Not many people share that view. But I'm one of them. Great minds huh Tati? A short instalment. :scream: I actually wrot up a whole long part but I'm not sure why when I saved it and tried to post it here, it didn't work, so I had to re-write it! Anyway hope this is just as good. Time passes slowly when you're upset. That was the observation Yelina made. She spent days trying to rationalise Horatio's actions, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't. He wasn't the Horatio she knew anymore. And it hurt. Losing Marisol and then Raymond at almost the same time had to be harder on Horatio than she had thought. And he didn't handle it too well in her opinion. He had changed. The changes were subtle, not many would notice but it was evident to her. Where his eyes once held compassion and warmth, it now was replaced by emptiness. She suspected she was a contirbuting factor to that. Now and then, she thought she caught glimpses of the old Horatio. Looks of longing from him thrown her way when he thought she wasn't looking, but she noticed anyway. And it gave her hope. He was like the sore knee Ray Jr got from falling off his skateboard that she wanted to kiss and make the pain go away. But the feeling was not maternal. Much as she hated to admit it, no matter how hard she fought it, she still felt for him, deep down inside she knew, but she refused to let those feelings overcome her stubborness. Horatio was wrong. He didn't even admit that he was and that irked her greatly. Day, weeks, months and cases they worked together attenuated the pain and anger she felt from his actions. The team had handled a particularly difficult case, a father killing and setting his two young children on fire. It had been an easy case to solve, the evidence was everywhere despite the fire. But seeing the two little charred bodies took it's toll on the team and they went out for drinks after work. Not Horatio, he opted to bury himself in work. Yelina knew that Horatio tended to be deeply affected by cases like this, even if he didn't show it. She was concerned and she wanted to make sure he was ok before she left for home. It was just simple concern from one colleague to another. That simple she told herself as she knocked on the door of Horatio's office. "Come in," he said without looking up. She could see he was hunched over his desk, going though paperwork. As the door opened, he looked up and his face registered surprise. "Hey," she greeted him. "Hey." "That was one tough case we had today." "Yeah it was." Horatio nodded. He agreed. "You ok?" Yelina asked. She knew he hated to be asked how he felt but she wanted to know. And she was worried about him. Horatio was surprised. Wasn't she still angry at him? Afterall she had practically shut him out of her life since that dinner they had months ago. They hardly talked except at work, and even then, it was only about work. "I could be better." Horatio looked like a sad little puppy. Neurons fired. Don't fall for it! Her brain screamed out but her heart said the opposite. She just wanted to take him home and make him feel all better. Her mouth engaged before her mind could. "Let's go take a walk." "What?" Horatio thought he heard her wrong. She didn't want anything to do with him for so long, and now this? "Pack up." Yelina commanded. "The case was hard for me to make sense of too. I don't feel like going home. I need some company, so.... come on." Horatio felt hopeful. He didn't know what to expect but still, the prospect of being with her in a context other than work stirred something inside him. They took seperate cars, driving to an old hangout spot at the beach. Being there with her brought back memories. The sun was setting and it was beautiful. They stood on the sand admiring the scene before them in silence for a moment. Then he slowly slipped off his sunglasses, and placed them in the safety of his jacket pocket. "You wanna talk about it?" Horatio ventured.
Hihi love the "inner thoughts", it brings an extra to the story. You can't stay angry at someone forever, after a while it turns you into this awful person so please Yelina keep doing what you are doing (Keep in touch with him!!) Oh yeah great minds *grin*
Thanks for all the feedback makes me wanna write more, keep it coming. Horatio harboured a glimmer of hope. She had said that she needed him. Don't get your hopes up! He rationalised that she had said that she needed some company, and he qualified as "company". Yelina continued to look out into the horizon. She let out s soft sigh that didn't escape his attention. "I just can't understand how a father can do that to his children." "Neither can I." Horatio replied. "You killed Antonio Riaz!" "That was different. The children were innocent, Riaz.... was not." "You took the law into your own hands! You went against everything we stand for." Yelina turned to look at Horatio. He turned as well and they stood face to face. "Riaz killed my wife. He had Ray Jr. The authorities weren't going to do anything about it. I had to stop him before he hurt more people I love." Especially you! Horatio knew that line of arguement didn't work the last time, so he bit his tongue. "That doesn't make what you did right." "Yelina," he sighed. He was tired, very tired. He put his hands on his hips and lowered his head. Horatio had been numb, had been for some time now, especially when it came to affairs of the heart. Especially since she had withdrew all contact from him. So why does it hurt so much? Horatio thought he couldn't stand the pain in his heart anymore. "You're punishing me, I get that." "I'm not punishing you." Yelina said a little softer this time. "Then why? Why'd you drag me out here only to bring this up again? Yelina was rendered speechless. This wasn't her intent but it had inadvertently come up. She began to feel remorse for bringing it up again. "Because I care," she muttered under her breath. Horatio heard what she said and took hope in it. He felt like they needed to iron things out, get this past them, and he wanted her to hear what he had to say. "I admit, what I did wasn't