A/N: Thank you all for your kind reviews. They certainly make my day when I read them.

Chapter 3

It was a lazy Monday morning when Horatio and his team had gathered up in his office, discussing one of their latest cases. It was a rather rare situation that they weren't swamped over with new cases, which had occurred over the weekend, so they surely enjoyed their free time as long as it would last. Taking a sip of her coffee to go, Calleigh put down the case file and smiled at Horatio.

"So, Handsome, what do you want us to bring to your party next week?" She'd been pleasantly surprised when Horatio had invited them last week to celebrate his birthday and she'd racked her brains over the weekend of what kind of food she could make, but to no avail. So after a while, she'd decided that since it was Horatio's party, he should be the one to decide what he wanted.

Looking up from some papers, Horatio found himself in the waiting stares of his four colleagues. "Huh?" he blinked surprised.

Grinning, Cal shook her head. "Well you don't expect us to just show up and not contribute some food to a BBQ, do you?" she asked and everyone nodded at that.

"I…," he started, but was immediately interrupted by Eric.

"I already asked my mother to cook her famous Chayote Salad and some Mango Mojo Sauce," he smiled proudly and could hardly wait for the BBQ. It's been too long that they actually had a good, old BBQ together, so he was definitely looking forward to it.

"You know, you should actually cook it yourself, man," Ryan teased him and quickly ducked his head, before Eric's' slap could hit him.

"Anyway," Calleigh chimed in and ignored the boy's antics, "I thought about a shrimp cocktail, would that be okay?"

"And I could brew a bowl of cold punch," Natalia added. She wasn't that much of a cook, but people have always enjoyed her punch.

"This all sounds very good, but," Horatio was a bit taken back.

"No buts H," Eric shook his head. "And don't tell us that it's your party and we're only your guests, so we shouldn't contribute to it," he said and smiled to himself when Horatio averted his eyes. "Gotcha, H."

"I see that it's too late to stop you, huh?" Horatio chuckled quietly and then nodded. "Your ideas sound great, so just go ahead. I-" he started when suddenly his cell phone started ringing. "Excuse me please," he said politely and reached for the small device. Noticing the screen name, he was both surprised and worried at the same time. "Horatio?"

"Horatio, hi it's me," Stella said and felt a bit stupid for calling him. Well not exactly because she was calling him at all, but because of her little problem she had thanks to Mac.

"Stella, hi," Horatio smiled and ignored the looks everyone was giving him. "Is everything alright?"

"I..uh..yes, everything is alright," Stella said quickly and rolled her eyes at herself. She really sounded like some teenage girl who wanted to invite her crush to prom night. "Well, more or less anyway, I have a small problem."

"You do?" Horatio asked intrigued and nodded at his team who was starting to leave his office. "So what kind of problem do you have? Maybe I can help you."

"Oh according to Mac you can," Stella replied and still was a bit mad at her boss. He had brought her into this ridiculous situation after all.

"I think you lost me somewhere Stella. What does Mac got to do with it?" Horatio asked confused and couldn't follow her at all. "Did something happen to him?"

Not yet, but Stella still played with this idea. "Oh, no, no. Nothing happened to anyone. Mac just wanted to play good fairy and now I have to face the music," she mumbled, but then cleared her voice. "Anyway; I'm sorry to interrupt you.."

Whatever was going on, Horatio found it highly amusing. He had never seen or rather heard Stella being so flustered. "On the contrary, you actually rescued me from my team, throwing possible BBQ receipts at me," he chuckled.

Now it was Stella's time to be confused. "BBQ receipts?"

"Yeah, I'm celebrating my birthday next week and they threatened me to burn down the house if they aren't allowed to bring some food with them," he overdid a bit, but you never knew when it came to his team.

"It's your birthday next week?" she asked in disbelief. Wonderful, this was going better and better. As if Horatio had the time to look around for a hotel, when he was actually planning his birthday party.

"Yeah, but let's concentrate on your problem now, shall we?" Horatio replied and leaned back in his chair. "So Mac was a good fairy, but you aren't happy with him."

"Right. He claims that I need to take some vacation and already booked a flight."

"Unbelievable," Horatio couldn't help but grin. "Do you want me to come to New York and wash his head and take away his small fairy wings?"

Why was she actually surprised that Horatio didn't take it seriously? Men! "No, but you can whip his backside with this cute little wand every fairy has," she deadpanned.

Horatio couldn't help but laugh at the picture forming in his head. "Well I'll see what I can do next time I see him," he sighed amused, but became a bit more serious. "So except of giving Mac a hard time, what else can I do for you?"

"Well you see, he booked a flight to Florida, to Miami to be precise, but no hotel."

"Miami?" well this was really a surprise. "And when is your flight?"

"This is the main problem, it's next week," she answered and cringed a bit when she heard his surprised reply.

"Next week already? This is…quite soon."

"You know that and I know that, but it seems like this slipped our little fairy," she sighed. "So do you see my problem?"

"I certainly do, Stella. Finding a hotel in Miami on such a short notice isn't really easy."

"And that's where you come into the picture. I thought that since she's your city, you'd know best where I can find a nice hotel, in the near of the beach, but not in the middle of city, you know?" she asked hopefully.

"She is my city, yes," Horatio nodded, even though she couldn't see it. "And there certainly are some hotels that would fit to your description.."

"I can sense a but coming.."

"Mhm, the problem is that there's some major sci-fi convention taking place next week and as far as I understand it, Miami's hotels are overbooked."

"Oh wonderful," Stella groaned and already made some plans on how she would kill Mac. "So this means that I have tickets, but can sleep under some bridge, because Mac thinks that I need some vacation. Well if this isn't vacation I don't know," she grumbled about poor Mac.

