The chapter in which the lab look more into Valera's case and Calleigh goes over the line. Warning: Graphic details.

Chapter 3

It was early morning at the Boa Vista residence and Valera was peacefully sleeping in her bed. Natalia had found it wiser that they shared her bed in case Valera woke up panicking or had a nightmare. Luckily she didn't seem to have either as she had slept the night through or was still doing that.

Natalia smiled, letting a hand stroke over her hair as she whispered, "See you after work, Maxi."

The other woman of course didn't get woken by this, so Natalia left her a note as to when she was expected back, where the spare key was and if there was anything Valera should call her. After doing just that she cast one last glimpse upon her before she left her sleeping companion.

Once she got into the crime lab she knocked on Horatio's door before entering. To her surprise Calleigh was there as well and they seemed to be backing away from each other a bit too fast when she got inside.

"Natalia," Horatio greeted as the blonde was standing left of his desk.

"Good morning, Horatio, I'm here like you asked, Calleigh," she said greeting both.

Calleigh nodded at her as Horatio said, "You said something about catching a criminal with now evidence, am I right?"

"You are very right," said Natalia with a sigh.

"May I ask what the case is regarding to?" he asked as Calleigh that to now had stayed silent said, "Do you wish me present for this?"

Horatio gave her a sign to stay as Natalia said, "It's okay. Well the thing is that a very dear friend of mine got raped on her way home. She had been out with some friends and lost them. She thought she walk home as it's not that far. Out of nowhere this man comes and… Either way he left her before she could manage to get up, she knew she shouldn't have to but she went home to shower to get him off her. So what I am wondering is it possible to catch him for her to feel safe?"

Calleigh looked at her with shocked eyes as Horatio said, "Were you at the scene?"

"I didn't feel it wise to drag her back there, and it would be interfering with the police there I'm sure," said Natalia.

"Did she report it?" he asked.

"No, I think she wants to forget it and move on, I just wish to capture him so he won't do the same to her or others ever again," said Natalia.

"I can understand that, but without any evidence as you say and without her pointing at him it's very little I can do," he told her.

"Horatio, please," she practically begged the redhead.

"Okay if you give me the police department I will call and have someone check into it, maybe there has been more rapes there," he said.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said with a smile before leaving that office. Shortly after giving him the information needed. Calleigh looked over his shoulder at the note saying, "Isn't that where Valera works?"

"I do believe it is, you don't think she can be the woman in question do you?" he said with a sigh.

"I do, or she wouldn't left in such a hurry or begged you to take care of it," said Calleigh.

"Where do you suppose she is now?" he asked.

"I would assume Natalia's apartment if she's here, handsome we have to make this right," she said in a soft tone.

"I intend to, but it would help if we could talk to her, maybe look at her body for scratches or marks if it has not gone too long," he said.

"I'll ask Natalia and go over to try to talk to her," Calleigh said, giving him a smile before leaving. Horatio took up the phone to make the necessary calls.

Calleigh was later that day on her way to Natalia's house. She had had it confirmed earlier that day that Valera was in deed the woman in question and she was no going over to see if there were any physical evidence on her.

Natalia hadn't thought that it was a good idea as she didn't want to put Valera in that position after what she already gone through. Even if she wanted him convicted she didn't want to involve Valera in the process. Knowing they had no other choice she had asked Calleigh to be as gentle to her as possible. Something Calleigh both promised and intended to be.

She parked the car instead of the big house; she in her life had only been there once. Considering the size of it she knew Natalia was being wealthy, but she also suspected she had help when she got the house considering the past.

The petite blonde sighed as she rang the doorbell. A moment after it was opened by Valera saying, "Natalia, I thought you had your key…Calleigh…?"

She was halfway blocking the way so she couldn't get inside as Calleigh said, "May I come in?"

Valera nodded letting her step inside before she said, "I heard Natalia talking about what happened, and we wish to capture him, so I was wondering if I could take a look at you to see if there is anything on you tracking back to him."

"I…I rather not," Valera said, not feeling comfortable with getting undressed in front of Calleigh and letting her take pictures of her.

"Please Maxine, I only wish to help, if you do this we might prevent this to happen to someone else," Calleigh pleaded.

"I know, I'll…I'll do it but be fast," Valera said, very slowly removing her turtleneck, Calleigh had been wondering why she would use that in this heat, but when she quickly got why. Around her neck were black and blue marks as if someone tried to strangle her. You could see scrapes on her forearms, they were by now vague, but you could at once understand she had been pushed hard to the ground. Calleigh also notice a bite-mark on her right shoulder. As she took the necessary pictures she looked closer at the bite mark wondering if it was clear enough to make a conviction if they caught him. She decided that it was.

