"Two Lives" - Chapter 10
Chapter: 10 ~ “Strength”
Author’s Notes: thanks to Riley and Opal for betaing!!!!!!!!!! I think the last chapter will be 13 or 14…since I’m working on 13 and it’s starting to wind down! But I do have another Miami story started based off of “Officer Down”, that was never taped.
*~*~*
Calleigh felt bad that all of her friends had to wait outside, but she knew that it had made her feel more comfortable. There was too much change. Change that Calleigh had never thought would come. Being reunited with her friends and her father was more like a dream than anything in her mind, but this dream had come true, and she wasn’t entirely ready for it all.
“It’ll be okay,” Horatio told her as they headed for the door. He held out his arms for the baby, “Why not let me hold her? You’re going to be hugged to death here in a minute.” He knew that Calleigh probably, for the last year, her main responsibility had been to care for the baby, but he wanted her to start to remember that she could trust him and lean on him. He saw the hesitation on her face before she looked down and finally handed Emma over to him.
“She’s sleeping,” Calleigh informed him as nervousness set in again. Emma had been like a shield at the airport, let alone comforting…but she did want to see her friends.
He gave her a smile, set Emma so that her head was on his shoulder, and rubbed her back lightly. “She’ll be fine…” He let Calleigh take a minute before he looked back over at her, “Ready?”
Looking over at him nervously, she responded quietly, “No?”
“It’s just our friends, Sweetheart. Alexx, Eric, and Frank you’ve known practically the whole time you’ve been in Miami… And Natalia and Ryan are your friends, too. Not to mention that your father is outside. He’s probably pacing.” He walked closer and kissed her forehead, “If you feel too crowded we’re not going to be mad at you for saying so…”
Nodding, Calleigh forced a smile to her lips. She felt silly feeling so nervous about seeing people who she was so close to before… Maybe it was the isolation that she endured…she wasn’t quite sure. She knew that sometimes abuse victims had problems being around people, and maybe she just needed to give herself a chance… Calleigh took a deep breath and exhaled it, “I think I’m ready now.” She reached forward and turned the knob and pulled the door open. She was almost immediately assaulted by Eric’s arms wrapping around her. It wasn’t too much though, and she found it feeling much more of a comfort than she had imagined. She closed her eyes and felt tears wet her cheeks.
“We’ve missed you so much, Calleigh,” he told her softly into her ear. When he heard her sniffle, he squeezed her tighter for a second before kissing the side of her head and releasing her.
When he left her and joined Horatio further into the house, she felt strength and her nerves had calmed. Alexx walked in next, and Calleigh gave her a genuine smile, and hugged her and knew then that things would be okay. She wasn’t sure if she’d get her life back, but she was okay with getting at least part of it back.
“It’s good to have you back, Honey,” Alexx told her.
It took a good five minutes to greet everyone and for them all to get inside the house. When Calleigh turned around after shutting the door, she didn’t see Horatio or Emma…and her heart started to race. She tried to stay calm as she looked over at Alexx, “Where did Horatio go with Emma?”
“He and Eric went into the next room I think, but they should be right back,” Alexx tried to assure her hearing the slight panic in her friend’s voice. She walked over to Calleigh and guided her to the couch figuring maybe she could keep her calm. She could only imagine the separation anxiety she would feel after the things that had been done to her.
*~*~*
“We need to talk, Eric,” Horatio said knowing he should have had the talk long before now. But even when he was in Nevada, it didn’t seem real that he’d be finding Calleigh and bringing her home, let alone the fact that her daughter was his also. At the time he and Calleigh had started their relationship, Calleigh had been afraid that Eric would feel offended because Marisol had only been gone a year… But now, three years had passed, and Horatio knew that they couldn’t keep it a secret anymore.
“Is this about Calleigh?” Eric asked crossing his arms over his chest. He was worried about her, especially after what had happened…and he figured that between him, Horatio, Alexx, and Frank that she’d be protected. Out of them all, they had known Calleigh the longest.
Horatio wasn’t sure if Eric had ever even suspected or thought that he and Calleigh would get together, so he decided to go about it slowly. “Yes.” He rubbed Emma’s back as she unconsciously moved around to get more comfortable. “Eric, there’s something that we should have told you some time ago?”
