cainesugar
Coroner
Title: A Likely Friend and Unlikely Hero
Author: Lilly. Me.
Characters: CSI: Miami season four cast, plus Sammy.
Summary: Horatio finds an unlikely friend and family member in a young orphan and adopts her; she soon becomes a CSI.
Author notes: Okay, this is a one-time fic. The end. Also, some of the info is probably incorrect, but her, I'm 14, don't blame me for not knowing everything. This could probably never happen, but that's okay, it's a fic. Lastly, I know it's sad. It's supposed to be. Reviews are appreciated, as well as constructive critisism. I began writing this for fun but thought I'd post in mid-way. Yes, I know it's long. Sorry bout that. Thanks for all your support with the Therapy fic, and hope you enjoy this one! (It's different, not great, but still...)
He was a Lieutenant, head of the Miami Dame Crime Lab, she was an orphan. Of course in any normal circumstances their paths would never cross. But these weren’t any normal circumstances.
When she was eight and he was new to the crime lab he was called in to her home where her parents had been brutally murdered and she had been bound, gagged, and locked in the bathroom. He scooped her up, shielded her from her parent’s bodies, and took her out to his car, where he allowed her to cling to him for what seemed like forever. She was put into the system, but never forgot him.
His name was Horatio Caine. He had been through enough tragedy in his life to know what real pain was, and to know what she was going through. So when he met her again after personally dropping another girl off at an orphanage, he felt he owed her something. She was about to turn fifteen, and he had an established team by now- Calleigh Duquesne, Eric Delko, Ryan Wolfe, Alexx Woods- but he took her in, even though he was in no shape to do so. At first it was an uncomfortable relationship- she called him Horatio, he called her Sam. Then they grew on each other- she called him dad. He drove her to the local high school where she was an honors student, she walked home, and he would be home in time for dinner. Now and then they’d do things- and since she wanted to be a doctor he would take her to the lab to watch Alexx, the coroner. Soon, she decided she wanted to be a CSI, like him, and would watch them solve cases and work. It became her enrichment- she went to crime scenes, delivered evidence, observed, and occasionally would review a case to give her opinion and outlook; by the time she was 17 she was a CSI-in-training. The two grew closer, and by their one-year anniversary, they were inseparable. She hung out at the lab- she walked from school to there where she’d finish homework and then hang out, go to crime scenes and such, and it seemed Horatio had found his family, as it did her.
It was a Friday. Normally I would walk to the lab, but today as I exited school in a rush, I saw a Crime Lab department Hummer parked outside, with dad- well, Horatio- inside. He opened the door, smiled, and jogged up to me. I gave him a hug, and he took my backpack.
“How was the chem. test? He asked, smiling. I laughed. The night before he had stayed up with me late into the night to help me study for my AP Chemistry Exam. “Great, thanks to you. I think I got a 5.” He nodded, and opened the passenger side door for me.
We started back to the lab but Horatio got a call on a crime scene that was on the way, so we stopped and he got out. “You want to come?” he asked. I was almost 17 and had been registered as a CSI-in-training- meaning I could take pictures and such as training for when I would be a CSI, which would be when I graduated. My plan- to take college courses while working as a part-time CSI, so I could graduate and become a Lieutenant eventually, like Horatio. I nodded, grabbed my camera and CSI jacket (it was so people could recognize CSIs), and followed him up to the scene.
A young girl, maybe my age, lay on the ground in a puddle of blood. She had been shot in the chest, one bullet hole. I started snapping away pictures of the wound, nearby objects, her personal possessions and such, while Horatio met up with Alexx, who examined the body. She and him began discussing things, but I wasn’t listening. Off in the distance was a black car, a Lincoln, and I had seen a glint from the window.
“Hey, Horatio?” I said, standing there. “Yeah?” he asked, approaching on my right side. “Maybe it’s just me, but did you see-“
I never got any farther. Shots exploded in my head and Horatio tackled me to the ground and jumped back up. “Get down!” he yelled, drawing his gun. He fired one shot, but went down as well, a bullet in his chest. I jumped up, dropping the camera, and ran over to him.
“Horatio!” I yelled as I approached him. Alexx and the Hummer were on the other side of the street; she had taken cover, and yelled at me “get out of the way, Sam!”
My heart beating fast, I grabbed Horatio’s body and dragged him behind a car. He was conscious, and kept mumbling for me to get out of the way. I saw the barrel of a gun out of the driver’s side window of the Lincoln. Now a heavy, tall, Latino man stepped out and aimed the gun towards Horatio and I. On instinct, I grabbed Horatio’s gun out of his hand and raised it up. He kept mumbling things at me, but not listening, out in the open range, I fired three shots at the man, like I’d seen the CSIs do so many times (and like Calleigh secretly taught me to one day when I was bored). One whizzed past his ear, one lodged in his stomach and one hit him square in the chest. He fell, the gun with him, and lay still.
Alexx rushed over to me, yelling. “You should have gone for cover!” she yelled but I could tell she was glad I had ended it. I was shaking, and fell to the ground, dropping the gun. I crawled over to my father.
“Horatio?” I asked weakly. Alexx set to work on him and called over his cell to dispatch for paramedics and backup; I could see his shirt was soaked with blood and a puddle was appearing beneath him. “Honey, you go lay down in the Hummer, and don’t come out, you hear?” she said to me. I nodded, and got up. I was shaking something crazy, and dragged myself across the street, wanting so badly to be back with my father. I got into the Hummer, lay down on the back seats, and closed my eyes.
I opened my eyes and looked around. I was still in the backseat of the Hummer, and Ryan and Alexx were there, Ryan in the driver’s seat and Alexx next to me. I was sitting up but leaning on her, and when I woke up, she called out to Ryan. “Ryan, baby, Sam’s awake.” He nodded. “You OK, Sam?” he asked. I nodded, even though my head was throbbing, and sat up straight. “Where’s my dad…I mean Horatio. Where is he?”
Ryan was driving, and we seemed to be near the lab. “The hospital. He’s stable, and he’s going to be fine, but you can’t see him yet. Family only,” Ryan said, and turned into the parking for the Crime Lab.
“But I am his family. I’m his daughter!” I protested. He nodded. “Biological.” I sighed, and followed Alexx and Ryan back into the lab. “We should take you to the hospital, but they’re swamped, so I’ll check you out,” Alexx said. Ryan gave me a hug (I had become extremely close with the whole team). “You did great back there. I’m glad you’re OK.” I buried my head into his shoulder and nodded. “Thanks, Ryan. Me too.” Then he turned and went off, mumbling something about the case. I called after that I’d meet him there, assuming the camera survived the fall I took when Horatio pushed me out of the way of the shooting.
Alexx took me to the morgue, and we went into her office from there. I sat up on the table and she felt along my arms, legs and torso to make sure nothing was broken, even though I maintained I was fine, and then she asked me some questions. She let me go with an Advil for my headache.
I got my camera from Ryan, the lens smashed, and we removed the memory card and uploaded the photos to a computer. He went over them, and took out the evidence, and I watched him take swabs, collect fibers and such, and work. Once or twice I pointed out some things he had missed, and he bagged the evidence. He initialed it all, and had me deliver things to the departments- Trace, DNA and such.
Then I met up with Alexx and Eric, who oversaw the autopsy (I was allowed only to watch from the glass outside because IAB would chew out the team if they knew a minor was there) and got to deliver the bullet to Calleigh because Eric had another case and Alexx had some more bodies coming in.
When I walked into the ballistics lab Calleigh was firing off some shots. I stood in the corner and waited until she was finished. I called out to her as she retrieved the bullet.
“Hey Calleigh, I have the bullet from our newest vic…Sharon Hauberks,” I said and walked over to the table where she was standing.
“I heard what happened, are you Ok?” she asked. I nodded and she put her hand on my shoulder. “It was really brave what you did. Horatio probably owes his life to you.” I smiled and handed her the bullet. “Thanks, Cal.”
From there I went into Horatio’s office and sat down. A wave of reality swept over me and I ran my hand through my hair. Lieutenant Horatio Caine was in the hospital. The head of the Miami Dade Crime Lab was in the hospital. The best shot in Miami was in the hospital.
My father was in the hospital.
I finished the day by delivering some more evidence, looking over Ryan’s shoulder at pictures and tests and trying to eavesdrop on an interrogation; Calleigh caught me and dragged me off joking something about telling Rick Stetler. Then, as I was about to leave and walk home, Calleigh , Ryan, Eric and Alexx caught me at the elevator and offered to take me with them for dinner and then a hospital visit. I jumped at the offer, and soon was in the back of the Hummer, Eric of course driving, Ryan in the front and Cal, Alexx and I squished in the back. Men and having to be in the front.
We went to a quick diner, and I got pasta but spent the whole meal pushing it around my plate. Ryan, Cal and Alexx basically did the same (Eric gobbled his sandwich down) and we paid and left with still-empty stomachs (except Eric, who had to stop the car and let Ryan drive because he overate). On the way to the hospital Ryan’s cell phone rang (he was the one the hospital would call) and he pulled over and answered it.
“Hello? Dr. Burchen, yeah, its Ryan…he’s…Ok, thanks, we’ll be right over.” Ryan hung up. “He woke up and he’s asking for you, Sam.”
When we got there we waited in the lobby for some time, Ryan and Eric standing and of course, the ladies sitting. I eventually got up and paced around as well, watching the kind of people who were luckier then the ones we see daily be dragged off to rooms. I sighed. This was the business I wanted to deal in- people who were barely alive or dead, every day, just like the CSIs. I hadn’t realized it, but I had been photographing dead, murdered, slaughtered people. I rubbed my neck and leaned against the wall. I also realized that I had killed a man today, and while it was for my father’s, my and Alexx’s (and hell, Miami’s) own good, it was something I would have to do as a CSI. Kill people and put people in prison. It was something these people did every day, had to live with the burden, something I would do in a year.
