A/N – Wow, chapter four of 'Fall to Pieces'! (Considering it was meant to be a one chapter fic it's doing quite well! -g-). Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed my writing, your comments encourage me to carry on.


"And I almost had you.
But I guess that doesn't cut it.
Almost had you.
And I didn't even know it.
You kept me guessing and now I'm destined,
to spend my time missing you.
I almost wish you would've loved me too."

Bowling for Soup (Almost)


Calleigh lay on the sofa in the break room at the Vegas crime lab daydreaming. She figured that since it was so late only her and the cleaners would still be in and she doubted that they would mind her catching 40 winks while waiting for some DNA results.

She was pleased to note that after her first date with Nick, the emptiness that she'd been feeling since leaving Miami had slowly begun to lift. And now after three very long months she was finally beginning to feel normal again. Calleigh explained the change in her attitude since her arrival to anyone who mentioned it by blaming the unfamiliar climate, but inside she knew that it was because she didn't have to see Horatio every day, torturing her with his presence, his sunglasses, his deep blue eyes but most of all, his unavailability.

She sighed to herself, as she always did when she thought of him. His note that Alexx had enclosed with her first letter still lay in the front of her drawer, unopened. Just thinking of the note piqued her curiosity, so she stood up and walked from the break room to her desk in the ballistics lab, opened her drawer and pulled out the envelope. Before she could change her mind she slipped her thumb between the seal and ripped through the fragile paper. She could feel her heartbeat quickening as she reached inside the envelope and pulled out a piece of notepaper covered in Horatio's neat writing. As she unfolded the paper something small and shiny fell from it, and landed on the floor with a chink. She placed the letter on the counter next to her, bent down to see what the shiny object was, and found a tiny silver angel attached to a fine silver chain. Calleigh picked it up and dangled the chain between her fingers, watching the pendant catch the fading light from the window in front of her.

Placing the angel on the counter by the letter it had come in, she quickly flicked on the main lights and filled the ballistics lab with light. She leaned against the counter, picked up the note and began to read.

"Calleigh,

First of all I have to say: I'm sorry.

I need to explain everythingbut I just can't write it here, some things have to be done in person.

Please just give me the chance to talk.

Alexx and I will be in Vegas on October 7th – 9th for the forensics conference at the Tropicana.

Eric and Speed send their best wishes.

I miss you Calleigh. We all do.

Horatio"

Calleigh had to re-read the note several times before she began to comprehend it. The words on the page kept jumbling together and re-arranging themselves in front of her eyes. A frown placed itself on her forehead, as the last line of the note sank in. He missed her! She snorted quietly to herself. He missed Bullet Girl, her alter ego, not the real Calleigh Duquesne.

She glanced at the calendar that she kept sat on her desk and realised that it was October 6th. She had no time left to plan an escape and she couldn't just run out on her new job with no explanation. Horatio would be in the same city as her in less than twelve hours and there was absolutely nothing that she could do about it.

Calleigh walked over to her desk, collapsed onto her chair and rested her head in her hands. She'd known all along that she'd have to see him again at some point, but she hadn't thought that it would be this soon.

She sighed and firmly told herself to get a grip. Horatio couldn't hurt her anymore because she had Nick now. Her eyes misted over as she thought of Nick. She was having trouble denying their lack of chemistry, yet he seemed to like her more than ever. She grimaced as she remembered Greg pulling her to one side in the lab the week before and asking her what she'd done to Nick because he'd never seen him acting this serious about a woman before.

The first few dates with Nick had been wonderful. In the beginning Calleigh had been ecstatic at getting his undivided attention, but after a while the differences between them had begun to show themselves and it had slowly dawned on her how little they had in common. He however, either hadn't noticed or hadn't cared about these differences and was still as devoted as ever. His determination to be a perfect southern gentleman was getting her down, and to make matters worse, he was even talking about taking her home to meet his Momma.

