Marisol Caine lay awake, lying on her side, staring at the lightening flashing across the cloudy sky. There was not thunder, no rain; just bright flashes of light, illuminating the room for a second before fading it into darkness.
She watched as another flash lit up the room, showing her peacefully sleeping husband lying next to her, his normally serious face strangely calm and relaxed, one of his arms draped over her waist, holding her while he slept.
Another flash illuminated the bedside table next to her and the photo on top of it, the smiling faces of her family facing her. Her husband and 2 children,
He murmured something in his sleep, and his arm tightened around her waist, pulling her closer, nuzzling her long black hair as he held her to him, still murmuring something inaudible under his breath.
Marisol just smiled, laying her hand over his, stroking the soft velvety skin of his hand as another lightening flash lit up their wedding rings, making them glow for a second before fading them into black.
"Carla and Noah not been in yet?" Marisol rolled over to face her husband, her smile growing.
"And there was me thinking that you were still asleep." Horatio Caine grinned at his wife, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively as another flash lit them up.
She slid closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, softly brushing her lips against his, both of them chuckling slightly as hand started to roam.
"Mummy? Daddy?"
Horatio looked up from what he was doing to see two small figures put their heads round the edge of the door. Marisol sat up, smiling as her two children hurried across the room as another flash cracked across the sky.
Carla Caine was 4 years old, and looked almost identical to her mother, with thick black hair and large brown eyes. Noah looked like his father, with orange hair and blue eyes, though he had his mother's smile. Carla had her father's quiet shy smile.
"Carla? Noah? What are you guys doing up?" Noah had already leapt up onto the bed as another bright flash lit up the room. The boy was only 3 years old and scared easily at the moment. Carla was 5 and was coming out of that stage of being afraid of things such as thunder, lightening and monsters in the cupboard.
"Hey buddy, the lightening scaring you?" Noah nodded, burying himself in-between his parents, pulling the duvet up over his head so he couldn't see the lightening flashes. Horatio smiled and thunder joined in with the lightening, causing Carla to run over to her parent's bed and hide under the duvet with her brother.
Marisol glanced across at her husband, who was smiling at her. She shock her head and layback down, holding her children to her.
Lightening flashed across the sky, moving over Miami, allowing the family to sleep, without any more disturbances.