I was ending my junior year in a few weeks- would have the summer to continue with full-time training, and then would go back to school for another year, with some training here and there, graduate, and then, at 18, I would be a CSI in college. I had been training since last year, I knew my way around the lab, I knew most of the terms, I knew the drills and the procedure, and all I needed was the gun and badge.
“Ryan Wolfe?” someone asked. I look up at an older doctor who addressed Ryan; they exchanged a few words and then he beckoned for me. “Ryan, aren’t you guys coming in?” I asked.
“We’ll be in a second, you deserve a few minutes alone with him.” I nodded and followed the doctor up an elevator, down some halls and past many, many doors where I heard moaning- these were the lucky victims I would face. I tried not to breathe too deeply; it smelled of vomit and really bad air freshener. We reached a small room marked 102 and the doctor- Dr. Burchen I suppose- stopped at the door with me.
“Don’t be surprised if he’s slow, or doesn’t know what’s going on, he went through some time where he wasn’t breathing and loss of oxygen to the brain can cause trauma.” He was about to open the door when I spoke up.
“Do you think, honestly, I’m 17 and can take it- do you think he’ll be back at work?” Dr. Burchen nodded. “With intense physical therapy and time…yes, I suppose he could return in a month or so. Go on in.” He opened the door, smiled, and led me in.
Horatio was on a raised bed. He had on a hospital gown, an IV and tubes running in his nose, and he was pale. He smiled when I came in and opened his mouth as if to say something, the closed it. “Doctor…a minute, please?” he asked. Dr. Burchen nodded and left.
I reached out and took his hand. I wanted to be brave, but I couldn’t help it- my eyes grew red and tears rolled down my cheeks. “Hey, if you ever disobey me like that again…” he started, but smiled. “Thanks, Ms. CSI.” He squeezed my hand and closed his eyes. “When I get out of this place, I’ll teach you to drive the Hummer.” I smiled, despite the situation- I got my driver’s license last year, after intense training from Horatio, and ever since he had promised to teach me to drive the Hummer. He, Ryan, Eric and Cal each had one, but they basically shared them all, and while a new one was expensive, when I became a CSI that would be my new car. (I wasn’t allowed to drive alone until I turned 17, in a few weeks, which is why I had to walk home or be driven)
I told him to feel better, then left. I did steal in a hug, something Horatio rarely does (hugging is not his thing) and then sat in the lobby while Ryan, Cal, Eric and Alexx each went in individually. Then Cal told me that Horatio asked if I could stay at her place so I wouldn’t have to be alone (I had to laugh- I was 17!) but I obliged anyway, and we all drove back to the lab, where I sat around with Ryan and Calleigh as they looked over some pictures and had me run a few things to the Night Shift crew. Then I left with Calleigh after saying goodnight to everyone else.
I sat up front with her, and we talked- girl stuff at first, laughing, what we planned to do over the weekend (Sunday was her day off) and such. Then we talked a bit about the case- the team had grown comfortable with me, I suppose- and how it was odd. There were so far no suspects (one had been cleared, his fingerprints had been found on the car near where she died but he had an alibi that checked out) and the crime scene had left nothing behind. They were in a rut.
I asked her about the shooter, and that case- she said he was a gang member but they were working on tracing his gang. I offered that the killing might have been bait, to get Horatio there; many gangs targeted him. Calleigh smiled as she pulled into the driveway of our- Horatio and my- place, and said I was smart- she had thought of that as well, and so when we found the gang they would be suspects in both cases.
I opened the front door and went straight to my room- a small one, with a bed, desk and dresser- and tossed a new t-shirt and pair of jeans in a bag. I got a $20 bill from the coffee pot where we had a little system going- you give back what you take plus 10%, and at the end of the month it was emptied and donated to charity, then $50 was added- and met Calleigh back outside. I got back into the car after locking the door, and we started off to her house, where I’d never been.
“It’s a little messy, Saturday’s cleaning day, so yeah.” She pulled into the driveway- we were in a small neighborhood I didn’t know about, about five minutes from our place, and still near the Crime Lab, where the houses were small but the condos were grand. We pulled into the garage of a condo and Calleigh parked the car. She had her own garage (the parking places were separated by walls) and her door was right there) and we went up the stairs.
I had never thought about what Calleigh’s place would be like, but I sort of expected it to be kind of dark and plain- it was very mellow and there were lots of candles lit. It was clean, despite what Cal had said, new, and simple. I tossed my stuff on the couch and she got out a tub of ice cream. “How about a Friday night movie?” she said. I smiled and helped her- we had coffee ice cream and watched some chick flick; but neither of us had any idea what was going on because we were laughing so hard at each other’s jokes- when we got away from the lab I was shocked to see Calleigh was laid-back and funny. I knew Horatio was more relaxed and sweet away from work, and I expected the other CSIs to be as well, but Cal really surprised me.
I have no idea what time it was when we eventually fell asleep, but she was a room away from me (I slept on the couch) and as we said goodnight, she mumbled something barely audible, but I heard it, and remembered it.
“Horatio’s really lucky to have you, Sammy.”
I smiled back. “Yeah…” I said. “And I’m really lucky to have him.”
It was Saturday, my favorite day of the week. No movies, or video games or adventure parks for me- I got to go to the lab and work the whole day.
There was a crime scene to go to, and Eric was put on it. After much begging and pleading Eric yielded (to my protest that it was good training), and let me come.
Alexx, Eric and I piled into the Hummer and we started off. It was in Coconut Grove (where else?) and was said to be a double-homicide- a rich couple (who else?) and it had occurred recently. When we got to the scene Eric went to photograph the woman while Alexx looked over her.
“Hey, Sammy, go get a picture or two of the man’s wounds, and don’t touch anything.” I nodded and saluted; he rolled his eyes and started photographing the woman. It was in their front yard, the woman was in the bushes, the man on the street.
When I reached him I saw he had been stabbed in the side. I began to focus, and noticed something. I took the camera away, and making sure Eric wasn’t looking, placed my fingers gently on the man’s neck.
“Eric! He’s still alive!” I yelled. Eric rushed over and took his pulse, then told me to go over to Alexx; he grabbed out his phone. “I need rescue here…”
I didn’t hear the rest because I rushed over to Alexx after he shooed me. She had me take some photos of the woman- her name was Jennie Robbie- while the man, apparently named Thomas Robbie, was loaded onto a stretcher. Eric came over.
“Good spot there, Sam. But dispatch said both were dead, I don’t understand.”
“Well you might want to have a chat with whoever called it in.” Alexx said, as she zipped up Jennie’s body bag.
Back at the lab Eric took my camera and asked me to go and do something- he didn’t need me, and I was beginning to like Ryan better- so I went to Horatio’s office and played computer games for a few hours.
Around 2pm Ryan and Eric offered to take me around the corner for some lunch, and I went. We were at this small Chinese place and all I could think about was Horatio. I left halfway through and walked back to the lab where I watched another autopsy from the window. I didn’t see anything; my mind was elsewhere.
I delivered some more evidence, went to one more crime scene (this was a smaller one because the vic was a middle-aged man who had been shot in a drive-by, and was solved the next day, in fact) and ended the day with soup from the break room. Instead of sleeping at someone’s house, I had Ryan drive me to the hospital where I requested to sleep in the small one-person room Horatio was in. They let me in after an hour of waiting, and Ryan jumped in to say hi to H, then left.
“Hey, Sam, call me in the morning, OK?” he said. I nodded, and with a pat on the back, he left. I entered the small room with my bag from Cal’s house and a blanket from the lab (just in case…)
He was awake, and I was surprised, because it was late; almost 10pm. The lights were out but he had me turn a small one in the corner on. His IV was making annoying beeping noises and he spoke slowly, but we still were able to talk.
“Hey,” I said. I took his hand and held it. He smiled.
“Hey yourself.” He looked the same as he had Friday- pale, now a bit thinner, and his IV was still in. His hair seemed vibrantly red against his pale skin. A doctor opened the door then and drew some blood, then left.
“I’m sorry,” he said, looking up at me. “I don’t know how I let this happen…”
I smiled and held his hand tighter. “You know that everything that happens in this world isn’t because of the Great Horatio Caine. Boy, you’re ego’s inflated.”
He smiled back at me. “I’m just…sorry I made you, or put you in the situation where you’d have to take a life.” I shook my head. “It’s all part of the training, mister. You should know.” He sighed, and I could hear the machine’s beep speed up. “You’re seventeen. You shouldn’t have to kill someone, no matter what.” I pushed a lock of his hair out of his face, realizing he meant that he had killed someone- his father- when he was around my age.
“For you, anything. I’m really glad you’re Ok.” He nodded, and squeezed my hand. “You should really go sleep at home. I’m fine, really…”
I again shook my head. “I’m staying right here.” I had a cot brought in, where I lay down, held my father’s hand, and closed my eyes.
“I love you, dad,” I said.
“You’re going to make an amazing CSI, Sam.” I heard him take a deep breath and could sense he was sleeping in a few minutes. The words, however, lingered.
Ryan picked me up outside the hospital the next morning and drove me to the bowling alley where him and Eric were playing (Sunday was basically the day shift’s day off- they stayed out and about but would go to crime scenes) a game. I joined in, and soon Cal came and joined us, but she got called out to a crime scene with Alexx and had to leave.
I found out quickly that Ryan sucked at bowling. Eric was pretty good, better than me, but even I beat Ryan. It ended with Eric in first, me second, and Ryan, way, way down last. They then decided to drop me off at the lab while they went and did ‘adult’ things. I again, sat in Horatio’s office, talked with the officer who corked at the front desk, and watched the autopsy of a case I didn’t know much about. It was quiet and lonely without the usual shift; it was basically Cal, Alexx and some lab techs.
