This is a bit of AU with a sprinkling of "real life" thrown in. The time line is a mess. I just threw everything into a big bowl and mixed it up until I came up with the story I wanted. It's a Du-Caine story, but just run the hip huggers train off the track, I put in just a dab of that ship, and then wrecked it. I can't help it; I'm married to a pirate!

1Twice the Love

Calleigh sat on her bathroom floor staring at the white stick. Blue. How could it be blue? Just four weeks ago she and Horatio were forced to separate again due to departmental regulations. This had happened more times in their relationship than she wanted to count. She brushed a tear away from her cheek. How was she going to tell him? Stetler was already breathing down his neck, suspecting them of the rule violation. Now in just a few months, verification of that violation was going to make an appearance. They had been so careful, she had no idea how this could have happened. Then she smiled, remembering one night in particular. She'd had a rough day, and was upset with him because he'd gone home early, leaving her to deal with the case on her own. When she arrived home, he had dinner cooked, and the house was filled with candles and flowers. That was three months ago. They'd been so caught up in the romance of the evening, they'd forgotten protection.

The chirping of her phone brought her out of her trance. It was him. He always seemed to sense when she needed him.

"Hey, Handsome." They were no longer together, but she couldn't stop calling him that.

"Good morning, Beautiful, I didn't wake you, did I?"

"No, I've been up for a while. What's up?" She was glad she'd sent Eric home last night. He was already jealous of her bond with Horatio.

"I was wondering if you wouldn't mind coming in for a bit today. I know it's your day off, but there was a big shooting on the causeway last night, and night shift made a mess out of the Ballistics."

Calleigh sighed quietly. He always knew there were two things she couldn't say no to…him, and her beloved Ballistics lab. "Sure, Horatio, just give me about an hour and I'll be there."

"Are you all right? You sound a bit off."

She looked at the stick again, and tears filled her eyes. "No, I'm fine. I'll see you in a bit, OK?"

"OK, but if you need to talk about anything, you know I'm here, right?"

"I know, I can always count on you. Thanks." She closed her phone and let the tears fall. How was he going to take this? Maybe some time off would help her decide how to deal with it. She could go home to see her mother and brothers for a while.

When she got to CSI she headed straight to her lab, where she found it in total disarray. None of the bullets were tagged, no paperwork completed, they'd left it all for her, knowing that she'd take care of it. "Damn it!" She pounded her fist on the metal table.

"Calleigh?"

"Not now, Horatio. They didn't do a damned thing. Not a damned thing!"

"I know, Sweetheart, I'm sorry, they'll be written up for it."

"And yet, you call me in, instead of making them come back and clean up their own mess!"

"What's wrong, Calleigh? This isn't like you, and this morning I could've sworn you were crying on the phone."

How the hell could he have known that? "Sorry, Horatio. It's just all the stress that we've been going through. I was thinking…could you do without me for a couple of weeks? I thought I might go see my family in Louisiana."

She couldn't tell him that she had been struggling with letting him go for good and settling down with Eric. That is, until this morning. Now she just needed to get her head together and decide which man to stay with. She could either go back to Horatio and hurt Eric, or stay with Eric and let him help raise Horatio's child. Either way someone was getting hurt.

"Calleigh, are you still with me? I said I'd rather have you here, but if you feel you need the time, of course. I'll go put the paperwork through right now." She never asked for time off, this had to be something serious.

"Thanks. I'll get this mess taken care of by the end of the day, and then I'll try to get a flight out tomorrow."

"So soon?"

"Yeah, I think I just need to sit on the porch in the swing and sip on some sweet tea for a few days."

"I'll miss you." He laid his hand on her arm and looked into her eyes. He looked hurt, and it killed her to be the cause of that hurt.

"I'll miss you, too, I promise not to forget where my home is, though."

Late Sunday afternoon she pulled her rented Jeep into her mother's yard. Her brothers and all her nieces and nephews ran out to greet her.

"It's good to see ya, Sis. You gonna tell us what this visit is all about?"

"What, can't a girl just miss her family?"

