Chapter 9.1

It was a quiet Saturday noon, when Horatio loaded the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. He had made himself a light lunch, just some stir fry because it was incredible muggy today. No wonder, since it had been raining since this morning and hadn't stopped only for a minute. And when he was talking about raining, it wasn't this nice type of rain where it would actually cool down the temperature, no it was more like the 'cats and dogs' type of rain, where every second outside without a jacket or an umbrella would wet you to the skin.

Actually, he had wanted to go outside and do some gardening, but luck hadn't been on his side. And even if it would stop raining now, the grass would be so wet, that it was actually more mud than anything else. Gardening was one of his secret hobbies. He loved spending time in his garden and work on it. Of course, most men liked mowing or painting the famous white picket fence, but Horatio actually loved planting different type of plants and in fact he also enjoyed raking and weeding the garden. The garden was his small refuge where he could unwind after a bad day at work and so the rain didn't suit in his plans at all.

Sighing, he grabbed Elena's small pink plate and the fitting pink spoon and put the items into the washer as well. His daughter was already the typical girl and loved everything that was pink or at least reddish.

"Guess that's why she's so fascinated about my hair," he thought to himself and closed the dish washer with a chuckle. With dread he thought about the future when Elena would be old enough to go shopping and everything she would be interested in were pink girly clothes. "I should probably send Eric or Mr. Wolfe with her," he smirked. They were wearing this color after all. He wasn't sure if this was 'en vogue' at the moment for men to wear pink, but for once in his life he was happy to have red hair. There was no way that he could follow this fashion trend. Not that he wanted to anyway.

"But then again, the boys would only try to flirt with other women," he mused and rolled his eyes. "Well then it has to be Frank or Rick. They're also wearing these colors." Just when he ended this line of thought he had to shudder. Rick and Frank weren't exactly perfect role models for fashion. When he thought about the strange combinations of shirts and loud ties, he pulled a face. No, there was no way that Elena would go shopping with them; he didn't want his daughter to look like a parrot.

"Well then it's me…," he sighed and had to laugh about himself. Elena was only seven months old and he was already thinking about going shopping. "You overdo things, Horatio," he admonished himself and smiled broadly when he heard the distinctive noise of small hands slapping against the tiled floor. Not to forget the laughing and babbling of a little curios girl who was searching for her daddy again.

"Oh Ellie," he grinned and turned around the exact moment where his daughter was turning the corner and entered the kitchen. "You little whirlwind," he chided her playfully and crouched down to gather her in his arms. "I told you that daddy has to clean the kitchen, hm?" he told her and lifted her up. "And I thought that you would stay in the living room for a few moments alone," he continued and got a laugh in response. "Yeah, I know you're curious about what daddy is doing all the time," he shook his head and could only wonder where she got her energy from. It must be from the Delko side of the family, because the Caines had always been rather calm and unhurried. But since she had started to crawl, Horatio had always to be on the go, because Ellie loved to explore the house.

Of course, Horatio had made the house baby-secure months ago, but when it came to his daughter, he had to be on guard. Just one moment of negligence and there would be a mishap. He had learned that first hand when Elena had found out that playing with the sword fern was a lot of fun. Not only ripping its leaves into pieces, but knock it over so you can get hold onto the flower soil and redecorate the living room's wallpaper.

It had reminded him of the early mural arts and as much as he was into human history, he didn't want to have it displayed in his own house. Therefore his only chance had been to put all plants onto the windowsill (after he had cleaned up the mess much to his daughter's dismay) so he could be sure to not let this happen again. Of course all his plants were nontoxic, but you never knew. What he knew though was that he learned something new every day, just like his daughter did.

"But as you can see Daddy has already finished his super interesting task," he told her and looked at the kitchen clock. "And you my little princess are already overdue for your nap," he added and knew only too well, that Ellie would be cantankerous if she didn't sleep after lunch. It had happened twice, because she had set her mind onto it that she would miss something very important while sleeping and Horatio hadn't stood a chance against her bullhead, which was also from her mother's side, he was sure.

"And I promise you that you won't miss anything special today, except of Daddy dying of boredom, because the rain has ruined his plans," he explained her while he carried her upstairs to her nursery.