All the while I thought about how amazing I had it- not only did I have a hero of a father, I had wonderful friends like these CSIs to surround me. They taught me to be a better person, to fight crime, to work hard and to help people. They hung out with a 17 year old for my benefit. They were amazing people. I owed them the world for taking me in and treating me as an equal. I used to feel pity for myself, being an orphan, but now, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.
Horatio was let out of the hospital a few days later, but with an IV and daily medications. He wasn’t allowed back at work for a week, and no fieldwork for another three weeks. He was miserable, but as Calleigh drove us back to his house he smiled and told me he was glad to be out of there.
Back at home I helped him into bed where I set up his IV drip and gave him the TV remote and phone. He changed into comfortable clothes and sat in bed while I filled him in on the cases. After awhile it got dark and I cooked some leftover pizza up and we ate it in his bed watching movies. I felt so relieved to have him back at home and more of a dad again- he didn’t feel like some empty stranger I couldn’t reach as he did before.
It was late when we finally fell asleep, me on the other side of his bed. My last thoughts as I drifted off were of the orphanage I had come from, and all the less fortunate girls still there, who didn’t have the amazing, novel worthy life I had.
People say they hate Mondays. I hate Wednesdays. On Wednesdays we read literature out loud to the class and Mr. P yells at us in his dramatic voice on how we did it wrong. Never take AP American Literature.
“More emotion, Sam, you sound like a bloody robot!” he said on this particular Wednesday, with emphasis on ‘emotion.’ I nodded, and repeated my line. He turned away from me to face the class and did something funny because everyone burst out laughing. He was a great teacher when you weren’t the one he was making fun of.
The bell rang and I walked out rolling my eyes. Why does a future-CSI need to take AP American Literature? I’ll be processing DNA not writing screenplays or reading Shakespeare. Whoever said his plays were incredible didn’t have Mr. P as a teacher.
I walked straight to the lab after school, meeting up with Calleigh, who I watched sort through old evidence files and pull up names. She scanned in a fingerprint, ran off some shots on a 9ml., and let me deliver some evidence. I went home early, to find Horatio making some calls. I sat down on his bed next to him and sighed.
“Bad day?” he asked. I shook my head. “I miss you at the lab, I guess.” He nodded. “I’ll be back soon. Promise. And I don’t care what the doctors say, I’ll be back working in a few days.”
I nodded. “Thanks. Don’t hurt yourself, though.”
“Who, me?” he asked, and laughed out loud.
The week went by slow. Without Horatio, the team was slower and less enthusiastic. Calleigh was great in change, but that Saturday when I walked in the lab with Horatio walking slowly beside me, the whole place seemed to light up. People rushed over to say hi, and everyone seemed to smile more, carrying around the news that Horatio was back. I led him to his office where he sat down and stared at the pile of papers and phone calls he needed to return. He sighed and smiled. “Great to be back.”
I smiled. “I’ll just go help someone out, then?” He nodded, suddenly engrossed in paperwork, and I walked off, smiling.
Horatio’s recovery was fast. Within a week he was up and about, and after another few days he visited another crime scene and began to do field work. I thought I had him completely back, but I’d notice every once in a while he would go slower, or stop to catch his breath- but chasing a criminal he was still speedy as a teenager. I realized he was getting older, and how close I had come to losing him. I also realized that I wouldn’t have him forever.
A few months passed, and summer rolled around. The hottest months in Miami were also the longest. I started wearing cutoffs and Bermudas with tank tops and t-shirts, but Horatio still insisted on suits. I marveled at how he stayed cool in there.
I was officially taught how to fire a gun, by Horatio, and given a summer course in law enforcement at the local community college. Daily I went there for night classes. The summer seemed to roll on forever, with cases slowing down and training speeding up. I was taught the basics of arrests, rules, and interrogation techniques. I learned about the laws, a civilian or suspects’ rights, and basically how to be a police officer. If I wasn’t an adult before, I sure was by the end of the course.
As September rolled around and crime shot up again, Horatio decided to teach me how to drive the Hummer. It was a little different then a car, because the terrain wouldn’t all be the same, and I needed to be taught officially to drive one. On a hot Thursday afternoon he took me out to an old parking lot with almost no cars and we got out. It was so hot you could see the heat waves not ten feet in front of you. I was in boys cargo shorts and a loose logo t-shirt, Horatio in a suit. Of course.
“Get in.” I looked over at him, with his hands on his hips. “What?” I asked. He nodded, and I got in. I assumed he would talk to me about what to do and such, but he got in as well and handed me the keys.
“Drive around the parking lot, and so what I say.” I was shocked. I knew he knew I knew how to drive a car, but he had to teach me.
But, without protest, I pushed the key into the ignition and drove around as carefully and slowly as I could. He didn’t say anything. After a few minutes I knew I could drive a Hummer. It was the exact same thing as a sedan. I tilted my head back and laughed. “It’s easy!” I said. Horatio looked over at me and smiled. I saw something missing in his eyes. He was sad.
Another few months went by, and Miami passed into winter. It never got below 70 degrees. I went swimming in January. That’s Miami for you.
“Horatio, you baby, come on in!” I said from the condo’s pool. No one else was there, and yet Horatio was still in a dress shirt and slacks. He sat in a chair by the edge of the pool, fiddling with his sunglasses. It was late at night and we had just gotten home from the lab on a Saturday evening.
He shook his head. “I’m fine here.” I rolled my eyes and saw across to where he was. “You’re missing out.”
He just smiled and sat there watching me swim. I felt a bit lonely, for the first time in a while. Horatio seemed to be drifting away from me, faster than I could pull him back. But when I swam to the other side and turned around, he was in a swim suit (I didn’t know he owned one) and was easing into the pool. I swam over. “Thanks, dad.” He smiled again, and seemed to inch closer within my grasp. I reached out, physically, and hugged him. He wholeheartedly hugged back.
Again, time flew by, and I was a senior in high school, it had been a year since the shooting. I was accepted to Miami University, UCLA, Stanford, and a few smaller universities that specialize in forensics and law enforcement. I finally decided on a smaller university right outside of Miami where I had been accepted with a scholarship and only had to pay about five grand a year, and signed up for night classes so I could work in the morning and take classes at night. Registration day rolled around and I drove Horatio down with me in the Hummer and we registered together. On the ride home, he told me he was proud of me. I smiled, and reached for my cell phone just as he reached for his. We had a call for a crime scene.
I grabbed my camera out of the trunk after we pulled up outside of a run down apartment building way overdue for demolition. Horatio began talking to Alexx, Frank, and some police officers as I snapped away at pictures of a young, small man who had white powder all over his face and had packets of the stuff spilling out of his pockets. Cocaine. He was handsome too. Mental reminder to never get into drugs.
Alexx turned the body over and found a small even hole in his back and a small bloodstain. “By the small amount of blood we can infer he bled internally, right?” I said. Alexx nodded and smiled. “Smart girl. Probably hit a lung, no exit wound, lungs filled with blood…”
“He drowned in his own blood,” I finished. “Terrible way to die.”
“Yes it was, Sam. Alexx, I need a COD at the post and send that cocaine to trace please,” Horatio said. He stood in front of the apartment with his hands on his hips. “Maybe he was a dealer.”
I shrugged. “Some druggies like to have signature coke. Maybe we can distinguish this from a defined group?” He nodded. “Yes. Bring up the case file from last year, when I was shot please. I believe our young…” Horatio looks at the ID; “Carlos Menendez here is in the same gang as Mario Lopez from last year.”
I looked at him. “Why?” I asked. He leaned down and lifted Carlos’ A-shirt to reveal the tattoo of a small gun crossed, with initials and script. “Initiation tattoo. Same as Mr. Lopez’. And so maybe, we can solve that old case as well as this one.” I smiled. “Righto, Lieutenant.” I walked back to the Hummer as Carlos’ body was lifted onto a gurney and zipped up in a body bag. I couldn’t help but catch Horatio looking at Carlos as if he could speak to him, to warn the used to be alive Carlos. But then he turned and walked back to the Hummer and we drove back to the lab.
I watched the autopsy from the window and delivered some trace evidence to trace, then took my camera to Ryan where he uploaded the pictures, printed them and gathered Carlos’ belongings to analyze them. I watched this, and Ryan let me double-check each item. He got some more cocaine off his wallet, packets of the stuff in a small bag and human hair on his jacket.
Then I delivered the cocaine to trace and the hair to DNA and walked over to Horatio’s office. He was going through an old case file. As I approached I saw it was the one from last year, the shooting. He was stuck on a picture of the gun I had used to shoot Lopez, laying next to his body. Someone I didn’t know had taken the picture.
“Hey,” I said. He looked up, surprised, and put the photo away. “Hey, how’s I going?” he asked. “We found a human hair on Carlos’ jacket. I sent it to DNA. Maybe it’s the killer’s?” I offered. He stood up and started walking. I followed. “Or another gang member.”
An idea formed in my mind. “Maybe this is like the Male Noches.” The Male Noches were a gang who had ordered a hit on Horatio a few years back, but ended up killing his wife, Marisol, instead. He put on his shades. “This is the case, and you and this whole lab are in danger. This gang is called Los Ninos, or The Boys. Frank’s had his eye on them for a while, and I was informed a few minutes ago that they’re the gang on the rise in Miami right now. Very dangerous.” I knew what he was getting at.
“I’ll be a CSI, a police officer soon. I want to help,” I said. He shook his head. “You’re not even eighteen yet. I know that you’ll be a police officer very soon, but for now, lets just take it one day at a time. Today, you get police protection and are completely detached from this case.” I stopped walking and he continued, and walked into trace. I sighed and sat down on a nearby bench.
But I thought of tomorrow, when I’d get to be involved in this kind of a case. I thought of how far off tomorrow seemed.
