A/N: I do not own CSI Miami or any of it's characters, affiliates...etc. This is just my imagination running with it! I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter I

Laredo Texas

"Eric!" Horatio popped into the office. "We need to take a trip."

His head lifted. Any time H said something about them going somewhere together it had to do with Marisol. She had been gone for sixteen years now and there were times that it still felt like yesterday.

She'd been taken to Rio by the Mala Noches and it had taken them almost all of nine months to find her. But by the time they did, she was beyond help. She had been pregnant and had told Horatio when he found her that she'd lost the baby, that it had been stillborn. She had lost so much blood, that there was no saving her. And it had damn near killed Horatio. Not only had he lost his wife, he'd lost his child.

He had been lucky enough to find out about Kyle a few years back, and he'd been grateful for it, but he had never gotten over the loss of Marisol and their child. He never even found out if it had been a boy or a girl. The Mala Noches had disposed of the baby, before they disposed of Marisol, unceremoniously in the jungle where he and Eric had found her.

Following after his boss, he piped up. "What's up? Where are we going?"

"Texas."

"Texas?" he questioned, clearly confused.

"That's what I said."

"What are we going to do there?"

"I'll explain on the way. Let's go."

Getting in the car and heading to the airport, he sighed. "Yelina has been doing some private investigating. Apparently The Mala Noches have a hand in Texas."

"Okay."

"There's a sixteen year old girl working at a mechanics shop in Laredo."

Knowing instantly where he was going with it, he tried not to get his hopes up. Could it be possible? A small part of him thoroughly hoped so. More for Horatio's sake than his own, but he hoped so.

There had always been a possibility that the Mala Noches had told her that the baby had died, when in reality it hadn't. That they had in fact took the baby and someone else had raised his child. Which is where they were now. On the way to Laredo Texas to find out, if this girl that Yelina found, was a product of Horatio and Marisol. If this girl, was his niece.

They stepped off the plane and it took less than ten minutes to get to the shop. The only information they had was that the girl's last name was Perez. Probably one of the most common last names in Mexico. Much like Smith in the U.S. Walking into the shop, there was a man standing there. "Can I help you?"

The man was of Latin descent, and wasn't huge, but wasn't little either. Dark hair and a dark mustache. "Yes, we're looking for Ms. Perez."

"Oh yeah. Hold on." and he turned toward one of the cars that was on the ground with a hood up. "Cainey!"

"What?" came a scream from under the old Honda.

"Someone's here to see you?"

"Dammit! I don't have time for this shit! Hold on!" she screamed. People came in all the time to either complain about work she'd done, or ask her about work she'd done on a car so they could get some work done. Which was great and all, when she wasn't trying to get a car fixed so badly.

He nodded his head toward the beater. "She'll be right with you."

They looked toward the car and saw a creeper under there with a pair of feet, working their way to a different part of the undercarriage. "Son of a bitch! I told you I was going to get you, you sorry bastard!" she cussed, then screaming loudly in frustration, there was a loud pop and the tool dropped as she came out from under the car.

Looking down at her hand, she sat up on the creeper and stood quickly, blood flowing freely. Turning to look at this redhead and Cuban man standing there waiting for someone, she shouted. "Hey! Five-O!" His eyes hardened toward her when he realized she was talking to him. Then she noticed him take note of her hand bleeding everywhere. "Grab that First-Aide kit behind your head for me and bring it over here."

Doing so quickly, he followed her to the sink, and watched her barely wince as the cold water touched the bleeding back knuckles. As he opened it, he reached forward grabbing paper towels on the rack beside the sink. Stopping for a second, she looked at him.

She looked just like Marisol. Same dark hair, it flowed the same way, even though it was in a pony tail, and she had the same cheeks and mouth, but her nose, and her eyes, were all him. She had the same stark blue eyes, but they looked so amazingly bright with her darker skin tone and hair. Even her name was a part of him. They had done that on purpose, of that he was sure. "Are you alright? You're not gonna like, pass out on me for the blood are you?"

Clearing his throat, he realized he'd been staring. "No. Not at all. Sorry." and he grabbed her hand, wrapping the paper towel. Without missing a beat, she grabbed the butterfly stitches in the kit, and started working on her hand, as he held the towel on each knuckle until she needed it.

