Disclaimer: It's been a year; hopefully by now everybody knows CSI: Miami does not belong to me.
Author's Note: For Mr. Hathaway, b8kworm, and Sun Mee. This is my attempt to explain why we've been deprived of so many promised Horatio/Calleigh scenes this season. Okay, not the | truth |, but the conspicuous lack of scenes as compared to Season 1. Have I mentioned how much I love my betas? Well, I do.
Summary: Calleigh blinked lazily, smiled in the same mood, and forgot her embarrassment. This was Horatio, after all. He would catch her before she fell; he would die before she hurt.
Rating: PG
Archive(s): EoTU, Lonely Road, mine. Anybody else, email me.
Pairing(s): Horatio/Calleigh
Spoiler(s): Most of Season 2.
***** ***** *****Title: Darkened Corner
Author: Laeta
Email: ladylaeta@yahoo.com
Chapter 2
"Were you in any doubt before?"
"I believe that's open to some debate," she said on a laugh.
He leaned closer by lowering his arm so his stance imitated his earlier one. Calleigh narrowed her eyes in open speculation as his hand brushed too casually against her body. Meanwhile, his other arm snuck around her waist and brought her body neatly into Horatio's personal space.
Calleigh's mind scrambled to assimilate: first, nothing ever entered his space; he was too controlled for that to happen. Second, she had something wrong - and it was actually he who had entered hers. Third, she found herself back-pedaling into the enclosed sanctuary of the phone booth.
No sooner were the doors closed than his cologne overwhelmed her. One hand still about her waist, the other drifted lazily - out of sight, out of mind. His breathing was loud in the silence, seductive in its appeal.
Her eyes drifted closed and she imagined an infinite number of scenarios within these private confines, knowing Horatio would hold her secret to the grave. She knew he was right there with her in the fantasies; his own body gave him away. His voice pleaded to her; it sounded so foreign, a far cry from the smoothness she knew. Her eyes opened and focused in the indistinct light.
Somehow, that gave him all the confidence he needed.
"Calleigh, where'd you go?" The inflection of his voice sent her on a one way trip directly back.
"Dreaming." She sighed the word on his growing smile.
"Stay with me here."
Calleigh blinked lazily, smiled in the same mood, and forgot her embarrassment. This was Horatio, after all. He would catch her before she fell; he would die before she hurt.
Besides, he had given her an incredible gift of himself and it was her choice to accept or to reject. Who was she fooling anyway?
So, she advanced on Horatio and altered their positions. Her arms crept up his chest and curled about his neck; fingers explored in tantalizing patterns.
"How about I tell you," she invited with a smirk. "Comfortable?"
He nodded. The casing of the phone's base unit dug uncomfortably into his back but, in the interest of their situation, it did not register to him at all. He ignored everything save the woman wrapped along his body.
Calleigh glared at the telephone sternly. "Don't you dare consider ringing, got that?"
She returned her gaze to Horatio, gratified to see a smile had reached his eyes. He expressed a soundless question that made Calleigh more than a little self-conscious. However, she had started things and she would finish them.
"I don't like interruptions," she stated, lack of comfort coloring her voice flippant.
"Are you expecting any?"
"Are you?" she countered.
Horatio made a point of unclipping his cell phone off his belt and turning it off. He gave it to Calleigh who placed it near its landline counterpart.
Two words, "Come here," and she snuggled into the warm embrace of a helpless man. His hand drifted languidly through her hair; she recognized the aura of pensive thoughts brooding like storm clouds around his head. She reached up to lightly touch his face, succeeding in dispelling the dark halo crowned there.
"Case that bad, Horatio?"
He sank onto the hard plastic seat of the phone booth in response. She tucked him gently against her body to give him as much comfort as she could.
"I could really use you on this one."
"Yep, that bad," she said, dryly. Now, it was her hand in his hair that soothed. Unexpectedly, she instigated herself in his lap, nuzzling into his broad shoulder. "Hmm, I miss this."
He laughed, cheerful once again as she alluded not so subtly to their nights, which held such a plethora of pleasant memories.
"Will you be waiting for me tonight?"
"Who are you trying to kid here? I'm going home with you tonight."
He laughed. "Is that so?"
"You can bet your life on it." She looped her arm about his neck and held his gaze. "This way, as I drive home, you can tell me all about this case of yours. So -" She drew out the syllable as she leaned into him and captured his ear. Her words were decisively seductive: "The rest of our night is free."
Predictably, his hands brought her body flush to his. He savored her quiet gasp of surprise.
"Calleigh, much as I'd like to, I may be here for a while yet."
She grinned at him. "Oh, I'm counting on it. I plan on getting as many comparisons done as I can before tomorrow." She wagged a finger at him. "That means no interrupting; you know how I feel about that. Just call when you're ready to leave."
Instantly deprived of his fun, he epitomized contrition. "You don't need to do this for me. I love you for it, but you don't need to."
"Horatio, do you or do you not want me on this case?"
"Oh, I want."
"Good. Give me until noon tomorrow; then, I'm all yours."
Neither missed the dual conversation they held. They grinned at each other before Calleigh retrieved Horatio's phone from the ledge while expertly ejecting Horatio from the cozy phone booth and led the way back to their normal offices.
As she parted from him, Calleigh tartly said, "And, Horatio? Get your mind out of the gutter."
His laughter followed her into the ballistics arena as did his words: "Be ready in three hours." She smiled; tonight would be a good one, she could tell already.
FIN
© RK 17.Mar.2004