But tomorrow did come. It was a Monday, and as much as I hate Wednesdays, I hate Mondays almost as much. I drove to school in Horatio’s Hummer, and he came with. When I got up he got into the driver’s seat, wished me a good day, and left. The day was over pretty quickly.
But the tomorrow I was thinking of, as in when I would be able to officially work a case, came about four weeks later, when I turned eighteen. We, as in Calleigh, Ryan, Eric, Horatio, Alexx, Frank and a few lab techs left when the Night Shift took over and went bowling and ate pizza and had cake and they all drank beer (I had diet coke, wild me) and laughed and talked, goofing off all night- they were different away from work, more carefree, goofy, fun, and humorous. The bowling alley finally kicked us out at about three am. We left all with huge smiles, some of us drunk (me on fake sugar, them on alcohol) and I knew we had an amazing time- this was what my family was, and while I had said goodbye to my ‘real’ family a long time ago, this, these CSIs, felt like my ‘real’ family now. I couldn’t imagine them anything else.
There was a small ‘inauguration’ (you might call it that) ceremony, where I received my badge, gun, and gear as a police officer of Miami, Florida, of the Miami Dade Police Department, a few weeks later. Soon after, Horatio hired me as a CSI. Stetler dropped by the lab to yell at him for hiring someone so young, but Horatio pointed out the fact that most of the CSIs had started before they were 20. Stetler left angrily, and we could all hear slamming doors as his car pulled away.
At first I didn’t do much more than I had done before- taking pictures, delivering evidence, watching autopsies and pointing things out (I was able to watch autopsies from inside the morgue now), but gradually I began to run trace, analyze evidence (which was my favorite thing to do, go over the physical evidence and collect trace and such) and was taught how to use the equipment. I enjoyed what I did- some people would think labs were boring, dreary places but I loved to be in the lab with the soft sound of the machines, the cool atmosphere and the artificial smell. It was soothing to run things, invigorating to crack a case, and the best feeling in the universe to receive praise from the other CSIs. If I hadn’t been their equal before, I was now- everyone respected me and loved to have me around. I received my own lab-coat, with the name ‘Sammy Caine’ on my request. Soon, going to school, finishing homework in a spare office and beginning work became regular- homework and school things moved aside for work now, and sometimes I’d have to stay up late to finish homework. I stopped attending my school’s sports games because work got in the way too much, but my grades stayed steady- I knew too much about chemistry now! The school year was ending and summer once again began to creep over the hill- the days got longer, the cases more tiring and the air heavier and hotter. The gang seemed to lie low, and we came to a rut in the case because the hair wasn’t in a database and we had no leads. Other cases were put into the picture and they were solved, but I didn’t forget about the Los Ninos.
Graduation day came quickly. That morning, I came to the lab where Calleigh and Alexx helped me get ready. I wore a pair of white slacks and blue blouse, and put my dark brown hair up, curled. I was excited, and as I got into the Hummers with the CSIs (the Swing Shift had taken over for the few hours we left) all dressed up in suits and skirts, and we left for the school.
Horatio, Eric, Calleigh and Ryan still had their badges and guns on them, but I gave Horatio my gun and just took my badge back. I fastened it onto my waist and gathered with the other students as we were given our dark red and yellow trimmed graduation robes and hats. I put mine over my slacks and blouse, and waited as we were arranged by last name. I was registered under ‘Caine’ so I was near the front. That year, we had two valedictorians. One was a whiz named Pierre from France who had a 4.8, and had the highest GPA. In our school, the second was elected basically as ‘best student.’ Some friends had nominated me, and as we walked across the stage I imagined being valedictorian. I didn’t know if I was or not- the second one was announced at graduation.
I saw my family in the audience, and they waved as I walked across stage. I smiled and waved back. The auditorium was packed, and it was hot. The AC was on full blast but I still was sweating a bit. Teachers came around with wet towels for people to wipe their faces off with.
We walked across twice, once all in line and twice individually. The principal came up to the side of the stage and began calling out names.
I stood there in the back of the stage with some friends and we giggled and talked about college- we were really done with high school! It was unimaginable, and spectacular. They all of course wanted to see my badge, as they did every day, because they couldn’t believe I was allowed to go to school and be a CSI. I could hardly believe it either- I had special treatment, and a special plan for my career, and Horatio to make it happen for me. I was truly lucky.
“Samantha Caine!” rang out our principal, Mr. G. I was given a few hugs from my friends and walked out onto the stage where I faced the hundreds of families in the audience. Flashes went off every couple of milliseconds, and I could barely make out Ryan and Eric jumping up and down for me, as if it were a sports game, a few rows back in the middle; everyone else was clapping. I stood up tall, and began the long walk across stage to where Mr. G stood with the diplomas.
I felt proud and amazed in the moment, where he hugged me and handed me the diploma. I held it up and received a round of applause, then was awarded the words from Mr. G, “Our valedictorian, for her work as a part-time CSI and police officer while maintaining her grades! A real hero to Miami!” The whole audience stood up and I heard screams of joy from behind the curtain behind me. I could make out Horatio’s huge smile, along with the rest of my family from the crowd. It was a wonderful feeling, and I let it wash over me.
But the feeling ended once we were outside eating from the large array of food and drinks, people walking around saying their goodbyes, handing out graduation party invitations and hanging out, and the team came up and said they had to go- a double header, two crime scenes. I hugged them all and said goodbye. Before he left, Horatio came up to me.
“I’m so proud of you. Congratulations, and I love you.” I smiled and hugged him tight. “I love you too, dad.” He hugged back and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Be careful. See you back at the lab.” I nodded. “I’ll walk, it’s close. Grad party’s tonight.” He waved and walked back to the Hummer.
I didn’t stay for long. I began walking back to the lab about an hour later, after saying goodbye to my teachers and the whole school.
I was on Troost Street, a residential street and my shortcut to the lab, when a car pulled up next to me. On instinct I reached for my gun, but remembered it wasn’t there. I kept walking slowly, with my eye back on the car. I grabbed my cell phone when a man stepped out of the car. I dived down when he pulled out a gun and began firing at me.
I felt three shots shred into my back. I lay curled up, blood pooling beneath me, and the car sped away. I speed-dialed Horatio’s number, too dazed to remember dispatch.
“Caine,” he said when he picked up. I felt sick, weak and my back hurt. “Horatio, I’ve been shot, I’m on Troost and I need help.” I could barely hear myself, everything was going foggy and I felt distant from the world. I lay curled up tight, as if I would sink into myself. The phone fell from my hand and I heard Horatio’s voice in the background. “I’ll be right there sweetheart just hold on, keep breathing…”
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Horatio turned away from the crime scene he was at, with Wolfe and Alexx. Alexx, come with me, Mister Wolfe please send paramedics to Troost Street, I’ll update you on where.”
Alexx got up, sensing it was urgent and rushed over to the Hummer. Horatio’s heart was pounding, he couldn’t lose Sammy, she was all he had. This had already happened to him too many times…
“Who is it, Horatio?” Alexx asked as they sped away and Horatio radioed for traffic assistance.
“Sammy,” Horatio almost choked. “Alexx, I can’t lose her.” His entire focus was on driving as fast as he could, he almost willed the car to go faster, and he imagined life without her. She had opened his world, had made him happy, and to see her grow up and be a CSI like him was amazing- he loved her, and couldn’t let anything happen to her. A lump formed in his throat and his stomach felt like it would cave in. He turned onto Troost Street and could see the faint outline of a figure on the side of the road far in the distance. “I see her, Alexx.”
He parked the Hummer and jumped out, radioing the location. Alexx ran with him as the approached her, curled up on the gravel of a driveway, bleeding from three bullet holes in her back. She had a blood stain on he clothes and a small amount of blood in the gravel. Horatio thought me might throw up.
Alexx took her pulse. “She’s still alive!” she yelled, and removed her robes and cut along her blouse to reveal her back, where she saw the bleeding was still strong. Horatio watched, his heart pounding.
“Horatio” she croaked. He snapped his head up. “Sammy, everything’s going to be alright, I’m here, and everything’s fine.” He felt as if he were reassuring himself instead of her. He held out his hand and she took it. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“Don’t say sorry! Sammy, don’t say sorry, I’m sorry, Sammy, I’m sorry…” his voice trailed off and for the first time in a long time he felt me might cry.
She gripped his hand tighter. Ryan, Eric and Calleigh pulled up in the other Hummer and rushed out, giving her room but gathering to see her. “Hang in there Sammy!” Ryan said. She could distantly hear him. Everyone else shouted out words of encouragement.
“I’m sorry,” was all she could say. “I’m sorry, I love you. Thank you.” Horatio tightened his grip around her hand. He could feel tears coming on, but they were so alien feeling he couldn’t muster the strength to stop them. A single tear rolled down his cheek. “I’m sorry Sammy. I love you. Thank you for giving me a family.” “Right back atchya.” She smiled, a true smile, and closed her eyes. Horatio cradled her body close to his, knowing it was the last time he’d hold her. “We’re losing her, Horatio!” Alexx said. Paramedics loaded her body onto a stretcher. “No Alexx, she’s gone.”
The team watched as She was loaded onto the ambulance, but they knew she wouldn’t be in a hospital. By now neighbors had come out and were wondering what was happening. All of the CSIs were close to or completely crying. Ryan came up to Horatio, who was staring at the ambulance as it pulled away. “I’m sorry, boss. She was an amazing girl.”
“She was, Mr. Wolfe.” He put on his sunglasses, and walked away. He walked past the Hummer, past the end of the block. It seemed all he could do was walk. The rest of the team started after him; crying for their lost CSI and family member, and sensed that Horatio wouldn’t bounce back this time.
They watched him get smaller and smaller, until he finally disappeared from sight, and even on a summer afternoon, darkness fell across Miami, mourning it’s lost hero.