The index finger and middle finger needed butterfly bandages. The ring and pinkie finger knuckles were scraped up pretty good, but not in need of any cover ups. She glanced at him. "Thanks for the help. If you'll give me a second, someone was looking for me for some reason..."

"It was me."

"Oh!" then she smiled. "Well what can I help you with?"

"Do you have a few minutes?"

Staring at him for a moment, there was something about him that made her just...gravitated toward him. She had no clue why. She didn't want to be around anyone! Much less having this uncanny draw to a person. She took a deep breath. "Juan! I'm goin to lunch!"

"Aight! You done with the Honda?"

"Man does it look like I'm done? Hell no I ain't done! Gimme a few, I just got the bolt off the tie rod! I'm hungry!"

"Whatever! Be back in an hour!"

"Yeah, I gotcha!" she yelled back, then turned to the cop. "Come on Lincoln."

"Lincoln?"

"Yeah. Lincoln's on a penny. A penny is made of what?"

"Copper."

"Uh huh."

Then it clicked. Something about her made him smile. It was her personality. She started toward the door.

"You comin too Hannibal?" she yelled toward Eric.

"Hannibal?"

Horatio smiled and piped up. "Abraham Lincoln's Vice President."

"Lincoln?"

His smile broadened and shook his head. "I'll explain later." then he rushed to keep up with the kid. "Where are we going?"

She lifted her head to across the street. "I have a tab at this place. They let me pay when I get my check. Service sucks and the food's terrible, but it sufficiently gets me through."

The kid was tough. Watching her walk now, there were definitely things about her that were all her own. She looked tiny in the coveralls that she wore, and as she unzipped the top half and tied the arms around her waist, it exposed her sun touched skin and her muscular frame in the black tank-top. The kid looked like she could probably bench press the car she'd been working under. Unlike Marisol, there was nothing delicate about her.

Eric stared after her. She looked like she'd worked since she'd been born. She didn't take anything for granted and it didn't seem like she took much from anyone that she couldn't get herself.

Walking into the restaurant, she lifted her chin to the lady behind the counter. "Holá Maria!"

"Bueños Dias Cainey!" then she appraised the men who followed behind her.

Turning, Cainey smiled. "This is Lincoln and Hannibal."

The woman gave a confused smile back but didn't say anything as the three of them sat down. Looking across the table, Horatio reached his hand out. "Actually, my name is Horatio Caine, and this is Eric Delko."

Taking both their hands in a tight grip each, she shook them. "I am Cainey Perez. What can I do for you gentlemen? You don't seem to be having car problems so I'm going to assume it's not that. And your accent tells me you're not from around here too. East?"

Eying her carefully, H nodded his head lightly. "You're right. It's not a car and we're not from here. We're actually here for you."

"Okay?"

"Have you always been in Laredo?"

"Whoa. You're going all the way back!" then she studied the red head. "Can I ask why?"

"It's part of a current investigation."

"Investigation in to...?"

"A kidnapping."

"Well that's a little vague."

"I know. I'm not doing a really good job of explaining myself am I?" She was wary of him, he realized. She was asking questions that people wouldn't expect a sixteen year old to even have the wits to ask, much less know what her rights were or weren't.

Staring at him, she didn't really answer.

He took a deep breath, not sure how to proceed.

Getting a sudden sickening thought, she sat back. "Are you investigating me?"

"It's complicated."

"Okay look, you've got to give me something. I've done enough in my life to know that I don't just give anything away. Give a little, get a little. Especially when it comes to my past."

"Is it sketchy?"

"It's just not something I talk about! My life is no one's business but my own! Nobody cares about me but me, and that's not bound to change any time soon. So, you'll forgive me if I don't just flagrantly disregard something that only matters to numero uno."

Tough one to love. Definitely hurt in her past, and probably good reason for guardedness. All that aside, he was never going to get anywhere if he couldn't get past the wall she'd put up. "Have you ever been to Miami?"

"Miami?" and he nodded. "You want to know if I've ever been across the Gulf?" he nodded again. She shook her head. "No, Lincoln. Or Caine, or whatever your name is. I've never been to Florida. I've never been out of Laredo. I've never even been to the beach. Now if we're done discussing the things I've never done..."

"Who would we talk to about taking you to Miami?"

"What?" the question had caught her so off guard.

"Legal guardian, parent, aunt, uncle..."

"Look. I'm not sure what information you have about me or not, and I'm not buying that you've gone from investigation to taking me to a different state. So I'm going to ask you once, before I get really pissed off. What is this about?"

