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, Alexx Woods
Warnings: None
Rating: PG-13
Chapter: 2 "Confusion"
Author's Notes: Throughout the next couple chapters I'm going to be bouncing back and forth between times of day…I'll mostly be staying on Monday…but I figured I'd let you know when I'd skipped to the next day by using the day of the week along with the time and location.Hopefully this will make it LESS confusing!
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Monday – 1130EST
Miami-Dade Crime Lab
Calleigh stared down at the evidence she had spread across the table. There were similarities, but nothing was identical. They knew who the suspect, and that there were DNA samples found at the different locations, but none of the treads or bullets matched…and there were no patterns to the killings. It was frustrating to say the least.
"What do you have for me?"
She didn't look up and just sighed and let her shoulders slump. "Not much, I'm afraid… The shoe treads that we've collected are all size elevens, but he apparently doesn't wear the same shoes everyday…" Taking a breath, she continued, "The bullets are different calibers…two of them were nines, but the striations don't match."
Horatio frowned, not only was the evidence not helping them put together a solid case. He moved over to the scope and looked down through it at the bullets side by side. They were at a dead end. He turned to Calleigh and noticed that she was tired…but he easily could account that from her trying so hard to figure out a way to link the evidence they had. "Coffee?"
Calleigh gave him a small smile, "Yes."
"Sugar, right?"
"Thank you," she responded feeling a bit less tense about things. She knew that if there was evidence out there then they'd find it. It was just a matter of time.
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Monday - 1600EST
South Miami Hospital
"I need to see her," Horatio stated to the nurse, who just shook her head at him again.
"Lieutenant, I know she's one of yours, but she's in surgery… The doctor will let us know as soon as they've got her stable. Why don't you wait in the waiting room?" the nurse offered. "Get some coffee and sit down? I promise you that if I get any news that you'll know right away."
Horatio went to speak again, when the nurse cut him off.
"Is there any next of kin that you should be calling for Ms. Duquesne?"
Next of kin. It sounded almost like there was no hope left. "Her father," he stated. Her father was the only family member Calleigh had in Miami. Her brothers and mother were back in Louisiana, and Horatio wasn't ready to make that call yet…to make that call would be giving up on Calleigh…and he wasn't going to do that.
"I suggest you call him then."
Turning, Horatio sighed and pulled out his phone and headed for the nearest exit to make the call outside. He didn't want any echoing from the inside of the hospital or any overhead paging to interrupt the call. As he walked through the door, he saw Alexx approaching him quickly. It was only a matter of time before the whole team arrived for a vigil.
"How is she, Horatio?" Alexx asked quickly.
"She's in surgery…that's all they've told me."
As Alexx neared, she caught the blood that had stained his shirt. "How much blood has she lost?" she asked trying to assess Calleigh's situation through her blood loss. From Horatio's expression, she felt a lot of cause to worry for her friend.
"A lot…" he said quietly, not looking at Alexx.
"Honey, we should get you another shirt…" she suggested. "Why not let me call and have Frank pick you up one? Hmm?"
Horatio nodded, "I have an extra one at the lab. Eric might be closer." There was silence for a minute before he spoke up again, "The nurse asked me to call her next of kin."
"They just want someone here who can legally make decisions for Calleigh…" Alexx tried to assure. "You call her father, and I'll call about your shirt and then I'll go in and try to find out a bit more… They may let me scrub in and check in on the surgery if we're lucky…" She reached out and put her hand on his shoulder and tried to be reassuring to him, "Horatio, she's going to be okay…"
He didn't say anything. He wasn't sure if she was going to be okay. Alexx didn't see the blood…she hadn't been there… Horatio turned away and put in the call to Kenwall Duquesne. He wasn't sure what he could really say to the man to ease the situation. His daughter had been shot, and Horatio didn't know the man's mindset at the moment. It'd been some time since he'd seen Calleigh's father, he just hoped that that meant that he'd stopped drinking and had started to actually have a regular life that didn't involve his daughter bailing him out.
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TBC…