Title: Hemorrhagic Accidents

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: I only own Sandra Collins, Michael James, and the unnamed characters… the rest belong to CBS, The Wizard of Oz, science, the government, or history. Labs like the one described don't actually exist in the US to my knowledge, but the part about the Soviet Union is true, as mentioned in the book "Biohazard" by Ken Alibek. First CSI: Miami fic, so please, be kind. This was a response to the CSI Romance Challenge for CSI Projects. Please review.

Glass windows, thicker than most, separated the labs from the hallways. She wasn't quite sure why, because as the cleaner for the hallways (and only the hallways, not the labs), she wasn't entitled to that knowledge. Yet every time she passed those windows, she found herself peeking in, hoping for a glimpse of what she wasn't supposed to know. Only this time, she found blood and one of the scientists on the floor. She screamed before running for the phone.

Horatio had been the first and only person to walk into the lab before the phone call came through. FBI had the lab "under surveillance" as a bioterrorist manufacturer. With the lab being in the condition it was when he got in there, with samples and chemical vials broken and on the floor, there was a good chance that if the FBI was right, Horatio had been exposed to whatever it was they were making in there.

As he was being decontaminated outside the lab, one of the agents was rattling off the potential dangers inside the lab, which included mutated viruses. "We should send him to the local hospital, just in case," another said. Horatio looked critically at them.

"I'm fine," he said sharply.

"Yeah, right now you are," the infectious agents guy said. "And then the next thing you know, you're bleeding out your eye sockets."

"You're showering me for a reason."

"Doesn't mean you weren't already infected inside. It's precautionary." Sighing, Horatio nodded as they gave him something to wear and transported him to the local hospital.

"It's a relatively rare case," the doctor explained to Calleigh and Eric as they observed their boss's room from the other side of the thick glass. "Marburg is hard to diagnose unless you know exactly what you're looking for. Given the heads up we got on why he was here, we cultured for any bioterrorist agent we could think of, so we caught it early, but not early enough. He's already showing symptoms, which his rare. He's in isolation, and no visitors are allowed to go into the room with him because of that. Currently he's running a slight fever and has been throwing up, but that will get worse as time goes on, and given that he's showing this early, it will probably be quick. I hate to break this to you guys but Marburg's deadly in most cases, very few people survive. The best we can do is offer him supportive care and try to supplement some of the clotting factors that the virus is destroying as well as replace the blood and fluids he's losing. But nothing's guaranteed."

"This-" Eric started. Calleigh clamped her hand over his mouth as he spouted his angry tirade, blocking out his words.

"Thank you, Doctor," she said sweetly. He nodded, walking away as Calleigh uncovered Eric's mouth. "Will you shut up? That's not gonna help him."

"You heard the doctor. Nothing is. He's gonna die, Calleigh."

"Stop saying that. We need to find out who killed the scientist and why they trashed the lab too." Eric sighed. "He's gonna be fine."

"Calleigh, you heard the…"

"No, don't say it. He's gonna be fine. He'll make it." She sighed painfully, leading Eric to realize that even she didn't believe what she was saying. He threw his arm around her shoulders, bringing her closer to him.

"We'll get through this," he assured her softly. She nodded, and the two left the hospital for the crime lab.

They walked through the front door of the lab to be greeted by a woman with dark brown hair that landed halfway down her back. "Hi, I'm Sandra Collins," she said curtly. "I'm your boss until Horatio gets better… if he gets better. Stay out of my way, don't screw things up, and do as I say. Follow that and we'll be okay. Cross me, and I'll make your life miserable. Understood?" Reluctantly, the two nodded their agreement. She spun on her heel, walking away. Calleigh and Eric looked at one another.

"She's like the Wicked Witch of the West," he said.

"She's only until H gets back," Calleigh reminded him. "Stick her out for now. Besides, we have better things to do than worry about her. Like finding out who killed that scientist."

"Right." They started walking down the hall. "So, where do we begin?"

"Well, the cleaning lady said that she was walking by and found the body on the floor in a pool of blood. Let's see what Alexx has to tell us about the body."

"There's not much here, guys," Alexx said, looking out of her isolation suit at the body. Calleigh and Eric observed from a room above, equipped with monitors and computers for close-ups, and a microphone and speakers for communicating with Alexx below. "He has a bump on his head, which might have been enough to cause unconsciousness, but definitely didn't kill him. He bled to death."

"How?" Eric asked. "From the head injury?"

"No, definitely not. The injury was a bump, nothing more. May have caused him to fall unconscious at best, but definitely wouldn't have caused the bleeding. Since he was cleaned before I got him and I don't see any lacerations, I don't know how it happened." She looked down at the remains of the man in front of her. "What happened to you, baby?"

"Hey, Alexx," Calleigh said. "Did you screen his blood for the Marburg virus?"

"No," Alexx replied. "I did a normal blood workup and tox report. No one mentioned Marburg." Eric glanced over at Calleigh.

"That's what H has, and he picked it up at the lab, so maybe our guy died of the same."

"Alright, consider it done."

"Thanks." Calleigh and Eric left the room. "So, if our victim has Marburg, then the virus killed him."