***

Well Horatio hadn't died of boredom, but he wasn't in a happy mood either. He hated nothing more than having nothing to do. The TV program was as dull as the weather outside and he just couldn't concentrate on one of his many books; which was no surprise in fact, since he had planned to do some manual work and reading wasn't exactly considered as such.

So it was no surprise that he was now sitting on his couch with a faint cranky expression while Elena was sleeping peacefully upstairs in her nursery. Over and over again he drummed his fingers on his thigh and willed his mind to find some occupation and the more he thought about it, the less inspiration he got in response of course.

"I should probably just head to the lab," he sighed to himself, knowing that this was not an option. "But Elena is here…hmm…well I could take her with me," he mused. "When I'm just sitting in my office and do some paperwork…but I can't let her crawl around, you never know when Rick appears and I certainly don't want to give him any fuel for his tirades." Not that he was afraid of Rick Stetler, more like the opposite. He loved their verbal fights a lot, but just when it was about them and the way Horatio's team was working. He certainly didn't want Elena to be a topic of their 'conversations'.

"But what if I take the playpen with me? Or better yet, buying another one on the way to the lab," he straightened up a bit with a smile on his face. "Yeah that's a good idea," he grinned and immediately lost it again, "but when Marta finds out about it or Alexx…or probably both...they'll have my head," he slumped back again. He knew that Eric was on call today and he knew his brother-in-law well enough that he would tell it his mother at least by accident.

"Darn," he mumbled to himself, but it was either Alexx or Marta having his head, or losing it because of the ultimate boredom he was experiencing at this very moment. "Oh well, I'll give it a try and if the girls address me, I'll tell them that I wanted to show Ellie the lab." Granted, this was a rather lousy plan, but good enough for him to get up from the couch. As a first step he needed to change his attire. It wasn't that he could show up with an old, worn M.U. T-Shirt in the lab, he had a reputation to uphold after all.

He was just about to climb the first step when suddenly the door bell rang. Stopping in his tracks, he looked to the door and had surprise written all over his face. It was still raining heavily, so he seriously doubted that one of his neighbors would ask for a cup of sugar. Salesmen weren't crazy enough to go from house to house and even some religious "fan groups" wouldn't walk around in this weather to find new followers.

Well, at least he hoped so but this was Miami and in Miami you never knew. So it was either someone with a problem or…no he couldn't think of anything else; so he just sighed and as the good police officer that he was, he walked to the door and looked through the peephole. "Oh?" he took a step back and immediately opened the door for his surprise guest. "Cal?? What are you doing here?" he greeted her and took in her rather wet appearance. Before she could answer his question, he had already gripped her arm and pulled her inside. "You're soaked," he declared and raised his brows.

Surprised Calleigh stumbled into the house and put off the cap of her rain jacket. "And hello to you too," she smiled at him and shook her head. "I'm not soaked," she told him and then looked down at herself, noticing the dark blue spots on her jeans. "Well, a bit maybe, but that's fine," she shrugged and took another step inside so Horatio could close the front door.

Horatio wasn't impressed with her taking it so calmly, but yet he couldn't help but smile. "Hi," he nodded and looked at her expectantly. "So…to what do I owe the pleasure of you dripping on my floor?" he teased.

Cal just blushed and carefully opened her jacket. "I was on my way to one of my girlfriends and thought that I could return your book; didn't want you to think that I wouldn't give it back," she explained and handed him an item which was also wrapped in a plastic bag so it wouldn't get soaked.

"I'd never picture you as someone who borrows something and won't give it back," he shook his head and unwrapped the first part of Edmond Locard's Traité de Criminalistique.

"Then you should never talk to the library of Darnell," she mumbled to herself and fluttered her eyelashes, when he looked at her in interest. "Oh…nothing, you're right. Since I didn't know if you might need it, I wanted to give it back to you as soon as possible," she quickly changed the subject again, before he could start to interrogate her.

"That's fine, it's been a while since I read it for the last time and to be honest…my French isn't half as good as it used to be," he ducked his head. "Do you want the second part too?"

"Seems like I have to give you some private lessons in French, right?" she teased him playfully and nodded. "That would be great, yes."

Horatio just laughed and walked into the living room, where one part of his own huge library was placed. "I guess we both don't have the time to polish up my French again, because that will take ages. I think that's something for the years after my retirement."

