Horatio held his lover enjoying the feel of the brunette in his arms as sleep claimed the younger man. It had been awhile since he had just lain in their bed and watched Tim sleep.

He knew that he had no one but himself to blame for it, but knowing it and acknowledging it were two different things.

He sighed before he cautiously untangled himself from Tim's embrace. He should be sleeping since he certainly was exhausted, but the horrors that awaited him the moment he closed his eyes kept him wide awake.

Horatio padded into the bathroom and took a shower thinking he would go into work early and get a head start on the paperwork that he had avoided for most of the week. He liked being in charge of the crime lab most days because it was on the cutting edge of technology being used to solve crimes, but the bureaucratic side of the job just wore on his nerves.

He returned to the bedroom with a towel loosely wrapped around his waist and drying his hair with another one when Tim started to mumble and stir in his sleep. The redhead perched on the edge of the bed and ran his fingers through Tim's dark curls as he whispered words of comfort.

It was ironic that he could deal with Tim's nightmares better than his own.

Horatio soothed the younger man until Tim slipped back into a deep sleep. This made him reconsider going into work. He promised Tim answers and he knew very well what emotional state he would be in once he revealed his past to his lover.

He stood up and grabbed some clothes from the dresser. He threw them on and left the room thus removing himself from the temptation of returning to bed.

&/&/&

Horatio walked into the kitchen and made a pot of coffee. He sipped on a cup and glanced at the clock. It read 4:30 am and he debated about calling and waking Calleigh up, but decided it was safer to deal with her wrath sooner than later.

He headed down the hall and entered his study. He wrinkled his nose in distaste at the smell of the stale air. It had been a few weeks since he had been in there, so he opened a window to air it out.

He settled into his desk chair with a tired sigh and booted up the computer. He reached for the phone and dialed Calleigh's number.

"Duquesne," she answered brightly.

"Calleigh."

"Morning, handsome."

"You are entirely too chipper this early in the day," he casually remarked. He scrolled through his backlog of emails and silently groaned. He needed to clean out his inbox and actually work on his Master thesis or get another extension.

Calleigh laughed. "What do you need, Horatio?"

"Think you can keep the kids from destroying the lab for a day?"

"Is that your way of telling me you're going to take the day off?"

"I am," Horatio confirmed her suspicion.

"Good."

"Good?"

"You need to start taking better care of yourself, Horatio," she firmly told him.

"I know," he said trying to put off another lecture.

"Knowing and doing are two different critters as my grandma use to say."

Horatio chuckled. He could always count on Calleigh to lighten his mood. "That is a unique turn of phrase."

"That may well be, but you know what I'm trying to get across," Calleigh reasoned.

"Yes, I do," the redhead conceded. "If you need me, I'll be home."

"Don't over do the relaxing," she teased.

"I'll try not to."

"Right. Have a good day, Horatio."

"You too, Calleigh."

Horatio ended the call and turned his attention back to the research he had collected for his thesis.

&/&/&

Tim woke when a stray sunbeam shined in his face. It had slipped into the room from under the hastily drawn shade.

He tried to get away from it by burying his face into his lover's shoulder only to come in contact with a cold sheet. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes.

A cold sheet meant one of two things.

Horatio either had gone for a run because he had had a bad dream or he had gone to work and had let the brunette to sleep in since he knew Tim was on call.

Tim hoped it was the former, but knew from experience that it probably was the later. He had fallen asleep in the redhead's arms, but that didn't mean Horatio had followed him into dreamland.

He grumbled as he kicked the covers off and slowly sat up. He was a tiny bit sore from their intense love making, but it was a good kind of sore. He belonged to Horatio and he had made certain that Horatio knew who he belonged to as well.

The redhead would be forced to wear his dress shirts buttoned for a few days to keep the brunette's mark hidden from prying eyes.

Tim smirked at the memory of the other marks he had left on Horatio's freckled body.

The ringing phone broke into his memories of the night before. He grabbed it on the third ring silently praying that he wasn't being called in.

"Hello," he said with a slight slur. He was still waking up.

"Sugar," came the velvet tones of Alexx Woods. "Why did Horatio call off today?"

"Huh?" Tim rolled out of bed and grabbed a pair of jeans from the dresser.

"You didn't know?"

"Alexx, I just woke up, so I'm a little in the dark here," Tim replied as he cradled the phone against his shoulder as he pulled on the jeans. "Horatio did what again?"

