A/N This is officially my second CSI Miami fic. My first one is still going and has priority over this one, but I had this idea in my head and sort of had to write it down. Was originally going to be a vegas fic but as I've been testing the waters of the Horatio/Calleigh pool lately I thought I'd have a go with them through this story. That's about it that and there not mine (although I suppose maybe I own the liquefied man, now there's a scary thought)
Calleigh stepped up to the window and peered through it.
"Who found him? Calleigh asked Tripp as he stepped up beside her.
"Neighbor came back from holiday said he was bringing over a gift when he didn't answer the door he looked through the window saw him like that" Trip motioned through the window
"Shall we?" Calleigh motioned for her and Tripp to proceed to the front door.
"Neighbour says he lives alone PD checked out the house but refused to go in the kitchen" Tripp spluttered as the full stench hit him once he opened the door.
"I'd say he's been here for awhile is Alex on her way?" Tripp asked as he brought a handkerchief up to his mouth to filter the smell.
"Yeah she's caught up in traffic should be here soon, she was with Horatio and the boys over the other side of town" Calleigh replied as they reached the kitchen
"I'd say you drew the short straw" Tripp replied getting cut short by the ringing of his cell
"You ok here?" He motioned as he went to answer it
"I don't think he's going anywhere" Calleigh replied
"Tripp here, yeah yeah" was all she heard as Tripp walked down the hallway away from the kitchen
Calleigh set about processing the room being careful not to touch the liquefied body until Alex arrived.
She did a quick scan of the room noticing some heavy scratches on the floor by the door to the kitchen cupboard, getting down examining them she wondered what made those they looked relatively new, they looked like they went under the door as if something had been dragged into there. Reaching for the door handle with her gloved hand she slowly opened the door.
She didn't know what surprised her more the fact that she then found herself on the floor flat on her back or the fact there was a large dog on top of her which now had hold of her arm.
"Tripp" Calleigh yelled once the shock wore off and the pain of the dog's bite registered.
The sound of running echoed down the hall as Tripp heard her yell, this managed to startle the dog enough that it took off like a bat out of hell towards the direction of the front door. All Calleigh heard was a cursive exclamation as the dog ran past Tripp and out into the front yard.
"Calleigh are you ok?" Tripp asked as he reached her in the kitchen
Calleigh pulled herself into an upright position, "Yeah I think so, I think it was just frightened, being stuck in a cupboard while your owners dead in the kitchen can't have been fun for it" Calleigh started to ramble as the adrenaline ran through her system.
"Calleigh you're bleeding" Tripp motioned to her arm
"Oh , well I'd better go outside or I'll contaminate the scene" Calleigh grabbed her arm and moved past Tripp towards the front door
"No we should get that bite looked at" Tripp replied but Calleigh was already out of hearing range.
Alex arrived on the scene to find Tripp and Calleigh arguing.
"I appreciate your concern Tripp but it's just a scratch I need to process the scene, if you're that worried about me you can drive me to the hospital after I've gathered the evidence"
At the sound of the word hospital Alex increased her pace towards Tripp and Calleigh
"Hi, what's going on here?" Alex as she eyed up Calleigh dressed in a CSI jump suit.
"I had a little run in with a four legged friend inside. Tripp here is trying to tell me that my scratch needs medical attention, I'm trying to get back to my crime scene" Calleigh let out an exasperated sigh.
"Let me have a look at Calleigh then we'll know what we're dealing with" Alex offered as she lead Calleigh to the back of the hummer leaving Tripp to himself.
"Ok sugar, show me your scratch" Alex asked as she waited for Calleigh to show her the wound.
Calleigh rolled up her sleeve to reveal a white bandage which she'd applied to stop the bleeding, blood had already started to come through marring the bandage with red spots.
"Honey that looks more than just a scratch, in fact if I didn't know better I'd say that's a bite" Alex scolded her as Calleigh pulled back the bandage.
"I took a swab I've cleaned the wound, it's not deep, it just looks worse than what it is" Calleigh tried to justify
"I would be happier if you went and had it looked at, you're right it's not deep but dog bites crush tissue, you're going to have some heavy bruising" Alex pleaded with Calleigh knowing she was not going to be listened to.
"Just let me collect the evidence then I'll go, can you wrap it properly I don't want blood contaminating the scene" Calleigh asked with a pleading look in her eye
"Ok, but you get it checked out today" Alex commented giving her a look that she normally reserved for her kids as she pulled out fresh bandages of the first aid box.
Calleigh spent another couple hours at the scene. She was still as puzzled at how the guy had died, but as all was left were his liquefied remains she'd have to wait for Alex's autopsy. Closing the hummer door she knew she'd promised Alex that she would get checked out but it wasn't hurting that much well as long as she didn't move her arm she told herself. Plus she had to get the evidence back to the lab, she would go after it was secure.
A couple hours later she was sitting in a peaceful doctors office, she wasn't to go back on her word especially to Alex she knew that could be lethal. Dr Rogers came back in with her X-rays.
"Well you'll be happy to know nothing was damaged, you're going to have some bruising but apart from that just keep it clean and you should be fine, I'm guessing the dog wasn't foaming at the mouth or anything?" the doctor joked
"No, just frightened" Calleigh replied. Thanking the doctor Calleigh managed to get to the car park before the phone rang.
"Eric hi" Calleigh replied into the phone "Bullets? I'm your girl I'll be there in 15"
Arriving at the lab Calleigh came to discover not only did she have her case but, 103 bullets from Eric, Horatio and Ryan's case to analyze and they wanted them pronto. She also had to check up on her liquefied man and at some stage file an incident report for Horatio about her 'incident' at the crime scene. It was turning into a long day.
