Happiness For H: Something In White

January 29

Horatio found Emily sitting with her laptop at the table, her codebooks spread out before her.

"Chemistry?" he asked hopefully as he finished his coffee.

"Mmmm … no. Biology, although when I looked through the book I did find some in the later chapters." She looked up at him from the screen. "You sounded kind of hopeful there, Horatio."

"Just wondering if you might need a consultation to clear up a few points. You know my door is always open." His words were serious, but she caught the laughter in his eyes.

"I'll remember that Lieutenant." Emily picked up her coffee cup and took a long sip, watching him clip his ID and badge on his waist.

"Speaking of remembering, do you remember that I'll be out with Jean today – all day? So you won't freak if I don't answer my phone?" Her voice was light, but she was serious. "I don't know what she has planned. She's being very mysterious, which for Jean usually means she has gone and made plans that wild horses couldn't make me take part in." Emily frowned, wondering for the umpteenth time just what Jean had up her sleeve. To her surprise, Horatio smiled and picked up his briefcase from the chair saying,

"I do know what she has planned and I promised to keep her secret. I'm not passing judgment either way."

"She told you?" Emily raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Well," Horatio said with a grin, "I gather she approves of me as husband material. And, she didn't want me to ah … freak … when you disappeared for the day. Have fun."

With that, he bent down and kissed Emily good-bye. When he lifted his mouth from hers, Emily leaned back weakly in her chair, her eyes slowly opening to find herself looking into his possessive blue gaze.

"I'm very glad we're getting married soon, Emily," he said huskily. She could only nod.

"I'll see you tonight, sweetheart." Emily didn't move until she heard his car pull out of the drive.

Two hours later, Jean pulled up in the driveway. As Emily climbed in the passenger side, Jean looked over at her friend.

"Emily my dear, after today, you will not need that baseball cap, unless of course you are actually at a game. Today is your day to be pampered my friend. And I, as the maid of honor, get to be pampered with you." As Jean backed out the car and headed back into the late rush hour traffic, Emily looked at her friend, beginning to get an idea of what her friend had planned for the day.

"Oh, Jean, please tell me, you didn't make …" she trailed off, unable to even bring herself to say the words.

" … appointments for you and I to have the works at Lacuna Hair Salon & Spa." Jean finished for her triumphantly. "Maria will style your hair and give me some tips on how to do your make-up for the wedding, and somewhere along the line we will have manicures, pedicures, lunch, a tea tree soak and massage. We'll relax away some of those pre-wedding jitters you've been having."

Emily very much wanted to tell her friend that her jitters at the moment had nothing to do with the wedding and everything with going to a spa. Instead all she could manage was a groan.

"Oh Jean, did you have to tell Horatio what we were doing?"

"Of course, I didn't want him calling all over town looking for you." Jean smiled. "Just think how it would look, him coming charging in, gun drawn in the middle of your massage. Actually, I think he thought it was a good idea."

"Oh." Emily sunk down in the cars seat, wondering how she was going to get through this day.

As luck would have it, new information in several cases came across Horatio's desk. He sorted through it, deciding he would parcel the information out to the CSI's. Gathering up the papers, he went in search of them. His first stop was Trace. No Eric or Ryan. Next he tried Calleigh in Firearms, no sign of her. Same result when he poked his head in at DNA. He headed down to the morgue to find Alexx. It was silent. On his way back to his office, he stopped in the break room for a cup of coffee - and found them. Calleigh, Eric, Alexx, and Ryan looked up from around the table as he walked in.

"Hey H!" Eric greeted him with a grin as Calleigh slipped something behind her back. Horatio's eyes narrowed. Ryan looked guilty and Alexx had what could only be described as a very satisfied smirk on her face. After pouring his coffee, he leaned against the counter, sipping his coffee.

"A meeting I didn't know about?" he inquired mildly, wondering who would be the first to crack.

"I wouldn't really call it a meeting," Alexx said. "More like a consultation. Once we had the details nailed down, we were going to come to you with our findings."

"Oh?" he questioned raising an eyebrow. "And have you come to any conclusions with your findings?"

"Just one," Calleigh said with a big smile. "We'll all need tomorrow off."

TBC