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 Amythest Lilly, calleigh16, mmooch, Pinkyster, NiteJasmie and ajay1960 for review the last chapter. AND holy crap, this is chapter eleven! I cant believe it! Sorry, I just had to get that out there but I am totally psyched that I have written this much! :D

Tristan Burns' head hurt, his ear hurt, hell, his whole body seemed to ache from days without the proper rest and recovery it demanded. As he now wandered the streets of Miami aimlessly he began to wonder if this entire situation was no more than a lost cause, Calleigh was too well protected by that red-headed bastard and he was weaponless. For a brief moment he thought about turning himself in, that way there might be some leniency but all things considered he could hear the charges against him now: attempted murder of two Miami Dade police officers being the biggest and the most severe but he knew that as soon as they started digging they would find a whole lot more. For example the identity he had stolen, some surfer in California named Dante Green, or the money he had stolen from his eldest brother's bank account to fund this little disaster but it all lead to the same conclusion, he was going to jail for a very very long time. This in mind he decided to just finish it all the way he and Gunnar had planned it all.

However if he wanted to that he would need to take a few risks, for example, go to an emergency room to get his wound looked at. Albeit dangerous if he was going to try and kill Calleigh he needed to be able to see straight and not have to walk around holding a blood soaked t-shirt to his head, Jason had given him a 'clean' one from the back of his truck so he had something to wear.

Now that he had some sort of plan Tristan decided to figure out where the hell he was and as it turned out, lucky for him, he was right by a hospital. He aimed for the red light rimmed entrance of Miami General's emergency room entrance and within minutes he was entering the air conditioned hallway that would take him to the waiting room. As he stepped across the threshold the blast of cold air hit him like a wall and that combined with the bright lights reflecting of the white washed walls and constant chatter made his head spin. He leaned against the wall for a moment, allowing his body and brain to adapt before walking up to the security desk.

Keeping his head down and away from the camera he asked "Where's the ER?"

The woman looked at him curiously for a moment, as if she had never seen a man with a bleeding head wound before but decided it was nothing new before answering "Straight down the hall and the waiting room is on your left. Check in at the front desk then wait for your name to be called."

Grunting his thanks Tristan turned away and slowly made his way into the waiting room where he walked up to the nearest nurse "I need to get this looked at." He said urgently, revealing the head trauma.

She looked at it for a moment "I'm sorry sir but there is a line of people all saying the same thing you just said. Please take a number and wait for it to be called, then proceed to the desk and give your medical information."

"What? I don't have time-, I'm bleeding for christssake!" Tristan said, raising his voice slightly.

The nurse just sighed, she dealt with people like this man everyday "I understand sir. Now go sit down before I have security escort you from the premises."

"Whatever." Tristan said and muttering curses under his breath he scanned the crowded waiting room for a decent seat and decided on the one closest to an exit and right next a security officer, an officer who carried a gun.

Frank Tripp sat at his desk staring at the same form he had been looking at half an hour ago, he just wasn't motivated in any way to fill out the stacks and stacks of paper work he had waiting for him. The lab was quiet, it was still early in the morning and most of the day shift was still arriving but had come in early, in hopes of getting something from the night shift, plus Natalia, who had worked all night on the evidence from Tristan Burns' car. While they found plenty of prints belonging to both Burns and Nixon along with a confirmation that the blood was indeed Burns' there was still nothing to tell them where he had gone after disappearing into a vehicle, who's treads Natalia was still matching.

It seemed like they had hit a dead end and that would not please Horatio one bit, some psycho was out there trying to kill one of his own, although Frank had long suspected Calleigh more than just a member of the team to Horatio, but they had nothing on his location. Sighing agitatedly Frank threw the pen down on his desk and rubbed his eyes, it had been a stressful past few days. Then his phone began to ring, not his cell phone but the phone on his desk, immediately he wondered if Burns had finally checked into a hospital "Tripp." He said into the line

"Hi" a female voice said "I'm a nurse at Miami General Emergency Room and a man matching the description of the suspect you guys put an alert out on has just entered the vicinity."

Franks heart pounded in his chest, this was a lead, something solid and good "Are you sure ma'am?"

"Yes, he has a head wound and seems to be missing the top part of his ear and he also speaks with a southern accent."

"That sounds like our guy. Can you do me a favor?"

"Of course sir."

"Delay him as long as possible without making him suspicious. We will be arriving shortly to apprehend him."

"No problem sir." The nurse said and hung up.

Frank smiled grimly and walked to the break room where he found Natalia fast asleep on the couch, she deserved it after the night she'd had and as much as he didn't want to wake her he asked "Natalia"

She jumped up, startled out her sleep "Gosh, I'm so sorry. I just put my head down-"

Frank interjected "I just need to know if you've seen Delko."

"Oh" Natalia said, obviously relieved to not be in trouble "Yeah, he's been here all night as well. Check the trace lab."

"Thanks." Frank said and turned out of the room to head to trace. Lucky for him Eric was there and he simply said "Delko, come with me."