"So that means you'll never do it?" she quipped and made a quick decision to get out of her jacket and hang it up. Horatio was in a good mood and spending time with him was always a nice treat. Lisa could wait a few minutes longer.

Horatio just rolled his eyes at her comment and decided to ignore it. More or less. "Ha…ha. Another such comment and I'm sure I won't be able to find the book," he glared at her but the smile gave him away.

"Can't let that happen," she surrendered and looked around. "Is Elena asleep?"

"Yeah, put her to bed about an hour ago," he told her and made a "gotcha" tone when he found the book.

"So you have a little time for yourself? Well that's nice, isn't it?" At least that's what her sisters-in-law had told her.

"Normally, yes," he admitted. "But not today. There's nothing to do in the house, thanks to the rain you can't go outside and to be honest I'm bored stiff."

Calleigh gave him a sympathetic smile, since she knew exactly what he was talking about. There was nothing worse than having nothing to do with your time, especially when your mind and body are used be in action within the week. And now, doing nothing productive was torture. That was one of the reasons why she'd been on the way to her friend.

"Here you go," he walked up to her and held out the book. "I hope you'll enjoy it as much as the other one and if you want to read the third part, just tell me. And don't worry about giving it back as soon as possible; just take your time to read it. There's nothing worse than rushing through a good book."

"True, but don't come whining to me because you want to read it," she bantered. Not that she would think that Horatio Caine actually whined, but she didn't care.

"I'll do my best," he played along and escorted her to the hall. "Uh…you sure you want to drive in that rain?" he asked and didn't want to sound too cautious.

"It's just rain, Horatio. As long as my wiper works, I'm okay," she reassured him and found it adorable that her safety seemed to be so important to him. "Probably the parental instincts," she told herself, though she knew that Horatio had always kept a watchful eye on his team.

"Yeah," he nodded slowly and knew better than to argue with her. He wouldn't stand a chance. So he opened the door in mock surrender and was greeted by a beating wind and the rain which was pushed right into his direction. Carefully he took a step out and looked up into the sky and noticed the dark clouds which were forming huge creations that didn't look good. "Really, Cal, I don't think that it's a good idea to drive now," he turned his head towards his friend, who was fastening up her jacket.

"It's a little storm, we've seen worse here. It's not a hurricane," she tried to calm him and stood beside him to have a better look and hug him goodbye.

"Please Cal, I don't want you to drive." He had no intention to belittle her, because that would be of no use; he just was afraid of something happening to her. It was so easy to lose control over a car right now, with all this rain and aqua-planing. He knew that Cal was a safe driver, but there were always other people on the road that weren't. And Horatio didn't want to take this risk.

"Horatio," she sighed a bit annoyed and gave him a hug to accentuate her plan of leaving now. "I'll see you on Monday, okay?"

Horatio looked down on to the petite blonde in his arms and wanted to say something when a loud roll of thunder hindered him. Suddenly the wind and rain increased and he made a split-second-decision. "Get inside," he shouted to drown out the loud noise and dragged her in with his arms still around her. With all his strength he shut the door and leaned against it; the rain clashing against it. Calleigh was right, it wasn't a hurricane, but it felt like a monsoon. At least that seemed to be most likely right now.

"Horatio I-"

"You. .Drive. End of discussion, Calleigh," he interrupted her in a serious voice and gave her a look that told her that this wasn't open for a discussion. So he just ignored her light huff and was surprised when he started to shiver. He looked down quickly and found the reason for that; his T-Shirt and Jeans were both soaked thanks to the rain. "Why don't you get out of your jacket and sit down in the living room, I'll just change into something dry, okay?"

Noticing his wet appearance, Cal cringed inside, knowing that it was her fault and that he probably was right about not driving right now. "That's okay…uhm I could make us a cup of tea, what do you think?" she suddenly felt the cold chills too.

"Good idea," he nodded, accepting her silent apology for her stubborn behavior and climbed up the stairs. Calleigh knew her way around his kitchen, so there was no need to tell her where to find anything. Upstairs he rummaged in his drawer to find another pair of jeans and a fresh polo shirt for himself and some older sweatpants which didn't fit him any longer, but hopefully Calleigh, since he didn't want her to catch a cold.

Tbc

A/N: Thank you all for your reviews. Well I guess I don't have to repeat myself that you just need to tell me if you want more of the story or not. If you want more regular updates, just let me know. I'll do what I can.