"Yeah, but you never take vacations, and especially not two weeks, not even when that nutjob was after you."

"I'll talk y'all about it later, after the kids are in bed, and if you're lucky, I might stay longer than just two weeks."

"Oh, we get it. You and your sometimes boyfriend are on the outs again, right?"

"That's old news. We've been on the outs for almost two months, not by choice. They threatened to transfer Horatio and put me on the night shift, so we had to back off. At least while we're on the same shift we can at least see each other and talk. I've actually been seein' Eric for a while now."

"That diver guy? It won't last, you're too much in love with that boss of yours, and here you are, three states away from him."

"You boys are makin' me crazy. I'm gonna take a drive and see all the new homes up the road that have gone up, and take a look at all the crops…maybe borrow some of the corn I saw growin' up the road."

"Don't be too long, Sis, Mom should be home from the market soon…and be careful, there's lots farm equipment traffic."

She tossed her hair as she headed to the Jeep. "I haven't been away THAT long." She sassed. She started up the dirt road, stopping at the first corn field to pick some fresh corn. The family that owned this field had been friends with her family since before she was born. As she began to move further down the road, she caught a glimpse of a large tractor heading towards her at an unusually fast speed. She tried to avoid the collision, but the tractor caught the back end of her Jeep. When she came to, the Jeep was in the corn field, and her body ached. She could see the tractor lying on its side, but no sign of the driver. She tried to unlatch her seatbelt, but her arms weren't cooperating. Her purse wasn't in the seat next to her. She looked in the mirror and saw blood on her face, and realized that the Jeep must have rolled over. Without her purse, she had no cell phone to call for help, so she put her head back on the headrest and prayed that someone would find her.

"Calleigh, Calleigh!" She heard a voice calling her, but couldn't wake up. "She's alive, get the paramedics over here!"

Who was saving her? "-ratio?"

"No, Sis, it's Jackson. When you didn't come back, we came looking for you, and saw the tractor, then found you."

"Where's Horatio?"

"He's in Miami, Calleigh, he wasn't with you, remember?" The paramedic began cutting her loose from the seatbelt and lifting her onto the gurney.

"Don't hurt the baby." The paramedic began looking in the Jeep for evidence of a child. "No, not in there…"she touched her abdomen…"in here."

"Oh, Sis, does Horatio know?"

She shook her head. "I was gonna tell him when I got back"

"I'm gonna call him, I'll just tell him that you were in an accident and asked for him, then you can decide what to do from there."

Calleigh tried to shake her head as the paramedic was placing the cervical collar around her neck. "Don't call him. Wait and see what happens."

"Cal…"

"I said NO, Jack!"

"Fine, Sis, I won't call him. Have it your way." She didn't say not to call their father, though, and Jackson knew that he would get word to Horatio Caine.

Eric stuck his head in Horatio's office. "Hey, H., have you see Calleigh?"

She must not have told him where she was going. "She took some time off, Eric. She said she wasn't feeling well."

"She didn't say anything about it to me. What's wrong with her?"

"Well, you aren't the one that needs to approve time off, and I didn't ask. She never asks for time off, so I assumed it was something important. Do you need anything else?"

"No, that was it…I'll get back to working on the fingerprints."

As Eric left Horatio's office his phone rang. "Horatio."

"Lieutenant, this is Paula at the front desk. Kenwall Duquesne is here to see you."

"Thank you, Paula, tell him I'll be right down."

As he stepped off the elevator, Kenwall rose to meet him. "Duke, how are you doing?"

Kenwall appeared visible shaken. "Not as good as my little girl. She left town because of you, and now she's in the hospital fighting for her life and…" he lowered his voice…"and the life of your child".

"My what? I don't know where you got this information, but I can assure you…"

"I got the information from my son, Jackson. His wife, Ruthie, is the attending Obstetrician at the hospital where Calleigh was admitted."

"I know she was under the weather when she left, but she told me she was fine. Why is she in the hospital? What happened?"