exactly right, but at the time.... I don't regret what I did." Yelina rolled her eyes, they were never going to see eye to eye on this. He spoke again and she listened. "I've lost everyone I love. And now.... I feel like I've lost you. With everyone else, I had someone else to blame, someone else to take it out on, to exact revenge on. With you.... I'm the one who's causing me to lose you." He wasn't sure if what he was saying made sense, and he hoped she understood. Yelina felt for him, felt sorry for him, again the need to make it all go away was overwhleming. Her hand instinctively reached out to touch his arm but she stopped at the last moment. Horatio didn't miss her action. He craved for that physical contact with her, but when she pulled back, it felt like a bullet through the heart. He looked up again, and without the cover of his sunglasses, Yelina saw the raw emotion in his eyes. "My.... my feelings, my feelings, for you haven't changed since the day I met you." Yelina was touched. She felt a tug at her heart. Truth be told her feelings for him hadn't changed either. "You know what? The only people who've kept us apart all this while is... us. I decided I wouldn't stop us anymore. My question is..... what are you going to do about it?" Yelina had no answer to his question. Again she was rendered speechless. "Anyway," Horatio cocked his head. He felt slightly better now that he had admitted his feelings for her. It didn't matter if she didn't reciprocate them. "We were here to talk about today's case. I know... it was hard for you too." "I.... I'm ok." "Sure?" "Yeah." She felt better now that they seemed to have aired out their differences. But his question hung over her head. "I.... I'm," Yelina started to apologise. "No need to say anything you don't want to." Horatio was being so nice to her, it only made her feel worse. Escape seemed the only logical choice. "I have to go get Ray Jr." "Ok." Horatio didn't smile but he looked a little less tortured now. "I see you round." Yelina said as she made her way to her car. "Drive safe." Horatio watched her leave then turned to stare at the ocean again, wishing it would wash away his pain. He didn't feel like going home tonight, so he decided to go back to the lab. Hopefully he had said enough to make Yelina re-think their relationship. He could only hope.
The question that Horatio had posed to her swam around in Yelina's head for days. It ate at her, made her think about things she had tried hard not to think about for some time now. He still felt for her. It didn't change the fact that he killed someone in cold blood. She knew that it was impossible for two people to always see eye to eye on things all the time. Perhaps the thing about loving someone was accepting the person, flaws and all. She had done that with Raymond, why couldn't she do it with Horatio? Perhaps it was because she was used to Ray disappointing her. With Horatio, she had always set such high standards for him, and he had rarely let her down. Horatio for his part didn't overly push her into a decision. He respected her space, allowing her time to think, keeping their interaction purely professional. He didn't go out of his way to charm her or win her over, although the strain in their relationship that had existed since he told her about Riaz disappeared, and working together became progressively more pleasant. A week passed, then two. Yelina decided it was time they talked. She hadn't seen him at the crime scene that morning, but she finally found him in the lab, dressed in his white labcoat. "Hey," Yelina walked in and greeted him. He was bending to look into the fuming chamber which was filled with white smoke. "Hey," he sniffed. "Is that our murder weapon?" "Maybe." He sounded nasal. "Mr Wolfe found it in a dumpster not far from where the body was." "You sound a little under the weather." "Yeah, I think....." he stood up and looked at her, ".....I caught the flu." Horatio's eyes looked bloodshot. "You look terrible, no wonder I didn't see you at the crime scene this morning." Horatio smiled sheepishly. Her heart skipped a beat. "I'm ok." "You don't look ok." Yelina took a step closer to him. "You should've called in sick." "You know I wouldn't." "Not unless you're so sick you can't get out of bed." Yelina laughed. The white fumes in the box containing the murder weapon slowly cleared up. "Looks like.... we've got a print." Horatio looked satisfied, like a schoolboy who had successfully made a science experiment work. "Let's hope we can put this, in someone's hand." He said as he removed the gun from the fuming chamber and placed it under the tripod. He snapped a couple of pictures of the fingerprint, then tapped on the keyboard to the computer, running the print in AFIS. "It'll take awhile," Horatio sniffed again. "I'll call you when it's done." "It's ok, I'll wait." Yelina said. She smiled and it was Horatio's heart which skipped a beat this time. "Besides, we need to talk." "Ok." Horatio snapped off his latex gloves. "This isn't the time or place." "Ok," Horatio nodded slowly. "Shall I... buy you dinner?" Yelina shook her head. "What I want to talk about..... let's just say I don't feel like talking about it in a public place, and it isn't too convenient with Ray Jr at home." "How about my place?" Horatio perked up slightly. "Nine?" Yelina asked. "I promised Ray I'll have dinner with him tonight." "Sure." Horatio breathed, he didn't feel so sick anymore. They shared a smile and Horatio felt hopeful again. His eyes wandered down the length of her body as physical urges threatened to make him do something he knew he shouldn't. He had to remind himself that they weren't together, and that they were at work. The computer screen flashed. Horatio turned to stare at the screen. He tried to picture a very cold shower, then forced his mind to concentrate on the case at hand. "Wev'e got a match." He turned the screen to Yelina. "Simon Perez, no previous priors." "First time for everything." "I'll go bring him in." Yelina turned to leave. "I'll bring chicken soup." More to come, it's gonna get good....
