Fic: Long Distance Calls - Part 7: Washington D.C.
Title: Long Distance Calls - Part VII: Washington, D.C.
Author: Steppenwolf_20
Fandom: CSI:Miami/Criminal Minds, now with surprise guests
Pairing: Emily/Natalia friendship, Calleigh Duquesne/Jennifer Jareau friendship
Disclaimer: None of the beautiful ladies are mine. No infringement intended.
Rating: PG
Word count: 1766
Warnings: None in this part
Setting: This is set during/after CSI:M 7.07 Cheating Death and CM 3.09 Penelope
Spoiler: see setting
A/N: This is a follow up to “The Barbie Murders” (link is provided with the first part of this installment). This is part 7 of those intermezzi.
A/N 2: Please keep in mind that Ryan is gone and I had to make some adjustments.
Thanks: To my wonderful betayellowsmurf6.
Miami
Calleigh felt like she had only just closed her eyes when the phone rang. Alarmed, she glanced at her watch - one forty-six a.m. She knew it had to be something serious for someone to call her at this hour and so she grabbed the phone before it could ring a second time and all but jumped out of bed at the same time.
“Duquesne.” Only silence and a distant sobbing answered her. She looked at the caller ID and immediately sat down again, a cold ring enveloping her heart at once. It was JJ.
“JJ? Is that you? What happened? Talk to me, sweetie.” The detective knew at once that something terrible had happened and she needed all her strength to try and keep her voice calm.
‘Did something happen to Emily? Is it even JJ on the phone or is someone else using it? Oh God, I hope she didn’t do something stupid. Please God, let her be okay.’
“Cal?” Another sob. “Cal. It’s Garcia. She … she was shot.”
“Oh my God. JJ, I’m so sorry to hear that. Is she …?” Calleigh didn’t know what to say. Was Garcia even alive?
“Yes, she’s alive. The doctors said it was touch and go for a while, but she’s going to make it.” Calleigh could barely understand JJ who was still sobbing a little.
“Thank God. That’s good news, right?” The detective felt like the burden of the world had fallen off of her shoulders. JJ and Emily were okay, and Garcia, besides being seriously injured, would be okay, too.
“Calm down, JJ. Everything is going to be okay. Garcia will be up and running in a few days. “
It wasn’t really what Calleigh was saying, but just talking to her made JJ feel better. Talking to Calleigh always had that effect on her. She had forgotten how good it felt. But, while she was starting to feel better about Garcia, she was suddenly beginning to feel worse for having called Calleigh at this hour, especially after not answering her calls for weeks.
“Oh God, Calleigh. I’m so sorry for calling you this late. I should let you go back to sleep and …”
The detective interrupted her.
“JJ. It’s okay. Really. That’s what friends are for. You can call me anytime. You know that, right? I’m here for you.”
“But I wasn’t there for you.” JJ’s voice was barely audible over the phone.
“That may be true, but I know you’re going through a rough patch. I can’t really imagine what you’re going through, with the worry about you parents. But you came around. You apologized already and for my part, that’s history now. I will help you figure it all out the best I can. And I won’t pressure you anymore. I promise.”
Of course Calleigh had been disappointed when JJ didn’t return any of her calls, but mostly she had been worried about her younger friend. She knew it wasn’t like her to abandon a friend like that, and now she was simply glad that they were talking again.
“And I promise to never let you down like that again. It was really stupid and selfish.”
“Let’s just forget about it. Why don’t you tell me what happened with Garcia anyway? Why would someone shoot her? Are there any leads?”
“No, we don’t know anything yet. Police says it was a robbery. We’ll have to wait and see what Garcia has to say when she wakes up. She’s still under from surgery.”
Calleigh tried to suppress the yawn that was bubbling up inside her, but JJ heard it anyway.
“I’m sorry, Cal. I should really let you go back to sleep now. It’s almost two.”
“I actually think I should go back to bed. You feeling any better?”
“Yes, actually I do. Why don’t I call you back another day?”
“I’d like that. I really missed talking to you.”
“Me, too. So, sleep well and thank you. For everything.”
“You’re welcome. Try and get some sleep yourself, okay? Garcia is out of the woods, so get some rest.”
“I’ll try, though I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep before I’ve talked to Garcia. Night, Cal.”
“Good night, JJ.”
The next day
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 barely past 6 p.m., but she felt like it was much later. The evening with Natalia and the late call from JJ had left her with only a few hours of sleep, and she felt like she could nod off on her feet.
