I want to thank all who have read my other stories and to apologize for not updating them like I had wanted. My laptop has been on the fritz for the last couple months and the stories that I have been writing were on the laptop. In order for me to continue those stories, I will need to upgrade my server to Vista, which is proving difficult. I do promise to continue, but give me time, the computer takes forever to load and so I refuse to use it. Instead I use the home computer.


Chapter 1- Landing

As two people walk out of the airplane and down the ladder provided, the woman couldn't help but take in the scenery before her. The airstrip that they landed on was in a way the dessert, but not looking like one. On one side of the strip there were trees and flowers, making it look like an oasis, while on the other was nothing but sand.

Funny scenery for an airstrip she thought as she continued down the ladder, making sure to keep her right hand on the railing.

As her feet touched the ground, she looked behind her to see her coworker too walking down the ladders steps. As he too touched ground, he looked at her for a brief period before walking ahead of her to the limo ahead of them. She looked at him leaving her side and to hide the tears that were certainly about to leave her eyes, she placed her rounded sunglasses on her nose before she too walked to the limo.

Once they were both situated in the limo, one on one end and the other at the other, the limo driver was ready to go. The bags they brought with them were in the trunk and the ones that they carried with them were at their sides. She refused to look at him so she opted to look out the window. He wasn't keen on looking out the window so instead he looked at her.

She knew that he was looking at her, but refused to acknowledge his presence. She knew that it was her fault for their lack of communication....yes it was her fault. She was the one to go behind his back and date a coworker, but it was partly his fault too she thinks. He was the one that dated that said coworker's sister. After that, they refused to talk to one another. Now, as they await their stop at the hotel, she wonders why he invited her to this conference? He doesn't talk to her anymore.

"Why did you choose me?" she asked the redhead seated across the limo from her "I mean, out of all the others you could take, why me?"

"I thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to fix the problems in our work relationship" he answered before the space fell silent once more.

All she hoped for was that they booked them in separate rooms, she wouldn't last a week with her boss if they hadn't. A lone tear ran down her cheek.

When they arrived at the Palms Hotel, the limo driver was the first to exit in order to open the door for his clients. As his clients both exited his limo, he could tell by the tear streaks on the woman's face that she had been crying. He didn't want to get into her business but he had to see if everything was alright.

"Is everything alright ma'am?" the limo driver asked the blonde

Startled out of her own thoughts when she heard the driver talk to her, she almost tripped if it weren't for the still open door. Instead of answering the drivers question, she smiled and nodded her head.

He watched her wait by the door of the hotel as he went to the trunk and got the luggage out. He placed them by his side as he closed the trunk and then picked them up in order to carry them to the woman.

"I can take them from here" the blonde told him "Thanks for your help" she once again told him as she placed a tip into his hands before grabbing the luggage and carrying them inside.

The driver got back into the limo and drove off, still worried about the blonde woman.

"Welcome to the Palms Hotel, my name is Kali, how may I assist you?" the receptionist greeted

"I have a reservation under the name Caine"

As the receptionist clicked away on the keyboard, his gaze was drawn to his second in command, whom was carrying the luggage in her hands and coming closer.

"Ah, yes, Mr. Horatio Caine, we have you booked in one of our suites. It has two beds in case you brought along company" Kali told Horatio "Is there anything else you need ?"

Looking once more at his second in command, who has stopped a few feet behind him, he could tell something was wrong. Turning back to the receptionist-Kali-he shook his head and grabbed the plastic card keys that were in her hand.

"Thank you"

"You enjoy your stay" she told Horatio


As they entered the suite, Horatio grabbed his bag from his colleague and walked into one of the two rooms located inside. He was only gone for a minute so when he returned, he saw his colleague still standing where he last saw her.

"Calleigh, what is wrong?" he asked her, seeing that she has yet to remove her sunglasses when the room they were in was semi covered in darkness, except for some of the light coming through the cracked open curtains.

She looked around the suite before returning her gaze to the man in front of her. She could tell what he was thinking, but refused to acknowledge it, or she just refused to consider the fact that the redhead in front of her seemed like a foreign object from the way he refused to talk to her, let alone work with her.

"Nothing is wrong" she replied, hauling her luggage to the other room located to the right of the one that Horatio had just exited from, Thank god this room has two separate rooms she thought as she entered the room and shut the door behind her, locking it.

For the next few hours, Calleigh had refused to remove herself from the room. When she first entered, she immediately took out a pair of pajama pants and a top and changed into them, not caring that it was still light outside. Once she had changed and closed the curtains the rest of the way, leaving her in total darkness, she gathered the covers and placed herself under them. She closed her eyes and lightly cried herself to sleep.

On the other side of the door, Horatio could hear her soft cries and it literally broke his heart. He knew what he was doing to his friend and it hurt him to do so, he just hoped that this convention that they were invited to will help fix their broken relationship and mend ties.

He hoped.


TBC...