Cheryl got to the hospital in record time. She drove fast most of the time, but she drove faster when she was upset about something. And today had been a long day. She was walking down the corridor to Madison's room when she spotted Horatio outside on his cell. As she walked over his call finished and he hung up, slipping his phone into his pocket.

'Are you sure you should be using that in here?' She asked him.

He smiled, 'that was Rick. He's not very happy – you're in the clear.'

Cheryl smiled back, 'yeah, Calleigh told me before I headed over here.'

Horatio sighed, 'Rick has managed to get one charge against you, though.'

'What?'

'A speeding fine.' Horatio put his hands on his hips and stared at her, 'I wish you would drive a little slower. And I don't ask that because it looks bad on the police force, either.'

'I know I drive fast, Horatio, but I'm a capable driver.'

'It's not you I worry about, it's everyone else on the road. Look,' he took a breath, 'look what happened to Eric when he got run off the road in a Hummer.'

Cheryl wrapped her arms around him, tears in her eyes, 'I'm sorry for everything, Horatio. You must be so disappointed in me.'

'I've never been disappointed. You just worry me sometimes.' He told her, hugging her back, 'if Ray was here, he would be incredibly proud of you. As it stands, you'll have to accept the pride coming from me.'

Cheryl took a step back, 'thank you, Horatio. I-' She stopped and and her mouth dropped open, her hand quickly rising to cover it.

Horatio turned around to see what had made Cheryl stop. 'Yelina,' he said softly.

'Horatio.'

'How long,' he started, 'how long have you been stood there.'

'Long enough,' she told him. She took as step towards him, 'Raymond is, was, Cheryl's father too, wasn't he?'

Cheryl nodded. 'I didn't find that out until after I had started here.'

'How long,' Yelina demanded, 'how long have you known, Horatio?'

'The day Speedle got shot.'

'The day she started here?' She cried. 'Who else knows?'

'Suzie, Madison, Calleigh, Valera, and Speedle,' Horatio tried to tell her gently.

'Valera! The lab technician?' She shouted.

Cheryl began to walk towards her, shaking her head, 'it's not like that,' she tried to tell her, 'Valera only knows because-'

Yelina stuck her hand out, 'just don't,' she said to her, cutting off. 'How long, Horatio, how long were you going to hide this from me?'

'Is everything alright out here?' Everyone turned around to find Suzie poking her head out of the door to Madison's room. 'Oh,' she said, seeing who was there and putting two and two together. She gave a small, nervous smile, and went back into the room.

'I… I can't deal with this,' Yelina said, her voice shaking. She turned around and left. Both Cheryl and Horatio stared after her, listening to her heels clicking on the tile floor.

'Aren't you going to go after her? Cheryl asked Horatio, tears in her eyes.

Horatio turned to look at her. She hadn't ever seen him look so upset. 'No,' he told her. He walked into Madison's room. Cheryl wiped her eyes and followed him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cheryl pulled into the Crime Lab parking lot with a squealing of brakes. She jumped out of her Hummer and hurried into the building, straight to the break room, before sinking onto the sofa. She was about ninety minutes early for work. Something that had become a reoccurring theme in the past five weeks.

Put simply, life had become a nightmare. Ever since the first newspaper article in the Miami Prophet, she had been hounded by their reporters. The Miami Prophet was nothing better than a tabloid magazine, and for some reason, it had nothing better to do than follow Cheryl. She was now resorting to leaving the house earlier and earlier just to try to escape the photographers.

And the irritating thing was that she hadn't even done anything in the first four weeks to warrant it. Not that she'd done anything to start off with, but that hadn't stopped them. The paper had printed an apology the following day, like Calleigh promised. And then the story about her saving the mayor's son had been reported properly. Something which the mayor had wanted out of the paper as he was about to start running his re-election campaign (and a kidnapping is never good publicity, especially when the papers were implying that he wasn't able to keep an eye on his son), and something Cheryl had just wanted to keep out of the paper anyway. And then, of course, there was the promotion issue, which, despite everything that had happened, the mayor was still insisting go ahead.

As a result of getting up earlier to leave the house, she was also getting grumpier, as mornings had never agreed with her. And finally, after four weeks, she had snapped. And hit at a photographer. Now, she had missed him. But Rick had come down on her, and it was only because of Horatio that she'd managed to escape with anger management counselling, and was currently on lab duty. Which was actually a blessing in disguise, as the reporters had taken to following her to crime scenes.

And the reporters had only been the half of it. She couldn't work with Tim or Yelina, and it wasn't without trying. Neither of them would speak to her, unless absolutely necessary, and in Tim's case, he wouldn't even look at her. It had come to the point where Horatio stopped assigning them cases together.