"But it takes weeks, even months for the virus to kill someone," Eric pointed out.

"It's a bioterrorism lab," Calleigh replied. "Maybe they mutated the virus into acting faster."

"That could also explain how H contracted it… usually, it's spread by coming into contact with body fluids. If they mutated it to act faster…"

"Then there's a possibility they made it airborne. But then how did it become airborne in the lab? And how did our guy get the bump on his head?"

"I think we need to have a look around that lab."

Horatio groaned, shifting in his bed. His fever was growing, the nausea increasing. Despite the transfusions, he was getting worse, and he knew it was only a matter of time before he was dead. He sighed, looking out of the room. Earlier, Calleigh and Eric had been there, but now, there was no one. He knew they were out solving the case, as they should be, yet he felt oddly alone at the moment. He sighed again, closing his eyes in fatigue. The virus was winning…

"No," Sandra told them. "No more CSIs at the lab."

"What?" Calleigh asked. "You want us to do our job, but you won't let us do our job?"

"We can't lose any more of you to illness."

"H went in there naked," Eric threw out. "He didn't know to protect himself because he, like the rest of us, thought it was a regular lab, nothing hazardous. We know differently, and we will protect ourselves."

"No, you won't," Sandra said. "Because you don't have to. You're not going in there."

"This is beyond your need to keep us safe. This is preventing us from gathering evidence that could crack our case!"

"You'll find another way to get it."

"Evidence isn't like air. You can't just get it anywhere, you idiot!" Calleigh clasped her hand over his mouth, determined to stop him before he talked himself out of a job.

"What my partner is trying to say is, we have no choice," she said. "We have to go back to the scene of the crime. I'm sorry if you have a problem with that, but it's what we need to do. We'll be out of your way though, per your request." Sandra shook her head.

"Get sick," she told them. "I'll be glad to be rid of two insubordinates." She walked away, her heels clicking sharply on the floor. Calleigh released her hold on Eric's mouth.

"I hate that woman!" he said aloud as Calleigh's phone began to ring.

"I know, hon," she replied softly. "I do too. But yelling and cursing at her isn't gonna make things better. Right now, we need to solve this case." He sighed, the anger fading slowly as she fished out her phone. "Hey Alexx," she answered. "Yeah. Okay." She hung up.

"I'm sorry. I'm making this harder on you than it needs to be," Eric said. She shook her head.

"Don't worry about it. I got your back, always. Alexx just confirmed that our scientist had Marburg, in high enough concentrations to cause him to bleed out. So all we have to do now is go find out what happened at the lab."

"There are points of disturbance all around this lab," Eric said, his voice crackling into Calleigh's HAZ-MAT suit from the speakers rigged up for communication.

"Maybe he was carrying the samples," Calleigh said, looking at the broken vials on the floor from her crouched position next to them.

"Then he would've been wearing protection, wouldn't he?"

"Yeah, he would. So why wasn't he?"

"Maybe someone fought with him, pushed him down, which made him bump his head on the table and fall unconscious. His fall to the floor broke the vials, and our assailant took the suit off of him."

"That's a possibility." Eric sighed, shaking his head.

"I would think the FBI would be all over this."

"They will be when they get here, but they haven't come in yet. So until they do, we have the jurisdiction to collect evidence because the sooner it's out, the sooner cleanup can begin."

"Who owns this lab?"

"Directly, Michael James. Indirectly, the FBI counter-terrorism branch. They use it to come up with ways to protect the U.S. against bioterrorism, which includes planning for any weapons like fast-acting airborne Marburg. In order to do that, they have to make fast-acting airborne Marburg. That's why they want this investigation as low key as possible. How would the public feel knowing we're manufacturing and mutating viruses just like the Soviet Union did during the Cold War, even if we're doing it for protective purposes?" Eric sighed, shaking his head.

"So we're supposed to be part of the cover up?" Calleigh sighed.

"What choice do we have? We blow the whistle, we risk everything, not the least of which is our jobs. We have to do this. If not for us, then for Horatio, because he wouldn't stop until he solved the case. And besides, we're not exactly covering up. We're answering their questions. They're covering up." Eric groaned.

"I don't like this."

"I know, but we'll get through it."

"If someone other than you said that, I would fight them on that statement." Calleigh smiled.

"Hey, I'm just repeating what I heard." Eric smiled, and the two continued to process the scene. "Did Alexx say there was any sign the guy had been in a fight?" she said after a moment.

"Uh, not specifically," Eric said. "But she said the only mark on him was the bump on his head."

"So there's no way this guy was in a fight," Calleigh said.

"But how in the world did he do this?" Eric gestured at the mess of broken vials around the lab.

"Maybe he fell, took the table down with him, made the mess." She turned to the tipped table, looking at it critically. "Someone definitely grabbed this. Maybe it was him."

"But still, why wasn't he wearing protective clothing?"

"He wasn't keen on safety," another scientist informed them. "He never cared about it because he always had the samples covered, so he figured he was fine as long as he wore his gloves."

"No mask?" Eric asked. "Nothing to protect his face?"

