AN: Thank you for the reviews and encouraging words. Here is your next chapter, I think you're going to enjoy it.

Chapter 6: Dinner

After an hour and a half they were done playing, so they walked to the bench Horatio and Calleigh were sitting on.

Calleigh looked at C.J. and asked as she smiled. "Did you have fun?"

He nodded as he was breathing a little hard from running, then he said with a smile. "Yes, but I am a little thirsty now."

Being the prepared person she was, Calleigh turned to a bag that was sitting next to her, opens it up and pulls out a water bottle.

After she opens it up, she smiles as she hands it to him. "Here you go."

He smiled bigger and took the water bottle as Jesse speaks. "I guess it's time to hit the showers."

Both Natalia and Eric nodded in agreement, and after around of goodbyes and promises to C.J. they would do this again, the three of them walked away, leaving C.J., Calleigh and Horatio alone once again.

As C.J. was handing the water bottle back to Calleigh, he looked at Horatio and asked. "Are you having dinner with us again?"

Before Horatio could answer, Calleigh exclaimed. "C.J.!" The little boy looked down like he said something wrong, Calleigh sighed as she took the boy's hand and brought him closer. "You did nothing wrong buddy, but we are eating in tonight."

She knew that if they ended up eating out Horatio would more than likely end up paying the bill again and she didn't think it was right. She would feel like she was using him, and that's definitely not what she wanted when she felt so strongly for him, but wasn't ready to say anything yet. She mentally blushed thinking that.

Her blushing and own thoughts were interrupted when Horatio cleared his throat and squatted down so he was eye level with the boy, even though he was still looking down, and said. "You don't expect your aunt to be around me all day, do you?" C.J. looks up at Horatio and he continued with a smile. "She probably wants this time for just to the two of you, and that's alright. We'll set up another time for dinner again, ok?" C.J. nodded, but they both could tell he was a little sad.

Horatio gives him a little smile again as he stood up, then he grabs his jacket from the bench, looked down at Calleigh and said. "Enjoy your dinner and evening, ma'am." Calleigh nodded and if she wasn't mistaken she could see a little sadness in his eyes too, which made her heart ache.

What he had said to C.J. about her not expecting to be around him all day, she felt exactly the same thing about him being around them all day, but now that she saw the look in his eyes or at least what she thought she saw, she guesses she needs to rethink some things.

She mentally shook her head from those thoughts before she got herself confused, and as he turned around and started walking, Calleigh looked at C.J. and he still looked a little sad, then as she watched Horatio walk further away, her heart took charge.

She took a breath, stood up and shouted. "Horatio!" He stopped, turned around and tilted his head a little, she smiled. "Do you like Lasagna?" He nodded and she continued. "Come by at 7 and you are welcome to have some."

Horatio smiled. "You got it, want me to bring anything?"

She smiled back and shook her head. "Just yourself." He nods again with the smile still on his face, then as he turned back around he puts his sunglasses on and walked away with a spring in his step.

Calleigh watches him for a few more seconds, then she looks down at C.J. and he has a small smile on his face watching him too. When he looks up at his Aunt he loses the smile a little.

Calleigh shakes her head and said. "Really, you did nothing wrong. I know you were just trying to be nice."

He looked at her confusingly. "Aren't we suppose to be nice?

"You're right we are, but it's a little complicated." C.J. still looks at her with a confused face and she tires to explain. "It's just...It's just tha..."

C.J. cuts her off. "Grown up stuff?"

Calleigh smiled and goes the cowards way of explaining it by replying. "Yes."

C.J. nodded and responded. "OK, I'll let you do the asking from now on, but can I ask him if he wants to come to my birthday party?"

Even though his birthday was two months away he knew that Calleigh likes to know the guest list early, so why not ask if Horatio could come already?

She smiled again, and as she got her things and he puts his backpack on, she replied. "Yes, you can ask anybody you want to come."

As he grabs his basketball he asked. "Friends too?"

"Yes, but only three, ok?" He nodded with a smile, then as they started walking he continued. "Aunt Calleigh?"

"Yeah?"

He looks up as she looks down and he speaks again, this time in a sadder tone. "I wish was my mom could be there."

She kneels down in front of him so she could be eye level with him, then puts her hand on his cheek and answered. "I know you do buddy, me too. And I know it's not the same but she is always with you right here." She removed her hand from his cheek to his heart, and he nodded with a small sniffle.
She gives him a reassuring smile and continued. "I feel like I can see her every time I look at you, you so much like her, and she would be so proud you. Just keep being the sweet, brave, boy you've been." He nodded again, this time with a smile. Calleigh cleared her throat to get the emotion out, then as she stood up she speaks again. "Now how about a small ice cream cone, then go home and get cleaned up for dinner?" He smiles again with a nod.

