Title: Isolation (2/?) (Second story in an ongoing series that began with "Blood Ties.")

Disclaimer: Don't own anything to do with CSI: Miami, and all you'd get if you sued me is a laptop and a couple pairs of really nice shoes. Hardly seems worth it, right?

Rating: PG-13 (language and violence, no fun stuff in this one, I'm afraid.)

Pairings: Eric/Maria (OC) slight Tim/Calleigh

Feedback: Your feedback = my inspiration = more frequent updates.



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"They find the girl yet?" Hagen asked Alexx.

"I don't think so." She replied. "They just went in a few minutes ago. I'm about to head back and start the post."

"What the hell?" Hagen said suddenly, pointing to the house.

Alexx looked up just in time to see Eric running towards them, holding a little girl. "What happened?" Alexx asked him as he handed the child to a social worker who had been called in.

"There was a guy in there...hiding...I don't know where he was, he..." Eric rambled, disoriented.

"Oh my God..." Alexx gasped as she noticed for the first time that he was injured. "Eric, you're bleeding. Let me see that."

"Where's Santiago?" Hagen asked.

Alexx froze. She'd been so concerned about Eric, she'd almost forgotten about Maria.

"He's got her, he's holding her hostage with a knife to her throat." Eric replied helplessly.

"Jesus." Alexx murmured as she pressed a gauze pad against the cut in the back of Eric's head.

Hagen looked perplexed. "What would he want with her?"

"I'm not sure, he wasn't exactly forthcoming when he smacked me upside the head with a metal pipe." Eric snapped impatiently.

"Okay, just calm down." Alexx said soothingly. "I'm going to call Horatio. Maria's strong, I'm sure she'll be just fine. But you need to get to the hospital, this looks like it could be bad."

But Eric was already standing up. An adrenaline rush was kicking in, and all he could think of was running back up those stairs and breaking down the bathroom door to get to Maria. "No, I'm not going anywhere until I know she's safe."

"Eric, no." Alexx said firmly. "You need medical attention. You could have a serious injury."

Ignoring her, Eric took out his cell phone.

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Maria let herself go limp, and her attacker responded by tightening his grip on her hair.

"I'm cool, man. I won't fight you." She said calmly. "Just don't hurt me." She was trapped. Her gun had fallen across the bathroom floor. And the guy wasn't huge, but he did have a definite height and weight advantage over her. At the moment, her best shot seemed to be to talk him down.

"I am going to hurt you." He replied, too calmly. "They're coming for me, it's only a matter of time now. They're going to kill me. So I have to kill you."

With that, he released her hair, throwing her down so she landed with her back against the bathtub. She watched as her attacker calmly stepped over her and picked up her gun. He turned it over in his hands a few times, then shoved it into the pocket of his jeans. Then he looked at her, and she recognized the look in his eyes instantly. He was high, on meth or something similar. She'd seen enough people under the influence of such substances before to know how unpredictable they were. There was only one thing she could be certain of.

Surviving this situation was going to be harder than she had thought.

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"Eric, are you absolutely sure you're all right?" Horatio asked. The younger man had insisted his injury wasn't serious, but Horatio could hear him slurring his words slightly as he spoke, and he knew that Alexx had been encouraging Eric to go to the hospital.

"H, I'm fine." Eric replied. "I'm more concerned about Maria."

"Is Alexx still there? Let me talk to her."

"I'm here, Horatio." Alexx said a moment later. "The cut's not very big, but it is deep. I can stop the external bleeding easily enough, but there could be internal bleeding, and he seems disoriented."

"But he's refusing to get medical attention?" Horatio asked incredulously. "All right, keep an eye on him. I'll be there soon."

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"So, let me ask you something." Calleigh said to Tim. The case they had been working on was closed, the elderly woman's death had been a suicide. "Does Delko ever talk about what's going on with him and Maria?"

Tim rolled his eyes as he poured a cup of coffee for himself, and one for Calleigh. "I think the better question would be does he ever stop talking about it."

"Uh-oh." Calleigh raised an eyebrow. "Please tell me that he just brags about the fact that he gets to screw her constantly and never has to pay for dinner."

"He's mentioned that she's a 'total hornball,' his words." Tim said with a slight shrug. "But it's pretty obvious that he's in it for more than just sex. Why? She's not?"

"Apparently." Calleigh sighed, sitting down on the couch. "She seems to think that he's still on board with the whole 'friends with benefits' arrangement. I just hope they get it sorted out, I'd hate to see either of them get hurt."

"I could be wrong, you know." Tim said, sitting down beside her. "I get the impression that Delko likes the dirty looks he gets from Hagen when he talks about Maria. Hagen's definitely jealous."

"And you're not?" Calleigh asked.

"Nah. Maria's cute, sure, and she's pretty cool. But she's not my type." Tim admitted. "There's something about her that's sort of...out there."

Calleigh laughed. "Did I tell you she wants to feng shui our bathroom?"

"Seriously? Okay, so she's really not my type." Tim said as he picked up the remote and turned on the TV.

"Honestly, she's a good friend." Calleigh sighed, taking a sip of her coffee. "But if she ever offers to align you chakras, run-"

"Calleigh." Tim interrupted, pointing to the TV.

Looking at the news report on the screen, Calleigh almost choked on her coffee. "Oh my God."

