Author's Note: Thanks to all those who reviewed the previous chapter. Any other way I can convince people to leave some more reviews??? This chapter is kind of long, I myself kind of got lost when writing it, so I hope it makes sense. Apologies in advance for any errors you find: at 4 am you tend to ignore the red and green squiggles. Cheers

Disclaimer: Don't own any of the CSI Miami characters you know about from the series. However Isabella and Christian (as boring as they may seem) are mine.

Closer

It was a Thursday evening and Eric was driving Marisol to Horatio's house after attending evening service at Marisol's local church. Marisol had had three more chemotherapy sessions since the 'stunt' she had tried to pull off the previous week. True to his word, Eric had talked to Bella. Unfortunately she had a busy week at work and could only take Marisol for one of the sessions. Eric had been with her all the time after those sessions and had noticed some improvement in her condition. She was still experiencing nausea but the attacks were less frequent and as a result she had reduced her intake of marijuana by half an ounce without any adverse effects.

Eric smiled at her before remarking, "You look different, hardly see you in purple."

"Well actually it's fuchsia." She corrected him.

"Right." He smirked

Marisol gave him an embarrassed smile as she fiddled with the hem of her blouse. She wondered if Horatio realised that this was the eve of their one-month anniversary. Men were notoriously known to forget such dates, while such dates remained at the forefront of a woman's mind days in advance. She didn't want to make something out of nothing especially since she hadn't talked to him about the reasons why this relationship had just suddenly happened especially since she had wanted it to happen. It wasn't that things were moving too fast, she just didn't know where they were going at the moment. Their first dinner had just carried a momentum that had moved them forward into a relationship. Nevertheless she had bought him a gift that she hoped he would like. She had wrapped it up, glad that it was compact enough to fit in her purse. She vaguely wondered if women got more desperate with age and wondered if she'd be counted as one of them. Celebrating a one-month anniversary would never have occurred to her if she were still in her teens. All sorts of possible scenarios were running through her head of how to reduce the stupidity she'd feel if she were putting too much emphasis on this.

"Big night huh?" Eric's question brought her focus back to the present.

"No," she responded.

"One month anniversary hello? I thought women went gaga over significant dates?" Came her brother's surprised question.

"Oh, must have slipped my mind. Let's see…" she feigned innocence while pretending to count the weeks in her head, "Nah, not quite, it'll be exactly a month tomorrow."

"You've been forgetting your days a lot. Or is it just a very selective memory?" he smirked back.

"Little brother I live for the moment now, not the days or your usual time indicators." Marisol replied somewhat seriously. She felt a bit guilty because she knew it would throw Eric off her case, but she also felt it was an honest enough response.

Eric turned serious again, "Right…uh…sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like…like…" he gulped, unable to finish the sentence, unwilling to say out loud and acknowledge that Marisol's days were perhaps numbered and therefore destroy the reservoir of hope, he had been building, that she was getting better.

"It's all right." Marisol replied and patted his hand. She settled back in her seat to think again.

"Eric?"

"Mhmm."

"What kind of women is Horatio into?"

Eric took his eyes off the road for a second to show her his mock shock expression. "Certainly not the kind I'm into. Otherwise he'd be having heavy competition." They both laughed.

"No seriously Eric." Marisol asked.

Eric scrunched up his face, thinking for a moment, "Well, I don't know much. H.'s personal life has never been an object of speculation. However I do know that he went through a pretty ugly divorce when he was in New York and that kind of put the brakes on having a relationship for a long time. There's Yelina, but she's married to his brother and she just kind of disappeared. We could never figure out if he was just being over-protective of her or not."

"He had an affair with his sister-in-law?" Marisol asked, mouth agape that Horatio could have done such a thing.