"She rented a Jeep and was driving down the road near our house, when a neighbor kid joy riding a tractor broadsided her…rolled her Jeep over. Her purse was in a cornfield so she couldn't call for help, no one found her for about an hour. She sat in the hot sun, trapped and bleeding."

"How is she? And how's the baby?"

"She's fighting, and so's the baby. They're both tough."

"Are you flying out there?"

"No, she doesn't need to be subjected to her parents' bickering, but YOU need to get out there right away."

"We're…we're not seeing each other. She's seeing Eric Delko now, maybe he's the one that you should be having this conversation with."

"He isn't the father of that baby. You are, and my lamb chop needs you. Jackson said that the first thing she said when she regained consciousness was your name. She wanted to know where you were…so, like I said, you need to get out there, or I'm gonna be your worst nightmare. Do we understand each other?"

"Yes, Sir, we do."

"Oh, and another thing, that Eric fella doesn't need to know. I'm thinkin' that he's just a rebound attraction."

"Good idea." Horatio smiled as the men shook hands. He watched Duke exit the building, then retreated to his office and closed the door. He had some phone calls to make…airline, rental car, and a call to the chief to let him know the situation. If he had his way, he'd come back married to Calleigh Duquesne.

The next day after his plane landed in New Orleans, Horatio picked up his rental car and followed Duke's directions to the Duquesne farm. Horatio smiled as he pulled into the driveway, thinking of Calleigh as a child on this property. The large oak trees held tire swings and tree houses, and the house had a wraparound porch, complete with porch swings. As he pulled up to the house, several small children ran out to meet him.

"Who're you?" The girl looked to be about ten, with long blonde hair and green eyes, if he didn't know better, he'd swear that she was Calleigh's child. The children were quickly followed out by a man who was a few years older than Calleigh.

"I'm bettin' this is your aunt's friend from Miami, Sugar."

Horatio extended his hand to the man. "That's right…Horatio Caine. You must be one of her brothers."

He took Horatio's hand. "Jackson Duquesne…nice to meet you finally. Come on in and have some tea, and I'll fill you in on Cal before you go to see her."

Horatio nodded. "I take it she doesn't know I'm here."

"No, she wanted to see how things went at the hospital before I called you, since you didn't know everything yet. She told me not to call you, but she didn't say not to call Dad."

"He's pretty worried about her, but was afraid that if he came out here he and your mother would just start fighting."

"Yep, that's what always happens. They have the best intentions; I think they even still love each other…they just can't be in the same room for any length of time without arguing." The men moved towards the house, and the kids followed, rushing past them and into the living room. "Kids, go out and play for a bit so the grownups can talk." The little blonde put her hands on her hips and started to say something, but her father cut her off. "No sass from you, Missy, I said outside!" The child turned on her heel and slammed out the front door. "She is too much like her aunt. When she was little people actually thought that Cal was her mother."

"I noticed the resemblance. She's a beautiful child. Are all the children yours?"

"No, I'm a stay at home dad, so my brothers bring their kids over for babysitting. Mom loves it, Ruthie and I love it because it keeps Mom sober. We moved in here with Mom once Ruthie was done with med school, so she could help with babysitting. Right after that the plant that I was working at closed down, so I became the designated babysitter."

Horatio chuckled. "How's that working out for you?"

"At first I hated it; I was used to working 12 hour days. Now my days are spent repairing tree houses, cooking helping with homework…I don't know how women do it!" He poured a glass of tea for Horatio. "This might be a bit too sweet for ya…Mom makes hers a bit sweeter than Cal's."

He took a sip. "No, not too sweet, very refreshing. I'd never tasted sweet tea until Calleigh made it. It really grows on you. Now I'm sure you sent the children out so we could talk about Calleigh. How's she doing, really?"

"She's in a lot of pain, she's covered with cuts and bruises, she dislocated her shoulder where the seatbelt pulled on her, and she has a concussion, along with some cracks in her skull bones. The doctors have her as medicated as they can, but with the pregnancy, she's not able to take the stronger pain medications. Ruthie is monitoring the situation closely. Even with all her other injuries the baby is the biggest concern. Calleigh refused one of the doctor's suggestion to terminate the pregnancy so they could better treat her. She threw him out of her room and told him not to bother coming back or she'd shoot him."

