Title: Cry Havoc

Summary: "Cry 'havoc!' And let slip the dogs of war" –Julius Caesar.

Horatio is sick of Stetler's treatment of Yelina, and decides to take matters into his own hands.

Chapter Summary: Yelina comes across Horatio right after his goodbye conversation with Rebecca

Rating: G for now, might change later on for language or violence

He wasn't sure if he could be more angry with himself, although really, he should be angry at her. Ironic, he thought—he'd started dating Rebecca partly because he'd been attracted to her, and partly because he wanted to see what would happen if he had a relationship with someone he worked with. Maybe that made some of what had happened his fault; hard to have a solid relationship with one woman when you're really thinking of someone else….Now, he just felt dirty. None of that had to do with Yelina—she wasn't the one who'd made a deal with a cop killer. 'Unconscionable,' he said to himself, pronouncing judgment where no one else would.

The more he thought about it, the more frustrated and angry he got. He kept going over their conversation in his mind, and all he could see was her blind determination to stand by her decision. He could see it in her face—she truly didn't think she'd done anything wrong—and the more he pictured it, the more her beauty was marred in his mental image by the ugliness of her actions.

Unaware of his surroundings, and lost in thought, he continued along the path to his car, completely oblivious to the fact that Yelina had just walked past him. When her casual hello was completely ignored, Detective Salas knew there was something wrong.

"Horatio?"

This time he heard her.

"Yelina, hi," he said, clearly distracted. "Is there something wrong?"

"I was about to ask you the same question," she said, pointing to the mangled folder he was still twisting in his hands. "I hope that wasn't something important…"

Caine looked down at his hands in confusion, his forehead furrowed in surprise to see the remains of a file folder there.

"Me too," he said, throwing a slight smile in her direction.

"Here, let me see if I can fix it," she said, ignoring the inner voice in her head that told her she only offered her help because it gave her a chance to touch him. Pulling the twisted paper from his hands, Yelina let her hair fall from her shoulders to hide the slight blush that stemmed from their hands touching.

After smoothing out the documents carefully, she opened the manila folder to see if the contents were readable. They were—and she managed to catch a glimpse of what looked like legal proceedings for a plea bargain, before Horatio took them back. She looked up, startled that he'd taken it from her while she was still reading, and saw that his jaw was twitching slightly—a clear sign that he was upset. Before he spoke, she cast her mind about, trying to find some connection between the case she'd seen referenced in the file folder and any reason he'd be upset. She came up blank for a long moment before a name floated up out of the blue—Rebecca-

"It wasn't," he said gruffly. "Important, that is."

In truth, he looked like he would like nothing better than to toss the wrinkled papers in the nearest trash bin. Yelina was about to simply say good night, and let him deal with his anger alone, when the sound of squealing tires shocked them both. Instantly Caine's hand was resting on his weapon and his body moved to block hers. They both relaxed when they saw whose vehicle it was—the very same prosecutor whose name was on the crumpled folder he carried. Yelina recognized her car from when the woman had made a snide comment to her in the parking lot before driving away. She looked up at Horatio and saw that he was frowning, the folder once more in his fists, twisting.

"You're upset at her." It wasn't a question. He nodded curtly, stalking over to a trash bin and ridding himself of the outdated plea bargain paperwork. Salas recalled that he'd been angry at Rebecca earlier for making a deal with the cop killer—before the ride-along had taken justice into his own hands. She hadn't agreed with the woman's choice either, but had to look at it as part of the job. Something told her that for him, it was more than that, this time. She'd seen them together, her heart twisting a little to see him smiling at someone else—but she didn't have any right to jealousy. 'Just keep telling yourself that, Cara,' he grandmother's voice echoed in her head, calling her by the nickname as always. It meant 'darling.'

"She made a mistake, a foolish one," Yelina said, rhetorically. She brushed her hair from her eyes and looked at him, catching a strange look in his eyes. It was almost accusatory, and she wondered if he was applying her words to her relationship with the IAB investigator, Rick Stetler.

"Yes, she did."

The look again, and this time she was almost convinced he was taking their conversation as a double entendre.

"Hard to forgive someone for something like that," she said, not quite playing along.

"Yes."

"Maybe she didn't think what she was doing was wrong," Yelina said, bravely. Horatio didn't answer, but he stepped closer to her and lifted his arm, as if to reach out and pull her to him. The look in his eyes, though, was anything but romantic. Not threatening either, just…

"Maybe she didn't, but…" he said thickly, his hand finally coming to rest on her upper left arm. Suddenly, she knew why, and she tried to pull away, only to confirm his suspicions when he tightened his grip and she winced in pain. If she had been looking at his face she'd have been frightened by the violence of his reaction to the proof he'd been looking for. Anger mixed with deep, deep regret.

"Yelina," he said, somehow managing to keep his tone even.

"It's all right," she said in a small voice, "you didn't hurt me."

"I know I didn't," he said angrily.

TBC…