AN: Thanks for the support, here is the next chapter.

Chapter 6: Taking a Turn

Four Months later

September, 2010

Before Shift

Sitting at the conference table in the break room, Calleigh finished her phone conversation before she sighed as she removed her phone from her ear, and Natalia, who had walked in the room and heard her, asked. "What's up?"

"Horatio and I had plans for dinner and a movie night, but our back up sitter called in sick."

With the teenagers out of the house and starting college now, Calleigh and Horatio agreed that they wouldn't always ask them to watch their younger siblings every time they wanted to have a date night, not wanting to disturb them too much from actually having a college life, so after months of searching, they found the perfect person when they don't want to ask their older kids.

Natalia nodded in understanding before suggesting. "Well, if you want, you can drop them off at my place."

Calleigh started to smile as she asked. "You sure?"

Natalia smiled. "I would be happy to watch them for you."

"Ok, I'll get back to you after I talk to Horatio."

As Natalia nodded one more time, Horatio heard the last part of what his wife said and asked. "Talk to Horatio about what?"

Natalia watched the married couple look at one another with love in their eyes as Calleigh replied. "Mattie called in sick, so Natalia had offered to watch Anthony and Jenny tonight."

Horatio looked at Natalia with a smile. "Thank you."

Natalia waved it off. "No problem."

Horatio nodded while he sat down, then not long after Natalia sat down, Eric and Ryan joined the team before Horatio passed out the assignments so they could get to work.

Later that Night

Lindsey walked out of the bathroom that was in their dorm room with a smile as she grabbed her jacket from her bed. "You sure you don't want to go to the movies with Nick and I?"

Nicole, who was sitting at her desk, sighed and shook her head. "I can't, I have a paper to do."

Lindsey nodded in understanding. "Ok, I'll see you later."

As she started to walk towards the door, Nicole spoke again, not able to stop herself. "And do I need to remind you which brother you are dating?"

Lindsey turned around and looked at her best friend with confusion, plus a little hurt. "What!? What do meant by that?"

Nicole turned her office chair around and continued. "It's just you two have been spending a lot of time together, even when I'm not around."

She then gave her best friend a 'duh' look. "Well, yeah, because we are really good friends, you've known this." She then smirked a little. "And honestly, I didn't know I needed your supervision to hang out with him."

Nicole sighed and shook her head. "I'm just worried ok, we are at an age where feelings/emotions can get confusing and out of control at times, and I don't..."

Lindsey cuts her off. "I know where my heart belongs, and that's not changing. I only see Nick as my friend." She then shyly ends with. "And maybe in the future I can add Brother-in law, but that's it, you have nothing to worry about with me."

Nicole smiled at the 'brother-in law' comment before she lost her smile and continued. "And what about Nick's feelings for you? I don't know, lately I've been sensing something on his..."

Lindsey cuts her off again, remembering their conversation they had. "It's nothing, we've talked about this months ago."

"And you're sure it has been resolved? Because if there is a second guessing moment, maybe you two need to talk again."

"I'm sure we are still on the same page."

Nicole sighed as she moved her chair back so she was looking back down at her English book. "I hope so, I just don't want anybody to get hurt. Have a nice evening."

Lindsey nodded, even though Nicole didn't see her, as she walked towards the door. "And you too, make sure you get out of the room a little tonight, I would hate for you to be studying on a Friday." Then after Lindsey walked out of the room and was now standing in the hall, she stopped and thought about Nicole's words regarding Nick for a second, and maybe her best friend did have a point, while it wasn't in a creepy way, she's noticed a few lingering looks lately, and he did look a little happier to see her every time they met up to hang out.

Lindsey took a breath before continuing her walk, it looked like they do needed to have a conversation, she just didn't want to lose him as her friend. He's been an amazing friend through the years, especially this last one, but she couldn't have him thinking there was any shot that anything could happen. She was fully committed to one man, and one man only.

30 minutes later

After about 10 minutes of reading the same sentence, Nicole sighed as she placed her pencil down and ran her hand over her eyes. Being a bookworm pretty much since she was old enough to go to school, hence one of the reasons why she ended up being valedictorian, she never had a problem with school work. But for some reason at this moment she just couldn't concentrate, her mind was all over the place, and it wasn't just one thing, it was a bunch of random things.