That caught his attention; Horatio was one of the people he expected to be honest with him. “What are you talking about H?”
He felt the need to look down while, he was explaining, but with a child he was forced to look at Eric dead on. “You remember when Calleigh’s place was broken into, she stayed here.”
Eric nodded remembering it well. It was the first time he had seen her completely broken down. He remembered being surprised by the fact that she had felt so scared by that, but she hadn’t reacted that way when Hagen had held a gun to her head or when Hagen had shot himself in her lab in front of her. But then he wasn’t one who was about to figure out women and their secrets. “I replaced her locks.”
“After that, Calleigh and I got close… No one knew. We didn’t want to upset you…Marisol had only been gone for a year.”
Looking down and letting his arms fall to his sides, he let out breath he had been holding. He wasn’t sure how he would have reacted if he had found out about their relationship then, but he really didn’t care about anything except having Calleigh back. Eric nodded a bit as he took it all in. “Mari would have wanted you to have a life,” he said. “She would want you to be happy…”
“She would want us both to be happy…”
A smile slipped to the surface and he rubbed his forehead, “Yeah… She would be mad at us if we ignored our feelings.”
Horatio smiled thinking about Marisol. It was a subject that they didn’t discuss much. Though it was a happy time, it was followed by darker times. After another minute of silence between them, he felt a bit better about things and decided to throw in the next bit of news. “But there’s another thing you should know.”
“What more could there be, H?” he asked not knowing what else could be thrown at him. “I mean, Calleigh’s okay…we have her back.”
“Emma…is my daughter,” he said moving Emma from his shoulder to be cradled in his arms.
“You…and Calleigh?” Eric asked, making sure he had gotten what Horatio was saying. When he received a nod, he shook his head for a minute, “Wow.”
“Calleigh didn’t even know…” Horatio told him not sure if that would help things or not.
“That bastard really hurt her, didn’t he?” He hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, and Eric had a feeling if he had been there that he would have killed the guy with his bare hands.
Nodding, Horatio frowned remembering the journal and how he had found Calleigh, “She told me that he had killed Calleigh… I think she wasn’t sure who she should be…”
“God, he really messed her up,” Eric huffed putting his hands on his hips. “I swear if I was there I would have killed him myself.”
Horatio nodded, “I know how you feel, Eric, but when I found her my only thought was to get her out of there and get her to the ambulance... Plus, I think the Las Vegas Police Department would have stopped me at least before I killed the guy…” He knew how Eric felt and wished that they both could have a private moment with Miller Lewis.
Eric stood there for a minute fuming and then looked over at Horatio and the sleeping toddler. “She’s sorta like my niece…almost,” Eric said randomly. He knew she wasn’t really, she wasn’t Marisol’s…but Calleigh was pretty close to being a sister to him. It made him feel a bit more connected to them thinking that.
Smiling, Horatio nodded, “We’re all family here, Eric. We’ve been together for some time, haven’t we?” His team had been the closest thing to family, and the one thing keeping him sane for the last two years.
“Yeah…” Eric smiled thinking about the times when he, Speedle, and Calleigh worked closely on cases all the times and Horatio would oversee things. He missed those times. He missed Speed and how happy Calleigh had seemed then. He and Speed had made comments about her being way too cheerful, but she had been happy…
Emma’s squirming in his arms brought Horatio’s attention away from Eric and down to his daughter. Her face was contorting as she squirmed around and then her blue eyes slowly appeared from behind her eyelids. He watched as her eyes looked at him a bit confused and then tried to sit up. “It’s alright,” he tried to soothe as he changed her position so that she was propped up. Emma was still looking around, and Horatio felt left out of her life because she really didn’t look like she recognized him.
“Mama?”
Her little voice surprised Horatio, it was the first time he had heard her utter anything. “She’s close by,” he tried to assure the toddler. When her face started to turn all red and a frown appeared, he was worried… He hadn’t felt so worried about a child before, but perhaps that was because they had never been his own.
“Let me take her for a minute, H,” Eric said holding out his arms. “I’m pretty good with kids.”
