Title: Storm

Author: innocent choir girl (ff-dot-net), shannyfish (From Out of the Lab/Miami Heat/LJ)

Summary: Sequel to "Sex, Drugs, & Rock n Roll", and takes place six months after that story. Calleigh is still deciding on what to do with her unborn child and is having a hard time with being away from work. How will the decisions she make change her life?

Category: Ship Ahoy! Calleigh/Horatio

Genres:

Characters: Horatio Caine, Calleigh Duquesne

Rating: PG-13

Chapter: 1 "Safety"

Author's Notes: So, this is the story that will be the November story, since I'm doing nanowrimo…

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Horatio stared at Calleigh in the dark. It was something that he just did every night after she'd finally gotten comfortable and fallen asleep. She'd practically moved into his apartment and he'd even set a crib up in the bedroom. It had taken a long time for them to get there. He knew it was just months, but it felt like much longer. She'd started off at her apartment with Eric and him staying there every night just as reassurance. Jake had been put away, but his attorneys were still fighting it. His attorneys had even tried to drag Calleigh into it saying that she'd wanted it all, the drugs and the sex. She'd been so strong… He smiled as he reached out and brushed the hair out of her face.

Opening her eyes, she smiled at Horatio. "Hey," she whispered quietly as she closed her eyes for a second before opening them again. "You should be sleepin'," she told him.

"I will," he promised. "You should sleep, too. You need to be packing up to leave tomorrow."

"I'm not leavin' without you guys," Calleigh told him for about the hundredth time. "Alexx is even stayin'. Her husband took the kids to out of state family today."

Horatio sighed, there was a rather large hurricane coming right towards Miami and a good number of residents had already evacuated. He hated the idea of Calleigh, eight months along, in Miami during the storm. "I would just feel better if—"

"I was at the lab?"

A smile slipped onto his face, "That's not what I was going to say…"

"I'm not goin' to just go off and evacuate north or to another state on my own," Calleigh told him and just shook her head. "I would be far too worried about you guys…and have I mentioned I really am not looking forward to the going into labor part of this pregnancy thing…"

"I don't think any woman is excited about that part," Horatio pointed out.

Calleigh sighed and reached out to take his hand. They'd been "sleeping" together for months, but that had been all it was…just sleeping…in pajamas. He'd been her security blanket through it all. She didn't want to let him go. "You don't think going into labor in the middle of an evacuation with complete strangers is something I want to experience," Calleigh told him truthfully. She sighed and placed his hand on her swollen belly, "Tell him to behave…" she said a bit sleepily.

He smiled, "He's going to be an active little one," Horatio said as he moved down, so that his lips were just an inch away from her stomach. He raised the oversized maternity t-shirt and kissed her stomach first. He loved it when he could talk to the baby. He'd already vowed to be there for her and the child and had been even more eager when she'd decided she'd keep the baby. The only set back had been that the baby was a boy; he had no doubt that having a girl would ease Calleigh's fears of the baby looking too much like Jake Berkeley. "We still need a name for him," Horatio pointed out looking up at her before speaking into the name, "Do you have any suggestions in there?" He heard Calleigh giggle and smiled up at her. He loved when she smiled and laughed. It made him feel like she was making the right choice with her life. He put his ear and waited, but was only given a swift kick to his ear, "Ouch!" he said with a little laugh. "Maybe he'll want to play soccer…" She laughed again, "I think my ear may be bruised, too…" he said as he moved back up to Calleigh's face. "He'll settle down."

"I think you've got him riled up now…"

Horatio put his hand on her cheek and gently leaned in kissing her. "He'll behave and let you sleep…" he promised.

"We'll see…" she said with a bright smile and then let out a long yawn.

"I'm making sure that you're going to be out of the county tomorrow," Horatio said changing the subject.

"Horatio," she whispered as her eyes saddened, "Please…just let me stay with you at the lab… I'll stay in the break room…"

"That's hardly comfortable."

"The couch is very comfortable," she countered. "Plus, I'll feel more secure there…and I won't worry so much."

"The doctor said for you not to worry," Horatio reminded her.

"So, it would be goin' against the doctor's orders to send me away," she told him with a smile.

He smiled, "You always find loop holes in things, don't you?" he teased lightly.

