Chapter One: A New Beginning

Horatio/Amanda (OC)

Horatio was still grieving, recovering from the loss of his wife, Marisol. He spent more time than usual at work, trying to keep his mind occupied. The longer amounts of time he spent at work, the more worried his co-workers became. They noticed the dark lines under his eyes, and how sick he actually looked. Ryan and Calleigh cornered him at work one day and sat him down. "Horatio, no offense but you look terrible. You need to take some time off." She said firmly. Horatio looked at her, then at Ryan.
"I can't. I have to keep working, it distracts me." Horatio told them, looking down at the ground. Calleigh sat down beside him and put a comforting arm around him.
"H, you can't just keep overworking yourself. It's not good for your health." Ryan noted, sitting himself on the table across from his two co-workers/friends. "You have to take some time off, whether you like it or not." Horatio looked into their eyes and nodded.
"Alright, I'll take tomorrow off. But that's it. We have a new criminalist starting on Monday." Calleigh regarded this with an approving nod, and then stood up.
"Fine, but make sure you relax tomorrow. And if I dare catch you here…" she started, but Horatio cut her off.
"I'd better not let my guard down." He said with a grin. Ryan smirked and stood up. He and Calleigh left Horatio to his thoughts, which seemed to drift back to Marisol. Sighing, Horatio got up from the chair he'd been forced into and departed from the room, thinking about what he'd like to do on his day off.

After his day off, Horatio felt fully rested and ready to go back and face the challenges of his job. As he arrived at work, he realized today was the day that a new member would be joining the CSI Miami crime lab. Lost in his thoughts, he almost ran into Natalia, who was heading towards the DNA lab. "Sorry Ms. Boa Vista," Horatio said "I should really stop consuming myself in thoughts while I'm at work." Natalia smiled, and looked up at him.
"It's fine, H. I'm just going to analyze the substance that was found at the hit and run. Eric thinks it might be cocaine, but I'd better check before we draw any conclusions." She said, tucking a loose stand of hair behind her ear.
"Let me know when you get the results." He said, continuing past her. He heard her footsteps go down the hall, and he turned into the lab where Eric was standing. "Eric, how're you holding up?" he asked, cocking his head to one side. Eric looked up from the piece of fabric he was examining.
"Better than I was. How about you?" he replied, leaning against the desk.
"About the same. I hear you're the other CSI that's been assigned to show the new criminalist around." Horatio stood in his usual stance, hands on his hips. Eric nodded.
"Yeah, I hear she's pretty good at what she does. She went to university with one of my friends. He said she was top at everything." Eric gave Horatio a calculating look, then added quietly, "She's really beautiful." Horatio chuckled and Eric blushed slightly.
"Well, let's go downstairs and check to see if she's arrived alright or not." He suggested, turning to head out the door. Eric put the fabric back into its protective bag and followed him.

As they arrived downstairs, they saw Calleigh chatting with a young woman near the doors. The two women were laughing and getting along quite well. Horatio smiled slightly, and then walked over to where they stood, Eric still following closely behind him. "Hello, you must be our new criminalist. My name's Horatio Caine." He said, extending his hand. She smiled and shook his hand.
"Hi, I'm Amanda Harris." She replied, her voice sweet yet somehow exotic sounding at the same time. "You must be Eric. Stephen talks about you quite a bit." She said to Eric, now turning her hand towards him. He shook it enthusiastically.
"Yeah, I'm Eric. Eric Delko. H and I will be the ones showing you around today. Hope that's alright." He grinned at her. She smiled sexily, looking from Eric to Horatio.
"That would be just fine." She stated, then turned back to finish up her conversation with Calleigh. Horatio took this time to absorb her beauty. 'Eric was right, she is beautiful'. Horatio thought to himself. Amanda's long black hair was mostly straight, yet somewhat wavy at the same time. Her eyes were a piercing shade of dark blue. Her skin was light, but her arms and face were a bit tanned from the sun. Horatio guessed her height was about 5'7, and she had a slender, muscular build. Horatio glanced over at Eric, and noticed that he too, was taking in her extremely good looks. Amanda must have seen what the two men were doing, and she giggled. The noise awoke Eric and Horatio from their trains of thought, and both of them blushed.
"Calleigh's going to show me around, because she seems to be able to get over how sexy I am." Amanda teased. Calleigh laughed and Eric blushed a deeper shade of red. Horatio grinned sheepishly and looked away. "I'll see you sexy boys later." She said with a wink, and the two women left, laughing and talking.
"We really screwed up that one, eh?" Horatio laughed. Eric joined in with his laughter and nodded.
"Yeah, we definitely did. Didn't seem like she minded though, the fact that we were checking her out like a dog checks out a piece of meat." Eric said between bursts of laughter. Horatio pointed at Eric's mouth and smirked.
"Complete with drool and everything, too." He added, grinning. Eric wiped his mouth, horrified.
"Ah man, could've told me that before." He whined in such a fake voice that they started laughing all over again. At this point, Horatio realized this was the first time he'd had a good laugh in a long time. Since before Marisol died, at least. He thought. Eric seemed to have noticed the same thing, and both men calmed down. "Guess we should go back to work." He gestured towards the elevator. Horatio nodded.
"I'll be upstairs in a few minutes, see you in the lunch room." Eric shrugged and got into the elevator, pushing the 3rd floor button. This left Horatio to think about Marisol, but also about feelings he may develop for Amanda. 'This isn't going to be good. Eric's attracted to her, and I seem to be as well. What hell is going to break loose if one of us dates her?'