The End.
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"Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend." -Albert Camus
Author: Lilly. Me.
Characters: CSI: Miami season four cast, plus Sammy.
Summary: Horatio finds an unlikely friend and family member in a young orphan and adopts her; she soon becomes a CSI.
Author notes: Okay, this is a one-time fic. The end. Also, some of the info is probably incorrect, but her, I'm 14, don't blame me for not knowing everything. This could probably never happen, but that's okay, it's a fic. Lastly, I know it's sad. It's supposed to be. Reviews are appreciated, as well as constructive critisism. I began writing this for fun but thought I'd post in mid-way. Yes, I know it's long. Sorry bout that. Thanks for all your support with the Therapy fic, and hope you enjoy this one! (It's different, not great, but still...)
He was a Lieutenant, head of the Miami Dame Crime Lab, she was an orphan. Of course in any normal circumstances their paths would never cross. But these weren’t any normal circumstances.
When she was eight and he was new to the crime lab he was called in to her home where her parents had been brutally murdered and she had been bound, gagged, and locked in the bathroom. He scooped her up, shielded her from her parent’s bodies, and took her out to his car, where he allowed her to cling to him for what seemed like forever. She was put into the system, but never forgot him.
His name was Horatio Caine. He had been through enough tragedy in his life to know what real pain was, and to know what she was going through. So when he met her again after personally dropping another girl off at an orphanage, he felt he owed her something. She was about to turn fifteen, and he had an established team by now- Calleigh Duquesne, Eric Delko, Ryan Wolfe, Alexx Woods- but he took her in, even though he was in no shape to do so. At first it was an uncomfortable relationship- she called him Horatio, he called her Sam. Then they grew on each other- she called him dad. He drove her to the local high school where she was an honors student, she walked home, and he would be home in time for dinner. Now and then they’d do things- and since she wanted to be a doctor he would take her to the lab to watch Alexx, the coroner. Soon, she decided she wanted to be a CSI, like him, and would watch them solve cases and work. It became her enrichment- she went to crime scenes, delivered evidence, observed, and occasionally would review a case to give her opinion and outlook; by the time she was 17 she was a CSI-in-training. The two grew closer, and by their one-year anniversary, they were inseparable. She hung out at the lab- she walked from school to there where she’d finish homework and then hang out, go to crime scenes and such, and it seemed Horatio had found his family, as it did her.
It was a Friday. Normally I would walk to the lab, but today as I exited school in a rush, I saw a Crime Lab department Hummer parked outside, with dad- well, Horatio- inside. He opened the door, smiled, and jogged up to me. I gave him a hug, and he took my backpack.
“How was the chem. test? He asked, smiling. I laughed. The night before he had stayed up with me late into the night to help me study for my AP Chemistry Exam. “Great, thanks to you. I think I got a 5.” He nodded, and opened the passenger side door for me.
We started back to the lab but Horatio got a call on a crime scene that was on the way, so we stopped and he got out. “You want to come?” he asked. I was almost 17 and had been registered as a CSI-in-training- meaning I could take pictures and such as training for when I would be a CSI, which would be when I graduated. My plan- to take college courses while working as a part-time CSI, so I could graduate and become a Lieutenant eventually, like Horatio. I nodded, grabbed my camera and CSI jacket (it was so people could recognize CSIs), and followed him up to the scene.
A young girl, maybe my age, lay on the ground in a puddle of blood. She had been shot in the chest, one bullet hole. I started snapping away pictures of the wound, nearby objects, her personal possessions and such, while Horatio met up with Alexx, who examined the body. She and him began discussing things, but I wasn’t listening. Off in the distance was a black car, a Lincoln, and I had seen a glint from the window.
“Hey, Horatio?” I said, standing there. “Yeah?” he asked, approaching on my right side. “Maybe it’s just me, but did you see-“
I never got any farther. Shots exploded in my head and Horatio tackled me to the ground and jumped back up. “Get down!” he yelled, drawing his gun. He fired one shot, but went down as well, a bullet in his chest. I jumped up, dropping the camera, and ran over to him.
“Horatio!” I yelled as I approached him. Alexx and the Hummer were on the other side of the street; she had taken cover, and yelled at me “get out of the way, Sam!”
My heart beating fast, I grabbed Horatio’s body and dragged him behind a car. He was conscious, and kept mumbling for me to get out of the way. I saw the barrel of a gun out of the driver’s side window of the Lincoln. Now a heavy, tall, Latino man stepped out and aimed the gun towards Horatio and I. On instinct, I grabbed Horatio’s gun out of his hand and raised it up. He kept mumbling things at me, but not listening, out in the open range, I fired three shots at the man, like I’d seen the CSIs do so many times (and like Calleigh secretly taught me to one day when I was bored). One whizzed past his ear, one lodged in his stomach and one hit him square in the chest. He fell, the gun with him, and lay still.
Alexx rushed over to me, yelling. “You should have gone for cover!” she yelled but I could tell she was glad I had ended it. I was shaking, and fell to the ground, dropping the gun. I crawled over to my father.
“Horatio?” I asked weakly. Alexx set to work on him and called over his cell to dispatch for paramedics and backup; I could see his shirt was soaked with blood and a puddle was appearing beneath him. “Honey, you go lay down in the Hummer, and don’t come out, you hear?” she said to me. I nodded, and got up. I was shaking something crazy, and dragged myself across the street, wanting so badly to be back with my father. I got into the Hummer, lay down on the back seats, and closed my eyes.
I opened my eyes and looked around. I was still in the backseat of the Hummer, and Ryan and Alexx were there, Ryan in the driver’s seat and Alexx next to me. I was sitting up but leaning on her, and when I woke up, she called out to Ryan. “Ryan, baby, Sam’s awake.” He nodded. “You OK, Sam?” he asked. I nodded, even though my head was throbbing, and sat up straight. “Where’s my dad…I mean Horatio. Where is he?”
Ryan was driving, and we seemed to be near the lab. “The hospital. He’s stable, and he’s going to be fine, but you can’t see him yet. Family only,” Ryan said, and turned into the parking for the Crime Lab.
“But I am his family. I’m his daughter!” I protested. He nodded. “Biological.” I sighed, and followed Alexx and Ryan back into the lab. “We should take you to the hospital, but they’re swamped, so I’ll check you out,” Alexx said. Ryan gave me a hug (I had become extremely close with the whole team). “You did great back there. I’m glad you’re OK.” I buried my head into his shoulder and nodded. “Thanks, Ryan. Me too.” Then he turned and went off, mumbling something about the case. I called after that I’d meet him there, assuming the camera survived the fall I took when Horatio pushed me out of the way of the shooting.
Alexx took me to the morgue, and we went into her office from there. I sat up on the table and she felt along my arms, legs and torso to make sure nothing was broken, even though I maintained I was fine, and then she asked me some questions. She let me go with an Advil for my headache.
I got my camera from Ryan, the lens smashed, and we removed the memory card and uploaded the photos to a computer. He went over them, and took out the evidence, and I watched him take swabs, collect fibers and such, and work. Once or twice I pointed out some things he had missed, and he bagged the evidence. He initialed it all, and had me deliver things to the departments- Trace, DNA and such.
Then I met up with Alexx and Eric, who oversaw the autopsy (I was allowed only to watch from the glass outside because IAB would chew out the team if they knew a minor was there) and got to deliver the bullet to Calleigh because Eric had another case and Alexx had some more bodies coming in.
When I walked into the ballistics lab Calleigh was firing off some shots. I stood in the corner and waited until she was finished. I called out to her as she retrieved the bullet.
“Hey Calleigh, I have the bullet from our newest vic…Sharon Hauberks,” I said and walked over to the table where she was standing.
“I heard what happened, are you Ok?” she asked. I nodded and she put her hand on my shoulder. “It was really brave what you did. Horatio probably owes his life to you.” I smiled and handed her the bullet. “Thanks, Cal.”
From there I went into Horatio’s office and sat down. A wave of reality swept over me and I ran my hand through my hair. Lieutenant Horatio Caine was in the hospital. The head of the Miami Dade Crime Lab was in the hospital. The best shot in Miami was in the hospital.
My father was in the hospital.
I finished the day by delivering some more evidence, looking over Ryan’s shoulder at pictures and tests and trying to eavesdrop on an interrogation; Calleigh caught me and dragged me off joking something about telling Rick Stetler. Then, as I was about to leave and walk home, Calleigh , Ryan, Eric and Alexx caught me at the elevator and offered to take me with them for dinner and then a hospital visit. I jumped at the offer, and soon was in the back of the Hummer, Eric of course driving, Ryan in the front and Cal, Alexx and I squished in the back. Men and having to be in the front.
We went to a quick diner, and I got pasta but spent the whole meal pushing it around my plate. Ryan, Cal and Alexx basically did the same (Eric gobbled his sandwich down) and we paid and left with still-empty stomachs (except Eric, who had to stop the car and let Ryan drive because he overate). On the way to the hospital Ryan’s cell phone rang (he was the one the hospital would call) and he pulled over and answered it.
“Hello? Dr. Burchen, yeah, its Ryan…he’s…Ok, thanks, we’ll be right over.” Ryan hung up. “He woke up and he’s asking for you, Sam.”
When we got there we waited in the lobby for some time, Ryan and Eric standing and of course, the ladies sitting. I eventually got up and paced around as well, watching the kind of people who were luckier then the ones we see daily be dragged off to rooms. I sighed. This was the business I wanted to deal in- people who were barely alive or dead, every day, just like the CSIs. I hadn’t realized it, but I had been photographing dead, murdered, slaughtered people. I rubbed my neck and leaned against the wall. I also realized that I had killed a man today, and while it was for my father’s, my and Alexx’s (and hell, Miami’s) own good, it was something I would have to do as a CSI. Kill people and put people in prison. It was something these people did every day, had to live with the burden, something I would do in a year.
