Title: Promises, Promises

Author: innocent choir girl (ff-dot-net), shannyfish (From Out of the Lab/Miami Heat/LJ)

Summary: Supervisor Scott O'Shay keeps his promise to Horatio, and starts to take funding away from the Miami-Dade Crime Lab, but with the cut in the media and the coverage telling residents what they're going to be losing out on; O'Shay uses his power to attack Horatio in another way other than funding. He cuts deeper. Spoilers for S5E19 "Bloodline" and up to S5E24 "Born to Kill".

Category: Ship Ahoy! Calleigh/Horatio

Genres: Angst, Drama, Episode Related, Friendship, Hurt Comfort, Suspense

Characters: Horatio Caine, Calleigh Duquesne, Eric Delko, Alexx Woods, Natalia Boa Vista (Other), Rick Stetler (Other), Supervisor Scott O'Shay (Other)

Rating: PG-13

Chapter: 1 "Rumors and Lock Down"

Author's Notes: none

…………………………

Rumors had been running through the lab…and none of them Calleigh liked. With Ryan Wolfe having compromising the integrity of their lab, and most of the cases involved her…it seemed like there was always a new one involving a case. None of the rumors seemed to pan out, but it still irritated her. She was looking over a fragment that had been pulled out of a cement block, and she was supposed to match the striations. It wasn't looking good so far…

"What's the rumor for today?"

Smiling, Calleigh didn't pull away from her scope. "Don't you dare get me started about that," Calleigh warned. Finally looking up, she smiled at Horatio. "I suppose at least people are being social…"

"How's it coming?" he asked changing the subject. He moved closer to her, but respected her space at the same time. "Any chance of getting a match with the other bullet in the case?"

"I'm afraid not," Calleigh said with a sigh, "There's far too much damage to it and not enough to be able to match anything…" She stopped when she saw a familiar figure, "Horatio…you're not gonna like this…"

Turning, Horatio saw exactly who Calleigh was referring to, "Supervisor O'Shay," he said aloud before turning back to Calleigh. "Alright. I…I am going to go see exactly what the supervisor wants and I will get back to you later."

"Be careful, Horatio."

Smiling, Horatio stayed silent in the ballistics lab for a minute before finally leaving. As Horatio approached O'Shay he noticed suits filing in along with Stetler. That was never good. "Another inspection? Is that really necessary?" Horatio asked stopping about a foot from O'Shay, resting his hands on his hips as he stared downward before raising his gaze to O'Shay himself. "Are you really after this lab or me?" Horatio questioned. He already knew the answer though. O'Shay had made it clear before…

O'Shay smirked a bit, "It's necessary when one of your CSIs is fired for gambling on the job and possibly having done something similar on other cases, Caine. Your lab is not qualified to keep running the way it is. It doesn't seem like you're very qualified to run this lab with all these inconsistencies…" He tilted his head a bit, "Tell me, who was the person who wanted this job, but didn't get it."

Horatio turned his attention to Stetler, who was talking to a group of people in blue suits, "I'm sure you've met Rick Stetler. And I'm sure if you haven't, he'll be sure to tell you exactly why he deserves my job."

"Maybe I'll ask him," O'Shay challenged.

He watched as Supervisor O'Shay walked over towards Stetler, before Horatio took that as his cue to leave and warn his lab as quickly as he could. His CSIs didn't deserve it, it seemed like whenever IAB got involved they always went after someone in the lab…and they were always wrong… Wolfe had been the exception so far…Ryan had been gambling while on the clock and he was being used by a suspect that he owed money to…

"Stetler?" O'Shay greeted holding out his hand to shake the other man's.

Rick smiled and gratefully shook the supervisor's hand, "It's good to see you, Supervisor."

"I hear that you were up for this job."

"I was," Rick started. "I outscored him on the written and oral exams… I should have been lieutenant and in charge of the lab." He looked around, "I've been in here for IAB so many time since Caine has been in charge… I'm not saying that I'd be perfect, but I've been here several times this year alone."

O'Shay nodded, "I understand…thank you for letting me know about that, Sergeant."

………………………

"I can walk on my own, thank you," Calleigh insisted and finally yanked her arm away from the man who thought that she needed help getting out of her lab. She noticed that they were corralling everyone to the center of the crime lab.

Eric noticed Calleigh and walked over, "Hey, Calleigh, what's going on? These guys in suits yanked me out of a crime scene saying I might contaminate it or something."

"Power trips and politics," Calleigh said nodding towards Stetler and O'Shay.

"Yeah, cuz that's just what we need," Eric muttered. He noticed Natalia looking just as confused and annoyed as everyone else and motioned her over. He figured they may as well all stick together if they were all going to be irritated with what was going on…

Natalia sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, "They just pulled me out of my lab! I was in the middle of preparing a sample!" she vented quickly and then noticed that she wasn't the only one still in a white lab coat, "Where you in ballistics when the swarm of blue suits raided the building?" she asked Calleigh.

