Slightly Condoned
Disclaimer: Don't own anything.
Rating: R (later)
Pairing: Eric/OC, Speed/Calleigh
Summary: After the death of Janet Medrano (Body Count) Elisabeth Kaytlin is hired as the new ADA. Under the condoned guide of Horatio Caine's ex-wife, Mia Dayton, who also happens to be the DA for Miami, as her first assignment Kaytlin is forced to reopen a cold case, which also happens to be Eric Delko's first case with the Miami-Dade crime Lab.
Spoiler: Tinder Box, Body Count
A/N: I *need* to take a break from Cardboard Copy.and perhaps this is a feeble attempt for your entertainment, but I just need to write an Eric fic.he's so lovable.hope you like it. Note: direct mentions from episodes will be featured later.
***
Part 4- Confrontations
Calleigh had just placed the order to the waiter, and was chatting up a storm with Joe, the bartender when she saw two of her friends walk into the café.
At first she did a double take, wondering if her eyes had deceived her but when the couple edged closer to the bar, she knew it was them.
Excusing herself from Joe's company, she made it toward the window table they decided on, and as Eric opened his menu Calleigh transpired, " No eating on the job Delko." She teased, and elicited a chuckle from the woman across the table from him, and a grunt from him.
" Then what might you be doing here?" Delko rebuked, and Calleigh's smile widened, " Well, see your wonderful friend over there, left Speed and myself with a load full of evidence and empty stomachs, so I had no choice." Calleigh said with mock self-pity, and Elisabeth began, " If it's too much of a bother."
Her voice trailed off and Calleigh cut in, " Nah, it's our job, and besides, I'll have access to snake poison, I might as well be loaded with two 9mm, one for this troublemaker, and one for the other." Calleigh said, ruffling up Eric's hair in a motherly tone.
" Hey, watch the hair." He mumbled, prying Calleigh's weightless wrist away from his head, turning to Elisabeth he said, " It's the only decent thing I have left."
Elisabeth giggled lightly, and when the waiter came up with an order pad, and the bag for Calleigh, their conversation ended.
" Thanks." Calleigh smiled at the waiter, and Elisabeth thought he might melt on the spot.
" No problem." He replied chastely, and turned to Delko to order drinks.
" I gotta run, but Liz, see to it, that he doesn't get the last word, his ego is a little over inflated, if you know what I mean." Calleigh winked and escaped the café, but not before Elisabeth could reply, " Then there isn't anything that would separate you from an ordinary man."
She mumbled, and watched Calleigh get into the H2.
" I beg to differ." Eric said self-righteously, and Elisabeth decided to change the subject before she allowed herself to agree.
" So do you drive those Hummers all day at work?" She asked with honest curiosity.
" Yeah, well, that is if we have a crime scene to go to." He explained vaguely and Elisabeth pressed him to elaborate.
" Hmm, so what do you do if you're not at a crime scene?"
" Me, particularly, or all of us?" Delko specified, and Elisabeth shrugged, " Take your pick."
At the back of her head Elisabeth wondered why she was eliciting such pointless small talk, she already knew that Eric specialized in fingerprints and drug analysis, and Speed was bound to the Trace Lab, same with Calleigh and ballistics.
Yet somehow, and something just forced her to put that little bit of information out of her head, and have it be told to her through the first person point of view.
She kept telling herself, that it was for the sake of friendship, and interest but as well as she could lie to others she couldn't lie to herself, and the fact that she was in denial about her feelings for the man across the table from her was further indication of how strong they really were.
Elisabeth sat there, zoning in and zoning out between her one sided conversation with Eric and her inner struggle with her self, until the waiter reappeared again and took their orders.
Afterward, Delko quieted down a little bit, and Elisabeth wondered why that was, " Hey, you've gotten a lot quieter am I boring you?" She teased, but Eric didn't seem to get the joke.
" I think I'm the one boring you. You seem to space out an awful lot." He pointed out and Elisabeth sighed, looking at the coffee in front of her.
The steam reached her face and tickled her chin, it would've been a welcomed experience but under the circumstances she couldn't focus on that sensation.
" Oh, I'm sorry, it's not you, it's just, I've had a lot of things on my mind lately." Elisabeth assured softly, hoping to get this investigator off her back.
