This is a story that my partner in crime, HCrazy has been helping me with. I'm probably about 1/2 to maybe even just 1/3 of the way done, and before I go too much further with it, I wanted to know if you thought I should.
This story is about little Stevie Douglas, and the rotten string of bad luck that he's been having. He's Calleigh's adopted nephew/godson. The story is about how he meets the team, and how the team takes to him, and some of the changes that happen as a result.
Please let me know what you think. Constructive criticism, and praise, of course, LOL, will be greatly appreciated, but if you're going to shoot me down in flames, just because you don't agree with what I've written, please, don't bother. I realize that I've supposed an awful lot with this story, but I thought it was there for the supposing, so I did.
Oh, yeah, and just to let all of you know, I have done as much research as possible for areas where I needed to research, but I'm not perfect, although I may have tried to be at one time, LOL. All I'm saying is that all mistakes are mine.
I guess, now would be a good time to put my disclaimer in. I do not own CSI:Miami, or any of the characters you'd recognize, they belong to Jerry and the gang over at CBS. I do, however, 'own' everyone else, especially Stevie, as well as the idea behind the story. I'm not making any money off of this. It's just for my enjoyment, as well as anyone else who reads it.
I dedicate this story, first, to HCrazy, for all of her invaluable help in getting it from my brain to the keyboard. She's stroked my ego, and helped settle some of my fears, just when I needed her to, and she's also helped with the avenues of research that I've had to take on it.
Secondly, I dedicate the story to my Mom. Although she is no longer with us, it is through her example, that I am continually reminded of her. I love you, Mom, and I sure do miss you.
Finally, I dedicate the story to my brother, the real writer of the family, who has also encouraged me to post the story. "You won't know what they think, sis, unless you post it."
So, without further ado, I give you the first chapter of Lessons Learned.
Lessons Learned
By
NV Oracle
Chapter 1
Lieutenant Horatio Caine stood near the front doors to the South Beach Miami Events Center, with his hands at their customary places on his hips, having taken in the electric atmosphere around him.
Luckily the humidity had come down from earlier in the day, so that now it was only sweltering instead of the oppressively hot that it had been.
The parking lot had begun to fill up with cars and groups of people, mostly families with adolescent to young children, who made their way to the doors and the ticket booths.
He remembered a time when he would have brought his nephew, Ray Jr, to an event like this. Now, even though he's here by himself, he doesn't feel lonely, thinking about him.
Several of the men who pass him, nodded their respects to him, and he knew that he was being recognized. He also knew that there was more than one factor that was causing this to happen.
Being the lead investigator for the Crime Scene unit with the best 'solved' rate, not only among the other teams at the lab, but also across the state, and possibly even the country, didn't necessarily help, but he knew that his description was what, more often than not, what got him noticed.
The intimidating man stood 6 feet tall, and knew that was one of the reasons for his recognizability. He also knew that his fiery red hair was another reason. For whatever reason, he had been 'gifted' with his mother's red hair and phenomenal blue eyes. His younger brother had been similarly gifted, before he had been forced to change them for the undercover assignment he had been given.
The lines in front of the ticket booths eventually thinned out, then disappeared all together. Just as the red head moved towards the doors, four men in black clothes and masks noisily ran out of the ticket box office, just as a van pulled up.
One of the men opened the passenger door and two of his companions jumped in ahead of him, as the fourth man ran around to the driver's side and pulled a brunette woman out of the seat.
The driver burned rubber for several feet before taking off. At first, Horatio tried to give chase to the van and fired several rounds from his police service revolver at the van, when the brunette woman who had been pulled out of the driver's seat came up to him. "Please, don't. My son, Stevie is still inside and they might hurt him."
The side door of the van opened and a body was dropped out of the van, followed by a wheelchair."No!! Stevie!!" The woman called out as the body hit the pavement and rolled several times. She moved to go to the body, but the red head stopped her.
"I'll go check him. Stay here." Horatio ran out to where the body laid, followed by a younger, Hispanic man. "You ok, Eric?"
"Yeah, I'm good, H. What about you?"
Instead of answering his younger companion, the red head replied. "Let's check on our young friend here." Turning to the boy, he instantly took stock of a boy with reddish brown hair and the very basic beginnings of a muscular body. While puberty hadn't hit completely, it's not that far away. He also noticed blood beginning to soak through the boy's shirt, as well as the glass around, and, presumably, underneath him. "Go ahead and call 911, Eric. He's still alive, but he landed on some of this glass."
