A/N: once again, thanks to all who read and reviewed this. There will be one more final chapter after this and then I am going to temporarily retire Savannah to focus more on my other stories. However, rest assured, she will be back. In the mean time, as always, enjoy and review.

Chapter 11

"I want her charged with assault!" a male voice yelled from the direction of Reception.

"Wonder who pissed off who this time," Savannah said absently to Eric. They were in the Layout Room where Savannah was assisting Eric with a minor case. Both were decked out in lab coats and gloves and she was helping him put together a broken window from a robbery to try and see if they could find any prints on it.

"Dunno, but he sounds pretty mad," Eric said just as absently. "How's the hand?"

"Still a bit sore. How'd you find out about that?"

He chuckled. "Grapevine. Word is you hit someone but nobody knows who."

"If I say it was deserved and it was in self-defense, will you believe me?"

"Without a doubt."

"Good. Guy had a big mouth and a glass jaw. Idiot shouldn't have grabbed me."

"Ouch."

Over the last several months, Eric and Savannah had come to regard each other as friends and had an uncle-brother-niece-sister-type relationship going. They teased and ragged each other mercilessly but they also looked out for each other. It was known that Eric was very protective of Savannah, much like that of an older brother, and had once gone after a mouthy young beat cop when the fellow had made the stupid mistake of making a few rather crude comments about Savannah's reasonably-generous bustline within earshot of him. That had been the last time that particular cop had dared to open his mouth about Savannah around Eric.

"That little bitch hit me without provocation!" the man yelled again.

"My, my, such a foul mouth have we," Savannah said idly, fitting another piece of the glass puzzle together. Eric chuckled.

Just then, Sergeant Rick Stetler stuck his head in the room. "Savannah, I need a word with you, please."

"I'm right here and a tad busy right now. What can I do for you?" she asked pleasantly to the IAB officer. After his little 'cradle-robbing' crack to Horatio the first time they'd met, and Savannah's subsequent shot back, they had kept an arms-length relationship with each other.

"I'd rather speak to you in private," Rick said.

"And I'd rather you spoke to me in front of Eric," she replied, not looking up from her work, fitting another piece of the glass puzzle together with a section Eric had already put together. The puzzle was about two-thirds done and a possible print was starting to show up.

"Fine," Rick said shortly, stepping further in to the room. "Darryl Kuber is accusing you of assault. He claims you hit him yesterday. What do you have to say about that?"

"Thought I recognized the mouth," Savannah quipped. Eric grinned. "Tell you what; let's go talk to Kuber like the rational adults we claim to be." She took off her gloves and lab coat and put her blazer back on while saying to Eric, "Be a dear and give a certain somebody a call, will you? I'm sure he'd be very interested in this."

Eric nodded and opened his cell while Savannah followed Rick out of the room, taking out her own cell and punching a number. "Frank, Kuber's in Reception, screaming about assault in regards to yesterday," she said. Frank said something and she replied, "Thank you." Snapping her cell shut, she smiled the smile of a predator on the hunt.

"There she is!" Kuber yelled, pointing his finger at her. He was now sporting a very nasty bruise on his jaw and looked livid with anger.

"Darryl Kuber! So nice of you to drop by!" Savannah chirped cheerfully, clapping her hands in glee and doing a little bunny hop.

"I want her charged with assault! She hit me and it was unprovoked!" Kuber yelled.

Savannah stuck one finger in her ear and wiggled it. "He gets any louder and I'm going to go deaf," she said absently. Nearby, someone snickered. Kuber just glared at her.

A lab technician tapped her on the shoulder and she turned her head to see him offering her a file, which she accepted with a smile for him. Opening it, she glanced at the contents and her smile became one of satisfaction. Then she handed the file to Rick and said, "Gotta love the UV filter on a camera; they simply show the most amazing things."

Rick groaned. The photographs in the file showed Savannah's upper left arm under a UV filter and that arm sported a set of bruises suggesting she'd been grabbed recently, as indicated by the time and date stamp on the photographs.

"Those were taken less than ten minutes after our little 'run-in' in the parking lot," Savannah said, her voice growing cold. She pushed her blazer back and placed her hands on her hips, leveling her chin at her tormentor, one finger absently tapping the butt of her gun.