She sighed again and pushed her chair back a little before she stood up and stretched while thinking. 'Maybe Lindsey's right, I should go out and enjoy a little fresh air.'

As she was lowering her arms to her side, she heard something, like a piece of paper/flyer slip under her door while a male voice was yelling down the dorm hall about some kind of party.

Curious, she walked over to the door, bent down and picked up the flyer, showing an address to a frat house.
Now normally, she wouldn't be caught dead at a party like this, not that she didn't like to have fun or enjoy herself from time to time, but usually she would only go to a party if she knew most if not all the people there, or at least had a group that she knew surrounding her, and going to something like this she'll certainly be out of her comfort zone. But then again this was college, and she should try new things, right?

As that thought kept going over her head a few times, she finally made her decision, deciding it was time to have a little fun, so she walked over to her bed to get her jacket, then got her purse and the keys to the vehicle that Kyle has let the twins borrow, from the desk before walking out of the room, then closed the door before walking down the hall.

After picking the kids up at daycare after work, then dropping them off at Natalia's a few hours later, Calleigh walked back into the house with the smell of dinner in the air, so she smiled as she placed her purse and jacket on the coat hanger before walking towards the kitchen.

When she got there, she stood in the doorway to see her husband with his back towards her, cooking, a sight she'll never get tired of.

Years ago when she had first tried his cooking, she had to admit she was quite surprised that it was good, and even more surprised when she learned that he basically taught himself.

She smiled a little wider as she walked into the room, then she wrapped her arms around his waist when she was near, and he smiled as he stopped what he was doing for a minute. "Hi sweetheart."

"Hi handsome, what you are cooking is smelling delicious."

He moved the wooden spoon to the spaghetti sauce, dipped some on it before turning around and holing it to her mouth. "See if the taste is just as delicious."

Her green eyes bright, she replied. "Gladly."

She took the sauce off the spoon with her mouth, tasted it, and swallowed it before licking her lips with her eyes closed. "Yep, even better." She opened her eyes and cupped his cheek. "I think you outdid yourself tonight."

He smiled with pride. "Thank you, sweetheart."

"You're very welcome."

They kissed softly before his concentration went back to the food while she got the wine and set up the table, both looking forward to this homemade dinner date they had planned.

Standing in the living room at the frat house, Bryan was talking to Ashley and their friends, then as they were laughing, Bryan saw something he never thought he would ever see, Nicole walking inside a frat house. He knew how she felt about parties like this, so to see her there, shocked him. But also knowing what could happen with parties like this, there was no way he was taking his eyes of her, and he was almost going to go over to her, but it wasn't like he could tell her she shouldn't be here, she had every right, just like everybody else.

As he thought that, she was going to turn her body so she could look towards the living room, when a young man started speaking to her, making her stop her movements.

"Hi, I'm Patrick."

Patrick, while looking pretty much average with brown hair and brown eyes, wasn't that bad looking at all. In fact, he also looked kind, so she thought she would be ok, and her tense feeling died down a little as she spoke with a small smile. "Hi, I'm..."

He cuts her off with a smile. "Nicole, I know, we have English together, I sit behind you."

With school still being in its early days, she hadn't really had time to get to know her classmates, so she shyly shook her head and replied. "I'm sorry, I didn't..."

He shook off her embarrassment. "It's no problem." As she nodded in relief, he continued after clearing his throat. "So, would you like a drink?"

There was a pause before she asked. "Umm, is it ok if I have a soda?"

He nodded with a chuckle. "Of course, follow me."

Nicole nodded before following Patrick to the left, while Bryan watched them from the right, which made him distracted on what Ashley was saying, so she asked as she placed her hand on Bryan's arm. "You're not even listening to me, what's got you so distracted?"

He looked at the other woman and asked. "Huh? What?"

She continued with a smile as she turned her head. "I asked what has gotten you so..." Then she trailed off when she saw Nicole in the dinning room area as she was talking to other students. "I see." She then looked at Bryan again before asking. "You want to go say hi?"

A part of him did, but the other part knew he would hurt Ashley, and he didn't want to do that to her, so he shook his head and looked at her with a small smile. "It's ok."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm here with you, it's ok. Continue."

She nodded again before continuing, and while his attention was on Ashley, he couldn't help but sneak a few peaks here and there towards Nicole's way.