Even thinking about meeting Nick's mother had an air of finality about it that filled Calleigh with dread. Nick was not 'the one' and she knew it. She just wasn't sure if she wanted to admit it yet.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Nick loudly knocking on the door of the ballistics lab, which caused her to jump in surprise. 'Speak of the devil' said the little voice in her head. He took a few steps into the lab and stopped, grinning down at her in that annoying, patronising way of his.

"Hey beautiful." He made as if to hug her but she neatly side stepped out of his reach.

"Oh. Right. Keep it professional." He nodded to himself as if to impress this thought into his memory. Calleigh had made it very clear at the beginning of their relationship that she didn't want the entire office knowing her affairs. "Griss sent me to get you, we've got a body at the mayor's office."

"Why didn't you call me?" She asked him, feeling distinctly perturbed.

"Your cell is off." He paused, and then added with a flicker of a smile. "Plus it gave me an excuse to come find you."

Calleigh dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands, physically forcing herself to not roll her eyes in contempt. She fixed an idiotic grin on her face, hoping to convince him and herself that she was pleased to see him.

"So… Tell me about this body…" She asked, just to make conversation. Lately, talking to him was becoming more and more difficult. As he responded she grabbed her kit, stuffed the note into her pocket and headed towards the door with him following closely behind. Just as she reached the doorway and flipped off the lights, he stopped and called out to her.

"Hey Calleigh! I think you've forgotten something." She turned back towards Nick and was greeted by the sight of him standing in the pale light of the moon that was now shining through the window, a thin chain hanging from between his large fingers, and the angel hanging from it glittering at her.

He took a step towards her and undid the fastening on the chain. Calleigh tried to protest but he was too quick. With one easy movement he had slipped the chained gently around her neck and refastened the clasp. The cold metal of the angel burned against her warm skin and made her shiver.

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The body at the mayor's office was that of Juan Perez, the mayor's personal assistant. He had been shot twice in the leg and six times in the chest.

"What would you say happened Calleigh?" The voice of Gil Grissom boomed from somewhere above her right shoulder. She shook her head.

"It looks like overkill. The shooter obviously wanted to make sure he was dead." She was about to continue with her observations when Nick's voice once again interrupted her.

"Calleigh! Grissom! We've got another body." She stood cautiously and followed the sound of Nick's voice out of the door that lead to the main lobby of the mayor's office and through a side door that lead to an alleyway outside. On the floor lay the body of young woman, a single bullet wound through her temple and a gun clutched tightly in her hand. Calleigh shone her torch around the alleyway and spotted a bullet lying the path a few metres behind the body. She knelt down and examined it before dropping it into an evidence bag.

"Nine millimetre, same as the other victim." She stated.

"Looks like we've found our shooter." Nick added. " A crime of passion." He shook his head. Grissom looked up at him questioningly.

"We know nothing until this evidence is processed Nick. We don't work on theories"

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It had been a long night and Calleigh was glad to get back to her apartment just to be free of Nick. She knew deep down that she had to do something about him as soon as possible. Not only was he driving her up the wall by being so clingy and questioning her about everything, but the guilt of leading him on was beginning to take its toll. She promised herself that she would end it with Nick as soon as Horatio left the city.

It turned out that Nick had been right about the crime of passion. The security footage from the mayor's office showed Juan's pregnant wife Ima Perez had barged into his office earlier that afternoon armed with a handgun. Calleigh could see from his injuries that he had tried to run from her but his wife had felled him with two quick shots to his legs. From the angle of the bullet wounds to his chest Calleigh could tell that Ima had stood directly over him and fired at a downward angle into his body six times. The reason for the killing was somewhat surprising though; not only had Juan gotten Ima pregnant, but he'd also impregnated his four mistresses. When she'd found out about the other babies Ima had confronted him with her mother's Glock and shot him when he had tried to deny it. Then she had calmly taken herself outside, put the gun to her head and pulled the trigger.

'Is it so hard to stay faithful to one person?' She wondered. It wasn't as if she had much experience of matters of the heart. Her longest relationship had left her heartbroken for longer than the thing had actually lasted. She sighed and stretched herself out on her couch, only planning to rest there for a moment, just until she had enough energy to drag herself into bed.

