A/N: I do not own CSI Miami or any of it's characters, affiliates...etc. This is just my imagination running with it! I hope you all enjoy!
Chapter Five
She Made a Mistake
Waking up in a panic, she started to sit up and run for the closet when she noticed them sitting there, by the looks of it, finishing dinner.
"Watson?" she heard from the side. But all she could do was gasp for air and bringing her knees to her chest.
"How did he find me?" she whispered.
"Sweetheart, it's alright. It was just a dream."
Not answering him, he took note of the blank look in her eyes.
"Watson?"
A lone tear fell and she inhaled sharply, then as if waking up all over again, her eyes cleared and she let go of her knees and sat up straight. Clearing her throat, she blinked and threw her feet to the floor. "Duracell? What...what are you doing here?"
"Do you know where you are?"
Taking a moment to get her bearings straight, she realized in an instant, that she had lost sight of where and when. Breathing in deep, she nodded finally. "Yeah."
He noticed the look in her eyes go from unsure, to confident in a split second. He wasn't going to push it, but it was clear to see that this had shaken her slightly. Whether it be the fact that she'd been dreaming, or the moment that he knew was there, of not realizing where she was.
Deciding to change the subject on it, he sat up a little straighter. "I didn't want to wake you when dinner was done, but since you're up, are you hungry?"
She nodded. She was hungry. She hadn't eaten since breakfast, if she was going to be honest about it. Though she wasn't used to eating more than one meal a day. It was hard not to take advantage when it smelled so good. The whole damn neighborhood, this man lived in, could hear how hungry she was when her stomach grumbled.
Taking her hand without offering his this time, he helped her stand and walk to the table and take a seat. He set a plate in front of her and was surprised at how quickly she ate though she barely ate enough to sustain a mouse. It was no wonder she was used to running on nothing. How small had her stomach become in those years? How accustom to running on empty, had her body become? Yeah, he was definitely going to change that while she was there. He saw her set her fork down and smiled. Grinning back he cleared the plate off the table. "I probably should have asked you this before you ate, but you don't have any food allergies do you?"
Shaking her head, she said softly, "Not that I am aware of, no."
"Good. Kind of gives me free range for cooking."
She giggled quietly. Stifling a yawn, she looked over at Calleigh. "I could so lay back down."
"Well why don't you? You need the rest."
Nodding she stretched. "I know." then she laughed sadly. "Full stomach. I'll probably sleep hard tonight."
"Hopefully you wont have another nightmare."
Closing her eyes she nodded again, then looked up at Horatio. "If you find me in the closet in the morning, you'll know." and she stood up, disappearing around the corner.
Calleigh turned and looked at him. "In the closet?"
Nodding, he filled her in about the night before and finding her that morning in the closet. "There is no telling what this kid's been through. I would say see if we can run anything, but she's been in the streets alone for a few years. We're not going to find anything."
"Wow." she said softly. "I'm going to see what I can, if anything, about her father if we can get his name. That might let on something."
"Yeah. I'll ask her when she gets up again. You can just look up the name Turion and see what you can get."
Nodding this time herself, she stood up from the table. "I'll be back tomorrow morning."
"Alright. See you then."
When she showed back up, he looked at her and the coffee in her hand. "Good morning."
She smiled. "Good morning." and she handed him a cup. "How is Chase this morning?"
"I just checked on her. She's doing alright. Still in bed."
"Well that's something." then she walked in. "I found out a lot. If you have a few moments."
"Of course." and he let her in the door. "What have you got?"
Stepping in and sitting down at the table they'd been at the night before, she took a breath. "Chase Turion was born to one Richard Turion and" and he noticed her pause as if she couldn't say the name of the girl's mother. Inhaling through her nose again, she let her breath out softly. "Rebecca Nevins."
The color drained from his face. "Wait, what?"
She nodded. "Assistant State Attorney."
Letting his breath out slowly, he remembered the years back when they briefly dated, before she allowed her job to get in the way, making a decision he knew he couldn't live with if he continued on with the relationship. Staring, he wished her to carry on with her findings.
"She was born August seventh, in ninety six, and her father died almost six years ago now, from liver cancer. She's been to school through seventh grade, but nothing after that. Their last known address was an apartment in the slums and that was almost eight years ago. There is nothing after he died. She for all purposes fell off the face of the earth."
"Ghost." they heard from the side.
Horatio turned. She was leaned against the wall, tiredly standing there, obviously still trying to wake up. "I'm sorry, Sweetheart. I didn't want to wake you up."
Closing her eyes, she shook her head and stepped forward. "I would have filled you in without you having to go run a report on me you know. All you had to do was ask."
"Yeah but you always seem so closed off. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable."
Nodding her head, she lifted her chin again. "What makes me uncomfortable, is people digging around in my past, when they could just ask."
Unable to stop himself from feeling like an ass, he nodded his head this time. "You're right. And I'm sorry. It wasn't my intent to make you uncomfortable at all. I simply wanted to know and didn't know how to ask. So since I had the opportunity and means to find out more, I did."