"No, of course not. Marisol! If there's only one thing you really should know about Horatio, it's that he's there for his family, no matter what. They never had a relationship in the dating sense, especially with Raymond dead but then rumour has it that he's actually been alive for quite a while and that's why Yelina left the department to be with him... Either way, H. was a part of their lives. But no I don't think they've ever done anything to dishonour Raymond's memory. Yelina just had this special connection with him probably due to the fact that she's one of the few people to have known him from before… way before he transferred back to Miami from New York. They have a history, but I wouldn't say a romantic history. H. definitely had family issues, but the amazing thing is that he'd never let it interfere with the job. I don't know how the guy does it! Uh…let's see there was Rebecca Nevins. She was from the state attorney's office, but it went sour over a case. I guess that's the problem with office relationships."

"You hypocrite Eric! What exactly do you have with the Boa Vista woman?"

"Who… Natalia?" Eric shook his head, "We may, let me stress the MAY here. We may have dinner again; I'm just giving her some space. She's just getting back into dating. Besides I don't think we'd have a problem over a case because we're on the same team, but then I guess so were Horatio and Nevins. Hmmm, Marisol you do make life complicated! Maybe they didn't have chemistry, Natalia and I definitely have chemistry." He winked at his sister before continuing, "Either that or work ethic, who knows how H.'s mind works. The man is a genius on another level!"

"So what was Yelina like?" was Marisol's next question. She couldn't help but measure herself up against this woman who obviously had a special place in Horatio's world.

"Yelina…. where to start. Ok, she's Columbian and married H.'s younger brother Raymond. She's not just hot; she's beautiful: Chocolate skin, brown eyes and a figure that most models would die for. Yeah she was beautiful, she had amazing hair too, lovely curls…hey are you ok, you're not jealous are you?"

Marisol struggled to smile, suddenly seeing lots of reasons why Horatio could very possibly be just taking pity on her. She was everything that Yelina was not. "Well maybe a little…she sounds amazing."

"Not to make you feel any more jealous or worse but honestly she was amazing. She got along with everyone on the team and she was a great cop too, very thorough and never let a suspect push her around. But she's also been through a lot. I know Tripp misses having her as a partner because at times he's quite at a loss about what to make of H."

They soon pulled up to Horatio's house. Eric walked Marisol up to the door and waited with her till Horatio opened the door.

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It had been a normal day, in terms of workload, for Horatio at the lab, but with more concerns than usual. One of them being trying to figure out who was the mole in the lab and the second one being how bad Ryan's eye was. Horatio had spied him in the locker room punching his locker in. He took a pretty good guess that the frustration Ryan was venting was due to the doctor's visit that Horatio insisted Ryan make after having had a minor car accident earlier in the day. He would have to have another talk with Ryan soon about his eye to assess the situation, although Horatio was unwilling to face the fact that he may have to lose a potentially good CSI.

He decided to take his paperwork home with him that evening so that he could leave the lab early and have enough time to prepare for dinner with Marisol. He picked up his gift for her before going home. While he drove home he surprisingly found his thoughts shifting to her rather than to work as they normally did. The past week had been busy especially with the added nuisance of having to deal with IAB over Ryan's eye and he had been unable to see her. Instead, he had called her everyday since that night to see how she was doing. Her voice had genuinely expressed surprise each time he had called but he also heard the gladness in her voice when he spoke to her. Besides that, she always thanked him for calling but all through the conversations he couldn't help but feel that she was holding back something…

His mind wandered back to the previous evening he had spent with her. He had picked up the vibe when he entered her apartment that something was going on that she wanted to talk about. He had pushed that to the back of his mind later thinking it had been the onset of her nausea that had caused the atmosphere. But now he couldn't help but feel that he had been wrong. He sighed as he pulled into his driveway and pulled his sunglasses off wondering how tonight would go.

