Chapter 8.2
45 minutes later, or better said after one complete walk through the park, Calleigh was sitting on one of the wooden benches while Elena was taking a nap in her chair. Horatio had left them a few minutes ago in order to buy them some ice cream from a near iceman and before Calleigh could have stopped him, he had already been on his way. So all she could do now was wait for him while reliving the last hour in her mind.
What had started as a work out for her had ended in a very enjoyable walk with Horatio and Elena. Because instead of leaving them on their own, she had decided to spend the time with them and she was pretty sure that Horatio hadn't minded it at all. She knew what it felt like to have no one to talk to at home and even though Horatio had his daughter, it wasn't the same as with another adult.
Of course she had eyed him secretly during their walk and had noticed a slight change in his behavior. He seemed to be less stressed, his shoulders weren't as slumped as they had been in the last few months, there had been a little spring in his step and he had laughed more than he had done before. She dearly hoped that it had something to do with their conversation from last night and that he actually started to live again, namely for himself and not only for Elena. And if she had helped him with that, she was very happy. She knew that he had never been a very social man but that he tended to be on his own, but after Marisol's death he had gone more and more into his shell. So the fact that he had – hopefully - enjoyed her presence as much as she had his, warmed her heart and showed her once again that she was falling for him.
"And this is anything but good," she thought to herself and bend forward to have a look at Elena, who was still sleeping peacefully. Calleigh wasn't about to say that she loved Elena like her own, but she had to admit that this young lady had captured her heart as much as her father had. She enjoyed spending time with them, like a family, and this made the situation even harder for her.
Sighing, she leaned back again and turned her head in the hope to spot the reason for the turmoil of her feelings. She still couldn't believe that Horatio Caine actually ate ice cream, because he just didn't seem to be the ice cream type. Then again, she couldn't say what kind of type he was anyway. Due to his own chosen solitude and the fact that team had never pushed him to spend time with them, it was hard to say what he liked and what he didn't. What kind of hobbies did he like? What was his favorite food? Favorite drink? What was he doing in his free time? What was his favorite book?
She could answer all these questions from everyone in the team, but not from Horatio. He was like a living mystery and now that she had started to – albeit slowly - discover a new facet here and there that made him the man she knew, she became a bit addicted. She wanted to get to know the real Horatio Caine and not only Lt. Caine who she knew from the lab. She was convinced that the man would be a very interesting contemporary.
"I hope you didn't have to wait for so long," Horatio interrupted her thoughts from behind and walked around the bench with two ice cream tubs in his hands.
"Stop scaring me like that," she chided him and really hadn't heard him approaching.
"Sorry, but you were pretty out of it," he said sheepishly and presented her one tub. "I hope you accept this as an apology for…scaring you and for interrupting your plans on more than one occasion," he continued and sat down next to her.
"But just once," she smiled and looked at her ice cream. "What do you mean by 'interrupting your plans'?" she asked him curiously.
"Well…yesterday you had to change your plans for the day," he shrugged and spooned some of his ice cream, "and instead of jogging you went for a walk with me and Ellie today. That's what I mean. It seems like I have a talent of interrupting you."
"Well I don't mind interruptions when they're so nice," she smiled at him. "So like I told you yesterday and this morning, you didn't interrupt anything and I had a great time thanks to you and Elena. So no more apologies please, okay?"
"Okay," he answered softly and ate his ice cream. He just had a hard to time to accept help and being somehow dependent on other people's goodwill.
"So what did you bring me?" she asked him and tried to change the subject, because she saw that he was a bit self-conscious; also a very new side of him.
"Why don't you try it out?" he gave her a small smile and hoped that he had chosen some flavors after her liking.
"Okay," she drawled and took the first bite. "Ah that's easy," she smiled and licked her lips. "it's pistachio, right?"
"Very good, yes. I hope you like it?"
"Definitely, it's one of my favorite flavors actually," she reassured him before she tried the other. "I know that I tasted it before," she mumbled to herself and stick out her tongue to him, because he was enjoying that too much for her liking. "Okay, great ice man, what is it?"
"Blackberry," he answered her truthfully and enjoyed his own ice cream, satisfied that she seemed to like his choices.
"Ah..," she nodded in recognition. "Well it's very good, thank you."
"You're very welcome, Calleigh."
"So what do you have? I can see that it's chocolate, but what's the other?" she asked intrigued.
"Banana, it's chocolate and banana actually."
"Chocolate and banana?" she asked surprised. "My, that's a bold combination." Especially for Horatio Caine. She had thought about something mundane like vanilla, but banana?
Noticing her disbelieving face, he just sighed and held out his tub for her. "It's the opposite in fact. Chocolate and banana harmonize very well together. Have a try," he urged her.
"Are you sure?" She asked and when he nodded she did as she was told.
