Calleigh walked into the trace lab with Horatio following her meekly behind, "What have you got for me, Eric?"

He smiled at her down-to-business demeanour; it reminded her of the man stood behind her in the doorway. "Well it was definitely a car bomb, that's for sure," he said as he put down the pieces of debris in his hands and pulled his latex gloves off. "I'm just trying to figure out how it was detonated but I'm no expert with explosives." He looked sadly at Horatio knowing that he would have been able to figure it out quicker than any of the rest of the team.

Calleigh's eyes followed Eric's, "Why don't you sit down, you must be exhausted," she said as she pulled out a chair for Horatio. "Maybe spending some time here will help jog some more memories." He nodded his head slightly and sat watching as his two young charges put their heads together and tried to rebuild the bomb from the fragments that had had been recovered.

Eric threw his tweezers down in frustration sometime later, neither he nor Calleigh had been able to figure out the design of the explosive device. Tearing off his gloves and throwing them in the bin he suggested taking a break for coffee, Calleigh nodded her agreement which left the redhead sitting alone in the lab. Calleigh was satisfied that he would be safe enough and she was glad of the time apart from him to try to work through her feelings for him. His pass at her had been unexpected but not unwelcome, she had longed for the day when he would take her in his arms and declare his love for her. He's not himself at the moment, what happens if he remembers everything and decides that kissing me was a mistake? She wanted nothing more than to kiss him back but she knew that she couldn't take advantage of him in his weakened state; he needed time to come to terms with his past before he could even think of moving forward.

"Penny for them?"

Eric's deep voice penetrated the fog in her mind, not realising that she had sat playing with the handle of her coffee mug. Raising it to her mouth she took a gulp and grimaced at the cold and bitter taste.

"You've been staring at that mug for the last twenty minutes, found any answers in it yet?" he teased as he gave her a little smile.

"I wish I had, Eric."

Sensing her sadness Eric placed a hand on her shoulder, "Do you want to talk about it?"

No, she thought but the need to tell someone overrode her sense of self-preservation. "Horatio kissed me earlier." She sighed and closed her eyes, waiting for Eric's angry reaction.

"Did you kiss him back?" his voice was quiet but there was no hint of accusation in his tone towards her.

"No, he took me by surprise. I panicked and pushed him away, I hurt him, Eric."

"Maybe you did the right thing," he held his hands up as she opened her mouth to protest. "Hear me out. H isn't himself at the moment; he doesn't know who he is or how he ended up here in Miami. He needs some time to figure things out, if you go rushing into something with him you're both going to end up hurt."

"Is this about me and you?" She narrowed her eyes at him knowing that he still had feelings for her even though their flame of passion had died out a long time ago.

"No it's about the two people I care most about, I don't want to see either of you get hurt." Her expression softened a little at his last remark, "Let's get back to the lab and see if we can figure out how the hell the Malucci's got that bomb here undetected."

Neither of them were prepared the sight that greeted them when they returned, Horatio had made his way over to the layout table and was currently placing fragments of the device back together. He stopped and looked over his shoulder has he heard them enter the room, he moved away from the table and started apologising, "Sorry, I shouldn't have touched it, I know it's evidence." He looked down at his hands, "I know enough not to go touching things with my bare hands, they taught us that one at the academy."

Eric was the first to speak, "How did you do that?" He looked in amazement at the pieces of the bomb lined up in order, he'd been looking at them for hours and yet Horatio had nearly figured the whole thing out in less than thirty minutes.

The redhead shrugged his shoulders, "I'm not sure. The longer I looked at the pieces the more sense they seemed to make, I don't even know how I knew." He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, "Why would I know how to make a bomb?" he asked out loud, it was then that the realisation hit him, had he made bombs for the Malucci's whilst he was undercover? How many innocent people had been killed if he had?

Eric could sense that Horatio's legs were about to give out only a few seconds before they actually did, he quickly grabbed a stool and eased his brother in law onto it. "Just sit down and take it easy for a minute," he looked at Calleigh in concern.

"I made bombs, I killed people." Horatio's voice was quiet, shocked.

"No you didn't," Eric placed both his hands on the redhead's shoulders and looked him square in the eyes, "You were on the bomb squad here years ago, that's how you know how to make one. You didn't kill anyone, you saved lives."

Horatio's hands balled into fists, "Then why don't I remember any of this!" He stood up quickly before Eric had time to stop him, "I don't know this place, and I don't belong here. This is too much." He paced the room like a caged tiger until the underlying fatigue from his injuries began to take their toll, his knees buckled as Eric once more helped him to sit down.

"Let's get you home, I think you could do with a rest."

His words were meant to be soothing but they only served to anger the confused lieutenant, "Stop treating me like a child!" He pushed Eric's supportive hand away roughly, "Don't you understand? I don't have a home or a life; I don't know where I belong anymore." His words died out as the last of his strength borne from his anger left his weary body to be replaced by a feeling of utter desolation. "I just want my old life back."

Eric looked helplessly at Calleigh and nodded at her to try her luck with their stubborn colleague, "Come on, the rest of the team have everything under control now. Let's go home and get something to eat."

After considering her words carefully he sighed and nodded his head before pushing himself up from the stool. He barely knew this woman yet could deny her nothing; he would follow her willingly to the gates of Hell and back if she asked him to.

The drive home was made in uncomfortable silence, Calleigh watched him out the corner of her eye as he rested his head against the passenger seat of her Hummer with his eyes closed. Maybe it was a mistake taking him to the lab, he wasn't ready for it. The other half of her brain told her it was the only logical thing to do, there was no way that she would have left him at the house, defenceless. She glanced at him again and saw the toll the day had taken on him, he should have still been in hospital recovering but they had made the decision to move him somewhere that she felt she could protect him. His anger and irritability were understandable given his current condition and she hoped that Eric was thick-skinned enough to bear the brunt of Horatio's anger and not hold it against him later.

She pulled up in the drive and nodded at the uniformed officers standing guard outside the house; taking off her seatbelt she nudged her slumbering passenger gently. "We're back, let's get you back inside."

He groaned as his eyes flickered open and the pain shot through his head, he was starting to feel the effects of a headache of mammoth proportions building. He undid his seatbelt with a shaky hand and stumbled out of the vehicle on decidedly wobbly legs only to be caught by his beautiful blonde guardian angel. With her arm intertwined with his for support they slowly made their way back to the house still completely unaware of the vehicle parked far away in the distance monitoring them.


"Can you see them?" a distinct New York accent barked down the phone.

"Yeah, boss, I can. Blondie and the redhead have just gone into the house."

"Good. Stay where you are; let me know when they're on the move again." The voice was terse.

"How long are we planning on just sitting on our asses watching this guy?"

"Until I tell you otherwise."

The young Malucci gang member shrugged his shoulders as he threw the disposable cell phone back on the passenger seat, taking a sip of his coke he raised the binoculars back to his face and continued with his mission.