A Family Of My Own
Chapter 1 + Chapter 2 + Chapter 3
Chapter 1
"I know you don't think so right now, but everything is going to be alright, sweetie."
Calleigh Duquense cuddled the small child close to her and rocked it back and forth, trying to offer as much comfort as she could. The child's house had burned down earlier that evening, effectively orphaning the child when the mother died of smoke inhalation when she was unable to get out. Horatio was questioning the teenage son while she sat in the waiting room with the frightened little girl. She couldn't have been more than four years old, with olive skin, curly brown hair, and bright green eyes that looked almost exotic with her skin tone. She was going to be a stunning beauty when she came of age.
She had tried to give the girl to Ryan so she could finish processing the evidence she and Eric had retrieved from the home, but he quickly refused (citing something about 'children always have gross sticky hands') and decided he would process the evidence for her. It didn't make much of a difference anyway. At the mention of Calleigh leaving, the little girl pitched a fit. Now that she was asleep, Calleigh was tempted to take her to the break room and let her sleep on the couch so she could work on her case files and possibly grab a bite to eat.
She thought back to a conversation she and Eric had a few months back.
"Can you imagine raising a family without any help, I mean you know, given the hours we work?" she asked as she shuffled through the closet.
"I could, absolutely."
"Really?" She turned to face him, where he was picking through a trunk.
"Yeah, why? You don't think I'd be a good dad?" he asked, shooting her a small grin.
"No, I think you'd be a great dad, I just never heard you mention having children before."
"Well, maybe when I find the right girl."
Sometimes she really did want kids, but the time was never right. Ok, maybe it wasn't the time, but the man. There were times that she wanted a nice stable family so badly it burned, a family with a loving husband and one or two kids. It would be nice to have some sort of routine; like leaving work to pick up the kids from daycare (or grandma), then going home to have a family dinner, followed by her and her husband helping the kids with their homework, putting the kids to bed, then spending some quality time with her husband. She never told anyone of these desires, not even Eric. In her fantasies the 'perfect' husband always seemed to take his form, no matter how hard she tried to imagine someone else in his place. Jake never seemed to fit those shoes. Oddly enough Horatio had made an appearance once, even Speed when he was alive. The Speed fantasy lasted longer than Horatio, though it was all about Eric in the end.
Sometimes she wanted to tell him, possibly dropping it in during random conversation. That would go over really well. "By the way, I think I'm ready to have kids! Would you like to donate some DNA?" He would probably laugh in her face and ask if she had gotten into a spot cocaine again.
"How is Marcella?"
Calleigh looked up to see her partner and friend, Eric Delko, standing in the doorway, looking every bit as tired as she felt. "Marcella?"
He crossed the room and sat in the chair next to her. "No one ever told you her name?"
She shook her head. "After the paramedics cleared her, no. She hasn't spoken, only cried."
"Poor thing," Eric commented, lightly stroking the little girl's curls. "Deadbeat dad took off, now her mother is dead, and her brother is going to be spending time in lockup."
Calleigh frowned. "H got a confession?"
"Yeah," he said, nodding. "Kid got mad at mom's drinking, wanted her to reassess her priorities. He didn't anticipate that she wouldn't make it out alive."
The two of them sat there longer, lost in their own thoughts, both wondering exactly what was going to happen to little Marcella if her father couldn't be found. The last place she needed to go was into the system. There was no way of knowing what would happen to her if that happened.
"Sometimes," Calleigh began, quietly, "I wonder what it would be like to have kids. I just don't know if I want to bring them into a world like this."
"If I didn't know the real story, I would have mistaken the three of you for a cute little family."
Calleigh and Eric looked up away from the girl to a short middle age woman standing in the doorway. Eric stood and maneuvered himself in front of Calleigh and Marcella, in a protective stance. "CSI Delko," he said plainly, holding out his hand in greeting.
"Dorothy Stanton, Child Services," the short older woman replied, extending her hand as well. "I'm here for Marcella Pelayo."