No more than 10 minutes had passed when Bryan noticed something a little different with Nicole during one of his sneak peaks. She had her hand up to her forehead and the guy that had met her at the door had his arm around her, in what seemed like a way to keep her standing up than anything else, then the second they started walking towards the stairs to go up them, Bryan saw her sway, and something went off in him, so without even thinking on his actions, he sits his red cup down on the coffee table and headed in her direction as his voice boomed through the opened area. "Where do you think you are taking her? And what did you do to her drink?"

Immediately the music and talking had stopped as Nicole looked a little confused and dazed. "Bryan, what are you doing here?"

Before Bryan could speak, Patrick, who still had his arm around her, smiled at him. "It's really none of your business, man."

Once again before Bryan could speak, Nicole spoke as she got dizzy again. "I'm not feeling too well."

Patrick brought her closer to him and whispered in her ear. "You'll be fine in a minute, I'll take really good care of you."

Bryan saw red in that moment and he stepped up to him. "Like hell you will."

Seeing the look in Bryan's eyes, Patrick relaxed his grip on Nicole, and Nicole, while dizzy as her head continue to spin, started to quickly, yet stumbled, out of house, while Bryan took a hold of his shirt and said. "If I hear you've ever done this before and ever do it again, it will be one of the worst days of your life." Bryan then released the other man roughly, making him stumble backwards a little but keeping his balance at the end, before finishing in a hard tone. "Get out of here, and I better not see your face again." Then not even paying attention to the people looking at him, he walked outside and saw Nicole on her hands and knees getting sick in the grassy front yard, so he walked up to her and kneeled down before whispering softly. "You ok?"

She nodded as she closed her eyes, embarrassed and a little scared. "Yeah, I think so."

"Stay right here, I'll be back in a minute."

She just nodded as he stood up, then as he turned around, he saw Ashley on the front deck, so he walked up to her. "I'm sorry Ashley, but..."

She cuts him off with a small smile. "It's ok, I understand."

He pulls his keys out of his pocket and hands them to her. "Can you drive my vehicle back to my dorm?"

"Yeah, no problem."

"Ok, be safe."

"I will, and I'll see you later."

He nodded before he turned around and headed back towards Nicole, then helped her up and guided her to her vehicle as she had tears in her eyes. "I can't believe I trusted him, he seemed so nice." Before he could speak, she looked over at him and said softly. "I guess I forgot that not all men are as sweet as you." Then more tears came as she finished. "Thank you for being there for me."

They stop at the passenger side door, and not even thinking about it, he brought her in his arms and whispered softly as he held back the shivers while thinking what could have happened to her had he not been there. "I always will be."

Three hours later

Once dinner was done making and eaten, the dishes taken care of, Horatio and Calleigh headed for the living room to enjoy their movie part of their date, but after it reached its half an hour mark, their attention turned to themselves and they were laying on the couch, kissing, smiling and laughing, just letting the time slip away from them, and as his hand slipped under her shirt, touching her stomach, she smiled against his lips before pulling back slightly. "You know if you didn't want to watch the movie, we could have just skipped that part of our date."

He smiled in return, and after a small peck on the lips, he pulled back and replied with concern. "I'm sorry, if..."

She cuts him off while cupping her cheek. "Oh, I'm not complaining. I'm just saying we could have been a lot further than we currently are."

He smiled again, his eyes getting a little darker as he leaned down to kiss her, but right as their lips touched, his phone started to ring, making them both sigh a little before he pulled back again. "I better get that."

She nodded as they moved so they were now sitting up on the couch, then he reached for his phone that was on the coffee table and answered it in his usual greeting. "Caine." There was a pause before a tension came over him as he stood up from the couch quickly. "Is he ok?" Calleigh looked up at him in concern, her heart racing as she saw him pacing with a hand up to his forehead.

When he was finally done with the conversation, which he was now in the middle of the living room with his back towards her, Calleigh asked after clearing her throat. "Horatio, what's going on? What happened? Who is 'he' you referred to?"

Horatio took a moment before he turned to look at her, and a sadness/fearful look was on full display, making her heart break as she got up from the couch and went right to him to cup his cheek, and after another moment, he spoke softly, almost like he was still in shock. "It's Kyle, something bad happened, and now he's in the hospital, fighting for his life."

Calleigh gasped, then with tears in her eyes, she wrapped her arms around him, holding him as he was slowly breaking down each second that went by.

AN: More to come soon. Thanks for reading and please review.