Chapter 12 is up, and this isn't really a holiday story, it's more like a chapter bridging Mardi Gras to St. Patrick's Day, soooooooo ENJOY!!!

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Horatio ducked the gun fire as he raced to Calleigh's limp figure, and he nearly freaked when he saw the puddle of blood coming from the bullet wound in her stomach. With almost shaking hands he rolled Calleigh over on her back and ripped off his jacket, desperately trying to stop the bleeding.

"Stay with me, Cal," He muttered, and yelled over his shoulder "Get me an ambulance NOW!"

Suddenly, a familiar voice growled in his ear, "I don't think so." Horatio turned around to see a gun barrel in his face, and he stared up at the face of Mike Douglas.

"You bastard. You shot her." Horatio said quietly and deadly, and Mike smirked, saying,

"Well, since I couldn't have her, you sure as hell couldn't. Now get up."

"No." Horatio growled, keeping his hands on Calleigh's wound, pressing down as hard as he could to try and clot the bleeding.

"Get up, or I'll shoot her again, and this time, I won't miss her heart." Mike said, aiming the gun at Calleigh's chest. Horatio's shoulders slumped, and he slowly got to his feet, and Mike grabbed his arm.

Horatio felt something prick his arm, and then he fell into unconsciousness, muttering, "Save Calleigh, someone save her." Mike tossed him into the back of a car and drove off in a hurry, not wanting to be there when the police got there.

Meanwhile, Calleigh's mom came racing out of the house with a shotgun, having heard Horatio's shout. She was ready to open fire when she saw her baby girl lying on the ground, bleeding to death. When she didn't see Horatio anywhere, she figured he had gone after the jerk that had shot her daughter.

She yelled, "Get me a damned ambulance, people!" With that, she dropped to her knees nest to Calleigh and checked for a pulse, but didn't find one. She began CPR, while she heard sirens in the background.

"Come on, baby girl, just stay with me. Don't leave us now, Cal, stay with me." A few medics brought a stretcher, and carefully loaded Calleigh up, shoving her into the ambulance and Allyssa hopped in next to Calleigh, while she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Garth's wife, Dr. Eva Duquesne.

"Eva Duquesne." Eva's voice said, and Allyssa said,

"Eva, it's Allyssa."

"What's wrong?" Eva demanded, because she could hear the distress in her mother-in-law's voice.

"It's Cal. She came in for Mardi Gras with her boyfriend, and she got shot. We're on our way, Eva, I need you to be her doctor."

"All right, I'm on my way to the entrance, I'll be waiting for you when you get here. No worries, Allyssa, my team is one of the best. We'll take care of her." Eva said, and hung up before Allyssa could hear the shakiness in her own voice. She and Calleigh were like blood sisters, and if she lost her, there would be nothing to console her.

Eva shook aside those thoughts and braced herself to save her sister-in-law's life. No matter what it took, Calleigh would be alive and breathing by the end of the surgery, and on the road to recovery.

The ambulance pulled up at the hospital, and Eva, a Hispanic beauty, came running out, with her team following her. She immediately got to work on saving Calleigh's life, running with her to the operating room. Allyssa sat down with a sigh in the waiting room, and then saw Garth sit next to her, and Charlie and Chris came in and sat down as well. They all worried over their baby girl while Horatio awoke, groggy and a little dizzy.

"So glad you could join me, Lieutenant." Mike's sarcastic voice said, and Horatio felt a fist slam into his stomach. "That's for making me look bad." Mike growled, and Horatio fell onto his back, saying with a gasp,

"You did that to her yourself."

"I didn't do anything!"

"Right. A positive ID, forensics, I'd say you did." Horatio said, getting unsteadily to his feet. He couldn't keep the image of Calleigh lying bleeding to death on the street, and he wasn't about to get Mike away with Calleigh's murder. There. He had, well, thought it. There was no way Calleigh could survive without someone helping her to the hospital, and everyone had fled from the scene after Horatio had been drugged. At least, that's what he thought.

"Ah. A fighter, I see," Mike said tauntingly, and added, "I hope you're just as good with your fists as you are with your gun." He lunged at Horatio, but he sidestepped him. When Mike flew at him a second time, Horatio slammed his fist into Mike's face.

"That's for the young girl you raped." He growled, and then the two men began to circle each other.

"You're not gonna win this, Caine." Mike said smugly, and Horatio twitched a smile that wasn't from laughter, and said,

"We'll see."

And with that, it was like a bell had rung. Both men leapt at each other.

Meanwhile, Calleigh awoke from the surgery and saw her mom sitting next to her in a chair, sleeping. "Mom? Where's Horatio?" Calleigh asked, trying to sit up.

Allyssa was on her feet in an instant, relief evident on her face as she saw her daughter very much alive. She said quickly, "I don't know, sweetheart. He wasn't there when I got there."

"He went after Mike." Calleigh said quietly, to herself, but Allyssa heard her.

"Mike? The bartender?"

"Yes! He's the one who shot me, mom!"

"You must be confused, baby, he's sweet on you. He'd never…"

"No!" Calleigh exclaimed, desperate to make her mother understand. Horatio was probably in the hands of a rapist that was hell-bent on revenge towards Horatio, and they needed to go out and find him soon. And when she saw that her mother didn't believe her, she said, "Give me a phone and I'll prove it to you."

Allyssa reluctantly handed over her phone and Calleigh dialed Mac Taylor's number from memory. She heard his voice say,

"Taylor."

"Mac, it's Calleigh."

"Hey Calleigh. Long time no see, or hear for that matter."

"I know, but we'll have to catch up another time."

"I can tell. What's up?"

Calleigh rattled off the entire story, and when she finished, Mac was almost speechless. She heard Stella's voice in the background, and Calleigh said quickly, "So I need that case file, from when Mike raped that girl, can you fax it to the hospital in New Orleans?"

"Sure, I'll get Stella to do it." Mac said with a slight smile as Stella said in the background,

"I'm not an errand girl, Mac!" Calleigh managed to smile, and pretty soon Mac came back on the line and said,

"It's on it's way, Calleigh. I hope it helps, and when you find Horatio, have him give me a call, okay?"

"Will do, Mac. And thanks." She said, her voice softening at the end.

"You're very welcome." Mac said, equally soft, and then they clicked off as a nurse brought the case file to Calleigh's room. She handed it to her mom, who read it in disbelief.

But finally, Allyssa believe her, that Mike was a violent rapist, and that he probably had Horatio abducted somewhere.

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Wow. I just wrote that chapter in, about a half hour! Geez, I must really want to get to the good part of the next chapter! I'm working on that chapter now, so it'll be up as soon as possible! Thanks for reading, and I hope you liked this chapter! Adios for now!