Carefully, as not to wake the child, Calleigh stood up. "Where are you going to take her?"
Dorothy looked at Calleigh and how the child was clinging tightly to her. "We were able to locate her grandmother, who will take custody of her."
Calleigh nodded and handed the little girl off to Dorothy, feeling a strange sensation of loss that shouldn't have been there. "Thank you, Ms. Stanton."
Dorothy only nodded and left just as quickly as she came.
She felt Eric's arm wrap around her. "You okay, Cal?"
All of the walls she had dropped for the child whipped right back up with lightning speed, and she donned her normal tight smile that she reserved for when something was wrong. "Yeah, everything is fine." ----------
"Yeah, maybe when I find the right girl."
Ever since Marcella had been left in the custody of her grandmother the week before, Calleigh had been acting strangely. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but Eric could see the longing looks on her face. When she saw a child, or there was a child involved in a case, she became rather melancholic. If she saw a pregnant woman, a look of distinct sadness and depression would cross her features for a split second. If there was a full happy family, all seemed lost and she would disappear into her own little world, only to come back out looking a bit shaken. Quite frankly, it was beginning to worry him.
Eric decided he wanted a family of his own, with every fiber of his being at times.
He told her he wanted kids when he found the right girl. What she didn't seem to catch on to was that he had already found the right girl; she just didn't know it yet. Of course he didn't have a biological clock that screamed 'procreate' like he was sure hers was doing, but on occasion he did daydream. Especially after he saw her with that veil on. He had moved to a different department, so Stetler couldn't punish them for their relationship. He would pick up their four kids from their abuela then meet her at home, where they would cook dinner together and have a nice family dinner. After that, they would help the kids do their homework and put them to bed, followed by some nice quality time spent together before they went to bed themselves. The quality time part of the daydream always brought a smile to his face, as well as the thought of her being swollen with child, knowing that he was what caused those changes in her body, that the child she carried was created out of love. It was actually a thrilling thought.
He just knew it wouldn't happen unless he took the situation into his own hands. If he waited for her, they would be too old to have kids by the time she got around to it.
As he walked through the hallways of the lab, he kept an eye out for her. The scene earlier had been a shootout, so he had all ideas where he would find her: the ballistics lab.
Sure enough, Eric caught a glimpse of blonde hair the moment he walked in. His spirits lifted considerably as he waited for her to exhaust the clip. The last thing he wanted to do was end the day with a bullet from a startled woman after he scared her mid shot.
When the lab was silent, he made his move. "Hey, Cal," he greeted.
She turned, giving him a huge smile, the one that he liked to think she reserved for him. "Hey, Eric. What's up?"
He opened his mouth to speak, and nothing came out. Why was this so difficult? He opened and shut his mouth a few more times.
"You know, I think spending all of that time with underwater recovery has really perfected your fish impression." She laughed as he felt his face turning pink.
This shouldn't be so hard! "Do you...do you..."
Her smile disappeared and was replaced by a look of concern. "Eric? Are you ok?"
"Wanna go for a beer after work?" There! Why was it so easy to ask her if it were only an evening between friends but so hard when he had another motive?
Her laughter lit up the air. "You are acting like a love struck teenager."
"Maybe I feel like one," he said, directing his gaze to a suddenly really interesting thread on his shoes.
Tension filled the air, so thick that Eric felt like they were swimming in it. This was not how he wanted the evening to end. Stupid lust for a family driving him to act like an idiot.
"I'd love to."
"Pardon?" He shook his head to get the cobwebs out.
She laughed again, it was music to his ears. "I'd love to go get a beer with you, though I'll just take soda."
He wanted to kick himself. He had totally forgotten about the many times she had gotten calls from bars in the area asking her to come get her father because he was too inebriated to drive.
"You ready?"
In the time he had spent thinking, she had already cleaned up the lab and locked up the evidence she had collected.
