Title: Moments
Author: Watoshimi Kairou
Fandom: CSI: Miami
Characters: Horatio Caine / Calleigh Duquesne
Rating: General
Status: Incomplete
Summary: [Series of Interconnected Ficlets] It was such a familiar expression: a tilt of his head and a gentle smile stretched across his lips but it made her heart but pound hard against her chest.

Wrote this a long time ago but I thought it would be nice to post it in all my other writing archives. Did a little editing but nothing too major.

Moments
[1] Spark

If there was something Calleigh hated more than anything it was being underestimated. She was a strong, independent woman who had pretty much been taking care of herself since her father first decided to pick up his ninth bottle of beer one night. Calleigh knew how to take care of herself; she knew how to hold a gun, how to use it, and how not to hesitate because hesitating got people killed. Calleigh didn't go through academy training just to stand back and watch some guy fight her fights.

Lieutenant Caine was her third boss but from the very beginning she knew there was something about him, something different that set him apart from everyone else. But despite this, she held herself at arm's length, not wanting to place her trust in someone who may not know the definition of "promises." Lord knows she had enough of that to last a lifetime.

"No, lambchop! I quit drinking six months ago."

Or:

"Calleigh, you don't need to worry about me. I'm doing completely fine! I only had a glass."

And, her favorite:

"I'm quitting for good this time, lambchop. I promise."

So when the suspect she was questioning attempted to make a grab at her, somewhere in the back of her mind she was waiting for Horatio to step up between the two of them and save a princess that did not want any saving. But Horatio simply stood to the side—with his gun out and ready, just in case—and watched as Calleigh showed him exactly what she was made out of.

"I'd like to see you try that again," she breathed into the suspect's ear, breathing heavily from the brief struggle. She looked up then, flipping her hair over her shoulder and met Horatio's gaze. He was tense, she realized, but not to the point where it seemed as if he was going to jump into the struggle for her.

And that's when he realized it; he trusted her.

He trusted her.

He trusted her strength and believed in her ability to handle herself. He didn't see her as a pretty girl in need of saving. The sudden realization made a small, almost hesitating smile stretch across her lips. And as the officers who were waiting just outside the room came in and took the suspect away, Horatio tilted his head slightly and responded with a gentle smile of his own.

It was such a familiar expression, she had seen it a million times before but it sent her heart pounding anyway.

And when his eyes softened ever so slightly and his smile widened just a bit more, Calleigh knew she was in love.