Simple answer, but not easy to accept. Looking at the sincerity in his eyes, she blinked and shook her head. "I'm sorry. It's just hard for me to...when you're...broken...like I am, trust doesn't..." and she halted, closing her eyes and shaking her head, as she walked away.
"You're not broken, Watson. You're a lot of things. But broken is not one of them."
Unable to stop a sad smile that crossed her face, she took a deep breath. "You know I read something once. 'I can never show the world that I'm breaking apart and crumbling to the ground on the inside. There are too many people that want to take advantage of that weakness. I know that I must stand strong and never show my cracks. When I'm alone, that's when I can let them consume me and fall to pieces. The world can come to an end while I'm alone and that would be okay, because everyone around me would think I was strong till the end.' I can't..." and she closed her eyes again. "I can't be weak. I can't let them in. I can't be stupid."
"Let who in, Chase?" Calleigh asked softly.
"Everyone." she whispered softly. Clearing her throat, she rummaged for a glass and poured herself some water.
Taking a deep breath and deciding to be honest with her, he watched her sit, before starting. "Did you know much about your mom?"
She shook her head. "I asked my dad about her once but he just kind of closed off when talking about her. It almost hurt him to tell me her first name was Rebecca. So I never asked him again. He would have been mad as hell if I had tried to look on my own, and after he died," she shrugged, "It just didn't really matter any more. Why? Do you know who she is?"
Nodding gently, he answered. "I do. Her name was Rebecca Nevins, and she was the Assistant State Attorney for Miami."
"Was?"
"Was." he repeated. "She was murdered a couple of years ago when a car bomb went off."
Keeping her emotions shut off, she stared at him with a blank expression on her face. "Okay." Then as if realization hit, she looked at him. "Did you know her?"
"We both did, yes."
"How well?"
He cleared his throat. "Your mother and I dated a few years back, briefly."
That took her aback. She hadn't expected that. She had expected him to just say that he knew her from work or something. She knew the police department and ASA's worked close together, but she hadn't expected a "We dated" response.
"Watson?"
She took a deep breath. She needed to stay flippant about this. This would just mess her up emotionally and she'd worked hard at keeping herself together and free from breakdown. She had erected very good walls, and she was damn determined to keep them from being knocked down this late in the game. "So what happened?"
Not sure if he was even ready to broach that with Calleigh sitting there in wait, he studied her briefly. "She let her pride, get the best of her, and let a criminal go, who wound up killing three more officers and attacked and almost killed two more people, before he was caught." He leaned back in his chair. "It caused a major conflict and I know I would have never been able to live with myself if I'd continued on the relationship. So I walked away."
"But she made a mistake."
Dammit. He was afraid she was going to take it wrong. Shaking his head he said softly. "No. She didn't make a mistake. She did it on purpose and let this man go, knowing full well what he was capable of."
"Why would she do that? It doesn't make sense."
"She was trying to climb the proverbial ladder and even knowing how dangerous the man was, she thought she could use him without any ramifications."
"The snake who bit the farmer that saved it from the snow."
He nodded. "It was in his nature, and she knew that."
She was thoughtful. "Is he the one who killed her?"
He shook his head. "No."
Looking away, she nodded. "Okay."
Unable to stop the urge, he reached his hand out to cover hers. She looked like she needed comfort so bad. "Watson?"
Jerking her hand back she stood up. "No. You know, just once, it would be nice if there was something about my life that someone else didn't know!" She walked down to the beach again, this time unable to stop the shaking that had set in.
Letting her go, but looking at Calleigh, he shook his head, and closed his eyes. "She is never going to trust anyone."
"Probably not. Especially if we keep walking on eggshells around her instead of asking her flat out about things."
"But she's always so closed off."
"But she had a point H. We both, just kind of assumed, that she wouldn't tell us. I can see her point in it, but I felt the same way, about getting the information."
He nodded. "Yeah."
"You've got to give it to the kid. She's been absolutely honest about everything we've asked her about thus far."
"Yes. She has been." then he shook his head ruefully. "I guess I should have given her the benefit of the doubt huh?"
"Just like I should have?" she retorted sincerely.
He smiled gently and stood up. "I'll give her some time, hopefully she will think about things and let me in. Lord knows I don't even want to know half of what she has to tell. There's a real reason she's as closed off as she is. And I may never know what that reason is, but I want to at least try to understand."
Nodding, she smiled at him. There was so much about this man that she didn't know, but what she did know, and to see him interact with someone, was a whole different story.
Walking down to the beach, he looked at the figure sitting there, shivering in the warm air. "Watson?"
She looked up at him but didn't say a word.
He sat down once more as he'd done the day prior, and hooked his arms loosely around his knees. "I'm sorry I didn't just ask you."
"You said that already."
"Yeah but it doesn't change the fact. I'm also sorry you had to find out about your mom that way."
She shrugged. "It's not like it really matters. She's been dead to me for a long time now. She made that choice when she walked away from my dad and I."
He was admittedly surprised that she didn't want to know at least a little about the woman who had given her life. But as he studied her, he understood that it wasn't a matter of wanting to know or not. It was a matter of simple self preservation. "Chase, what happened the night your dad died? Did you see who did it?"