She chuckles a little, then they started walking toward the ice cream truck they heard coming.

After they had their small cones they headed home and took shower/bath's, then put on their nice clothes.

When they were done, and as C.J. was playing with his cars in his room, Calleigh was starting dinner in the kitchen.

Calleigh had just put the Lasagna in the oven when there was a knock on the door, she closed the oven door, looked toward the left where the front door was, and said loudly. "Just a minute." Then she takes off the oven mitts and hangs them on the hook that was on the side of the cupboard to the right of her before walking to the front door.

When she got to the door and grabbed the doorknob she took a small breath before opening it.

After the door was open and she saw that it was Horatio, she noticed he was wearing a dark blue, buttoned down shirt, black slacks and dress shoes. He saw that she was wearing a white button down shirt with a black skirt that went down to her knees and white strappy sandals. Both of their breath's hitched silently seeing their respective attires.

Finally Calleigh smiled and said. "Hi, come in."

He smiled as he hands her a bottle of white wine to her. "Here I got this for dinner, unless you don't wa..."

Calleigh cuts him off as she moved to the side to let him in the house. "I should be fine with one glass."

Horatio nods, then walked in the house.

A few seconds later C.J. came running into the living room, he smiled at the older man and said. "Hi Horatio."

Horatio smiled and replied. "Hi Buddy."

C.J. smiled bigger and asked. "You want to come see my room, it has a lot of superheroes on my wall."

Horatio looks over a Calleigh, who was now standing next to him, and she nodded. "Dinner won't be ready for a while now."

Horatio nodded, looked back at the boy, and answered. "I would love too."

As C.J. and Horatio were walking to the young boy's bedroom, Calleigh smiled as she walked to the kitchen to open the wine, already feeling pretty good about tonight.

40 minutes later, and they were finally at the dinner table eating with small, but comfortable talk in between bites.

As Dinner was coming to a close they noticed that C.J. couldn't keep his eyes open and his head kept bobbing up and down, so they smiled and Calleigh said. "I'll tuck him in, it looks like you guys must have worn him out today."

Just as Calleigh was going to set her fork down, Horatio shook his head and asked. "I can do it, I mean if you don't mind."

They look at each other, and if Calleigh wasn't already in love with the guy, she may have just fallen completely.

She sat there in shook for a few more seconds, then she cleared her throat and replied. "Sure."

He smiled, sets his fork down on his plate, stands up from his seat, walks to the little boy's side of the table and picks him up effortlessly, which C.J. automatically wraps his arms around his neck, then he walked toward the little boy's room as Calleigh's heart started soaring as she watched the whole interaction.

She took a moment before she started eating again.

A few minutes later Horatio comes back to the table and she looks up at him. "Thank you."

He smiled as he sat down. "You're welcome."

They look at each other for a few minutes, then they both go back to eating with small talk again.

After dinner was done, and while Calleigh was doing the dishes because she had insisted she to take care of them, Horatio was standing in the living room looking at a few pictures she had hanging on the wall and sitting on the bookshelf close to the TV.

When she was done in the kitchen she walked in the living room and stopped behind him as he was looking at a picture of when she was about 11, standing next to another 11-year-old girl with blond hair, they were both smiling with their arms around each other's shoulders.

As they stood there Horatio asked. "So you knew C.J.'s mom for a long time didn't you?"

She nodded, and as they walked to the to the couch, she replied. "Christy and I met when we started the same middle school and bonded over our hard family lives."

He looks at her a little worried that something happened to her, and She shook her head at his questioning eyes. "It wasn't abuse or anything like that, my parents just use to verbally fight a lot, let's just say it was a nasty divorce." He nodded and she continued. "Her family life wasn't much better, so we had each other." He nodded again and they took a sip of their beverages, which was now water.

After a few minutes she looks down at her water and speaks again. "She was so excited the night before it happened because she found out she was getting a raise, something she really wanted so she could get C.J. some really good presents for the upcoming holidays. She really loved her son and wanted him to have the best of everything, but couldn't afford it most of the time." Her eyes started to water and she sniffled.

That's when Horatio realized she was talking about 'that' night, and he was going to tell her that she didn't need to tell him, but she continued before he could get the words out. "The weather was horrible as she was driving home from the clinic where she worked as a receptionist, but it wasn't the storm that made her lose control of the car, it was a drunk driver who ran a red light that shouldn't have been out driving." She bends her head down and started to cry softly.

Horatio puts his water bottle on the end table, scoots closer to her, wraps his arms around her shoulders, then brings her closer to him and lets her cry in his chest.

When she calmed down a few minutes later, she pulls back from him, sniffled, looked up at him and whispered. "Sorry."