Horatio wasn't forgetful about such things as anniversaries and he wanted to make the evening perfect but he wasn't sure how she'd react, given her recent behaviour and contrasting signals she had been giving, albeit unconsciously but which Horatio had picked up on. As he prepared the ingredients for dinner, his feelings of anticipation of spending tonight in her company began to grow more and more. He found himself humming a tune in his kitchen while he imagined a hundred different ways of giving her his gift. He was then confronted with the problem of where to place the gift in such a location that she wouldn't notice, but where it would be in easy reach for him when the time came. After finishing dinner preparations he decided to start some paperwork before getting dressed.

Horatio was just putting some music on when he heard the doorbell ring. He smiled at the fact that she was right on time. He opened his door to find the Delektorskys on his doorstep.

"Hello there." He said as his breath got caught in his throat a little at seeing Marisol who never seemed to fail to take his breath away no matter what she wore.

"Hi." Marisol replied.

"H." came Eric's reply as he shoved his hands in jeans, rocking back on his heels slightly.

"Well won't you guys come in?" asked Horatio as he stepped away from the door, allowing them to come in.

"Sorry H. I have to run; I have dinner plans of my own. I guess I'll leave you two alone now." They all gave a short, strained laugh. He looked at Marisol and kissed her cheek, "Mari, call me if you need anything." He said before turning to leave.

Marisol and Horatio followed Eric with their eyes till he left. When Eric drove away, Marisol glanced at Horatio through lowered lids.

"Marisol…would you like to come in or would you like me to make dinner on my porch for you? There's a first time for everything." Horatio asked slightly amused.

"Uh…uh, sorry you're right. Yes we've been standing here for a bit." She mumbled quickly as she stepped past him into his house; his cologne gently filled her nostrils as she moved past him. She took note that it was a different cologne to his usual one.

"How was your day? You doing anything important tomorrow?" he asked as he shut the door behind her. He could sense her nervousness and he suddenly had the feeling that dinner might not be as perfect as he'd hoped it would be unless he pressed her slightly to tell him what was bothering her. Horatio wasn't normally one to press unless it was during a case but the atmosphere seemed a bit strained at the moment.

"It was ok, nothing out of the ordinary. Think I'll just stay home tomorrow, I brought some books home." She answered before asking, "How was your day?"

"A bit slow in terms of cases but lots of paperwork to keep the mind busy." He commented sarcastically. He took a step closer towards her, invading her personal space. He tilted her face upwards and gazed into her eyes, "Is something the matter Marisol, I can't help but feel that something's bothering you."

Marisol felt absolutely overawed to be captured in his gaze as his eyes searched her face, resting for a moment on her slightly parted lips before moving back to her eyes. Her mind shut down for a couple of moments completely taken by surprise by his move. She blinked a couple of times, "Well…well actually yes, yes there has been something on my mind." She responded a bit breathless. "Well it's really been on my mind for a while now. Can…can we sit down?"

Horatio peered at her closely trying to gain any hints about what exactly it was about, he took a step back, "Of course…do you mind if we sit outside? I thought I'd make dinner outside, well if that's all right with you?"

She gave him a smile, "Sounds lovely." He smiled back as he led her across the living room and out onto the small veranda, that overlooked the beach, through the sliding glass door. He placed his hand on the small of her back to guide her out. He pulled a chair out for her, as she placed her purse on the table, and then took a seat opposite her. He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees as he settled to listen to her. She closed her eyes, as his scent filled her senses once more. When she opened them she found herself gazing into his blue depths, she bit down on her lip wondering how she would form coherent sentences while his gaze commanded hers and held her captive. She averted her eyes for a moment but then felt the undeniable pull of his gaze and looked back at him.

"Horatio…Horatio, I just want you to know that whatever happens as a result of this conversation, I… I've had a wonderful time with you these past weeks so thank-you for that. It's just that I…" she faltered.

Horatio felt his heart plummet with her words; she wasn't breaking things up with him was she?