She opened the fridge. It was well stocked, but she wasn’t feeling hungry. She grabbed a soda and made her way over to the living room. Her answering machine was blinking, so she plopped down on her couch and pressed play.
<< You have one new message. Message one, Wednesday, five fifty-nine p.m. >>
“Hey, Cal. It’s me, Natalia. I just wanted to see how you’re doing. Listen, if you hear from JJ, call me with an update, okay? Even if it’s late, call me. Uhm, do you think we should send flowers or something? Tell JJ I said hi and send my best wishes to our three girls. Talk to you later.”
<>
Calleigh smiled upon hearing Natalia’s voice, a little more relaxed again. When the blonde told her friend about the late night call and what had happened to Garcia, the younger CSI had been visibly shaken. She would definitely call her later.
For the moment, Calleigh decided to catch up on some reading. There were some weapons magazines she hadn’t had a chance to read yet, and sometimes even she found some interesting news in there.
She had just finished flipping through the first without finding anything new when the phone rang. Upon checking the caller ID, she answered at once.
“Hello, Agent Jareau. How’s our favorite hacker doing?” Calleigh opted on keeping the tone light and playful.
“Calleigh. You’re home and I don’t need to talk to your machine. What a pleasant surprise.” JJ sounded almost chipper and Calleigh let out a silent breath of relief.
“So I guess Garcia is doing okay? You seem to be in a good mood today.”
“Yes. Garcia woke up this morning and she’s doing as well as can be expected. She’s in pain obviously, but mostly she’s embarrassed.”
“Huh? Why’s that?”
“Well, she knew the guy who shot her. She had met him a few days ago in a coffee shop and helped him with his laptop. Afterward, he asked her out. But her knowing him doesn’t really help. He used a false name and he was really good at leaving no leads behind.”
“You will get him, I have no doubt there. Just do your thing and you’ll get him eventually.”
“Oh, we will. And we will make him pay. Nobody gets away with hurting one of my friends. But that’s not the reason for my good mood. This whole thing … with Garcia almost dying … it helped me realize, or better yet, it helped me remember something.”
“What’s that?” Calleigh actually had a pretty good idea what JJ was referring to, but she wanted to give her the chance to say it out loud.
“When we were … when I saw you bound to that cross, barely alive, when I shot Ryan, when we were in that room I realized that life is short. Life is precious, and one should live it as happily as possible. Life is too damn short to be afraid of love. And when I, when we were at the hospital waiting for news on Garcia … Emily was … She was there for me, like she always is. I realized that she is my rock, and has been for a long time. But my fears, my upbringing … I just couldn’t … But I don’t care anymore. I want to be with the person I love. If someone has a problem with that, well it’s their problem and not mine. I don’t fucking care.”
Calleigh just smiled. ‘Finally.’
“And did you talk to Emily already?”
“No. Not yet. I have to talk to Will first. Anything else wouldn’t be fair to everyone. So, I will talk to him as soon as we have the guy who shot Garcia, and after that I will talk to Emily.”
“Sounds good. You will tell her, won’t you?”
“Yes, definitely. I don’t want to start a possible relationship with a lie. I want solid ground. No secrets. I will tell her about Will, too. I hope she can understand.”
“I’m sure she will, if you explain why you were so freaked. Tell her about your sister and everything. She loves you. Maybe she’ll need a little time, but she’ll come around. I couldn’t stay mad at Natalia either.”
“Speaking of Natalia. How are things between you two?”
“Pretty good, actually. We talked a lot, about what she did and why, and why she didn’t talk to me. It wasn’t easy, but it was necessary. And now we need to talk about that thing that happened between us. I don’t want to keep any secrets from her either.”
“Do you think they’ll understand?”
Calleigh took a moment to collect her thoughts. She had asked herself the same question a lot of times already, and the answer changed occasionally depending on her mood.
“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. For the most part I think they will, but there’s always this nagging little voice that tells me otherwise. And yes, I’m afraid to lose Natalia over this, but I just can’t not tell her. It would haunt me forever. Maybe it’ll take a while, but I think in the end it’ll all work out.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I’m thinking, too.”
Calleigh heard a phone ringing over the line.
“Sorry Cal, I have to get that. I’ll call you as soon as I hear anything new.”
“Okay, don’t take too long. Love you. Bye.”
“Love you, too. Sleep well.”
Calleigh smiled. JJ seemed to be doing great and finally coming to her senses. That would at least be one good thing that came out of this horrible thing. She took another sip from her soda and hit speed dial two.
