Post by hypergolic on Oct 17, 2008 20:20:16 GMT -10
Wow, we've reached a 9 pager thread on this fic already, it doesn't seem 5 minutes since I started posting it. So it's time for a new thread I think...
Chapter 21 – Smart yet Stupid
Thump, thump, thump.
The steady beat of the rubber soled boots on the smooth floor was echoed by another pair of boots walking at the same pace just half a metre away. Greg had been working for Fed-Ex for about a year now and he’d had to come into the MDPD building on several occasions, every single time it freaked him out. He couldn’t pin down what it was that gave him the creeps about the place, whether it was the evil looks from suspects and proven criminals sitting in interview rooms; their hands cuffed behind their backs, the sad and desolate glances from the families of victims whose faces simply screamed their loss and desolation, or perhaps it was the suspicious eyes of the detectives that followed him as he walked down the corridor. He’d had to take a registered letter to a Dr Woods a couple of months ago, he hadn’t been allowed into the morgue itself, something that he was eternally grateful for, but he’d glanced through a couple of windows as he’d walked down towards her office and had seen rows of stainless steel cabinets, each with tiny name labels. What he’d seen through the next window had been even more disturbing, several gurneys each holding a corpse wrapped in a plastic body bag, one had been open just enough to allow the victim’s bluish tinged arm to stick out. By the time he’d actually met Dr Woods to hand over her letter Greg had been as white as a sheet. He’d had nightmares about that place for weeks afterwards. So today, he was very happy to find that the recipient of the letter he’d been sent to deliver apparently had an office in the main laboratory space, far away from the nightmare-inducing morgue.
The only good point about delivering mail to the MDPD was the chance that he might have to walk past the room that was usually littered with guns in various states of construction. There was a pretty blonde woman that was usually in there. Greg corrected his train of thought, she wasn’t just pretty, that was an understatement; hot, that was nearer the mark, yep, she was hot. Greg smiled when he realised that his path, as directed by the uniformed officer at his side, would indeed take him past that very lab but was incredibly disappointed when he glanced inside a moment later and found it deserted, the blonde scientist was nowhere to be seen.
He was always accompanied by a cop when he had to come into this building, that was another reason perhaps why he felt creeped out. He understood the need for an escort, they couldn’t let just anyone go wandering around in the labs, they dealt with evidence collected from the most horrific crimes in Miami in here, let the wrong person in unaccompanied and the whole place might go up in flames and goodness knows how many cases would be compromised. The uniformed officer made his way over to a short flight of stairs and Greg followed him. A quick knock on the glass door at the top of the steps elicited a ‘come in’ from inside the room. Greg was virtually shoved inside, while the officer waited at the door.
“How can I help you son?” The man that asked the question was seated at the desk in front of the large plate glass window. He leaned back in his seat as he greeted the newcomer, stretching out his arms and releasing some of the tension in his muscles. His face was set into a friendly smile, but there was something behind his expression that made Greg think that this man did not want to be smiling right now.
“Um, are you Lieutenant Caine, Sir?”
“I am.”
“I’ve got a package for you.” Greg had walked over to the desk as he spoke and handed Horatio a clipboard. “Sign here please.” The Lieutenant signed and handed the clipboard back to the Fed-Ex guy and in return received a small envelope.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
As he turned to go, Greg nearly bumped into Calleigh, who had managed to enter the room almost silently.
“Sorry Ma’am.”
“Well hey there,” Calleigh grinned widely.
Greg lost all control of his vocal chords as he tried to talk to the blonde woman that he’d been so disappointed not to see earlier and did a wonderful impression of a stuttering imbecile. He made a mental note of the name embroidered on the white lab coat she was wearing; Duquesne. He finally regained the control over his vocal chords just as the police officer outside the room cleared his throat and motioned for Greg to follow him. d**n it, what appalling timing.
“He’s quite cute.” Calleigh said with a chuckle as she watched the Fed-Ex guy practically being dragged across the floor of CSI. She had expected to hear some sort of laughter from Horatio and when none was forthcoming she looked around to take a closer look at her boss.
His head was bowed and a deep sigh escaped his lips. The envelope that he had taken from the Fed-Ex delivery guy was torn open on the desk in front of him. A sheaf of paper lay next to it and in Horatio’s hand Calleigh saw something twinkling, catching the light from the window behind her boss and reflecting it into the room.
Taking a step closer she could identify the shining object as an engagement ring.
“Horatio? What’s happened?”
“Grace…”
“What? What’s wrong?” Calleigh knew that Grace had woken from her unconscious state some time ago now. Surely there was no way for any complications to set her recovery back now. She couldn’t be…dead, could she?
“I told her we couldn’t be together.”