She took a breath and continued, "I need to know that I'm not deluding myself into believing we have something that we don't." she paused again. She was just about to continue when her purse began to shudder against the wood of the table. She ignored it, but its persistent vibrations made her lose track of what she was going to say. She let out a big sigh glanced at the bag murderously, running a hand through her loose hair.

Horatio gave a small smile, "How about I get us a drink? You better get that, it may be urgent."

Marisol gave him a grateful smile. She was feeling a tiny bit relieved that she had managed to buy an extra bit of time. He got up and moved back inside. Marisol opened her purse and pulled out the vibrating menace. She glanced at the caller ID and noted with surprise that it was Bella. She stood up and took the call.

"Bella?" Marisol asked, leaning against a pillar and looking out onto the moonlit beach but not really taking in the scenery.

"Marisol…I'm sorry, I know you're having a very important dinner but I have a crisis on my hands. I need your help!"

"Bella, slow down, what's going on?" asked Marisol, her irritation immediately replaced with concern.

"It's Christian. He's bringing his parents for dinner and I completely forgot! Marisol! I just got home for chrissakes and found a message on the answering machine saying they'll be here in an hour. What am I going to do?" wailed Bella, on the point of hysteria.

"Bella, breathe! It's going to be fine, I'm here. Just relax." Marisol tried to get Isabella to calm down. "Ok listen…are you listening?" Marisol heard tapping on the glass behind her and turned around to see Horatio pointing to a bottle of red wine in his hand. She smiled and nodded. He smiled back and walked back into the kitchen

"Uh huh…I'm listening…"

Horatio watched her through the glass as she began pacing around his veranda, moving her hands around as she tried to give instructions to whomever she was talking to. He took his time opening the bottle, allowing her space and privacy to continue her phone call. He now had a feeling that Marisol would be steering the conversation towards commitment, something Horatio knew he didn't have a problem or issue with. He watched her end her call, she stood looking out towards the ocean for a moment before turning to face him through the glass. He picked up their glasses and made his way back out. Marisol watched Horatio approach her. She had sent Bella to her place to pick some dessert up and gave her the number of Donatello's telling her to call them and order food from them, particularly their seafood risotto. Bella had worried how long it would take. Marisol assured her it would arrive in time knowing from experience that the manager ran an efficient establishment.

"Urgent?" he asked

"Urgent in a girly sense. More like bordering on desperation."

"Ah." was all he managed to say as he placed their glasses on the table, "Do you want to continue?"

"Uh...yes." she remained standing, fiddling with her phone as Horatio sat back down. She remained silent for a while, continuing to fiddle with the phone. Horatio with infinite patience reached up gently and plucked the phone from her hands and placed it near her glass. This brought her back, "Uh…right, yes. I…I really like being with you, you're like no one I've ever met, and you make me feel incredible, almost invincible." She paused and gave a small smile, as she felt herself blushing more and more with her revelations. "I just need to know that you're not having his relationship with me because you pity me in anyway. I just don't think I could bear it especially now that I'm beginning to feel so much more for you. Yeah…that's what I wanted to ask you…" she ended somewhat awkwardly.

Horatio stood up and was by her side in one stride, aware that it had taken courage to make the admission at all. He cupped her chin gently with his hand, raising her eyes to meet his so that she could feel the sincerity of his words. "Marisol, I don't pity you at all. I admire you…" he heard her all but inaudible gasp, "You don't know how much you've changed my world and my perspective with your company. I do feel something with you, I wonder if you feel it too?" she nodded her response unable to speak, "I hope I can put your doubts to rest, I would never do anything to hurt you, you've grown to mean so much to me. I want to continue seeing you and being with you."

"Really? Even though I'm sick?" she whispered, overcome by emotion and the elation she was feeling.

He nodded whispering into her ear, "That will never matter. I'm happy to simply just be with you." He drew her closer into him to embrace her.

She couldn't help but utter one more question, "Are you sure?"