He nodded. "Yeah." He followed her out of the lab, hitting the light switch on the way out.
For once, it was time to do something for them instead of focusing on everyone else.
"If I hadn't been in the field for well over ten years, I would be shocked." Medical examiner Alexx Woods stood over the body of a sixty five year old man. "Poor man was stabbed seven times in the chest, bled out." She brushed the man's greying black hair away from his forehead. "We'll find who did this to you, baby."
Calleigh Duquense stood near Alexx, shaking her head. "His car is missing too, so chances are the person who killed him took the car." Carefully, as not to disturb anything in the cluttered bedroom, Calleigh looked around for something that would help their case out.
"I will know more once I get him back to the morgue," Alexx told her. "Let me know when you and Eric are finished processing the scene." On the way out the door, she gave Calleigh a loving pat on the shoulder.
Calleigh smiled at Alexx before getting down to business. She set her kit near the door and pulled her camera out of the case. After checking the settings and flash, she began snapping photos, laying out markers as she went. She had just finished when Eric Delko, her partner, walked in. "A little late, aren't you?" she teased.
"Well," he said, grinning, "a beautiful blonde kept me out late last night." He winked at her and snapped on his gloves.
She raised an eyebrow. "Anyone I know?"
"Oh, I don't know. About your height, bright green eyes, killer sense of humor, even more killer aim." He rustled a pile of clothes around, hoping to find anything that would lead them to the killer.
"Really?" she asked, giving in to the light hearted flirting. "I may have to meet this mystery woman."
Eric laughed. "I really had a great time last night."
"So did I."
"Do you want to do it again tonight?"
"How about we stay in tonight?" she suggested, packing a piece of evidence into an envelope. "I got a new movie last weekend."
"How did you manage that? We rarely have time to take care of ourselves, no less shop or go out." He swabbed a q-tip into a smear of blood, then put it into the tiny evidence box.
"Just like we did last night. I make time." She surveyed the room one last time. "I think I've got everything I need. Still no sign of a murder weapon, but that might be with the stolen car."
Eric shook his head. "Who the hell murders a 65 year old man in his own home, and then steals his car?"
"I'm not sure, but we will definitely find out. That man is not around anymore to tell his story, so we will have to be his voice."
Calleigh walked out of the house to the front lawn, where Alexx and their supervisor, Horatio Caine, stood. "So far, no sign of a murder weapon. Managed to get a few fingerprints, but they could all belong to the vic for all we know."
"I did find this," Horatio held up a simple brown leather wallet in a clear evidence bag, "in the driveway." There was a sparkle in his eyes that only seemed to appear when he had a lead that he felt good about.
"So, you are telling me that the person who did this went through all of this trouble just to drop his wallet at the scene?" Calleigh wanted to laugh. This would be another one for the books of silly criminals, right there with the Galliano wearing drag queen robbing the Burger King down the street from the Miami Dade Police headquarters.
"I'll be bringing in Mr. Callahan, you and Eric go back to the lab and get started on processing the evidence." In a move that Calleigh had come to associate with only H, Horatio put on his sunglasses and smiled. "I'll keep you posted."
Moments later, Eric emerged from the home. "Got all I need. Ready to go back to the lab?"
Calleigh nodded and followed him out to his vehicle. "I'm glad you showed, or else I would have had to catch a ride from someone else."
Eric opened the passenger side door for her and helped her step up into the large vehicle. "Who did you come with?"
"Horatio drove me. We were getting coffee when we got the call." She winced as he slammed the door a little harder than necessary. She waited until he got into the driver's seat and started the engine before speaking again. "Alright, talk to me."
"It's nothing."
She knew it wasn't nothing by the way his hands were clenching the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. "A handsome Cuban man kept me out late last night, and Horatio noticed the dark circles and yawns. He took me to Starbucks. A tired and distracted CSI is a clumsy CSI." In a way she thought it was cute that he was jealous. She had witnessed it many times since they met. Sure, at times it was cutely annoying, but at other times it could be a straight out pain.
