"Are you still there?" Calleigh asked several paces down the hall. "Horatio you walk too quietly, are you-" Her words were cut short by her quick and almost squeaky gasp when Horatio took her arm. "You could have just answered!" She scolded; Horatio chuckled realizing he'd made her jump.

"Sorry."

"You are not."

"Not really." He admitted, "But I had an idea." Holding her arm he redirected them and began slowly along the near wall with his free hand out, waiting to find the door handle.

"What idea?" She asked ever suspicious.

"You'll see."

"Is this to try to scare me again?" She waited impatiently for an answer but his silence only encouraged her growing caution. "Well?"

"Here we are." They entered the lab together and he let go her arm.

"Horatio?" She asked again when he'd sneaked off once more. She listened intently and though she could place his general direction, due to his shuffling around, she couldn't pin point him. "I swear if you sneak up on me again…" Everything was quiet again before a familiar click cast a focused beam of light over his face. Even in the hard shadows of his new found flashlight she could tell he was looking quite pleased with himself.

"Ye of little faith."

"You could have just told me." She chided though she couldn't hide her smile.

"But that wouldn't have been nearly as much fun."

Stepping back into the hallway the glow of another flashlight poured down on them and they squinted to see the face behind the light.

"Lieutenant Caine?" It was officer Leary again, their helpful patrolman. "Officers at the Greynolds Park evacuation center located Mr. Kenwall Duquesne."

"Oh, he's there!" Calleigh said in a sigh of relief.

"Thank you officer, you've been a great help."

"No problem, Sir." Leary turned and headed back to the lobby where he'd come from. It came to Horatio's attention that both he and Calleigh were watching him leave, as though anticipating their chance to be alone again. Soon Leary's flashlight was out of sight.

"Thank you, for that." Calleigh said with quiet sincerity. "Helping me find him."

"My pleasure." They were standing inches apart and despite the chill from their wet clothes neither seemed concerned or even aware of any dip in temperature. The more he stood there watching her, watching him, the more eager he began to throw professionalism to the wind. "So…towels?" He asked breaking their silent looks.

"Right, towels."

The dark walk to the locker room was proven easy with the aid of a flashlight, which Horatio passed off to Calleigh as he reached for two clean towels. Dropping one to the bench he held the other open for her. Calleigh shimmied out of his sopping jacket and he wrapped the towel about her.

"Thanks for the jacket." She smiled and began drying her hair.

"No problem." He hung the wet article in his locker, which was entirely bare save another shirt. She knew him as that locker's owner only because of the name plates on each, though she'd never seen him use it; his hours always made him first to come and last to leave. She caught her breath a moment when she realized he was taking his shirt off. One button after the other the wet material fell open and she wished the damn lights would come back on already, as the darkness hindered her otherwise fantastic view. Catching herself starring she tried to resume drying her hair, and minding her own business, but her eyes always traveled magnetically back to him. Especially now that he stood shirtless and toweling the dampness from his skin. As he remained facing his locker she never saw as much as she'd hoped, though what she had seen was more than enough to fuel a fire. With his dry shirt on he turned to see her again and Calleigh quickly drew her eyes away feigning interest in her own locker. It wasn't until she opened it that she remembered the spare clothes she'd kept in there since a time when a lab accident sent her home to change.

"Oh, how handy." She said with a smile, before realizing she couldn't just change in front of him, could she? She glanced at Horatio who seemed suddenly struck with slight embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, I'll let you…" He trailed off turning for the door to give her privacy. Calleigh chuckled at him, a cute little laugh that made him smile back at her. Not that either would admit it, but she giggled and he was almost certain his heart skipped.

"It's alright, so long as you promise not to peek." With that he clicked the flashlight off and again everything went dark, except the pleasant sound of her laughter, something that was always a beacon to him.

"I promise."

He could hear wet clothes ruffling, not that he could pin point exactly where she was anymore, amidst the encompassing dark.

"You know..." She started, "We never did get a chance to speak this morning."

"Mmhm."

"And I really wanted us to talk—are you sure you can't see?"

"You have my word." He reached out carefully and found the bench to take a seat for their conversation, which let out a small creak. Calleigh jumped.

"What was that?" She snapped, and Horatio chuckled.

"Just me, what did you want to talk about."

"Well…" She began cautiously while pulling her dry tank top on, "This morning Stetler was talking about you going to that counseling session…"

"Oh… right." Horatio said recalling this morning's brief war of words. "I am sorry you had to see that, Stetler and I just-"

"No, it's not that, I don't get along well with Stetler either." She interrupted refusing to let him apologize for something she found entirely justified. Stuffing her wet clothes into her locker she slipped into a dry pair of pants, and shut the locker door.

