The lyrics used in this piece of fan-fiction, are from Passionate Kisses. I don't own anything; it belongs to Mary Chapin Carpenter.
"Alexx, what do we have?" Horatio's low rumble sounded, as he slowly took off his shades and almost immediately started toying with them between his fingers. His eyes rested upon the body of a lifeless young girl, next to whose spread-eagled figure Alexx was squatted.
"Horatio… meet Renee Coleman, fifteen. I dare say nearly every single one of her ribs is broken," Alexx said, gently lifting up the girl's metallic green halter top to expose her abdomen, where no bruises were yet visible. "According to the aspirated blood around her lips, my best guess would be that one of the broken ribs must have penetrated her lungs, consequently filling them up with her own blood, causing her to suffocate in it. I'll be able to find out more at post. I would guess approximately two hours since death – not much longer."
Calleigh quietly lowered her camera, joining them. "Apparently there was a short-circuit in one of the lights, causing the rest of them to burst as well, because of their series circuit," she said, putting down her camera and then looking up at the lights above her. "Glass shards flew everywhere, and in the middle of the commotion a fire broke out, causing all of the alarms to go off."
"Hmm," Horatio said. "Nearly all of these types of lights are parallel circuits now, aren't they? They must be really old."
"Yeah, I talked to the owner. He said that as long as the lights still worked, he didn't have any reason to replace them."
"Horatio," Alexx suddenly piped up, pushing the young girl's blonde hair aside and showing him clear suck marks.
"Those look very recent to me," Calleigh reasoned.
Alexx nodded. "Because she's showing no sign of having been in contact with any glass shards, I think someone pushed her down from the flying pieces, trying to shield her, but broke her ribs during the process... And it might be the very same person that gave her the hickeys. If I couldn't think of anything better, I'd say this girl was being hugged to death," she said, before handing Calleigh a small plastic bag, containing one single short brown hair. "I found this on the girl's top, maybe it's something for you to work with."
Calleigh smiled. "Hopefully," she said, before picking up her kit, and walking out of the crime scene. "See you later at the lab!"
"Horatio," came Frank's low rumble from beside the red haired lieutenant. "I just talked briefly to a few attendants and a fireman; the 'raging' fire didn't seem to have spread farther than the right back side of the building and was under control pretty quickly. Everyone else seems to have gotten away safely," he said, before surveying the teenage girl. "It's truly a shame. Do we have anything?"
"I agree. And well, it appears, Frank, that she's been hugged to death," Horatio spoke, putting his dark shades on.
"Is it too much to ask. I want a comfortable bed that won't hurt my back; food to fill me up and warm clothes and all that stuff. Shouldn't I have this? Shouldn't I have this? Shouldn't I have all of this, and–" Calleigh's tired voice sang. She was just going on to the chorus, when she suddenly heard a low masculine chuckle from behind her. Immediately spinning around on her heels with the gun still in hand, the blond ballistics expert looked up at Horatio, and flashed him a smile. He slowly walked further into the gun range, smiling back.
"Hey, what are you still doing here?" He asked, looking at her sideways.
"Ah, well. I actually prefer a cage full of pretty guns over my studio apartment," Calleigh sighed, turning back around slowly. The blonde's fingers stroked the hard, cool metal of the barrel, before opening the shiny Smith and Wesson revolver's cylinder, making sure to keep the firearm pointed downwards and her fingers off the trigger, just like she'd learned back in her days at the police academy. She could still remember her first shooting practice and the memory never failed to brighten her mood.
Horatio's brow crinkled as he looked at his ballistics expert's back, stating, "You really don't like living there, do you?"
Calleigh shook her head, sighing while cradling the Model 940 revolver with one hand, and pressing the cylinder out from the right side of the firearm. "No," she admitted, reaching out to take one of the nine millimeter cartridges of ammunition laying in front of her and dropping it into one of the open slots in the cylinder, making sure to keep the firearm pointed downwards. "I don't really have another choice, though. I still have a lot of college payments left, and bills don't particularly wait to pile up at my front door, either."
