Does Horatio remember Frank and if so, what was their first meeting like? Read on to find out...

Flashback. Miami 1996:

Standing on the sidewalk outside the Miami Dade Police Department John Kelly had no idea what to do. He'd been dumped in a strange city and expected to start his life all over again, he grasped the padded envelope tighter in his hand as he rued the day he'd ever met Agent Collins. The uniformed officers coming and going from the building were starting to give him strange looks as he stood at the bottom of the steps. He looked down at himself and smiled slightly, the wrinkled clothes and nearly a week's worth of stubble probably gave the impression that he was some sort of junky and not a police detective. Taking a deep breath he made his way to the entrance of the building and stepped inside.

The first thing that hit him was the sheer amount of glass panelling, Florida was the Sunshine State of course but the strength and ferocity of the sun had taken him by surprise. The building was so well illuminated by the sun's rays filtering through the multitude of glass windows that there was no need for artificial light during the day. He was also relieved to find that it was much cooler inside than it was on the steps outside. It seemed as if the MDPD had the good grace to fork out on a decent air conditioning system to combat the possible greenhouse-like effects of the building's structure. After spending a few minutes acquainting himself with his new surroundings he walked over to the reception desk. "Good morning, could you tell me where I could find Detective Trip please?" He gave the receptionist what he hoped was a sincere smile as he tried to be as charming as possible.

She looked at him warily as her eyes travelled up and down his body, obviously unimpressed by his current state of dress. "Who may I ask is calling, sir?"

"I've just arrived from New York, I've been transferred to the Miami Dade Police Department," he responded as he tried to remember all the nuances of his new identity. "As a detective," he added as he saw her puzzled expression.

Her eyes bored into him and he found himself becoming uncomfortable at being the focus of her attention. Eventually she picked up a clipboard and placed it on the counter, "Sign the visitors log please."

He took the pen she offered only just stopping before he wrote the wrong name on the document; he shook his head and berated himself for almost slipping up at the first hurdle. He took his time writing his new name, he had always been known as John or Johnny and now to be called something completely different took a bit of getting used to. "What kind of name is Horatio anyway?" he thought to himself as he handed the clipboard back to the receptionist, "Another one of Collins' funny jokes I guess."

"Thank you, Mr Caine," the receptionist said as she read the sheet, "I'll just put a call in for Detective Trip, he'll be with you shortly. Please take a seat."

Looking in the direction she had pointed he saw a few cushioned chairs in the waiting area across the room. He ambled over to them, sat down and picked up a magazine and flicked through it. He heard a gruff Texan voice call out, "Horatio Caine?" Not being used to his new name he completely ignored the imposing detective as the man walked closer to him and cleared his throat loudly. "Horatio Caine?"

It dawned on him suddenly that he was being spoken to; he put the magazine down quickly and looked up at the man in front of him. Detective Frank Trip stood at least 6'3", over 200 pounds and currently looked pretty irritated. He stood up but his balding counterpart still had a good couple of inches on him. "Sorry, I was miles away. You must be Frank," he held out his hand to the other man.

Frank nailed him with a glare as the Texan tried to visually assess the man in front of him. "Yeah, I am," he answered none too friendly. "I take it you haven't come here to make small talk, what can I do for you?"

"I've been transferred here from the NYPD; I'm supposed to be your new partner."

Frank stood with his hands on his hips, "You often come to work dressed like this? What are you, some kind of narcotics tweaker who's come down here to detox for a while?"

He was tired, stressed and the other man's accusations had stung. "No, I've just driven down here from Manhattan. I've literally just got here, I haven't had a chance to change yet," he responded firmly.

"So you haven't been issued your service weapon or shield yet?"

"What do you think?" he shot back tersely, wanting nothing more than to lie down and sleep to find that when he woke this had all been some horrible nightmare.

The two men stood with their hands on their hips sizing each other up, neither willing to give any ground to the other. Realising that their standoff couldn't last forever Frank finally relented and broke eye contact. "Follow me and I'll show you where you need to go." The big man didn't wait for a reply as he turned around and stalked down the corridor.

Miami. Present Day:

"Horatio, are you ok?"

"Horatio, talk to me." He felt the physical contact as Calleigh shook him lightly by the shoulders.

He came back to awareness slowly and the first thing that registered in his brain was that his beautiful blonde angel was once more by his side. "Calleigh, what happened?" he asked, still in a state of confusion.

She let go of his shoulders as she sat down beside him, "You cried out in pain, your eyes were open but you weren't responding to anything we said. Do you feel ok, maybe taking you out of the hospital was a mistake," she added as an afterthought.

He ran a hand over his mouth, "No, I just had some memories come back." He looked up at Frank who was still standing in the doorway looking uncomfortable to be witnessing such a scene. "You're Frank Tripp, aren't you?" The big Texan nodded in response, "I remember meeting you when I first came here."

Frank squirmed a little as his cheeks reddened, "That's was hardly one of our best moments for either of us. I was hoping you wouldn't remember it."

Horatio gave him a bemused look, "I just have a memory of meeting you on my first day, and you didn't exactly look pleased to see me. I'm surprised you're here now, I got the impression that you didn't like me very much."

"Hell Horatio, that was years ago," Frank huffed as he made his way into the room and sat in the space that Calleigh had just vacated. "A lot of stuff has happened since then; believe it or not we're pretty tight these days."

Calleigh left the room quietly and made her way back to the Hummer, happy in the knowledge that Frank would keep Horatio safe whilst she returned to the lab to complete some unfinished business.

A/N: I won't be able to post tomorrow due to work commitments but the next chapter should be up on Saturday.