Horatio relinquished Emma to Eric hoping that his friend was right. He didn’t want to return to Calleigh was Emma all upset. He didn’t want to look incapable of taking care of her; it was just that Emma didn’t recognize him as her father and that made things difficult… It would take time, he just kept telling himself.
Eric smiled and held the toddler close and bounced her a bit. “It’s alright, Honey. We’re going to go see your mommy right now…” He watched as the little girl sniffled, but didn’t start crying. Instead, she laid her head on his shoulder and pushed her thumb into her mouth.
“Ah, she likes Uncle Eric.”
Smiling, he swayed a bit trying to keep the toddler soothed. “Maybe we should get back…”
“Calleigh’s probably starting to worry,” Horatio agreed.
“She’s really jumpy about things, isn’t she?” Eric asked not having seen much of her in the last hour. Horatio and Alexx had seen her for days, even if she had been in a coma for most of the time.
Nodding, Horatio responded, “She’s used to being abused and treated horribly… They found all kinds of old bruising when they used took ultraviolet photographs to document things. We just have to remind her that life doesn’t have to be like that anymore.” He led the way back to the living room with Eric and Emma just a few steps behind him with.
Calleigh looked up when she saw Horatio enter, but her heart stopped when Emma wasn’t in his arms. Getting to her feet, she started towards him worried, “Where’s Emma? Alexx said you had her when you went into the other room.”
Smiling, Horatio pulled her closely and turned her towards Eric. “She’s okay. She just didn’t like me anymore.” Kissing the side of her head, he squeezed her a bit. “It’s alright, Honey.”
“She really wanted her mama though,” Eric told her handing the toddler over to Calleigh. “She woke up and was all worried because she couldn’t find you.”
Calleigh held Emma close, rubbing her back and swaying a bit. “It’s alright, Darlin’,” she said quietly to her daughter. She felt Horatio’s hand on her back guiding her back to the couch and when she sat down with everyone she realized that she was probably being a bit too worried about things.
“How about some coffee?” Horatio offered openly.
Calleigh smiled as she looked around at her friends as they accepted Horatio’s offer. Alexx and Natalia had been all in for helping her shop for herself and Emma. No one felt pressuring and no one was pushing her for anything. It was nice to be home…with her family and friends.
*~*~*
TBC
Author’s Notes: thanks to Riley and Opal for betaing!!!!!!!!!! I think the last chapter will be 13 or 14…since I’m working on 13 and it’s starting to wind down! But I do have another Miami story started based off of “Officer Down”, that was never taped.
*~*~*
Calleigh felt bad that all of her friends had to wait outside, but she knew that it had made her feel more comfortable. There was too much change. Change that Calleigh had never thought would come. Being reunited with her friends and her father was more like a dream than anything in her mind, but this dream had come true, and she wasn’t entirely ready for it all.
“It’ll be okay,” Horatio told her as they headed for the door. He held out his arms for the baby, “Why not let me hold her? You’re going to be hugged to death here in a minute.” He knew that Calleigh probably, for the last year, her main responsibility had been to care for the baby, but he wanted her to start to remember that she could trust him and lean on him. He saw the hesitation on her face before she looked down and finally handed Emma over to him.
“She’s sleeping,” Calleigh informed him as nervousness set in again. Emma had been like a shield at the airport, let alone comforting…but she did want to see her friends.
He gave her a smile, set Emma so that her head was on his shoulder, and rubbed her back lightly. “She’ll be fine…” He let Calleigh take a minute before he looked back over at her, “Ready?”
Looking over at him nervously, she responded quietly, “No?”
“It’s just our friends, Sweetheart. Alexx, Eric, and Frank you’ve known practically the whole time you’ve been in Miami… And Natalia and Ryan are your friends, too. Not to mention that your father is outside. He’s probably pacing.” He walked closer and kissed her forehead, “If you feel too crowded we’re not going to be mad at you for saying so…”
Nodding, Calleigh forced a smile to her lips. She felt silly feeling so nervous about seeing people who she was so close to before… Maybe it was the isolation that she endured…she wasn’t quite sure. She knew that sometimes abuse victims had problems being around people, and maybe she just needed to give herself a chance… Calleigh took a deep breath and exhaled it, “I think I’m ready now.” She reached forward and turned the knob and pulled the door open. She was almost immediately assaulted by Eric’s arms wrapping around her. It wasn’t too much though, and she found it feeling much more of a comfort than she had imagined. She closed her eyes and felt tears wet her cheeks.
