Shatter Me

🐊Do You Know The Difference Between Crocodiles and Alligators?!🐊

"No!"  Horatio hears Zariah say softly and he turns to see her take a step back with a emotion on her face that he couldn't figure out it was like she was feeling too many emotions at once and couldn't pick just one to feel at that point in time "lo siento! lo siento mucho!"  she whispers softly with wide eyes the Valdez's walk over to her and hug her while telling her "Esta no es tu culpa que hiciste todo lo que pudimos, estamos muy agradecidos contigo"  Horatio looks at them with a surprised expression on his face as they hug the crying woman that he loves with every beat of his heart "you know....!?!"  he asks softly with a surprised and slightly confused tone Francisco and Milagra Valdez turn to face him "yes she helped search she is the only one who never gave up looking for her!"  Milagra tells him and he smiles Milagra looks at him then at Zariah and asks with a smiling coo in her tone "so this is the one you're always talking about!?!"  Zariah chuckles through her tears and the woman grins at her Horatio's smile grows he always saw her working on her laptop there were also days when she would come home very late dirty and/or exhausted with one of her pups at her heels just as dirty and/or exhausted as she was he had always wondered what she was doing but never asked and now he knows why now he knows that just like he does she brings her work home with her it's always on her mind until she officially solves it and she becomes just as heartbroken as he does when she can't probably even more so for he believes that she treats their loss as she would one of her siblings and he knows she would do ANYTHING for them even though they are not related to her by blood what he didn't realize was that she spoke about him to the parents of the lost as he did her with Yelina he's also never heard her speak in spainsh before so that was a added surprise if he thought her voice was beautiful before.... which he does.... hearing her speak in a "foreign" language added to its beauty.... "hey JC"  Zariah says as she walks over to a friend of hers and Eric's a few hours later Jeff Corwin turns and smiles at her as he replies "hey Zar you coming too!?"  she nods his eyes become sad when he realizes just how hard she was hit by the reason he was asked to help and he says softly "oh! I'm sorry!"  she replies with a half smile "let's just bring her and her family some peace hmm?!"  he nods then places a gentle hand on her shoulder and leads her to the group who was helping with the search Eric, Tim and Calleigh were happy to see her when they saw her walk over with Jeff at her side and Jeff climbs up onto the boat then reaches down and helps Zariah up "no pups today!?"  Eric asks with a smile "nah I figured they'd have too much fun playing with the crocodiles and feared you might join them!"  Zariah replies he chuckles with a smile "I got a new one by the way you should come by and meet him before you leave Miami"  she tells Jeff who smiles and says "I'd love too!"  she replies "I'll give you my address when we're done here don't want you losing it or have it get wet!"  he nods with a smile then they all ride off to find what they were looking for after Jeff and Eric give the information they need to find the right one.... Jeff loved how Zariah wasn't afraid to get "down and dirty" with him and his employees/coworkers she even helped wrangle a few crocs on her own as gently and efficiently as possible which shocked him "I've taken care of overactive dogs and kids my whole life I think I can handle a few crocs JC!"   she tells him as she wrangles up the last one with him supervising making sure she doesn't get hurt or fall off he laughs just then Eric walks over to them and checks the tail for the tracking number "that's it that's our croc"  Eric says as he looks down at the pager that shows the number then he looks up and shouts to the rest of the people who were with them "get Horatio Caine on the phone"  Zariah playfully asks "can I get off now!?!"  Jeff and Eric chuckle.... a few minutes later Horatio rides up to where they are with Alexx at his side and Jeff's coworkers carry the now tied up croc over to one of the boats Horatio's eyebrow raises when he sees a smiling Zariah standing next to Jeff he had no idea she knew the man at her side what was worse was that Eric had snuck a few pictures of her wrangling up the crocs like a pro and showed them to him which only made his eyebrow raise even more as Eric says with a smile "you would have been proud of her H!"  to which Horatio replies "I am!"  he looks over at her and repeats with a much softer tone "I am!"  Eric smile grows "it's a shame to have to kill an animal for doing what comes naturally"   Alexx says as she puts on a pair of gloves "guys we can't kill this animal I mean it's endangered it's federally protected"  Jeff tells them "okay let's irrigate his stomach then"   Horatio replies "alright lets just see what he coughs up"  Jeff says as Zariah hands him a large pvc pipe Jeff winks with a smile at her she rolls her eyes with a smile as she shakes her head at him making him chuckle Horatio's eyebrow raises when Jeff asks Zariah "you want to do this!?"  she replies playfully "oh no! you're the master you do it!"  Jeff chuckles he gently moves the pipe towards the crocs mouth which his coworkers open with a piece of rope then they gently close his jaw around the pipe and pump out whatever the croc had most recently ate by pumping water into his mouth with a hose that Zariah slid down the pipe what came back up was a fish, a crab and a foot Zariah places a comforting hand on Jeff's shoulder and he grips it somewhat tightly and she squeezes his shoulder gently then says "come on.... I'll introduce you to Caine"  Jeff looks up at her and asks "Caine huh!?!"  she replies with a chuckle "hey! at least it isn't a Shakespearean name!"  he chuckles Horatio smiles at their friendly banter "you haven't met Delko either have you!?!"  Zariah asks Jeff who laughs then asks with a chuckle in his tone "Delko!?!"  she smiles and replies "yeah Olivia named him"  he says with a chuckle in his tone "well that explains everything!"  Horatio chuckles Jeff looks up at him and smiles shaking his head "alright why don't we set 0116 free then head out?!"   she says as she helps Jeff up "sounds like a plan!"  Jeff replies "let's hope he isn't hungry after all that!"  she jokes he laughs then says with a smile "I know I am!"  she teases "worked up an appetite did you JC!?!"  he replies with a smile "yeah!"  she chuckles and pats him on the back she looks over at Horatio who nods at her with a smile and she waves her fingers at him and he waves back his smile never leaving his face as he watches her walk away with another man at her side and her arm wrapped around that mans upper back....