"That's my Calleigh. When things aren't going right, shoot the gun." He smiled, thinking about all the times she'd gone to the gun range after an argument. "So, when can I see her?"

"Let's get you unpacked, maybe some lunch in you, and then I'll give you directions to the hospital. I'm sure once you get there you aren't gonna want to leave right away."

"Unless she threatens to shoot me!"

"Nah, she was unarmed. There are guns upstairs in her room, though."

"She brought her guns with her?"

"No, she has a gun safe in the floor of her closet, and keeps a couple in there for when she's here. I don't know what to tell ya, she's obsessed!"

He laughed again. "Don't I know it!"

The two men unpacked the car and Jackson brought Horatio's luggage upstairs while Horatio enjoyed some reheated crawfish etouffe.

"I put your things in Cal's room Horatio. I hope you don't mind pinks. Since Cal was the only girl, Mom and Dad made sure her room was girly, since she wasn't."

"She's definitely girly, Jackson, though she tends to favor earth tones now. This is excellent, Calleigh makes it from time to time."

"Yeah, she loves her Cajun cookin'. Speakin' of lovin', tell me about this Eric person…what's the deal with her and him?"

"She got tired of the department rules continuously interfering with our relationship, so she broke it off. Eric has worked with us for almost as long as Calleigh has, but he's always been like a little brother to her. He was shot a while back, he still has a portion of the bullet lodged in his brain, probably always will, but when he regained consciousness, he had lost part of his memory. He thought his sister, my first wife, was still alive, and he thought that he and Calleigh were a couple. Calleigh has always tried to make it clear that they are friends, but Eric has always pushed for more. As soon as it was clear that we were no longer a couple, he swooped in to comfort her."

"You're the one she wants. You should have heard her when we found her. I was screaming her name, and all she could say was your name, and not to hurt your baby."

"But she wouldn't let you call me."

"I think she was afraid that she might lose the baby. She said to wait until she got to the hospital and found out what was going on."

"Speaking of the hospital, I'd better get going. Do you have any idea of what the visiting hours are?"

"Cal's in a private room, it's one of the benefits of being the sister in law of an attending. I'll call Ruthie and have a rollaway put in the room in case you want to stay with her. Keep in mind, with all the injuries; she might not be able to talk to you."

"I don't need her to talk; I just need to be with her. Do you mind writing down the directions while I go upstairs and pack an overnight bag?"

"Not a problem, it's the second door on the left."

Thirty minutes later he was met at the elevator by Ruthie Duquesne. He smiled when he saw her long red hair…it made him feel like family.

"Hi, you must be Horatio. Jackie said I'd know you by your hair color, I guess he was right. The Duquesnes must go for red heads."

"How is she, Doctor?"

"Well first thing, we're family, I'm Ruthie. Secondly, I think she's gonna be just fine. We haven't told her about the boy that hit her, he was dead on the scene, the tractor rolled over him. She's cut, bruised and scared to death that she's gonna lose that baby, and she's gonna be pretty mad when she finds out I'm puttin' her on bed rest when she gets out of the hospital."

"How long will she be in the hospital?"

"Until I'm sure that baby is stayin' put. I've got her on medication that stopped the contractions. Normally we only do that when the mother is further along…but this is Calleigh we're talkin' about. She made me promise to do everything possible to save that baby."

"I didn't even know. We've been having problems with department rules. She actually left me and was dating someone else."

"Well, I wouldn't worry about that right now. She talked to Jack about that, and told him that you were the one she loved, and that this baby was definitely yours. Hey, how about I do the ultrasound tonight? I was gonna let a tech do it tomorrow, but if she's up to it, let's all see the baby together."

"As long as it doesn't cause her any pain."

"No, actually I think it'll be good for her to see that the baby is fine…and seein' your face won't hurt either."

"You don't think she'll be upset that I'm here?"

"Are you kiddin'? Every time she wakes up, you're the first person she asks for. She even asks for you in her sleep. She may pretend to be upset, but believe me, she'll be happy to see you."