"Sweetheart, without a doubt." The softness with which he whispered in her ear made her heart skip a couple of beats as her arms curled around his neck, hugging him and pulling him tightly against her. She pressed herself against his chest listening to his pounding heart and filling her senses with him. Horatio's heart jumped into his mouth as he felt a tenderness for this woman in his arms that overwhelmed his being. Everything about her from the vanilla scent of her hair to the warmth of her skin against his made him want to hold her forever and ever. They remained locked in each other's arms for a moment that just lasted - simple and perfect.

The only reason they had to break apart was the insistent vibrations of Marisol's phone. Marisol glanced over and saw the caller ID, sighing gently, unwilling to let go of Horatio, she savoured him against her for another moment before slowly disentangling herself from him. She reached up and placed a kiss on the tip of his nose.

"Thank- you Marisol." Came his unexpected response as his lips curved upwards into a soft smile.

She looked at him in confusion, "Thank-you Horatio." She reached out for her phone.

He wrapped his arms around her waist as he whispered in her ear, "I'm going to start getting dinner ready." She turned around and kissed him on the cheek before accepting the call. He slipped away from her. Her mind registered this on another plane as she immediately began to miss his presence near her as she answered, "Yes Bella…"

"OK Marisol, I know you're going to kill me, but I have another favour to ask."

"Yep, I'm listening."

"I just got back from your place and managed to get the food sorted, but what am I going to wear? Christian just called to say that his colleague Peter Elliot and his partner, you know the blonde who works with Eric are coming for dinner too. Oh my god! What about drinks, aargh, what am I going to do?"

"Bella r-e-l-a-x, you have enough time. You have enough liquor to intoxicate twenty hotshot bankers if need be. Just get to a store nearby and buy some sodas just in case. Oh and buy some ice because there's no way you're gonna be able to freeze enough ice for drinks in 30 minutes. Call me when you get back and we'll sort out the outfit."

"Ok…I can't do this…I can do this. Marisol I'm going nuts, you're a star darling! I owe you. Bye." And with that Bella hung up.

Not as much as I owe you Bella she thought to herself. She mentally began racing through Bella's wardrobe, imagining a suitable outfit for dinner. She placed her phone back on the table and turn to face Horatio with a big grin as he came outside with the ingredients. He turned on the grill and waited for it to get hot. While he waited he placed Marisol's glass in her hand and picked up his own."

"A toast," he said raising up his glass, "To us and to the future."

"To us and to the future," Marisol echoed his words. They both clinked their glasses and then took a sip before setting their glasses down.

Horatio took Marisol in his arms once more; she easily slipped into his embrace, placing her hands around his waist, under his jacket, "You look stunning tonight Marisol."

She loved the way he said her name, where he put the accent and emphasis on her name. "Thank-you," her earlier shyness gone, she reached up to whisper in his ear, "I like the new cologne." She laughed as she saw his neck go slightly pink.

He muttered about it being a present from his nephew, some kind of retro cologne that he had never heard of. Horatio smelt the heat from the grill and pulled himself away from her. She sat down on the chair as Horatio began to cook. The atmosphere had lightened and was in the process of fulfilling the promise of being a perfect evening. Horatio was just dishing out the food onto their plates when Marisol's phone began to vibrate again. She glanced apologetically at him; he smiled in understanding motioning for her to take the call. She stood up and walked away to accept the call.

"Bella?"

"Marisol, I have 10 minutes, and I think I bought the 7/11 out."

Marisol couldn't help but laugh, Isabella tended to overdo things when she panicked.

"Hmm…for your outfit, I was thinking something elegant, but not too formal. I was thinking the oriental-style jade colored top over, navy jeans and leave your hair loose…"

"Marisol!" Bella yelled into the phone, Marisol held it away from her ear. She guessed Horatio heard it too because he looked up in surprise. "Its way too hot to a have that clingy top on and there's no way I'm leaving my hair down in this heat!"

