Calleigh had been with other men in her life, but this was perhaps the only time that she had ever felt truly loved by a man. Horatio had taken his time exploring her body; his hands had been hesitant at first, shaking slightly as his fingers made contact with her flesh, her arousal heightening her senses even further as he touched her tenderly.
After all he had been through, she had expected their first time to be desperate or perhaps even rough as Horatio tried to convince both of them that he was still a man despite what his captors had done to him. Their first time had been the exact opposite; he had been sweet and gentle, taking his time to pleasure her before finding his own release. He had stayed lying on top of her as his elbows supported his weight, looking down on her as if she were the most precious thing he'd ever seen.
She raised a hand and stroked his cheek lovingly as she saw the tears in his eyes, wiping them away tenderly as they travelled down his face. He closed them and revelled in her touch, finding it hard to believe that he had overcome the demons that had threatened to take over his life and rip the woman he loved away from him.
He pulled away from her slowly, neither of them wanting to break the physical contact. His weary body had other ideas, today had been draining and his muscles voiced their displeasure at being forced to hold his lanky frame in such an uncomfortable position. He lay on his back as he pulled her towards him, kissing the top of her head tenderly as her fingers ran lightly over his chest.
"Calleigh, I can do better than that," he said quietly, knowing that she deserved to be pleasured much more than he had been capable of this time.
She looked up at him and kissed him soundly. "I've never been made love to like that before; it was better than I could have hoped for…..it was beautiful."
He smiled as she rested her head back down on his chest. "I've been waiting so long to be with you, I just wanted it to be perfect."
"Trust me, it was," she replied as she kissed his chest and closed her eyes, wrapped safely in the arms of the man that she loved.
Against his better judgement, Eric agreed to meet with Walter in a bar downtown, figuring that it was better than spending another night in alone. After the rocky start to the week it would feel good to let of a little steam.
He sat by the bar nursing his bottle of beer, pulling at the label as the condensation ran down the glass and loosened the glue that held the paper on, looking up as a firm hand slapped his shoulder.
"Hey, Delko," Walter smiled as he sat down next to his colleague, ordering a bottle of beer for himself as he did so.
"Walter," he replied by way of greeting. "I'm surprised you're not out with your IRS girlfriend tonight."
"Tiffany? Nah, we stopped dating weeks ago."
"You did, who is it now?"
"Rochelle, from the bank," the big black man replied proudly as he took a deep swig of his beer.
"Jeez, Walter. I can't keep up with your love life anymore."
"That's 'cos you're getting old, Delko. Move over, there's a new player in town."
Eric gave his colleague a sour look before shaking his head and returning to his bottle of beer. "Don't take this the wrong way, Walter, but why are you here drinking with me?"
"I wanted to talk to you…..in private," the tall black man finally spoke after a long pause. "Away from prying eyes and ears."
Curiosity piqued, Eric pressed for more. "What's this about?"
"Look, I know you're close to H and Calleigh, so don't take this the wrong way," Walter began before pausing as Eric gave him a fearful look. "Things haven't been right since the boss has been back….people are starting to notice."
"Who?"
"Some lab techs have been talking about IAB sniffing around, they know something's going on….they've noticed that H hasn't been out in the field for the last few days. Is there something I need to know, Delko?"
He'd been dreading a conversation like this as he cursed the fact that his colleagues were so perceptive, he'd been hoping that the others at the lab wouldn't have noticed that the team was imploding in on itself. Should he lie or would it be better to tell Walter the truth, could he trust the man to keep his confidence should he decide to confide in him?
The simple truth was that he wasn't really sure what was going on either; Calleigh had been cagey and vague about Horatio's frequent bouts of disappearing from the lab. He was aware that something was going on, Calleigh had stressed to Ryan and him the importance of giving Horatio time to work through his problems.
Would his brother in law ever return to the confident and resilient man he once was, was it time to face the facts that their leader might never return in the capacity that they hoped?
"Things have been tough for H," he said finally as he continued to pick at the label on his bottle. "Coming back to the lab after everything that's happened…..it's taking him a little time to adjust."
"Should I be worried?" Walter pressed. "Should I maybe consider a transfer back to the night shift?"
Eric shrugged his shoulders tiredly. "If that's what you think you need to do. It'd be a shame to see you go."
"I don't want to, Eric, believe me. H is a legend; I was psyched when he approved my transfer to the day shift."
"Then what is it?" Eric asked as he looked his colleague in the eyes.
The big man hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether he should tell Eric of the conversation that he'd had earlier in the day.
He placed the evidence he was processing down on the table as he heard a knock on the glass panelled door of the lab room he was working in.
"CSI Simmons, a moment of your time please."
He didn't recognise the small, smartly dressed woman that stood in the doorway. No older than mid-thirties, she looked all-business as she stood stiffly with her attaché case in one hand, along with a number of files.
"Can I help you?" he asked, confused as to why such a woman would be asking to speak to him. The frightening thought that his visitor was from the IRS crossed his mind, his dalliance with Tiffany had been short and sweet and he had left her wanting more. Perhaps she had dug up some sort of missed tax return and was using it to seek revenge on him.
"I'm Sargent Craig from Internal Affairs," she responded as she placed her belongings on a table and made herself comfortable on one of the room's chairs.
His first thought was that IAB were after him personally, trying to dig up some long-forgotten infraction that he might have incurred in an effort to tarnish his reputation within the Department.
