Author: Merrianna

Story: Broken Butterfly Wings: Prologue: 0 of ?

Series: A Life I Might Have Known

Pairing: Horatio/ Calleigh

Story Rating: R

Summary: Found injured, with amnesia, can Horatio help Calleigh piece together her memory to catch a criminal… or is Calleigh the real criminal?

Spoiler: none given

Category: Mystery, Romance and Humor

Setting: AU

Disclaimer: I don't in any way own the series CSI. Those are the sole property of Anthony E. Zuiker, Jerry Bruckheimer, CBS and Paramount Home Entertainment.

Distribution: Please ask first?

Note: none given

Feedback: Yes, please? Especially constructive. merriannadragon@yahoo.com

Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/samwise_baggins/index.html

A petite blonde woman walked unsteadily next to the crashing waves, across the wide expanse of beach. She paid little attention to the sounds of the waves, the bird’s overhead, or the shouts of the people who had come early to the beach. She stared blankly ahead, oblivious to everything: her wet clothes, her damp hair, or where she had been. She eventually stopped, just swaying, having no more energy to move forward.

Then a sound at last pierced the veil of silence that had hung over her. The sound of ear splitting sirens had her turning to face the parking lot far away from the water’s edge. The flashing lights helped the feeling to come back, and she finally collapsed onto the sodden sand with ocean water washing over her. The swarm of people in uniform became a blur of voices, colors and faces.

But one stood out from the rest: a man with bright red hair and a soothing voice, telling her to hang in there. Her sea-green eyes held onto his sky blue ones until fatigue took over and her eyelids closed.

Horatio Caine had been on his way to work when the call came through about a woman on Miami Beach, walking around covered in blood. He had headed in that direction, responding to the call. Miami’s criminal element was starting early that day.

It was a convergence of police and emergency vehicles. As he got out of his Hummer, Horatio could see the woman standing by the water’s edge, just swaying in the ocean breeze. Her long blonde hair was blowing with the wind. She was indeed covered in blood; the woman had it streaked through her hair, running down the side of her face, and soaked along the length of her side. She turned then, facing them, and the true horror of her circumstances became even more apparent: two sections on her clothes were darker spots that could be readily seen as being apparently gunshot in origin. The injured woman then gracefully crumpled like a puppet, which had had its strings cut.

He made it down to the beach just ahead of the others, his need to make sure the woman was alive and to get her out of the water to preserve evidence was at war with each other.

What had only been a suspicion earlier was confirmed when he turned over the mysterious woman. Two bullet holes were readily apparent and were still oozing blood; sand now covered her all over. Her eyes fluttered open and gazed up at him; her green irises were filled with pain and confusion. "You'll be alright. Just hang in there."

In those few moments, he couldn't take his own eyes from hers; it was if he were her anchor to reality. The woman's physical needs came just behind, and in that time she finally gave in to her wounds and fatigue. In Horatio's mind, he knew she would be the key to solve this mystery whether she was alive or dead; in his gut he knew that Miss 'Doe' would be alive.

As the paramedics took away the blonde haired woman, Horatio noticed the tall imposing figure of Detective Frank Tripp. It seemed to him that the man always looked a little out of his element for Florida. He caught the man's eye and the taller man skirted around what remained of the crime scene to his side.

"There isn’t much of the crime scene left, just bits and pieces,” Frank Tripp said looking over the waves that seemed to be washing away what evidence there was.

“It’s like a puzzle, Frank, you just need to know how to fit the pieces together,” Horatio responded, sliding on his sunglasses.