I was ending my junior year in a few weeks- would have the summer to continue with full-time training, and then would go back to school for another year, with some training here and there, graduate, and then, at 18, I would be a CSI in college. I had been training since last year, I knew my way around the lab, I knew most of the terms, I knew the drills and the procedure, and all I needed was the gun and badge.
“Ryan Wolfe?” someone asked. I look up at an older doctor who addressed Ryan; they exchanged a few words and then he beckoned for me. “Ryan, aren’t you guys coming in?” I asked.
“We’ll be in a second, you deserve a few minutes alone with him.” I nodded and followed the doctor up an elevator, down some halls and past many, many doors where I heard moaning- these were the lucky victims I would face. I tried not to breathe too deeply; it smelled of vomit and really bad air freshener. We reached a small room marked 102 and the doctor- Dr. Burchen I suppose- stopped at the door with me.
“Don’t be surprised if he’s slow, or doesn’t know what’s going on, he went through some time where he wasn’t breathing and loss of oxygen to the brain can cause trauma.” He was about to open the door when I spoke up.
“Do you think, honestly, I’m 17 and can take it- do you think he’ll be back at work?” Dr. Burchen nodded. “With intense physical therapy and time…yes, I suppose he could return in a month or so. Go on in.” He opened the door, smiled, and led me in.
Horatio was on a raised bed. He had on a hospital gown, an IV and tubes running in his nose, and he was pale. He smiled when I came in and opened his mouth as if to say something, the closed it. “Doctor…a minute, please?” he asked. Dr. Burchen nodded and left.
I reached out and took his hand. I wanted to be brave, but I couldn’t help it- my eyes grew red and tears rolled down my cheeks. “Hey, if you ever disobey me like that again…” he started, but smiled. “Thanks, Ms. CSI.” He squeezed my hand and closed his eyes. “When I get out of this place, I’ll teach you to drive the Hummer.” I smiled, despite the situation- I got my driver’s license last year, after intense training from Horatio, and ever since he had promised to teach me to drive the Hummer. He, Ryan, Eric and Cal each had one, but they basically shared them all, and while a new one was expensive, when I became a CSI that would be my new car. (I wasn’t allowed to drive alone until I turned 17, in a few weeks, which is why I had to walk home or be driven)
I told him to feel better, then left. I did steal in a hug, something Horatio rarely does (hugging is not his thing) and then sat in the lobby while Ryan, Cal, Eric and Alexx each went in individually. Then Cal told me that Horatio asked if I could stay at her place so I wouldn’t have to be alone (I had to laugh- I was 17!) but I obliged anyway, and we all drove back to the lab, where I sat around with Ryan and Calleigh as they looked over some pictures and had me run a few things to the Night Shift crew. Then I left with Calleigh after saying goodnight to everyone else.
I sat up front with her, and we talked- girl stuff at first, laughing, what we planned to do over the weekend (Sunday was her day off) and such. Then we talked a bit about the case- the team had grown comfortable with me, I suppose- and how it was odd. There were so far no suspects (one had been cleared, his fingerprints had been found on the car near where she died but he had an alibi that checked out) and the crime scene had left nothing behind. They were in a rut.
I asked her about the shooter, and that case- she said he was a gang member but they were working on tracing his gang. I offered that the killing might have been bait, to get Horatio there; many gangs targeted him. Calleigh smiled as she pulled into the driveway of our- Horatio and my- place, and said I was smart- she had thought of that as well, and so when we found the gang they would be suspects in both cases.
I opened the front door and went straight to my room- a small one, with a bed, desk and dresser- and tossed a new t-shirt and pair of jeans in a bag. I got a $20 bill from the coffee pot where we had a little system going- you give back what you take plus 10%, and at the end of the month it was emptied and donated to charity, then $50 was added- and met Calleigh back outside. I got back into the car after locking the door, and we started off to her house, where I’d never been.
“It’s a little messy, Saturday’s cleaning day, so yeah.” She pulled into the driveway- we were in a small neighborhood I didn’t know about, about five minutes from our place, and still near the Crime Lab, where the houses were small but the condos were grand. We pulled into the garage of a condo and Calleigh parked the car. She had her own garage (the parking places were separated by walls) and her door was right there) and we went up the stairs.
I had never thought about what Calleigh’s place would be like, but I sort of expected it to be kind of dark and plain- it was very mellow and there were lots of candles lit. It was clean, despite what Cal had said, new, and simple. I tossed my stuff on the couch and she got out a tub of ice cream. “How about a Friday night movie?” she said. I smiled and helped her- we had coffee ice cream and watched some chick flick; but neither of us had any idea what was going on because we were laughing so hard at each other’s jokes- when we got away from the lab I was shocked to see Calleigh was laid-back and funny. I knew Horatio was more relaxed and sweet away from work, and I expected the other CSIs to be as well, but Cal really surprised me.
I have no idea what time it was when we eventually fell asleep, but she was a room away from me (I slept on the couch) and as we said goodnight, she mumbled something barely audible, but I heard it, and remembered it.
“Horatio’s really lucky to have you, Sammy.”
I smiled back. “Yeah…” I said. “And I’m really lucky to have him.”
It was Saturday, my favorite day of the week. No movies, or video games or adventure parks for me- I got to go to the lab and work the whole day.
There was a crime scene to go to, and Eric was put on it. After much begging and pleading Eric yielded (to my protest that it was good training), and let me come.
Alexx, Eric and I piled into the Hummer and we started off. It was in Coconut Grove (where else?) and was said to be a double-homicide- a rich couple (who else?) and it had occurred recently. When we got to the scene Eric went to photograph the woman while Alexx looked over her.
“Hey, Sammy, go get a picture or two of the man’s wounds, and don’t touch anything.” I nodded and saluted; he rolled his eyes and started photographing the woman. It was in their front yard, the woman was in the bushes, the man on the street.
When I reached him I saw he had been stabbed in the side. I began to focus, and noticed something. I took the camera away, and making sure Eric wasn’t looking, placed my fingers gently on the man’s neck.
“Eric! He’s still alive!” I yelled. Eric rushed over and took his pulse, then told me to go over to Alexx; he grabbed out his phone. “I need rescue here…”
I didn’t hear the rest because I rushed over to Alexx after he shooed me. She had me take some photos of the woman- her name was Jennie Robbie- while the man, apparently named Thomas Robbie, was loaded onto a stretcher. Eric came over.
“Good spot there, Sam. But dispatch said both were dead, I don’t understand.”
“Well you might want to have a chat with whoever called it in.” Alexx said, as she zipped up Jennie’s body bag.
Back at the lab Eric took my camera and asked me to go and do something- he didn’t need me, and I was beginning to like Ryan better- so I went to Horatio’s office and played computer games for a few hours.
Around 2pm Ryan and Eric offered to take me around the corner for some lunch, and I went. We were at this small Chinese place and all I could think about was Horatio. I left halfway through and walked back to the lab where I watched another autopsy from the window. I didn’t see anything; my mind was elsewhere.
I delivered some more evidence, went to one more crime scene (this was a smaller one because the vic was a middle-aged man who had been shot in a drive-by, and was solved the next day, in fact) and ended the day with soup from the break room. Instead of sleeping at someone’s house, I had Ryan drive me to the hospital where I requested to sleep in the small one-person room Horatio was in. They let me in after an hour of waiting, and Ryan jumped in to say hi to H, then left.
“Hey, Sam, call me in the morning, OK?” he said. I nodded, and with a pat on the back, he left. I entered the small room with my bag from Cal’s house and a blanket from the lab (just in case…)
He was awake, and I was surprised, because it was late; almost 10pm. The lights were out but he had me turn a small one in the corner on. His IV was making annoying beeping noises and he spoke slowly, but we still were able to talk.
“Hey,” I said. I took his hand and held it. He smiled.
“Hey yourself.” He looked the same as he had Friday- pale, now a bit thinner, and his IV was still in. His hair seemed vibrantly red against his pale skin. A doctor opened the door then and drew some blood, then left.
“I’m sorry,” he said, looking up at me. “I don’t know how I let this happen…”
I smiled and held his hand tighter. “You know that everything that happens in this world isn’t because of the Great Horatio Caine. Boy, you’re ego’s inflated.”
He smiled back at me. “I’m just…sorry I made you, or put you in the situation where you’d have to take a life.” I shook my head. “It’s all part of the training, mister. You should know.” He sighed, and I could hear the machine’s beep speed up. “You’re seventeen. You shouldn’t have to kill someone, no matter what.” I pushed a lock of his hair out of his face, realizing he meant that he had killed someone- his father- when he was around my age.
“For you, anything. I’m really glad you’re Ok.” He nodded, and squeezed my hand. “You should really go sleep at home. I’m fine, really…”
I again shook my head. “I’m staying right here.” I had a cot brought in, where I lay down, held my father’s hand, and closed my eyes.
“I love you, dad,” I said.
“You’re going to make an amazing CSI, Sam.” I heard him take a deep breath and could sense he was sleeping in a few minutes. The words, however, lingered.
Ryan picked me up outside the hospital the next morning and drove me to the bowling alley where him and Eric were playing (Sunday was basically the day shift’s day off- they stayed out and about but would go to crime scenes) a game. I joined in, and soon Cal came and joined us, but she got called out to a crime scene with Alexx and had to leave.
I found out quickly that Ryan sucked at bowling. Eric was pretty good, better than me, but even I beat Ryan. It ended with Eric in first, me second, and Ryan, way, way down last. They then decided to drop me off at the lab while they went and did ‘adult’ things. I again, sat in Horatio’s office, talked with the officer who corked at the front desk, and watched the autopsy of a case I didn’t know much about. It was quiet and lonely without the usual shift; it was basically Cal, Alexx and some lab techs.
