Title: Finding Love
Author:Emilybrat
A/N: This has graphic abuse inside, whether it be in this chapter or in later chapters, so if you do not like people getting hurt or abused, then this is not a story for you to be reading.

Chapter 1: The Meeting

Horatio was walking down the hall of the NOPD. He was there to meet Calleigh Duquesne. He heard from his friend that Calleigh was looking for a better working environment, because she is an assistant to the rudest man. He heard a lot about Calleigh through his friend and hoped that Calleigh would come and work for him in Miami. Michael, his friend, couldn't come down to introduce him to Calleigh, but told him to listen gun usage, as Calleigh likes to blow off some steam at the indoor firing range. He also told him where her office was located if he couldn't find her anywhere else.

As he neared what looked to be Calleighs office, he could hear a man yelling. As he gets closer, he sees a blonde headed woman sitting on the floor with her right hand up in a protective manner. The man has his right hand up in a fist and it looks like he is ready to strike her. As the blonde lifts her head, he can see that she has a bloody lip and a black eye. Any CSI could tell that she was hit and as the man's fist was about to come down on her again, Horatio entered the room and grabbed the man's arm.

Calleighs head was hurting and her eye was becoming more and more harder to see out of. Andrew was mad at her again because she didn't do what she was told, which was to get his report to Michael before he left for the day and when she forgot, he had hit her in the face, giving her the cut lip and bruised eye. Now she lay on the floor of her so-called 'office' with Andrew yelling at her, telling her how worthless she is and how she will never get promoted. She cowers in fear as he lifts his hand so that he could hit her again, but when she braces for the hit, it never comes. She looks up to see a red headed man holding Andrews arm and she is thankful for that.

She hears the red headed man tell Andrew that if he wanted to hit somebody, it better be somebody his own size, because hitting a woman was unacceptable. She is about to get up form the floor until she sees Andrew look at her with that evil face and she goes back to being on the floor, this time though she pushes herself against the wall and covers her head with her right hand, afraid of what he would do to her. She hears the red headed man tell Andrew to get out of the office and if he finds another bruise on her body that he will have him suspended or put in jail. She hears footsteps going away from her office, so she looks out from her hands to find the red headed man kneeling on the floor by her.

She is scared of this unknown man so she jerks away from him to move farther into the wall. Horatio watches as this blonde headed woman cowers in fear, but he knows that he has to get her looked at. He decided that talking to her would probably help her be less tense.

"Please don't be afraid, I wont hurt you" Horatio said

Calleigh lifts her head at this angelic voice and came face to face with the most piercing blue eyes that she has ever seen. Her left eye was swollen, so she could barely see out of it and to top it all off she was getting sleepy. She moved to get up and when she did, she moved her left shoulder, which caused her to lean forward and let out a whimper. She tried to move her shoulder again, but the pain was unbearable, she probably dislocated it when she was pushed into the wall, then the floor, which had caused her to land on her shoulder.

Horatio saw this woman fight some pain in her shoulder, which caused her to lean forward and let out a whimper. He didn't like seeing women in pain so he decided to help and help he did. First he had to ask her for her name.

"May I ask what your name is?" Horatio asked

Calleigh looked up at this man and decided that since he did help her, the least she could do was give him her name.

"I'm… I'm Calleigh" she told him "Who.. are you?"

"I'm Horatio," he told Calleigh "Are you Calleigh Duquesne?"

"Yes, I am..I am sorry that…you had to..to witness that" Calleigh started to apologize, but Horatio wouldn't have any of it.

"No need, it wasn't your fault, I'm just happy that I came when I did"

"Me..too" Calleigh told him as she moves to her desk to get her purse. "I have to go"

Horatio watches as this young woman slowly walks to her desk. He sees her get her purse, put it on her right shoulder and start to walk out of the room. He follows her and watches as she grabs her left arm and holds it to her body. He could tell that she was going into shock, so he slowly walks up to her and puts a hand to her right shoulder, causing her to flinch away. She turns around and sees that it is only Horatio.

"Please..Please don't do that," Calleigh softly says to him

"Where are you going?" Horatio asks her "Because I can take you where you need to go"

"No, Its ok, I..I take the bus" Calleigh tells Horatio

Horatio is shocked to hear that Calleigh takes the bus to come to work instead of driving. He was about to ask her another question until he hears yelling again and when he looks up he sees the man that was in the room with Calleigh walking towards them. He looks back at Calleigh as she turns to face the unknown man, but with her head down. Horatio stands close to Calleigh incase something happens.