"You weren't kidding when you said you were sorry were you?"
He shrugged. "You were right. I should have asked. So now I am."
"When the cops found me, they took me to the hospital. I stayed there for a couple of days and escaped before some loser foster home people took me."
"Did they ever catch who did it?"
She shook her head. "No. And I wish I could remember."
"When you woke up yesterday from your nightmare, you asked how he found you. Do you remember that?"
She nodded this time. "I do."
"Do you know why you said it?"
An uncontrollable shiver went down her spine. Taking a deep breath in, "I uh..." and she cleared her throat. "The guy that I talked to that night for the dirty cop?"
He nodded.
"He...I'm pretty sure he's the guy that shot me." and she looked into his face.
He admittedly hadn't expected her to say that. "Are you sure?"
Staring for a moment, she nodded, this time. "I'm sure."
"Why haven't you said anything before now?"
"Because I wasn't sure until I came out here this time. I was thinking about things and the more I thought, the more I realized, it was indeed him that said to back up."
Studying her closer he took in her pasty complexion and the fact that she was sweating. Dammit, she was getting sick again. "Chase how long have you been running a fever?"
She didn't answer him.
"Sweetheart?"
Not even asking how he knew, she finally shrugged. "I don't know. A while." she whispered.
"Come on. Lets get you in. If I'd known you weren't feeling good..." and he broke off as a noise sounded from behind them.
"Well, well, well." came a voice from around a bunch of trees that signified the property line.
Instantly, her body stiffened, and started to shake harder. "Watson?"
"It's him." she whispered. Swallowing hard, she inhaled sharply as the night her father died, came back at her like someone hitting her in her solar plexus. The questions, fighting for her life, hoping her dad wasn't next, fighting to breathe after being stabbed, crying silently and trying not to breathe as the man entered her hotel room and unmercifully murdered her dad.
Tears dripped silently down her cheeks and he knew something was up.
"You just don't die, do you, brat?" Appearing suddenly, the man was about H's height, with dark brown hair and a large build.
Staring at him, she didn't say a word, and once again, a gun was pointed at her.
"I thought you'd died years ago. Thought you were out of my life. Then you show up asking more questions, why didn't you just disappear that night?"
"You haven't found me until now." she said softly.
"Yeah, and I wouldn't have found you if I hadn't tailed that blond cop today. Soon as I heard you got out of the hospital, all I had to do was ask a few of my own questions. It's amazing what people will tell you for money."
"Why do you care about me anyway?"
"You've been working for the cops for years."
"That cop was dirty. I've tried to avoid all authorities and done so pretty sufficiently up until him." she said, talking about Horatio.
"Well I guess that was your mistake wasn't it?"
Amazed that he put himself in front of her, protecting her, she pushed hard, as she noticed the man's finger, pull back on the trigger. She felt a sting in the right side of her chest, and stood there dumbfounded as she took in her surroundings and what had just happened. She heard another shot from the side of where they were standing and watched the man drop.
Feeling a hand on her back, she looked up and to the side, into the blue eyes that she suddenly seemed to drown in. She closed her eyes slowly and opened them again. "Duracell..."
He was looking down on her, blood pouring from the wound. He looked over as Calleigh stepped closer. "Is he dead?"
Nodding, she pulled out her phone and called nine-one-one. "He wasn't expecting this blond cop, to still be here."
Focusing his attention back to Chase, he noticed her go weak, and decided instead of moving her, he would lay her down where she was and wait for the ambulance that was on the way. She was getting weaker. "Hang in there Watson."
"He's the one."
"I know, Sweetheart."
"That cop was dirty. He was dirty."
"I know, Sweetheart." he repeated.
She swallowed hard. "He's the one."
She was going into shock. She kept repeating the same things over and over. Taking his jacket off, he laid it over her as she shivered in the sand, worse than she had been. He was determined to keep her awake, even if it was her repeating everything. "I know. Hang on for me."
It was hard to keep her eyes open and her teeth were chattering when she felt his warm hand on her face. Opening her eyes again she heard him from a distance tell her she was doing good and to stay awake. "I don't trust cops."
"I know, Watson. Just stay awake for me."
Her breathing was getting shallow and rapid.
"Hey Chase?"
Calleigh's voice.
"Honey why don't you calm down for me and try to breathe slower."
She started fading out.
"She's going into shock."
"No she's not! I'm not losing her now."
Blue eyes bore into her. "Don't you quit on me. You didn't the first time. Don't you do it this time. You understand me?"
Did she nod her head? She tried to. She wasn't sure if she actually managed it or not. She closed her eyes in a long blink. What was going on? Did she hear sirens, or was that her imagination? She tried to lift her hand but realized it weighed too much. She must be really weak.
Green eyes were in her face now. Calleigh. "Keep breathing sweetie." then her eyes were somewhere else. "She's bleeding internally."
There was pressure on her chest. "Hang on Watson. They're almost here."
Her lids grew heavier and she felt herself, almost floating. She heard people around her. "She's non-responsive." - "What's her name?" - "Chase Turion." - Then Horatio's voice. "I'm going with you! Come on Watson, don't you quit on me kid."
