Please note that this is pre-Marisol and pre-Timothy Speed's death.
Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine :(
Horatio studied himself in the mirror. As he straightened his tie he wondered what had made Calleigh agree to go out with him in the first place. He couldn't see anything remarkable about himself; his orange hair was thinning and his face was age-worn and creased. Certainly he looked to be too old for her. Feeling slightly sweaty and nervous, even though they had been dating for over a month and seeing each other outside of work had become almost routine, he strode across the hall to turn up the air conditioner. Just as he finished adjusting the dial, the doorbell rang. Horatio glanced at his watch and frowned. He still had 15 minutes before Calleigh came over and she was never this early.
Horatio was shocked when he opened the door to see - not Calleigh - but another one of his CSI's.
"Eric! What can I do for you?" He questioned, mentally filing through a list of reasons why Eric would be on his doorstep. None of them made sense.
"Sorry for dropping by unexpected, H, but there's this crazy girl I met at a club and I swear she's like stalking me or something..."
Smiling slightly, Horatio pulled the door back a little wider. "Sounds like a long story. Come on in."
Eric flopped down on the couched and wiped his forehead with his sleeve. "All I did was ask her to dance. Seriously! I just thought she was hot, that's all," He shuddered, "I must have been completely insane."
Horatio nodded encouragingly.
"Anyway, she took it as a marriage proposal. Literally. We were dancing and all the sudden she asked if I would mind if we had the wedding on the beach. I got out of there as fast as I could, but the next day she knocked on my door and asked when I was going to give her the ring!" Pausing in his recount of the story, Eric glared at Horatio who seemed to be getting quite a lot of enjoyment out of it. Eric sighed, "H, can I use your washroom?"
"Sure you can. It's down the hall, last door to your left." As his visitor left, Horatio stared at his watch, wondering how he was going to get Eric to leave before his date arrived.
When Eric came back, he was grinning madly. "Horatio, have you seen your bathroom counter lately? It looks like a cosmetics store. Who's the girl?"
"Nobody."
"Aw, come on, man, you can tell me," He pressured, "I promise not to tell the whole lab…you know, just Speed…and Alexx, Calleigh of course-"
"You won't tell anyone," Horatio paused for dramatic effect, the irony of Eric informing Calleigh of him dating her not lost on him, "because you aren't going to find out."
For once Horatio was wrong. Just as his guest moved to answer him, three quick knocks broke the uneasy silence.
As he looked through the glazed glass beside the door, an obviously female form moved into view. "I guess I am after all," Eric smirked.
Horatio sighed, "I guess so."
As he moved to answer the door, he wondered just how Calleigh was going to react to this. He figured there were about three scenarios - she could freak and start yelling at him for compromising their secret, simply turn around and leave or, in the best case, not care at all or even be happy that they could stop hiding their relationship. Just before he reached the door, he turned and gave Eric a prolonged glare, such that had turned even the most hardened of criminals into something resembling the gravy he liked to put on his mashed potatoes.
Eric held his hands up in the air in a symbol of mock defeat. "I promise not to make fun of you, man."
During their exchange, Calleigh, confused as to why Horatio was taking so long to answer the door, took her key from her purse and unlocked it herself. She began to understand the second the door swung open.
Horatio mentally prepared himself as soon as he heard the key turn in the lock. Closing his eyes, he turned around to face Calleigh, who, after glancing at Eric, made a split-second decision.
"Hey, Handsome," She leaned in for a quick kiss, "Eric."
Horatio wrapped his arms around her and chuckled, "I'm starting to regret giving you a key." Whispering into her hair, he mumbled, "I'm sorry about this."
Calleigh flashed him a brilliant southern-belle smile which instantly reassured Horatio. Curious about his reaction, she turned to look at Eric, before grinning again, this time out of sheer amusement. Her colleague was, for once, rendered speechless, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. Still looking like he wanted to say something, he sunk down onto the couch,
"Hey, are you okay?" Horatio asked, concerned as always about his CSI and friend.
"No," Eric shook his head, closed his eyes and leaned back. "I just realized that I owe Alexx fifty dollars because of this. God, that woman's good when it comes to romance."
Horatio and Calleigh just smiled before leaning in for another kiss.