AN: Thank you for the reviews, here is the next chapter.


Chapter 4: Sleepless night

After another 10 minutes of watching Natalia and Dan, Horatio looked at his watch before looking at his wife. "Do you want me to get the kids from school?"

She looked at her watch, also noticing the time, then said. "Shoot." Before looking at her husband. "Would you mind? I would like to stay here for a little bit longer."

He gives her a small smile and replied. "Ok, I'll see you at home."

She gives him a little smile in return. "Alright, love you."

He kisses her cheek, then replied it back and said bye to Jake before leaving him and Calleigh behind.

Calleigh watched her husband as Jake speaks. "A little on the quiet side, but he seems nice."

She smiled as she looked at Jake. "Yes he is, and yes he can be on the quiet side, but he's never too shy on telling me how he feels about me and our family. Now come on, let's go in and see Dan."

As he looked into her green eyes, he cleared his throat and nodded before they started walking into the room.

When the door opened, Natalia looked their way and Calleigh smiled as her and Jake walked to the end of the bed. "Natalia this is Jake Berkley, he brought Dan here, more than likely saving his life."

Before Dan could speak, Natalia looked at Jake and asked. "You the undercover cop working with my husband?" Jake nodded with a smile as Natalia gets up from her chair, then she walks up to him before bringing him in her arms while she said emotionally. "Thank you."

Jake didn't know what else to do but hug her, so that's what he did, then as they pulled back, he replied. "You're welcome, but I think him fighting had something to with surviving, he had something to live for."

Natalia smiled as she looked down, then Dan cleared his throat and said a little raspy. "You hitting on my wife, Berkley?"

They chuckled as Natalia goes back and sits down in the chair she was just sitting in, then taking his hand again as Jake shakes his head and replied. "No way man, and even if I was, I stand no chance."

Dan turned his head to look at his wife, then spoke with a smile. "I think you're right about that." After a few seconds of them looking at each other lovingly, Dan looked at Jake and Calleigh again and said. "And wait a minute, how do you two know each other?"

Calleigh answered that question. "I met him in New Orleans."

He raised an eyebrow and replied. "Well I was there too and I didn't meet him."

Calleigh smiled sympathetically. "It was the week you had that horrible flu. He showed up to work as an undercover."

He cringed and said. "Oh right, yeah, not a good week for me."

They chuckled as he yawned a little, then Jake speaks. "Listen man, I'm going to go and let you rest."

"You'll see me before you leave right? We'll get a drink." Natalia give him a look and he amended his comment. "Well I'll buy you a drink as a thank you."

Jake smiled. "Alright, that sounds fine." Dan nodded as he turned his head to look at his wife, and as they were speaking with their eyes, Jake and Calleigh looked at each other, and he asked. "Can we have lunch before I leave?"

"Um yeah, as long as it's not tomorrow, I have family plans."

He nodded and replied. "Alright, I'll talk to you later, bye Calleigh, it was nice to see you again."

"You too."

He smiled at her again, then looked at Natalia. "And nice to meet you, you take care of him."

Natalia looked at her now sleeping husband before looking at Jake again. "I will, and it was nice to meet you too."

After Jake nodded, he walked out of the room.

When the door closed, Natalia looked at Calleigh and asked. "Ok girl, you better tell me the story on that one."

Calleigh chuckled as she shook her head. "What makes you think there is a story?"

Natalia smiled. "The way he was looking at you tells me that you are on his 'one-that-got-away' list."

Calleigh sighed as she looked at Dan, then she looked at her friend/co-worker and replied. "I had been dating Kevin for a year when I had met Jake, and even though at the time I still really cared about Kevin, sparks were flying between Jake and I, but nothing happened, which the only good explanation for that was because I was loyal to my other commitment. So once his job was done, he left and I never seen him again until today."

Natalia shook her head and replied. "And man if you knew what was going to happen with Kevin back then, I bet you probably would have said screw being loyal."

Calleigh chuckled with a nod. "You're probably right."

"But then your whole life could have changed, how would you have felt about that?"

Calleigh looked at Natalia, but didn't answer because Alexx came in the room and started talking with them since she had a few minutes of break time. However, that question did stay in Calleigh's head throughout the visit and night.


Hours later

After the Caine family was home, they had dinner, which was a little quiet tonight, then when the dishes were in the dishwasher, they did their own activities before bedtime, and once everybody was in bed, Horatio couldn't fall asleep because something about meeting Jake still didn't sit right with him. He thought about asking questions earlier, but once again, he didn't, and those unanswered questions now cluttered up his mind, making this night into a sleepless one.

He sighed after another 15 minutes of trying to fall asleep had failed, then got out bed, grabbed his robe from the chair in the corner of the room before walking quietly downstairs and out on the back deck.

After another 30 minutes, Horatio hears the back door open and Calleigh's voice, so he turns around and saw her on his phone. He raises an eyebrow, then smiled when Calleigh said. "Ok, here is your father, alright have a good one, I love you too, bye." She hands the phone over to Horatio and commented. "It's Kyle."

Horatio takes the phone from his wife before putting it up to his ear. "Hi son."

"Hi dad, I know it is an hour before midnight there, but I wanted to wish you a happy birthday, I hope it's a good one for you."

"Thank you, Kyle, that really means a lot to me."

"No problem. Listen, I can't talk much right now, but I'll call this weekend and we can talk longer so you can tell me what's going on with the family."

"Alright, I love you Kyle, be safe out there."

"I will, you be safe too, and I love you."

"Bye son."

"Bye dad."

After he pulled the phone from his ear, he sighed as he closed it, then said. "It was nice hearing from him." He didn't care how short the conversation was, just hearing his voice was good enough for him.

She nodded with a small smile, then asked. "And do you know what would be nicer?" He looked at her as she continued. "You telling me what's got you so worried that you can't even sleep." He looked into her eyes for a second before looking down at the deck. Tears started to come into Calleigh's eyes as she walked up to him, then after she placed her hand on his shoulder, she asked. "Come on Horatio, please talk to me, don't shut me out. What ever it is you can tell me."

He took a few minutes and sighed, then moved his head up so he was looking at her again before he replied. "Ok, I'll talk to you, as long as you talk to me."

"Ok, about what?"

He took a breath and finally asked. "What's the history between you and Jake?"


AN: Well he finally asked the question. Please review.