A/N: Thank you all for your reviews. This is the last chapter of the story.. well.. there'll be an epilogue if you want to.. I don't mind at all. Just tell me what you think and I'm happy to fulfill your wish.

Chapter 18

A lonely figure was standing on the patio of their garden. The sun had already set, due to the time of day, and was now illuming the sky with wonderful reddish and orange colors. The sky was clear, no cloud could be seen and the first stars were starting to appear. It would be the perfect weather for subsequent events this night, because it was a very special day today.

Today was the very last day of the year, December the 31st and later on there would be a big firework on the beach, with thousands of bystanders. But this wasn't interesting for the lonely figure. He had never been much into fireworks and crowds of people had never been something he would enjoy. No, he would spend this day at home, without ruffle or excitement and in the hope that the loud noises won't frighten his daughter,

Furthermore, he had a lot of thinking to do and decisions to make. This was New Year's Eve after all and when if not on this day were decisions made that should change your future?

With a small sigh he leaned down a bit and rested with his forearms on the wooden railing. His sight wandered upwards to the sky and for a few moments he just relinquished the feeling contentedness that was surrounding him. What he didn't realize though was that he was watched by someone else.

With a smile, Calleigh did her best to not spill any of the wine she was carrying when she closed the slide door behind her. "Here you are," she said softly and walked to him. "We already wondered if you left us in order to watch the firework," she teased and held out a glass for him.

"Oh I still have a few hours left, so don't give me any ideas," he countered playfully and took the glass. "Thank you."

"You're welcome; I thought it would fit to our dinner. I hope you don't mind that I snooped around in your wine rag?"

"Not as long as you share your findings with me," he chuckled and took a small sip of his drink.

"Scouts honor," she promised and mimicked his posture. "So what are you doing out here, while we're slaving in the kitchen for you?" she asked him with a small hint of curiosity.

"Thinking," he answered cryptically. "And enjoying the silence."

"Was that a hint?" she looked up to him.

He gently shook his head. "No, I don't mind sharing the silence and breaking it every once in a while."

"Glad to hear," she smiled and leaned against him.

Automatically he wrapped his arm loosely around her shoulders and grinned to himself when he heard her sigh. "Cold?"

"Mhm, a bit," she nodded almost unnoticeable. "That's rather stupid, isn't it? I mean it's still 68°F and I don't even want to imagine how cold it's in other cities."

"Well I think the Miami weather has made us more sensitive to such degrees. I mean I was born in New York and it can get really cold there, but you're so used to the high temperatures here that I'm also feeling cold when it hit the 68°F. So no, it's anything but stupid in my eyes."

"Do you miss the lower temperatures?"

"So, so. When it's Christmas, yes. I miss celebrating Christmas with snow and when it's really humid here, I miss it too. But otherwise…no."

"A typical white Christmas, huh? Now this would be nice. No Santa wearing Bermuda shorts," she giggled.

"Don't remind me of that;" he groaned. "Santa in Bermudas is just wrong and should be forbidden."

"Well that's Miami, what did you expect?" she teased and sipped on her wine.

"Not Santa on a Jet Ski, that's for sure," he replied and made himself the promise to show Elena a real white Christmas one day. Not preferably in New York, but there were several other places where they could go to. "By the way, what are you doing here actually? I mean except of interrupting my thoughts and not slaving in the kitchen for me, as you put it so nicely."

"Well I'm here to deliver a message from your daughter," she smirked at him.

"Oh? Now I'm curious. What is it about?"

"That dinner is ready in about 10 minutes and that you better won't be late, because we don't want the food to get burned or worse," she replied in a mocking threatening tone.

"And we can't let this happen, can we?" he played along

"Nope," she shook her head and let her hand ran over his back.

"I'll promise to be on time," he smiled down at her and squeezed her shoulder lightly.

Taking the cue, Calleigh carefully disentangled herself from his grip and gave him the chance to be alone with his thoughts. "Horatio?" she asked just before she stepped into the house again.

"Yeah?" he turned his head towards her direction.

"Don't let us wait too long." With that she entered the house and closed the door behind her again.

Horatio couldn't help but notice the double entendre. He and Calleigh had started to rebuild their friendship once again for the last weeks and until now it had been quite a success. He had stopped ignoring and avoiding her at work and this had improved their relationship greatly. He hadn't thought that their working relationship and their friendship would be so deeply entwined, but now he knew better.

But it hadn't stopped with spending more time together in the lab; no it had also carried over into their private lives and had ended in him inviting her over for New Year's Eve. He knew that she'd given him time and he didn't take that for granted. He could only imagine what she was going through, since she didn't know if he would give them a chance or not.

So what was he actually doing here outside when Ellie and Calleigh were waiting for him? This was a very good question and in truth, he couldn't really answer it. There was still something that stopped him to embrace the new chance he'd been given, he just couldn't say why.

So much had happened in the past few months; there was so much he had to come in terms with and even though he never had problems with making decisions while work, it was difficult for him to make them in his private life, especially if they were of great importance.

"What am I going to do?" he mumbled to himself and looked at the last remaining of his wine. He knew that he had to make a decision, he owed Calleigh that. But what if he made the wrong one? What if he made the right one? He didn't know. What was right or wrong anyway?

With a sigh he once again rested his arms on the railing and looked into the now darker sky. His heart told him to take the chance, the past had shown him more than once that life can be short and that you could easily regret things you haven't done. More than once he had had Speed's reply playing over and over in his mind again for the last weeks.

"I've got plenty of time for that."

Life had told them otherwise.

Life could be too darn short and it didn't matter if you were young and healthy or sick and old. Fate would always get you.

Marisol and he had planned so many things together, but one minute, one second had changed everything. And once again fate had interfered with his life in bad way.

So what if it was finally interfering with his life in a good way?

What if this was the way it was meant to be?

What if Pavel and Marta were right about Marisol not wanting him to be alone?

What if it was Marisol's doing that Calleigh had entered his life in such a way?

What if she wanted him and Elena to have someone they could lean on?

What if…

What if…

Taking a deep breath, he raised his glass towards the sky. "To you, Mari. Fate had other plans than we did, but you showed me that there's always something good beneath all the bad. I just hope that I'll make it right this time. I know we will meet again someday and until then I should live our dream. There will always be a place in my heart just for you and I will never forget you. I love you."

He took the last sip, nodded towards the sky and entered the house. Quietly he made his way to the kitchen and watched the wonderful scene that was playing in front of his eyes. Calleigh and Ellie were busy blowing on the rolls that seemed to be a bit darker than they usually were and laughed at the same time, which made their task even harder. At this moment, he knew that he had made the correct decision, so he made himself known by clearing his throat.

"I think Cal…I think that thinking and waiting is overrated." The smile he got in return was more than he could ever hope for.

tbc