He shakes his as he cups her cheek. "You have nothing to be sorry about, she was your best friend." He uses his thumb to wipe her tears away, looks into her shinning green eyes and continued. "And do you know what I think?" She shook her head as he finished. "I think she would be so proud that you took in her son and put his needs in front of your own. I don't think a lot of people would do that, especially as young as you were, I admire that." Calleigh smiled at his words.

A few seconds passed and their eyes were still connected, then they both felt the atmosphere shift drastically when he started to run his thumb up and down her cheek and their hearts started racing. Right in that moment they felt they had two options, one they could go with what they were feeling and finally give into temptation or they could pull back and pretend this moment didn't happen.

However, the choice was made for them before they could decide what to do, when Calleigh's cell phone rang.

Calleigh cleared her throat and whispered. "I have to get that." He nodded and slowly removed his hand as she pulled back from him.

When she got off the couch she walked to the kitchen counter, cleared her throat, and picked up her phone. "Duquesne."

Ashley on the other end started speaking. "Hi Calleigh, I'm sorry but I won't be back in Miami until Sunday night."

"Is your Dad ok?"

"Yeah, he'll be ok, I just want to make sure I help get him settled back at home."

"I understand, I guess I'll see you Monday afternoon then."

"Thank you, and I am sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about, things happen, just be there for your family and don't worry about anything."

"Ok, bye Calleigh."

"Bye Ashley."

After they hung up the phone and with her back still towards Horatio, Calleigh sighed for many different reasons. But before she could go over them she hears Horatio's voice coming closer to her. "Was that Ashley, is her dad ok?"

She nodded, cleared her throat, turned toward him and replied. "Yes that was, her dad is ok, but she won't be able to watch C.J. tomorrow."

Horatio nodded in understanding and responded. "Bring him to the lab and I'll watch him tomorrow."

Calleigh shook her head. "I can't ask you to d..."

He cuts her off. "I have to do a lot of paperwork anyways, I'll give Jesse a day to be boss, he will love it."

Calleigh smiled a little and replied. "Are you sure? I still don't fell ri..."

He cuts her off again, this time after putting his hand back on her cheek. "I am sure Calleigh. I know you don't have anybody else to fall back on and you won't be able to concentrate on any work if he is with somebody you don't trust, so what better person is there than m...your boss?" He was going to say 'me' but switched it to 'boss' at the last-minute so it would feel less personal, even though he wanted her to trust him more than just a boss.

As soon as that thought went to his mind he mentally shook it away.

Calleigh heard the almost slip and smiled a little, then replied softly. "There isn't anybody I trust more." It was scary to already admit that to him, but it was the truth and she felt that way every second she was around him.

He gives her a little smile, happy she felt that way, then after a few more minutes of looking into each other's eyes in silence he cleared his throat, stepped back as he took his hand off her cheek and said. "So you are bringing him in, right?" She nodded, he gives her another little smile before saying. "Alright. I better go and let you get some sleep." She didn't want him to go, but knew he had to, so she nodded and they walked to the door.

After she opened the door, he walked outside, turned to her and said. "Goodnight Calleigh, I had a wonderful time tonight."

"Goodnight Horatio, and so did I, I'll see you tomorrow."

He nods. "Ok."

After one more long look and another goodbye she shuts the door as he turned away from it.

When the door clicked shut Horatio sighed in content and walked to his vehicle with a smile. Despite the sad retailing of Calleigh's friend, he had a wonderful time, one of the best times he had in a very long time, and he wouldn't mind doing it again.

But then those pesky negative thoughts came through his mind. 'What are you doing? You are setting yourself up for a fall.' He mentally shook those thoughts away and drove away once he got in his vehicle, hoping his thoughts weren't right.

Calleigh stood in front of the door and sighed in content. Despite sharing the sad story about her friend, she had a wonderful evening and it only reinforced on how she felt about him. She still wanted to be cautious though, but with each second the cautiousness was slowly dissolving. She mentally shook her head and finally walked away from the front door, then tidied up a little, before checking on C.J. and going to her room for bed.

When she got in her room and changed into her sleeping clothes, she crawls into bed, grabbed her phone from the nightstand, where she had put it when she came into the room to change, then she hit speed dial number two and waited for Sara to answer.

But after a few rings it went right to voice mail, so Calleigh left her a message instead. 'Hey Sara, I'm just getting ready to go bed, so call me sometime tomorrow, you won't believe what almost happened tonight, be safe and talk to you soon, bye.'

After Calleigh hung up and sets her phone back on the nightstand, she stretched and yawned, then sunk down into her mattress and fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow, and started dreaming of what could be.

AN: So close. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. There is a little time jump next chapter. Please review.