"I'm sorry, Cal. I can't help it." He looked over at her when they approached a stop light. "Just now that I have you, I don't want to lose you." He reached across the Hummer and grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly with his own.
------
"Now, I want you to explain to me why your wallet was laying in the middle of a crime scene today."
The boy at the table shook fiercely. "I told you, I deliver pizzas!" He gestured down to the uniform he wore, proudly stating that he worked for 'Angelo's Pizza, Miami Beach' in bold red letters over the front of his food stained white t-shirt. "Look, man, Mr. Lubiano orders the same thing every week and I bring it to him. A pepperoni and jalepeno pizza, an order of garlic knots with extra garlic, and a two liter bottle of lemon lime soda. I've been delivering his pizza since I started. He leaves me a $20 tip each time, so I have no reason to kill the poor dude."
Horatio eyed the boy. Normally he could smell a lie from a mile away, but all he got from the freckled redhead was fear. Lots of fear. And the unsavory scent of sweat mixed with pizza. He whipped out his cell phone. "Eric, Horatio. Check for pizza boxes." He shut the phone with a flick of his wrist and attached it back to his belt, then turned to the boy. "Don't go far."
------
"At least I know that you can cook if this goes any further." Eric shoved a heaping fork full of spaghetti into his mouth, chewing a few times before he swallowed. "If you couldn't cook..." he shook his head.
"You would do all of the cooking for me." She smiled at him sweetly.
He shrugged his shoulders. "If you keep giving me that smile, there is no telling what I would do for you. Move mountains, rope the moon, conquer small countries..." he trailed off, giving her a smile of his own.
"Is that right?" She smiled at him again, this time her eyes twinkling.
He shook his head. "No, no. Don't start."
"Eric Delko," she said, as seriously as she could while she grinned from ear to ear, "you will do the dishes."
"Nuh uh. Not going to work." He crossed his arms, emphasizing his point.
Her grin faded and she pouted. "A girl has to try." She took the last bite of her spaghetti and started picking up the empty dishes from the table. "You say I can cook, but this is just spaghetti. I had my brothers cooking this by the time they were ten years old." Another smile spread across her face when Eric stood as well, assisting her with the dishes. "I thought it didn't work."
"It's not going to stop me from helping, just doing all of the work myself. You can't have me getting dish pan hands now, can you?"
Quietly they worked together, washing all of the dinner dishes. In a way it scared Calleigh, this little display of domesticity. Sure, they had shared dinners many times over their past nearly thirteen year friendship, but there was never dish washing involved. Then again, there was never any guaranteed nice make out sessions following dish washing either. If that was the case, she would have been elbow deep in dish water years before this.
As promised, she had picked up a movie. She had fully expected him to puff his chest and go on some "I don't want to watch a chick flick" schpeal, but she never got it. About an hour into Memoirs Of A Geisha, his hand half way up her shirt as he nibbled her neck, the phone rang.
"Leave it," he whispered, nipping at her earlobe.
Calleigh shook her head. "I can't, Eric. It might be important." No one ever called her this late, other than Horatio, and he would have called her cell.
She managed to untangle herself from him and dash over to the wall between the kitchen and the living room, where the phone hung. Quickly she snagged the receiver off of the base and put the phone her her ear. "Hello?" she answered, a bit out of breath. "Hey, daddy. Do you need a ride home?"
Eric watched her face from the couch, how her happy expression suddenly fell, her eyes filled with tears, the phone dropped from her hand and fell to the floor and made a loud 'clunk' sound as it hit the wood. He stood from the couch and went to her, picking up the phone and putting it to his ear with one hand, pulling her to his chest with the other. "Hello?"
"Where is Lambchop?" the voice of Kenwall Duquense said, tied between irritation and sadness.
"She's...she's...unavailable," Eric answered, looking down at the small woman lightly sobbing against his chest. "May I help you?"
