Title: Solace

Author: AllOverTheWorld

Shippers: Horatio/Calliegh

Summary: Calleigh takes solace in firearms, as strange as it seems to most; she finds comfort amongst Sig Sauers, Colts, Sniper Rifles, and Shot Guns, Machine Guns, exploding rounds and gun powder. Most, if not all, on the CSI team know where to find her after a particularly long or hard (most times both) case: her ballistics lab. What happens when that solace is shattered? When her one sanctuary is no longer what it was? Where will she go? Who can she turn to?

Authors Notes: Thanks to all my reviewers (muddpuppy19, sunshinebulletgirl, calleigh16, Pinkyster and ajay1960).

Horatio reentered Calleigh's house to see her standing there with her arms crossed and look of displeasure on her face "I'm not an idiot Horatio. You're going to make dinner and you 'left something in your car. What did you leave a spatula?" she asked her voice mocking.

"Calleigh I'm sorry." He said honestly "I wanted to make sure I was right before telling you what I think is going on."

A flicker of worry flashed in Calleigh's eyes and suddenly her posture was less confident and her tone was almost fearful "What do you mean?" Although she knew that the encounter in the grocery store was not random, nor was it coincidental that the stranger had so strongly resembled Gunnar but Horatio saying that he wanted confirmation on something meant that he had suspected this wasn't over.

Horatio say the flash of fear in her eyes and decided that right now what Calleigh needed was the truth, not matter how it might affect her. From the years of friendship that Horatio and Calleigh had he also knew that Calleigh didn't like being babied or lied to by anyone. With this in mind he said "Let's get out of your hallway and back into the kitchen then I'll explain everything."

After a moment of consideration Calleigh decided that Horatio wasn't trying to change the subject so she agreed to the change of venue. Once she had settled down on the couch and Horatio had taken the armchair next to it she turned to him and he started to explain "The man who you encountered in the grocery store was Tristan Burns-" he paused for any signs of recognition from Calleigh who seemed to read this and said shakily

"I should have put two and two together." She said quietly "I knew I remembered that face from somewhere. Tristan and Gunnar were like two peas in a pod, always getting drunk together. He-" her voice hitched and she fought to hold back the waves of emotion that had suddenly rushed to her at the mention of his name. However she didn't need to finish her sentence because Horatio could pretty much guess the next sentence.

He reached out from his chair and place one of his hands over her own, reassuring her, then continued speaking "Tristan was released from Rikers Island two years ago after a three year sentence and has since taken up residence in New York. He visited Gunnar regularly up until his imprisonment for assault and battery and an attempted rape charge."

Calleigh looked at him, again not needing to voice allowed her concerns. "Calleigh, I'm not going to let anyone hurt you."

"I know." She said quietly "It's just, how did I forget about him? He's probably here to finish what Gunnar started and now that he's dead he'll just be all the angrier."

Horatio could see the fear in her eyes no matter how she tried to hide it from him. Not to mention her hand was not resting on her gun, now out of habit than anything else "People who are angry are prone to erratic behavior and that's how we are going to catch him."

A plan.

A plan would occupy her mind.

A plan would help her.

A plan would mean that Horatio would be with her.

She liked a plan.

"So what's the plan?" she asked Horatio.

This wasn't good. Horatio hadn't meant for this happen. Sighing he looked at Calleigh "Calleigh I know what you're trying to do." He said quietly. He knew he was going out on a limb by calling her out on this but if she shoved all of her emotions aside she would crash and crash harder than she had before.

She looked at him "What do you mean?" she lied

"We've been friends for a long time Calleigh. I know how you operate and most of the time it works for you but you can not ignore everything that's going on, everything that has happened recently."

Anger flared up in Calleigh "So now you can tell me how to act?"

"Calleigh." Horatio said, calm and collected. He couldn't let even the slightest hint of anger through or else he might send Calleigh back on a flashback and he would never be able to forgive himself for doing that "I care about you and I don't ever want to see you how you were two nights ago. As much as you hate it, you have to deal with it. Shoving it aside and immersing yourself in work is only hurting you."

Her eyes flashed and for the first time in two days she felt an emotion that wasn't confusion, hurt, fear or anything synonymous with those three words. She was angry, angry that he was telling her how to act but more than that, she was angry that he was right. However four words quickly rose to the front of her mind I care about you. Those four words echoed in her mind and they sounded more than just coworker to coworker.

"What am I supposed to do?" she asked "I can barely talk about it without breaking down let alone stare it in the face and handle it."

Horatio watched as Calleigh went from anger to confusion faster than he could blink and knew he was getting somewhere. This was a good thing because confronting Calleigh is like playing with fire, more times that not, you're going to get burned. Except now and he was pretty sure that only he could get away with that "I'm not going to tell you it is going to be easy because it's not. In fact it's going to one of the hardest things you've ever done."

She just looked at him "Nothing I will ever do in my life will ever be as hard as it was to gather the guts to stand up to Gunner." She said

Horatio nodded "I want you to know that you don't have to do it alone."

Calleigh was about to respond when there was an explosion of gunfire that shattered her front windows and sent both Calleigh and Horatio diving to the floor.

"Calliegh!" Horatio yelled as the gunfire continued "Are you okay?"

The instant Calleigh had heard the gunfire she had dove for the floor where her instincts kicked in, not even Gunnar Matthews could take away those. Her hand reached out for the gun she had hidden under the sofa and she pulled it out a fully automatic Glock 18. She raised it and returned fire out the window.

"Calleigh!" Horatio yelled and looked around and to his relief he saw Calleigh in a kneeling position holding her gun up.

"I'm fine." She said, her voice shaking "How about you?" she asked

"I'm fine." He said and slowly made his way towards the window where he saw a small Mustang GT whipping around the corner and out of sight. His heart sank, Tristan Burns owned a Mustang GT.

Tristan Burns had just tried to kill Calleigh and himself. This was way beyond reckless, this was revenge plain and simple.

Don Don Don, the return of Tristan Burns, not that he was gone long but whatever. Tristan is reckless and dangerous, he already tried to kill Calleigh in her own home. What will he do next?

Thanks for reading!

AllOverTheWorld

P.S. I will not be updating this story or I'll Never Let You Go because I am visiting a college and will have absolutely no time. Sorry about that. However the next updates will be nice and long.