Title: Isolation (3/4) (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

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

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



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"Who are 'they?'" Maria asked hesitantly. "Who's after you, Jared?"

"Shut up." Jared snapped.

"I can help you, if you let me." Maria pressed. "You could hide here, there are so many places where no one could ever find you." He was completely out of his mind, and all she could was stall for time. She had to get through to him, any way she could.

For a moment, his eyes focused on her, and it looked like he might have really been listening to her. Then his look changed to one of anger, and he suddenly grabbed her hair and slammed her head against the edge of the tub repeatedly.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she let out an involuntary cry of pain. He let go of her hair and looked at her, and she decided to try a different tactic. "Stop..." She said weakly. Surviving captivity had been covered extensively in basic training, and again in the academy. She knew she had to humanize herself without being defiant, and be compliant without begging and simpering.

She also knew that there was a good chance that he would try to rape her, and the thought made her sick. But if she tried to fight him off, she was sure he would kill her.

"Do you have any sisters?" She asked.

Jared looked at her strangely. "Yeah, I got a sister."

Maria stared right into his eyes. "You wouldn't want anyone to hurt her like this, would you?"

Amazingly, that seemed to get through to him, at least enough that he stepped away from her slightly. He stared at her fitfully, as if he wasn't sure what to do next. Then he screamed and put his fist through the window.

Maria winced slightly as shards of glass rained down on her. She squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself to think about her friends who were waiting outside for her. She didn't want them to come looking for her, and find her brutalized body instead. She had to stay alive for them.

_______________________

The sound of breaking glass caught Horatio's attention. Looking in the direction that the sound had come from, he saw that a window on the second floor of the house had been shattered.

"H, what the hell is taking so long?" Eric demanded. "SWAT should have been here by now."

"We're not sending the team in." Horatio admitted. "It's too risky."

"Too risky?" Eric repeated, becoming more agitated. "What are you talking about?"

"It's not something you need to worry about, Eric." Horatio insisted. "Right now, the best thing you can do is take care of yourself. As of this moment, you're no longer working on this case."

Eric shrugged. "Fine, take me off the case. But how are you going to make me go to the hospital?" He stepped away.

Horatio told himself not to lose his temper. But he couldn't understand why the younger detective was challenging him, or why he was showing such disregard for his own health.

"Jesus, how hard did you get hit?" Hagen scoffed, having overheard the exchange. "What can you possibly do to help? Hell, you're injured, you could end up doing more harm than good."

"For fuck's sake, Delko." Another voice cut in. "When Hagen's telling you that you're acting like a stubborn jackass, you must really be acting like a stubborn jackass."

The two men turned and saw Calleigh standing behind them with Tim.

"Good." Hagen said. "Maybe you two can talk a little sense into him."

Calleigh grabbed Eric's arm and pulled him aside. "What is wrong with you? You need to see a doctor."

"She's right, Delko." Tim said. "Hasn't Alexx been telling you to get to the emergency room? She's the one with the medical degree."

"And I'm the one whose girlfriend is being held hostage by a psychopath with a knife." Eric replied, shaking Calleigh's hand off his arm and walking away.

"Fuck." Calleigh muttered under her breath, rubbing her forehead. "What are we going to do about him?"

"I hate to say it, but there might not be anything we can do." Tim told her. "He's stubborn as hell, especially about Maria."

"Blinded by the booty." Calleigh sighed. "And tell me he did not just use the word 'girlfriend.'"

Before Tim could answer, Horatio approached them, with Eric close behind. "We're bringing in Aaron Struecker. We've got permission from the family across the street for him to take up a sniper position in the second floor of their house."

Calleigh felt sick. Struecker was the best sniper the police force had. They wouldn't be calling him in unless there was no other way to end the crisis.

"All right, that's it." Eric said angrily. "There's something you're not telling us. First you call in a SWAT team, then tell them to stand down because it's 'too risky,' and now you're bringing a sniper in? H, what the fuck is going on here?"

Horatio gave up. There was no way he could hide the truth from them any longer. "The suspect's tweaked. He's not cooperating, and he refuses to negotiate for Maria's release. He doesn't intend to let her go."

Tim cursed and looked at the ground. Calleigh buried her face in her hands. Eric stood silent for a moment, then spoke.

"If anything happens to her, tell Struecker not to take a shot at the son of a bitch." He said. "Just let me at him."

"Eric, that is enough!" Horatio said firmly. "Either you go to the hospital and get checked out now, or you're fired."

"You wouldn't fire me. And I don't need to see a doctor, I'm fine."

"You're fine now." Tim pointed out. "Half an hour from now, you could be dead. You've seen victims who got hit on the head and were fine even for days, and then just dropped dead out of nowhere. Is that a risk you're willing to take?"

Eric thought about this for a moment. But when he started to reply, he suddenly stumbled, and then fell to his knees.

"Now do you believe us?" Calleigh demanded as she and Tim crouched down beside him, while Horatio shouted for the paramedics.

"I can't leave her." Eric protested, barely able to form the words.

"You have to leave." Tim said. "For Maria. How do you think she's going to feel if anything happens to you?"