Tim. That was another story altogether. He'd moved all his things out of hers, and was doing his best to pretend she wasn't there. Cheryl had spent the first week sat by the phone, hoping he would ring, and although she would never admit it to anyone, had even rung it a few times from her cell phone, just to check it would work. But she hadn't rung him. She point blank refused. She had been tempted on severl occasions, but at the end of the day, she hadn't done anything, and she could only apologise so many times. Instead, she had spent many a sleepless night, tossing and turning. She was exhausted, physically, and mentally. And what upset her further, was she looked it.

After lying on the sofa for an hour, she decided to go do something she had been thinking a lot about, especially when she couldn't sleep. She got up off the sofa and headed to Horatio's office, knowing he would be there, despite it being early. He was, sat at his desk, staring out of the window. He turned around when Cheryl knocked on the door. 'Morning,' she said, as she sat down.

He smiled at her, 'you're still coming in early.'

Cheryl took a deep breath, 'Horatio, I can't do this anymore.'

'The reporters will get bored soon.'

She shrugged. 'It's been three weeks and they're still going strong, and if it weren't for the fact I'm stuck in the lab, they would still be following me to the crime scenes. And that's not fair on anyone I have to work with. But it's not just the papers. I don't think I can be in this building any more,' she gave a bitter laugh. 'I don't think I can stay in this city anymore.'

'Is it really that bad?'

'Horatio, Yelina and I can't work together. Things haven't been the same between you two since she found out. She accepted Madison because she doesn't have to look at her every day. Me being here is hurting me, hurting her, and hurting you. And then there's Tim. Everywhere I go, I'm reminded of him. Even at home. You'd think he was dead. He may as well be, for all the contact we've had with each other. I just can't do it anymore.'

'What are you saying?'

Cheryl shut her eyes in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the tears from running down her face. 'You have done so much for me, Horatio, and I don't think you'll every fully understand the extent of that, nor how much I appreciate it. But I need your help. I need to get out of here. Can you weave your magic and get me a transfer out of here. Anywhere. I'll go to the first place that will have me. I don't even care if it's in the middle of nowhere, Arizona. I'd thing I could even go back to England at this point.'

Horatio nodded, 'getting you somewhere else won't be a problem. And you wont have to go back to England. But are you sure you want to do this?'

Cheryl nodded back at him, 'look at me, Horatio. If I don't get out of here soon, this place will kill me.'

She was right, and he knew it. 'Go home,' he told his niece, 'go home and take the day off. You have some holidays available. Take them, and I'll find something for you.'

Cheryl gave her uncle a hug, a smile, and left his office, knowing it would be a long time before she would have to go in it again. She left the building without bumping in to anyone, being as it was still too early for anyone else to be in yet, hopped in her Hummer and drove home, where she collapsed onto her bed and fell asleep.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cheryl was sat on the beach, two days later, watching the surf, feeling the wind blow through her hair and the sun on her face. She had managed to leave her house, by wearing a black coloured wig, without the reporters noticing, and had headed straight to the beach, where she was meeting Horatio.

'Black today?'

Cheryl looked up to find Horatio staring down at her in his trademark sunglasses. She smiled, 'I guess it's closer to my original hair colour.' When Cheryl had started at the Miami Dade Crime Lab, her hair had been a dark red-brown, but during the course of an undercover operation, which, coincidentally, didn't go according to plan, Cheryl had dyed her hair to alter her identity.

Horatio pulled up his trouser legs slightly, and crouched down next to her. 'I passed the word around that I had a criminalist who was looking for a change of scenery,' he smiled at her, 'I wanted them to ask for you, rather than it seem like you got the job entirely because of me, as I know it would help at your next job.'

'Did it work?' She asked him, uncertainly.

He pulled out a sheet of paper of his jacket pocket and handed it over. 'I got a fax this morning.'

Cheryl took it off him, a smile spreading across her face as she read. 'They want me to start at the beginning of next week.'

'I gave them a call, actually. They originally wanted you to start sooner, but I explained you would have to drive over there, rather than fly. I also did pull in a favour.'

'What?'

'I got you on the night-shift.'

'Thank you, Horatio. I guess I'd better start packing.' Her face fell, 'how am I going to get past the reporter?'

'Don't worry about that. You go and pack. I'll come around tomorrow and help you load up your Hummer.' He reassured her as they both rose to standing. Cheryl gave him a quick hug, before heading home to begin the daunting task of packing, feeling happier than she had done in a long time.