Chapter 6: I'm Gonna Catch You

Jake looked away from the paper wondering what the heck it meant. Then it hit him! The line read: 'P.S. - Who's the child's father?'His heart rate raised and he dashed into the bedroom.

"Calleigh, Calleigh!" he flung the sheets off her and began to shake her incessantly, "Honey, wake up."

"What?" she said wearily.

"Get up, let's go," he rushed into the closet searching. She slowly sat up in the bed rubbing her eyes.

"Jake, why'd you wake me? What's the rush?" she asked softly watching him approach her again as fast as ever with the baby bag.

"C'mon, we have to leave, now," he started to help her up but she pushed him away.

"Where are you taking me?!"

"Calleigh, something bad happened and I can't really explain it now, but you gotta come with me," he spoke quickly.

"Okay," she accepted and he helped her up, "but I have to use the bathroom first..."

"No, we don't have time," he carried the bag and the blanket with him outside the room. "Run!"

"I'm trying," she struggled behind him. He unlocked the door about to leave when he saw the paper on the floor and stuffed it into his pants pocket.

They made it to the car in time and Jake sped off with her in the back seat. He was a little calmer now than he was before. Calleigh was still clueless but she kept quiet because she was indeed in pain.

"Yeah, Horatio, it's Jake," he was speaking over his cell phone, "something happened and I think Marc's after Calleigh again... I received a weird letter just a while ago and I don't really wanna talk right now... I'm going to Eric's place... okay, she's fine, bye." He hung up his phone and gazed into the rear view mirror. She was in tears and breathing heavily clenching onto her stomach.

"You okay?" She shook her head.

"I'm scared, Jake," she said in a raspy voice.

"We're almost there... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Soon they were at Eric's condo. Calleigh was dying of sleep and very much disturbed. The lines of tears remained on her face. She held Jake's palm and followed him up to the doorway.

"This one?" he whispered and she gave a nod. He knocked and in a few seconds it opened.

"What're you guys doing here? It's late." Eric asked letting them in. Jake rested the bag down on the floor and Calleigh hugged Eric burying her face in his chest.

"I'll explain soon," he mouthed the words and he nodded.

"Marc's looking for me, he wants to hurt me," she stared up into his concerned face. He turned to Jake.

He waited patiently by the bedside until she fell asleep. Then he quietly walked back out to Eric. He was leaning against his living room wall.

"How'd you know?" Eric immediately asked. He took out the letter and showed him, "he knows my name, he knows where Calleigh's place is, then he says p.s. who's the child's father - it is Marc. I told Horatio and I think he's over there now."

"Damn, she can't take the stress... when's the baby due?"

"This Thursday,"

"That's in two days. You know stress can induce labour, right?"

"Ugh, that too," he looked at his watch, "it's ten thirty, we have a hell of a night on our hands. I'm staying up, and waiting on H.."

"Me too."

A hand reached for the sliding doors in the pitch black. Two large shadowy figures appeared behind the glass. A knife broke the lock and the both of them entered stealthily. She jumped awake in fright to feel a cloth gagging her. They lifted her out of the bed and she attemped to scream and pull his strong hands away, but failed. They struggled under the weight to carry her outside as she fought frantically. Then he bumped into the chest of drawers... The two were on the floor in the living room dosing off. Jake became wide awake then hit Eric. They both ran up to the room but the door wouldn't budge! They raced to the grand entrance and saw the car squeeling away down the road. The boyfriend ran after it but stopped when it got too far. He shouted curses into the cold midnight air; Eric ran up behind him.

"Two, five, zero, that's all I got! Damn it!"

"C'mon, we need to tell H."

The night was getting far too out of hand so Horatio instructed the C.S.I.s to meet him at the lab as soon as possible. Jake and Eric were the first one's there. They found the night shift in the lab and gave Leo the partial number of the lisence plate. It was running through the computer when Horatio arrived.

"Gentlemen, we have a time frame," he reminded, "have you got anything?" Eric came beside him.

"No, all we have is three of the numbers, H., what should we do?" He thought for a moment then said, "Alright..." he paused seeing Ryan and Natalia coming in to join them, "check with patrol to see if they've reported any stolen cars, and hurry 'cause that's all we got."

"I'll do it," Natalia went outside...

All she was able to do was moan and look frantically around the car speeding down the winding road. Marc still covered her mouth and held her tightly on his lap in the back seat. Her stomach ached so much that she gave up fighting him.

"Yeah, that's right, keep still," he soothed scarily breathing on the back of her neck. "How's the baby doing?" She flinched when he touched her stomach and again when he stroked her blonde hair back.

"Why are you so afraid? I'm not hurting you." Which was true in a physical sense but mentally yes. The quickness of the car contributed to the stillness of the inside which made the mood intense. Her attention drifted towards Mike, who was driving with his head stiff as if his eyes were glued to the windshield. At that moment he peeked at the rear view mirror and they saw each other; sorrow as well as fatigue was shown in his eyes...

"Focus on the road!" Marc commanded, cocking a gun and holding it to the back of his head. Calleigh jumped at the sight of Ryan's gun in his hands as he lowered it back onto the seat beside him. She shifted then surprizingly felt the knife he stole in the waistband of his pants.

"Behave," he said flatly. She had to, even when he forced her to lay back against him and relax - her body was but her mind wasn't...

"Horatio!" Natalia joined them back in the A.V. lab, "there was a report sent out an hour ago from Kosmo Car Rental and Tours."

"Leo, is it enough for a hit?" the boss asked. He got right to typing and entering the three digits along with it.

"I sure hope so, it should," the he stared on the computer's screen. Eric sat with his head bucking for sleep and beside him was Ryan leaning back against the chair. Suddenly there was beeping sound coming from a red dot blinking on the screen, "I got it!" Everyone raced up to him. "It looks like they're heading out of town," Leo pointed that the dot moving north.

"Not on my watch," Horatio disappeared followed by his crew.

"Good job," Ryan nicked him in the back of his head as he left. Everyone got into the hummers and drove off. Natalia and Ryan were in one vehicle and Horatio, Jake and Eric were in the other and they kept in touch on their Nextel phones and on track with the navigation system.

The sky, the city, down to the road was black as pitch. It was Wednesday already and Jake was having a fit thinking about Calleigh and the baby - he had a terrible gut feeling. Horatio couldn't help but notice that everyone was quiet in both cars because the walkie talkie was on and sleeping.

"Guuuys," he stressed, "come on now, stay awake."

"H. you know me, I'm not asleep," Eric looked across from the passenger seat.

"Me niether, I'm wide awake," the boyfriend replied from the back, "What about you guys, Natalia, Ryan?"

"We're okay," Natalia faced Ryan to see that sleep was killing him, "but I think we're gonna have to stop soon and switch seats." She smiled gently rubbing his shoulder.

Countless minutes passed and she had already took Ryan's place. And Jake couldn't handle his thoughts any more:

"What does this guy want with her! What makes her so different from the others? I mean, give her a break." He was almost sobbing and everyone heard. He buried his face in his hands.

"Then it all makes sense," Natalia added leaving them suspicious, "she's the only one that got pregnant..."

"No, no, no..." Jake began to disagree against his blight belief.

"I'm sorry, Jake, but if it's what I think, he's not after her..."

"He's after the baby," Horatio finished the sentence sadly. BEEP BEEP BEEP!

"What's that?" Eric asked.

"The signal just went, how are we gonna find 'em now?" Jake started to fret.

"Don't worry, I remember where it stopped."

"Where it stopped, H.! You mean they aren't moving!"

"Either that, or they turned the GPS off."