"Ok, Bella, about something linen-y um…um… I know… the black linen trousers, the one with the print at the cuffs and the matching halter that we bought the other day." Marisol suggested next.

"Isn't that a bit uh…too revealing for dinner? I mean his parents are coming."

Marisol sighed thinking again. "Got it!" she snapped her fingers excitedly, "Wear your black and white striped skirt the one that flairs at the knees and the black beaded top, yeah, the one that leaves your shoulders a bit bare, but covers all the essential bits. How about that?"

"Great, sounds great. Oh man, 5 minutes. I better go. Thank-you Mari, you're a star!"

"Um…Bella try not to call again unless you have another crisis. Uhh… your calls have a way of coinciding with delicate moments."

"Sure Marisol." Marisol heard Bella trying to choke down laughter but not succeeding in doing it very well.

"Bella, I'm going to hang up now."

"Sure Mari, bye."

Marisol heard her friend laugh as she ended the call. She made her way back to the table where a piping hot plate was waiting for her.

"Everything all right?" Horatio asked.

"Oh yes…let's just say that it's Bella's turn to get the inquisition from her fiancée's parents." She replied, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Ah…the inquisitioner becomes the inquisitioned…Hmm, not even sure if that's English, but well you get what I mean right?"

"I certainly do. But it should be interesting especially since her future in-laws are a bit on the conservative side, and well Bella is anything but conservative." Marisol gave a small giggle as thought of her best friend having dinner with her future in-laws.

"If you don't mind me saying Marisol, you snap your fingers incredibly loud for a lady." He commented curiously.

"Really?" she glanced at her hands, "I've never really noticed."

"Yes, it's a very crisp, clear snap, no blunt sound at all."

Marisol was a bit shocked that he had taken all this in, in the space of not more than 5 seconds, but then realised it was probably part of his job to take in small details. She thought about it for a while before responding, "Now that you mention it, I guess it's because in school, let's see it was probably middle school…yeah, we used to have this game the girls played against the boys, it was all to do with clicking and using our hands to make different noises. We used to have little routines. I guess I got it from there. Haven't done the motions for a while though." She put down her fork and shadowed the patterns with her hands, trying to remember the intricate ways her hands as moved as a youth. "I could give you a demonstration." She said when some of it came back to her.

"Love to see one." He replied interested.

She frowned seriously in concentration and bit down on her lip. He watched her hand ball into a fist that her palm smacked down on to give a hollow sound, before her fingers uncurled to produce a variety of snaps at different tones to form a sort of rhythm that was punctuated here and there by a deeper sound when she tapped her wrist and elbow in time with the beat she set up. She made a mistake and then stopped and smiled, "Sorry, I can't remember the rest."

"Wow, that was great, really. Didn't know you could use all your fingers to snap. You guys must have really practiced a lot. Did you ever beat the boys?"

"Well it kind of ended a draw, because we kind of grew out of it by 7th grade. You know the whole boy/girl division thing just grew and we looked for other ways to compete with each other."

"Well maybe you can get me to improve my snapping skills." Horatio said as he tried it only to find out that his left hand was much weaker and blunter than his right.

Marisol laughed as she watched him try, "Well perhaps Lieutenant, if you'd be so kind as to lend me this recipe. It's delicious." She pointed with her fork at her food, eyebrows raised in expectation.

"Why thank you Miss, I aim to please, but alas I cannot process your request, secret recipe, I mean I can give you the recipe but what really matters is what type of fish you use, that's the real secret."

"Men have cooking secrets? Tell me another one." She rolled her eyes over dramatically and laughed. He laughed with her.

Their conversation moved on and by the time Horatio served dessert they were on the subject of discussing second names. By the time they finished dinner it was 11.30 p.m. Marisol helped Horatio clear the table.

"Just give me a minute will you while I load the dishwasher?" He said turning to take the plates from her hand

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"If you don't mind can I have a peek around?" she asked a bit shyly.

"Sure, go ahead."

