Title: Annie
Summary: a difficult case draws the CSI's closer again
Rating: K+
Pairing: none, really
Other: English is not my first language. All errors are mine.
Ryan looked at Natalia and hoped she'd hold up. Although he wasn't really over her being a mole yet, the past couple of weeks with her husband's murder and her arrest, had been tough on her. Now they were standing in the kitchen of a small modest house in a very good area of town. Looking down, they were both looking at Alexx checking the dead body of a woman in her mid thirties, her long dark curls colored red with blood.
"An apparent domestic violence case", Alexx said, and shot Natalia a worried look. The woman had paled considerably since entering the room, and Alexx was worried she might faint. Ryan must have thought the same, because he grabbed Natalia by the elbow and led her to sit down on the stairs leading up to the second floor of the building.
Natalia took a couple of deep breaths and tried to steady herself. She had recognised the woman, she was living under false name in Miami to escape her husband, who had already tried to kill her once.
It seemed he had found her, and that he had succeeded in killing her this time was obvious, but what had happened to their little girl? If Natalia remembered correctly, the child currently went under the name of Annie. Yes, Annie, that was it.
"I'll go outside for a couple of minutes and get some fresh air, ok?", she said who Ryan, who nodded.
"Sure, take as much time as you need!"
Once outside, Natalia grabbed her personal mobile phone from her purse and dialled a number.
"Hey, it's Natalia. Julia's been murdered. I can't find her daughter. Her name is Annie, right?"
The woman on the other side of the phone was used to short, horrible messeges of this sort, and went into high alert:
"Natalia, be very careful with what you tell you collegues about the case, ok? Until Annie is safe and Julia's husband arrested, please be careful, he's very dangerous."
"Ok, I'll call you later." Natalia hung up, not noticing Horatio observing her from the driveway.
Natalia went back in doors from the back of the house, and ran up the stairs. The uniformed police officers had found no one else in the home, but Natalia prayed little Annie would be hidden somewhere inside, and not out there with her father.
She started looking in all the places little girls like to hide, under the bed, in the closet, in the bathroom, but she found nothing.
Natalia was getting more and more scared.
Suddenly she heard a noise from above her, and looking up, she saw a small hatch, the size a child could fit into.
Natalia grabbed hold of a chair, stepping up so she could reach the hatch, and opened it carefully.
A small child, approximately 5 or 6 years old, stared back at her, holding her teddy bear in a tight hug. She had inherited her mother's beautiful dark curls, but her eyes were a bright shade of blue, right now darkened with fear.
"Hey, honey. I'm a friend of you mommy's? You know those meetings you sometimes attend? I go there too, but it's a secret for now, ok baby?" Natalia hoped dearly the child would trust her.
Annie had already seen a lot in her short life, and something told her the woman in front of her was a friend.
"Mommy's sick, " she said tentatively, "Daddy came here, and Mommy hid me here with teddy."
Natalia nodded. She would wait to tell the child her mother was dead, not just sick.
"Come down now, baby. Do you know where your mother keeps her secret papers?"
Those members who had to change their identities always kept their real papers hidden somewhere, to be able to prove who they were, if need be.
Annie reached behind her and gave Natalia a package.
Natalia tucked the little package carefully into her shirt, fastening it underneath the shirt, and half in her pants, no one would see it there.
She then reached out to Annie, and took her into her arms, lifting her down and closing the hatch. The little girl was wearing a pretty pink dress with a white t -shirt underneath, and Natalia thoguht she was very pretty. Sadly, in 10 years of marraige with Nick, they had not been blessed with a child.
"Ryan!" Natalia called.
Ryan immediately came up the stairs.
"This is Annie. She knows her Mommy is sick, and tells me her Daddy came by today, and her mommy hid her away."
Ryan understood and was sensitive enough not to ask any questions in that moment, and Natalia continued:
"I'll contact the social services, so they can come and pick her up."
Actually she called her contact person. They would be able to hide Annie. They agreed the woman would pose as a social worker, and Natalia could only hope Horatio would forgive her yet another transgression.
But Horatio was on to her already. He'd developed e sixth sense for Natalia's troubles by now, and had followed her carefully.
Lucky for Horatio, Natalia would have made a lousy criminal, she hadn't even noticed he was following her around. She'd been too occupied with getting Annie organized.
Horatio decided to wait until Natalia's contact person came around, to talk to both of them at the same time.
After 10 minutes, he saw a white Nissan pull up, and an elegant woman of around 50 climbing out.
Natalia quickly walked down the driveway, having already explained to Annie that a lady would come and pick her up, she was about to open the car door for Annie, when she suddenly felt Horatio's hand on her shoulder.
Both women and Annie turned around, staring at him fearfully.
Natalia had learned that honesty was the only thing that worked with Horatio, and let out a deep breath.
"Really, I can explain."
"Well, Ma'am, I'm waiting."
By now, Eric had arrived, and Ryan came out of the house to see what all the commotion was about.
Natalia cursed to herself silently. Another public humiliation. Darn.
"The woman's name is Julia, and this is Annie. They're part of our group, her husband is extremely dangerous and violent. They've changed their names to come here and live safely. This is Violet, an other friend from the group. We thought Annie would be safer with us."
Natalia lifted her chin a bit defiantly at Horatio.
