Fic: Long Distance Calls - Part 1: Kansas City -Kansas
Title: Long Distance Calls - Part I: Kansas City - Kansas
Author: Steppenwolf_20
Fandom: CSI:Miami/Criminal Minds
Pairing: Calleigh Duquesne/Jennifer Jareau friendship with mentioning of JJ/Emily and Cal/Nat
Disclaimer: None of the beautiful ladies are mine. No infringement intended.
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 1631
Warnings: none, if you watch the shows, you can handle it
Setting: This is set after CSI:M 6.20 Down to the Wire and CM 2.22 Legacy
Spoiler: see setting
A/N: This is a follow up to “The Barbie Murders” (see link below), it’s one of a series of short interludes that lead up to the next “real” sequel
Archive: Women_in_kevlar,
Thanks: to my wonderful and extremely patient beta!smurf yellowsmurf6
The Barbie Murders
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Miami
Calleigh Duquesne entered her apartment and kicked off her shoes. Finally home. She went to the kitchen where she dropped the mail, her keys, and bag on the counter. She shrugged out of her jacket and hung it over the back of a stool. Looking at the clock on the microwave, she saw that it was past 9 p.m. already. Wrapping up the case had taken longer than expected, particularly considering that she was pulled off the case by Stetler. Her talk with Eric must have been longer than she realized.
She opened the fridge. There wasn’t much in it besides some milk, eggs, and a lonely bottle of beer. She really should have stopped at the store. Well, she would have to go shopping the next day. She grabbed the beer and sat down at the counter, a sigh escaping her. She took a sip of the beer and started looking through the mail. Half of it was junk and the other half were bills. She left all of the envelopes on the counter, grabbed her beer, and went to the living room. Her answering machine was blinking, so she plopped down on her couch and pressed play.
<< You have two new messages. Message one, Wednesday, seven forty-two p.m.>>
“Hey, Cal. It’s me, Natalia. I just wanted to see how you’re doing. I didn’t get a chance to talk to you after Stetler pulled you off the case. Are you okay? Call me if you wanna talk. See ya tomorrow.”
<>
“Hello, Calleigh, this is JJ. I got to go home early today. Call me when you get this. Love you.”
<>
Calleigh’s mood improved instantly. She hadn’t really had a chance to talk to JJ since their joint case. They had both been extremely busy with work. She sent Natalia a short text, letting her know that she was home, doing okay, and that she couldn’t call her because she had the chance to talk to JJ.
Natalia answered almost instantly that it was fine, and that Calleigh should pass her love to JJ and Emily.
The detective made herself more comfortable on the couch and dialed JJ’s cell. There was barely a ring before the younger agent answered.
“Agent Jareau,” JJ answered in her professional voice.
“Oh, I like it when you talk dirty to me,” Calleigh joked. “Say that again.” It was so good to hear her friend’s voice again.
“Calleigh!” JJ’s voice was nearly a squeal. “How are you, sweetie?” JJ sounded equally excited.
“Actually, better since I heard your voice on my machine.”
“What’s wrong?” JJ’s worry seeped through in her words.
Calleigh smiled to herself. It was really amazing how well JJ could pick up on her moods after only those few days they had spent together.
“Ah. It’s nothing to worry about. Just Stetler, the IAB guy, being a jerk as usual.” Calleigh couldn’t completely keep the annoyance out of her voice.
“Yes. I remember him from the case files. What did he do now?”
“He pulled me off of a case. The perp nearly walked because we couldn’t use the murder weapon as evidence.”
“But you got him in the end.” It wasn’t really a question.
“Yes. Horatio and Natalia pulled through after Eric and I were suspended from the case.”
Calleigh’s pride for her co workers was undeniable.
“You were both pulled? Why?” JJ sounded really surprised and curious.
“It’s a little complicated. A while back, there was an internet site ‘Solve A Crime With Calleigh’. Among other things, there was a picture where I was holding a list showing how to process a crime scene. It wasn’t mine, I had only picked it up. Well, this PI who worked for our main suspect used that as leverage to claim I didn’t know how to do my job. So, Stetler pulled me. And this PI had somehow managed to get his dirty little mittens on some confidential files from Eric’s therapy sessions where he said that he’s got problems remembering things. No jury would have taken our evidence seriously.”
“Oh, nasty. I bet you were pretty pissed. How could someone doubt in your abilities after all these years?”