" Yeah, I hate when that happens, you wanna talk about the case, maybe it'll take your mind off of whatever the hell your thinking." Eric suggested, trying to be helpful, and Elisabeth could see the flat out concern in his eyes.
It didn't bother her as much as it frightened her that he cared, the obstacles of her past relationships had always come back to square one, and that was trust. But somehow, she was never able to fully rely on another human being for anything in her life. Perhaps it came with the territory of living in such a wholesome family that kindness always had a bigger factor, and she learned to distrust people easily.
It took just so damn little to make that hope inside her head evaporate, and when it did Elisabeth knew that was it, it could never go back to how it was before, even if she wanted it to.
" Sure." Elisabeth agreed and thanked heavens when the food arrived.
It just so happened that with her luck, Elisabeth would soon find herself falling, and nothing was going to break her landing.
***
" Guess who I saw at Ezra?" Were the greeting words of Calleigh as she set the cellophane bags next to Speed in the break room and handed him his coffee.
" I am forever in your debt." He motioned toward the portable cup in his hand, and Calleigh assured him, " Oh yeah."
" So who did you see at Ezra?" Speed repeated her words, as Calleigh undid the ties on the bags.
" Your buddy Eric having breakfast with Liz."
" Those crazy kids." Speed added melodramatically, and turned his attention to the food Calleigh placed in front of him.
" You know you don't have to be so cynical about it, I think it could work out between them." Calleigh supplied, as she pulled out a fork for herself, and set the evidence box aside.
" I'm just worried." Speed explained vaguely, and Calleigh turned to him with a bemused look, wondering why he was feeling this way.
As far as she was concerned Eric was on his way to happiness.right?
" Why?" She asked, taking a sip of his coffee, under Tim's disapproving glance.
" Because, I just don't want Delko to get hurt that's all." He shrugged, picking up a utensil as well.
Dipping her head lower to meet with his, Calleigh touched his shoulder, " Why would you think he'd get hurt?" She raised an eyebrow, wondering what was going on inside her boyfriend's head.
" I don't know, something about Elisabeth." His voice trailed off giving them a moment to process the information.
" Doesn't sit well with you?" Calleigh finished his thought, and he nodded, " Precisely, I'm just not comfortable with the idea of Delko jumping into things, and the way I see it, that's exactly what he's doing."
" Sweetie, you know that in love you've got to take risks, and that's what he's doing." Calleigh corrected him, and Tim looked up at her with eyes far older than he led on.
" Sometimes it's not worth the risk." He frowned, and got up, before Calleigh could say anything he closed the container and took a long sip of his coffee.
" I've got evidence to reevaluate, page me when you're done with the snake poison." He said picking up the case box, and disappearing from the break room.
" Great." Calleigh murmured, trying to escape thoughts of confusion about her counterpart's sudden mood swing as she ate breakfast alone.
***
Mia returned to the office around 12:30, and wasn't surprised to find it empty.
Knowing Eric Delko, he was sure to whisk Elisabeth away to a much better place to work. The offices of Dayton & Kaytlin weren't really suitable for the tired mind with loads of evidence and case files to go through.
She took off her blazer, and unfastened the two first buttons on her blouse, getting comfortable before a work load like the one that her briefcase carried would be mandatory, and since she didn't have anyone like the ever so annoyingly charming Eric Delko to whisk her away to a better place, her lonely office would have to do.
Putting her favorite Jazz CD into the entertainment system in the corner of her office, she took off her shoes and turned to the percolator, putting enough coffee in there to wake up just about any one, she settled behind her desk, unaware that in about two minutes she'd have company.
***
After encountering Speedle in the trace lab going through year old evidence and literarily wasting his time, Horatio decided that he'd had enough of this charade that his ex-wife was instigating, along with the help of one of the most influential women in Miami-Dade.
Council Woman Mercedes Escalante.
He signed off on the case that he and Alexx had completed and drove to City Hall.
Horatio was surprised he still remembered where his ex-wife's office was, and even more bemused when he read the door label.
Dayton & Kaytlin.
Elisabeth must've been stoked when she read that, or scared out of her mind. At the moment Horatio really didn't care about the ADA because he was pretty damn sure that his former lover probably forced her assistant into his case anyway, so she was just as much of a victim as his CSIs were.
