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: muddpuppy19, ladyd10, Amythest Lilly, Enanfran, Pinkyster, Arlene, NiteJasmine, LA Calleigh, Turbidblue and Sinise's beast for all reviewing. Also for those of you who guessed about the mystery woman at the end of the last chapter the winner is…. Muddpuppy19 for being the first to guess that it was Fiona Glenanne from Burn Notice (My all time favorite show by the way!).
"Joey Montenegro." Eric said as he walked into the interrogation room, Ryan right behind him "You're in a lot of trouble."
"What for?" the short, balding, Italian arms dealer asked, beads of sweat dribbling down his forehead "I did do nothing wrong?"
"So selling an illegal weapon to someone without a license who then used that weapon to try and kill our friend isn't doing anything wrong?" Eric asked
"Hell you talking about? I don't even know how to shoot a gun much less how to sell 'em illegally." The man protested.
"Listen, just stop the bullshit. We know that you sold a SIG SG 510 to a man named Tristan Burns sometime in the past two days." Ryan said "So why don't you make it easier for yourself and just tell us what you remember about this guy, along with any other weapons you sold him."
"What do I get out of it?" Joey asked, sighing in defeat.
"If you give us anything useful we'll only charge you with possession of an illegal, unregistered weapon instead of being an accomplice on the attempted murder of a police officer." Ryan suggested
"Fine." Joey said "Look, this guy came into the bar and said that he knew I could hook him with some fire power. He offered me ten grand for an automatic rifle and a Glock, best deal I'd seen in a week so I took it."
"This guy have a name?" Eric asked
Joey shook his head "Not that he told me but he was driving a Mustang GT, I thought it was a bit flashy for that part of Miami."
"What color was it?" Eric asked
"I think it was black, black or a dark grey color." Joey replied "Can I go now?" he asked as Eric and Ryan walked out of the interrogation room.
"Nope!" Ryan called as the door shut behind them, he then turned to Eric "You want to call H and tell him that Calleigh was right about Joey?"
Eric shrugged "Sure." He said and was about to pull out his phone when it started vibrating "Speak of the devil." He laughed and picked it up "Hey H, I was just about to call you, turns out Calleigh was right about Joey selling a gun to Tristan. Joey sold an automatic rifle and a Glock to Tristan Burns for ten thousand dollars."
"That's good news. Listen I just got a call from an" Horatio paused only briefly "acquaintance who told me that a man, driving the car matching the description of Tristan Burns' car, just tried to car jack her on a road in the everglades."
"Tried to carjack her?" Eric asked into the mouthpiece
"Let's just say that she can handle herself. Can you and Ryan go out to the Everglades exit off of the main highway, the exit just Coral Gables and see what you can find. His car's not going anywhere but he might."
"Sure thing H." Eric said and hung up and turned to Ryan "Horatio got a lead on where Tristan Burns might be and he wants us to check it out."
"Let's go." Ryan said and together they headed out to the hummers.
Horatio hung up the phone and turned to look at Calleigh who was sleeping peacefully in the passenger seat of his hummer. Even if it was a brief reprieve from all of the madness that had been consuming her, Horatio was content to just drive around Miami, somehow the driving seemed to keep Calleigh calm enough to sleep. Content, that was something neither of them had been in a very long time, longer than just after this madness had started.
For years they had seen the worst things that one human could do to another person and they had never actually dealt with it. Maybe it was the fact that the murders never stopped, it was one of the few consistencies in their lives. Shaking his head Horatio pushed those thoughts from his mind and focused on driving, right now the last thing he needed was a mental breakdown of his own. As he pulled into his parking space he heard Calleigh begin to stir.
At first it just sounded like she was simply waking up but then he heard a fearful whimper escape her lips and she began to struggle against her seat belt. She began to fight and pull at the restraint and she cried out "Let go of me!"
Not even bothering to turn the engine off Horatio leaned over and released Calleigh from the restraining effects of her seatbelt. At this point it did little to help her because she continued fighting her invisible attacker until her eyes snapped open. Her green eyes were shining with fear as she looked around in panic "Calleigh." Horatio said gently
Her head whipped around and she looked at him strangely for a moment before realizing who was in the car with her "Horatio." She choked out "I'm- I'm sorry."
Taking her up in his arms he whispered "You have nothing to be sorry about sweetheart."
"One moment I'm fine and the next he's there." She said in between sobs
Horatio nodded "He can't hurt you anymore." He whispered
The position the two CSI's were currently sitting in was an awkward one with Horatio leaning over from the drivers seat and holding Calleigh gently against his chest as she fought to compose herself from the passenger seat. Finally Calleigh's breathing regulated enough to a point where she too realized how awkward this position must be for Horatio, with the arm rest sticking into his stomach as he leaned over to comfort her. As she extracted herself from his arms she muttered "You do too much for me." Just low enough that she thought he wouldn't hear, but he did.
As Horatio opened the passenger side door he answered "It's never to much if its for you."
Calleigh looked at him "Why do you do all of this for me?" she asked honestly
Horatio leaned against the inside of door and looked at Calleigh, marveling for a moment at how even after being almost killed twice she still managed to look somewhat composed "Calleigh" he started "You're one of the most confident, brilliant, gorgeous women I have ever met and to know that someone caused you so much pain make me so angry."
Calleigh looked away, she had been fearing this because she knew that Horatio was ashamed of her for begin so weak. Tears sprung to her eyes and she blinked rapidly hoping to keep them at bay while Horatio, realizing the implications of what he had just said he put on hand under her chin and tilted it towards him "I'm not angry at you, sweetheart, I could never be angry at you. I'm angry that someone in the world had the audacity to rip you down from the pedestal you should be on. I would do anything for you Calleigh, I love you."
"Horatio." She whispered "I-I-I cant, I'm sorry."
More tears leaked down her face as she turned away from Horatio, the man she should love. The man she should love but couldn't. Even after all the compassion and tenderness he had shown her, Gunnar had still so destroyed her ability to trust anyone she couldn't even trust Horatio. After basically rejecting Horatio she expected some form of angry, rage, heart break, something but instead all she got was understanding.
I can't. Those two words echoed in Horatio's mind and even as his heart was breaking he knew that somehow this wasn't Calleigh fault, or maybe he was now in denial "It's okay, let's get you inside." He said and helped Calleigh out of the van.
Oh no! Horatio's heart is breaking after he professes his love for Calleigh and damn, well Calleigh feels bad. Kind of an odd chapter, hard to write but I got it out. I do know that I owe you guys more updates for my other stories but due to some unfortunate Post-Thanksgiving illnesses that struck my entire family I was unable to write as much as I wanted.
And what on earth happened to Tristan?
Thanks for reading!
AllOverTheWorld