Marisol wandered around. She didn't go upstairs, content to see the ground floor rooms. She noted the guest bedroom had been converted into a study. She guessed when he was home he spent most of his time in here, maybe even slept here noting the leather couch in one corner with blanket folded over one of the arms. He had a couple of photos frames on his desk. Marisol resisted the temptation of peeking at them, knowing she'd be invading his privacy. He hadn't talked much about his family and Marisol had left it at that, willing to wait for him and wanting him to feel comfortable enough around her to confide in her.

She left his study and went back into the living room. It was then she noticed the photos on the mantle. She picked one of them up: it was of Horatio and a young boy, probably about 8 who was sitting on top of Horatio's shoulders. It looked like a very spontaneous picture as both had big, surprised smiles on their faces. The photo next to it seemed to have been taken a couple of years ago during Christmas time: there was a man whose only resemblance to Horatio was the red hair. A beautiful woman stood next to him, a smile on her face and a toddler in her arms. She guessed the woman was probably Yelina. Eric was right, she thought, she did look amazing. Marisol straightened up as she felt Horatio's presence in the room.

"Hi." She said

"Hey." He replied. "Would you give me the pleasure of dancing with me?" He asked putting his hand out, as the opening melody of Nat 'King' Cole's Unforgettable started to play.

"The pleasure's all mine. I didn't know Lieutenants could dance?" she asked, giving him her hand. He pulled her close to him as they began to move together. He wrapped his arm around her waist and entwined his fingers with hers.

"Oh it's a very important part of the job description, especially if one always needs to charm during a black-tie affair when the crime lab needs an increase in funding, as mine occasionally does." He replied slyly, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Ah, I see." Came her reply. They moved in silence around his living room. He twirled her around slowly and brought her closer into him, her hand came to rest on his lapel near his heart. He placed his hand on top of hers. He looked down into her eyes that were brimming with happiness and was happy that he made her feel that way. Marisol looked up at him, wanting to kiss him so much that she bit her lip down thinking about it. They continued to move as Joe Cocker's Love lifts us up where we belong began to play.

He glanced at the clock on the mantle and could just make out the time to be three minutes to midnight. He looked down at her again and noticed her biting her lip. He twirled her around again and when he pulled her in this time he placed his thumb on her lip and rubbed it gently, softly saying, "You bite your lip way too much."

"Bad habit, I know." She replied softly as she moved to hook her arms around his neck as his hands came around to hold either side of her waist. They continued to dance, bodies slightly apart but foreheads practically touching as they maintained eye contact.

The song ended and they stopped moving, resting their foreheads against each other, enjoying the intimacy of the moment.

Horatio inched his way closer to her lips, drawing her into him. She didn't resist him or tell him to stop, her eyes if anything gave him confidence to continue. He lingered for a final moment just to be sure. Their breathing had gone quiet, and all was still in the room…

Their eyes remained locked on each other as he slowly pressed his mouth onto hers, deliberately taking it slow, teasing her and tasting her with his probing tongue. He deepened their kiss as he heard her moan softly. His thumbs gently stroked her bare shoulders. Her hands strayed to his hair as she let him play havoc with her senses.

"Happy Anniversary Marisol," he said as they broke apart for air.

"Happy Anniversary Horatio," she said reaching up to kiss him once again and then rested her head against his chest. His arms closed around her and she felt safe and unconditionally happy. She then remembered her gift for him. "I have something for you," she said as she led him to the leather couch.

"And I have something for you," he replied linking her hand in his as they sat down. Marisol reached for her purse while Horatio took out her gift from the drawer in the stool near the couch. They exchanged gifts. Marisol insisted that he open his first. He did and he loved it, "Marisol it's lovely. How did you know?"

"Well I'm pretty obsessed with watches too, takes one to know one." She replied smiling, glad that he liked it. He urged her to open hers. She let out a small gasp, as she peeked into the velvet-lined case, "Horatio, how did you know?"