"Not only that, but it seems that there was a witness to that little encounter," said Horatio as he joined her and studied the file Rick handed him before placing the file on the Receptionist desk. He then assumed the side-ways version of Savannah's hands-on-hip stance, standing next to her and looking at Kuber with an equally cold look to his eyes.

"A witness?" Kuber scoffed.

"Yeah, me," came Frank's voice as he joined them from the elevators and took up position on the other side of the group so Kuber was now completely surrounded. "You threatened to sue her for perjury against your client and she advised you to get your hearing checked because she had nothing to do with your client other than nearly getting shot by a hit contract he put out on her, as you should have been told by Prechel. Oh, I forgot, he got taken off that case recently, didn't he?" the detective said sarcastically. "You really should keep up-to-date on your cases, might save you a whole lotta hassle."

"You started this by grabbing me in the parking lot, Kuber. I finished it then and I'm finishing it now," Savannah said coldly. "Don't come near me again or you will find yourself with a restraining order slapped against you so fast the ink will still be wet when you get it and I will make it known amongst the bar association exactly what kind of lawyer you are. And if you don't think I won't do it," she leaned in close to him, "think again," she hissed. Spacing her words with icy emphasis, she hissed, "I am not afraid of you."

"Start walking, Darryl, and don't look back," Horatio advised coldly.

"And if I do?" Kuber tried to bluff.

Frank, who, unbeknownst to Savannah, had been joined by Eric, Ryan, Natalia, Calleigh, and several other officers and lab technicians, all of whom knew Savannah and Horatio and respected the pair of them. The looks in their eyes were all cold and deadly, as was their body posture. Frank said calmly, "We'll be right here."

Kuber wisely decided it would be a good idea if he left the premises, having pushed his luck as far as he dared. Scowling, he left the crime lab in a huff.

Smiling to herself, Savannah said to Eric, "Now, where were we? Oh, right, the glass window. Shall we finish that?"

"Right this way," Eric said, grinning as the crowd dispersed.

"Are you sure she's not your daughter?" Ryan quietly asked Horatio.

Horatio smiled. "Fairly certain."

"In that case, maybe you should adopt her 'cause her mannerism are beginning to be way too much like yours," Maxine Valera said. "I thought I was seeing double for a moment there."

"I'm seriously starting to consider the idea," Horatio said.

Later, Natalia showed Calleigh an image on a digital camera. It was a shot of Savannah and Horatio facing off Kuber together. The image had been taken moments before the rest of the group had joined them and showed the pair of them in their almost identical stances, facing Kuber, with Horatio turned to one side. Both had their hands on their hips and near their weapons, blazers pushed back to show gun and identification badges, and chins leveled. Neither had seen Natalia take the picture, all their focus on Kuber. It was a classic father-daughter picture and Calleigh loved it the moment she saw it. She asked for a copy of the photograph and convinced Natalia to show it to Alexx, who, in turn, convinced her to send a copy of it to Horatio, making sure she had a copy as well.

When Horatio found the photograph on his desk, in an eight-by-ten print with no note attached, he studied it thoughtfully. Then he picked up the phone to make a phone call to a certain judge who owed him a minor favor.

Later that day Horatio caught up to Savannah. She was sitting outside on one of the benches, enjoying the sunshine while she grabbed a quick bite to each.

"How are you feeling?" he asked as he sat beside her.

"I'm good, especially after that business with Kuber. You?" she asked.

"Same old, same old," he said. "Ryan made a funny comment to me."

"Ryan always makes funny comments," she quipped. "What'd he say this time?"

"He asked me if I was sure you weren't my daughter. Frank said the same thing to me after you faced off with Sandoval."

Savannah chuckled. "Yeah, Natalia asked me the same thing after a teenage suspect got a tad too mouthy with her while he was being escorted by a cop and I put him in his place."

Horatio chuckled and showed her the photograph of them. "I found this on my desk and it looks like it was taken during our little confrontation with Kuber. I don't know who left it or who took it."