Horatio shook his head and followed Calleigh's sister in law down the hall. Ruthie peeked in the door and turned back to him. "She's sleeping, so you go in, and I'll go get the machine and bring it to her. No sense movin' her if we don't have to."

He nodded and slipped quietly into the room. As Jackson promised, there was a rollaway bed next to Calleigh's bed, and a recliner on the other side of her bed. He quietly placed his overnight bag on his bed, and then moved over to his chair, his eyes never leaving her. She was on her side, facing the chair, hair draped across her face. He carefully brushed her hair out of her eyes and she started to stir and whisper his name.

"Calleigh." She moved slightly, so he tried a bit louder. "Calleigh."

Her eyes fluttered open slowly. "Horatio? Oh, I'm gonna kill Jackson, I told him not to…"

"He didn't call me, Sweetheart, he called your dad. Your dad came by the station and told me what happened."

"And you got right on a plane…even though we're not…"

"I didn't tell Eric. Your father asked me not to, he said that you were asking for me."

"He doesn't know?"

"Just how serious is it between you two?"

"Horatio, we just started seeing each other, then I find out about the baby…I wasn't sure what to do. So I came out here to think things over, decide how I was gonna handle the situation. Just know that termination and not telling you were never options."

"Yeah, I heard about the poor doctor that suggested termination because of your injuries."

"Oh, God…does patient confidentiality mean nothing?"

"Ruthie didn't tell me."

"Jackson again…but she told him."

"It's family, Calleigh."

"Speaking of family…where's Ruthie?"

"She's getting the ultrasound machine brought up here. She thought we might like to see the baby."

"I'd love that." She reached over and squeezed his hand. "Thanks for coming. I can't believe you just dropped everything, after what I did to you."

"I love you, Calleigh, and I'm sure you still love me. If you need me, I'm always going to be right by your side." He leaned forward and gave her a soft kiss. "So, aside from being upset at your doctors and shocked that I'm here, how are you feeling?"

"Like I got run over by a tractor." She laughed. "Oh, I gotta remember not to laugh like that. My body aches, my shoulder feels like an elephant is sittin' on it, and my head is poundin'. Do I look as bad as I feel?"

"Well, I see some cuts and bruises, but you're still the most beautiful woman in the world."

"Hey, at the Duquesne house, those are fightin' words!" Ruthie laughed as she wheeled the machine into the room. "Well, he's still alive, so I guess you've forgiven him for rushin' to your side?"

"I wouldn't have expected anything else from him." She looked up and smiled at him. God, she'd missed him.

"So…you two ready to see the newest addition to the Duquesne family?"

"Caine, Ruthie…Horatio's child is a Caine."

"Well, then…let's take a look at Caine Junior." She lifted Calleigh's gown and squirted the gel on her abdomen.

"Hey, that's cold…you could a warned me!" She chuckled.

"Oh, sorry, Sis…the gel is cold." Horatio smiled shaking his head. It was nice to see this side of the woman he loved. A funny sound began to come out of the speakers on the machine. "There ya go…that's the heartbeat. Let me just…wait, that's not right."

Calleigh squeezed Horatio's hand hard. "What's not right?"

"Listen to the heart beat. It sounds like an echo." She moved the transducer around a bit more, and then smiled. "Aha! There's the reason! Take a look at this." She pointed to two areas of movement on the screen. "Baby number one…and baby number two! Those kids may be Caines, Cal…but you've inherited the Duquesne curse."

Horatio was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that they were having twins. "Duquesne curse?"

"All the Duquesne women have twins on their first pregnancy…have for centuries."

"Can we tell the sexes yet?"

"Next ultrasound, Cal."

"And they're all right? I mean, do you see any bleeding or anything?"

"Nope, everything looks perfect. Congratulations, you two! I can't wait to tell Jack and Mom."

"Ruthie…not a word! Jackson will be on the phone to Dad, and then all of Miami will know. There's something I have to take care of first."

