"...When a man takes the time to pick out a perfectly crafted orchid...he's saying she is perfection and, although he could be anywhere in the world, he chooses to be with her because life is better with her by his side."
Calleigh had replayed those exact words in her head numerous times since they were first uttered to her. True to form, she had dissected them and analyzed them as only a scientist could but she was unsure of what the results were. She hadn't reached any conclusions. She lifted her hand to the delicate plant which had bloomed since she got it. There were now three petite flowers, their crisp white petals opened gracefully, stretching towards the light. They stood tall on their stem in the pot that sat in her bedroom window; growing stronger and bigger with every day. Calleigh ran her fingers gently over the petals as she gazed fondly at the orchid.
Over a month had passed since her kidnapping and yet nothing had changed. Everything was still the same. She went to work, came home to an empty house, watered her orchid and carried out her mundane chores until it was time to go to work again. Ryan had said no more to her upon her return to work. In fact, the only thing that had changed was Ryan and Eric's relationship. They had always been competitive, Calleigh had always admired the healthy competition between the two but it wasn't so healthy anymore. They were being cold with one another, snappy even and Calleigh didn't like that. She didn't like being caught in the middle of one of their exchanges but it was impossible to avoid when they worked in such a tight knit team.
That day, Calleigh was dressed in her usual fitted black pants, a red satin shirt with blazer and her favourite; black, 5 inch pumps. She was just about to get into her beloved silver Chrysler Crossfire when her cell started to ring. Wolfe flashed on the screen and her heart stopped for a brief moment before she answered. "Duquesne" typical Calleigh, always portraying her ice cold, no nonsense work persona to try and protect herself.
"Hey, Cal" the nickname almost melted that ice cold persona she tried so hard to maintain and she couldn't help herself from smiling softly. "Ryan, is everything ok?" her concern was evident, it was unusual to receive a phone call this early in the morning.
"Yeah, yeah, sorry; we have a pretty bad scene, Horatio asked can you meet us there?" Ryan said matter-of-factly, Calleigh stalled for a moment, almost saddened that it wasn't a personal call. "Sure, I was just about to leave, text me the address. Thanks Ryan." and with that she hung up. Calleigh had worked on keeping her emotions in check this past month. The feelings she felt weren't good for her, for Ryan, or the team. She had buried them deep within her soul. Calleigh was happy to have Ryan in her life, in any way, shape or form, she could ignore the ache in heart. It was the right thing to do.
Within 10 minutes, Calleigh had arrived at the bustling crime scene. It was an impressively large house in an upscale section of Miami's residential areas, there was yellow crime scene tape set up around the gates, with a dozen paparazzi and news crews trying to catch any detail they could. She flashed her badge past the patrol at the gates and strode confidently up the long driveway; crime scene techs were snapping photos furiously. There must have been at least a dozen patrol cops standing around. "Who's house is this?" Calleigh pondered to herself as she flashed her badge to the patrol at the door before slipping cloth booties over her heels and gloves onto her hands as she entered the house.
The scene that Calleigh found in front of her was spine chilling. The first word that came to mind was; blood. Blood spattered what looked to be the family's living room. Calleigh observed as much as she could as she stepped cautiously through the house; her mind firmly set on the job. Blood pools trailed through the large open plan kitchen and as far as she could see down the garden and into the pool. Calleigh spotted Eric at the pool, though she couldn't see what he was looking at. Calleigh's focus was elsewhere though, she continued down the large hallway and followed the winding stairs up to the second floor of the house. Her mind was focused on the scene as a whole; the bloodied handprint smeared at the top of the stairs, droplets of blood created a trail down the hallway, a photo frame smashed and hung sideways. The blonde CSI made her way through the bedrooms; a womans body lay facedown in the master bedroom, she found a teenage boy in the threshold to another room. Crime scene techs were rushing around her; taking photos, fingerprints, dusting as many surfaces as humanly possible. Calleigh paused at the smashed photo frame in the hall again and glanced at the photo; it was a family portrait. It looked like the perfect family; mother, father, teenage son, young daughter and a beautiful golden retriever.
Staring at the photo, head tilted, Calleigh hoped silently that the father and daughter had somehow managed to escape this horror scene.
"You okay?" A soft voice filtered through Calleigh's mind but it sounded far away. Finally snapping out of her daze, Calleigh glanced to see Ryan standing beside her; he looked tired and had a forlorn expression on his face.
"Yeah...where's the father?" Calleigh piped up, returning her gaze back to the photo. "Eric's fishing him out of the pool as we speak." Ryan informed her. "And the girl?" Calleigh asked, her voice laced with hope. "What girl?" Ryan shot back, she could sense the sudden panic in his voice as she pointed to the photo.
"The family portrait, there's mother, father, son and daughter" Calleigh turned quickly to Ryan, her eyes widening. Could it be possible the girl was unharmed, still alive and hiding somewhere?
"Tell Horatio and the team!" And with that, she shot off, leaving Ryan behind her as she tore straight for the little girls room. Her mind was racing with thoughts, trying to empathise with a young girl, thinking of places she could be hiding. Calleigh wanted to tear the pink room apart but she had to preserve the evidence. Calleigh stepped over the toys that lay strewn on the floor and gently open the doors to the closet. It was packed full with pretty dresses and tops of all different colours. But there was no sign of the girl. Turning swiftly, Calleigh spotted a pillow embroidered with a name 'Melodie'.
"Melodie, my name is Calleigh, I'm with the police department, you can come out now, it's safe." Calleigh spoke softly and slowly, if the girl was here hiding, she didn't want to scare her more. Calleigh lay down on the floor beside the bed and peered into the darkness. Two large storage boxes crammed with toys took up most of the space and Calleigh almost didn't notice the wide, brown eyes peering at her from between the two boxes.
"Melodie?" Calleigh asked softly and the girl replied with a whimper. "Sweetie, it's okay, it's safe, you can come out." Calleigh tried to reassure her as she lay her head down on the floor so she was eye level with the girl. The poor thing was frozen in place, Calleigh could see her body trembling, fat tears rolled down the girls cheeks and in that moment, all Calleigh wanted to do was wrap her in her arms and protect her from the heinous scene that had taken over the rest of the house.
Calleigh lay on the floor of the bedroom for what seemed like an eternity, talking to Melodie. She was telling her a story about a brave princess when Ryan appeared in the room with Horatio in tow. Calleigh waved her arm at them to indicate they should stand down. She had this. She knew she was getting through to her, she just needed time. Calleigh continued with her story and it felt like the world had stood still. Everyone was silent, the house was eerily calm. Slowly but surely the girl started to crawl out, Calleigh backed up and sat with her legs crossed beside the bed, continuing her story about the brave princess who escaped the evil queen. Melodie dived into Calleigh's arms and cuddled into her chest, trying to make herself as small as possible in Calleigh's lap. The blonde CSI kept telling her story as she leaned her head against Melodie's and rubbed her back gently. She didn't care if she had to sit there all day, she was going to do whatever she could to help this girl. Nobody moved, Ryan, Horatio, Eric and Natalia all stood in the threshold of the door, silently watching Calleigh and Melodie.