"What's this about?" he asked warily as he folded his arms over his broad chest and leant back against the desk he had been working from.
"I'm here to talk to you about your colleagues, CSI Duquesne and Lieutenant Caine."
Thank God they're not after me!
"Why are you asking me?"
"You're a member of the day shift, are you not?"
Walter nodded his head as he narrowed his eyes at her.
"Lieutenant Caine is the day shift supervisor; you should know that I have been talking to all of his colleagues."
"I still don't understand what this has got to do with me," Walter frowned.
The IAB officer was not deterred by her quarry's evasive responses. "How long have you been a member of the day shift, CSI Simmons?"
"A couple of years, why?"
"In your opinion, do you think Lieutenant Caine is a capable supervisor?"
What a stupid question to ask! he thought to himself. Of course the Lieutenant was a capable supervisor; he was all of that and more. It had taken Walter years to get the transfer to days and he'd been ecstatic when he heard the news that Horatio had finally approved his transfer from the night shift team.
It wasn't that he disliked the night shift, his supervisor was good and he got along well with the rest of the team, it was just that he wanted in on the action that the day shift always seemed to get. He'd always felt a twinge of jealousy at the shift change as Horatio's team packed away their gear, often talking about some kind of high-stakes operation they'd been involved in. Nothing much ever seemed to happen during the night, the day shift was definitely where the action was at.
More than that, Lieutenant Horatio Caine was a man with one hell of a reputation in the Department, apart from criminals and Internal Affairs; no one seemed to have a bad word to say about the guy. He had a reputation as being something of an enigma, larger than life when it came to his dedication to the job, yet mysterious when it came to matters of his personal life. He had a reputation for being fearless, for leading from the front and protecting the members of his team, despite the cost to himself.
It also didn't hurt that the guy was a more than capable crime scene investigator, he'd not really had the opportunity to see that side of the Lieutenant in action that much, knowing that the man preferred to be out in the field, apprehending suspects and questioning them until he'd got the result he wanted.
"Have you noticed any differences in the Lieutenant's behaviour since he returned to duty?"
He knew that this was the type of question which would either make or break IAB's case into Horatio, it was imperative that he gave the right answer. "I haven't really seen that much of him; we've been working on different cases."
It wasn't the whole truth but it wasn't a complete lie either.
"But from what you've seen of him, would you say that mentally he's fit enough for duty?"
He refused to fall for that one, the IAB officer couldn't have been more obvious in her intentions than if she'd hit him with a sledgehammer. "I'm a CSI, not a shrink. You're asking the wrong guy, Sargent."
"Do you not find it strange that CSI Duquesne is still in charge of the day shift now that the Lieutenant has returned to duty?"
Nothing much fazed Walter and he hoped that his carefree demeanour would rile the woman who was intent on digging up dirt on his colleagues at any cost. "I heard that decision came from above, besides the transition of supervisors takes time. You should know that."
"Perhaps authority has gone to CSI Duquesne's head," Sargent Craig suggested as she looked through the notes in her folder. "Would you say her actions whilst Lieutenant Caine was missing were correct?"
"In what way?"
"Do you believe that CSI Duquesne would have used all of the Department's resources that were at her disposal for just anyone?"
"What are you suggesting?" he replied as he narrowed his eyes at her again.
"It is my belief that there was more than just a professional relationship between your two superiors and that CSI Duquesne's actions were not that of a rational leader but that of a woman who was in love with her shift supervisor. Now that she's had a taste of leadership, perhaps she is reluctant to relinquish the reigns of control."
"Look, Sargent, this is just some kind of fishing expedition for you. You've got nothing on either of them."
The IAB officer gave him a smug grin as she closed the folder and placed it back in her attaché case. "I wouldn't be so sure about that, CSI Simmons. There will be changes afoot, it would be in your best interest to decide which side you want to be on when that time comes."
Sargent Hillary Craig left the room without looking back; once more another officer had looked at her as if she were the enemy. Couldn't they see that she was just another pawn in the game, a tool to be used by Internal Affairs to wield as they saw fit?
This was never the career that she would have chosen for herself, there were too many times when she wished that she could be just like the members of the Crime Lab's day shift team, getting in on the action and making a real difference out on the streets, where it mattered. She had a job to do, it didn't matter if she enjoyed it or not, keeping her head down and sticking to tried and tested methods had worked so far, why should now be any different?
She pulled the cell phone from her pants pockets as she felt it vibrate rhythmically on her leg, frowning when she read the message. It was blunt and to the point.
We need to meet.
"Have they come looking for you yet?" Walter asked as he swallowed the last of his beer.
Eric shook his head, "Not yet."
"Are things going to be ok, Delko?" the burly black man asked quietly.
What could he say in response to that?
Everything was a mess right now, the team was fractured and split, something that none of them had ever really experienced before. Threats had always come from the outside and they had always stood firm, weathering the storm together as a group. This time the threats were coming from within, with a leader who could barely function whilst the team he had so tirelessly built fought with each other, leaving the most junior members debating whether or not it was a good idea to jump ship before the whole sorry thing sank.
Should he tell Walter that he had a right to be worried? That it might be for the best if he transferred out before the team were torn completely apart?
He would do no such thing himself; he had Horatio's back no matter the cost. Whatever was coming the Lieutenant's way, he would stand shoulder to shoulder with him, fighting until the end, for that was what brothers do.