“Yeah, I was furious. Thank God Natalia and Horatio found additional evidence and nailed the guy. Both guys, actually. But, how about you? Where’ve you been?” Calleigh was tired of talking about Stetler and the case. She wanted to know how JJ was doing, and how things were with Emily.
“We returned from Kansas City, Kansas yesterday. We wrapped the case up today, and got to go home early. Well, early for our usual hours, anyway.”
“You sound tired. Tough case?” Now it was Calleigh’s turn to sound worried.
“Yeah... It was a “House Cleaner.” That’s the term we use for those unsubs. We don’t know the final body count yet, but we started with 63.”
“Sixty-three?! Oh, my God. Wanna talk about it? Get it off your chest?” Calleigh wasn’t sure she wanted to know anything about that case, but she wanted to help JJ any way she could.
“There isn’t really much to tell. I wasn’t along for the worst part. I know only what Emily told me on the plane when we were flying back. It was a slaughterhouse. Literally. There were body parts and blood everywhere. It was like Saw; like a never-ending labyrinth for rats, complete with traps and dead ends. Pretty ugly. The hardest part was to get the chief to cooperate. He was glad that his crime rate was down. It was all junkies, whores, and vagrants, so there were no missing persons files. Thankfully, the case crossed the state line to Kansans City, Missouri. That way we could simply claim jurisdiction. In the end, he was thankful. It’s always bad if you have to go over someone’s head. I’m just glad we got this sadistic bastard. I don’t know what I would’ve done if we had been stonewalled on this.”
“Yeah, I get it. I’m glad you caught him, too.”
There was a moment of silence before Calleigh continued. “So...besides work? How’s life treating you?”
“Oh, you know. Same ol’, same ol’. I still have nightmares most nights. Makes it kinda hard to sleep alone.”
“I hear ya. Horatio made me see a shrink. It’s not a bad thing, I guess. The talking…helps. Talking to you helps more, though. Because, when I hear your voice, I know you’re alive.”
“Same here. Hotch insisted. He threatened to have me banned to my desk if I didn’t go.”
Again there was a moment where neither of them spoke. It was JJ who finally broke the silence.
“I wish you were here,” she whispered. “It’s so easy to talk to you because you were there. I don’t have to explain…” She left the sentence hanging.
“I know,” she said and then paused. “Have you...talked to Emily?”
“No. Not really. We’re friends like before. We talk shop and such, but we seem to dance around the important things. I didn’t tell her any details, claiming fuzziness, although most of it came back. But it’s hard to talk about it without telling...well...everything.”
Calleigh understood perfectly what JJ meant. It was very similar to her and Natalia.
“And what about your feelings for her. Does she know?”
“No. I’m still pretty freaked about it. I really don’t know what I feel. I always wanted kids.” That fact seemed to explain everything.
“Take your time, honey. Just don’t do anything rash. Follow your heart.”
“I promise not to do anything stupid, okay? So what about Talia? Did you guys talk?” JJ needed to change the subject. She wasn’t ready to think about her sexuality.
“Yeah, we talked a little. I apologized for not trusting her with the case, but she understood that it wasn’t really my choice. We agreed on being friends for now. I told her that I needed some time to process everything. She was happy that I didn’t kill her I guess. So...yeah. That’s where we are right now. And then there’s Eric. He’s my friend, but he can be so clueless sometimes. He always asks me out. I always tell him that we’re friends and that we will never be anything but, but he doesn’t give up. It’s hard because I don’t wanna hurt him.”
JJ laughed at that, and felt much lighter.
“Natalia said to sent her love along to you and Emily. And Horatio keeps asking how you’re doing.”
“Oh, that was sweet of her.” JJ stifled a yawn. “Tell Natalia we love her, too, and we miss you guys. Tell everyone I said ‘hi.’”
“Will do. And you do the same for me. But, we should call it a night. I can hear how tired you are, and I’m beat, too. I’m sure I’ll sleep better tonight.”
“Okay, but we need to talk again as soon as possible. This is really helping me way more than the stupid shrink.”
“Yeah, maybe my shrink should call your shrink. They can work out our problems while we talk on the phone.” Calleigh chuckled lightly.
“Excellent idea. So…If we don’t have another case by then, I try and call you at the weekend?”
“Sounds great. Sleep well. I love you.”
“Love you, too. ‘Night.”
The connection broke when JJ hung up. Calleigh smiled. She really felt better after this conversation. She wasn’t afraid to sleep alone for once.