Title: The Wonders of Instant Messaging

Author: Daish

Rating: ma for sexual content in later chapters.

Pairing: HC all the way, baby.

Summary: Who knew that spending a day on the internet while she was home sick would change Calleigh's life forever?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with CSI Miami. I don't even own the screen names, those came from Buffy. Thanks for giving me them and some ideas, sweetie.

A/n Ok guys thanks for the feedback on the instant messenger ideas. I liked them all and it was hard to choose the ones I wanted to use. This fic was inspired by a fic in another fandom. The fic is called Talk to me. I hope you all will enjoy and don't forgive to give feedback, but, no flames, please. This has not been beta-ed so any and all mistakes are mine. I had to get this first part out because the bunny refused to let me sleep until I wrote it.

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Calleigh groaned as she sat up on the couch after being woken up by the ringing of her phone. Her head was pounding and she had a sore throat and a fever and hadn't been able to keep much down. She grabbed her phone, answering it quickly.

"Duquesne."

"Hey Beautiful, I was just calling to see how you were feeling?" came Horatio's silky smooth voice.

"Hey there, Handsome, I'm feeling a bit better. I think my fever's broken, and I kept the soup I ate down. I still have a headache, but it's not as bad now. I'll be back at work tomorrow," Calleigh said.

"I'm glad to hear it. Do you need anything? I'm just leaving the lab and can pick up some ice cream or something?"

"No thanks I have some ice cream and soup I should be fine. Thanks for offering, though."

"It's no problem. Well I don't want to keep you, but, I will see you tomorrow?"

"Ok see you tomorrow, Handsome," Calleigh replied.

"Call me if you need anything, ok, Cal?"

"Will do, Horatio."

"Ok bye then," Horatio said.

"Bye, and thanks for calling," Calleigh replied.

"You're welcome," Horatio said as he hung up his cell phone and started the drive to his house.

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Once Calleigh had hung up the phone she got up and walked across to her computer, turning it on. She decided that since she was feeling some better that she would goof off on the net for a while. Just for the heck of it she went to Yahoo and typed in Ballistics in the Yahoo group search. She was surprised when a match came up. It was called firearmsenthusiasts. 'Hmm, this looks interesting' Calleigh thought. She clicked on the link and looked at the description.

"This group is for anyone who loves firearms because they are a hunter or because they work in Law Enforcement, and use them to put away the bad guys. Anyone is welcome, so come on in, and have fun discussing all those pretty guns." Calleigh smiled and clicked on the join group button. She realized that she didn't have an ID so she had to think of one. Finally she decided to use mhbthc121824. She clicked join and in moments she had an email in her mailbox, confirming her request. She clicked reply to the email and she was confirmed as a member of the group. She hadn't had to think too hard about her screne name. It stood for My heart belongs to Horatio Caine, and the numbers represented important dates in their time together. She felt that this was as close as she would ever get to admitting her feelings to Horatio. He couldn't love her like she loved him, after all. She started to scroll through the messages and found that some of the members seemed as passionate about guns as she did. One member in particular caught her eye. They seemed to be very passionate about guns and seemed to be a very well spoken person. She clicked on their link and read their profile. He was male, 45, and lived in Florida. She noticed that he was on MSN just like her. His name was Coppertop and she laughed thinking of Horatio and his red hair. She saw that he was online and after responding to a couple of messages on the group she decided to IM him. So she signed on MSN, added him, and then clicked on his name to start a conversation.

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Horatio was sitting in front of his computer checking his email and the yahoo group he belonged too. He noticed that their was a new member and that they had replied to a couple of the messages he had posted. He couldn't help but be intrigued by this person so he clicked on the link and looked at the profile. They were female, 33, lived in Florida and her screen name was mhbthc121824 and he noticed that she had MSN messenger as well. All of a sudden he was startled by the sound of his computer telling him that someone had sent him an IM. He clicked on the window and read the IM.

Mhbthc121824: "Hi I'm on the firearms enthusiasts group and I saw some of the messages you posted. Sounds like you know a fair amount about guns?"

Coppertop: "Yes I do know a fair amount about guns. I don't like what they do to innocent people, but they help when they're used so we can track down the bad guys, you know?"

Mhbthc121824: "Yeah I know. I work in Law Enforcement, what about you?"

Coppertop: "I work in Law Enforcement as well. I just got off work not too long ago."

Mhbthc121824: "Oh how did that go?"

Coppertop: "It went ok it was a slow day. Unfortunately one of my colleagues and good friends was out sick today."

Mhbthc121824: "Awww, that's too bad."

Coppertop: "I agree I hate to see her sick. She's the bright spot for my colleagues and myself when we're having a bad day."

Mhbthc121824: "She sounds like a very nice person. I hope she's feeling better?"

Coppertop: "She is feeling some better I called her to check on her and she sounded a lot better than when I talked to her this morning. Yes she is a wonderful person. What about you? How did your day go?"

Mhbthc121824: "Well actually, my day didn't go very well. I was home sick today. One of my co-workers called to check on me which made me feel good."

Coppertop: "I'm sorry to hear that, I hope you're feeling better?"

Mhbthc121824: "Yes I am thank you."

Coppertop: "That's good I'm glad you're feeling better." Calleigh couldn't help laugh at the similarities to her conversation with Coppertop and her conversation with Horatio. Before either of them knew it three hours had passed and Calleigh could feel herself getting sleepy.

Mhbthc121824: "Well it's been fun chatting, but, I should be getting to bed. I have work in the morning."

Coppertop: "I understand it's been a pleasure talking to you. I have work in the morning as well. I have to go to court to testify for a case."

Mhbthc121824: "I don't like going to court it's always so frustrating."

Coppertop: "I completely agree with you. The lawyers try and pretend they are criminalist and try and interpret the evidence."

Mhbthc121824: "Yeah I know what you mean. I hope we can talk again, sometime?"

Coppertop: "Sure I would like that. Talk to you later. I hope you have a good night, ma'am." Horatio chuckled he had been spending way too much time with Calleigh her southern hospitality was rubbing off on him on top of the good manners his Mother had taught him.

Mhbthc121824: "Thank you and, you have a good night as well. Talk to you later."

Coppertop: "Talk to you later." Calleigh signed off and smiled as she got up and got ready for bed. Horatio signed off and thought about the interesting woman he had met tonight. She reminded him of Calleigh slightly. Horatio shook his head to stop those thoughts as he shut down his computer and began getting ready for bed.

TBC?