All the while I thought about how amazing I had it- not only did I have a hero of a father, I had wonderful friends like these CSIs to surround me. They taught me to be a better person, to fight crime, to work hard and to help people. They hung out with a 17 year old for my benefit. They were amazing people. I owed them the world for taking me in and treating me as an equal. I used to feel pity for myself, being an orphan, but now, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.
Horatio was let out of the hospital a few days later, but with an IV and daily medications. He wasn’t allowed back at work for a week, and no fieldwork for another three weeks. He was miserable, but as Calleigh drove us back to his house he smiled and told me he was glad to be out of there.
Back at home I helped him into bed where I set up his IV drip and gave him the TV remote and phone. He changed into comfortable clothes and sat in bed while I filled him in on the cases. After awhile it got dark and I cooked some leftover pizza up and we ate it in his bed watching movies. I felt so relieved to have him back at home and more of a dad again- he didn’t feel like some empty stranger I couldn’t reach as he did before.
It was late when we finally fell asleep, me on the other side of his bed. My last thoughts as I drifted off were of the orphanage I had come from, and all the less fortunate girls still there, who didn’t have the amazing, novel worthy life I had.
People say they hate Mondays. I hate Wednesdays. On Wednesdays we read literature out loud to the class and Mr. P yells at us in his dramatic voice on how we did it wrong. Never take AP American Literature.
“More emotion, Sam, you sound like a bloody robot!” he said on this particular Wednesday, with emphasis on ‘emotion.’ I nodded, and repeated my line. He turned away from me to face the class and did something funny because everyone burst out laughing. He was a great teacher when you weren’t the one he was making fun of.
The bell rang and I walked out rolling my eyes. Why does a future-CSI need to take AP American Literature? I’ll be processing DNA not writing screenplays or reading Shakespeare. Whoever said his plays were incredible didn’t have Mr. P as a teacher.
I walked straight to the lab after school, meeting up with Calleigh, who I watched sort through old evidence files and pull up names. She scanned in a fingerprint, ran off some shots on a 9ml., and let me deliver some evidence. I went home early, to find Horatio making some calls. I sat down on his bed next to him and sighed.
“Bad day?” he asked. I shook my head. “I miss you at the lab, I guess.” He nodded. “I’ll be back soon. Promise. And I don’t care what the doctors say, I’ll be back working in a few days.”
I nodded. “Thanks. Don’t hurt yourself, though.”
“Who, me?” he asked, and laughed out loud.
The week went by slow. Without Horatio, the team was slower and less enthusiastic. Calleigh was great in change, but that Saturday when I walked in the lab with Horatio walking slowly beside me, the whole place seemed to light up. People rushed over to say hi, and everyone seemed to smile more, carrying around the news that Horatio was back. I led him to his office where he sat down and stared at the pile of papers and phone calls he needed to return. He sighed and smiled. “Great to be back.”
I smiled. “I’ll just go help someone out, then?” He nodded, suddenly engrossed in paperwork, and I walked off, smiling.
Horatio’s recovery was fast. Within a week he was up and about, and after another few days he visited another crime scene and began to do field work. I thought I had him completely back, but I’d notice every once in a while he would go slower, or stop to catch his breath- but chasing a criminal he was still speedy as a teenager. I realized he was getting older, and how close I had come to losing him. I also realized that I wouldn’t have him forever.
A few months passed, and summer rolled around. The hottest months in Miami were also the longest. I started wearing cutoffs and Bermudas with tank tops and t-shirts, but Horatio still insisted on suits. I marveled at how he stayed cool in there.
I was officially taught how to fire a gun, by Horatio, and given a summer course in law enforcement at the local community college. Daily I went there for night classes. The summer seemed to roll on forever, with cases slowing down and training speeding up. I was taught the basics of arrests, rules, and interrogation techniques. I learned about the laws, a civilian or suspects’ rights, and basically how to be a police officer. If I wasn’t an adult before, I sure was by the end of the course.
As September rolled around and crime shot up again, Horatio decided to teach me how to drive the Hummer. It was a little different then a car, because the terrain wouldn’t all be the same, and I needed to be taught officially to drive one. On a hot Thursday afternoon he took me out to an old parking lot with almost no cars and we got out. It was so hot you could see the heat waves not ten feet in front of you. I was in boys cargo shorts and a loose logo t-shirt, Horatio in a suit. Of course.
“Get in.” I looked over at him, with his hands on his hips. “What?” I asked. He nodded, and I got in. I assumed he would talk to me about what to do and such, but he got in as well and handed me the keys.
“Drive around the parking lot, and so what I say.” I was shocked. I knew he knew I knew how to drive a car, but he had to teach me.
But, without protest, I pushed the key into the ignition and drove around as carefully and slowly as I could. He didn’t say anything. After a few minutes I knew I could drive a Hummer. It was the exact same thing as a sedan. I tilted my head back and laughed. “It’s easy!” I said. Horatio looked over at me and smiled. I saw something missing in his eyes. He was sad.
Another few months went by, and Miami passed into winter. It never got below 70 degrees. I went swimming in January. That’s Miami for you.
“Horatio, you baby, come on in!” I said from the condo’s pool. No one else was there, and yet Horatio was still in a dress shirt and slacks. He sat in a chair by the edge of the pool, fiddling with his sunglasses. It was late at night and we had just gotten home from the lab on a Saturday evening.
He shook his head. “I’m fine here.” I rolled my eyes and saw across to where he was. “You’re missing out.”
He just smiled and sat there watching me swim. I felt a bit lonely, for the first time in a while. Horatio seemed to be drifting away from me, faster than I could pull him back. But when I swam to the other side and turned around, he was in a swim suit (I didn’t know he owned one) and was easing into the pool. I swam over. “Thanks, dad.” He smiled again, and seemed to inch closer within my grasp. I reached out, physically, and hugged him. He wholeheartedly hugged back.
Again, time flew by, and I was a senior in high school, it had been a year since the shooting. I was accepted to Miami University, UCLA, Stanford, and a few smaller universities that specialize in forensics and law enforcement. I finally decided on a smaller university right outside of Miami where I had been accepted with a scholarship and only had to pay about five grand a year, and signed up for night classes so I could work in the morning and take classes at night. Registration day rolled around and I drove Horatio down with me in the Hummer and we registered together. On the ride home, he told me he was proud of me. I smiled, and reached for my cell phone just as he reached for his. We had a call for a crime scene.
I grabbed my camera out of the trunk after we pulled up outside of a run down apartment building way overdue for demolition. Horatio began talking to Alexx, Frank, and some police officers as I snapped away at pictures of a young, small man who had white powder all over his face and had packets of the stuff spilling out of his pockets. Cocaine. He was handsome too. Mental reminder to never get into drugs.
Alexx turned the body over and found a small even hole in his back and a small bloodstain. “By the small amount of blood we can infer he bled internally, right?” I said. Alexx nodded and smiled. “Smart girl. Probably hit a lung, no exit wound, lungs filled with blood…”
“He drowned in his own blood,” I finished. “Terrible way to die.”
“Yes it was, Sam. Alexx, I need a COD at the post and send that cocaine to trace please,” Horatio said. He stood in front of the apartment with his hands on his hips. “Maybe he was a dealer.”
I shrugged. “Some druggies like to have signature coke. Maybe we can distinguish this from a defined group?” He nodded. “Yes. Bring up the case file from last year, when I was shot please. I believe our young…” Horatio looks at the ID; “Carlos Menendez here is in the same gang as Mario Lopez from last year.”
I looked at him. “Why?” I asked. He leaned down and lifted Carlos’ A-shirt to reveal the tattoo of a small gun crossed, with initials and script. “Initiation tattoo. Same as Mr. Lopez’. And so maybe, we can solve that old case as well as this one.” I smiled. “Righto, Lieutenant.” I walked back to the Hummer as Carlos’ body was lifted onto a gurney and zipped up in a body bag. I couldn’t help but catch Horatio looking at Carlos as if he could speak to him, to warn the used to be alive Carlos. But then he turned and walked back to the Hummer and we drove back to the lab.
I watched the autopsy from the window and delivered some trace evidence to trace, then took my camera to Ryan where he uploaded the pictures, printed them and gathered Carlos’ belongings to analyze them. I watched this, and Ryan let me double-check each item. He got some more cocaine off his wallet, packets of the stuff in a small bag and human hair on his jacket.
Then I delivered the cocaine to trace and the hair to DNA and walked over to Horatio’s office. He was going through an old case file. As I approached I saw it was the one from last year, the shooting. He was stuck on a picture of the gun I had used to shoot Lopez, laying next to his body. Someone I didn’t know had taken the picture.
“Hey,” I said. He looked up, surprised, and put the photo away. “Hey, how’s I going?” he asked. “We found a human hair on Carlos’ jacket. I sent it to DNA. Maybe it’s the killer’s?” I offered. He stood up and started walking. I followed. “Or another gang member.”
An idea formed in my mind. “Maybe this is like the Male Noches.” The Male Noches were a gang who had ordered a hit on Horatio a few years back, but ended up killing his wife, Marisol, instead. He put on his shades. “This is the case, and you and this whole lab are in danger. This gang is called Los Ninos, or The Boys. Frank’s had his eye on them for a while, and I was informed a few minutes ago that they’re the gang on the rise in Miami right now. Very dangerous.” I knew what he was getting at.
“I’ll be a CSI, a police officer soon. I want to help,” I said. He shook his head. “You’re not even eighteen yet. I know that you’ll be a police officer very soon, but for now, lets just take it one day at a time. Today, you get police protection and are completely detached from this case.” I stopped walking and he continued, and walked into trace. I sighed and sat down on a nearby bench.
But I thought of tomorrow, when I’d get to be involved in this kind of a case. I thought of how far off tomorrow seemed.
