"Calleigh? What happened?"

"Can't tell you, Handsome. He'll kill me. This is one of those times where you know something happened, but won't find out."

"Calleigh, you know what my job is. I will find out. And if Hagen has anything to do with this, I want you to tell me now." Calleigh looked down. She knew that if Horatio found out, he would kill him, and she didn't want to be the cause of the head of the CSI team being thrown in jail. She loved Horatio too much for that. Calleigh started to turn pink when she realized that she actually loved him. Calleigh then looked back up at Horatio. He had a pleading look in his eyes. All Calleigh could do was shake her head as a tear slid down her cheek. "Calleigh, tell me. I can tell that it had something to do with Hagen. I won't kill him, I promise. Unless he tries to pull a gun on me or something like that, I won't lay a finger on him."

"I can't, Horatio. He'll kill me."

"Not if I'm around. I'll make sure that he goes through me first, and you know that it's hard to get through me." Horatio pulled Calleigh into a warm hug. "As long as I'm around, no one will ever hurt you." Calleigh started crying into Horatio's shoulder. When she finished ten minutes later, Horatio took her inside to his office. "Calleigh, tell me. As your boss and friend, I need to know."

"You just had to use that one, didn't you handsome?"

"Works every time. What happened?" Calleigh took a deep breath. "I… I… I can't." Calleigh lifted her shirt. "He'll kill me." Calleigh was wearing a wire. That explains a lot, thought Horatio. Now I need to find a different way to find out… but how? They'd suspect me having her write it, but if she leaves "evidence," then I could piece it together. "Are you sure that you can't tell me?" Horatio winked at Calleigh, letting her know that he had a plan. "I can't, H. He'll kill me."

"OK, but as soon as you feel safe, I want you to tell me."

"Alright. I will." As Calleigh was talking, Horatio was pulling paper out of his desk. On it, he wrote, "Leave me clues as to what happened. I'll piece them together myself, and go from there." Calleigh nodded her head in agreement.

Later on that day, Horatio received a call for a murder. On his way out of the lab, Horatio spotted a piece of paper on the ground. As he picked it up, he saw that it said "Clue #1" and had a rough picture of a big burly guy on it. Underneath the picture there was a badge with an ID number on it. The number read 99147. Horatio folded the paper and walked out of the building. Upon his arrival, Horatio saw Calleigh surveying the scene for any bullets. Several yards behind her was Det. John Hagen, glaring at Calleigh. "Hagen, what are you doing here? This isn't your jurisdiction. This is an average civilian."

"I need to talk to Calleigh."

"Not now, you don't. She's working right now. If you want to talk to her, do so after she's off."

"This is important."

"So is solving this murder."

"If I don't get to talk to her I'll-"

"What? Do I hear a threat about to be spoken? Don't threaten anyone on my team."

"I wasn't threatening her, or you. I was saying that I'd kill myself if I didn't get to talk to her." Horatio sighed. "Fine, but you'd better make this fast. Calleigh! Come here, please." Calleigh stood and turned. When she saw Hagen, she turned white. "I can't. I need to finish surveying the scene. I've already found two casings and one bullet, now I need to find the other one." Hagen snorted. "Calleigh, get over here. I need to talk to you."

"Not now, John. I have to work."

"This is important."

"Not as important as solving this crime."

"Calleigh, just take a quick break, I need to talk to you about something."

"I'm not taking a break just because you want to talk. Talk to me later, after I'm off."

"Calleigh. Now." Calleigh then saw the anger in his eyes. She walked over to him. "What?"

"Don't go to the lab tomorrow."

"Why?"

"Just don't."

"John, I'm working on a case. I have to go."

"No. You're not going."

"Says who?"

"I do. What I say, goes." Calleigh shook her head. "I'm going to work. You're not stopping me." Hagen raised his arm to hit her, but Horatio stepped in and took the hit. "Excuse me, would one of you gentlemen please arrest him?" Horatio asked some of the residing officers. "With pleasure." Horatio took Hagen's badge. The ID number was 99147. "Calleigh, now that we have him arrested, what did he do?"

"If you tell him, I'll kill you, you skinny, dumb ass bitch!"

"The hell with that, Hagen! You won't lay a finger on me!"

"What makes you so sure?"

"Horatio's here. As long as he's here, no one will ever hurt me." Calleigh looked at Horatio and smiled. The arresting officer led Hagen to his squad car. Calleigh turned to Horatio and started to tell him about what was going on. "When I left my house last night, Hagen had been drinking, and had come to my house. We had been talking and then Hagen jumped on me. He started to rip my shirt off of me, I fought back with all I had, but didn't get away until Hagen had my shirt off of me. I grabbed the closest shirt and ran out of my house while still putting it on. I went to your house for a while to hide, but Hagen found me there. Then I remembered that I had told Hagen that I had promised you that wouldn't sleep in front of the lab anymore, so I went there, knowing that Hagen thought that I would go through with the promise. I got the wire during the struggle. Just before I got away from him, he taped the wire onto me and told me that if I took it off or told anyone about what happened, he would kill me. I believed him. I had to. He's been abusing me for so long, that now, if he says that he'll do something to me, I believe him. I guess it's just a way of survival." Calleigh looked up at Horatio to see how he'd reacted. Just at that moment, there was a gunshot. Horatio grabbed Calleigh and threw her to the ground and covered her with his body. The bullet had been aimed at Calleigh, but Horatio took it instead. The bullet went through his left shoulder; dangerously close to his heart. Blood was everywhere. Horatio had become very pale. "Calleigh, there's something I need to tell you."

"Don't talk. Please, reserve your energy." Calleigh looked into Horatio's clear blue eyes. He'll be okay. He has to be, he can't die without me telling him about how I feel. I have to tell him. "Horatio. I need to tell you something." Horatio weakly looked back into Calleigh's eyes. "Let me tell you first, please. It's truly important."

"Okay…"

"I… love… you." Horatio passed out of consciousness. "HORATIO! WAKE UP!" Calleigh went into hysterics. "Don't die, Horatio! Please, don't leave me. I need you here. I love you." Calleigh buried her face into Horatio's bloody chest, sobbing. She could feel Horatio's shallow breathing. He's not dead. He's going to make it! The paramedics came and took Horatio to the hospital. The doctor came out and told Calleigh that things weren't looking good. "Is there a chance that he'll make it?"

"Yes, but it's very small. The bullet came only a centimeter away from his heart. We're having a hard time extracting it without damaging the heart. Don't expect him to live, miss. He almost as good as gone." With those last words the doctor returned to the surgery room where Horatio was fighting for his life. You can do it, Horatio. You can make it. Three hours later, the doctor returned. "How is Horatio?"

"Well miss, I'm afraid that we lost him."