Author: Steppenwolf_20
Fandom: CSI:Miami/Criminal Minds, now with surprise guests
Pairing: Emily/Natalia friendship, Calleigh Duquesne/Jennifer Jareau friendship
Disclaimer: None of the beautiful ladies are mine. No infringement intended.
Rating: PG
Word count: 1766
Warnings: None in this part
Setting: This is set during/after CSI:M 7.07 Cheating Death and CM 3.09 Penelope
Spoiler: see setting
A/N: This is a follow up to “The Barbie Murders” (link is provided with the first part of this installment). This is part 7 of those intermezzi.
A/N 2: Please keep in mind that Ryan is gone and I had to make some adjustments.
Thanks: To my wonderful betayellowsmurf6.
Miami
Calleigh felt like she had only just closed her eyes when the phone rang. Alarmed, she glanced at her watch - one forty-six a.m. She knew it had to be something serious for someone to call her at this hour and so she grabbed the phone before it could ring a second time and all but jumped out of bed at the same time.
“Duquesne.” Only silence and a distant sobbing answered her. She looked at the caller ID and immediately sat down again, a cold ring enveloping her heart at once. It was JJ.
“JJ? Is that you? What happened? Talk to me, sweetie.” The detective knew at once that something terrible had happened and she needed all her strength to try and keep her voice calm.
‘Did something happen to Emily? Is it even JJ on the phone or is someone else using it? Oh God, I hope she didn’t do something stupid. Please God, let her be okay.’
“Cal?” Another sob. “Cal. It’s Garcia. She … she was shot.”
“Oh my God. JJ, I’m so sorry to hear that. Is she …?” Calleigh didn’t know what to say. Was Garcia even alive?
“Yes, she’s alive. The doctors said it was touch and go for a while, but she’s going to make it.” Calleigh could barely understand JJ who was still sobbing a little.
“Thank God. That’s good news, right?” The detective felt like the burden of the world had fallen off of her shoulders. JJ and Emily were okay, and Garcia, besides being seriously injured, would be okay, too.
“Calm down, JJ. Everything is going to be okay. Garcia will be up and running in a few days. “
It wasn’t really what Calleigh was saying, but just talking to her made JJ feel better. Talking to Calleigh always had that effect on her. She had forgotten how good it felt. But, while she was starting to feel better about Garcia, she was suddenly beginning to feel worse for having called Calleigh at this hour, especially after not answering her calls for weeks.
“Oh God, Calleigh. I’m so sorry for calling you this late. I should let you go back to sleep and …”
The detective interrupted her.
“JJ. It’s okay. Really. That’s what friends are for. You can call me anytime. You know that, right? I’m here for you.”
“But I wasn’t there for you.” JJ’s voice was barely audible over the phone.
“That may be true, but I know you’re going through a rough patch. I can’t really imagine what you’re going through, with the worry about you parents. But you came around. You apologized already and for my part, that’s history now. I will help you figure it all out the best I can. And I won’t pressure you anymore. I promise.”
Of course Calleigh had been disappointed when JJ didn’t return any of her calls, but mostly she had been worried about her younger friend. She knew it wasn’t like her to abandon a friend like that, and now she was simply glad that they were talking again.
“And I promise to never let you down like that again. It was really stupid and selfish.”
“Let’s just forget about it. Why don’t you tell me what happened with Garcia anyway? Why would someone shoot her? Are there any leads?”
“No, we don’t know anything yet. Police says it was a robbery. We’ll have to wait and see what Garcia has to say when she wakes up. She’s still under from surgery.”
Calleigh tried to suppress the yawn that was bubbling up inside her, but JJ heard it anyway.
“I’m sorry, Cal. I should really let you go back to sleep now. It’s almost two.”
“I actually think I should go back to bed. You feeling any better?”
“Yes, actually I do. Why don’t I call you back another day?”
“I’d like that. I really missed talking to you.”
“Me, too. So, sleep well and thank you. For everything.”
“You’re welcome. Try and get some sleep yourself, okay? Garcia is out of the woods, so get some rest.”
“I’ll try, though I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep before I’ve talked to Garcia. Night, Cal.”
“Good night, JJ.”
The next day
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 barely past 6 p.m., but she felt like it was much later. The evening with Natalia and the late call from JJ had left her with only a few hours of sleep, and she felt like she could nod off on her feet.