"And you are?"
"Eric Delko, her partner."
"Ah, the Cuban man she's always going on about. I'm glad that someone is there with my little Lambchop that she trusts." Eric wanted to grin, the knowledge of her prattling on about him making him feel fuzzy inside. "Anthony and his wife Julie were killed in a car accident this evening. I needed to let Calleigh know. I...I.... Kenwall's voice faded out, replaced by soft crying.
Eric closed his eyes. He knew that she wasn't very close with either of her brothers, but she and Anthony had a special relationship that she didn't have with the middle Duquense child. "Hold on." He set the phone on the small ledge that hung below it and lifted Calleigh, carrying her to her bedroom, gently laying her on the bed. "I'll be right back, okay?" He waited for Calleigh to nod affirmative before he went back to the phone.
"Alright, I'm here."
"Calleigh's mother and I have agreed...."
Eric talked to Mr. Duquense for nearly an hour, getting all of the information Calleigh would need, as well as listening to the man reminisce. It brought back so many unpleasant memories of Marisol's death, that he just wanted to crawl under a rock and die himself. He didn't want to hear what type of casket that Anthony had specified he wanted in his will. He didn't want to hear that they were holding the service at All Faith Funeral Home. He didn't want to know that Anthony had chosen "When I Get Where I'm Going" to be played at the end of the service. He straightened his shoulders. Calleigh was always there when he needed her, his port in the storm. It was time for him to be her constant.
After he hung up the phone, he went into the bedroom. Calleigh still lay awake, her blank eyes staring off into nothingness. Eric went to her chest of drawers, pulling out a night shirt for her. "Come on, Cal. You can't sleep in your clothes." He helped her sit and set the night shirt in her lap, then turned his back, offering her a bit of privacy to change. As soon as the rustling stopped, he turned back around. "See, isn't that better?"
He helped tuck her into bed, wrapping her snugly in the sheets. Only when he felt she was taken care of did he begin to tend to himself. Eric stripped down to his boxers and slipped into bed next to her.
"He was my favorite brother, you know."
Eric could barely make out what Calleigh had said, it was in such a low whisper. He moved closer to her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her to him. "Tell me about him," he said, just as quietly.
"Anthony was the youngest," she began. She took a deep breath. "Anthony was the youngest Duquense, but he was the strongest. He loves cheese biscuits, used to beat me all of the time at chess, and swore up and down he'd beat up anyone who tried to take his big sister away from him." She rolled over to face Eric's chest. "He did it once. The first time he met Jake he beat the tar out of him. Said Jake was all wrong for me."
Eric couldn't help but unanimously agree, though he felt that keeping his mouth shut was the best course of action.
"And he always wore this awful cologne." Calleigh chuckled lightly. "It stank to high heaven in the summer, but he still bathed in the stuff."
"Sounds like Mari with her bottle of Love's Baby Soft," Eric replied, still able to remember the fragrance like it was just yesterday. "I can't remember her using any other fragrance until she hit her twenties."
Calleigh yawned, though it was muffled by her face being shoved into his chest. "I think I just want to sleep."
Eric tightened his grip on her and kissed the top of her head. "I think that's a good idea."
First thing the next morning, Eric was on the phone with Horatio. He was a little concerned that Calleigh hadn't made it out of bed yet. From the moment he had met Calleigh, he learned that she was the poster child for the morning person. She seemed to jump out of bed with a smile on her face, ready to face the day and whatever it brought her way. Sleeping until eight was 'sleeping in' for her. He wasn't even sure about how Calleigh would feel about him taking charge of things right now. He had explained the situation to Horatio, and made it plainly clear that he would be going with Calleigh, that he would also need the next few days off. Horatio, thankfully, was an understanding man and allowed Eric the time. In a way, he felt bad. It's not like dayshift had CSIs falling out of the sky ready to step up for them, but he would be sure to make it up to both Wolfe and Natalia when they got back.