The Hispanic younger man stood and opened his phone. The red head was aware of it as he told the operator. "My name is Eric Delko, I work with the Crime Lab, as a CSI. Currently, I'm at the South Beach Miami Events Center, where there appears to have been a robbery at the Ticket Box Office. Four suspects misappropriated a 2007 Chevrolet Express van, Florida plates GSX 685. We need an APB on it and we have one person injured. We need paramedics, an ambulance, MDPD and the team from CSI." He listened for a moment, then closed his phone and knelt beside the red head. "They're on the way, H."
"Very good." The red head replied. "Let's check on our young friend here." Turning his attention to the youngster, he began to examine the boy, as gently as possible, for any other additional injuries, as Horatio called out to him. "Stevie? Can you hear me, son? You're going to be ok."
The boy's head rolled as he groaned and his eyes began to blink open. Suddenly he reared back and punched the red head square in the chest, surprising him with the force behind the blow.
"H!!" The younger man called out.
Horatio held up one hand. As his breathing returned to normal, he looked over at his younger friend for just a minute. "I'm ok, Eric. He just surprised me." He sees the mother running up to them.
"I'm really sorry he did that. Are you ok?" She asked.
The red head turned to her. "Yes, ma'am. I'm fine. He just surprised me." He noticed that she arched her eyebrows at him, clearly showing how much she actually believed him, then he turned back to the boy. "Stevie? You still with us, kiddo?"
The boy's head rolled again and his eyes blinked faster, as he moaned. His eyes stayed open and he looked up at Horatio. "I'm sorry I hit you. Did I hurt you?" He reached up and pressed his hand lightly against the red head's chest.
"You didn't hurt me, Stevie. I'm fine." He leaned into the boy's hand, increasing the pressure ever so slightly. "What about you? How are you doing?"
"That's a good question." The boy replied thoughtfully. "I think maybe I might have landed on something."
"Why do you say that, Stevie?" Mom asked.
"My shirt feels wet and it feels like I'm on fire."
The ambulance pulled up. The paramedics came over. "Hey, there, Lt. What's going on?"
"Sorry to bring you out, Gentlemen." The red head greeted them. "My young friend here was dropped out of a moving vehicle. He needs to go to the hospital."
"We've got it, Lt. Don't worry, we're going to take care of it." They knelt next to the boy. "We're going to check you out, ok?" When the youngster nodded, the brunette paramedic asked. "What's your name?"
"Stevie Douglas." The boy replied."Alright, Stevie. How old are you?"
"I'm 12."
Before the paramedics could ask anything else, a shorter blonde woman hurried up to them. "Eric, H? Are you two ok?"
"Sure, Calleigh, we're both ok." The red head tried to reassure her."Is that you, Aunt Calleigh?"
The blonde looked from the adolescent to his mother. "Stevie? Jessica?" She wrapped her arms around the boy's mother, then looked from her to the red head. "What happened?"
"There was a robbery and the perps grabbed the van on their way out." He explained.
"Are you two ok?" She asked the boy's mother.
"Yeah, I'm fine, but they dropped Stevie out the door."
As she looked the boy over, she asked. "Stevie?"
"Yeah, I know, Aunt Calleigh. It seems like I can't win for loosing. I'm out of the hospital not even two weeks, and now, I'm going back in."
One of the paramedics explained. "Ok, Stevie, we're going to pick you up and put you on the gurney, ok?"
Before the boy can respond, Horatio motioned for Eric to come with him. "Hold on a minute." He and Eric looked over the boy at each other and took each of Stevie's hands in one of their own. "One quick question, Stevie. Why were you in the hospital before?"
The boy grinned up at him crookedly, the medicine in the IV working it's magic. "My Dad and I were in an accident. He was killed and I lost the use of my legs. I was in the Rehab Center at the University."
"You mean for a Spinal Cord Injury?" Eric asked before the red head has the chance to."Yes, sir."
"Ok, Stevie." The older man began. He looked over at Eric and got a nod, then turned back to the boy. "We're going to lift you. If you start hurting, then squeeze mine and Eric's hands, ok?" When the boy nodded, Horatio turned to the paramedics, and looked at Eric. "Ok, One, two, three, ok, lift him."
The instant they do, Stevie's eyes slammed shut, and he bit his lip, trying to hold in a groan. Horatio and Eric both felt him instantly tighten his grip on both their hands. Just as they got him over the gurney, Stevie can't hold out. "Put me down, please……..it hurts." The boy's breath is almost gone.
"Hold on, Stevie. I know it hurts, son. We're almost there." H told him.
The paramedics have laid the boy's legs on the gurney, and realized that Eric and H still had the boy's upper body. "He needs to go to the hospital, Lt."
"I'm aware of that. Give us just another minute." The red head replied. Turning to the boy, he adds. "Stevie, we're going to lay you down. It might be uncomfortable for a minute or so, but try to relax, ok?"