She opened the fridge. It was well stocked, but she wasn’t feeling hungry. She grabbed a soda and made her way over to the living room. Her answering machine was blinking, so she plopped down on her couch and pressed play.
<< You have one new message. Message one, Wednesday, five fifty-nine p.m. >>
“Hey, Cal. It’s me, Natalia. I just wanted to see how you’re doing. Listen, if you hear from JJ, call me with an update, okay? Even if it’s late, call me. Uhm, do you think we should send flowers or something? Tell JJ I said hi and send my best wishes to our three girls. Talk to you later.”
<>
Calleigh smiled upon hearing Natalia’s voice, a little more relaxed again. When the blonde told her friend about the late night call and what had happened to Garcia, the younger CSI had been visibly shaken. She would definitely call her later.
For the moment, Calleigh decided to catch up on some reading. There were some weapons magazines she hadn’t had a chance to read yet, and sometimes even she found some interesting news in there.
She had just finished flipping through the first without finding anything new when the phone rang. Upon checking the caller ID, she answered at once.
“Hello, Agent Jareau. How’s our favorite hacker doing?” Calleigh opted on keeping the tone light and playful.
“Calleigh. You’re home and I don’t need to talk to your machine. What a pleasant surprise.” JJ sounded almost chipper and Calleigh let out a silent breath of relief.
“So I guess Garcia is doing okay? You seem to be in a good mood today.”
“Yes. Garcia woke up this morning and she’s doing as well as can be expected. She’s in pain obviously, but mostly she’s embarrassed.”
“Huh? Why’s that?”
“Well, she knew the guy who shot her. She had met him a few days ago in a coffee shop and helped him with his laptop. Afterward, he asked her out. But her knowing him doesn’t really help. He used a false name and he was really good at leaving no leads behind.”
“You will get him, I have no doubt there. Just do your thing and you’ll get him eventually.”
“Oh, we will. And we will make him pay. Nobody gets away with hurting one of my friends. But that’s not the reason for my good mood. This whole thing … with Garcia almost dying … it helped me realize, or better yet, it helped me remember something.”
“What’s that?” Calleigh actually had a pretty good idea what JJ was referring to, but she wanted to give her the chance to say it out loud.
“When we were … when I saw you bound to that cross, barely alive, when I shot Ryan, when we were in that room I realized that life is short. Life is precious, and one should live it as happily as possible. Life is too damn short to be afraid of love. And when I, when we were at the hospital waiting for news on Garcia … Emily was … She was there for me, like she always is. I realized that she is my rock, and has been for a long time. But my fears, my upbringing … I just couldn’t … But I don’t care anymore. I want to be with the person I love. If someone has a problem with that, well it’s their problem and not mine. I don’t fucking care.”
Calleigh just smiled. ‘Finally.’
“And did you talk to Emily already?”
“No. Not yet. I have to talk to Will first. Anything else wouldn’t be fair to everyone. So, I will talk to him as soon as we have the guy who shot Garcia, and after that I will talk to Emily.”
“Sounds good. You will tell her, won’t you?”
“Yes, definitely. I don’t want to start a possible relationship with a lie. I want solid ground. No secrets. I will tell her about Will, too. I hope she can understand.”
“I’m sure she will, if you explain why you were so freaked. Tell her about your sister and everything. She loves you. Maybe she’ll need a little time, but she’ll come around. I couldn’t stay mad at Natalia either.”
“Speaking of Natalia. How are things between you two?”
“Pretty good, actually. We talked a lot, about what she did and why, and why she didn’t talk to me. It wasn’t easy, but it was necessary. And now we need to talk about that thing that happened between us. I don’t want to keep any secrets from her either.”
“Do you think they’ll understand?”
Calleigh took a moment to collect her thoughts. She had asked herself the same question a lot of times already, and the answer changed occasionally depending on her mood.
“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. For the most part I think they will, but there’s always this nagging little voice that tells me otherwise. And yes, I’m afraid to lose Natalia over this, but I just can’t not tell her. It would haunt me forever. Maybe it’ll take a while, but I think in the end it’ll all work out.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I’m thinking, too.”
Calleigh heard a phone ringing over the line.
“Sorry Cal, I have to get that. I’ll call you as soon as I hear anything new.”
“Okay, don’t take too long. Love you. Bye.”
“Love you, too. Sleep well.”
Calleigh smiled. JJ seemed to be doing great and finally coming to her senses. That would at least be one good thing that came out of this horrible thing. She took another sip from her soda and hit speed dial two.