"Even so. It wasn't particularly professional of me."

"We can't always be professional." She said in a voice that illustrated her smile in his minds eye. "I'm done."

"Done? Oh, done, right." He clicked the flashlight back on and saw the smile he had been picturing as she took a seat beside him.

"But about Stetler… Horatio. You do remember what he said right? About suspending you?"

"Yes." He said fighting down some serious agitation.

"Well…" She said anxiously, "You're going to go aren't you? To the counseling session?"

"No, I don't think so."

"And what of Rick? And your job? What's going to happen, Horatio? Don't you care about any of that?" Briefly she lost control of her calm and sweet tone; as her clear concern surfaced her voice turned into a desperate and heated demand for answers. Had he no concern for what might happen if he wasn't there for the rest of them? For her?

"I do."

"Then why is it even a question! I know you don't want to let him win and I don't want to see him with the upper hand any more than you do but please, Horatio, go to this session if it will shut him up."

"Calleigh, I appreciate your concern for my job-"

"It's not just concern for your job." Calleigh sighed.

"But I do not need counseling."

She had hoped that she could have convinced him to go without the conversation going this far.

"Are you sure about that?" She asked gently, preparing for the worst of reactions.

"What?" He said looking up at her with disbelief. Of all the people he thought would be behind him Calleigh was number one on that list.

"Are you sure you couldn't benefit from it?" She asked again making sure her tone was as sweet and as sympathetic as she could manage.

"Yes, I'm sure. Why are you asking me this?"

"Because… because Horatio, you have been…different lately. And I know you haven't slept well and I know you're still not eating-"

"How have I been different?"

"How many times have you come to me Horatio? In all the time I've known you you've never come to me before. And since Tim...since Tim left us you've come to me again and again. Yet when we spoke while John was in interrogation you couldn't get away fast enough, I don't know what's going on inside of you, but I know you blame yourself still… maybe the session might help you. Maybe you could stand to talk about it."

"You don't believe me."

"I do Horatio, I do, but I don't think one counseling session would hurt. I'm asking you, please go."

"I don't need counseling." He insisted. How could she of all people not see that? How could she not know? "I had something better."

"Something better Well, I'd really like to know what that is Horatio because it doesn't seem to be working too well. You can't go without sleep forever."

Horatio looked at her sadly, longingly, not understanding why she couldn't see it. Why she didn't think he was doing alright, so long as he had her to turn to, he didn't think he'd cave. Calleigh, apparently, did see it that way. He shook his head silently.

"I'm sorry I bothered you with this, but I won't give Stetler that. And I apologize for any trouble I've caused you… and John." He stood up as he spoke, but Calleigh did too, stepping over the bench to stand near him without obstacles.

"Don't do that. Don't blame yourself for John and I. That was a long time coming and I never meant to put you in the middle of that." Horatio hung his head a moment and looked as though he was about to speak again though Calleigh cut him off. "And you're not walking out of this room until you tell me what your 'something better' is. If you're not going to look after yourself Horatio Caine, someone ought to be. Now you tell me what you think is better." Her stern voice and single rigid finger pointing him in the chest as she spoke had nearly backed him into the locker row behind him, but despite her most terrible frustration her eyes held only concern. Of all the anger he'd ever seen in her, he'd never once seen it in her eyes while she was looking at him. The room filled with silence as heavy as the darkness around them as he gathered the courage he needed to tell her the truth.

"You." The word was small and quiet as he smiled sadly down at her.

"Me? Me what?"

"You. You're better… I don't need counseling, or time off, or even anyone's sympathy if I've got you." His confession seemed to melt her stern look, as her shoulders dropped slightly and her frustration dissolved. "I didn't intend for you to feel as though this was just about me grieving, but we lost him Calleigh, so suddenly and I can help but feel as though I could lose you just as quickly. I couldn't let that happen without at least trying...Seeing if we might have something together. But…if you're telling me, there's nothing…" Calleigh was lost briefly as she struggled to believe her own ears, until her mind suddenly caught up with things. "And if you're telling me I can't keep turning to you, then I'll stop-"

"No!" She said more demandingly than she had intended, "No, Horatio. Lord no!" With that she threw her arms around him. "I didn't realize I was…Oh just c'mere." Calleigh reached up and grabbed the collar of his shirt pulling him down, as she leaned up on her toes to meet him, kissing him with all the want she'd been bottling up since the first day he'd hired her as his bullet girl.

"Calleigh, this is…"

"Too good to last?" She finished his sentence and he nodded in agreement. "I know, but we can enjoy it can't we? At least until the power comes back." She smiled beautifully at him and Horatio was powerless to do little more than smile back. With a familiar click, the flashlight went out.