It was nine-thirty and Horatio began to worry that Yelina wouldn’t show. He was still dressed in his work clothes, minus the jacket, and his shirt was tucked out. He had stayed late at the lab. Held back by the night shift tech wanting his opinion on another case. When he got home to his apartment, he realized it was a mess. By any standards, it wasn’t messy for a bachelor, but to him it wasn’t acceptable, especially when Yelina was coming over. So despite still feeling a little under, he went about making sure everything was in order and the place was as clean. Just as he collapsed onto the couch, tired, the doorbell rang. Nine forty-five. He got to his feet and answered the door. He was confronted with a vision of beauty. Yelina was dressed in a spotless cream-colored dress, chicken soup in one hand. “Sorry I’m late, I forgot how long it takes to make these things.” Yelina held up a flask, which Horatio presumed contained the chicken soup. “No worries.” Horatio smiled. “Come on in.” Yelina entered. “Looks neater than I remembered, not that it wasn’t neat back then.” “I cleaned up a little." Horatio took the soup to the kitchen then poured Yelina a cup of coffee which he has been brewing. She was walking round the house, as if checking to see if he did a good job of keeping house. Horatio offered her the steaming mug of coffee which she accepted. They sat side by side on the couch. “You….. wanted to talk.” Horatio said. He couldn’t wait any longer, he had a feeling it was going to be good. “Yup.” Yelina slowly drank from her mug, as if deriving fun out of keeping him in the dark. “And?” “I decided.” “You decided.” Horatio repeated. He sniffed, his nose itched and he rubbed it with the back of his hand. “I decided…. “ Yelina placed the mug on the coffee table. She turned to look Horatio in the eye. “We’re never gonna see eye to eye on the Riaz issue." Horatio nodded slowly. He hoped she wasn’t here to argue about that again. “So…. I think we should just agree to disagree.” “Ok.” Horatio leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. He couldn’t stand much more of this suspense. “I also decided that you’re right.” “I am?” Horatio turned and tilted his head upwards to look at her. “We’re the only people keeping us apart and I decided, like you, that I’m not going to keep us apart anymore.” Best news Horatio had heard in a long time. He straightened himself. “So….. “his eyes travelled to her lips. “We should be together?” “Uh huh, but….” He knew there had to be a “but”. Too good to be true. “….. we need to keep our relationship a secret.” “We do?.” “I read the new department policies, for some silly reason, co-workers aren’t allowed to date.” Yelina explained herself. She wished this policy had been instituted earlier, it would have saved her the heartache with Rick. Horatio chuckled. “Didn’t know you were such a stickler for the rules.” “I don’t want either of us to get suspended, especially you.” Yelina grew serious. “There could be even more serious implications, like losing our jobs.” Horatio nodded, he had read the memo. But he didn’t think it would apply to him, till now. “And, I’m not quite ready to tell Ray Jr yet. He just lost his Dad, I’m not sure he’d understand.” Horatio looked a little upset. The thing about department policy he understood, but keeping it from family, it didn’t feel right. “Don’t you think he’ll find out eventually?” Horatio asked gently. “I’m not saying we’ll keep it from him forever; just don’t tell him yet.” “Ok, you’re his mother.” Horatio had his doubts but he trusted her instincts. “Well if we agree on these…. Then there’s really nothing keeping us apart anymore is there?” Yelina smiled. “I feel like I’m agreeing to some new constituition,” Horatio teased. “Do I have to sign anything?” Yelina laughed. “I just want to get this right.” Horatio smiled. “Me too.” “That wasn’t so hard, I’m not sure why it took us so long to get here.” “We were… complicated.” Horatio took her hand in his. First contact. Electrifying. He leaned towards her. She didn’t back away. Their lips met. The lightest of kisses, lips just brushing. The first kiss between two people who had been in love with each other for so long. Exhilarating. Tentative, yet filled with the promise of more to come. They locked eyes, blue staring into hazel. He was feeling better already. They leaned forward to kiss again. Horatio tipped her head towards him with his thumb and finger at her chin. This time their lips parted slightly, tongues meeting and exploring. They both got on their knees and moved towards each other. Yelina placed a hand on his face, her other hand coming to rest on his side. His hands gripped her hips on either side, pressing her to him. She felt his physical reaction to their kisses. Her heart raced. The need for him was becoming too overpowering to suppress, as did the need for air. At last they parted lips, both out of breath. “We… should stop here.” Horatio managed. “Before things get out of hand.” “Yeah.” No don’t stop! Her brain told her to stop but her body didn’t seem to obey. She reached for him again. “Sweetheart, don’t.” Horatio said but he didn’t pull back, instead pressed his lips against hers again. He didn’t understand, he was usually so good being in control of himself. He felt her hands on his shirt, beginning to undo the buttons. She tore his shirt off as he raked her hair with his hand. Skin contact. Her hand on his bare chest made his breath catch in his throat. He moved a hand up her thigh, hitching her dress up as he hand slipped upwards. He felt her tremble with his touch. He hesitated. “Don’t stop.” She broke their kiss to whisper in his ear. Her nibbling on his ear made him throw caution to the wind. He reached for the zipper on her dress as she undid the buckle of his pants. The dress came off a little too easily, that was the last rational thought that crossed his mind. They never made it to Horatio’s bed. His couch served as the location of their first union.