Savannah studied the picture and said, "Wow, that's a good shot. No wonder why people keep asking you if we're father-daughter." She felt a familiar longing in her chest, silently wishing what the picture suggested was real, and that she really was his daughter.

"What if… what if I was to suggest that we do exactly that?" he asked carefully, taking off his sunglasses and fiddling with them. "What if I was to legally claim you as my daughter? One of the benefits is you would automatically get the protection and unspoken status that comes from being the daughter and the niece of a cop."

"We're talking about Eric, right?" Savannah asked, her interest piqued by the concept.

"Yes. Eric is my brother-in-law which would make him your uncle," he said.

He had talked to Savannah about Marisol, who was his deceased wife and Eric's sister, who had been murdered by a Mala Noche gang member by the name of Antonio Riaz. Eric had mentioned Marisol as well, and what the two men hadn't told her, Calleigh and Alexx had filled her in on as much as they could. Savannah knew Eric and Horatio still grieved for the woman they had both loved but both were trying hard to accept and move on. She also knew something had happened in Brazil in regards to Riaz but had wisely decided there were some things best left alone. Riaz had been brought to justice and that was enough for her.

"So, if you were to adopt me, that would make him legally my uncle, right?" she asked.

He nodded.

"But Horatio, why would you want to adopt me?" she asked, still trying to figure out what was going on and not daring to hope that another one of her dreams was coming true.

"Because, Savannah, because I love you like a daughter and I would be proud to claim you as my daughter," he said simply.

Before going to talk to her about this, Horatio had talked to Alexx about how to best handle this and she'd told him to keep it simple; tell her the truth. The M.E. had become a surrogate mother and aunt to the girl and knew for a fact that Savannah was coming to regard him as the father she'd always wanted. Savannah had once admitted to Alexx that she sometimes wished she could call Horatio her dad rather than her roommate and supervisor because that was what their relationship felt like most times.

Savannah now stared at Horatio in shock. "Are-are you sure?" she asked hesitantly, not quite believing it.

"Savannah, you might not be the daughter of my blood, but you are rapidly becoming the daughter of my heart." It was a phrase he'd once overheard a parent detective use when he'd been talking about his adopted teenage son and the phrase had stuck with him.

"How fast can the adoption be done?" she asked carefully.

"Judge Ojeda has agreed to sign the papers the moment they come across his desk," he said.

Judge Javier Ojeda had been widowed some years ago and, being too busy to properly court women, had involved with a prostitute who had died of smoke inhalation due to a fire at a club she'd been at earlier, a fire that had been later discovered to have deliberately set. Horatio, Frank, and Alexx had managed to keep the case quiet and, in return, Judge Ojeda had told Horatio if he ever needed a minor favor to let him know. He had been the judge Horatio had called earlier that day.

"Could I change my last name to yours?" she asked.

"If that's what you wanted, then yes, you can have your name changed."

Savannah nodded thoughtfully, starting to grin. "Yeah, Savannah Mae Caine sounds a lot better than Savannah Mae Abott."

"Oh I quite agree," he said, also starting to smile.

"In that case, yes!" she yelped, flinging her arms around him, causing him to laugh as he caught her. "Oh no," she said as a sudden thought came to her. "If you're my dad, then Eric is going to be my uncle and you know how protective of me he already is."

"True."

Then her face lit up. "That just means I get to really rag him and as his niece I can get away with it more 'cause I'll have his sisters to help me."

Horatio laughed. Then he said, "I didn't know your middle name was Mae."

She scowled. "That came from one of my dad's aunts. I never really cared for it so I don't use it unless I have to."

"Well, while you're changing your last name, you can also have your middle name changed."

"I can, huh? Might as well go the whole nine yards while I'm at it," she said. "What was your mother's name?"

"Jacqueline," he said.

"Would you mind if I took her name as my middle name? For that matter, do you think she'd mind if I did?" she asked.

Horatio smiled as he felt his heart swell with pride. "No, I wouldn't mind at all and I think she would have been proud to give you her name. Savannah Jacqueline Caine sounds like a very nice name."

"In that case, Dad, we need to pay a visit to the courthouse ASAP, hadn't we," she said, smiling at him.

"Indeed we do," he said, smiling back. "Indeed we do."