"Do you have any marks on your lower body?" the blonde said as Valera was still wearing her pants.

"No…only on the inside, but those are healing I suspect," she said with a heavy sigh as she started to get dressed.

Calleigh nodded, putting the camera aside, before asking, "How are you feeling?"

"Safer when I'm here with Natalia, but not all good," she admitted.

"That is understandable, I better get this back to the lab, I'll try to send Natalia home as fast as possible," she said.

Valera nodded, she slowly walked Calleigh to the door without another word. But as she was about to leave, she looked at her with insecure eyes saying, "You'll catch him right?"

"We will," the petite blonde promised, hoping she could in deed keep that promise. Valera nodded as she slowly closed the door.

Text: Horatio it was worse than I thought, you'll see the pictures when I get back. Is there any chance we can do this discreet. We have to catch this man. Calleigh.

Text: I suspected as much. I hope so and we will. Horatio.

Text: Oh my Gosh Natalia, that was just horrible. You should be home with her, not at work. Calleigh.

Text: I know, I feel so bad for her at the moment, why do you think I want him behind bars. I will try to get back to her earlier, but I have quite a few cases that need my attention, so it's not that easy. Nat.

Text: That is understandable and we will get him with a little help from the police over there, I'll send over the pictures as soon as I get back. Natalia, if someone I loved got raped, I would be there with them every second, at least the following time and not care about work. Calli.

Text: I hope so, and thanks. Who said anything about love? And I find it unlikely that anyone would rape Eric. As I said, I'll try to get done early. Nat.

Text: I think that's pretty obvious or you wouldn't have gone over as soon as you learned or brought her back. Don't hide behind work because you can't stand looking at her. Be there for her, I'm sure we all can help with your workload. Just go to her. Calli.

Text: And I couldn't have done that because I am her friend? Don't be stupid. I will, just stop nagging; this isn't easy on me either okay. Nat.

Text: You could, but I'm pretty certain about what I'm saying and I know it's not, I'm sorry for nagging. Calleigh.

Text: It's okay. Thank you for helping. Nat.

Text: Don't mention it, that's what family is for. Calli.

Natalia looked at the last text and smiled. She had never thought about it before, but that was exactly what the people on this lab were to her, family. She looked at the workload in front of her, before going across the hall to Ryan. She knew he had a lot on his hands as well, but she was hoping he could help her out and asked, "Ryan, is there any chance you have room for a couple of my cases, as I really need to get home early today."

"Of course, just put the ones you need me to look at on the edge of the desk and I'll look into it as soon as I'm done with this," he said and smiled at her.

"Thanks, you're the best," she said and bent down to kiss his cheek out of gratefulness.

"Wow, save some of that for Val," he said with a chuckle.

"Don't start on me," she said with a smile, making sure to wiggle a little extra as she left him, knowing he liked that. He just shook his head, looking at the computer screen, finishing up what he was doing so he could help out with her workload.

As soon as he saw her work load, a sigh escaped his lips. It was not like Natalia to drop everything to just go home, something was defiantly wrong, that much he knew. He opened the first case folder to see what needed to be done and closed it after taking out what was necessary. Just as he put the sample into the machine he heard Walter say, "Hey, what's up?"

"Natalia needed to go home early, so I said I would help her out," he said with a heavy sigh.

"I can help you with that if you like," Walter offered.

"That would be great, any idea where the happy couple of Horatio is?" asked Ryan.

"Calleigh went out to take some pictures of a victim, Horatio is in his office and I think Eric is on his back from the scene," said Walter, he had left a bit before Eric.

"Hang on if you were at the same scene as Eric how do you know where Calleigh is?" asked Ryan confused.

"One it's on the board that she is out and she phoned Eric while I was there, saying she had a new victim and it was urgent, but she couldn't say more," said Walter.

"Wonder what that was about," said Ryan, wondering what was going on, just then they heard the elevator doors open and Calleigh's voice said, "I'm telling you I can't tell you, so just give it a rest."

"Since when is anything we work on a secret," said Eric, looking at her with annoyed eyes.

"Since when do you start asking questions about my authority," she snapped at him.

"You know what have it your way," he said and padded in the direction of the break room.

She looked after him, and then her eyes meet with Ryan and Walter before she headed for Horatio's office.

"What is going on?" Walter said.

"I have no idea, but if we are supposed to know she or they will tell us, in the meantime we better get started on this," said Ryan, nodding towards Natalia's folders.

"Agreed, one hour work then break?" Walter suggested.

"Oh yeah," Ryan agreed, smiling at him, before continuing with his work. He was wondering what kind of case Horatio and Calleigh were working that was not debatable, as that rarely ever happened. Not only that, but it wasn't often she told off Eric like that, so this had to be something really serious he concluded. In the end it wouldn't help him wondering about it as if he was meant to know he would find out soon enough, in the meantime he had plenty of work to hang his hands on thanks to Natalia.

