responded quietly.

Smiling brightly, Calleigh nodded, "Sure you can. I bet you could even be in the wedding," she told Madison before finally getting out. She knew that Horatio would want family involved…and she was sure that Madison was currently his most accessible family member. "C'mon…we'll go find something to eat," she said crouching down so she could easily talk directly to Madison and then watched as the girl opened her door on the other side. She waited for Madison as the girl closed the door and met her finally on the other side of the car. They walked up towards the front door together and Calleigh held the keys at her side as they did.

They must have been heard; Calleigh thought when she saw Sheryl peeking out the window and then hurry to the door having it open by the time they got there. "Mrs. Caine! You're home early!" Sheryl said happily with Emma on her hip. Sheryl spotted the young girl, and smiled brightly, "And who are you?"

"Madison," she said quietly and clung closely to Calleigh as she eyed the woman oddly.

"This is Horatio's niece, Madison. She's going to be staying with us for a bit," Calleigh told Sheryl and then looked down at Madison, "Don't worry…you get used to Sheryl…she's just had soda."

"Only one can of Mountain Dew so far," Sheryl announced as she moved back to let Calleigh and Madison inside.

"I'm so proud," Calleigh said before taking Emma into her arms and kissing her baby girl. "Did ya miss Mama?" she asked as she walked towards the kitchen, where she dropped her keys down on the counter. She turned Emma so that she could see Madison, "Say hi to your cousin," Calleigh told her daughter.

"Does she walk?" Madison asked looking over her cousin.

"Of course she walks, she's two," Calleigh said with a smile.

"She runs, too!" Sheryl piped up. "It is almost time for our favorite show! Little Einsteins! That's right!"

Calleigh looked at Sheryl oddly, "Isn't it a bit late for Little Einsteins to be on? Isn't it more of the cartoon time on television for the small children?"

"What? TV? Nah… We watch it on my laptop. I've got the episodes downloaded for our viewing pleasure." Sheryl smiled and looked down at Madison, "It's actually some pretty good stuff… Educational, even."

"Alright, enjoy…" Calleigh said handing Emma back over the Sheryl after giving her a quick kiss. "I'm gonna show Madison where she's going to stay and then I think we're going to go out and get some things."

"Shopping! We should totally all go! Emma could really use some new clothes. The little turtle is so growing out of her old things." Sheryl bounced Emma around, "Aren't we, Ems? We should find you some turtle clothes! Yes! Can we?"

Calleigh shook her head, she still didn't get why Emma was a turtle… The turtles on Finding Nemo as far as she knew where male… "Ya do know that there's no Finding Nemo store at the mall…"

"The Disney Store," Sheryl reminded. "Just give us a call and we'll get our shoes and hats."

Calleigh watched as Sheryl went over to the couch where her laptop was with Emma. She looked down at Madison, "Looks like we're all going… I suppose that could be fun," she said quietly. "C'mon," she told her and they headed down the hall to her bedroom. Calleigh's original bedroom was quite blank and she figured for now that was good.

"I get to have this room?" Madison asked walking into it. It had a lot bigger of a bed than what she was used to. And it had a nice window with pretty yellow curtains.

"Yep, it's all yours… We can get some stuff at the mall to dress it up if ya like," Calleigh offered wanting to make it more comfortable and kid friendly.

"How long am I going to be staying here?" Madison asked not sure if they needed to go to all that trouble. "I brought some stuff in my backpack…"

Calleigh smiled, "I know you did…but that's only a couple pairs of clothes. As for how long, I'm not sure… Horatio said he's going to try and find your mom."

"Do I have to go back with her?"

The look in Madison's eyes made Calleigh's stomach knot. There was fear and panic there and Calleigh wondered if Madison had to go through a chaotic mess as she had before… "Honey, we're not going to send you back there if it's not safe… You wanna talk about it?"

"I like Uncle Horatio better…he took care of us before mom made us move around and she started to drink and do drugs…" Madison said.

Calleigh kneeled down in front of the girl, "Has she hurt you at all?" she asked wanting to know if there was more that she and Horatio should know. She certainly wouldn't let Horatio place Madison back in the care of her mother if the woman was violent.

Madison shook her head, "No…only one time she pulled my arm hard when I didn't want to go." She frowned, "Can we eat something?"

"Sure…" Calleigh told her with a smile and straightened up. "What would you like?"

"Not cereal… That's all my mom has let me have everyday at night for a long time."

"Only cereal?"

Madison nodded, "Cereal was a dollar at the one store…but we have to have it with water…"

Calleigh sighed, "No cereal then. How about I make you a turkey sandwich and we'll get you a glass of milk and then if you're hungry when we're at the mall we're get something there, alright?"

Madison nodded again and laid her backpack on her new bed. She turned around to see that Calleigh was leaving the room, "Calleigh?"

"Yes, Darlin'?" Calleigh responded turning around at the doorway.

"If Uncle Horatio can't find my mom or it's not safe. Can I stay here?" Madison asked quietly.

Calleigh smiled, "Of course… You're family, Darlin'."

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TBC…