When he opened the door, he stepped inside, and looked at his surroundings.
The loud Jazz music coming from the stereo behind the giant fake plant in the corner of her office, muted Horatio's entrance and he had a chance to study the DA at work.
He couldn't deny that she still looked amazingly well for her 39 years of age, the chestnut hair and intimidating green eyes had been part of the reason he'd fallen for her, so many years back, and they were also part of the reason that he was divorced now.
She leaned over the files she was reading, supplying Horatio an eyeful of her cleavage inadvertently, and he decided to make his presence known.
" Sorry to interrupt you council." He startled her, and she grasped a fistful of her blouse in one hand and muted the stereo with the other.
" Sweet fucking mother of God Horatio, don't do that to me." Mia announced, not having a moment to process that her ex-husband was the man staring amusedly at her.
" If I didn't know any better, I'd say you have a dirty mouth Ms. Dayton." He smirked, and helped himself to the surprisingly mediocre tasting coffee and took a seat across the desk from her, so negligently that it irritated Mia even more.
Taking off her reading glasses she put her work away for a moment and folded her arms over her breasts, " Now tell me what you want and then get the hell out, I don't have time for your games Horatio." She explained with a stern bitch look only she could pull off, but Horatio wasn't fazed.
" I'm sure your very busy hassling my CSIs and your new employer for no goddamned reason." He kept his tone at a minimal, knowing it would further piss Mia off that he could be so calm and yet so infuriating.
It came with four years of marriage that he knew exactly how and what buttons to push on the petite package in front of him. It was evident that it was working.
" Oh, don't you get tired of your own bullshit. Get it through your head Horatio, there is no ulterior motive here, it's just a favor to a friend, and so far only you've been complaining." Mia said in an exasperated but nonetheless persistent tone.
" Hell yes, I'm gonna be complaining, but not so much complaining as warning you that this little shenanigan Mercedes and you have going better not be because Lorenzo is in jail. It's where he belongs, and if this is some sick way of avenging his incarceration then I hope he fucking burns in hell in that stupid prison." Horatio exclaimed with venom, the coffee not tasting so mediocre anymore.
" Are you threatening me H? Because that wouldn't be a smart thing to do under the circumstances." Mia pointed out wisely.
" And what circumstances might those be?" Horatio asked, settling down just a tiny bit, although his animosity toward his ex lover wasn't dying out.
" That I am your former spouse and this visit could be considered as some sort of jealous raid that you have after our brief time together." Mia explained.
" If I remember correctly, I think I was the one to divorce you, because you couldn't keep your hands of the primal competitor." Horatio reminded bitterly eliciting a smile from Mia.
" The fact that I cheated on you is beside the point."
" No, I think that's *exactly* the point, and you cant get over the fact that I'm over you, so that's why you're doing this. Let me tell you something you don't already know Mia. I don't fucking care anymore, simple as that. I don't care, and you shouldn't either. Our marriage is behind us, behind me, and if this is for your own sick pleasure please don't involve my CSIs in this, as well as Ms. Kaytlin." Horatio got up and discarded the coffee cup.
Mia reclined on her chair, not the least bit intimidated by the piece of truth that was lingering from her ex-husband's mouth.
Of course she'd reevaluated those same problems and situations that he'd voiced a few minutes before, but the issue was that she didn't know yet how to approach them, and having them thrown in her face amidst the chaos wasn't a pleasant experience.
" It's not for my own sick pleasure." Mia said, in a soft voice, unlike her, and Horatio prepared to listen.
" Then why are you doing this?" he asked, calming down.
" Because, she's a friend, and asked me a favor and I didn't have time to take care of it myself so I enlisted the help of my assistant and the best investigators in Miami, who also happen to be your CSIs. So I suggest instead of sitting here, pissing away my time and yours, you be proud for forming such a team together, and take care of the cases that they're missing." Mia said and Horatio leaned against the door he'd soon come through.
" You'd better be genuine Mia." He warned lightheartedly.
" Why is that Horatio?" She unfolded her arms, but still remained determined.
" So that you don't burn in hell when you leave this life." Horatio sneered and left her office.
Long seconds passed while The DA tried to calm herself down, realizing that through two years of separation and seldom visits Horatio Caine was still a thorn in her side, and with no chance of removing him, she'd just have to cope.