Just as he had hung up the phone, Calleigh emerged from the bedroom. Even if it was at a bad time, Eric couldn't help think about how sexy she was walking around in just that oversized Tulane University t-shirt with her blonde hair mussed up.
"Morning," she mumbled, bypassing him completely and heading toward the little aluminum coffee pot that Eric had taken to bringing over when he stayed. "Makes better espresso," he had informed her when he brought it the first time.
She took a few sips of the coffee and took a moment to wake up. "Was it all a dream?" she asked.
Eric shook his head. "I wish it was."
Calleigh looked down at the mug in her hands. "I was hoping it was." She looked back up at him. "I'm sorry for the way I acted last night."
He walked over to where she leaned against the counter and took the mug from her hands, sitting it on the countertop next to her. "There's no reason to be sorry." He pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on the top of her head. "You saw how I acted after...after..."
After Marisol, Calleigh finished in her head. "You trashed your apartment."
"Then you made me sit in the living room while you cleaned it all up. I still feel guilty about that."
"You still owe me for that."
He smiled. Leave it to Calleigh to never forget. "How about complete pampering when we get back from New Orleans. I'll run you a bath, you soak as long as you want surrounded by nice scented candles, then when you get out, a nice massage. Then I'll make you dinner. How does that sound?"
"When we get back from New Orleans?" Calleigh pulled away and looked up at him.
Eric nodded. "When we get back. I'm going to be there with you every step of the way."
She smiled and leaned up, kissing him soundly. "I don't know what I'd do without you sometimes."
"I hope we never have to find out." He kissed her again and stepped back. "I still have to make our flight reservations and go pack my bag."
She stepped away and grabbed her coffee, moving to the kitchen island. "I've got to call Horatio and my dad, too."
"Already taken care of. H gave us both a week." The smile she gave him warmed him from his head to his toes. He would definitely move mountains and rope the moon if it meant getting that smile from her again.
"Do you know what I wanted to do today?" she asked, quietly.
He walked over to where she sat on the stool and slowly massaged the knots out of her shoulders. "What?"
"I was thinking we would spend a lazy Saturday morning in bed cuddling or something."
"Or doing other things," he said lasciviously as he leaned down to nip at her neck. He didn't even have to see her face to know she was rolling her eyes at him. "You know that would have been perfectly welcome, Ms. Duquense."
Calleigh leaned back into his chest. "More than you would ever know, Mr. Delko."
They were interrupted by a knock at the door. "Sit," he told her, holding his hand out to stop her from getting up from the stool. He walked out of the kitchen and through the living room, into the tiny entrance hall where the front door stood. "I'm coming," he grumbled when the person knocked again. He flung open the door to face Kenwall Duquense. "Hi, Mr. Duquense," he greeted, stepping aside for the older man to step in.
Once inside, Kenwall offered Eric his hand in greeting. "Morning, young man. And don't call me Mr. Duquense, it makes me feel old." Kenwall stepped back and inspected Eric. "Did you lose your shirt?"
Eric looked down and silently cursed himself for forgetting to put on a shirt. Then again, he didn't exactly expect his girlfriend's father to show up first thing in the morning. With as hectic as it had been, he was lucky to have put on anything at all. That would be a fabulous picture though; "Good morning, Mr. Duquense. Sorry about my lack of pants, I have just rolled out of your daughter's bed. It's really comfortable, you know! Did you know she's a cuddler?" Eric silently followed Kenwall through the house like a scolded puppy.
When they made it to the kitchen, Calleigh jumped up from her stool. "Daddy! What are you doing here?"
Kenwall made a small 'oof' sound as Calleigh rushed over to him and enveloped him in a hug. "I came to pick you up, Lambchop," he said, stepping back and holding Calleigh at arm's length. "I'm driving up to New Orleans today, for..." Kenwall choked up a bit.
Eric cleared his throat. "I'm going to make flight reservations soon, for me and Cal, to fly up there. I can get you a ticket too."
