Title: Find Out Who Your Friends Are (Skin) 1/?
Author: wolfsong98/Amy/Calleigh
Fandom: CSI Miami
Summary: When the chips are down, you realize who your friends are.
Type: Slash
Rating: FRM
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters, nor am I making any money from this. I'm simply borrowing the characters and I promise to return them when I am done.
Author's Notes: I was listening to songs at random on my ipod and when this song, (Skin by Rascal Flatts), began playing the bunny bit and refused to let go. Also, I want to give a heartfelt thanks to everyone that has provided help whenever I got stuck on this monster of a story or offered their support. Without it, I doubt that I would ever have gotten this far. I would also like to give special thanks to each of my betas (whether in the past or current).
Though this story takes place during the fourth season, the scene in Shattered where Marisol informed Horatio about her cancer never happened. Also the H/Marisol pairing never happened. Regarding the timeline of events in the Vegas series, the lab explosion never happened though the other events up to and including Grave Danger did.
This is the main story in my Skin AU. Originally it was supposed to be only 3-5 pages but now its way more than that. I'm not finished but I was talked into going ahead and posting what I had. *grins*
Warnings: AU. If you are a fan of Natalia Boa Vista, then this story probably isn't for you.
Beta(s): Victoria Innes (past), Maj. Paul, and Beck.
Calleigh silently entered the room and took a seat. Out of habit, the criminalist quickly took note of her surroundings. The young woman couldn't help but wonder why all the waiting rooms that she had ever been in were painted stark white. It seemed ironic to her that a place where some children lost their childhood to disease was painted in the color that represented innocence. Calleigh often saw firsthand how people's lives were affected by what went on inside these walls.
She didn't even want to be here in the first place. With her profession, visits to a doctor's office rarely brought good news. If the choice had been left up to her, Calleigh would have preferred to stay as far away from the doctor as humanly possible. After all, whatever it was that was wrong with her couldn't be all that serious, she thought, trying unsuccessfully to convince herself. When the criminalist first became ill, the young woman thought that all she had was a bad case of the flu. In fact, it wasn't until her appetite had become practically nonexistent and her energy level had plummeted that the suspicion that it could be something more serious than the flu occurred to her.
At first, it wasn't all that difficult for the ballistics expert to hide the fact that she wasn't feeling up to par. However, as time went by hiding the fact that she was sick became progressively harder. After all, Calleigh worked with some of the best CSIs in the country.
It wasn't until she began to lose weight that the team, more specifically Horatio and Ryan, had begun to ask questions. Her mind flashed back to when Horatio had questioned her the first time.
* * *
That day had not started out well at all. Although she had woken up on time, the southern woman soon found herself running late. Calleigh groaned when the outfit that she had laid out the night before was too loose. Her heart rate quickened as every single outfit that she tried on afterwards was similarly baggy. Calleigh finally settled on a white button up shirt that she hadn't been able to wear for a few months as well as a pair of black dress pants. The criminalist then had to search the far reaches of her closet to find a belt that would hold her slacks up.
When she finally arrived at the crime lab, Calleigh's heart was racing as she hurried inside. The young woman knew that she had missed the morning meeting where assignments were handed out. Calleigh quickly made her way down to the locker room and paled. Horatio was there and it was evident that he had been waiting for her. For a minute it was as if her body had forgotten how to breathe. Horatio pulled off his sunglasses as he turned to face his ballistics expert. "Calleigh is everything okay?" he asked.
The blonde did her best to give the boss a reassuring smile. "I'm fine, H. I was running late this morning. Sorry about missing the assignments."
"Trust us when we say it's obvious that something isn't right with you." A new voice sounded from the doorway of the locker room. Horatio raised an eyebrow when Calleigh started at the sound of Ryan's voice.
"I think we just established that you aren't fine." The blonde shot an irritated look at Ryan who just blinked at her with an innocent look on his face. Horatio rolled his eyes, ignoring the interactions going on between his trace and ballistics experts. The lieutenant took a couple of steps forward, coming to a stop directly in front of her. Instinctively, Calleigh took a step backwards. The blonde criminalist had seen the redhead question enough suspects to know that H was like a dog worrying a bone until he got some answers. "It's obvious that you have lost some weight recently." As if to emphasize his point he tilted his head towards her.