“You…why on Earth not?” She couldn’t understand it, she had seen the relationship between Horatio and Grace blossom from the moment they had met. She knew that he loved her as much, no, more than he had loved Marisol, probably more even than he had loved Yelina and yet he had chosen to end their relationship and suffer the severe heart-ache that was clearly visible on his face.
“Because I love her too much to lose her.”
“Horatio…sweetheart, you’re not making any sense.”
“You said it Cal. Don’t gamble what you can’t afford to lose? I can’t afford to lose her forever. I won’t put her life at risk every time I do something to irritate some gang. I’m making her a target.”
Calleigh walked around the desk and leant back against the wooden surface by Horatio’s side. “That was a poker analogy, and I was talking about your job, not your love life. So let me get this straight. You love her too much to lose her and yet you’re losing her anyway? Horatio,” she paused for her second to lend what she was about to say the emphasis that it deserved, “you are by far the smartest man I know, but sometimes you can be incredibly stupid.”
He turned to look at her, sitting back in his chair, a bemused expression on his face. “I beg your pardon?”
“You heard me. For the past twelve months you’ve been the happiest I think I’ve ever seen you and now you’re throwing it all away over one wacko. You’re letting them win.”
“No.” He said it with such determination that Calleigh was surprised. “It’s not about winning or losing, it’s the fact that I can’t ask Grace to put herself in danger for me. She doesn’t know what the risks are.”
“Horatio, your heart and your head are both working at a crazy pace and somehow they’re running in opposite directions, you need to get them to start listening to each other and working towards the same goal. And if you think that Grace doesn’t understand the risks then you’re insulting her intelligence. She’s not stupid, she knows what the risks are and yet she’s willing to take that risk for you. Think about it. She knows enough about your past to know what danger surrounds your life and yet she still agreed to marry you. If she’s willing to die for you then have you any idea how much she must be hurting right now to know that you’ve turned your back on her?”
All the time that Calleigh was speaking Horatio sat back in his chair, twisting the ring over and over with his fingers. She leaned over and slapped him gently on the head.
“Horatio! Are you even listening to me?”
“Hey! Yes I’m listening to you. Oh, and I’m pretty sure there’s something in the police rulebook about not hitting your boss around the head.”
“Yes, well, the people who wrote that book had never met anyone as infuriatingly noble and irritatingly stubborn as you Horatio Caine.”
_________________________
You can always rely on Calleigh for some sound advice. But we all know that Horatio can be a stubborn mule with an extraordinary sense of duty sometimes so who knows if he'll listen to her!
Hype
Chapter 21 – Smart yet Stupid
Thump, thump, thump.
The steady beat of the rubber soled boots on the smooth floor was echoed by another pair of boots walking at the same pace just half a metre away. Greg had been working for Fed-Ex for about a year now and he’d had to come into the MDPD building on several occasions, every single time it freaked him out. He couldn’t pin down what it was that gave him the creeps about the place, whether it was the evil looks from suspects and proven criminals sitting in interview rooms; their hands cuffed behind their backs, the sad and desolate glances from the families of victims whose faces simply screamed their loss and desolation, or perhaps it was the suspicious eyes of the detectives that followed him as he walked down the corridor. He’d had to take a registered letter to a Dr Woods a couple of months ago, he hadn’t been allowed into the morgue itself, something that he was eternally grateful for, but he’d glanced through a couple of windows as he’d walked down towards her office and had seen rows of stainless steel cabinets, each with tiny name labels. What he’d seen through the next window had been even more disturbing, several gurneys each holding a corpse wrapped in a plastic body bag, one had been open just enough to allow the victim’s bluish tinged arm to stick out. By the time he’d actually met Dr Woods to hand over her letter Greg had been as white as a sheet. He’d had nightmares about that place for weeks afterwards. So today, he was very happy to find that the recipient of the letter he’d been sent to deliver apparently had an office in the main laboratory space, far away from the nightmare-inducing morgue.
The only good point about delivering mail to the MDPD was the chance that he might have to walk past the room that was usually littered with guns in various states of construction. There was a pretty blonde woman that was usually in there. Greg corrected his train of thought, she wasn’t just pretty, that was an understatement; hot, that was nearer the mark, yep, she was hot. Greg smiled when he realised that his path, as directed by the uniformed officer at his side, would indeed take him past that very lab but was incredibly disappointed when he glanced inside a moment later and found it deserted, the blonde scientist was nowhere to be seen.
He was always accompanied by a cop when he had to come into this building, that was another reason perhaps why he felt creeped out. He understood the need for an escort, they couldn’t let just anyone go wandering around in the labs, they dealt with evidence collected from the most horrific crimes in Miami in here, let the wrong person in unaccompanied and the whole place might go up in flames and goodness knows how many cases would be compromised. The uniformed officer made his way over to a short flight of stairs and Greg followed him. A quick knock on the glass door at the top of the steps elicited a ‘come in’ from inside the room. Greg was virtually shoved inside, while the officer waited at the door.