"You take all the fun out of being an OB, ya know? Ok, now I have some news that you're not gonna like. I actually already told Horatio, but that was before I knew about the twins…You're gonna need some bed rest to make sure these kids stay put. I was gonna say just a month, but now, with twins, it may need to be longer."

"Ruthie!"

"Calleigh, you've been driving the staff here nuts making sure you don't miscarry…so are you gonna listen to me or not."

She looked up at Horatio. "And you were in on this. I suppose you're gonna move in with me to make sure I stay in bed?"

"Actually, my place is bigger. I never use my home office, and only Ray Jr. uses the guest room…I have a fenced yard that opens onto the beach…I was thinking you could move in with me."

"You've got all this figured out, haven't you?"

"There's more, but you need rest."

"You're leaving?"

"No, take a look over there." He pointed to the extra bed. "You are stuck with me, Ms. Duquesne."

"Good, then I'll have someone to wait on me hand and foot…since I'm on total bed rest and all." She smirked at him.

"Well, I know you're feeling better now, the sassy girl is back."

She yawned and stretched, moaning at the pain in her back. "No, I'm not sassy, I'm cranky. I'm sorry, Horatio. I just ache all over."

"Have they given you anything for the pain?"

"Nothing strong enough to dull the pain, it'll hurt the baby. I can't believe this." Tears were starting to form.

"Can't you do anything to help her?" He looked over at Ruthie who was moving the ultrasound machine out of the room.

"Well, I was going to send in someone from rehab to massage her, but now that you're here…" She smiled at Horatio…I thought maybe you'd like to do it yourself."

"What if I hurt her?"

"I'll send rehab in to give you a lesson. In the meantime, I'll send the nurse in with some Tylenol. Oh, I almost forgot, here are the first pictures of the twins. You'll want them for your baby books."

Horatio took the pictures from her and smiled. His children…he never got to experience this part of Kyle's life. He walked over to Calleigh's bed and sat next to her, gently gathering her in his arms. "Thank you, Calleigh."

She looked up at him. "For what?"

"For letting me be a part of this."

"You being a part of your child, uh, children's lives was never an issue. I just had to decide how I was going to do this without hurting someone. I could leave Eric and hope you'd take me back. I could stay with Eric and let you watch him help with the parenting of your child, or I could just hand the baby over to you. Either way, someone is getting hurt."

"So, have you come up with an answer?"

"Well, you being here is making the decision pretty easy. You and I have a long history together. I never stopped loving you, I just couldn't deal with the departmental rules that kept changing from month to month. Eric and I…" She looked at his frown…stop frowning, it's not like you think. Eric and I are nothing like you and I. Yes, he's spent the night at my house…but we've never had sex. I guess I just wasn't as ready to move on as I thought."

"When did you find out about the baby?"

"The morning that you called me in, when the night shift totally messed up my lab."

"I knew you sounded off that morning, and I was right, you HAD been crying, am I right?"

"I had no clue how to tell you…to tell Eric. I just needed some time to think."

"Calleigh, all I could think of on my way out here is that I couldn't stand it if something happened to you, or our child. I knew if you lost the baby it would be hard on us, but we'd get through it. I also knew that I didn't want to leave here without…and hear me out on this before you get all excited…I want us to get married, Calleigh."

"Married! Are you crazy Horatio? IAB would be all over both of us!"

"I've already talked to the chief. You'll have to take an extended maternity leave, with the bed rest and all, and by then we can show everyone that people can work together and be married as well."

"Horatio Caine, you have lost your mind." She paused as the nurse came in with her medication. She handed her the pills and started to inject a solution into her IV line. "Wait, what's that stuff? Ruthie said only Tylenol."

The nurse checked her chart again. "Oh, this is to keep you from having contractions. See those little blips on that monitor? That's your fetal monitor, and those blips are small contractions. They have to totally stop before your doctor will even think of letting you go home."

"It's making me tired."

"Calleigh…" Horatio was now rubbing her abdomen…the twins need you to relax and rest." He nodded to the nurse, who injected the medication. "Now, snuggle down right here and get some sleep, Sweetheart. I'll be right here when you wake up."