"When she's out, we'll make sure you find out about it as soon as possible." Calleigh vowed. "Delko, please. I don't want to have to tell her that you're dead."

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"What's going on out there?" Maria gasped, hearing the unmistakable sound of a departing siren through the shattered window.

"Doesn't matter." Jared hissed, grabbed her hair and forcing her to sit down.

"Just let me take a look." Maria begged.

"Shut up!" Jared yelled, shaking her roughly. As he did, the knife that was still in his hand slipped and sliced the back of Maria's neck wide open, right above her shoulder.

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"Think he's going to be okay?" Calleigh asked as the ambulance left.

"Well, the paramedics seemed to think so." Tim said. "And he was still arguing with me, which is a good sign."

"What was that?" Calleigh gasped. Over the commotion that had surrounded the ambulance's departure, she could have sworn she heard someone cry out.

"Don't worry." Tim didn't know what else to tell her. He couldn't say that everything was going to be okay. They had both seen situations like this before, and they knew the odds weren't good. There was no guarantee that Maria was going to survive.

"I can't help it." Calleigh admitted. In the month that Maria had been living with her, they had become close friends. They had bonded over mojitos and stories about the difficult pasts they'd had to overcome. Calleigh had vented about a drunken father who swore he would change and never made good on his promise, and Maria had talked about her abusive marriage, confessing things to Calleigh that she had never told anyone outside of her family. In a way, Calleigh felt protective of her friend. "I just wish there was something I could do."

"Yeah, I know." Tim put his arm around her, and let her lay her head on his shoulder. "But just think how glad Maria will be to see you waiting for her when she comes out of there."

"She might not." Calleigh said. She had kept a tight lid on her emotions up until now, determined not to let herself break down. But something about the feel of his arm around her was making that incredibly hard to do. "She might not come out of there alive."

Tim was at a loss for words. He wrapped his other arm around Calleigh and held her close. "I know." He said finally. "I'm so sorry, Cal."

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Horatio stood a few feet away, watching the two CSIs. He had been concerned about how Calleigh would handle the situation, given how close she was to Maria. It was just one of a million reasons why he was determined to get Maria out of there.

"Caine? It's Struecker." The sniper's voice hailed him over his radio. "I'm in position."

"Good." Horatio said. "Do you have a visual on the hostage?"

"Affirmative." Struecker replied. There was a pause, and then: "Shit. Looks like she's injured."

Calleigh and Tim heard overheard this, and both of them moved closer to Horatio.

"Damn it." He said. "Can you tell how badly she's hurt?" All three of them listened for the response, holding their breath.

"Negative." Struecker answered. "She's sitting up, appears fully conscious, but there's a lot of blood."

"All right." Horatio thought for a minute. "Keep me posted on her condition, and let me know if you have a clear shot at the suspect." Horatio put down the radio. "Okay, we need to move officers into the house, have them ready to go at a moment's notice if Struecker gets a shot off. Calleigh, I need you to call for another team of paramedics, we need them here as soon as possible."

Calleigh nodded. She could feel her fear and helplessness evolving into pure, controlled anger. Whoever this tweaked-out whackjob was, he had hurt two of her friends. Now he was going to pay, she would make sure of it.

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"Get me a towel." Maria said, keeping her hands pressed against the wound in the back of her neck. It was no use, she couldn't stop the bleeding. "Jared, get me a towel!" She said again after a moment.

He had been sitting against the door, gazing blankly at the wall, but shifted his eyes slightly towards her when she spoke. "Is my niece going to be okay?"

Maria froze at his words. "Your...your niece?"

"Janie." Jared said. "Michael's kid. Is she all right?"

"Michael was your brother?" Maria asked. "You killed your own brother?"

Jared laughed, an empty, soulless laugh. "No, stupid bitch. She's my sister's kid. She took off a few years ago, left Janie with Michael. Is Janie okay?"

"You didn't seem to care much what happened to her before." Maria scoffed.

"I didn't want to hurt her." Jared snapped. "I didn't want to leave her in the house, didn't want them to find her. They would have killed her, just like they would have killed Michael. I got to him first, though. I was just gonna take Janie and leave her at a neighbor's place or something, so they wouldn't find her."

"For fuck's sake, who the hell are 'they?!'" Maria shouted. Her head spun, and she leaned back against the tub, dizzy from blood loss. After a minute, she opened her eyes. "Janie will be fine, Jared."

He looked at her then, and grabbed a towel off of a shelf. He tossed it to Maria, and she started to fold it up. But as she started to press it against her wound, Jared suddenly lunged at her, knocking her to the ground. She found herself lying on her back in the broken glass from the window.

'This is it.' Maria thought as he leaned over her. She was far too weak to even think about fighting back. Instead, she gritted her teeth, and waited.

But Jared didn't try to rape her. He just lay on his side, less than a foot away from her, pressing the tip of his knife against her collarbone.

Maria hardly dared to even breathe. Closing her eyes tightly, she tried to think of something, anything, to distract her from the still-bleeding cut in her neck, and the shards of glass that were digging into her flesh.

_________________________

"Did you hear from the hospital yet?" Calleigh asked.