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Calleigh was woken what felt like minutes later by her door buzzer ringing loudly and a woman's voice calling her name. It took a moment for her to shake the dust from her sleep addled brain and realise that the voice belonged to Alexx.

"Hold on! I'm coming!" She yelled before heaving herself from the couch. She quickly straightened her clothes, smoothed her hair and attempted to rub the sleep from her eyes before opening the door. As she peered out into the dim hallways she caught sight of the outline of Alexx leaning against the wall opposite her. Before she had time to speak or invite her in Calleigh had been enveloped in a warm hug. She laughed and hugged Alexx in return.

"Hey Sugar!" Exclaimed Alexx. She let go of Calleigh and took a step backwards so that she could look her up and down. "You look great! I guess the change has done you some good." Calleigh nodded and grinned.

"I do feel better up here, but I really miss everyone. It still feels strange having Doc Robbins as the M.E. instead of you."

"The team dynamic has changed somewhat since you left. I doubt you'd recognise it now." Alexx sighed deeply and glanced at her watch. "Sorry, I'm getting carried away. I only stopped came by to ask if you wanted to meet and catch up over dinner tonight."

"That'd be good. Did you have anywhere in mind?"

" Hey you live here! I'd love to go to the place where the locals go." Calleigh laughed. It was such a typical Alexx response.

"OK then, Emilio's it is. Should I book a table for two or will we have uh… company?" Alexx's face clouded over and Calleigh could tell that she was picking her words very carefully.

"Horatio's flying up here later today." She replied simply. Calleigh raised her eyebrows questioningly and Alexx shrugged. "He mentioned something about meeting an old friend." She paused before finally adding. "I'd better go back to the hotel and unpack. Meet you back here at eight." She turned and strode back down the badly lit hallway leaving Calleigh still looking a little rumpled, standing in her door way staring after her.

As she closed the door on Alexx's retreating form Calleigh decided that she couldn't face going back to sleep. Her brain had been woken from its dreamy trance by the whirlwind that was Alexx, and as she thought about what she had to get done at the lab that day she could practically hear the pile of paperwork on her desk calling to her.

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She finished her report on the death of Juan Perez and closed the file with a slam. She rubbed her throbbing temples and took a deep swig of her now cold coffee. It was going to be a long day.

After staring into space for ten minutes she realised that the cold coffee just wasn't making a dent in her caffeine cravings, so she decided to take five minutes out from her paper work mountain and see if she could make herself some fresh hot coffee.

The corridors of the lab were unusually quiet and Calleigh managed to slip through them quickly without seeing anyone she knew who would expect some polite chit chat before letting her go on her way.

As she entered the break room the unlikely sight of Gil Grissom fighting with the communal coffee grinder greeted her. She paused and watched him for a moment, enjoying the show of man versus machine (machine seemed to have a distinct advantage) and then decided that it probably wasn't a wise idea to be caught laughing at your boss whilst still being relatively new to your job. She took a step towards Grissom who was still too entangled with the grinder to notice her, put out her hand to help him and the coffee grinder (aided by a large amount of force from Grissom) took flight over her head and hit the wall behind her with a loud clunk, spreading coffee beans around like confetti.

Calleigh knelt down, picked up the fallen appliance and examined it for damage. After shaking it thoroughly to make sure no parts had come loose from its brief foray into aviation she plugged it in and set it to work, grinding noisily on the counter top. Grissom turned to her with a slight smile, shrugged and left the room.

Once he'd gone she quickly made the coffee and carefully carried a cup down to Grissom's office. She tapped tentatively on the door and entered.

In her three months in Vegas she'd been in Grissom's office several times, yet she was still fascinated by the contents of the jars that lined the walls. She couldn't decide if she loved or hated them, but she freely admitted that the preserved pig foetus gave her the creeps.

As she entered his office he greeted her with a nod and continued writing on the papers in front of him. She cleared her throat softly.