"Not unless he uncovered something, but he usually did it in a fume hood. What can I say? The guy was an idiot with safety, but a brilliant scientist. The Marburg strain he was working with was potent and aerosol. That baby could kill in 2 days flat, and he was in the process of manufacturing an antiserum for it. Unfortunately, it killed him before he could."

"Do you guys have surveillance in the lab?" Calleigh asked.

"Yeah," the scientist replied. "They catch everything."

"Could we see the video?"

"You'd have to ask security, but I'm sure they'd give it over in this case."

Calleigh and Eric stood outside Horatio's room, watching him sleep. She sighed softly, causing Eric to look over at her and throw an arm around her. "It's okay," he said softly.

"It's not okay," she replied. "He's dying, Eric, and there's nothing we can do about it. We can't save him. Even solving this case won't save him."

"I know. Hey, you're supposed to be the optimistic one."

"Yeah, well, how can you be optimistic about watching your friend get to the point of bleeding out his eye sockets?"

"I don't know." He sighed. "I hate this. You're right. Solving this case is nothing more than a distraction from the fact that H is dying." Calleigh sighed.

"You're absolutely right." Eric moved behind her, rubbing her shoulders gently. "So, now what? Video will tell us whether or not this was just an accident, but if it isn't, we have a lot of work to do."

"That's fine. Something more to keep our minds off of H." She sighed, looking over at him.

"I bet the tapes'll prove it was just an accident."

"All the better."

"As much as I'd like to not think about this…"

"I know. You're worried. I am too. But there's nothing we can do, Calleigh, except let this run its course."

"I know, Eric." He wrapped his arms around her, and she folds her arms over him. "I wish there was, though."

"Me too."

Horatio, awoken by the shivers of immense chills, turned to look out the window. Calleigh and Eric were standing there, Eric holding her from behind as they held what appeared to be an intense conversation. Facial expressions hinted to him that it was a sad conversation. He closed his eyes, informing his insides to fight harder and somehow pull through this horrific disease as he felt the blood starting to seep into his ears as it searched for an exit.

Calleigh turned to face Eric. "Should we head back to the lab?" she asked him softly.

"Yeah," he replied quietly. "The tapes should be in." The two of them walked away from Horatio's room, hand in hand. Neither was sure whether desperation or love was making them stick together so tightly, but they had flirted with the latter before, so it seemed more likely. The ride back to the lab was silent, both wondering what was going to happen in the future. They re-entered the lab to find Sandra waiting for them.

"You went over there, didn't you?" she snapped. Before they could answer, she continued. "The FBI has jurisdiction, and you violated it."

"No, we didn't," Calleigh said. "I talked to one of their agents. She said that we had the right to process it until they got here. They're still not here, so we still have the legal right to process it."

"This is their jurisdiction. You don't have the right."

"They said we could."

"If they said you could tie rocks around your necks and throw yourselves into the canal, would you?" Eric and Calleigh arched their eyebrows and looked at each other, confused. "That's what I thought. We'll talk more about this later." She stormed off, and Eric groaned.

"That good for-" he started. Calleigh cut him off by capturing his lips with her own, chastely at first before pushing it one step further and entwining their tongues. Calleigh pulled back as the need for air arose.

"For cryin' out loud, will you shut up just once?" she asked, breathless.

"If it means that you'll kiss me again, there's no way I'm keeping my mouth shut," he replied hoarsely. She smiled, chuckling softly before tilting her head to the side.

"How about if I refuse to kiss you if you don't behave?"

"Then I'll be a very good boy." She grinned.

"Okay. Let's go look at our tapes." They walked into the A/V lab, pouring themselves into the tapes. They found the video in question and watched as the scientist tripped, grabbed the table to catch himself, and took it down with him, hitting his head on a lab bench on the way as the vials shattered on the floor around him.

"Case closed?" Eric said, looking over at Calleigh.

"I guess so," she replied. "There were no signs of foul play, just a lab accident. My guess is that by the time the guy would've woken up after hitting his head, he was so sick he couldn't wake up."

"Or he couldn't get up. Either way, he's the only one at fault."

"Can't blame anyone else for his negligence." She sighed.

"Right. Come on, let's officially close this case, inform the Feds, and go back to the hospital." She nodded, walking out of the room with Eric.

"I wish we could at least sit with him," Calleigh told Eric as they stood outside Horatio's room.

"Yeah," Eric replied, holding her hand tightly.

"That scientist died rather quickly. How come H isn't sicker or bleeding out like he did?"

"I don't know." She frowned, squeezing his hand gently as the doctor walked over.

"I have some good news," he told them. "The viral concentration in his body is decreasing. He's getting better." Calleigh smiled, looking over at Eric as if to say 'that explains it'.

"Are you sure?" he asked the doctor.

"Positive. He's going to pull through." Eric grinned widely.

"You have no idea how happy that makes us, Doctor." The doctor chuckled.

"Just doing my job."

"Thank you." He walked away, and Calleigh excitedly threw her arms around Eric's neck.

"He's going to make it!" she said happily, hugging him close.

"Yeah," Eric said with a smile. "H'll be back in no time."

THE END