Calleigh walked right into Horatio's office without even knocking. She already suspected he knew she was in if he heard the argument from Eric. And she didn't want to stall what she knew. She didn't care that he was working with something, she put the camera down on top of the papers saying, "We have to do something."

"Calleigh, what on earth, you can't just come barging in like that, what if I were busy with something," Horatio said.

"Horatio, in all honesty I know that all you do in here is working, if you were talking with Kyle I would have heard you talk before going in. I could hear you were not on the phone or the cam and as this is urgent I felt I could not wait," said the blonde a little frustrated.

"True I do suppose, so what is the urgency," he said.

"The pictured of Valera, look," she said nodding towards the camera.

Horatio picked it up and looked through the pictures, then at Calleigh. The blonde seemed very much troubled. Of course he over the years had seen her troubled before, but not like this. Her worry was shining through her emerald depths, and she was letting her fingers entwine with each other. She was trying to decide if she should sit with her legs crossed or not. She ended up crossed, making him view one of her black heels.

He sighed as he turned off the camera and said, "She did not deserve that."

"No, no one does, I would think the teeth mark on her shoulder is enough for a conviction when we catch him," she said.

"I would agree, I'll make sure to send them the pictures at once, do you know if she saw him?" he asked.

"Couldn't have," said Calleigh with a sigh, considering how the strangulation marks were.

He nodded, not knowing what to say. Neither did she, a shiver ran down her back. She had seen this a million times, both on the table and before it. She however never expected it to happen to anyone she knew. She had known Maxine Valera for years, she knew about what kind of person she was, both in the lab and outside. She knew how she could be provocative when it came to clothing still that was no reason for anyone to ever attack her like that. She just hoped Natalia would now be tending to her.

She looked at Horatio, her handsome redheaded boss. She always found him that; they always had their own special connection. Lately they'd been growing even closer. Maybe it was because she felt like she and Eric was drifting apart and she needed someone to lean on. She was scared of breaking up with Eric, as he was in a way her safety net, but still she knew the man she loved, the man she always loved was sitting right in front of her.

She would have given so much to be his, for him to hold her that very moment, every fiber of her being was screaming out for him to take her. She wanted him so badly, yet she couldn't bring herself to say so. Maybe because of the fact that she was still with Eric or she was afraid where it would lead.

He was looking back at her with his kind and wise blue eyes. A shiver of something was running down her spine. Again her body was screaming, 'Take me Horatio, take me."

"Calleigh," Horatio's velvet rumble broke the silence between them.

"Yes, handsome," she said, blushing mildly.

"Hmm," he said.

"I should get back to work, please send the pictures," she said with a sigh, getting up, and walking towards the door.

"Wait," he said, making her turn in less than a second, and look at him with questioning eyes. And just like that Horatio got up from his chair, walked over and kissed her hard. Calleigh, taken by surprise, didn't push him of, returned it, making sure he continued it as she reached for the door, locking it. There was no way she was going to leave now. Work could wait.

At the same time Natalia had managed to get home. She opened the front door, got inside, and put her keys on the dresser in the entrance as she always did when she got home. Then she looked over the first floor to see if Valera was there. By the looks of it she had been there at some point as there was some magazines sprawled over the living room table and a glass. Natalia smiled a little putting the glass in the dishwasher.

The Hispanic woman slowly made her way up the stairs and to her bedroom. She opened the door, the room was cold and dark, Valera was in the bed, seemingly sleeping.

Natalia sat down next to her, in a soft tone whispering, "Maxi, I'm back."

Maxine didn't answer her, she just curled up further, holding onto one of Natalia's pillows hard. Natalia crawled closer, wanting to hold her, but Maxine backed away saying, "Please…don't."

"What's the matter?" Natalia whispered, looking at her with worried eyes.

"Don't you see, I'm tampered with, I'm dirty, no one will ever want me anymore, and I don't want anyone to touch me. I don't want to be harmed like that again," she said, still not turning to face Natalia.

"Sweetheart, I know what it is like to feel like that, but believe me when I say you are not dirty, nor will I ever see you like that. I won't harm you or touch you in any way you do not wish, that I can promise you," said Natalia in a very serious tone.

Valera turned slowly to face the other woman, and Natalia could see from her grimy cheeks that she had to have been crying a lot. She slowly opened her arms, letting her friend crawl into them. Valera snuggled close and hid deep within Natalia that just held her. She could feel Maxine's tears against her and whispered, "Shhh we'll get through this together, I'll be here every step of the way."

"You promise," Valera whispered.

"I promise," said Natalia, kissing the top of her head, meaning every word.

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