It was at that moment that Calleigh realized that she was chewing on her hair; it was a nervous habit of hers. The young woman quickly pulled the strand out of her mouth and tried to casually tuck it behind her ear. She was doing her best to act calm. Her heart was racing and, even though it seemed ridiculous, she felt that Horatio could sense it.
Calleigh gave Horatio a slight smile that was a poor reflection of her usual million-watt smile. Avoiding his piercing gaze, the blonde at long last spoke. "I'll admit that I've lost a few pounds recently. However, I don't think that it's anything to worry about. I'm…I'm just trying out a new diet that I heard about in Woman's World magazine." It was a flimsy excuse at best and it was obvious that neither of her teammates believed her. If she wasn't mistaken, Calleigh thought she heard a cough, which sounded suspiciously like "Bullshit," come from behind her.
The redhead gave Ryan a look before also giving his ballistics expert the same one. Horatio cleared his throat, once more earning the attention of his subordinates. "We will resume this conversation later. In the meantime, Calleigh you will be working with us." When he had finished speaking, the lieutenant calmly left the locker room with Ryan hot on his heels. Calleigh waited until she was sure that they were gone before she breathed a small sigh of relief.
The southern blonde was aware that from that moment on she was under constant surveillance by her colleagues. Horatio usually had Calleigh working with either Ryan or himself. She couldn't remember the last time that she had worked a case solo. For the most part, the fact that she was being watched constantly irked her. However, there was a small part of her that was grateful she had friends that cared so much about her.
* * *
Calleigh winced when she looked down at her arm. That bruise was the main reason behind why she was sitting here in the physician's office. The young woman had received it when a suspect had pushed her into a stack of crates in an attempted bid at freedom. However, instead of getting away he crashed into Horatio. That incident had happened close to a month ago and she still had the same ugly blemish on her forearm.
Calleigh had managed to keep the fact that the bruise had never healed a secret in the weeks following the accident. She eventually became careless. One simple mistake and not only did she have two overprotective crime scene investigators but also the lab's resident mother hen on her case. The ballistics expert could clearly recall the events, barely a week ago, which transpired to procure a doctor's appointment with her name on it.
* * *
The first thing that the Louisiana native became aware of was the upbeat music blaring out of the radio. Groaning, the woman rolled onto her stomach and pulled the pillow over her head. The normally cheerful blonde wasn't feeling all that energetic and was trying to ignore the lively music. After doing her best to ignore sounds such as Rascal Flatts' Love You Out Loud and Alan Jackson's Little Bitty among others, Calleigh gave in. She was just climbing out of bed when Faith Hill's Let's Go to Vegas began playing. Finally pushed past her limits, Calleigh launched her pillow at the radio, succeeding in knocking it to the floor and effectively unplugging it. "I'm up already!" the southern woman cried out in an exasperated voice.
Slowly making her way into the bathroom, the criminalist stepped into her shower. After taking a short, cold, shower Calleigh was awake enough to function and ready to start the day. When she caught sight of the time, the young woman realized that she needed to hurry if she wanted to make it to work in time for the morning meeting. The last thing Calleigh needed was for her to arrive late and have Horatio sniffing around. The blonde reached the hummer in record time. Unable to stand the drive in silence, she turned the radio on.
"Welcome to our first ever Feel Good Friday. Today for the duration of our morning show, we will be playing the latest and greatest country hits that will be sure to put a spring in your step and a smile on your face. This is Cowboy Chris, your DJ and coming up next is The Fireman by George Strait."
The upbeat music did wonders for her mood. By the time she pulled into her parking space at the crime lab, Calleigh was singing along with the radio. The young woman quickly navigated through the hallways and up the stairs until she arrived at her boss' office. So intent was she on making it to the meeting on time, Calleigh failed to notice the one person staring at her with a scathing look on their face. When Calleigh arrived in Horatio's office she was pleased to learn that the meeting hadn't begun.
The good mood did not last for very long. Within minutes of receiving her assignment, Calleigh was both annoyed and upset. This time it wasn't getting paired up with Ryan that bothered her. What was aggravating was that the assignment was a cold case. It didn't help matters that Eric had been given a case to work on solo. The knowledge that it was a floater didn't help at all. When asked what he was going to spend the day doing, the ginger haired detective shook his head and admitted that he was going to spend the day catching up on the piles of paperwork that had taken up residence on his desk.
