Calleigh was holding Eric's hand tightly as they went to see Frankie, not caring that Ryan was staring a bit. After all, they had tried to be subtle as far as work was concerned up until now. Jorge and Jose Fuentes had both surrendered in the face of overwhelming evidence and admitted their parts in the attempted murder. Both would be going away for a long time. The attempted murder of a federal agent, as Frankie was only nominally attached to the MDPD, bore a hefty sentence. Eric paused outside ICU.

"Cal, what's wrong? You've been getting tenser as we got closer. Is there something wrong?"

Calleigh shrugged awkwardly. "I just don't know if Horatio's right for Frankie. I don't want to see her hurt again." Ryan, to Eric's amusement, looked slightly stunned at that.

The Cuban decided it was time for a team pep talk. "Look guys, Horatio really cares for her, and she must feel the same, otherwise she wouldn't have been so upset. Let's just give them a chance, just like Horatio gave us a chance. Oh, and Ryan, try to stop looking so shocked, you are meant to be a CSI and good at stuff like this!" The younger man flushed at that, but Eric was more pleased to see Calleigh relax and nod in agreement.

Even Calleigh, whatever doubts she still had, couldn't help but smile as she saw the tenderness on Horatio's face as he sat talking quietly with Frankie. They were holding hands tightly, both looking as though they never wanted the other to let go. Frankie looked up and smiled brightly at them as they filed into the room.

"Hey guys, good to see you. I'm not sure we have enough chairs for everyone though," she said, frowning. There were only three chairs in the room, but Horatio solved the problem quickly by moving to sit on the bed with Frankie, leaning back against the pillows with her, his arm naturally going around her shoulders in a protective gesture that again made Calleigh smile.

"So how are you feeling?" Eric asked once everyone had sat down.

Frankie grinned. "Not too bad, all things considered." It escaped no one there that Horatio tightened his hold on her for a moment.

Horatio, unsurprisingly, was thinking about the case. "Did they both confess?"

Calleigh nodded as Ryan answered, "Yeah, they didn't really have much choice. We have so much evidence against them, their lawyers advised them to co-operate and plead guilty to get a lighter sentence."

Eric snorted with laughter. "That and Jorge Fuentes swears he's going to have nightmares for the rest of his life. He'd confess to anything as long as we keep him away from Horatio. If Tripp and I hadn't convinced him that nothing happened, I think he'd be suing you H for emotional trauma! I've never seen anyone so scared."

Horatio fidgeted uncomfortably, not wanting to remember the almost uncontrollable, primeval urge to kill. Frankie raised an interrogatory eyebrow. "What did you do?"

"Nothing really," he hedged, hoping to change the subject. "How's the Barrio case coming along?"

While Ryan, Eric and Horatio talked shop, Calleigh and Frankie had a brief, silent conversation. Frankie rolled her eyes at Horatio's obvious diversionary tactics, while Calleigh shook her head, grinning. Both started giggling at the same moment, making the men look at them strangely.

"What's so funny about the hit coming through on AFIS?" Eric asked, only succeeding in making the giggling fit worse.

When she had regained some control over herself, Frankie again caught Calleigh's eye and nodded. "Okay, guys, much though I love you all, could you give us some time for a girly chat? Trust me: you'll be bored by it anyway." The men left the room, none of them bothering to protest, although Horatio had to promise to bring something to eat when he came back. Apparently getting shot left you permanently hungry, as Frankie felt like she could eat a horse. Or perhaps it was just happiness.

"Chocolate cake for preference!" Frankie called out as he left. Then she turned to Calleigh. "Spill. What's the matter?"

"If you tell me, honestly, that everything's okay between you two, then nothing is the matter," the petite blonde told her seriously. "I'm just worried about you. I know how badly he hurt you, and when I found out it was Horatio who had messed you around, I was furious. You're going through a lot right now, I don't want you to have your heart broken again on top of that."

Frankie took her time before she answered. That she should have made such wonderful friends in six short months, to say nothing of Horatio coming into her life, was nothing less than a miracle. "Calleigh, I can say, hand on heart, that I have never been happier. Everything is better than okay between us. We've still got a lot to work through, but we're both reading off the same page now. We're going to be fine. Thank you though."

"For what?"

"Caring enough to make sure that I'm okay," Frankie replied, tears threatening to fall. "I never would have believed, if you'd told me six months ago, that I would find the best friends I've ever had in Miami, or someone like Horatio. I've been so lucky."

"Yeah, and those three bullets were just an added bonus," Calleigh added wryly.

Frankie laughed softly. "Exactly. So how are you and Eric? And do you know what Horatio did to Jorge Fuentes? Because that's one thing I'll never get out of him."

"You need to ask Eric for the details about that. He just says that Horatio scared the hell out of this guy. As for us, we're better than great ourselves. I think I've fallen in love with him." Calleigh said the last sentence faintly, as though she couldn't believe it herself.

"And are you going to tell him?"

"When the moment's right. We're coming up for our two month anniversary, so I thought I'd do something special. Maybe cook a special dinner at home, and see how the evening goes from there." Calleigh was blushing, not looking at Frankie.

"Two months? Has it been that long already?" Frankie marvelled at how life changed so quickly. Two months ago, she thought of Horatio as a particularly gorgeous but dull boss, whereas now…now she knew the real him. Or was starting to know the real him. Two months ago, she realised, was when she had started falling in love herself.


A/N: OK, we're nearly done now. All that's left is a couple of very fluffy chapters. And as a bonus for all the poor, patient EC fans who've lived on scraps and hints throughout this fic, one of those very fluffy chaps will be all EC. The other one, of course, will be Horatio and Frankie. If you hate excess fluff, be warned. It will get very fluffy.