AN: Thanks for the continued support. Here is the next chapter.

Chapter 12: A time for celebration

3 Years later

Dec 16, 2002

The sound of an alarm clock woke up the two occupants who were sleeping in the bed. They slowly stirred, then after Horatio had turned it off, he hears the woman he loved behind him. "Good morning, handsome."

Horatio turned back around and laid down, now facing her with a smile, which has been a more common thing since he started this beautiful relationship with her.

He then cupped her cheek and ran his thumb up and down it. "Good morning, sweetheart. How did you sleep?"

Her eyes are bright when she replied. "Amazingly, but honestly every night I sleep in your arms feels that way, no matter what kind of day I had."

They have been sharing a bed the last three years, and still couldn't believe they had been living together for the last two of them.

He sighed in content before replying. "Me too, I sometimes still can't believe I am here with you like this, that this is my life now."

She smiled even wider as she moved closer to him. "Well, you better get use to it because I'm not going anywhere."

His bright smile gets cut off by her lips touching his, not that he had a problem with that. In fact, he even deepened the kiss and rolled them over so he was above her.

They kissed for several minutes, and just as he pulled back enough so he could kiss her cheek and go to her neck, his phone starts to ring.

He sighed against her cheek, and she ran her hand up and down his back. "It's ok. Rain check."

He moved his mouth to her ear and whispered softly. "Definitely."

After one more kiss he moved off of her, gets to his side of the bed and answers his phone. "Caine." The person on the other end spoke before Horatio finished the conversation. "Yes sir, I'll be right in."

Once they hung up, he moves to get out of bed while she asked in concern. "Is everything ok?"

Horatio shrugged as he headed for his dresser. "I don't know what's going on, but it does sound serious." She just nodded while he grabbed his clothes from the dresser before he headed to the bathroom.

When he was done in the bathroom, ready to go to work, he grabbed his suit jacket and headed out of the room to go to the kitchen, where Calleigh was waiting for the coffee to be done brewing.

By the time, he got into the kitchen, Calleigh already had his thermos filled with coffee and had held it out to him.

He took it with a smile while cupping her cheek with his free hand. "Thank you, sweetheart. I'll see you later at the lab."

She nodded with a smile. "Yes, you will. Love you."

"Love you too."

They kiss softly before he turned to leave so he could go see what this meeting was about.

Before shift started the team was paged to meet in the break room, and when Horatio came in the room a few minutes later, he spoke after a short greeting to them. "Good morning, everyone, before we get into assignments there is something we need to talk about."

Before Horatio could continue, Eric asked with curiosity after clearing his throat. "Uh, H, aren't we missing someone?"

Seeing that Megan wasn't in the room, they all had curious looks but Horatio, who nodded before continuing. "And that's what I need to talk to you guys about. Megan had put in her resignation effected immediately, which makes me the new supervisor."

While it did feel a little shocking at the abruptness of her leaving, they weren't fully surprised because they had noticed she wasn't the same since her husband had died. She no longer had the spark or drive to continue being a CSI. And while they were saddened to see her leave, they couldn't contain the happiness they had for Horatio, so they congratulated him.

He nodded with a smile. "Thanks guys."

They nodded with smiles while Tim Speedle replied. "You deserve it H, and beers on me after shift."

Horatio nodded again before he started shift, handing out the assignments. Then once he was done, everybody left the room but Horatio and Calleigh. She walked up to him, but because they were still at work, she didn't touch him, even though she was dying to and spoke with a beaming look on her face. "Congratulations Handsome, maybe after the beers we can have our own celebration."

He smiled with a slight blush before clearing his throat. "That sounds like a plan, and I should mention that we can also celebrate for you too."

Calleigh raised an eyebrow. "For me? Why?"

He made sure they were still alone before he took a step towards her and whispered. "The word on the 'street' is that now that I am supervisor the assistant supervisor spot is now open and you're on the short list for getting it."

She looked a little surprised as she asked. "Really?"

He nodded, then sighed. "But because we are in a relationship, I can't officially recommend you without it looking like..."

She cuts him off with an understanding nod. "Favoritism, I know."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart."

She shook her head. "Don't be, if I have to make a choice between our relationship or a promotion. I'm taking our relationship every time, nothing is more important to me than us. I hope you really believe that."

He nodded with a smile. "I do, I just wish that..."

