Rating: eh. G. Slightly angsty but nothing stopping lil kiddiewinks reading.
Summary: 'as her heart swells with love for the beautiful, broken man in her arms,
she realises that they're both pieces of a two-piece puzzle, and they've both
just found their missing piece.
Teehee. First venture into the world of CSI: Miami fanfic.:crazy dance: umm... I don't own anyone. But I did ask Santa, 'cause Christmas is coming & I sure as hell could do with a treat after a crappy year. And I've been such a good girl, too.
Thanks go to Jo for the speedy beta, thank you so much hon! Also to Jillybean for her help.
Jigsaws
The sun hangs low in the sky, a red-orange ball of fire. It hits the water at an angle that sprays the beach with tiny golden stars, shimmering in the clear water of the ocean and leaping back up, dancing a jig in the cool evening breeze. With its last few rays of the day the sunlight casts a golden hue across the sand. From a distance the silhouette of the man at the water's edge looks calm and peaceful.
The orange glow of the sun shining down on her fair hair makes her look even more like an angel as she floats across the sand. She's left her shoes in the Hummer back on the road and tiny, soft grains slip easily through her toes as she heads down towards the water's edge. She's halfway down there when she realises that the sun matches his hair.
A little further than halfway and she stops. He is no longer a darkened silhouette in the distance. She can see him almost clearly now, his face tired, creased with worry, fear, left over anger. He's aged at least ten years since earlier that day when he left CSI with orders for Eric to take over for the day. He takes slow, small steps along the edge of the water line, staring out at the explosion of colours over the horizon. His trademark sunglasses hang loosely between the fingers of his right hand.
She feels almost like an intruder. This is his place, his thinking place. She's never told him she knows where he comes to break down. He's still unaware that she watches him from afar as his silhouette paces the sands, carefully erected walls crumbling and façade dropping. He doesn't have a clue how she sits in her Hummer, watching through the rolled-down windows and cries for him as her heart shatters.
He stops pacing and for a moment she thinks her cover is blown. Standing there, halfway between the ocean and the road, the gentle, refreshing wind whipping her hair about her face and the final beams of sunlight beating down on her bare shoulders, she has nowhere to run. He tilts his head up towards the darkening sky and she sees his face clearly: fear, pain, exhaustion. The anger has diffused rapidly and all that's left is a broken man.
In an instant her mind is made up and she increases her pace as she gets closer to him. She comes to a halt a few feet behind him, and she doesn't even have to speak for him to know she's there. He turns slowly, his sky blue eyes hidden behind tears. He steps towards her and stumbles, just as she, too, takes a step closer to him and holds out her arms wordlessly. He falls into her embrace and buries his face in the top of her head, one arm across her shoulders and the other snaked around her waist, pressing her body against his.
She feels a tear fall onto her hair and her own eyes fill up. He trembles slightly in her embrace; she isn't entirely sure if it's the rapidly cooling night air or the suppressed sobs, but either way she holds him tighter, pulling him closer towards her, hugging him fiercely.
Just when she thinks she couldn't possibly love a man more, he goes and does something even more overwhelming. She stands barefoot on the sand, the wind picking up and blowing ocean spray into her long, blonde hair hanging loose over her shoulders.
Suddenly her white camisole top isn't enough for the cold night air and she shivers involuntarily, glad for his warmth as he instinctively tightens his protective hold on her. She's unsure now of who is supporting whom: she knows that if either moves, the other will fall. She's quite happy to melt into him, for her small body to fit into his perfectly, and suddenly, as her heart swells with love for the beautiful, broken man in her arms, she realises that they're both pieces of a two-piece puzzle, and they've both just found their missing piece.