Horatio thought about this as he watched the young CSI repeat the same movement four times, until all five slots in the cylinder were full. She pressed up the loaded chamber slowly, until it clicked into place. "Is there any possibility you could go live with your dad?" The red haired police officer suggested, watching her shake her head almost immediately. He didn't ask more, thinking about Duke's... hobbies, if you could even call them that. Horatio immediately regretted the question. He understood that Calleigh just didn't want to be his babysitter all the time, and needed at least some distance from that which she tried so fervently to get out of her father but simply couldn't, no matter how hard she tried. Her father would always return to the bottle.
"I'm glad that Renee's boyfriend isn't being charged," Calleigh said, trying to keep her tone light as she abruptly changed the topic of conversation back to the case, and turned around again to face him.
"True," Horatio agreed. Alexx's hunch had appeared to have been right, and from the hair on the girl at the crime scene that morning, Calleigh and Speed had been able to track her boyfriend down, who had immediately confessed what had happened and why he had run. "He simply followed his instincts at that moment, trying to save his girlfriend. We are lucky to have good CSIs like you that never give up until they find a loophole if it's the right thing to do," Horatio said, winking.
Calleigh smiled. "Thank you. I learned it from the best, though. I sometimes like to think it's one of the reasons why we are doing it."
"Sure is."
She bit down on her lower lip, chewing it. "I would think fleeing would have been a pretty normal reaction in that situation. Besides, a fire was close by and Jethro was risking his own life when he was trying to resuscitate her. He was only trying to save his girlfriend from getting harmed, but then she was suddenly lying there, unmoving, and not breathing. I think I would have done the same, when I still was that age."
Horatio chuckled. "Does that actually mean that you are over sixteen?"
"Long time," Calleigh cheerfully replied, with one of her mega-watt smiles, before turning back towards the loaded gun and picking up her goggles and ear protectors before smiling at the revolver in front of her. "Come on, Duquesne," Calleigh whispered, more to herself than anyone else. "Ram them into the middle of the target."
Horatio quietly left the ballistics range, closing the heavy gray door behind him, shaking his head with a smile.
Passionate kisses
Passionate kisses, whoa oh oh
Passionate kisses from you
Calleigh rolled her eyes as she brought her yellow Jeep Wrangler to a halt in a line of other cars for the umpteenth time since she'd left the lab. Since when was eleven o'clock at night considered rush hour? As she was waiting in the line of vehicles for the light to turn green, her mind and thoughts wandered off to Renee Coleman's case. She had been such a pretty girl, and had been so loved; so much so that her boyfriend would shield her with his own life. Unfortunately, she'd lost her life in his attempt.
Calleigh sighed away her annoyance as the light finally turned green, her foot releasing the clutch before plunging her other foot onto the gas pedal. As she continued her way home, her mind remained with the fifteen-year-old. She thought of her own love life back then. Fifteen had been the age of her first boyfriend, Ian. The two of them had been together for barely two weeks. She'd seen him look at another girl in a way she hadn't liked and broken it off. She chuckled out loud at her own jealousy and impulsiveness back then. She was anything but impulsive now. Her college education and current job had helped a great deal in that.
She hadn't had a proper boyfriend since the police academy. She sighed. Gosh, was she really that picky? Or did decent guys just have no interest in her? Anymore, at least. She could still see the looks of the guys back then, too. Everyone had been looking at her because she'd been the 'bitch with the guns'. She started laughing. And anytime her fellow police officers in training had met her outside classes and seen her in a skirt or anything remotely 'girly', all eyes were on her and she could expect to hear about it for at least two weeks.
Yeah, she sure had made some heads turn, especially when she'd gone out with Jake Berkeley. The two of them had been a true item, but well... In the end both had realized they had other priorities.
Jake. He'd been her last real boyfriend. Sure, she'd had some flirts in the meantime, but no one she could really count as a boyfriend. And one-night-stands weren't really for her.
She parked her car on the side of the street and leaned back against the headrest. Oh, a really hot bath sounded good. She closed her eyes and thought about that appealing possibility. She imagined calloused yet gentle hands on her shoulders, massaging her there and going lower... "Snap out of it, Duquesne!" Calleigh said to herself, forcing her eyes open and undoing her seat belt.