She cuts him off again with a sweet smile. "I know, but honestly, if I don't end up getting it, I'm going to be ok." He nodded one more time before she spoke again. "Alright, I better get to my scene or there will be talk on why I'm running late."

He smirked as she headed for the break room door. "It wouldn't be the first time, would it?"

She chuckled until she got to the door of the room then turned around with a sparkle in her eyes. "No, it wouldn't, especially since they found out about us. We are still the talk of the lab you know."

About 8 months into their relationship, they finally agreed to let the team and higher-ups know that they were in a relationship, and surprisingly, especially where the higher-ups were concerned, outside of feeling like they were being watched a little more closely, nothing really changed. And the team was nothing but supportive and very happy for them, which most of them weren't even that surprised, seeing the chemistry between them pretty much from the beginning.

He sighed a little as he asked. "And that won't ever change, will it?"

She looked at him with sympathy, knowing he didn't like the gossip floating around about them, about her, but there was nothing she could do to stop it, there was still going to be talk and they both knew it would happen once their relationship came out. But as long as they knew themselves that what they had was the real deal and nothing scandalous, they were fine with the talking. In fact, by now they pretty much ignore those type of comments and laugh about the others, especially when it came from the day shift team, knowing it was all in good fun.

"I'm sorry, handsome. I don't think it will."

He looked at her with love as he moved closer to her but stopped at a respectable distance and replied. "Well, I guess it is the price I have to pay to be dating the most beautiful woman in the world." She shyly smiled as he smiled in return before she turned and finally walked out of the room so she could meet Eric at the vehicle.

Horatio then took a breath before he walked out of the room so he could go to his office to get his things before going to his crime scene.

Eight days later

Christmas Eve

"To Calleigh Duquesne and on her well-deserved promotion." They all cheered on what Eric said.

After the higher-ups did their due diligence on looking for the next assistant supervisor, they couldn't help but pick Calleigh for that position, especially after talking to the rest of the day shift team, which they pretty much insisted she should get that promotion.

Calleigh had tears in her eyes as she spoke. "Thank you, guys, I don't think it would have happened in a large part because of you all and your recommendations."

Eric walked up to his friend with a smile. "You earned it, Cal."

They hugged before she hugged everyone else.

After a little more visiting time, the team had left the apartment, leaving Calleigh and Horatio alone.

Once the door clicked shut, Horatio cupped Calleigh's cheek with love in his eyes. "Eric is right, you deserve and earned this promotion. I'm just glad the higher-ups saw that and not let our relationship impact their decision in a negative way."

She nodded with tears in her eyes. "Me too." She then moved forward and wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered. "But like I said before, if it comes to any promotions or the man I love, I choose the man I love every time. I love my work, don't get me wrong, and I can't imagine doing anything else, but it wouldn't mean anything if I didn't have you."

He smiled as he ran his thumb up and down her cheek as he spoke softly. "And I'm going to ensure that you'll always have me. In fact, I want to ask you something that will make my chances become greater of that happening."

She asked with a raised eyebrow. "What do you have in mind, what do you have to ask me?"

"I love you Calleigh, these last three years with you have meant more to me than anything. I had never met a woman like you before, the way that you love me is unconditional and passionate, more passionate than I had ever felt in my life."

She moved her hand to cup his cheek. "And that will never change."

He nodded while taking her hand and kiss it before he walked them to the couch, and after he asked her to sit down, he places a hand in his pocket as he continued to speak. "And I only want to build on what we've started, which I know we don't need to do this, but I can't think of anything I want more." He slowly got down on one knee as he slipped his hand out of his pocket, revealing a ring-sized box. "So, Calleigh Duquesne, will you do me the greatest honor of my life and become my wife?"

He opened the box with a few tears in his eyes, which only caused her to have tears in her eyes as she nodded with a smile. "Yes! I want nothing more, and it would be the greatest honor of my life."

He smiled as he took the modest, diamond ring out of its case, took her left hand and slipped the ring onto her finger before they leaned towards one another and kissed.

They pulled back after several minutes with a smile before she spoke softly as she moved her hand to the buttons of his dress shirt. "Now how about we take our celebration into the bedroom."

He smiled wider as stood up before taking her hand again to help her up. "I won't say no to that."

Once she was up, they held hands until they reached the bedroom, where they celebrated where life had taken them so far.

AN: Thanks for reading, and please review. More to come soon when I can.