He knew a little bit about her work with the battered women's group. Undoubtedly, Natalia's second occupation help a lot of women out there, but he'd have to talk to her later, she needed to abide to the law if she wanted to fight criminals. They'd have a long conversation later that week, when everything had calmed down. He'd talk to her very seriously, she needed to wisen up and follow the rules if she wanted to stay at the Dade office.
But right now, Horatio needed to get the little girl to a safe house, and then he needed to talk to Violet, to find out more about the husband.
"Ladies, here is what we'll do. Annie will go with Natalia, is that ok, honey?" and when Annie nodded, he continued, "and Violet will come with me for now, we'll see if we can find the husband together."
Violet had taken an instant liking to the calm, quiet man in front of her, and nodded agreement.
"Ryan and Eric, finish processing the crime scene with Alexx, and don't mention Natalia's actions to anyone, please. I'll deal with her myself."
Natalia looked a bit scared at that prospect, but it was better and IAB, that was for sure.
Ryan and Eric immediately scrambled off to get back to work, and collect evidence to put the uxoricide in rpison for a long time.
They were lucky, the guy wasn't overly smart and had forgotten to pick up the bloody hammer he'd killed his wife with from the crime scene.
They still needed to find him though, and until then, Annie wasn't safe.
Horatio sent Natalia and Annie to go and pack some personal items for the stay at the safe house, and turned back to Violet, who had also taken the little package with Julia's and Annie's real papers inside.
She showed them to Horatio, and added:
"I'll do anything to help. And please don't blame Natalia, she was trying to do what was right."
Horatio nodded, Natalia did have a certain talent for making the wrong choices, though. He sighed. He had a soft spot for her, but protecting her was a full time job.
They walked together into the house and the living room, where they bumped into Ryan, Eric and the uniformed police officer, all staring at them, standing still in the middle of the room. Their weapons where all on the floor.
A bloodied man was holding Natalia hostage, with a knife to her throat.
Natalia wasn't moving, but big tears of fear fell down her cheeks, without sound.
Annie was hiding under the coffee table, crying wildly for her mommy.
Horatio immediately walked into the middle of the room, taking his sunglasses off, and keeping his hands visible.
"Calm down, now, calm down"
"No body move!" the man yelled. And indeed, no body moved.
"I'm here for my little girl, I'll take her and be out of here, and no one needs to get hurt!" The man was obviously out of his mind, had lost touch with reality. There was no way they would let a killer go.
"Now, Sir, let Natalia go, and you and I will sit down and talk, all right?"
Horatio had a faint hope this would work.
Unfortunately it didn't.
The man pressed the knife harder to Natalia's throat, and some blood stared to drop out, running down Natalia's neck and dirtying her shirt.
Natalia whimpered with fear, and Eric felt that he needed to do something.
They'd all been overrun by a psychotic killer, and he'd even gotten them to put down their guns, he'd threatened to kill Natalia if they didn't.
"Hey! Asshole, pick on someone your own size!" Eric yelled.
Horatio gave him a look that said: keep quiet and let me handle this!
"Calm down!" "Everyone!"
Eric stepped back, cursing his temper. He hoped he hadn't made things worse.
Violet whispered:
"His name is Hugh. He's been arrested but never tried for domestic violence. There's no proof he was ever directly violent with Annie. Annie's real name is Mina, and Julia's name is Deborah."
She hoped the information would be useful.
"Hugh, please let our collegue go. She's not involved in this, and we can talk, you and I."
Hugh snorted angrily:
"I know who she is! She's part of that damn group that make good wives turn on their husbands! She's in the front group! The ones that helped Debbie escape!"
Horatio had not known that. He'd thought Natalia's role was more a passive one, of support and groups talking, but apparently there as much more to her than met the eye.
Horatio was beginning to thing there was no good way out, he'd have to shoot Hugh, risking Natalia's life, and he did not want to risk her life.
Aiming his gun at High, he suddenly saw a small movement behind them.
Natalia was hanging on to Hugh for support, she was close to fainting. Blood dripping from her throat, all she wanted was to be saved and fall asleep.
Horatio saw Alexx slowly creeping up behind Hugh, and too his great surprise, she was holding a frying pan in one hand. As a medical examiner, she did not carry a weapon, but who says you need a gun?
Alexx slowly crept into the living room from the kitchen, not being noticed ny Hugh, and just two seconds before she was about to hit him straight over the head, Hugh noticed the movement too, and dropped the knife looking backwards.
Natalia fell forward, with Eric running to her side. Ryan and Alexx seized Hugh and handcuffed him with the help of the uniformed officer.
Horatio, seeing that Natalia was taken care of, bent down to little Mina under the table.
"Honey, come out now. It's all right to come out now."
The child came out from under the table and Horatio lifted her up, into his arms.
How many times as a child had he wished for some one to come and rescue him and Raymond, and no one came?
He was glad he could help the little girl.
Ryan called the ambulance, and when Natalia and also Mina where on their way to the hospital, with Eric in tow, he called Calleigh to come in and process the rest of the scene. They all needed some rest, that was for sure.
He'd go and see Natalia later in the evening, but right now he needed to calm down himself.
He turned to the formidable woman beside him and said:
"Violet, I believe we both need some lunch? Would you like to join me?"
Violet smiled back.
"Thank you Horatio, I'd love to!"
Because Violet knew that most men are very nice, decent, loving people. She had found the wrong one once, but maybe not all was lost.
FIN