"I thought you could do with some coffee after your battle with the grinder." She told him with a grin. Attempting to make conversation with Grissom about anything but a case was like pulling teeth.

"Thank you." He replied simply. She turned and began walking back towards the door but just before she reached the safety of the corridor he called her back.

"Uh… Calleigh? Could you attend the forensics conference this afternoon and tomorrow? I had asked Catherine but her daughter has tonsillitis so she's taking some leave." Calleigh swallowed a gasp of shock as best she could and composed herself.

"I… Uh…Yes. Sure I'll go to the conference. Would it be just me?" She quivered nervously.

"No Sara will be there too. I asked her to do the lecture that Catherine was supposed to be taking care of, so don't worry about that." She snorted internally at the mention of the lecture. It wasn't number one on her list of priorities. She comforted herself with the fact that there would be hundreds if not thousands of people there, so the likelihood of running into Horatio was pretty slim.

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Calleigh looked herself up and down in the mirror and nodded in approval. Although she didn't look as polished as she would have liked, she was satisfied that she'd made the best of a bad situation. Originally she had intended to go home and change before meeting Sara at the conference, but as fate would have it she was called out to a scene and spent most of the morning up to her ankles in mud. She thanked her guardian angel for giving her the foresight to leave a spare suit at work for any 'emergencies' that might crop up.

She retouched her lipgloss she took a deep breath, straightened the angel that hung around her neck, smoothed her silky blonde hair once more around her shoulders and walked out of the bathroom into the impressive hallway.

As she stepped out of the door she was almost swept away by the tide of people all heading in the direction of the central meeting hall. She reached the doorway of the hall and a tall brunette woman who bore a striking resemblance to Yelina Salas stopped her. Calleigh peered down at her nametag which read: "Detective Stella Bonasera, New York" and breathed a sigh of relief. It would be just too awful to see Yelina here with Horatio. She idly wondered if they had become more than 'just good friends' since she'd left Miami, after all it was common knowledge that Horatio had a soft spot for his sister in law.

Detective Bonasera coughed loudly to regain Calleigh's wandering attention.

"County?"

"Mi… Uh… Vegas." The tall woman shook her head as if to convey her annoyance at the dippy blonde who didn't even know what county she worked for.

"Name?"

"Calleigh Duquesne." Replied Calleigh feeling glad that she wasn't a criminal in this detective's neighbourhood. The woman made a mark on her clipboard, reached into a box behind her and grabbed a badge, which she handed to Calleigh.

She looked down at the badge in her palm, which simply read: "Detective Calleigh Duquesne, Las Vegas" Shaking her head she pinned it to the lapel of her suit jacket and made her way through the large doors into the majestic hall.

Calleigh grinned to herself as she noted that no expense had been spared with the hall decorations. A large banner hung from the ceiling that read "Welcome Forensics Fans!" in large writing with advertisements for 'Forensics Focus' magazine either side of it. Calleigh sighed; she hated corporate sponsorship at events like these. They would make sure that there would be no way on earth that she'd be able to get out of the conference in one piece without at least one subscription to Forensics Focus.

She began navigating her way to the place she'd agreed to meet Sarah. Calleigh had suggested meeting next to the bar but Sara had rejected the idea in case she got tempted to drink before her big presentation, so they had agreed to catch up with each other in the far right corner of the room next to the balcony.

Calleigh made her way over to the corner fairly quickly and began looking around for Sara. After a moment or two she spotted her walking quickly toward the meeting place in her usual determined manner

A waiter with a tray arrived at the same time as Sara. Calleigh reached out and took a glass from him, lost her balance and took a step backwards in the hope of regaining it. She tried to fall against the wall but instead hit the man behind her on the way down. He turned around to see what had disturbed him just as she hit the floor.

"Are you ok down there?" Asked a familiar but concerned voice. It took Calleigh a moment to regain her bearings and for the owner of the voice to register in her head. She nodded slowly and then looked up to see a familiar hand being held out to pull her up. She took it and found herself looking into a very familiar pair of blue eyes.

"Hello Calleigh." Said Horatio.