Chapter 3

"Hey," Calleigh's smile was much appreciated by Horatio, "was that Natalia's replacement?"

"It was. She starts tomorrow. I'm putting her with Eric," Horatio was still lost in his thoughts as he spoke.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know. I feel like she's not telling everything, as though she's hiding something."

"Like she's lying?"

Horatio shook his head, "no, not that. It's as though she doesn't want to tell me what's going on."

"Well not everyone wants to tell their life story to anyone. Give her time and she may open up."

"I don't know Cal, I'm worried that something may come back on us. I need to find out more about her."

Calleigh walked round the back of her husband and rubbed his shoulders, "you worry too much. If she has a colourful past then I'm sure she'll let us know if it will interfere with her job. We all have had a bit of our past that has come to light since being here so she isn't the first and she most certainly won't be the last. You know what your problem is?"

"Mmm?" Horatio was enjoying the massage as he grumbled.

"You're too suspicious. Just leave her be, you've only just hired her and if you go into her past, she may lose trust in you."

Horatio could see Calleigh's point, "I suppose you are right. She'll come to me if she has a problem, won't she?"

Calleigh stopped the massage and kissed his head, "I'm sure she will. Anyway," she placed her hands on Horatio's shoulders, "I have work to do and so do you."

"Yes ma'am," Horatio teased, "we'd better get back to it."

Calleigh left the office with Horatio left in his thoughts of their conversation. He was torn as to whether he should look into Jayne's background or heed Calleigh's advice.

Jayne walked into the apartment she was currently sharing with her step sister, Sarah.

"So Jay, did you get the job?" Sarah asked excitedly.

Jayne beamed, "yes I did. I start tomorrow."

Sarah jumped up and down with excitement, "oh my god, I can't believe it. Congratulations! So, how did it go? What were the people like? More to the point, were there any hotties there?"

"Sarah!" Jayne was shocked, "they're my work colleagues. You can't think like that."

"Of course I can, I'm a free agent and so are you."

Jayne's faced dropped, "widowed, Sarah, widowed."

"Oh come on Jay, it's been just over a year since Paul died, you're allowed to have some fun. He wouldn't want you to be moping around like this, would he? You are allowed to date you know."

"Sarah, I'm not going on any more dates. I'm just not ready, I need time to grieve."

"Jay, you've had a year to grieve. You need to get over it and get out there and show them what you've got. Men would love to have you on their arms."

"I can't just 'get over it', Paul was my high school sweetheart and have been together longer than my dad and your mum," Jayne argued.

"You can't keep living in the past, you need to move on with your life. You'll go mad otherwise," Sarah retorted.

"I'm not having this argument again Sarah," Jayne grabbed her car keys and headed straight back towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

"For a drive. I don't need this again, just stop interfering in my life," with that Jayne left the apartment, slamming the door behind her.

"Jay, Jay," Sarah shouted after her but got no response.

Jayne parked her car near the beach. She sat and watched the sea roll in and pull back again. One thing she found since she came to Miami was that watching the sea seemed to wash away her troubles just for a moment. She climbed out of her car, locked it and strolled down to the beach. She took off her sandals and walked on the sand bare footed. There was something soothing about walking on the beach in bare feet. She walked along the edge of the rolling waves, observing the people around her.

After a while, Jayne stopped and sat on the sand watching the sea rolling back and forth. She knew that Sarah was right but she didn't know how to move on and having Sarah setting her up with dates didn't help matters. She so badly wanted to move on but it was hard. Since Paul had died there was a hole inside her which she couldn't fill. Paul had been her life since she was at high school. How could she just move on? Jayne then came to the conclusion that Sarah must be wrong. Sarah couldn't feel this pain, Sarah couldn't imagine the things that she'd been through, it was Jayne's pain, not Sarah's. Jayne just stared out to sea, wishing all of her troubles away with the waves. She was interrupted in her thoughts by a voice.

"Weren't you at the lab today?"