Cross-Jurisdictions (Almost)

Horatio Caine stepped into the dark holding room of the police station. He glanced around, and slipped off his sunglasses. A hunched figure in the left corner of the room caught his attention, and he moved toward it.

"Excuse me..."

The figure twitched, but gave no other sign that it heard him. Horatio took another step. Again, the figure twitched violently. Clearing his throat, Horatio took two more steps. Jumping up, the person ran past him to the other side of the room. He sighed exasperatedly. The person's behavior was exactly how Speed and Calleigh had described. Erratic, uncoordinated, unpredictable. Obviously disturbed. Horatio returned to the door and flipped the lights on. Hissing, the now visible girl lunged at him.

During the mid-jump, Horatio reached out and caught her wrists. Using her momentum, he turned them swiftly and the girl's back hit the wall with a loud thud. Her shriek alerted the guards, and they burst into the room. Instantly, they were on the girl. Horatio stepped back as the guards handcuffed her and sat her down on the floor so that she couldn't move.

"Damn you! Damn you ALL!" Her frantic shrieks hurt Horatio's ears, yet he sent the guards out anyway, thanking them for their help. He squatted before her struggling figure, and reached out. She snapped at him with her teeth, and he chuckled.

"So. What's your name?" Horatio's calm voice unnerved the girl, and she spat at him. He dodged the glob, but his eyes narrowed.

Blue eyes flared, and she snarled. "It's none of your business, you stupid COP!" He cleared his throat again.

"That's not a very nice way to treat the person who will be your caretaker." Horatio watched her face carefully, and noted the flicker of anger in her eyes. "Yes, you heard me correctly. From now on, I am going to be taking care of you." He slipped his sunglasses back on and sat on the floor in front of her. "In case you didn't know, you are the heir to a rather large fortune. And you have many people who want you dead. So I think it would turn out for the best if you told me your first name, Ms. Grissom."

The girl glared at him angrily. Her eyes softened suddenly though, and she turned her head away from his gaze. Her posture slumped, and defeat was visible on her face. She cleared her throat and mumbled unhappily. The corner of Horatio's mouth quirked up, and he asked her to repeat what she had said.

"I SAID my name is Catherine..." Her voice was bitter, and Horatio observed and stored the brief flicker of contempt that crossed her face away in his mind.

"So... when you say Catherine, were you named after Catherine Willows of the Las Vegas CSI team?"

Catherine nodded.

"Was she your mother?"

"Godmother... Sara Sidle was my mother. Gilbert Grissom was my father." Horatio leaned back. Catherine watched him carefully, and smirked when he looked surprised. Horatio stood, and looked down at the girl.

"Catherine, would you mind telling me how you got to Florida? And why you're not home with your parents?"

Now, before I continue, I would like to inform you that Horatio Caine is not a person who is easily startled. But the information that he was about to receive was going to rock his world.

"My parents are dead. They were murdered right in front of me... by someone they knew." Catherine struggled to stand, rising to her feet shakily. She sneered. "You wonder why I'm so disturbed? Try staring at the bodies of Nick Stokes, Warrick Brown, Greg Sanders, and Catherine Willows, knowing that your parents are about to join them in their permanent slumber." Her eyes began to fill with tears, and she laughed psychotically to cover the sadness. "I still have nightmares, Mr..." She glanced at his ID, "Mr. Caine! Their blank, unfeeling eyes, watching me as I am forced to relive their deaths every time I close my eyes!"

Horatio's hands shook, and his breathing quickened uncontrollably. Catherine Willows and Warrick Brown were two CSI's he knew very well. Catherine had kept in contact with him after their combined case, letting him know how she and the others were doing. She was a kind woman, a "people person", Grissom had called her on the phone, and it showed. She had been a determined spirit, and was never known to back down from a case. The thought of her dead was disturbing and sickening to him. The entire night shift was dead... And this girl was a witness to all of it. No wonder she was being hunted.

"C-Catherine Grissom, my name is Horatio Caine, and I am a member of the CSI Miami Dade day team. I knew all of the people that you described..." His voice broke slightly, but he continued, "Ms. Grissom, I am going to do everything in my power to put this man away for good. The CSI graveyard team will not go unavenged, but you have to promise me one thing."

Catherine watched him carefully as he slipped his glasses off again. He was an intriguing man, going from shocked and devastated to cool and composed in less than a second. She smirked. He was a man to be reckoned with.

"Well, Mr. Big Shot CSI? What do you want me to do?"

Horatio placed his hands on her shoulders. His blue eyes met hers, and the depths of them almost overwhelmed her.

"Catherine, don't go looking for revenge. I need you to be as careful as ever, do you understand?" It was as though Horatio had read her mind. Ever since she had fled Las Vegas, her mind had been on nothing but surviving the killer and killing him. Her eyes narrowed and she leaned forward.

"Fine. But you have to make me a promise first. When you find the perp, keep me locked in your house. Because if I'm within a mile of that bastard, I'll smell him and be on him faster than you can say 'Conrad Ecklie'..." Catherine's lips curled back in a leering grin. She inhaled Horatio's scent, making note that the sweet fragrance beneath the smell of fresh dry-cleaning was obviously a funny type of cologne for a guy to be wearing. In fact, it smelled a bit like... honey.

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Well? This is my second fic, and I'm kinda nervous about it... R&R, and let me know what you thought! (Pretty please?)