"Where're we going?"

"Horatio's place. The chief wants him on the collar of Tristan Burns so you're going to be staying with Calleigh while we go do that."

Eric was secretly pleased at the time he would get to spend with Calleigh, so he could be the one to comfort her and hold her "Does Horatio know this?"

"Not yet." Frank said as he clambered into the drivers sear of the hummer.

"Oh great." Eric sighed "He's going to be thrilled at leaving Calleigh." He said as the hummer's engine roared and Frank dialed Horatio's number.

Horatio Caine was sleeping gently in an upright position with Calleigh resting gently on lap; she had drifted from his chest to his lap over the course of the night and early morning. His hand was resting comfortingly and protectively on her back when the soft vibrations of his phone woke him up. Moving as slowly and carefully as he could, so as to not wake up Calleigh, he picked it up and said "Hey, Frank, how can I help you?"

"Morning Horatio, sorry to wake you but we have a solid lead on Tristan Burns' location."

"Great. Where is he?"

"Miami General's Emergency Room, they're holding him up as long as possible but they can only do that for so long before he gets paranoid and leaves."

"Then head over there." Horatio suggested.

"I am but I have to come pick you up."

Horatio sat up a little straighter and this movement woke Calleigh who rolled sleepily off of Horatio and pushed herself into a sitting position "Why are you coming to pick me up?"

"Chief wants you on this collar."

Chief. He couldn't argue with a direct order from the chief of police, although why he wanted Horatio on this collar was beyond his scope of reason "Who's going to stay with Calleigh, I'm not leaving her alone."

"I know that, that's why I'm bringing Eric. He cant stay with Calleigh."

Horatio groaned inwardly, out of all the people Frank could have chosen it had to be Eric. Horatio didn't have anything against Eric, really he didn't but the Cuban obviously had feelings for Calleigh and Horatio didn't trust Eric not to try and act on them. Not that he thought Eric was insensitive to how Calleigh was feeling but he didn't really understand how she was feeling, what she was going through "How far away are you?" he asked, not showing his true emotions about the entire matter.

"About five."

"Thanks for the warning." Horatio muttered "I'll see you in five." He said and hung up. Turning to Calleigh he could see all the confusion plainly on her face "Sweetheart, I have to go pick up Tristan Burns."

"You do?" she asked, stressing the you because like Horatio she didn't understand why it had to be Horatio.

"It's a direct order from the chief, I can't argue with it." He said as he slid out of bed and walked over to his wardrobe.

Calliegh sighed and let her head rest on the pillow, her thoughts were in turmoil. She knew Eric had feelings for her, she had known it for a long time but right now she didn't want to deal with his attempts at comfort. She wasn't comfortable with him being there, seeing her like this but she wasn't ready to put on a brave face and spend a few hours alone with.

Horatio seemed to sense her apprehension and, with his shirt still unbuttoned and not undone, he sat down next to her on the bed "I don't like it either."

She turned to look at him, resting on one elbow.

"Frank and Eric are more than capable of picking up an injured suspect on their own."

"I agree." She said quietly, then with a sort of false confidence in her voice she added "I'll be fine, it's just Eric."

'Exactly what I'm worried about.' Horatio thought but asked her "Are you going to be okay with just him here."

She paused knowing that she should say yes but she just couldn't so instead she just nodded, hoping it would suffice. It didn't.

"I don't have to go." He said

"Of course you do." She countered "It's a direct order from the chief, you can't just ignore it."

"For you, I would."

"I'll be fine." She said, more trying to convince herself than Horatio.

He knew this and, knowing she would never let him stay decided to give her the next best thing to his actual presence. He back over to his wardrobe and reached into the bottom drawer and pulled out what she recognized to be a Browning GP hand gun.

She saw the gesture he was making, giving her his gun and knew that it was a huge step to just give someone your gun like that but she just couldn't shake the notion of what she was supposed to do with, so she joked "What, you want me to shoot Eric for you?" she said as she slipped it into the holster she had re-clipped at her side.

"If you want to." He said with a smiled, noticing how her hand never left the grip of the gun as they made their way to the living room to wait for Frank and Eric's arrival.

It came as soon as they had sat down in on the sofa, a sharp knock on the door and Eric's voice "Horatio, we're here."

Calleigh pushed down the nerves as Horatio went to let Eric in and she followed him to the door. Once Eric was inside she thought that Horatio was just going to leave but, of course, he didn't. He walked over to her and embraced her in a hug which she gladly returned. They lingered for a moment before Eric coughed and Horatio backed away whispering "Love you sweetheart." As he did so. Then moments later, he was gone, leaving Eric and Calleigh alone and uncomfortable.

There you have it! The next chapter is a bigger but wont get posted until Saturday afternoon/evening because I have to go to another college visit and wont be able to update Friday. So, what do you think about this mess, Eric and Calleigh alone (of course Calleigh's armed but…) will Eric do something stupid or will he respect what is so obviously meant to be?

Thanks for reading,

AllOverTheWorld