Kenwall looked over at Eric and raised an eyebrow. "Me and Cal?" he asked, in the same tone that Calleigh had said 'we' a few moments earlier. Now he knew where she got it from.
Great. First he showed up at the door with no shirt which in it's own way implied that he had been in bed with Calleigh, now he was making it seem like he was making all of the decisions which made it seem like he wasn't allowing her to make any decisions period. At least in the eyes of an over protective father. He'd seen how his father questioned Horatio about Marisol. "I just thought it would be easier than driving? I can get you a ticket too, so we can all go together."
Instead of the verbal lashing he had expected, Kenwall slapped his hand on Eric's shoulder. "You've got yourself a good man here, Lambchop."
It was then Calleigh started to leave the kitchen. "I need to pack my bag and get a shower. I'll be out in a few."
The moment she left, Kenwall seemed to size up Eric. Eric almost immediately felt uncomfortable under such scrutiny, so he decided to make himself useful. "Would you like a cup of coffee?" Kenwall nodded silently and Eric made his way to the coffee pot.
He poured a cup of coffee and handed it to Kenwall. The older man took a sip and scrunched his face. "What is this, tar?"
Eric laughed. "Pilon, actually. It'll put some hair on your chest, that's for sure." He sat at the kitchen island and watched Kenwall go about adding heaps of sugar and milk, in an effort to make the coffee taste better.
"It's not something you expect, you know, burying your child." His face seemed to suddenly take on a tired expression, which Eric recognized from his father after Marisol...he didn't want to think about that. "I can remember it just like yesterday, holding Anthony in the hospital, wrapped in that blue blanket, totally mesmerized that something so sweet and innocent could come from my wife and I. It was the same feeling I had with each of them. A huge sense of pride." He moved over and sat next to Eric. "I never seemed to worry about him as much."
"Why?"
"He was always the safe one. Never did drugs, never drank a drop in his life. Makes it seem cruel that he was killed by a drunk driver." His light chuckle was very bittersweet. "It was Calleigh I always worried about. She is my baby girl." Kenwall sighed. "I don't know what she's told you about growin' up in Louisiana, but we weren't the best parents in the world. I've done some things that I'm not proud of now, but I couldn't have asked for a better little girl. She took care of her brothers when things got bad. Her mama, she was never completely there. Took a lot of pills. And me...you've seen my problem." As if sitting still was too much, Kenwall got up and paced around the kitchen, clutching the coffee cup with an iron grip. "It was Calleigh that always scared me, running off the moment she graduated from high school. Did you know she was in college for a full year before she ever told anyone?"
Eric snorted. "That sounds like Cal, all right."
"Her other two brothers, they don't worry me as much. Beau, my middle son, stayed with his mama. Kenny, on the other hand, has been in and out of rehab for as long as I can remember. Bad business, that one is." Kenwall took a sip of his coffee. "Always told the boy, if you walk in the pasture long enough your bound to step in shit."
Eric watched Kenwall pace around the kitchen. He wasn't sure if this was the proper thing to say at the moment, but he couldn't stand the silence. "My mother told me something the day after Marisol died. I think she would want me to share it with you."
"Marisol?" Kenwall stopped.
"Marisol is my older sister. I was closer to her than my other sisters. She was shot a couple years ago."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
He looked to the ground. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about it anymore. "Mama said a quien Dios ama, le llama." He looked back up at Kenwall. "Who God loves, he calls to him."
Kenwall's eyes seemed to soften. "I think your mama was right, son. I just wish he would have waited a little longer to call him home." He stopped his pacing and sat on the stool next to Eric again. "I'm thankful that Lorraine had little Beau."
"Lorraine? Little Beau?" When did he mention Beau having a kid?
"Lorraine is my ex-wife, Calleigh's mother. Little Beau, or L.B. as we call him, is Anthony and Julie's eight month old son."