At bullet 67 she called Alex to see where her body was in the queue.
"It's been a busy day, seven dead in a gang shooting, two dead via gators and your liquefied man, I'm sorry hun I haven't got to him yet, I'll give you a call when I do, did you get to the doctor?" Alex asked slipping it into the end of the conversation so Calleigh couldn't dismiss it
"Yeah said everything was fine, it'll just be a bit bruised, I'll be in ballistics if you need to reach me" Calleigh signed off and headed back to the microscope
At bullet 93 she decided it was time for coffee as her eyes were getting tired. Rubbing her eyes as she entered the break room she headed for the coffee pot.
"You're wearing different clothes from this morning" Horatio commented as he came up from behind her
"Decomp" was all Calleigh stated not wanting to tell him the real reason why she had changed her clothes as she hadn't filed her report yet and knew as soon as she did he'd probably want to talk to her. "I've got bullets calling, almost finished the report you'll have it in the next hour" she commented as she exited out the door
"Calleigh" Horatio called after her
"Yes" she replied turning around
"Are you ok, you look a little pale" Horatio commented
"I'm fine, just spent too much time with a lovely liquefied man this morning" Calleigh replied over her shoulder as she walked back to the ballistics lab.
With almost perfect timing Alex rang her as she finished her report for Horatio on the bullets. Report in hand she headed down the hallway.
"Eric" she called as she saw his body go through the AV lab doorway
"Hey Calleigh" he poked his head back out into the hallway.
"I have the ballistics report for you, 6 guns, 4 different types of round standard drive by pieces, semi's and a couple of hand guns, I was going to give this to Horatio but I've got to got a date with Alex and my decomp" Calleigh handed over the report.
"Thanks Calleigh if you finish with Mr Liquid anytime soon I could do some help with the trajectory software I know you've shown me a thousand times but I can never make it work as well as you" Eric looked pleadingly at Calleigh
"Don't you give me those eyes Delko, oh ok but give me about a half hour and you'll have to excuse me if I smell like death I don't think my date is going to be smelling any better than he did earlier" Calleigh commented as she left Eric to look over the file he had in his hand.
"So have we figured out how he died?" Calleigh asked as she entered through the doors to the morgue
"Well I'm trying to figure out when he died first, from what I can tell his bloated liquefied state is more due to the heat we've had lately rather than the length of time" Alex went to make an incision "Problem is, it's liquefied all his organs as well" this comment was accompanied by a sloshing sound as fluid exited the body.
"Well, is there anything we do know apart from the fact this man is mostly made of liquid?" Calleigh winced as Alex pulled open what was left of the ribcage to reveal a soup of his insides.
"Well the only thing I have noticed externally is that he has a bite on his left femur" Alex turned and looked a Calleigh at this comment.
"Could explain why the dog was in the cupboard, could he have bleed out from that wound?" Calleigh asked
"I don't think so, I'm going to run tox on what I have left of him, it'll hopefully tell us more" Alex stared at Calleigh as if she was thinking about something
"What?" Calleigh asked Alex was freaking her out with her staring tactics
"Did you run that swab you took from your bite?" Alex asked a slight tone of concern in her voice
"No, DNA's backed up and I ended up processing bullets it probably won't get done till tomorrow, why?" Calleigh replied
"I just want to know you're ok, if that pooch has been chowing down on his owner I want to make sure that you've not caught something from it" Alex explained turning to write something on her notepad.
"I'm fine Alex thanks for the concern, I've got to get back to Eric poor fella the computer won't let him play, needs a woman's touch" she winked at the last comment
"Oh Calleigh" Alex called causing Calleigh to turn at the Autopsy door "Make sure you get some rest ok, that arms probably going to be sore tomorrow"
"Sure thing" she called as the doors closed behind her
Calleigh was sure Eric was about to chuck something at the computer by the time she arrived back in the AV room.
"Calleigh, thank goodness you're here damn things driving me nuts I don't know how you can stand looking at this it just doesn't make any sense" Eric let out a frustrated sigh.
"OK well first of all are you sure you've calculated the trajectory right this one would make the shooter 8 foot tall" Calleigh stated and with that they started to reprogram all the trajectories.
At 10pm they found themselves being called on by Horatio on his way out of the lab.
"You're both still here?" He questioned leaning on the doorframe
"Calleigh's been helping with the trajectories of the shooting, hey how come she wasn't put on this case H would have made my life a lot easier?" Eric joked
"Because Eric, Calleigh is due in court tomorrow as am I and if I made life too easy for you what would you do with your spare time?" Horatio rebutted before continuing "I hate to be an overbearing boss but I think it's about time you both went home, especially you Calleigh we've got court tomorrow"
"You could never be overbearing handsome" Calleigh commented giving him one of her smiles "Besides I believe we're finished here I just need to clean a couple of things in ballistics then I'm going home to bed"
"OK well don't stay to long, see you both tomorrow" Horatio left heading towards reception.
As Calleigh entered ballistics she realized that she still hadn't filled out her incident report for Horatio she cursed under her breath. She grabbed her preliminary report she had made while sitting at the doctors office and sat down at the computer and started to type. By the time she had finished it was getting close to 12 hitting the print button she scooped up the pages and filed them in the case folder, she would have to wait to put them on his desk as his office would be locked. Wearily grabbing her jacket she headed out the door.