“We’ve missed you so much, Calleigh,” he told her softly into her ear. When he heard her sniffle, he squeezed her tighter for a second before kissing the side of her head and releasing her.
When he left her and joined Horatio further into the house, she felt strength and her nerves had calmed. Alexx walked in next, and Calleigh gave her a genuine smile, and hugged her and knew then that things would be okay. She wasn’t sure if she’d get her life back, but she was okay with getting at least part of it back.
“It’s good to have you back, Honey,” Alexx told her.
It took a good five minutes to greet everyone and for them all to get inside the house. When Calleigh turned around after shutting the door, she didn’t see Horatio or Emma…and her heart started to race. She tried to stay calm as she looked over at Alexx, “Where did Horatio go with Emma?”
“He and Eric went into the next room I think, but they should be right back,” Alexx tried to assure her hearing the slight panic in her friend’s voice. She walked over to Calleigh and guided her to the couch figuring maybe she could keep her calm. She could only imagine the separation anxiety she would feel after the things that had been done to her.
*~*~*
“We need to talk, Eric,” Horatio said knowing he should have had the talk long before now. But even when he was in Nevada, it didn’t seem real that he’d be finding Calleigh and bringing her home, let alone the fact that her daughter was his also. At the time he and Calleigh had started their relationship, Calleigh had been afraid that Eric would feel offended because Marisol had only been gone a year… But now, three years had passed, and Horatio knew that they couldn’t keep it a secret anymore.
“Is this about Calleigh?” Eric asked crossing his arms over his chest. He was worried about her, especially after what had happened…and he figured that between him, Horatio, Alexx, and Frank that she’d be protected. Out of them all, they had known Calleigh the longest.
Horatio wasn’t sure if Eric had ever even suspected or thought that he and Calleigh would get together, so he decided to go about it slowly. “Yes.” He rubbed Emma’s back as she unconsciously moved around to get more comfortable. “Eric, there’s something that we should have told you some time ago?”
That caught his attention; Horatio was one of the people he expected to be honest with him. “What are you talking about H?”
He felt the need to look down while, he was explaining, but with a child he was forced to look at Eric dead on. “You remember when Calleigh’s place was broken into, she stayed here.”
Eric nodded remembering it well. It was the first time he had seen her completely broken down. He remembered being surprised by the fact that she had felt so scared by that, but she hadn’t reacted that way when Hagen had held a gun to her head or when Hagen had shot himself in her lab in front of her. But then he wasn’t one who was about to figure out women and their secrets. “I replaced her locks.”
“After that, Calleigh and I got close… No one knew. We didn’t want to upset you…Marisol had only been gone for a year.”
Looking down and letting his arms fall to his sides, he let out breath he had been holding. He wasn’t sure how he would have reacted if he had found out about their relationship then, but he really didn’t care about anything except having Calleigh back. Eric nodded a bit as he took it all in. “Mari would have wanted you to have a life,” he said. “She would want you to be happy…”
“She would want us both to be happy…”
A smile slipped to the surface and he rubbed his forehead, “Yeah… She would be mad at us if we ignored our feelings.”
Horatio smiled thinking about Marisol. It was a subject that they didn’t discuss much. Though it was a happy time, it was followed by darker times. After another minute of silence between them, he felt a bit better about things and decided to throw in the next bit of news. “But there’s another thing you should know.”
“What more could there be, H?” he asked not knowing what else could be thrown at him. “I mean, Calleigh’s okay…we have her back.”
“Emma…is my daughter,” he said moving Emma from his shoulder to be cradled in his arms.
“You…and Calleigh?” Eric asked, making sure he had gotten what Horatio was saying. When he received a nod, he shook his head for a minute, “Wow.”
“Calleigh didn’t even know…” Horatio told him not sure if that would help things or not.
“That bastard really hurt her, didn’t he?” He hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, and Eric had a feeling if he had been there that he would have killed the guy with his bare hands.
Nodding, Horatio frowned remembering the journal and how he had found Calleigh, “She told me that he had killed Calleigh… I think she wasn’t sure who she should be…”
“God, he really messed her up,” Eric huffed putting his hands on his hips. “I swear if I was there I would have killed him myself.”