Andrew walks up to Calleigh and the red headed man. He sees that Calleigh was facing him but with her head down. He walks up to the duo and stands right in front of Calleigh.

"Where do you think you are going Calleigh?" Andrew angrily asked her "Well"

Calleigh looked at Horatio and then to Andrew and before she could answer, Andrew had her chin in his hand, forcing her to look up and him. The grip was too rough for Calleigh that it made her start to cry. Horatio who was watching this once again grabbed the man's arm and pushed it away from Calleighs face. He grabbed Calleigh and pulled her behind him.

Horatio told the man that if he ever wanted to keep working at NOPD again that he better keep his hands off his assistants and off Calleigh. Before Andrew could get a word in, Horatio and Calleigh were walking out the front doors.

"Calleigh, I am going to take you to the hospital first, so that we can get a look at your shoulder and then you are coming to stay with me at the hotel"

"No, I cant.. Andrew told me if I ever go to the Hospital, or if I tell Michael about what he has been doing to me that he..he will kill me or fire me" Calleigh quickly told Horatio "I cant loose this job, its all I have right now, it pays for my bills and food"

"Well either way I want to get you checked out, besides I have a question to ask you later"

After many attempts to get Calleigh to go to the hospital, Horatio finally got her to go. They checked her arm and the eye out. Calleigh was right, she did have a dislocated shoulder, so they had to relocate it and put it in a sling. The doctor gave her medication for the pain and told her to put ice on the eye. After leaving the hospital, Horatio drove them both to the hotel he was staying in.

Calleigh was unsure of what to do, so she stayed on the couch until she was told to do something. Horatio had told her that she was able to turn on the television if she was tired or bored, but Calleigh didn't do that, she just sat down on the couch and looked at the floor. She didn't want to get hurt again. Horatio was in the kitchen making some food for them both and when he was done he brought it into the living room area of the hotel and placed the food in front of Calleigh, then went back for the drinks.

When he came back with the drinks, Calleigh was nowhere to be seen. He put the drinks down on the table and looked around. He then saw that the door to the balcony was open so he walked out there. He found Calleigh sitting on the floor, next to the railing. She was looking down at the people below and was smiling.

"There you are," he softly said to her "I was wondering where you went off to"

Calleigh looked at him and then back down to the people, then back to him. She could trust him right? Andrew treated her badly, so what is to say that he wont?

"Sorry, I was just looking at the people walking around the streets" Calleigh told him "I haven't really been able to get out much since I started working at the department, Andrew kept me busy until the early mornings"

Horatio sat down in front of her, his back to the railing. Since entering the department all the way until now, this was the first time he heard her talk without being interrupted by somebody.

"Ah, I see. Andrew was the man that was in your office?"

"Yeah" Calleigh told him "Never liked him much, Michael doesn't know what he does because whenever I have a bruise on my face, Andrew keeps me locked in my office until it heals"

"That is no way to treat a human being," Horatio tells Calleigh.

"Yean I know, but I'm sot of used to it. So you told me that you are Horatio, but you never did tell me what your last name was"

"Oh, its Horatio Caine"

"As in Horatio Caine from Miami?" Calleigh gasped, "The one I was suppose to have an interview today with?"

"Yeah the one and only" Horatio said "But lets just say that I wasn't going to interview you, I was going to ask you to come work with me in Miami"

"You still want to work with me after what you just saw today?"

"Sure do, so lets go back inside and eat, unless you want to eat out here on the balcony"

Calleigh looks once again to the people below and then back at Horatio, she moves some hair from her face to behind her ear and then smiles.

"Out here is fine, I need the fresh air"

"Out here it is"

Horatio goes back inside and gets the food and drinks and places them on the table, helps Calleigh up from the floor and they both start to eat. Calleigh never really accepted his offer to go and work with him in Miami, but she knew that he was willing to wait for her answer. They ate and talked about a lot of things and Calleigh told him that she was willing to go work with him in Miami on one condition.

"What is that?"

"If you promise me that I don't have to do your errands"

"No problem, I do my own errands"

Calleigh once again smiled and they both continued to eat. Things were looking up for Calleigh and she prayed that they stayed like that.

TBC (please tell me what you think, should i just stop here, or should i continue??)