The kid was hard. She was steel hard and she was frustrated. She didn't trust anyone and she didn't accept offers either. She definitely didn't take anything for granted. Which told him that she had been done wrong more than once. "I told you already..."

"Yeah. It's complicated. My life is complicated enough without anyone else's help. I was emancipated about six weeks ago. There's just me."

"Would you consider going to Miami?"

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"I'm not into playing games, I don't care if you are cops." and she started to get up.

"What do you know about your family?"

Stopping in her tracks, she turned back toward them. "I don't have any family. I've already been over this with you."

"What if I told you I knew who your mother and father are?"

"I would tell you to kiss my ass." and her eyes grew misty as she leaned across the table, still standing, placing her hands flat on the table. "I killed my own mother by existing and I don't even know if my father..." and she stopped, took a deep breath and closed her eyes in a long blink, standing up straight. "I don't know why you're here, and I don't care. Just leave me the hell alone and go back to Miami." and she turned walking quickly out of the establishment.

He stared after her for a long moment before clearing his throat. "This is going to be a little bit harder than I thought."

Smiling gently, he looked at his brother in law. "Did you think it would be easy?"

He let out a long breath. "I didn't think it would be easy, no. But I didn't think it would be that hard either. I don't think I was prepared for that. I think, deep down, I hoped that she'd been taken care of. Even if she was angry. I can handle anger. But she's been neglected. And she's been pushed. And that, is where I start having problems."

The waitress came by and sat down in front of the two men. She had high cheek bones and darker skin with dark eyes and hair. "She has had a hard life." then she leaned back in her chair. "You...you are her family, yes?"

Studying her, Eric answered. "How do you..."

"She has his eyes. And you have similar facial structure. There was a woman in here asking questions about her two days ago. It doesn't take much to put two and two together."

Horatio stared out the door for a minute.

"Don't worry. She does not know."

"Can you tell me about her?"

Smiling softly, she nodded. "Si. I will tell you all I know."

"How long have you known her?"

"I have watched her grow, and helped her when I could. She showed up at age two with a very bad man. He still pulls strings and makes her life hell. She has no idea what she's done to him, but he is very angry with her. He never lets her have anything."

"She said she's been emancipated."

"That's how he does it. He gives her things she needs or wants for and then she owes him."

"She's just a kid. She doesn't owe anyone anything. Least of all someone that only does things to cash in later."

"He is a bad man. He has hurt her many times in the past. She stays away from him as much as she can, but she sometimes still comes in with a black eye or a fat lip. She can't help it. She trusts nobody. I taught her that. She trusted people once. But they made her a slave. Every one of them. She is just a kid, on the outside. On the inside, she is much older than her years."

He could tell she was passionate about the girl and making sure she was well taken care of.

"It makes me angry to see her taken advantage of. That man has made sure that she's had nothing her entire life, and feels like she should have nothing. She never complains about anything. Never a headache, never a stomach ache, nothing. She doesn't take a day off work and she's been at that shop solid for the last eight years of her life only off on days it's closed or when she went to court."

"Does the shop close often?"

"Three days a year."

"And she works every day?"

"I am a slave to this place. I own it. I don't have the luxury of taking a day off. I've chosen that life. She hasn't. She does what she's told. She works seven to six every day. It's all she's known her entire existence. I heard you tell her you want to take her to Miami."

"I want to, yes. That's where she belongs."

"Si. You keep talking to her. She's going to resist, but do not give up on her. Fighting is all she's known."

He nodded. "I never will. Thank you for talking to us."

"She is strong. She doesn't back down and she's not afraid of anything, including running headlong into a fight to protect someone."

"You mean yourself?"

She took a deep breath and nodded. "She took a knife for me once in a brawl that started in my dining room. She heard the commotion and ran across the street. The man was drunk but she thought he was coming at me with the knife. He was, but he had stumbled. She jumped in front of the knife, pushed me out of the way and pushed against him. Went right through the fatty part of her arm. She went into the ER, got stitches and was back to work the next morning. She will protect what's hers, to the death."

He stared at her for a long moment before finally nodding. He was going to take this knowledge and try again. He had no intentions of ever giving up on her. Now having a little more information about her and her past, he had the urge to run over there and pull her out of there in an official capacity. But he knew that trying it would only blow up in his face.