Horatio nodded, “I know how you feel, Eric, but when I found her my only thought was to get her out of there and get her to the ambulance... Plus, I think the Las Vegas Police Department would have stopped me at least before I killed the guy…” He knew how Eric felt and wished that they both could have a private moment with Miller Lewis.
Eric stood there for a minute fuming and then looked over at Horatio and the sleeping toddler. “She’s sorta like my niece…almost,” Eric said randomly. He knew she wasn’t really, she wasn’t Marisol’s…but Calleigh was pretty close to being a sister to him. It made him feel a bit more connected to them thinking that.
Smiling, Horatio nodded, “We’re all family here, Eric. We’ve been together for some time, haven’t we?” His team had been the closest thing to family, and the one thing keeping him sane for the last two years.
“Yeah…” Eric smiled thinking about the times when he, Speedle, and Calleigh worked closely on cases all the times and Horatio would oversee things. He missed those times. He missed Speed and how happy Calleigh had seemed then. He and Speed had made comments about her being way too cheerful, but she had been happy…
Emma’s squirming in his arms brought Horatio’s attention away from Eric and down to his daughter. Her face was contorting as she squirmed around and then her blue eyes slowly appeared from behind her eyelids. He watched as her eyes looked at him a bit confused and then tried to sit up. “It’s alright,” he tried to soothe as he changed her position so that she was propped up. Emma was still looking around, and Horatio felt left out of her life because she really didn’t look like she recognized him.
“Mama?”
Her little voice surprised Horatio, it was the first time he had heard her utter anything. “She’s close by,” he tried to assure the toddler. When her face started to turn all red and a frown appeared, he was worried… He hadn’t felt so worried about a child before, but perhaps that was because they had never been his own.
“Let me take her for a minute, H,” Eric said holding out his arms. “I’m pretty good with kids.”
Horatio relinquished Emma to Eric hoping that his friend was right. He didn’t want to return to Calleigh was Emma all upset. He didn’t want to look incapable of taking care of her; it was just that Emma didn’t recognize him as her father and that made things difficult… It would take time, he just kept telling himself.
Eric smiled and held the toddler close and bounced her a bit. “It’s alright, Honey. We’re going to go see your mommy right now…” He watched as the little girl sniffled, but didn’t start crying. Instead, she laid her head on his shoulder and pushed her thumb into her mouth.
“Ah, she likes Uncle Eric.”
Smiling, he swayed a bit trying to keep the toddler soothed. “Maybe we should get back…”
“Calleigh’s probably starting to worry,” Horatio agreed.
“She’s really jumpy about things, isn’t she?” Eric asked not having seen much of her in the last hour. Horatio and Alexx had seen her for days, even if she had been in a coma for most of the time.
Nodding, Horatio responded, “She’s used to being abused and treated horribly… They found all kinds of old bruising when they used took ultraviolet photographs to document things. We just have to remind her that life doesn’t have to be like that anymore.” He led the way back to the living room with Eric and Emma just a few steps behind him with.
Calleigh looked up when she saw Horatio enter, but her heart stopped when Emma wasn’t in his arms. Getting to her feet, she started towards him worried, “Where’s Emma? Alexx said you had her when you went into the other room.”
Smiling, Horatio pulled her closely and turned her towards Eric. “She’s okay. She just didn’t like me anymore.” Kissing the side of her head, he squeezed her a bit. “It’s alright, Honey.”
“She really wanted her mama though,” Eric told her handing the toddler over to Calleigh. “She woke up and was all worried because she couldn’t find you.”
Calleigh held Emma close, rubbing her back and swaying a bit. “It’s alright, Darlin’,” she said quietly to her daughter. She felt Horatio’s hand on her back guiding her back to the couch and when she sat down with everyone she realized that she was probably being a bit too worried about things.
“How about some coffee?” Horatio offered openly.
Calleigh smiled as she looked around at her friends as they accepted Horatio’s offer. Alexx and Natalia had been all in for helping her shop for herself and Emma. No one felt pressuring and no one was pushing her for anything. It was nice to be home…with her family and friends.
*~*~*
TBC