Then the world seemed to stop spinning. An innocent child was left behind because his parents were taken by a drunk driver. Eric immediately felt even worse for the Duquense family.
The moment was broken by Calleigh coming into the room toting a small leather suitcase, her still damp hair hanging limply over her shoulders. "Even though I'd prefer to ignore this and live life as nothing happened, I'm ready to go."
Kenwall looked over at Eric, sending him a look that Eric took as a clear 'don't tell her yet'. "I think I need to run to the store, Labchop. Forgot my razors and it would take too long to go home." He set the cup of coffee down on the countertop behind him and stood. "I'll be back in a jiffy."
Neither Eric or Calleigh moved until they heard the door slam.
"I've still got to get the tickets, and pack a bag." He stood from the stool, ready to leave the room, when Calleigh grabbed his hand.
"Thanks," she said, quietly. "For everything."
"No need to thank me, Cal." He pulled her over to him and held her tightly. "I'd walk through hell and back for you, you know that."
"What happened to moving mountains and conquering small countries?"
"You forgot roping the moon, but it's all on the list."
I
It was almost midnight when they finally arrived in New Orleans. Eric and Calleigh wanted nothing more than to go to the hotel and go to sleep, but Kenwall seemed jazzed to get up and go. Eric was thankful that the airport was moderately empty, and that baggage claim was a quick and easy effort, taking less than fifteen minutes to find all three bags.
"It's not quite Darnell, but welcome to the only place other than Miami that I've called home," Calleigh said, taking a deep breath of the New Orleans air.
Eric was so tired that they could have been somewhere in Canada instead and he wouldn't have cared. There was a long nasty layover in Atlanta and he hadn't been able to sleep a wink, unlike Calleigh, who had napped against his shoulder while they were waiting. All he wanted right now was a warm bed and his warm girlfriend. Everything else could be seen to when he woke up.
Waiting outside, stood a petite blonde woman that looked like an older version of Calleigh and a much taller blond man holding a tiny blond baby. Calleigh went to them first, after she saw her father bristle up.
"Hey, mama."
Lorraine Duquense wrapped her arms tightly around her only daughter and held her. "I'm glad you could tear yourself away from Miami long enough to come visit."
Calleigh stepped back an arm length and looked at her mother in shock. "Mama, please don't... Not now..."
"What is down there that is more important than family?" She sent a pointed look to Eric, where he stood next to Kenwall.
It was then that Kenwal stepped in. "Now, Lorraine. You know that they are all grown up and living their own lives."
"You stay out of this, Kenwall," she said, pointing at him, her green eyes sparkling in malice.
The taller blond man, who Eric assumed was Beau, stepped up. "Mama, this ain't the time or the place."
Lorraine looked between the three from Miami and stepped away, walking toward the car that was still running behind her. "Come on, then. Let's go. I've got rooms ready."
"Actually, mama," Calleigh said, interrupting her mother's trek, "we booked hotel rooms with our flight."
"Oh, are you too good for your dear old mother's home now?" She put her hands on her hips, yet another thing Eric had seen Calleigh do on a number of occasions. "If you would have told me that on the phone, I wouldn't have wasted my time to put rooms together."
Her shrill voice made the baby in Beau's arms start to shriek. "Come on L.B.," he whispered to the child, bouncing it slightly, "it's alright. Shhh."
Calleigh could see the distress on her brother's face, like he hadn't slept at all in the past twenty four hours. She was in the process of going over to him when her mother's shrill voice broke in again. "Come on, Beau. Let's go home." When Beau made no move to get in the car, her face began to turn a light shade of pink. "Beau, car! Now!"
Beau did go to the car, but instead of getting in, he pulled L.B.'s diaper bag out of the back seat and draped it over his shoulder. "I'll see you in the morning, mama. I want to spend some time with dad."
The four of them watched as Lorraine got into her car and sped off.
An awkward silence followed, broken only by L.B.'s soft cooing.
"Well," Kenwall finally said. "That was interesting."