"Horatio called Calleigh around five this morning and told her he wasn't coming in, but that if she needed him she could reach him at home," Alexx explained. "You two are alright? You didn't have an argument, did you?"

Tim smiled. Leave it to Alexx to see through appearances, he thought.

"We are doing fine," he hedged. It wasn't the truth, but it wasn't an out right lie either.

"Then you must have worn him out last night," Alexx surmised with a wicked chuckle. She had been the first one he had confided in about his feelings for Horatio, and it had been Alexx who had made him act on those feelings.

"I'm not answering that."

"Why not?"

"I'm not discussing my sex life with you."

"I'm your adopted mother, Sugar," the dark skinned M.E. said. "Who else can you discuss your sex life with?"

"That's why I'm not discussing it with you…Mom."

"Alright, Sugar," Alexx acquiesced. "I'll leave you two lovebirds alone."

"I'll call when I figure out what is going on with Horatio," Tim said. He grabbed one of Horatio's shirts and slipped it on. "Don't want you to die of curiosity."

"Timothy James Speedle!" Alexx mock growled.

"I love you, too, Mom."

"Have a good day, Tim, and do call," Alexx requested. "Horatio's feats of death-defying stupidity are giving me gray hairs."

"You aren't the only one," the brunette retorted. "I'll call. I promise."

Tim hung up the phone and went in search of his elusive lover.

&/&/&

Tim leaned in the doorway of the study and watched Horatio sleep. The redhead had his chin resting on his chest. Every so often a gentle snore would cause it to rise and then fall down again.

The brunette smiled at the sound. He loved to tease his lover about his snoring knowing that Horatio would argue that he didn't snore. It was one of those things that reminded Tim how much a part of his life Horatio had become.

He could have stayed watching Horatio sleep indefinitely, but a strangled sob from the redhead brought Tim out of his day dream. He watched Horatio jerk awake with a frightened gasp.

Not even thinking about it, Tim left his post and wrapped his arms around his shaking lover. He held him tight whispering soothing words in Horatio's ear.

Once he calmed down Horatio tried to pull away and erect the walls that protected him, but Tim wasn't going to let him do that this time. "No, Horatio," he quietly told the older man. "We are going over to the love seat, sit down and talk. No more hiding."

Horatio nodded.

They sat on the love seat with Horatio resting his aching head in the younger man's lap. Tim stroked Horatio's hair enjoying the silky feel of it.

"This is some what Freudian, ya know?" Horatio quipped, his New York accent making it sound funnier than it really was.

Tim didn't rise to the bait. "Be that as it may," he remarked. "A burden shared is halved."

"Have you been taking language lessons from Calleigh?"

"Huh?"

Horatio smirked. "Calleigh said something similar earlier."

Tim thought for a second and chuckled. "Well, I've found that it pays to listen to Calleigh."

Horatio sighed. He knew it was his time of reckoning, but was suddenly afraid that Tim would hate him for what he was going to reveal about himself. "Do you really want to share this burden with me, Tim?"

"I love you, Horatio," Tim said. "And that means I'm willing to share everything with you."

"Alright," Horatio murmured. "You asked for it."

Horatio sat up. As much as he appreciated Tim's comforting him, it was distracting him from what he needed to do. "I guess from yesterday's display that you figured out that I didn't have a very pleasant childhood," he began.

Tim nodded.

"My parents should have never been parents. They were still kids when I came along. In fact, my mother told me that she married my father to get away from her controlling mother. Not an auspicious start to a marriage."

The brunette reached out and took Horatio's hand in his. He gave it a gentle squeeze to encourage the older man to continue his story.

"God rest her soul, but my mother tried. She just never got a fair break. My father went from being a sincere young man to an absolute bastard over night. He was a horrible drunk and that's when the beatings would start," came out as a harsh whisper.

Horatio took a ragged breath. Recalling this was hard, and he really didn't want to burden Tim with it. It was his sin to bear.

Tim felt the tension in Horatio's body. He could tell Horatio was debating with himself about whether he should reveal more of his past or just bottle it up inside and let it eat him alive.

Tim gently cupped his lover's cheek. "I love you, Horatio," he softly declared. "All of you."

"I love you, Tim." Horatio locked eyes with Tim's and knew that he could tell Tim everything about the darkness he carried around because Tim was his light; his future.

Fin