As they leaned him back, the boy relaxed into the gurney. Eric traded a grin with H over the boy's body. "Ok, you're doing great, Stevie. Listen, I will catch up with you later. I've got some things to do here, but I want to get you to the hospital. Ok?"
The boy nodded. "It's not a problem, Lt. I know that you're going to be busy with this for awhile." He paused for just a moment. "I really am sorry I hit you, Lt. I guess I thought you were one of the robbers coming back to finish the job."
The red head leaned in to the youngster and brushed a lock of hair from the boy's forehead. "Stevie, listen to me, partner. You. Did. Not. Hurt me. Ok? I don't want you to worry about me, ok? I'm fine. I can understand if you thought I was one of the robbers. In fact, I would have been worried if you hadn't reacted that way. It was completely natural to have done what you did, ok? I'm not mad at you and you didn't hurt me, ok?"
"Only if you're sure?" The boy replied.
"I'm positive. I'll catch up with you at the hospital. Try not to give the doctors a hard time." H and Eric moved to wheel the gurney into the waiting ambulance.
"Darn." The boy snapped his fingers. "Ruined all my fun again." As the men chuckled behind him.
H turned to the boy's mom, and holds his hand out to her, with a smile. "Ma'am."
She smiled back at him. "Thank you, sir." She took his hand as he helped her into the ambulance.The red head closed the door behind her and hit the side twice.
As the ambulance took off, the red head absently rubbed his hand over the center of his chest, where the boy had hit him.
Eric and Calleigh both noticed what his hand was doing as they walked up to him from different directions. Calleigh winked at the Cuban young man as she asked. "You sure you're ok, Handsome?"
The red head dropped his hand quickly. "Yes, Calleigh, I'm fine." He turns to look directly at the blonde. "Let's get this show on the road."
He walked into the ticket office, and as he pulled off his sunglasses, he took a quick visual survey of the room. "Frank, what have we got?" He walked up to the taller Texan.
"Not much other than what you already know, H." Tripp looked down at his notebook. "A robbery of all available cash in the office by four unknowns, all dressed in black. Multiple bullet holes and casings all over the place."
"Ok." Horatio looked around again, then noticed the man the Texan had been interviewing. "Who's this?"
The Caucasian man shifted under the red head's gaze. "This is Jeremy Markham." The Texan explained. "He's the office Supervisor for this shift."
"How much longer is this going to take?" The Caucasian man grumbled "I've got reports to fill out and calls to make."
Horatio's eyebrows climbed into his hair as he and Frank exchanged a look. "Mr Markham, there has been a robbery, and a young boy may loose his life. It's going to take as long as I need for it to and not a moment less. How much money was taken?"
Markham sighed. "I'm not sure. We were just beginning to count the Trotters' ticket sales when they broke in."
"Was the office fully staffed today?"
Now the man nodded. "Because we were talking about ticket sales for games for the Harlem Globetrotters, not only were we fully staffed, but I had called in some overtime for today as well."
That puzzled Frank. "Overtime? Why today?"
Markham chuckled. "You've got to be kidding? The Globetrotters are more popular than the Heat. Even with pre-order sales as a given, I knew we'd be busy with day of event sales, and we were. I was glad I had the extra help."
"We're going to need a list, not only of the people that worked today, but also of all your other employees." Horatio told him. "Also, I've noticed that you have cameras in here, do you have them out in the parking lot, too?"
Markham nodded again. "Yes, of course."
"We're going to need the tapes for today." Horatio told him.
Horatio could tell by the way the man sighed again, that he'd been inconvenienced. He turned to walk away without another word and headed toward the back of the office where his CSI's had gathered to wait for his orders. "Calleigh, there's multiple shell casings, both in here and out there, please be careful with them. Eric, there should be some usable prints in here, but I'll bet your going to find a lot of smudges and/or partials, so take your time, and be careful. Also, there's going to be some surveillance tapes to look over, Mr Wolfe. You may also have some trace to deal with too. Frank is getting the employee lists, so we have that covered."
"Horatio, Eric was telling me that before Jessica called you off, you got a couple of shots off at the van. Will casings from your gun be among the ones outside?"
"Actually, yes, they will." He pulled his service weapon and gave it to her. "Get it back to me when you can." He turned to Eric. "I may have hit the van, Eric. Double check the video and see if I did or not."
"We've got it covered, H. Don't worry." Eric reminded him as they moved away to begin doing their jobs.
"Ok, ladies and gentlemen, the balls in our court now." Horatio put his sunglasses back on, then turned toward the door. "Let's show them we play for keeps." He walked out.