"It was just right there…wide open…inviting me in!" she told him with a giggle and then pressed her lips against his. "Plus, then you can keep a better eye on me." She let her lips take in his. Touching was always brief, but it was always welcome. Being hurt by Jake had really shaken her and having to speak out against him in court had been even harder. Eric had Horatio had pushed her, in their own ways, into keeping the baby. Though the decision had been ultimately hers. She believed that the decision would be the right one. "How do you know when you're doin' the right thing?" Calleigh asked quietly as she leaned her head against his shoulder.

"It usually feels right," Horatio told her. He wrapped his arms lovingly around her, pulling her to him. He adjusted her, so that his shoulder cradled her head. "What are you thinking about?" he asked gently as he hoped that she'd fall asleep. It took longer for her to get up and get herself ready in the morning so far along. With her due date only a couple of weeks away, it made him feel even more paranoid and worried about her well being. He'd promised her that things would be just fine. He didn't want her dreading the baby coming…it would only put a bad state of mind in her head that she'd associate with the baby.

"The baby…" she whispered. "You knew that," Calleigh scolded a bit.

He placed a gently kiss on her forehead and snaked his hand around to rest over her belly. He gently stroked it, hoping that the baby would settle and let her sleep. "We've talked about the baby a number of times…" he told her. "And we've talked about how you can still change your mind anytime you want." He squeezed her a bit, trying to be reassuring, "We're not going to love you any less for doing so, Calleigh… You know that. We just want to be here for you however we can be… Whether it being to support you being a mother to this child or to support you in giving the child away."

"I don't feel prepared," Calleigh blurted out, rolling a bit so that she could see his face.

He smiled, "No one feels prepared…"

"How do you know?" Calleigh asked curiously.

Reaching to the bed stand, he pulled the drawer open and retrieved the book he'd been reading. He presented it to her in the dark, "It's a parenting guide."

"You sure you want to do that?" Calleigh asked setting her head back into place. She stared at the wall. His apartment had become her home. He'd welcomed her with no fuss, with open arms, and she sometimes felt like she didn't deserve it. She smiled at the crib down at the wall she was staring at; Horatio had taken the time to put it together for her with Eric. She'd tried to help, but Horatio said that she and Alexx had done the hard part in picking it out along with the bedding. She still found it funny. He was wonderful and she knew she was lucky.

"Be a parent to this child?" Horatio asked. "Or finish this book?"

A smile flew across her face as she nuzzled into his neck feeling more and more comfortable. The baby had settled. "Both?" she offered into his neck. "But you don't have to do it," she told him gently. She wasn't going to force anyone to do anything; she'd only skimmed through a parenting book she'd purchased months back.

"But I want to," Horatio told her. "You go to sleep…we'll get ready for that hurricane tomorrow…"

"I've already packed three bags," Calleigh told him. "They're by the front door."

"Really?"

"One for each of us," Calleigh said sleepily before adjusting her position and letting her eyes close. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight…my love."

……………………….

Horatio stared at the bags for a moment before looking back towards the bedroom. Calleigh wasn't up yet, but Horatio still didn't like the idea of her being in Miami when a large hurricane system was heading right for them. He wanted to know she was safe. That she and the baby were going to have no extra stress put upon them. But he also knew that if they were in the same building then he could make sure that they were cared for. Maybe just not in the way he'd hoped for. "It's going to be a long day," he said a bit sadly as he went into the kitchen to pull together a box of food that could be taken with them to the lab, just in case they were going to be there for a while. Plus, he wasn't sure how many others would be in the building with them…it was best to always be safe…

"What're you doin'?" Calleigh asked tiredly as she held the robe tightly around her. She was still sleepy, but had heard moving and the clink of something from the kitchen…and Horatio hadn't been there when she had reached for him. It had been hard to fall back to sleep after that.

"Packing some snacks," Horatio told her.

"Handsome, I haven't been eatin' that much food," Calleigh told him running her hands over her belly.

Horatio smiled and turned to her, "It's just in case people get hungry… I just want to be prepared. You should go and shower, so we can get going…"

"Aren't you goin' to shower with me?" she asked a bit saddened. She knew the hurricane system was coming there way, but she still didn't want to have to change what had become routine. "Then it'll be easy for us to finish pulling everything together because they'll be two hands." She batted her eyes a bit, "Please?"

A bright smile made its way to his face as he put the last container into box before carrying it to the door where the bags still were. "I suppose…that showering would be a good idea…" he said as he walked towards Calleigh. It was the one thing they did together that made him feel like they were intimately close. The one time where parts of their bodies touched that never touched any other time. Horatio knew that the baby was Calleigh's first concern, and he was patient. But sometimes it was hard to concentrate on anything when Calleigh was around.

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TBC…