TBC.
Disclaimer: Don't own anything.
Rating: R (later)
Pairing: Eric/OC, Speed/Calleigh
Summary: After the death of Janet Medrano (Body Count) Elisabeth Kaytlin is hired as the new ADA. Under the condoned guide of Horatio Caine's ex-wife, Mia Dayton, who also happens to be the DA for Miami, as her first assignment Kaytlin is forced to reopen a cold case, which also happens to be Eric Delko's first case with the Miami-Dade crime Lab.
Spoiler: Tinder Box, Body Count
A/N: I *need* to take a break from Cardboard Copy.and perhaps this is a feeble attempt for your entertainment, but I just need to write an Eric fic.he's so lovable.hope you like it. Note: direct mentions from episodes will be featured later.
***
Part 4- Confrontations
Calleigh had just placed the order to the waiter, and was chatting up a storm with Joe, the bartender when she saw two of her friends walk into the café.
At first she did a double take, wondering if her eyes had deceived her but when the couple edged closer to the bar, she knew it was them.
Excusing herself from Joe's company, she made it toward the window table they decided on, and as Eric opened his menu Calleigh transpired, " No eating on the job Delko." She teased, and elicited a chuckle from the woman across the table from him, and a grunt from him.
" Then what might you be doing here?" Delko rebuked, and Calleigh's smile widened, " Well, see your wonderful friend over there, left Speed and myself with a load full of evidence and empty stomachs, so I had no choice." Calleigh said with mock self-pity, and Elisabeth began, " If it's too much of a bother."
Her voice trailed off and Calleigh cut in, " Nah, it's our job, and besides, I'll have access to snake poison, I might as well be loaded with two 9mm, one for this troublemaker, and one for the other." Calleigh said, ruffling up Eric's hair in a motherly tone.
" Hey, watch the hair." He mumbled, prying Calleigh's weightless wrist away from his head, turning to Elisabeth he said, " It's the only decent thing I have left."
Elisabeth giggled lightly, and when the waiter came up with an order pad, and the bag for Calleigh, their conversation ended.
" Thanks." Calleigh smiled at the waiter, and Elisabeth thought he might melt on the spot.
" No problem." He replied chastely, and turned to Delko to order drinks.
" I gotta run, but Liz, see to it, that he doesn't get the last word, his ego is a little over inflated, if you know what I mean." Calleigh winked and escaped the café, but not before Elisabeth could reply, " Then there isn't anything that would separate you from an ordinary man."
She mumbled, and watched Calleigh get into the H2.
" I beg to differ." Eric said self-righteously, and Elisabeth decided to change the subject before she allowed herself to agree.
" So do you drive those Hummers all day at work?" She asked with honest curiosity.
" Yeah, well, that is if we have a crime scene to go to." He explained vaguely and Elisabeth pressed him to elaborate.
" Hmm, so what do you do if you're not at a crime scene?"
" Me, particularly, or all of us?" Delko specified, and Elisabeth shrugged, " Take your pick."
At the back of her head Elisabeth wondered why she was eliciting such pointless small talk, she already knew that Eric specialized in fingerprints and drug analysis, and Speed was bound to the Trace Lab, same with Calleigh and ballistics.
Yet somehow, and something just forced her to put that little bit of information out of her head, and have it be told to her through the first person point of view.
She kept telling herself, that it was for the sake of friendship, and interest but as well as she could lie to others she couldn't lie to herself, and the fact that she was in denial about her feelings for the man across the table from her was further indication of how strong they really were.
Elisabeth sat there, zoning in and zoning out between her one sided conversation with Eric and her inner struggle with her self, until the waiter reappeared again and took their orders.
Afterward, Delko quieted down a little bit, and Elisabeth wondered why that was, " Hey, you've gotten a lot quieter am I boring you?" She teased, but Eric didn't seem to get the joke.
" I think I'm the one boring you. You seem to space out an awful lot." He pointed out and Elisabeth sighed, looking at the coffee in front of her.
The steam reached her face and tickled her chin, it would've been a welcomed experience but under the circumstances she couldn't focus on that sensation.
" Oh, I'm sorry, it's not you, it's just, I've had a lot of things on my mind lately." Elisabeth assured softly, hoping to get this investigator off her back.
