"The rain is—heavy—shelter now." The line cut in and out as she strained to hear his voice. Calleigh had barely been able to make out half of his words though she thought she got the gist of it.

"I'm not close to any shelters; I'll just go back to CSI." She waited momentarily for a response but was answered only by silence. "Horatio?" she called into the phone again out of hopefulness, "Hello? Oh for christ's sake…" she flipped the phone off and tossed it uselessly into the empty passenger seat, wondering where he'd phoned her from, as she muttered a short string of prayers and profanities that he was somewhere safe. Despite the driving rain she flicked the wipers on high and kept heading for the office. She wasn't far from CSI when he'd called. She could make it that far.

The seconds that ticked past reeked havoc on his nerves as he paced around the lobby never straying far from that last unlocked door.

"Lieutenant?" A young uniformed officer caught his attention, "The winds are picking up. We really ought to lock up now…" The officer watched him as Horatio looked with a determined faith out towards the parking lot. "I don't think anyone else is coming, sir." Horatio swallowed his anxiety knowing the young man was just trying to do his job.

"Humor me." He said while shooting him a look. No sooner had he spoken then the lights flickered again. Something they'd been doing for a while now. Horatio hadn't really noticed, though it seemed to unnerve a few others waiting out the storm. He strained his eyes to look through the down pour and small amounts of passing debris, not really decided on what he wanted or didn't want to find out there. Finally, with a tense sigh, he gave in and left his post by the doorway, fiddling with his glasses as he went. Calleigh Duquesne was a smart and more than capable woman, he thought, she didn't need him to save her from anything. He smiled slightly to himself when he recalled having seen her scold other men for trying to do just that. And he had to admit he'd been keeping an overly watchful eye on all of them since Tim. Still, his own assurances did little to calm him. He passed reception where the security camera footage was, rather unsteadily, playing on the monitors and glanced up only for a second. That's all it took.

"Officer!" He called to the young patrolman who was securing the door he'd walked away from, "Wait, wait!"

A small familiar jeep pulled up towards the cruisers aside the building. The driver covered themselves with a jacket rather unsuccessfully as they struggled to use the car door against the wind. Horatio recalled hearing the young patrol officer call to him as he stepped out into the storm.

The rain seemed to hit so hard it was difficult to tell between water and debris as well as which of the two was stinging her face. When she tried to look up towards the building that seemed so close, rain only blurred her vision, but in all her squinting she was sure she saw a figure. Then a voice.

"Calleigh!" He called, his volume fainted by the wind. She recognized it instantly. It was never an easy voice to forget. An moment later he was beside her and the rain seemed to yield. In all truth it hadn't but his jacket was larger than the small blazer she had and it was now wrapped around her, along with his arm, as he ushered her inside. Together they staggered into the building, tracking puddles of the water that had soaked them. The patrolman had waited anxiously and fastened the door when they entered. Calleigh was still holding his jacket about her as she tried to untangle her hair and clear it from her face. "Are you alright?" He asked shaking the rain from his sleeves.

"Yah, I'm um…" Her words faltered when she looked up at him. His hair was wet and quite out of place hanging slightly over his forehead, making him look boyish as he stood waiting for her answer, "I'm good, I'm alright." Though she saw him smile when she responded she was really watching the beads of water that had crept down his temple and were currently traveling the curve of his jaw. He took her hand and offered up a nearby chair, while looking over her face.

"Are you sure?" He pressed, his eyes affix to something around her forehead. She reached up with a light touch to find she had small scratches peppering the right side of her face.

"Oh, debris must've—I'm fine. Though we could both use a towel." There was a tension in her voice that made her answer less believable and he waited patiently with his head cocked gently to one side to hear the full story. "I just… I never found my Dad. He wasn't at home and I know I'm probably just worrying but…"

"If he went to a shelter…" Horatio said looking past her a moment, "Can you assume which shelter it might be?"

"There's three that he'd probably head to, they're in his area, I checked one… But I ran out of time. He's most likely to be at the evacuations centers set up at the Greynolds Park Learning Center or Miami Shores Elementary."

"Well, that'll narrow it down. Give me a minute, then we'll see about some towels." He said with a smile and passed by her towards the uniformed officer. "Excuse me officer…I'm sorry I didn't catch your name."

"Leary, what can I do for you Sir?"

"Can you still get through to dispatch on your radio?"

"Yes sir, there some static but it's workin'."

"May I?"

Calleigh watched him wondering by what luck he'd come to wait out the storm here of all places. She chuckled thinking he probably had an excuse too. Something along the lines of 'no better time to catch up on paperwork' she mused. Another large dip in the power drew her attention. The lights returned several seconds later but their flickering foreshadowed what might become of them. When Horatio returned to her he extended his hand to help her from her seat with a pleasant smile.

"There are officers at both shelters checking for your father." He assured, "They'll contact Officer Leary over there when they find him."

"Thank you."

"Not a problem." They both fell silent, just holding one another's gaze until everything blinked out. There was a short air of hesitance as the occupants of CSI waited, anticipating the lights to return. Nothing.

"Well…" Calleigh said in the darkness to which her eyes were slowly adjusting. "I don't think they're coming back…" She looked towards where she'd last seen the ceiling as she spoke.

"Not for a while at least…" Horatio was wide eyed though he could only make out the dimmest shadow of Calleigh.

"Can you see anything?" She asked.

"A little bit."

"Good!" She said sounding uplifted, "Me too, c'mon…but not too fast… we don't want to walk into something."

"Where are we-" He began.

"Where do you think we're going? Towels remember."