CSI: Miami "Barely Breathing"

Chapter VII

I was sitting in Horatio's office, and he wasn't pleased.

"Miss Priscal?" he said, finally acknowledging me.

"Yes, Lieutenant Caine?" I asked wearily, afraid I'd be punished.

"It was quite a show you put on." I sighed, knowing what would happen, "I know your sister has past away, and I know that Arya was pushing your limit, but you cannot let your emotions get the best of you."

I nodded to him, "That's what Wolfe said."

Horatio took out his glasses, "Sounds like something he would say. And all true too. You must understand where you are as of now. You're a level 3 CSI, and that was not the type of behavior I would expect."

"Horatio, I understand. Trust me, I know. But it's just so hard. She mocked me, and spit out the death as if it were nothing. And I know that it was on purpose, but I just really couldn't control myself. She made me so mad..."

"I'm taking you off the case." Horatio said, cutting me off.

I stared at him, blank-eyed. "W-what? No, you can't. I want justice for my sister! I want to catch the person-"

"All in good time." he responded.

"Please, give me another chance..." I begged.

Horatio put a calm hand on my shoulder, "Your opinion will be biased, since it is your sister. Did you not realize how quick you were to judge the second you stepped foot into that room? You wanted Miss Axel behind bars before you even got a confession. You were blinded by fake justice so much that you let it get ahold of you."

I nodded, not afraid to take the blame. He was right. I wanted to catch the murderer so badly that nothing else mattered.

"There is another case that you can take with the night shifts. But only if you would like to, otherwise, I wouldn't mind if you took some time off to notify your mother of her loss." Horatio gave me a number of options, and I went with the second one. It would be awful to tell my mom that Charlie was gone, but it had to be done.

"Thank you, Horatio. I'll call her tonight. I think I need some time to catch up with myself." Nodding to him, I stood from his office, and walked through the doors. Pairs of eyes were on me, just like after I had been accused for murder, but that didn't matter at the moment. I just had to get home to relax.

I went to my locker and got the few things I would need before heading out. I made a quick pit stop at Wolfe's station.

"Hey," he said, "Feeling any better?"

I shook my head, "Nope, but I just wanted to make sure you knew that I've been cut from the case. You'll be working without me from now on. I'm supposed to take a break and collect myself."

He took in my words before replying, "Well, on that note, I think it's fair to say that you could've gotten off worse."

I showed a small grin, "Way to be optimistic, asshole."

He threw his arms into the air, "Hey! At least I'm trying to lighten the mood here! C'mon, give me some credit."

I shook my head, "No way." I looked over one last piece of evidence, then got together all my stuff, "I'll see you later, bye Wolfe. And thanks for earlier. Even though you kinda just kept me from hitting a suspect, but... thank you for being there for me. It really helps that I had a friend like you." I leaned in, and quickly gave him a swift kiss on the cheek.

I turned and left, waving behind me.

When I got to my car, it felt unusual because I usually left when it was late at night, but today, it was around noon.