Title: Vendetta
Author: innocent choir girl (ff-dot-net), shannyfish (From Out of the Lab/Miami Heat/LJ)
Summary: Clavo Cruz escapes from prison and goes after those Horatio holds dear in order to really get back at him. Clavo sees that there's more between Horatio and one of his co-workers, and takes Calleigh... (takes place before current season - I swear this was thought up before "Man Down")
Category: Ship Ahoy! Calleigh/Horatio
Genres: Angst, Drama, Episode Related, Established Relationship, Friendship, Hurt Comfort, Suspense
Characters: Calleigh Duquesne, Eric Delko
Warnings: none
Rating: PG-13
Chapter: 11 "Mending Fences"
Author's Notes: For all those patient people who have been waiting for me to update this story! I hope you enjoy these last couple chapters!!!
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Eric had ridden back to the lab with Calleigh while Frank went home. It was another day over and they were no closer to finding Horatio. They collected their messages at the front desk. "You should go home and sleep. We'll start fresh in the morning."
"I'm goin' to check on somethin' first," Calleigh told him.
Eric nodded. He wanted to tell her that she needed to go home right then, but knew it would only make things worse. Calleigh would eventually sleep and relax…it was just a matter of time.
"Eric," she said before he could make it to the elevator. She waited for him to turn to face her before continuing, "Thanks…for the back up."
"Sure," Eric told her with a smile.
Calleigh smiled, "I'll see you in the mornin'."
"Alright," Eric said before turning and heading back to the elevator.
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Most of the dayshift was gone, but Calleigh found Natalia in the DNA lab working with the nightshift tech. "Natalia, can I talk to you for a moment?" Calleigh asked quietly. She didn't want to scare Natalia anymore than she already had.
Natalia nodded and left the tech to process. Stepping out into the hallway, Natalia plunged her hands to the bottoms of her pockets in her white lab coat and averted her eyes to the waxed floor.
"Natalia," Calleigh started and then stopped for a second. She let out a deep breath, "I was out of line before…" she said quietly. "I didn't really mean it." She frowned, "I forgot that you're apart of this family…"
"You mean the lab?" Natalia asked a bit confused, unsure of if it was from lack of sleep or Calleigh just wasn't making sense.
"Yeah. Sometimes I forget that just because some of us have been here longer than others doesn't make the others any less apart of this family."
Natalia smiled, "Thanks, Calleigh."
She returned the smile and looked down for a moment before looking back up at the other woman. "You know, Natalia, you should go home and get some sleep."
"You should, too," Natalia told her. Peeling off her lab coat she hung it over her arm. "Anyways, I should get my stuff and head home." She waved politely to the lab tech before turning and heading for the locker room. She stopped and turned to Calleigh, "Calleigh?"
"Huh?"
Natalia smiled softly, "We'll find him." That was all she needed to say. She turned back towards the locker room and made her way through the nightshift occupying the hall.
Calleigh let a smile slip onto her face as she turned and headed towards her intended destination.
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She had gone to his office as a sanctuary, but instead had started to look for clues. She rounded his desk and sunk down into his chair. She looked around Horatio's office, but didn't find anything that pointed towards Clavo Cruz. All she found was paperwork neatly stacked and organized. Pictures adorned his desk. There were pictures of Yelina with Ray and Ray Jr. along with one of Madison and Suzie. She smiled at one of Horatio with both his niece and nephew. Laying her head on her folded arms she stared at the picture. She knew that Horatio would be the perfect father when he had kids of his own. She allowed her eyelids to slide down and then close. Sleep took her over and she finally relaxed.
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TBC…