“How can I help you son?” The man that asked the question was seated at the desk in front of the large plate glass window. He leaned back in his seat as he greeted the newcomer, stretching out his arms and releasing some of the tension in his muscles. His face was set into a friendly smile, but there was something behind his expression that made Greg think that this man did not want to be smiling right now.
“Um, are you Lieutenant Caine, Sir?”
“I am.”
“I’ve got a package for you.” Greg had walked over to the desk as he spoke and handed Horatio a clipboard. “Sign here please.” The Lieutenant signed and handed the clipboard back to the Fed-Ex guy and in return received a small envelope.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
As he turned to go, Greg nearly bumped into Calleigh, who had managed to enter the room almost silently.
“Sorry Ma’am.”
“Well hey there,” Calleigh grinned widely.
Greg lost all control of his vocal chords as he tried to talk to the blonde woman that he’d been so disappointed not to see earlier and did a wonderful impression of a stuttering imbecile. He made a mental note of the name embroidered on the white lab coat she was wearing; Duquesne. He finally regained the control over his vocal chords just as the police officer outside the room cleared his throat and motioned for Greg to follow him. d**n it, what appalling timing.
“He’s quite cute.” Calleigh said with a chuckle as she watched the Fed-Ex guy practically being dragged across the floor of CSI. She had expected to hear some sort of laughter from Horatio and when none was forthcoming she looked around to take a closer look at her boss.
His head was bowed and a deep sigh escaped his lips. The envelope that he had taken from the Fed-Ex delivery guy was torn open on the desk in front of him. A sheaf of paper lay next to it and in Horatio’s hand Calleigh saw something twinkling, catching the light from the window behind her boss and reflecting it into the room.
Taking a step closer she could identify the shining object as an engagement ring.
“Horatio? What’s happened?”
“Grace…”
“What? What’s wrong?” Calleigh knew that Grace had woken from her unconscious state some time ago now. Surely there was no way for any complications to set her recovery back now. She couldn’t be…dead, could she?
“I told her we couldn’t be together.”
“You…why on Earth not?” She couldn’t understand it, she had seen the relationship between Horatio and Grace blossom from the moment they had met. She knew that he loved her as much, no, more than he had loved Marisol, probably more even than he had loved Yelina and yet he had chosen to end their relationship and suffer the severe heart-ache that was clearly visible on his face.
“Because I love her too much to lose her.”
“Horatio…sweetheart, you’re not making any sense.”
“You said it Cal. Don’t gamble what you can’t afford to lose? I can’t afford to lose her forever. I won’t put her life at risk every time I do something to irritate some gang. I’m making her a target.”
Calleigh walked around the desk and leant back against the wooden surface by Horatio’s side. “That was a poker analogy, and I was talking about your job, not your love life. So let me get this straight. You love her too much to lose her and yet you’re losing her anyway? Horatio,” she paused for her second to lend what she was about to say the emphasis that it deserved, “you are by far the smartest man I know, but sometimes you can be incredibly stupid.”
He turned to look at her, sitting back in his chair, a bemused expression on his face. “I beg your pardon?”
“You heard me. For the past twelve months you’ve been the happiest I think I’ve ever seen you and now you’re throwing it all away over one wacko. You’re letting them win.”
“No.” He said it with such determination that Calleigh was surprised. “It’s not about winning or losing, it’s the fact that I can’t ask Grace to put herself in danger for me. She doesn’t know what the risks are.”
“Horatio, your heart and your head are both working at a crazy pace and somehow they’re running in opposite directions, you need to get them to start listening to each other and working towards the same goal. And if you think that Grace doesn’t understand the risks then you’re insulting her intelligence. She’s not stupid, she knows what the risks are and yet she’s willing to take that risk for you. Think about it. She knows enough about your past to know what danger surrounds your life and yet she still agreed to marry you. If she’s willing to die for you then have you any idea how much she must be hurting right now to know that you’ve turned your back on her?”
All the time that Calleigh was speaking Horatio sat back in his chair, twisting the ring over and over with his fingers. She leaned over and slapped him gently on the head.
“Horatio! Are you even listening to me?”
“Hey! Yes I’m listening to you. Oh, and I’m pretty sure there’s something in the police rulebook about not hitting your boss around the head.”
“Yes, well, the people who wrote that book had never met anyone as infuriatingly noble and irritatingly stubborn as you Horatio Caine.”
_________________________
You can always rely on Calleigh for some sound advice. But we all know that Horatio can be a stubborn mule with an extraordinary sense of duty sometimes so who knows if he'll listen to her!
Hype