" Yeah, I hate when that happens, you wanna talk about the case, maybe it'll take your mind off of whatever the hell your thinking." Eric suggested, trying to be helpful, and Elisabeth could see the flat out concern in his eyes.
It didn't bother her as much as it frightened her that he cared, the obstacles of her past relationships had always come back to square one, and that was trust. But somehow, she was never able to fully rely on another human being for anything in her life. Perhaps it came with the territory of living in such a wholesome family that kindness always had a bigger factor, and she learned to distrust people easily.
It took just so damn little to make that hope inside her head evaporate, and when it did Elisabeth knew that was it, it could never go back to how it was before, even if she wanted it to.
" Sure." Elisabeth agreed and thanked heavens when the food arrived.
It just so happened that with her luck, Elisabeth would soon find herself falling, and nothing was going to break her landing.
***
" Guess who I saw at Ezra?" Were the greeting words of Calleigh as she set the cellophane bags next to Speed in the break room and handed him his coffee.
" I am forever in your debt." He motioned toward the portable cup in his hand, and Calleigh assured him, " Oh yeah."
" So who did you see at Ezra?" Speed repeated her words, as Calleigh undid the ties on the bags.
" Your buddy Eric having breakfast with Liz."
" Those crazy kids." Speed added melodramatically, and turned his attention to the food Calleigh placed in front of him.
" You know you don't have to be so cynical about it, I think it could work out between them." Calleigh supplied, as she pulled out a fork for herself, and set the evidence box aside.
" I'm just worried." Speed explained vaguely, and Calleigh turned to him with a bemused look, wondering why he was feeling this way.
As far as she was concerned Eric was on his way to happiness.right?
" Why?" She asked, taking a sip of his coffee, under Tim's disapproving glance.
" Because, I just don't want Delko to get hurt that's all." He shrugged, picking up a utensil as well.
Dipping her head lower to meet with his, Calleigh touched his shoulder, " Why would you think he'd get hurt?" She raised an eyebrow, wondering what was going on inside her boyfriend's head.
" I don't know, something about Elisabeth." His voice trailed off giving them a moment to process the information.
" Doesn't sit well with you?" Calleigh finished his thought, and he nodded, " Precisely, I'm just not comfortable with the idea of Delko jumping into things, and the way I see it, that's exactly what he's doing."
" Sweetie, you know that in love you've got to take risks, and that's what he's doing." Calleigh corrected him, and Tim looked up at her with eyes far older than he led on.
" Sometimes it's not worth the risk." He frowned, and got up, before Calleigh could say anything he closed the container and took a long sip of his coffee.
" I've got evidence to reevaluate, page me when you're done with the snake poison." He said picking up the case box, and disappearing from the break room.
" Great." Calleigh murmured, trying to escape thoughts of confusion about her counterpart's sudden mood swing as she ate breakfast alone.
***
Mia returned to the office around 12:30, and wasn't surprised to find it empty.
Knowing Eric Delko, he was sure to whisk Elisabeth away to a much better place to work. The offices of Dayton & Kaytlin weren't really suitable for the tired mind with loads of evidence and case files to go through.
She took off her blazer, and unfastened the two first buttons on her blouse, getting comfortable before a work load like the one that her briefcase carried would be mandatory, and since she didn't have anyone like the ever so annoyingly charming Eric Delko to whisk her away to a better place, her lonely office would have to do.
Putting her favorite Jazz CD into the entertainment system in the corner of her office, she took off her shoes and turned to the percolator, putting enough coffee in there to wake up just about any one, she settled behind her desk, unaware that in about two minutes she'd have company.
***
After encountering Speedle in the trace lab going through year old evidence and literarily wasting his time, Horatio decided that he'd had enough of this charade that his ex-wife was instigating, along with the help of one of the most influential women in Miami-Dade.
Council Woman Mercedes Escalante.
He signed off on the case that he and Alexx had completed and drove to City Hall.
Horatio was surprised he still remembered where his ex-wife's office was, and even more bemused when he read the door label.
Dayton & Kaytlin.
Elisabeth must've been stoked when she read that, or scared out of her mind. At the moment Horatio really didn't care about the ADA because he was pretty damn sure that his former lover probably forced her assistant into his case anyway, so she was just as much of a victim as his CSIs were.