"Stella…Stella stop rambling," Horatio smiled softly at her antics. "I don't think that you have to sleep under some bridge, I do know a nice hotel, which is at the beach but far away from the hubbub."

"But didn't you say that everything is booked out just a moment ago?" Stella asked confused.

"Well, yeah," he admitted quietly, "but I'm pretty certain that this particular one isn't. I think you'd like it, there's just one problem with it.."

"That I have to share my room with Cockroaches? Ants? Snakes? Alligators?"

"Ha, no of course not," he chuckled. "Or at least I hope so." Shaking his head he continued, "Anyway, I do know that there'll be a party next week and since I don't know if you're into parties or would feel annoyed by it…"

"Wait a moment," she literally held up her hand to stop him. A party? A nice hotel? How should Horatio know if there was a party...except of…. "Oh no..no Horatio, I can't..I..no.."

Horatio had literally heard when the penny had dropped and now couldn't help but smirk at her response. "Why not? You need a sleeping accommodation and I have a spare guest room, sounds good to me." He didn't even know why he offered her to stay with him, but what he did know was that he missed her presence and that he certainly wouldn't let her stay in some filthy hotel room or under the open sky.

"But I can't ask you to..I mean.."

"Well you didn't ask, I offered you to stay at my place for your vacation. Really, Stella, it's no big deal. The guest bedroom isn't in use anyway and before you cancel your plans, you're more than welcome to stay with me; as long as you won't mind having a nice BBQ with some of my friends."

"I can't impose on you like that, especially when it's your birthday," Stella tried her best to talk him out of this idea, even though she found it really nice of him.

"Well let me clarify one thing. You'd never impose on me, Stella," he replied in a serious tone. "I'm offering you to stay with me for your vacation; if you don't want to accept my offer, that's okay, but please don't say that you'd impose on me, because that would be a complete lie. You don't even have to spend time with me, but just sleep in the guest room, if this sounds better to you.."

"Don't be ridiculous Horatio," she quickly said and he could hear that she was smiling. "I don't want to ruin your plans," she started and didn't give him any chance to interrupt her, "but since it doesn't look like I have any other chance, I accept your offer…," she sighed in fake defeat.

"Nope, no chance for you ma'am," he grinned happily and grabbed for a piece of paper. "Just tell me when you arrive so I can pick you up."

"What? No you don't have to pick me up, I can easily get a cab."

"Stella," he sighed a bit annoyed at her stubbornness. "Most hotels do have a pick up service from the airport so let me have my fun and tell me when your plane arrives."

"You better not wait for me, wearing a hat and white gloves like a chauffeur," she threatened and told him the arrival time of her flight.

"No that would be too hot, but I might wear a suit and sunglasses, if that is okay for you," he shot back and wrote down the dates.

"I think I can live with that," she snickered and couldn't help but smile at the thought of seeing him again. Boston seemed like a life time ago and she had to admit that she missed him.

"Good, so I pick you up then. If something changes, just give me a call and we'll work something out," he said and looked at his door when he heard a knock. Seeing Calleigh standing there he waved her in.

"Will do. And now I don't want to keep you from your paper work which is probably flooding your desk."

"There might be the chance," he rolled his eyes when his eyes fell on the various piles crowding his desk. "I'll see you next week then?"

"In case I won't get caught by the police for murdering a certain fairy, you will. Or maybe…I use your guest room as a hideout," she thought out loud. "Now that's an idea."

"Maybe I should give Mac a call and tell him to leave the state," Horatio joked. "But until then, have a nice day and don't hit him too hard with his wand; he enabled you a very cheap vacation after all."

"This is true, but I won't let him get away so easily," she vowed. "Have a nice day, Horatio. And thank you again for letting me stay. It means a lot to me."

"Thank you for accepting my offer, Stella. I'll see you in a few days, bye…," he replied and hung up when Stella did the same. "How can I help you Cal?" he asked, trying to be all business again, but failing more or less.

"Well for one, you could tell me about this wand and that someone gets hit with it, but I'm not entirely sure if I really want to know," she giggled. She was pretty sure that Horatio wasn't into drugs and therefore not seeing any fairies or other legendary creatures.

"No you probably really don't want to know," Horatio chuckled along with her. "Do we have a new case?" he asked and pointed at the manila in her hands.

"No, I think I found a new lead in an old case and wanted to talk to you about it," she replied.

"Here or in the gun lab?"

"Gun lab would be better; I just came here to make sure that nothing happened, you looked so worried when the call came in?" she said and got up from her chair. "But I assume that this wasn't necessary, seeing the smile on your face."

"I appreciate your concern," he nodded and smiled gently at her. "And yes, everything is alright, it just looks like we have another guest attending the party."

"Oh the more the merrier," Calleigh said when she smiled appreciatively at him when he opened the door for her. "Who is it? Stella? Stella as in Stella Bonasera from New York?" Of course she was curious; she was a woman after all.

"Yes, yes and…yes," he smiled at her curiosity. "Mac made her to take a vacation and since all hotels are booked, I offered her to stay at my house."

Oh? Now this was interesting. "That's nice, I'm sure she'll enjoy the stay; I know I would," she said. She had always loved his beach house, but she certainly wasn't the only one. There was a reason why most BBQ's took place at Horatio's.

"We can only wait and see, huh?" Horatio joked and together they made their way to the gun lab. He was really looking forward to the meeting and hoped that everything would work out fine. He didn't mind that Stella was staying with him and celebrate his birthday with the others. A birthday party was actually there to spend it with friends and Stella was a friend. A very good friend actually. So she being there was actually a real present for him.

Of course he had no idea, that 1000 miles up north, Stella was now racking her brains of what she could actually give him as a present.

tbc