"So? What do you think?"
"It's…it's actually really good," she said, the surprise clearly notable.
"See? I told you so," he nodded satisfied and continued eating.
"Yeah, yeah" she laughed and enjoyed her snack. "So how did you discover this combination?" she asked.
Horatio just shrugged in response. "I like ice cream a lot and am not afraid to try something new."
And again she had learned something new about him today. "To be honest I never picked you for the typical ice cream type of guy," she admitted.
"Well there are a lot of things people don't know about me," he answered her secretively. For example the fact that he had what people called a sweet tooth. He didn't spread around this fact and only a very few people know about it actually, but he loved sweets in any way.
Realizing that he wasn't about to reveal more and that every probing question would force him away, Calleigh decided to let it go for now. She had learned so much in the last two days that she didn't want to appear greedy. "I'm sure there are," she just smiled and scooped her ice cream. His secrets were safe with her that was for sure.
Horatio nodded in acceptance and grinned when he saw that Elena had woken up during their small talk. "Hey there, Ellie," he said and put the tub onto the bench in order to lift her out of the chair. "Did you have a nice nap?" he asked her and kissed her temple.
Elena was still a bit sleepy and rubbed her eyes, but she certainly didn't want to miss anything more about what the adults have been doing. Horatio had noticed that for the last days and had often been surprised when Elena had followed him through the house, when he had thought he could leave her on the floor instead of the playpen. It really seemed like she wanted to know what he was doing every second.
"Well fresh air can have this effect," Cal laughed and found this picture highly adorable.
"Yeah, it's either that or the fact that she'd found out about the ice cream," Horatio grinned and lifted her on his lap. "Right, Ellie? You don't like to be left out, huh?" he said and grabbed his tub again, which attracted Ellie's attention immediately.
"Oooooohhh," she cooed and reached for the tub, but this time Horatio was quick enough. He didn't want to relive the whole sunglasses-in-death-grip situation again.
"You want to try that out, right Sweetness?" he talked to her and scooped up a bit from the already melted ice cream. "Mhmmm that's yummy," he cooed and laughed heartedly when Elena became wide-eyed and struggled with her arms.
"It seems to me that you aren't the only Caine in the family who loves ice cream," Calleigh commented and was over the moon with this. This would have been the perfect scene for a photo, but she didn't have her camera with her. Sometimes life was just unfair.
"You're probably right about that," Horatio agreed and fed his daughter again. He knew that it wasn't healthy for a baby to eat too many sweets, but he was sure that a few tiny spoons of molten ice cream wouldn't do any harm. "We just shouldn't tell that to uncle Eric, or he will feed you with sweets the next time he babysits you, right Ellie?" he laughed.
"Oh I'm sure he wouldn't do that," Calleigh tried to defend her friend. "He's a good uncle, he's responsible and acts like an adult and...," she stopped and thought about what she had just said. "Well we probably shouldn't tell him," she concluded and rolled her eyes when Horatio smirked at her. "But he's a great uncle," she persisted and Horatio couldn't agree more.
"He definitely is and he loves Elena very much," Horatio nodded. "And I've been joking, I'm sure that he wouldn't feed her with sweets, because if his mother finds out, she'll pull him by his ears and gives him a right royal dressing down." All Delko women had quite a temper and no man stood a chance against them.
"Well it's almost worth to see, but no…not with Elena as our bait," Cal said and threw her and now also Horatio's empty tub into a near garbage can. "Thanks again for this wonderful snack."
"Well that was the least I could do," he smiled and when he noticed the time, he knew that they needed to get home because Elena would get hungry soon and in fact, so did he. "And I'm sorry if we have to cut this short, but I think Elena and I need to get home, it's almost dinner time for us," he apologized, but was stopped by Calleigh immediately.
"You don't have to be sorry, Horatio. I need to get home too. Why don't I accompany you two to the parking lot? You're here with the car, aren't you?"
"Oh we definitely are," he said and put Elena back into the chair. As much as he enjoyed walking in a park, he disliked walking along a busy street. "Aren't you too?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe," she drawled and waited for the two to get ready so they could make their way to their cars.
"I thought so," he chuckled. "I'm very happy that we met here, Cal. I had a great time today." He needed to tell her that, because it was the truth. Calleigh was a nice company to have and she actually made him forget about all the bad things in his life, even if it was just for a few hours.
"Me too, Handsome, me too," she replied and actually didn't want to let it end, but knew that there was no way to ask him if she should go home with them. She was just a friend after all and she didn't want to scare him away. Their friendship was far too precious for that. She needed to show him that he could trust her and that she wouldn't hurt him like others had done before. The question was just how and if he had any interest in her at all. But for now, she just enjoyed his company to its fullest and was looking forward what the future would bring.
Tbc
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