But tomorrow did come. It was a Monday, and as much as I hate Wednesdays, I hate Mondays almost as much. I drove to school in Horatio’s Hummer, and he came with. When I got up he got into the driver’s seat, wished me a good day, and left. The day was over pretty quickly.
But the tomorrow I was thinking of, as in when I would be able to officially work a case, came about four weeks later, when I turned eighteen. We, as in Calleigh, Ryan, Eric, Horatio, Alexx, Frank and a few lab techs left when the Night Shift took over and went bowling and ate pizza and had cake and they all drank beer (I had diet coke, wild me) and laughed and talked, goofing off all night- they were different away from work, more carefree, goofy, fun, and humorous. The bowling alley finally kicked us out at about three am. We left all with huge smiles, some of us drunk (me on fake sugar, them on alcohol) and I knew we had an amazing time- this was what my family was, and while I had said goodbye to my ‘real’ family a long time ago, this, these CSIs, felt like my ‘real’ family now. I couldn’t imagine them anything else.
There was a small ‘inauguration’ (you might call it that) ceremony, where I received my badge, gun, and gear as a police officer of Miami, Florida, of the Miami Dade Police Department, a few weeks later. Soon after, Horatio hired me as a CSI. Stetler dropped by the lab to yell at him for hiring someone so young, but Horatio pointed out the fact that most of the CSIs had started before they were 20. Stetler left angrily, and we could all hear slamming doors as his car pulled away.
At first I didn’t do much more than I had done before- taking pictures, delivering evidence, watching autopsies and pointing things out (I was able to watch autopsies from inside the morgue now), but gradually I began to run trace, analyze evidence (which was my favorite thing to do, go over the physical evidence and collect trace and such) and was taught how to use the equipment. I enjoyed what I did- some people would think labs were boring, dreary places but I loved to be in the lab with the soft sound of the machines, the cool atmosphere and the artificial smell. It was soothing to run things, invigorating to crack a case, and the best feeling in the universe to receive praise from the other CSIs. If I hadn’t been their equal before, I was now- everyone respected me and loved to have me around. I received my own lab-coat, with the name ‘Sammy Caine’ on my request. Soon, going to school, finishing homework in a spare office and beginning work became regular- homework and school things moved aside for work now, and sometimes I’d have to stay up late to finish homework. I stopped attending my school’s sports games because work got in the way too much, but my grades stayed steady- I knew too much about chemistry now! The school year was ending and summer once again began to creep over the hill- the days got longer, the cases more tiring and the air heavier and hotter. The gang seemed to lie low, and we came to a rut in the case because the hair wasn’t in a database and we had no leads. Other cases were put into the picture and they were solved, but I didn’t forget about the Los Ninos.
Graduation day came quickly. That morning, I came to the lab where Calleigh and Alexx helped me get ready. I wore a pair of white slacks and blue blouse, and put my dark brown hair up, curled. I was excited, and as I got into the Hummers with the CSIs (the Swing Shift had taken over for the few hours we left) all dressed up in suits and skirts, and we left for the school.
Horatio, Eric, Calleigh and Ryan still had their badges and guns on them, but I gave Horatio my gun and just took my badge back. I fastened it onto my waist and gathered with the other students as we were given our dark red and yellow trimmed graduation robes and hats. I put mine over my slacks and blouse, and waited as we were arranged by last name. I was registered under ‘Caine’ so I was near the front. That year, we had two valedictorians. One was a whiz named Pierre from France who had a 4.8, and had the highest GPA. In our school, the second was elected basically as ‘best student.’ Some friends had nominated me, and as we walked across the stage I imagined being valedictorian. I didn’t know if I was or not- the second one was announced at graduation.
I saw my family in the audience, and they waved as I walked across stage. I smiled and waved back. The auditorium was packed, and it was hot. The AC was on full blast but I still was sweating a bit. Teachers came around with wet towels for people to wipe their faces off with.
We walked across twice, once all in line and twice individually. The principal came up to the side of the stage and began calling out names.
I stood there in the back of the stage with some friends and we giggled and talked about college- we were really done with high school! It was unimaginable, and spectacular. They all of course wanted to see my badge, as they did every day, because they couldn’t believe I was allowed to go to school and be a CSI. I could hardly believe it either- I had special treatment, and a special plan for my career, and Horatio to make it happen for me. I was truly lucky.
“Samantha Caine!” rang out our principal, Mr. G. I was given a few hugs from my friends and walked out onto the stage where I faced the hundreds of families in the audience. Flashes went off every couple of milliseconds, and I could barely make out Ryan and Eric jumping up and down for me, as if it were a sports game, a few rows back in the middle; everyone else was clapping. I stood up tall, and began the long walk across stage to where Mr. G stood with the diplomas.
I felt proud and amazed in the moment, where he hugged me and handed me the diploma. I held it up and received a round of applause, then was awarded the words from Mr. G, “Our valedictorian, for her work as a part-time CSI and police officer while maintaining her grades! A real hero to Miami!” The whole audience stood up and I heard screams of joy from behind the curtain behind me. I could make out Horatio’s huge smile, along with the rest of my family from the crowd. It was a wonderful feeling, and I let it wash over me.
But the feeling ended once we were outside eating from the large array of food and drinks, people walking around saying their goodbyes, handing out graduation party invitations and hanging out, and the team came up and said they had to go- a double header, two crime scenes. I hugged them all and said goodbye. Before he left, Horatio came up to me.
“I’m so proud of you. Congratulations, and I love you.” I smiled and hugged him tight. “I love you too, dad.” He hugged back and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Be careful. See you back at the lab.” I nodded. “I’ll walk, it’s close. Grad party’s tonight.” He waved and walked back to the Hummer.
I didn’t stay for long. I began walking back to the lab about an hour later, after saying goodbye to my teachers and the whole school.
I was on Troost Street, a residential street and my shortcut to the lab, when a car pulled up next to me. On instinct I reached for my gun, but remembered it wasn’t there. I kept walking slowly, with my eye back on the car. I grabbed my cell phone when a man stepped out of the car. I dived down when he pulled out a gun and began firing at me.
I felt three shots shred into my back. I lay curled up, blood pooling beneath me, and the car sped away. I speed-dialed Horatio’s number, too dazed to remember dispatch.
“Caine,” he said when he picked up. I felt sick, weak and my back hurt. “Horatio, I’ve been shot, I’m on Troost and I need help.” I could barely hear myself, everything was going foggy and I felt distant from the world. I lay curled up tight, as if I would sink into myself. The phone fell from my hand and I heard Horatio’s voice in the background. “I’ll be right there sweetheart just hold on, keep breathing…”
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Horatio turned away from the crime scene he was at, with Wolfe and Alexx. Alexx, come with me, Mister Wolfe please send paramedics to Troost Street, I’ll update you on where.”
Alexx got up, sensing it was urgent and rushed over to the Hummer. Horatio’s heart was pounding, he couldn’t lose Sammy, she was all he had. This had already happened to him too many times…
“Who is it, Horatio?” Alexx asked as they sped away and Horatio radioed for traffic assistance.
“Sammy,” Horatio almost choked. “Alexx, I can’t lose her.” His entire focus was on driving as fast as he could, he almost willed the car to go faster, and he imagined life without her. She had opened his world, had made him happy, and to see her grow up and be a CSI like him was amazing- he loved her, and couldn’t let anything happen to her. A lump formed in his throat and his stomach felt like it would cave in. He turned onto Troost Street and could see the faint outline of a figure on the side of the road far in the distance. “I see her, Alexx.”
He parked the Hummer and jumped out, radioing the location. Alexx ran with him as the approached her, curled up on the gravel of a driveway, bleeding from three bullet holes in her back. She had a blood stain on he clothes and a small amount of blood in the gravel. Horatio thought me might throw up.
Alexx took her pulse. “She’s still alive!” she yelled, and removed her robes and cut along her blouse to reveal her back, where she saw the bleeding was still strong. Horatio watched, his heart pounding.
“Horatio” she croaked. He snapped his head up. “Sammy, everything’s going to be alright, I’m here, and everything’s fine.” He felt as if he were reassuring himself instead of her. He held out his hand and she took it. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“Don’t say sorry! Sammy, don’t say sorry, I’m sorry, Sammy, I’m sorry…” his voice trailed off and for the first time in a long time he felt me might cry.
She gripped his hand tighter. Ryan, Eric and Calleigh pulled up in the other Hummer and rushed out, giving her room but gathering to see her. “Hang in there Sammy!” Ryan said. She could distantly hear him. Everyone else shouted out words of encouragement.
“I’m sorry,” was all she could say. “I’m sorry, I love you. Thank you.” Horatio tightened his grip around her hand. He could feel tears coming on, but they were so alien feeling he couldn’t muster the strength to stop them. A single tear rolled down his cheek. “I’m sorry Sammy. I love you. Thank you for giving me a family.” “Right back atchya.” She smiled, a true smile, and closed her eyes. Horatio cradled her body close to his, knowing it was the last time he’d hold her. “We’re losing her, Horatio!” Alexx said. Paramedics loaded her body onto a stretcher. “No Alexx, she’s gone.”
The team watched as She was loaded onto the ambulance, but they knew she wouldn’t be in a hospital. By now neighbors had come out and were wondering what was happening. All of the CSIs were close to or completely crying. Ryan came up to Horatio, who was staring at the ambulance as it pulled away. “I’m sorry, boss. She was an amazing girl.”
“She was, Mr. Wolfe.” He put on his sunglasses, and walked away. He walked past the Hummer, past the end of the block. It seemed all he could do was walk. The rest of the team started after him; crying for their lost CSI and family member, and sensed that Horatio wouldn’t bounce back this time.
They watched him get smaller and smaller, until he finally disappeared from sight, and even on a summer afternoon, darkness fell across Miami, mourning it’s lost hero.
The End.
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"Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend." -Albert Camus
