A/N: Sorry for the double cliffhanger of the last chapter, thanks to all those people who called me 'evil' for doing so, I know you meant it in a nice way, didn't you? :)
"Hor….John, please open the door." Silence greeted her and so she knocked softly again, "I'm sorry for the way I reacted, you just took me by surprise that was all." She sighed softly as she leant back against the bathroom door and lowered herself to the floor.
On the other side of the door Horatio sat on the floor with his knees bent and his elbows resting on top of them, he closed his eyes as he wrung his hands together and berated himself. "You idiot. You stupid idiot." He let his head fall back against the wood and hissed as he felt the pain from the incision on the back of his head. He welcomed the pain, it gave him the ability to focus his turbulent thoughts, things had moved much too fast and the sheer amount of information his brain was trying to process was starting to become more than he could handle. He felt so sure of his feelings towards Calleigh even though he hardly knew her, he was certain that she looked the same way at him as he did at her. "You're being a coward, running and hiding. Then again, you're good at that." He couldn't argue with his rationale, he had locked himself in the bathroom like a child in a temper tantrum.
"How did we meet?"
Although his voice came through as nothing more than a whisper from behind the door she would have had to been deaf not to hear the sadness in his deep, smoky voice. "At least he's talking to me," she thought.
"You were head of the crime lab here in Miami," she began as she smiled wistfully at the memory of their first meeting.
Flashback. New Orleans 1999:
Horatio Caine wearily stretched his neck as he stepped off the plane at New Orleans International Airport, it had only been a short flight but the complexity of the case that had brought him here had taken much more out of him than he realised. Truth be told he was glad to be out of Miami, his team of crime scene investigators were trying to track the whereabouts of a vicious serial killer that had been terrorizing the city. The Miami Dade Police Department's press liaison had been unable to stop the media from building the case of the 'South Beach Slaughters' into a fervent frenzy. The throng of camera crews and reporters that had camped out on the steps of the crime lab had made going about his job almost impossible with microphones being shoved in his face at every available turn.
As the body count rose Horatio began to feel the heat from his superiors, having recently been promoted to lieutenant he found the added paperwork and press conference requirements an unnecessary burden on his time on the job. He had the captain breathing down his neck and demanding answers that he currently couldn't give the man. "Maybe if I spent less time taking pointless press conferences we'd actually get somewhere."
If he was being honest he was glad to get away from the whole circus for a time, evidence at the last crime scene had led him to New Orleans. As Horatio walked through arrivals he saw a thin, young black man holding a card with his name on it, he groaned slightly in embarrassment before making his way over to the earnest young officer. "You didn't need to send a welcoming party; I could have got a cab."
"No sir," the uniformed officer replied, "I have strict instructions to take care of you best I can 'til I get you to Captain Squires. Welcome to New Orleans, sir." The young man doffed his hat.
"A pleasure. Your name, officer?"
"Daniels, third generation of my family to work in law enforcement." He smiled proudly at the redhead as he spoke of his heritage on the way to the car. "How 'bout you, sir?" he asked as they climbed into the patrol car and set off, "You sure don't sound like a Miami native, you aint got the colouring neither."
He couldn't fault the young man's directness even if it did make him feel slightly uncomfortable. "I'm from New York originally." He left it as vague as he could.
"Man, I love the Big Apple." Daniels gave Horatio a toothy smile, "I always wanted to take my mama there, why did you leave such a great city?"
"I needed a change; Miami seemed like a good place to go." Half-truth, half lie. "This kid will make a fine detective one day."
"You ever think about going back there, sir?"
"All the God damn time, even though there's nothing left there for me now."
It was only when Officer Daniels asked him if he was ok that he realised that he must have got side tracked in his own thoughts. "We're here now sir, just walk through the main entrance and you'll see the signs for the lab. Have a good day, sir."
He nodded his thanks as he got out of the car and made his way into the building. The design and layout of the crime lab was completely different to that of the one he was used to back in Miami. There were no giant sheets of glass and in their place were cold and asinine-looking concrete walls which wouldn't have looked out of place in a mausoleum. Where Miami was bright and colourful this particular building in New Orleans seemed dark and plain.
Spending too much time taking in his gloomy surroundings he failed to notice the beautiful blonde woman walking towards him equally preoccupied with the stack of folders balanced precariously in her arms. The two of them walked into each other with a collective 'oomph' as the folders fell from her arms and scattered on the floor. She placed and embarrassed hand over her mouth as she looked at him, "Oh Lordy, I didn't see you there. I'm so sorry."
Her lilting southern tone sent his heart fluttering, she sounded as good as she looked. Those beautiful green eyes and the long flowing blonde hair that framed her face would not have been out of place on a catwalk. He found himself captivated by her natural beauty as his gaze focused on taking in every part of her face as they stood in the corridor. He hadn't realised he was staring at her until she cleared her throat awkwardly and started to reach for the files on the floor.
"Here, let me help you." He felt the jolt of electricity race through him as their fingers accidentally brushed against each other. They silently collected the folders and rose together, neither taking their eye off the other.
"You're not from round here are you?"
Her soft voice brought him back to reality, "No, I'm visiting from Miami. Captain Squires thinks he may have a lead on a case we're handling."
She gave him a conspiratorial smile, "You're Horatio Caine then? I've heard a lot about you."
"You have? All good I hope," he asked a little nervously. He chided himself for letting his hormones rule his head, "Act professionally, you idiot."
"Yep," she said as she beamed another smile at him. Readjusting her load she held out a hand to him and shook it, "I'm Calleigh Duquesne, ballistics expert. You need any help with firearms you be sure to drop by my lab, ok?"
He nodded and gave her a shy smile, keeping his head low as he glanced up at her. "I'll be sure to remember that, Miss Duquesne."
Present day. Miami:
Eric coughed as he made his way to the front of the building, the acrid smoke and dust aggravating his already abused lungs as he ran towards the source of the noise that had boomed through the crime lab. Waving away the thick clouds of dust-filled air he made out the images of Ryan and Walter running to the aid of a couple of injured officers who had been thrown back towards the steps in the blast. It was a bomb, of that there was no doubt. Taking a look at the burnt-out shell of the SUV and the utter devastation the explosion had caused all added up to one thing, a deliberate attack on the Miami Dade Police Department.
The scene outside the building became slightly chaotic as people from inside came out to see what all the commotion had been about, Eric took charge as he ordered a group of uniformed officers to usher people back inside to safety. Other officers were deployed to help look for survivors and provide support to the emergency services as they began arriving on the scene. The constant screeching of sirens and car alarms became nothing more than a background noise as Eric made his way over to his colleagues.
"Looks like a car bomb," Ryan said as he began taping off as much of the scene as he could.
"Did you see anything?"
Ryan shook his head, "Walter and I just heard the blast and came running." He gestured his head towards the steps where the two injured officers were laying as paramedics swarmed around them desperately. "Doesn't look good for those two, we can add murder to the terrorist charges."
Walter looked up from where he had crouched, "You think it was a terrorist attack?"
Ryan shrugged his shoulders, "Your guess is as good as mine."
"I know exactly who is behind this," Eric thought before instructing his colleagues to preserve as much evidence as possible hoping that when they processed it later it would lead back to the Malucci's.
