The shrill ringing of the phone in the hallway caused her to jump, beyond the hissing of the bacon cooking under the grill, the house had been silent and she'd found herself getting lost in her thoughts once more. Turning down the gas on the stove, she placed the wooden spoon down and raced to pick up the call before it woke the man still asleep in her bed.
Their bed, she corrected herself.
"Hello?" she answered a little nervously. For some unknown reason, her mind had convinced her during the few small steps between the kitchen and hallway that the person on the other end of the line would be the voice of Horatio's ex-wife. Her countenance darkened at the thought.
"Hey, Calleigh. How's it going?"
She felt herself physically relax as she heard the boyish tones of Kyle crackle through the phone's receiver. "Hey there," she replied brightly. "How's your new posting?"
"Pretty cool, thanks. Sure beats that sandbox I was in before."
His words were jovial, yet she knew first-hand how much Horatio had worried about his son serving on the front line in Afghanistan. At least at Camp Blanding he was safe and close by, it seemed to give Horatio some reassurance that his son was not in any immediate danger.
"How's he doing?" Kyle asked with genuine concern in his voice. She was well aware of just how close the two of them had become in recent months, as the roles between father and son were reversed. Was either man aware that their primary concern was always for each other and not themselves?
"He's getting there, it's been a tough week for him." She was being deliberately evasive and she knew it. Horatio would not thank her for giving his son all the messy details of what had transpired in the last seven days or so. No, it would be better coming from the man himself, if he even chose to divulge it that was.
"Is he there? Can I speak to him?"
It was not her place to keep father from son, the two of them had been through challenges that no family should ever have had to face, yet she was reluctant to wake Horatio from the deep and restful sleep that he so clearly needed.
"He's…..uh….He's still asleep, Kyle."
"At this time? Is he ok, has something happened to him?"
The rising sense of panic in Kyle's tone was clear as the young man's mind began racing at a mile a minute, conjuring possible scenarios, none of them pleasant.
"Kyle, take a breath. He's fine," she began, trying to reassure him, although his concern was understandable. "Like I say, it's been a hard week for him. It's the first time he's slept properly for a while, I don't want to wake him just yet."
"I couldn't reach him on his cell, Calleigh. And then when you said…." His voice trailed off as dark thoughts clouded his mind again. "I guess I just thought the worst. He's ok though, you're not lying to me are you?"
"Kyle, I swear he's fine. Just exhausted, I'm taking good care of him." She hoped the smile on her face transferred down the telephone line as she tried to adopt as confident a tone as possible. There would be no need for the young man to worry, he was hundreds of miles away anyway. "I'll get him to call you later on, ok?"
"Sorry, Calleigh. I know you are, it's just…I kinda feel protective of him, you know?"
"I do." She was relieved that they were both on the same wavelength when it came to Horatio, and glad to know she wasn't the only one who felt the need to defend him from any perceived threats. "He misses you, Kyle," she added a few moments later.
"I know, I miss him too." She could hear the genuine sadness and regret in Kyle's voice, amplified by the tired sigh he gave too. "Still, I'm hoping what I have to tell him will cheer him up a bit," he added in a much brighter tone.
"You wanna share?" she asked teasingly.
His laugh was evident down the line, "No, that would spoil the surprise."
She frowned at the thought. "Horatio's not real big on surprises," she warned him, knowing that her lover was not a man who enjoyed being caught off-guard.
"I think he's gonna like this one."
"You're not even going to give me a hint?"
"Nope. You'll find out soon enough. Take care of him for me?"
"You don't even have to ask, you know I will. Stay safe, Kyle."
"Always, Ma'am."
His reply was so reminiscent of his father, this boy was more like Horatio than any of them realised. It made her happy to think that Horatio had influenced the young man so much, despite only knowing him for a few short years. Kyle was well on the way to realising the potential that his father had always seen in him.
She couldn't deny that talking to Kyle had put a spring in her step, the young man had so many of his father's good qualities about him and had come so far from the scared and damaged boy that they'd first stumbled upon. Still, her mind couldn't shake the nagging feeling of unease, why hadn't she heard Horatio's cell phone go off, had he turned it off last night?
She certainly hadn't felt it is in his pants when he pushed her up against the hallway wall. No, she had felt something very different then. She felt the heat rising to her face at the thought of what had transpired between them the night before. Fanning herself with her hand, she willed her thoughts to return to something much less erotic than the sensation of his firm and experienced hands travelling the length of her body. She made her way back into the kitchen just in time to save the breakfast from burning.
Control yourself! she chided silently, pouring two cups of coffee from the pot before plating up the food she'd cooked, placing it all on a tray before admiring her work proudly.
It was no surprise that Horatio was still fast asleep as she entered their room, smiling at the fact that Moses had made himself entirely comfortable in his master's arms. He failed to rouse even as the mattress adjusted to the difference in weight as she made herself comfortable on the other side of the bed, placing the tray on her lap. She smiled mischievously, knowing that once the smell of freshly-brewed coffee permeated his senses that he would soon return to the land of the living.
And it didn't take long. She watched in some amusement as his nose twitched at the smell of the caffeinated beverage, his eyes opened with a deep groan.