He shrugged slightly, "I had a little help from Eric." He watched her mouth curve into a smile. "I have to say I was surprised when he told me what to get you as a potential gift. I just looked at him and asked him what the heck a PSP was!"

"I might just end up spending more time with that thing than with you now. It's really quite addictive. I literally overplayed my last Playstation Portable to death."

"Not a good thing then, because it sounds a lot like my nephew," he replied, playfully grim.

"Maybe I can convert you or maybe you can make me cut my PSP addiction?" Marisol asked jumping into his lap brushing her fingers across his lips.

"Perhaps." He replied smiling as he kissed her fingers before claiming her lips once again.

"Thank-you for this wonderful evening. It's perfect." She said as they broke apart again. She took the watch out from its case, "May I?" she asked gesturing to his wrist.

"Of course you may."

She took his wrist and unclasped the watch he was wearing. She placed it aside and kissed his pale skin, she felt the tremors run down his arm and smiled before placing her gift on his wrist and adjusted the strap. She took his hands and kissed them before looking up into his eyes, content to lose herself in his gaze. They sat in silence for a few minutes.

Her phone began to vibrate again. Horatio laughed as Marisol said, "Bella's phone is so going to get chucked into the sea the next time I see her." Marisol got up off Horatio's lap as she accepted the call,

"Another life or death Bella?" she asked, slight exasperation in her voice.

"Marisol? It's Christian." Came the voice at the other end.

"Christian! Gosh, sorry! Yeah it's me, what's going on?" she mumbled embarrassed about not having checked the caller ID.

"I just wanted to say thanks for tonight. Isabella told me what happened. And you gave some pretty good advice. My parents are really taking to her." He chuckled.

"Oh, that's good to hear. It was no problem, really. Although you should warn them about the 'holier than thou' expressions she has. Besides, Bella would have done the same for me if I had a similar crisis. Mind you, she was really close into going into hysterics."

"I gathered as much when we got here." laughed Christian, "Well we're about to turn in, Bella just wanted to know if you're home yet?"

Marisol's gaze turned to Horatio who felt her gaze on him and looked up. "Um…yeah, I guess I will be soon." She gave a short laugh, "Tell Bella, I'll see her soon. Bye."

"Bye Marisol, and thanks again."

"No worries, bye." She ended the call and turned to Horatio.

"How was the crisis?" he asked,

"Oh I think it worked out. I better call Eric to come get me."

"No worries. I'll drop you home if you like." He offered

"But it's really out of your way Horatio."

"Please?"

"Well only if I can steal another kiss from you." She asked shyly.

He smiled as he took her into his arms and kissed her again, she put her head against his shoulder and said thoughtfully, "You know, I think your kisses could very possibly break my bad habits."

He laughed, "Thanks for informing me about my bargaining options," he said slyly. "Should we make a move?" he asked.

"Yeah, because knowing Bella she'll call me in half an hour to ask about me… she can't help being overprotective, even when we were kids. It's in her nature." Marisol replied to Horatio's raised eyebrow.

The journey to Marisol's was over before they knew it. There had been surprisingly little traffic on the way. The conversation had been loosely based on anecdotes that they had heard over the years as well as a couple of minutes of Marisol passionately trying to convince Horatio about the benefits of the Playstation franchise, to which Horatio wryly shook his head unable to fathom the arguments being presented in its favour.

Horatio walked Marisol to her door and waited for her to open it. She offered making him a cup of coffee. He declined thinking about the paperwork on his desk at home, which he had yet to make a dent in. He wished her goodnight when to his surprise she kissed him passionately before saying, "Thank-you for making tonight perfect."

"It was my pleasure," he grinned feeling like a teenager by being slightly taken aback by her kiss. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight Horatio," she whispered before closing the door.

He turned and walked back to the car wondering what she'd think of the surprise he'd give her later.