"What began as a murder investigation," The reporter was saying, "Has now escalated into an apparent hostage crisis. We have unconfirmed reports that two crime scene investigators went into the house about twenty minutes ago, apparently in search of a young girl who was believed to be hiding inside, at some point they encountered a suspect, and a scuffle ensued. We are waiting for confirmation that one of the investigators was injured, and the second is being held hostage by the suspect."

"Holy shit." Tim looked at Calleigh. "Did Maria happen to tell you where the scene she and Delko were working on was?"

"I can't remember." Calleigh said softly, not looking away from the screen. "But it's got to be them, don't you think? I mean, who else could it be?"

Tim's cell phone rang, and he took it out of his pocket. "It's Horatio." He opened the phone quickly. "Yeah, we just turned on the news. What's going on over there?" He listened for a moment. "God damn it. Yeah, okay. Okay, let us know." He closed the phone. "Delko's hurt, Horatio doesn't know how bad he is, he won't go to the hospital."

"And Maria?" Calleigh asked nervously.

"She charged the guy to protect the kid, and he managed to catch her off guard. Last thing Delko saw before the guy slammed the bathroom door on him was that he'd managed to disarm her, and he had a knife to her throat."

Calleigh closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. "Oh God..."

"Hey, it'll be okay." Tim said, placing his hand on her shoulder. "There's already a SWAT team on the way, and I'm sure Maria, of all people, knows how to talk her way out of a bad situation."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Calleigh sighed, forcing herself to stay calm. "We should go over there." She stood up and grabbed her purse off the counter. "Come on, I'm driving."

Tim followed her without a word. He'd known Calleigh long enough to know when there was no sense, and even a little risk, in arguing with her.

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"My name's Maria Santiago." After a few minutes of silence, Maria decided to try to reach her attacker in some way. At the very least, by telling him her name and trying to talk to him, she could appeal to whatever humanity was in him, under the drug-addled animal that had been staring at her with cold, lifeless eyes. "What's your name?"

"Doesn't matter." He replied. "I'm already dead. Soon you will be, too...Maria. So it doesn't matter."

"I think it does." Maria said softly.

He regarded her for a moment, then looked out the window. "Jared." He said, almost inaudibly. "My name's Jared."

Before Maria could respond, her cell phone rang, the sound startling both captive and captor. Jared rose to his feet and brandished his knife.

"Calm down, it's just my phone." Maria said. Keeping one hand raised where he could see it, she reached into her pocket with her other hand and took out the phone.

"Turn it off." Jared ordered.

"It's my boss, let me talk to him." Maria pleaded. "He might be able to help you." When Jared didn't reply, but also didn't make any move to stop her, she opened the phone slowly. "Horatio?"

"Maria." The relief her superior felt at the sound of her voice was evident. "Thank God. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Maria replied, not taking her eyes off of Jared for even a second. "He hasn't hurt me. Where are you?"

"I'm right outside the house, I just got here."

"Is Eric okay?" Maria asked.

"He's fine." Horatio lied. There was no way he was going to tell her the truth. She needed to focus on only one thing, staying alive until help arrived. "Listen, hang in there for us, okay? SWAT should be here in a few minutes, we're going to get you out of there."

"No, Horatio, tell them to stand down." Maria said firmly. "Listen, your idea needs some tweaking. I'm feeling a little cornered in here, I'd hate for anything to get out of control."

Horatio swore under his breath. From the emphasis Maria was putting on certain words, he understood exactly what she was trying to tell him. Her captor was high, and if he felt trapped, he could easily become completely out of control, and kill Maria before the SWAT team could rescue her.

At the other end of the line, there was a sudden struggle.

"Maria!" Horatio shouted. "Maria, are you all right? Can your hear me?! "

"Hey, cops, you listening?" A man's voice came on the line. "Well, listen to this. Tell your people to back the fuck off, I swear to God I will cut this bitch's throat."

"Fine." Horatio said tensely. "Now you listen to me. That woman you are threatening is a detective with the Miami-Dade Police Department. At this point, you have a good chance of getting a plea bargain. If she does not walk out of there alive, you will lose any chance at a deal, and you will face the death penalty, do you understand?"

"Yeah, I get it."

"Good." Horatio said. "Now, tell me what you want us to do before you'll let her go."

"There's nothing you can do." The voice rasped. "Not for me, and not for her." The line went dead.

"No!" Horatio choked out. "Don't you hang up on me...damn it!"

"Did you talk to her?" Eric asked. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine, he's not hurting her." Horatio assured him.

"Well, what does he want? Money? Transportation out of here?"

"I'm not sure yet." Horatio said. He hated to have to lie to two of his CSIs in just a few minutes, but Eric was worried enough about Maria already. "But I'm going to figure it out, and Maria is going to be all right. But I'm not sure about you, I think you need to go to the emergency room."

Eric shook his head. "I can't do that, H." There was no way he would leave willingly until he saw Maria come out of the house, and knew that she was safe.

"Why are you doing this?" Horatio demanded. "What are you trying to prove?"

"I got her into this." Eric snapped. "I should have been more aware, but I let my guard down. So I'm not going anywhere until we get her back. And if that son of a bitch hurts her in any way, so help me God..." He trailed off and turned away abruptly, walking away before Horatio could say anything.

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TBC...