When the meeting concluded, Calleigh didn't stick around to chat with her teammates. Her quick departure also did not go unnoticed. With a slight nod of his head, Horatio motioned for the level one CSI to follow the retreating blonde. "You got it, H." Eric raised an eyebrow, but remained silent as he followed Ryan out the door.
Ryan groaned. This was not good, he thought to himself. In the few minutes that it had taken him to accept this new task and leave the office, Calleigh had disappeared. The brown haired criminalist rolled his eyes upward while shaking his head. "Why me?" he muttered before he went off to search for his missing partner.
The first place that came to mind of where she might possibly be was the ballistics lab. The surprise was evident on his face when he found the place empty. Ryan was soon aware of someone chuckling from the doorway. Turning towards the source of the quiet laughter, he spoke. "What's so funny Eric?"
The Latino took a deep breath before attempting to answer. "Nothing really, just the look on your face when you realized that Calleigh wasn't here. This would have been the first place I would have checked myself."
"Did you come here just to tell me that or did you have another reason?" Ryan asked sarcastically. "Besides, don't you have a case you need to work on?"
Eric quickly held up his hands. "I was just coming to tell you that I saw Cal. Although, if you're going to be that way…" As if to emphasize his point, the Russian Cuban turned around and acted like he was about to walk off.
Ryan knew that he had been out of line but, considering the hostility that had existed between the two of them from when he was first hired, it was a hard thing to change. At least lately, both of them were doing their best to act civil around each other. "Hey, Eric, wait up." That was as close as Ryan was going to come to an apology unless something far worse was said.
Grinning, Eric turned around. "I knew that would get your attention."
"Shut up." Ryan gritted his teeth, doing his best not to make any scathing comments. "You said you saw Calleigh. You mind telling me where she is?"
"Don't get your briefs in a wad, of course I'm going to tell you. You'll find her in the break room."
"Thanks." A mischievous grin spread across Ryan's face. "Although, I'm not wearing any briefs."
"Too much information," the Cuban groaned while doing his best not to roll his eyes. "And on that note, I'm going to head out to my crime scene."
The brown haired man couldn't help but smirk as he walked past the more experienced CSI. He wished that his camera were with him, instead of it being safely stored inside his kit, to catch the look on Eric's face. Ryan quickly maneuvered through the hallways towards the break room.
Calleigh looked up from pouring herself a cup of coffee when she heard the door to the break room open. The blonde gave Ryan a smile to let him know that she was teasing. "It took you long enough. You looked for me in the ballistics lab didn't you?"
"Yeah, I did."
"You guys know me so well, it's nice to be able to surprise y'all on occasion," the blonde said with a smile as she was reaching for the creamer to put in her coffee. "I know that Horatio had his reasons for giving Eric the active case. After all it was a floater and he might have to do some diving." Without even looking in her partner's direction she added, "You can close your mouth now and stop imitating a fish." Abruptly, Ryan closed his mouth and nodded. He was relieved that his partner was in a better mood. An angry Cal was not an easy person to work with.
"Darn it!"
The exclamation broke Ryan out of his thoughts and brought his attention back to the break room and his colleague. "What's wrong?"
"The night shift emptied the sugar bowl and didn't refill it." Opening the cupboard, the blonde narrowed her eyes. The plastic storage container in which the staff kept the sugar had been pushed all the way to the back of the top shelf. Calleigh had to stand on the very tips of her toes and stretch her arm as far as she could in order to reach the desired ingredient for her coffee. So intent was she on reaching for the sugar, the blonde failed to notice that the sleeves of her shirt had slid down to hug her elbows.
"Need any help?" Ryan asked, knowing that it was just wasting his breath.
Sure enough, Cal glanced over at him from above her outstretched arm and smiled. "I've got it," she said upon extracting her prize from the cupboard. "Thanks for asking, though."
Puzzled as to why there wasn't a playful response to her comment, Calleigh turned around to face an ashen Ryan Wolfe. By following her partner's line of sight, Calleigh discovered what had caused her friend's face to lose its color because hers had as well.
"Damn." The curse escaped her lips before she knew it, making coming up with a reasonable excuse for the contusion that still existed on her right arm impossible.
