#caiiine

Starter for @caiiine.

"Hey, you." Came Marisol's voice as she approached the Lieutenant from behind, making sure to announce her presence with a knock on his office door so she didn't startle him. But then again, it seemed like nothing ever scared him. He was the bravest man she knew and it inspired her. He made her feel brave. And strong. Marisol waited for his attention and his okay to enter, her smile bright and her eyes filled with excitement. With... life.

The two guys closely watched their boss as he raised the mug to his lips and took a drink, still smiling. They've seen him smile before, especially Eric, but this... this was different.

Really different.

This wasn't related to the case they were working. This wasn't related to some dumb joke someone may have told their boss.

No. This smile was... personal.

Ryan waited expectedly for an answer, his brow quirked, but when their boss only gave them silence, Ryan looked to Eric, then Alexx. "He's, uh, he's not gonna tell us, is he?"

Eric smirked. "Nah. Not yet, anyway. But it's something good. Really good. Right, H?" He asked, an attempt to get some information about of him.

Alexx chuckled which earned her a look from Ryan. "What?" She asked after noticing that look.

"Do you know something?"

"Me?" She scoffed. "Honey, this man is the most private man I know, but when he has something to share, he'll share it." She grinned, though she did have her suspicions. But she wouldn't be sharing those out loud. And not with anyone that wasn't Horatio first.

"Yeah, but you're always good at knowing when things are up with one of us." Ryan reminded her, then looked at Eric, muttering below his breath. "You think he's seein' someone?"

Eric considered it. "Maybe, I don't know. But I bet I know who does.."

Ryan had been about to ask who, but then Calleigh walked into the room with a bright smile of her own.

"Oh, wow. Didn't know we were havin' a party. Where was my invite?" She joked with a giggle, her eyes landing on Horatio and for a brief moment, her smile widened and her heart fluttered, which went unnoticed by the guys, but not by Alexx. Though she kept quiet "'scuse me," Calleigh whispered to her boss, reaching next to him to pour herself a cup of coffee, her arm just barely brushing against his.

She turned to look at everyone, her brows furrowing in confusion. Especially when she looked at Eric and Ryan. "You guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're uh, we're just trying to figure out what's goin' on with H." Eric answered, prompting Calleigh to give him a concerned look.

"Is somethin' wrong?" She was quick to ask, suddenly worried.

"No, no. Nothing like that. It's the opposite, actually." Eric clarified which prompted another confused look from Calleigh. "He's... smiling."

"A lot." Ryan added. "And not, you know, not just any smile. It's like..."

"Different." Eric said. "Like something's got him really happy."

"Or someone," Ryan smirked, arms crossed over his chest. "And we were, uh, we were hoping you might know."

Calleigh tried not to choke on her coffee. She cleared her throat after taking a drink of the hot liquid. Did they know something? "Me? Why?"

"Cause, uh, you've known him longer than any of us." Ryan answered. "You've been with him since the beginning, right? And, well, you know him more."

Calleigh was trying her hardest not to laugh or give anything anyway. She looked at Horatio as though studying him, trying to play along. But it allowed her to look at him, with that certain look in her eyes only Horatio knew. A look only for him. "Different smile, huh?" She asked, pretending as though she hadn't noticed it, but oh she did. And she knew why. The same reason she'd been smiling more, as well. The answer was right in front of the other, but no one needed to know that. Not yet.

Alexx was watching the two of them closely, her suspicions strengthening, but again, she kept quiet. She just grinned.

After a moment of gazing into his eyes studying him, Calleigh shook her head. "No idea guys, sorry. But even if I did know somethin', I wouldn't say." Which showed her loyalty to Horatio. How much she respected him and cared for him. They were right that she did know him more than anyone else, but she wouldn't out anything about his life. Or their life.

Eric and Ryan looked disappointed.

Calleigh never took her eyes off of Horatio. Her eyes followed his every move, from the way he dropped his gaze to the floor for a few seconds, to when he finally looked at her. That's when she saw it in his eyes. The exhaustion. The anger. The sorrow. He almost looked... disheartened. And that wasn't something that happened often to Horatio. He was never one to give up or lose hope, but after what had happened today, she couldn't blame him for feeling the way that he did. She, too, was angry. Angry for him.

"I can't believe they let him go," it was baffling, really. A killer walking free, even after framing an innocent man. To say she was angry was an understatement, but there was nothing more they could do. There was nothing more Horatio could do, and she knew that feeling was far worse for him considering his past with Walter Resden. "We'll get him, Horatio." That Calleigh was certain of and she wanted Horatio to believe it, too. Thus why she looked right into his eyes when saying it.

The beeping on the machine had been slow and steady for the past few hours while Marisol slept, but now that she started to come to, the beeping increased in frequency. Even more so when her body started to twitch and shake, a response of the nightmare she was having. To the panic it was causing her body.

Her heart started to race and the machines picked up on it, the beeping growing faster and faster. And it was when Horatio's hand slipped from hers just before exiting the ambulance that Marisol woke up with a start, her eyes wide and suddenly blinded with the bright light that filled the room. She was somewhere unfamiliar and the machines continued to pick up on her panic, but it was when she heard Horatio's voice next to her, followed by the warmth of his hand grabbing hers, that she began to calm down. That she was able to remember where she was and why she was even here.

So, it wasn't just a nightmare. It was a memory.

She really had been shot. And the more she came to, the more she could feel the pain in her abdomen where she had been hit.

Marisol's hand closed around Horatio's, holding it tightly in hers as though scared he was going to disappear. That he was going to leave again. "You're here..." She murmured in relief, her voice hoarse. Painfully dry. She took in a deep breath, the small action enough to wake her wince in pain, causing her hand to squeeze his even harder. It hurt to move and it hurt to breathe. What damage had the bullet done? Were they able to get it out? She didn't know if it had been a through and through. All she remembered was getting shot and falling into Eric and-- Marisol's heart sank.

- @caiiine to Calleigh or Marisol