Author's Note: I'm uploading this chapter again because I noticed the formatting was a mess when I uploaded it the first time. Thanks for the review, Arlene! I loved it, as usual. Enjoy and review!

Horatio and Jenna locked eyes and her resolve broke. She held herself together throughout the op, through the medical care by emts and doctors, and the steadfast acclamations of her peers. She could do it no longer. She did nothing to stop the tears from running. Hands were trembling across the top of the sheet and she let them quiver. Horatio removed his jacket and tossed it on the counter under the window. She followed him across the room with her eyes and smiled as he unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled up his sleeves. He perched at the edge of a chair and pulled it as close to the bed as possible. He lifted one of her shaking hands and steadied it, bringing it to his lips for a kiss. He chose his words carefully, "Are you laughing at me, Detective Quinn?"

"It looked like you were getting ready to work me over for a minute there."

He looked away for a moment at the mere suggestion. "I would never."

"I know," she said. "I just love you."

"I love you, too." He wanted to brush the tears off of her battered face but feared hurting her. He took a tissue from the box on the bedside table and tried to dry them. For every one he managed to dry, ten more emerged. "I'm proud of you," he said.

"No, you're not."

"I'm not?"

"No. Mad at me for going under. Relieved that it's over. Pleased, perhaps, that you were right all along. But not proud."

"That," he said, "is simply not true. You were brave and strong. You never gave up. You completed the task you were given. You're a hero. I am so proud of you."

Her voice shook as hard as her hands and came out in a whisper. "I did everything wrong. I did things," she said, "that I shouldn't have done to get in. I never used my safe word when I knew I wasn't safe. I almost got myself raped. I almost got my CI killed." She pulled her hands away from his and covered her eyes with them, not wanting to see. Not wanting to be seen. "Everyone keeps coming in here telling me how great I was. I'm waiting for my reprimand. When is that going to happen?"

"I'm sure there is no reprimand coming. Regardless of how things went down, your mission was a success. You, and your CI, got out alive and a criminal was put away for a long time. Sometimes that's all we can ask for."

Jenna spent a few days convalescing, wrapping her head around what had happened, and hanging out with her nieces, but she wanted to get back to work. An important conversation had to happen with Horatio before she could feel comfortable on the job, and tonight she geared herself up for it. She opened a bottle of wine and waited for him to come home. When she heard his car pull into the driveway, she poured them each a glass.

"Hi, sweetheart," he said as he entered the living room and reached for the glass she handed him. He kissed her mouth and sipped his drink. "Everything alright?" She wore a haunted expression which had stayed on her face since her return from the hospital. He walked on eggshells around her and sensed that she was about to unload on him.

"I think we need to talk," she said. She moved to the opposite side of the island counter, placing a physical barrier between the two. The symbol did not go unnoticed. They each sipped some more. He, waiting patiently. She, working on her nerve. "This is the point in a relationship where I usually leave."

"Jenna - "

Jenna held her hand up to stop him. "Please, let me finish. You can't seem to understand that I'm just as all in with my job as you are with yours. I have worked hard, for years, to get where I am in the department and to earn people's respect. This last assignment did not end the way I hoped it would, but it was considered a success by everyone. You second guessed me and that caused me to second guess myself. Not being able to trust myself is something I have worked long and hard on. I cannot afford for anyone to shake it. You have to trust me and my team, and . . .I'm not as," she swallowed the word old, "experienced as you are. I have things that I want to do."

Somewhere, Horatio found his voice and interrupted her, "We've never really discussed our age difference. Does it bother you?"

"No. It never has. That is not at all what this is about. Personally, I'm completely fulfilled. But professionally. . . there are things I want to do. Things I want to try out. I like undercover work. I need to know that I can do my job and not worry about you, and what you would think, and what you would DO. I can't do my best work if in the back of my head I'm afraid you're going to tattle on me. But I love you. More than I have ever loved any man. And I don't want to leave this relationship."

Horatio let out the breath he had been holding. "I love you, Jenna. And I do trust you. I cannot imagine getting through life without you anymore. I can't promise I won't worry, and sometimes hate what you are doing." What she was asking of him went against everything he felt about how to treat the woman in his life. "Give me another chance. All I can promise is that I will try. We will figure out a way to make it work. We can take it one step, one assignment, at a time."

Jenna felt unsure. Felt that leaving may be the best option, but she meant it when she said she never loved a man more than Horatio. She stepped around the counter and took his hand. "Ok," she said.

"Ok? You won't leave me?"

Jenna shook her head and Horatio pulled her close to him. "I can promise you one thing," he said. He placed his hands on the side of her face and kissed her. When the kiss ended he said, "I promise I will never tattle on you."

Jenna laughed and said, "Good," then leaned in for another kiss.

"Now go get dressed. I'm taking you out."

"I'm not going out looking like this. I still have bruises on my face."

"Yes, you are. You're going to put on that blue dress that I love, hold on to my arm, and keep your head high."

She found him both annoying and endearing. "Ok. but I thought I was bossing you around tonight."

"You've done enough bossing for one night. Now it's my turn." He dove in for another kiss.