Calleigh's reaction to his was all the proof Ryan needed to confirm his suspicions. He just raised an eyebrow before turning around and exiting the break room. During the time that it had taken for her to recover her bearings and cover the distance to the door, Ryan had marched up to Horatio's office. As she watched, he knocked before quickly entering.
"I'm going to kill him," she mumbled under her breath. The blonde leaned up against the doorframe, unconsciously tugging at her shirtsleeves, and watched Ryan waving his arms in the air, pacing back and forth across Horatio's office. Not paying any attention to where he was going Ryan slammed right into Horatio's desk and knocked a stack of forms to the ground. Calleigh bit back a smile when her partner stopped his worried pacing and bent down to clean up the mess. Once the trace expert had placed the pile of paperwork back on his boss' desk and made sure that the stack was even, Horatio stood up and walked over to the door motioning for the younger man to follow him.
The coffee was about as Calleigh tried to come up with a place where she could avoid her teammates for the time being. The morgue was out simply because the young woman did not want to have to explain to Alexx exactly why she was avoiding two of the people that were considered, by the lab and herself, to be her best friends. The ballistics lab was also ruled out because that was the first place that anyone who knew her would look. Snapping her fingers, she thought of the perfect place. Neither Horatio nor Ryan would think to look for her in the women's restroom. It was so simple that Calleigh didn't know why she hadn't thought of it sooner. There was only one problem with her solution; the blonde would have to walk right past the steps that led to Horatio's fishbowl of an office.
With a little luck, Calleigh hoped that she could make it past the stairs without being spotted. Unfortunately for her, Lady Luck was not on her side. The blonde had managed to make it a grand total of one step past the stairway leading to the lieutenant's office before she felt his piercing gaze upon her.
"Ms. Duquesne," Horatio's low tone caused Calleigh to stop dead in her tracks. It was at that moment when the Louisiana native realized that she was in serious trouble. Ryan was the only person in the lab that H called by his last name on a regular basis. "Show me your arm."
Knowing that she was already skating on thin ice, the blonde took a deep breath as she turned to face her boss. "It's nothing H, really." When his eyes just narrowed, Calleigh knew that he hadn't bought her excuse.
"I'll be the judge of that. Now, let me see your arm." The younger woman knew better than to wait around for Horatio to tell her to do something for a third time. Reluctantly, she slowly rolled up her right sleeve revealing the evidence that she had been trying so hard to hide.
Upon seeing the mark which covered his associate's arm, the older man grew even more concerned. When Ryan had first told him about the bruise still being present on Calleigh's arm, Horatio had been skeptical. He first thought that the younger man might have mistaken it for a more recent bruise. However, after seeing the contusion for himself the redhead knew that it was the same one. It had an unusual pattern due to an imperfection in the wooden crate that she had been shoved against.
"Come with us."
"Where are we going?" Calleigh asked Horatio.
"You are going to see Alexx." Horatio explained. "We are going to escort you in order to make sure you inform her about the situation with your arm." Hearing those words caused the Calleigh's face to lose what little color it had left.
"Calleigh, you need to go see Alexx. We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Ryan added, putting in his two cents, while holding up his pair of handcuffs. "Your choice."
"I'd like to see you try," the ballistics expert retorted, placing her hands on her hips.
While Calleigh was focusing her attention on Ryan, she failed to notice Horatio slipping up behind her.
"Looks like it's going to be the hard way," her boss stated simply, startling the blonde as he quickly cuffed the arm in question. The two men had correctly anticipated Calleigh's reactions. Working in unison, Ryan stepped closer to his partner blocking her as she tried to step away from Horatio, who grabbed her left arm before she could jerk it out of his reach and quickly closed the other cuff around it.
"Come on guys, it's just a little bruise. Alexx doesn't need to know about this." But Calleigh's pleas fell on deaf ears. Both men flanked her as they ushered the ballistics expert down to the morgue.
Alexx was standing with her back facing the door and was in the process of washing her hands when they entered. What the older woman saw when she turned around, managed to morph Alexx's smile into a worried and confused frown.
"What is going on here?" She asked, crossing her arms in front of her. "Please tell me why you have my baby girl handcuffed."
"It's just a big ole misunderstanding Alexx," Calleigh answered quickly, rather too quickly. "Nothing you should worry about." The younger woman finished by flashing Alexx one of her dazzling smiles.