Lovely story, Hrockz I was reading the last two chapters at school, when one of my classmates went: "Hey, what's with the goofy smile?" See, this is what we should be getting on tv. I love how you include the doubt, the caution, even oneliners! Keep it up, Hrockz, great job.
:drool: (This smiley describes this fanfic completely!) As we say in Belgium "Om vingers af te likken". Quick translation: "To lick ur fingers." Sounds nasty doesn't it? Just means it's really really enjoyable :guffaw: So, I guess Horatio must really have a firm couch to handle all that action..
Thanks for the feedback again, keep it coming. Horatio wasn’t in the field the next morning either, but Yelina was able to find him in the lab, this time at TRACE. He was running a specimen on the mass spectrometer. He was alone, a good opportunity for a sneaked moment together. “Hey,” Yelina walked in. “Morning,” Horatio chimed. They smiled. Happy to see each other. “Good to know you got home safe last night.” She had refused his offer to drive her home. She had driven to his apartment in her own car to begin with. He still sounded like he was nursing a cold. No doubt their exertions last night didn’t help. “I ahh… I want to apologize for last night….” Horatio had an embarrassed grin on his face. He turned to look round, nobody was within earshot. He lowered his voice to a whisper. “I don’t usually do that on first dates.” Yelina laughed. “No need for apologies. I wanted it as badly as you did. And… I wouldn’t call last night a date. Besides, it’s not like we just met.” He nodded his agreement. “So… you’re ok? I mean last night was….” He raised his eyebrows…. “really good.” Yelina lowered her head, smiling at the memory. “Yes it was. I’d like that we do that again.” Horatio blushed. “Me too.” He looked thoughtful. “So you’re ok with this? I mean, I’m not in it just so I can sleep with you, it’s…. more than that.” Yelina laughed. “You worry too much.” She reached out and ran her hand down his chest, to satisfy the need for physical contact, even if it was for a fleeting moment. “Nothing wrong with some fun is there?” “No.” He gave her hand a quick squeeze in return. “So I’ll see you tonight?” “Sure.” Still in hushed tones. “As long as you don’t catch the cold from me.” “Like I said, you worry too much. I’ll be at your place by eleven, when Ray’s asleep.” “Why not I pick you up? It’s a little late for you to be driving round.” “It’s not like I never worked nights before.” “Still… I’d like that you be safe.” Now they were together, the need to protect her felt stronger. Yelina gave in. “Ok. Pick me up at eleven. But be quiet." He nodded. A lab tech walked past and they fell silent. She quickly changed the subject. “Ran the sample on my murder weapon?” “Should be ready in a minute.” Horatio replied. Truth was he was working a different case. As if conspiring along with them, the printer beeped. “I love you.” He whispered as he reached for the printout. His hand brushed against hers. Yelina smiled. She wanted to reply that she loved him too, but before she could speak Eric walked in. “H,” the man she was so enamoured with was needed. Yelina’s eyes told him she loved him too, and Horatio’s heart did a flip for joy. “I understand.” Horatio said to her. “Thanks for letting me know.” He handed the file Yelina had placed on the table back to her. Fortunately she had the foresight to bring a file. “You’re welcome.” She flashed a quick smile. “I’ll call you later, talk about Ray Jr.” “Ok.” Horatio nodded as she left and he turned his attention to Eric.
Awesome update Hrockz! Love the sneaking around idea, wonder how long they'll be able to keep that up lol