"Yeah…I had one who thought I couldn't walk for myself," she said annoyed, but yet sweetly. She sighed and rubbed her forehead, "Obviously they don't realize they're breakin' procedure… Samples and evidence have been left in labs outside of their bags and containers… They could contaminate things."

"And they probably will," Natalia said before she heard a voice and pulled her attention to that.

Alexx walked up behind Eric and Calleigh, she had been able to recognize them from behind and since the suits had insisted, she had joined them. "Hey Honey," Alexx greeted as she touched Calleigh's arm lightly. "The lab in trouble?"

"We're not quite sure yet," Calleigh told her friend honestly. "Weren't you on scene?" she asked quickly remembering Alexx leaving the lab not too long ago.

"I was…but apparently I've been declared incompetent."

Calleigh frowned, "Don't worry… Horatio, I'm sure will take care of everything." They stood there and listened to Stetler announce that everyone was to go home, but that they'd be on call for interviews and that they'd be interviewing everyone. She didn't like it. Horatio wasn't in the crowd as far as she had seen. That worried her.

"They're going to piece together a team from the swing shift and the night shift? That'll be nice," Eric mumbled. "So? How about lunch?"

"Might as well," Natalia agreed.

……………………………

They had been just barely allowed to get their things. The suits had supervised them all in the lock room, "You'd think that we didn't know how to get our things and leave? What do they think we're going to do with them guarding the labs? Have coffee in here?" Calleigh commented irritated.

"It could be a fun way to piss them off," Eric told her with a smile. "C'mon, Cal. We pretty much are being told to take a vacation…"

"You're not the one being interviewed tomorrow," Calleigh countered as they walked out of the building with Valera and Natalia. She never liked it when IAB came around or when the lab was closed down and taken over. "Don't they realize we have time sensitive evidence?"

"I really don't think they care," Ryan Wolfe piped up as he was pushed to follow the others.

Calleigh glared at him for a second before turning back to the others, "We just have to be able to produce our notes and answer them honestly just like we did last year…"

"You don't think they're going to shut down the lab altogether, do you?" Natalia asked Calleigh since she was the one out of all of them that had been with the lab the longest.

"I'm not sure," Calleigh answered truthfully. "We've been under investigation a lot over the last couple of years…but we've always managed re-accreditation, so I think…I think they'll take that into consideration."

"Not all of our records are perfect, Calleigh…" Eric reminded.

"That doesn't mean that we're not good at what we do." Calleigh just hoped that that was the way it would turn out. She noticed Horatio waiting for them outside, and Alexx was already with him. She walked ahead of the others to join Horatio faster, "What's goin' on?" she asked quickly just as the others caught up with her.

Horatio looked down for a minute before he responded to that question, "Supervisor O'Shay…he's not attacking the lab, he's attacking me. He's threatened me before, but this time…this time he's acting on that threat." He could tell that Calleigh wasn't happy about it, that she was probably the most irritated out of the group. Though, Alexx had seemed pretty upset as well. "They're going to interview you all; it's just a matter of time before they get to all of you… I want you all to cooperate and be completely honest with them, do you understand?"

Calleigh just nodded and looked around at all the people being forced to leave the building. It was odd…it looked more like an evacuation than anything. She didn't like it, not at all. She didn't like being yanked out of her lab and pushed around. She didn't like not being able to do her job…and having to abandon it without the evidence being able to be properly stowed.

"Prepping your CSIs, Caine?" Stetler asked as he walked down towards the group.

Horatio just smirked and looked up at him, "Going up in IAB? You're really getting around, aren't you?" He watched as Stetler walked off before he turned his attention back to the others. "Cooperation is going to be the best thing. Don't cover for me," Horatio told them. "I'll see you all in a couple of days, I'm sure." He watched as they all nodded before they started off towards where their vehicles were parked. He noticed that Calleigh had stayed behind. "Ma'am?"

"What about you?" she asked crossing her arms over her chest.

Horatio smiled, Calleigh was always the one that looked out for him, even when he didn't think he needed it. "I'll be fine…"

"I have an interview session tomorrow," she admitted a bit uneasy about it. "They never stay on topic."

"I want you to take it easy tomorrow, Calleigh," Horatio told her. "I know that they dig, but you can't let it get to you… Everything…even our lives are public record, and they'll use anything they can get to try to get us off-guard. Your merits are enough to secure your job. I don't want you to worry, okay?"

Calleigh nodded as she stared down at the ground before facing him, "I'm not worried about me, I'm worried about you."

……………………..

TBC…