Title: Officer Down

Author: innocent choir girl (ff-dot-net), shannyfish (From Out of the Lab/Miami Heat/LJ)

Summary: This is a fanfic based on an episode that was supposed to be shot in season two where Calleigh is shot and Horatio has to face how much she means to him, but since that never ended up being taped, I'll make up my own version ;)

Category: Ship Ahoy! Calleigh/Horatio

Genres: Angst, Case, Character Study, Drama, Friendship, Hurt Comfort, Pre-relationship, Suspense

Characters: Calleigh Duquesne, Horatio Caine, Frank Tripp

Warnings: None

Rating: PG-13

Chapter: 1 "Shock"

Author's Notes: I was bored…and I blame Riley for making me obsessive about CSI: Miami, and letting me know about the whole "Officer Down" original plotline.

For those who do not live in areas with Spanish influence, the name Jorge is pronounced Hor-hay. The J and G being pronounced in English as a H.

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Monday - 1530EST

Warehouse District

High, dark warehouse walls surrounded him as he cautiously tread through the piles of boxes that formed a maze. Only a few streams of light perforated through the walls, and Horatio noted that they were most likely from bullets. He was careful not to give up his position by stepping on anything, trying to be a step ahead of himself. They were pursuing Jorge Rivera, a serial killer, who had killed five families and two police officers. He and Calleigh had tracked him down to the warehouse and had decided to pursue him rather than waiting for backup.

It had been only a couple minutes, but Horatio was starting to think that Rivera had made it out of the warehouse already. He decided to try to make his way towards the back of the warehouse and around to the other side where Calleigh was. Backup would be there within minutes, and Horatio wanted to finish looking around before they arrived, so that they didn't make a lot of noise and possibly scare off Rivera if he hadn't already left the building.

The shots rang out like bells to Horatio, and made his heart skip a beat. "Calleigh," he whispered and looked around before taking off. He forced himself not to break into a full run and remember his training, but thoughts of Calleigh as Rivera's next victim haunted him as he made his way towards where the gunshot had come from.

As he rounded a corner, Jorge Rivera practically was running towards him. "Jorge Rivera! Miami-Dade PD! Stop! Put your weapon down!" he yelled and watched as he stopped and started to duck over into the next row of boxes. But that moment was enough to tell Horatio what he needed to know. Blood spatter covered the other man's white shirt. Horatio looked down the way Rivera had come and then back towards where the man had fled. He was torn, but it didn't take him long to go towards his priority.

Silence. He hadn't heard her scream. He had only heard the shot. He hurriedly made his way back towards where he and Calleigh had split up and was confused when he couldn't find her in plain sight. "Calleigh," he called out as he started back towards where Rivera had headed. The warehouse was a maze, and finding Calleigh to check her was seeming impossible at the moment. His phone rang, and Horatio jumped before he quickly answered it, "Caine." He knew his voice probably seemed out of breath and strained, but he needed to find Calleigh. "Frank! He went out the back! I need you to call rescue, we have an officer down. Officer down," he repeated before hanging up on Frank when he came up with an idea. Dialing her number, he followed the ring tone. She was an aisle over and five rows ahead of him.

Finding her, he stopped for a minute, forcing himself to compose himself. There was no use upsetting her when she was already in such bad condition. Calleigh had dragged herself out of plain sight and pulled herself so that her back was resting up against boxes out of the way. Kneeling down, Horatio started to look her over and tried to assess her injuries. "Sweetheart," he said gently forcing the fear from his voice, "Rescue's coming… I need you to stay with me…"

He wasn't going to move her at first, but then he thought about how long it had taken him to find her. He wasn't sure if she could afford to loose that much blood from them trying to locate them in the maze. "Honey, I need to move you. I'm going to get you outside…help should be here by then," he explained as he pushed a stray strand of hair from her face. Horatio could tell that she was in shock. Her skin was clammy and pale and she wasn't responding to him. "Calleigh, say something…I need to know you're with me…" he tried to instruct as he carefully moved his arms so that he had her cradled.

"Mmsorry."

It was barely audible, and Horatio's heart fell as he carried her out for her to think that it was her fault. "It's not your fault, Sweetheart. We're going to get you to rescue…" he told her as he gently pulled her closer to his body as he turned around and backed out of the warehouse door. "I need rescue!" Horatio yelled as he turned around. The rescue team was already rushing towards them, and that was really what mattered.

The loss of Calleigh's body in his arms resting against his chest for a minute seemed odd, and he stood back watching as they assessed her injuries and started what they needed to. He raked his hand through his hair as he watched helplessly.

"Horatio, we got him."

At first, he didn't hear him, but when his shoulder was shaken, he looked over to see Frank standing there with a concerned look on his face. "Calleigh," he started and then stopped realizing he wasn't sure if he could keep his composure if he continued what he had intended on saying.

"We got him, Horatio."

Nodding, Horatio took that as small relief. When he turned back to check on Calleigh, rescue was loading her into the back of the ambulance. He and Frank walked over and he found himself being pushed towards it, and he looked back at Frank for an explanation.

"You ride with her."

Climbing up into the ambulance, he took the seat that the paramedics offered him and assured them that he was alright when they pointed out his blood stained shirt. His light blue shirt was now stained with Calleigh's blood. He watched them intently, and the monitor that continually beeped telling them that her heart was still beating started to beat in time with his own. It was like déjà vu, but this time they had already caught the guy. There would be no stopping the ambulance on its frantic hurry to the hospital.

A hand found his, and when he looked down, he realized it was Calleigh's. Taking her cold hand between his, he tried to warm it with both of his. "We're almost there," he tried to assure her. She looked like Marisol had…and panic grew inside of him at the thought of losing him. Realizations of how precious she was to him started to surface and he couldn't hold back the tears that had been strongly kept at bay behind his blue eyes.

As long as she stayed with him though, he knew that they'd make it, but when her eyes started to sink closed… "How close are we?" he demanded and the driver's answer brought small comfort that they were almost there. "Calleigh," he said, his voice louder than he had used in the ambulance before. "You have to stay with us. We're almost there… Almost there…"

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TBC…