Title: Little Bit Stronger
Author: it'sRISSAROSE
Fandom: CSI: Miami
Characters/Pairings: Natalia Boa Vista, Horatio Caine, Eric Delko, Calleigh Duquesne, Walter Simmons, Frank Tripp, Ryan Wolfe, Minor Characters, Original Characters
Rating: T
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Warnings: Some Violence, Some Language, Some Adult Content
Summary: After the events of 9x05, the Miami-Dade CSIs come to realize that one of their own might not be fully healed from her traumatic past. Set immediately after 9x05 "Sleepless In Miami".
Disclaimer: If I owned CSI: Miami, things would be much different.
A/N: It's been a long time since I've written fan fiction, so please go easy on me! My muse has been bugging me to write a Natalia story for quite some time now, and I've finally gotten the inspiration (and time) to do so!
Little Bit Stronger
Prologue
Detective Frank Tripp was not in a very good mood today. Even his favorite football team's earlier win against Texas A&M wasn't enough to calm the raging inferno burning inside the man. Nothing made him angrier than when one of Miami-Dade's own was threatened or injured on the job, and that had been exactly what happened just a few hours ago.
MDPD's case that day had started out normal enough with a 911 call reporting a murder… except the person who called it in had reported his own murder. Three CSIs had raced out to the scene along with backup, only to discover the young man obviously under the influence of something, digging up a decapitated head that most certainly wasn't his own.
At the end of the day, the victim had been the husband of a businesswoman who'd hired her psychic to kill him. On top of that, the psychic had drugged one of her other clients to get him to dispose of the body. During the investigation, CSI Natalia Boa Vista had gotten drugged herself, only to drive off to some old warehouse and wake up in the hospital a short time later.
Just thinking about it gave the seasoned detective a headache.
Luckily for Frank, his work day was nearing a close and in less than an hour, he'd be home with an ice cold beer in hand, flipping television channels. All that was left to do was sign off on some paperwork and finish up the booking of Elena Manus, the psychic responsible for drugging both her client and Natalia.
"There's a bus outside that'll take you over to lockup, Ms. Manus," he explained in his southern drawl. "Officer Walsh here will escort you." With a nod of his head, he dismissed the uniformed officer and their charged suspect, and then turned his attention to the bag of Elena's personal effects that he'd collected during the booking.
Just before making her exit from the booking area, the blonde psychic slowed and turned around to face Frank once more. "The story your CSI told me at my office… about her husband hurting her… That wasn't a made-up undercover story, was it?" Her eyes met the Detective's hardened blues.
"The scumbag's dead now. What's it to you?" He didn't know if he liked this woman prying into Natalia's personal life.
Elena's face softened as she shrugged her shoulders. "You don't have to be a psychic to know when someone's hurting, Detective. Her husband may be dead, but her pain is still very much alive."
And with that, the woman was escorted from the room, leaving Detective Frank Tripp behind to wonder – and worry – about Natalia Boa Vista.