"Well hello there, Sleeping Beauty," she teased with a grin on her face.
"Urgh. What time is it?" he asked sleepily as he raised himself into a sitting position, resting his back against the bedstead.
"Breakfast time."
Her smile was infectious, he found the last tendrils of sleep release him and retreat back into the darkness as she looked at him with child-like joy. He couldn't help it when a small grin broke across his features too. "Breakfast in bed?" he questioned as he pointed at the tray resting on her lap.
"It's for you," she replied with a smile as she transferred the tray to his lap.
The pile of eggs, bacon and toast was huge, there would be no way he could eat that amount of food, no matter how hungry he might have felt. He felt awful for the fact that he couldn't eat it all, Calleigh had clearly spent a great deal of time and effort in creating such a feast for him. "Calleigh….Sweetheart. I'm not going to be able to eat all of this," he told her gently, trying his best not to hurt her feelings.
"That's why I brought these," she responded conspiratorially as she pulled a second set of cutlery from behind her back, cutting herself a piece of bacon and egg before popping it in her mouth.
He felt a stirring deep within his stomach as he watched her chew the mouthful of food, admiring the way she swallowed as it travelled down her throat and into her stomach. The way she licked her lips and groaned in pleasure, how could watching someone eat seem so erotic?
His jaw must have dropped as he watched her, the next he thing he knew was that she had stuck a forkful of food in his open mouth. His body reacting unconsciously and causing him to chew and swallow the food before he even realised what he was doing.
There was something quite fun about feeding him, she thought, as she placed another forkful of food into her own mouth. There had been times during Horatio's lengthy recovery that he had been too physically weak to feed himself and had been reliant on others to cut his food for him. She was well aware at how much it galled him to not be able to complete such simple tasks himself, he had found it disheartening and beyond humiliating to be treated as if he were a helpless child.
She began to panic, sensing that perhaps feeding her lover was not the right thing to do. Would it take him back to those times when he felt so helpless, so hopeless?
He'd returned the favour before she'd even realised it, as he shoved a forkful of food into her open mouth. "Touché," she mumbled around a mouthful of food.
Between them they made short work of the plate of food, she placed her cutlery down, gazing into his eyes. "That was fun," she croaked out a little nervously as Horatio's head leaned closer to hers.
"It was," he growled amorously in response as he captured her mouth in a tender kiss, only breaking contact when he felt the burning need for his lungs to take in more air. "I think that is how we start should every morning from now on."
It had been a long time since she'd felt this contented, yet she couldn't shift the feeling that both of them needed to explain what had happened between them last night. There were things that they obviously needed to discuss, she ached to know how his meeting with Laura went. Judging by his forceful reaction last night, it was obvious that meeting with his ex had stirred up some powerful memories for him. Why else would he have reacted in the way he did?
She knew that she also had some explaining to do. Her actions this week, however well intentioned, had caused a rift between the two of them. After speaking at length to Alexx, it had dawned on her how suffocating her presence may have felt to Horatio, her actions last night could well have been construed by him as another example of how she was trying to control him. That certainly wasn't her intention, she only wanted to show him that she had staked her claim on him as a lover and a partner, and that she would not be willing to share him with another woman.
They needed to talk, to clear the air so that there were no misunderstandings between them, their relationship would only work if they were both honest with each other. There would be no point in second-guessing what the other thought, they'd done that enough of that already, had wasted too many years talking but not really communicating in a way that mattered.
But a part of her wanted this lazy morning to last forever, to remain in bed and never leave, to Hell with the world outside. She had a man sitting next to her who loved her, and complicated as he was, he was trying to be more open and honest about his thoughts and feelings. He was trying so hard, didn't she owe it to him to do the same?
She took a sip of her coffee as she saw the contented smile on his face. "Horatio…..as much as I want this to continue, you know we have to talk about yesterday."
He took a sip of his own coffee as he nodded his head sadly. "I know."
She'd been the one to say it, she hadn't wanted to though. Sometimes it really sucked being the voice of reason. She deliberately took her time finishing her coffee, hoping to stave off the inevitable.
"Could we perhaps just sit here like this for a little longer?"
His voice was quiet and a little uncertain, giving an indication to what Horatio must have been like as a young boy. It felt good to know that he hadn't wanted their blissful start to the day to end as much as her.
And so they sat, side by side in bed. Enjoying the peaceful moment for as long as they could, both of them knowing deep within themselves that the next few hours could make or break their fledgling relationship.
She felt his warm hand reach out for hers, noticing the small tremors that coursed through it as he gave it a quick squeeze, trying to reassure both of them, of what he didn't know. It was as if he feared that this would be the last time he would be able to be this close to her, she had become his lifeline recently and he was loathe to break the physical contact with her, scared by the thought that if he let her go that he would have nothing left to keep him centred in a world that he was still struggling so hard to understand.
He took a deep breath before he started, risking a quick glance at her as he cocked his head. "Calleigh….you have a right to know what happened yesterday. I need you to hear me out before you say anything….can you do that for me?"
She nodded her head slowly, her heart hammering in her chest as she prepared herself for the worst.