"Just did." Horatio confirmed. "Eric had very minor swelling and internal bleeding, nothing the doctors couldn't take care of pretty easily. If he hadn't gone with the paramedics when he did...well, the important thing is that he's going to be all right."

Calleigh let out the breath she had been holding in and eased her grip on Tim's hand, which she had been clutching for most of the past half hour. "Good." One down, one to go.

"What's the status on the paramedics?" Horatio asked.

"In position behind six SWAT personnel." Calleigh replied. "They're all ready to move as soon as they get the call."

Horatio nodded as he took out his radio. "Struecker? What's the situation in there?"

"Can't tell what the fuck's going on." Struecker replied. "The hostage is lying down, I can't see her. Suspect's standing, but I can't get a good shot at him, the angle's wrong."

"This is taking way too long." Calleigh said to Tim.

"Yeah, but this is the best way to get at the guy without risking Maria." He reassured her. "It's gonna work."

"It had better. I can't afford to have to look for another roommate." Calleigh tried to sound casual and make a joke, but she could feel herself nearing her breaking point. She just wanted this nightmare to be over, for her friend to be safe and the bastard who had her to suffer for what he had done.

"Are you holding up okay?" Tim asked. It was a rhetorical question, she was biting her lower lip and wringing her hands, and the look in her eyes was one of pure fury. Tim couldn't help but think that if Maria wasn't rescued soon, he'd have to hold Calleigh back from charging into the house herself. "Look, this whole mess is making me crazy, too. But it's happening, and there's nothing we could have done to stop it."

"I wish that were true, Speed." Horatio cut in. "But the truth is, I got Eric and Maria into this. I told them to go into the house to find the girl, I should have told them to take back up. If either of them dies...it's going to be because I made the wrong call."

"You had no way of knowing." Calleigh protested. "The house had been checked, the officers said it was clear. And there was no way they could have known he was in there, either."

"Yeah." Horatio said after a moment. "Maybe. Look, Calleigh, it would probably be a good idea if someone could be at the hospital when Eric wakes up. If you and Speed would rather not be here right now-"

"We're staying." Tim interrupted. "I don't know about Calleigh, but I'd rather not go see Delko until we've got some good news for him."

"I agree." Calleigh said. "The sooner this is over and we can tell him that Maria's safe, the better."

Horatio nodded. "All right."

"Caine, it's Struecker, I've got a shot!" The sniper announced over

the radio.

"All right, take it, take the shot." Horatio replied. "Calleigh, tell the SWAT and paramedics to move as soon as they hear the shot."

___________________________

"Jared, you have to let me go." Maria pleaded softly. "Please, I can help you. But if you don't let me go, this is going to end badly, for both of us."

"Shut up." Jared snapped, standing up. He grabbed her by the front of her shirt and pulled her upper body off the floor. Her head dropped back, exposing her throat.

As Jared raised his knife, Maria used the last of her strength to scream as loudly as she could.

But her scream wasn't loud enough to drown out the gunshot, or Jared's cry of pain. Then there was chaos. Opening her eyes, she saw Jared drop his knife and clutch his shoulder as he fell to his knees. With an incoherent cry of pain and rage, he reached out, closing his hand around her neck. Just as he tightened his grip, the bathroom door seemed to explode behind them. Then the voices. Maria couldn't make out faces or bodies, but she could hear voices.

"Let her go and put your hands behind your head!" A voice commanded. After a moment, Jared's hand was off of her throat, and she fell back onto the floor. Somehow, she managed to force her eyes open, and tried to call towards the door.

She felt hands on her again. But these hands were gentle, careful, lifting her up and then slowly laying her down.

"Detective, can you hear me?" A woman's voice asked. Maria opened her mouth, but she couldn't seem to get any words out.

"Maria!" Finally, a familiar voice. Maria could make out Calleigh's face, standing over her, while Tim told Horatio over his radio that the suspect was in custody and Maria was safe.

Calleigh stepped back to let the paramedics work on her friend, just as the SWAT team emerged from the bathroom with the suspect in handcuffs. The sight of him was a shock. Calleigh had, for whatever reason, expected a monster, huge and intimidating. Instead, he was skinny and scared looking, and didn't appear to be a day over twenty. She felt her anger fade, and realized that if Maria hadn't been bleeding out all over a gurney just a few feet away, and Eric hadn't been in the hospital with a head injury, she would have felt sorry for the guy.

Maria's voice, as soft and weak as it was, pulled her back into reality. "Calleigh?"

"I'm here, Maria." Calleigh said soothingly, reaching between the paramedics to take the other woman's hand. "You're safe now, it's over."

"And you're a hero." Horatio said as he approached. "You saved that little girl's life, and her mother is on her way back from California to get her."

Maria managed a weak smile as her eyes drifted shut again. It was all over, she could finally rest.

"Come on, stay with us, Maria." It sounded like Tim's voice, but she couldn't be sure. She felt too tired to figure it out. Their voices blended together, then faded.

_______________________

"We're losing her, she needs blood! We need to get her on the rig and start a transfusion, now!"

"All right, clear the way, let's get her out of here!"

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TBC...