When he opened the door, he stepped inside, and looked at his surroundings.
The loud Jazz music coming from the stereo behind the giant fake plant in the corner of her office, muted Horatio's entrance and he had a chance to study the DA at work.
He couldn't deny that she still looked amazingly well for her 39 years of age, the chestnut hair and intimidating green eyes had been part of the reason he'd fallen for her, so many years back, and they were also part of the reason that he was divorced now.
She leaned over the files she was reading, supplying Horatio an eyeful of her cleavage inadvertently, and he decided to make his presence known.
" Sorry to interrupt you council." He startled her, and she grasped a fistful of her blouse in one hand and muted the stereo with the other.
" Sweet fucking mother of God Horatio, don't do that to me." Mia announced, not having a moment to process that her ex-husband was the man staring amusedly at her.
" If I didn't know any better, I'd say you have a dirty mouth Ms. Dayton." He smirked, and helped himself to the surprisingly mediocre tasting coffee and took a seat across the desk from her, so negligently that it irritated Mia even more.
Taking off her reading glasses she put her work away for a moment and folded her arms over her breasts, " Now tell me what you want and then get the hell out, I don't have time for your games Horatio." She explained with a stern bitch look only she could pull off, but Horatio wasn't fazed.
" I'm sure your very busy hassling my CSIs and your new employer for no goddamned reason." He kept his tone at a minimal, knowing it would further piss Mia off that he could be so calm and yet so infuriating.
It came with four years of marriage that he knew exactly how and what buttons to push on the petite package in front of him. It was evident that it was working.
" Oh, don't you get tired of your own bullshit. Get it through your head Horatio, there is no ulterior motive here, it's just a favor to a friend, and so far only you've been complaining." Mia said in an exasperated but nonetheless persistent tone.
" Hell yes, I'm gonna be complaining, but not so much complaining as warning you that this little shenanigan Mercedes and you have going better not be because Lorenzo is in jail. It's where he belongs, and if this is some sick way of avenging his incarceration then I hope he fucking burns in hell in that stupid prison." Horatio exclaimed with venom, the coffee not tasting so mediocre anymore.
" Are you threatening me H? Because that wouldn't be a smart thing to do under the circumstances." Mia pointed out wisely.
" And what circumstances might those be?" Horatio asked, settling down just a tiny bit, although his animosity toward his ex lover wasn't dying out.
" That I am your former spouse and this visit could be considered as some sort of jealous raid that you have after our brief time together." Mia explained.
" If I remember correctly, I think I was the one to divorce you, because you couldn't keep your hands of the primal competitor." Horatio reminded bitterly eliciting a smile from Mia.
" The fact that I cheated on you is beside the point."
" No, I think that's *exactly* the point, and you cant get over the fact that I'm over you, so that's why you're doing this. Let me tell you something you don't already know Mia. I don't fucking care anymore, simple as that. I don't care, and you shouldn't either. Our marriage is behind us, behind me, and if this is for your own sick pleasure please don't involve my CSIs in this, as well as Ms. Kaytlin." Horatio got up and discarded the coffee cup.
Mia reclined on her chair, not the least bit intimidated by the piece of truth that was lingering from her ex-husband's mouth.
Of course she'd reevaluated those same problems and situations that he'd voiced a few minutes before, but the issue was that she didn't know yet how to approach them, and having them thrown in her face amidst the chaos wasn't a pleasant experience.
" It's not for my own sick pleasure." Mia said, in a soft voice, unlike her, and Horatio prepared to listen.
" Then why are you doing this?" he asked, calming down.
" Because, she's a friend, and asked me a favor and I didn't have time to take care of it myself so I enlisted the help of my assistant and the best investigators in Miami, who also happen to be your CSIs. So I suggest instead of sitting here, pissing away my time and yours, you be proud for forming such a team together, and take care of the cases that they're missing." Mia said and Horatio leaned against the door he'd soon come through.
" You'd better be genuine Mia." He warned lightheartedly.
" Why is that Horatio?" She unfolded her arms, but still remained determined.
" So that you don't burn in hell when you leave this life." Horatio sneered and left her office.
Long seconds passed while The DA tried to calm herself down, realizing that through two years of separation and seldom visits Horatio Caine was still a thorn in her side, and with no chance of removing him, she'd just have to cope.
TBC.