It was really no good thing if you started imagining your boss with you in the bathroom. Was she really that needy these days? Of course, she had to admit that his low rumble, fiery red hair, and bright ocean blue eyes always– Calleigh's hands came up to her cheeks, slapping them a few times to bring her back to focus, before opening the car door and getting out. A long, hot bath would perhaps do her good.
Is it too much to demand?
I want a full house and a rock and roll band
Pens that won't run out of ink
And cool quiet and time to think
Shouldn't I have this?
Shouldn't I have this?
Shouldn't I have all of this, and
"Alright," Calleigh said to herself, sitting on the edge of the bath tub, sighing. No matter what she tried, the water simply remained cold. She quietly got up and tried the shower, which remained cold as well. No warm water tonight. Great. Just great. Why did this apartment have to have so many deficiencies? Oh, boy. First the fridge didn't work properly, then it was the microwave or the heater, and now it was the hot water. Or rather the lack thereof. Apparently, hot water was too much to ask for tonight.
Passionate kisses
Passionate kisses, whoa oh oh
Passionate kisses from you
CSI Duquesne was not someone who could wake up and retell a whole dream or nightmare. Actually, she hardly ever remembered what she dreamt at night. This time, however, as she was walking into the building for work the next morning she remembered something vague about a familiar redhead lying in her bed. She'd always thought Horatio to have something peculiar about and around him. She'd always thought he had something drawing others to trust him without knowing why, and feel comfortable regardless of the situation.
Do I want too much?
Am I going overboard to want that touch?
I shout it out to the night
"Give me what I deserve, 'cause it's my right"
Shouldn't I have this?
Shouldn't I have this?
Shouldn't I have all of this, and
Calleigh hadn't seen Horatio yet. Three more cases had been called in, and since she had gotten eighty-two bullets shoved into her hands by Eric, having been fired by at least nine different firearms, she basically hadn't left the ballistics lab all day. She had even grabbed something from the fridge in the break room as her lunch instead of going out.
It was a little after midnight when she finished the last touches on her report. It seemed to be later every day. She sighed before getting up from her chair.
Passionate kisses
Passionate kisses, whoa oh oh
Passionate kisses from you
Passionate kisses
Passionate kisses, whoa oh oh
Passionate kisses from you
"What are you still doing here so late?" Horatio questioned as his female ballistics expert walked into his office after politely knocking on the door and receiving an 'enter' in return.
Calleigh smiled, handing him the report and saying, "Says you!"
The red haired lieutenant sighed deeply. "Same thing as you. I prefer working over sitting at home alone. I was just thinking for a while. About maybe getting a somewhat more comfortable couch so that I can truly stay here 24/7. There's always plenty of food and drinks in the break room. I could survive here, but maybe I would have to transport my wardrobe here too, then?"
Calleigh laughed out loud. "What do you say we go for a drink together? Away from the crime lab and our lonely homes?"
Horatio agreed, smiling, turning off the desk light. Calleigh's squeak made him realize that he may know the way to the door in the dark, but she hardly came into his office and did not. "Okay," he said, chuckling. "I'm sorry, just stand still. I'm coming to get you." In response, Calleigh chuckled harder. Horatio vaguely saw the slender, pretty figure of the ballistics expert he liked so much. Alone with her in the dark... He could not think of it, because he already felt something stirring inside that shouldn't be there. His fingertips found her waist and he felt her turn towards him. Her breathing was suddenly close to his ear, trailing down toward his jaw line and resting on his lips. She pushed back, but he pulled her close to him again. "Please don't," he whispered.
Suddenly, the two of them were kissing. Violently. Passionately. And suddenly there was no hesitation anymore, but only pure lust driving them. Clothing fell to the floor and bodies pressed together with the pent-up feelings from six years.
Their drink together was cancelled. Neither of them would ever speak about it again, nor regret any of it. Blushing, especially from the female side, however, would be inevitable for the next couple of days.