The lab's mother hen narrowed her eyes as her hands migrated down to her hips. Reacting quickly, Ryan stepped behind Horatio who grabbed his ballistic expert's shirt sleeve and tugged it high enough that the bruise was visible. This resulted in the medical examiner raising an eyebrow at the familiar contusion before turning the ferocity of her glare on Calleigh.
"Nothing I should worry about?" The younger woman winced at the anger in Alexx's tone. "You have a bruise that doesn't heal within the normal time frame and think that it's nothing to worry about. Do you have a medical degree?" Calleigh wisely stayed silent but shook her head 'no'. "I didn't think so."
Ryan's eyebrows shot upwards, but he made no move to emerge from his spot behind Horatio. He watched as Alexx marched over to where Calleigh was standing and reached into her pants pocket. When the medical examiner withdrew her hand, it was firmly grasping the ballistic expert's cell phone. Swiftly, Alexx flipped the phone open and dialed a number she knew by heart. Her guests threw the older woman questioning looks as Alexx made the call. The medical examiner simply held up a single finger as she put the call on speakerphone. After a couple of rings, a cheerful voice answered.
"Dr. Cates office, this is Jessica speaking. How may I help you?"
"Yes, this is Alexx Woods. I would like to set up an appointment for a friend of mine."
"Is this person a new patient or have we seen them before?" The receptionist asked.
"She's new." Alexx told the woman on the other end. Calleigh opened her mouth to protest, but the glare that her adopted mother shot her silenced any possible protests.
"We have an opening for next Friday at two. What is the patient's name?"
"Her name is Calleigh Duquesne. The last name is spelled D-u-q-u-e-s-n-e."
"All right, I have her marked down. Since Ms. Duquesne is a new patient, she will need to arrive an hour early and have her insurance card with her."
"She'll be there. Thank you, Sweetie." Ending the call, the medical examiner closed the phone and turned her attention back to the woman she considered to be her daughter. Alexx waited until Calleigh was looking her square in the eyes before she spoke.
"You will go to that appointment. This is not up for discussion. Do not even think about canceling or rescheduling it. If that happens, I will make another appointment for you. After which, you will stay with my family. Additionally, we will make sure that you are not left alone until you have been to see the doctor. Are we clear?"
"Crystal," the ballistics expert answered quickly yet sincerely.
"Horatio, dear, un-cuff my baby, please."
Once Calleigh was free of the restraints, she rubbed her wrists restoring the circulation to them. It was only after feeling returned to her hands and the older woman's back was turned, that Calleigh glared at the two men. Additionally, in a moment of childishness, she stuck her tongue out at Ryan.
"Alexx!" He called out. When the medical examiner turned around, the Louisiana native was doing her best to look innocent.
"Calleigh, there are times when you can pull the innocent routine off, but this isn't one of them." Ryan retorted before he could reign in his tongue. The blonde dramatically held her hand to her chest acting hurt. This proved to be too much for Horatio. He snorted at Calleigh's antics before he could stop himself. When the three of them turned to look at him, as if to verify that they had indeed heard what they had thought that they had heard, a blush was creeping up that rivaled his hair. As if they were a single entity, the four of them started laughing.
"So… so that's why… why we've never heard you laugh so freely," Ryan managed to gasp out between bouts of laughter.
"Don't worry Handsome, your… your secret is safe with us." Calleigh added, holding her sides. Once she had caught her breath, the younger woman turned around to face her adopted mother. "Alexx, may I please have my phone back now?"
"Sure thing, Sugar," the older woman replied placing the cell phone in her palm.
"Come on, let's see what we can find out about this cold case," the younger woman replied as she grabbed her partner's wrist dragging him out of the morgue. The trace expert looked over at Alexx and managed to mouth the word help before he was unceremoniously yanked out of the doorway.
"Kids these days," Alexx commented, still chuckling.
"And on that note, I need to get back to the mountains of paperwork that are taking up residence on my desk."
"All right, take care Honey." The medical examiner gave the redhead a smile and a small pat on his shoulder. "You really should laugh more. You have a… a nice laugh." Horatio blushed once more as he made a hasty exit out of the morgue. Alexx's face broke out into a huge smile as she watched the retreating figure.
* * *
