Friends and Family: Reconciliation Part 4
Title: Reconciliation Part 4
Author: Aeon Cole
Rating: FRT
Warning: Slash
Fandom: CSI Miami
Pairing: Horatio/Speed
Prompt: #13 Questions
Word Count: 1500
Summary: Tim gets a phone call that changes his outlook on life and gives him the chance to reconcile with his father.
Chapter Summary: Arya leaves for New York.
Disclaimer: Arya and Michael Speedle belong to me. The rest do not.
Author’s Note: For the 20 Established Relationships challenge on LiveJournal.
Horatio and Tim sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast. They had stayed up for several hours the night before talking after Tim’s nightmare. They were both tired but Horatio had to go in to the lab for a few hours and Tim had to take his mother to the airport. Michael’s surgery was scheduled for the day after tomorrow and she was flying back to New York to be with him.
Horatio looked over at Tim, who was still looking a bit distracted. “How are you doing?” he asked.
Tim shrugged. “You gave me something to think about last night.” He thought for a moment before continuing. “You know, I’ve spent the past seventeen years pissed off at him. I never stopped long enough to try to see things from his prospective.”
“Well,” Horatio said. “If there’s one thing I’ve learn from being a cop, it’s that there are two sides to every story.”
Tim raised an eyebrow. “I guess that’s easier to see from the outside, huh?” Horatio smiled. Tim watched him for a few moments before asking, “So, um, you never mentioned what my mom wanted to talk to you about at the party the other day.”
Horatio smirked and got up to place his coffee cup in the sink. “I think it was what you might call ‘the mother-in-law talk.’”
Tim was confused. “The what?” he asked.
Horatio chuckled as he turned and leaned back against the counter. “Well, I’m only guessing, mind you. But she wanted to know everything about my background. She asked about my parents, where I grew up, what my childhood was like. Stuff like that.”
Tim was intrigued. “What did you tell her?” he asked.
Horatio shrugged. “The truth.”
Surprised, Tim asked, “The whole truth?”
Horatio smirked and answered, “And nothing but the truth.”
Tim laughed at that remark. “How did she react?”
“She listened. She didn’t pass judgment. I think she was okay will all of it.”
“That sounds like my mom, all right,” Tim said with a smile.
***
After he dropped Horatio off at the lab, Tim picked his mother up and headed to the airport. They were both quiet and a little distracted. Tim wanted to ask his mother a question but he wasn’t sure if now was the right time. Finally he decided to go for it.
“Mom, can I ask you something?” he asked.
His mother looked over at him. “Sure, Timmy. What is it?”
Tim took a breath before asking, “Do you think dad felt betrayed by what happened?” Arya looked confused. Tim tried to explain. “I mean, when I got arrested in the gay bar. He thought he knew me, knew who I was.” He shook his head. “I sorta lied to him. I never tried to correct his misconceptions about me.”
Arya nodded her understanding. “What makes you ask that now?”
Tim shrugged. “Just something Horatio said last night got me thinking.”
“You were just a boy. You didn’t talk to him about it because you didn’t know how. He’s your father, he should have been more understanding.” Tim gave her a quick nod. “As to how he felt, I couldn’t tell you. After you left, talking about that incident became taboo. Whatever Michael thought or felt about the whole thing, he kept it to himself.”
“Do you think he might be willing to talk about it now? I have so many questions that I need to know the answers to.”
“Timmy, don’t feel too guilty about what happened. Like I said, you were just a boy. Your father was the adult and shouldn’t have reacted the way he did, regardless of how he was feeling.”
Tim pulled the car into the airport parking garage and got out. He knew his mother was trying to make him feel better, trying to alleviate some of his guilt. But he knew that the guilt that he felt wouldn’t go away until he had a chance to talk to his father face to face. He just hoped that the doctors were right and that he would come through the surgery so that he would get his chance to have that conversation.
He walked his mother as far as the security gate and gave her a hug. “Call me when you get in,” he said then watched her disappear into the crowd.
Not feeling like being alone, he decided to head over to the lab to wait for Horatio to finish his paperwork.
***
The next day Arya stood by her husband’s hospital bed looking down at him. He looked so much older than the last time she’d seen him just a few months ago. The cancer was taking its toll. He was thinner, frailer, and was almost constantly wheezing and coughing. Seeing a shiver run through him, she reached over and pulled his blankets up a bit.
Michael batted her hands away and said, “Stop fussin’ over me, woman. I can take care of myself.” Then he lapsed into a coughing fit.
Arya rolled her eyes. Some things would never change, she thought. When the coughing subsided, she held out a cup of water and he drank from the straw. He gave her a wry smile and said, “Thanks.” Arya returned the expression and they lapsed into a comfortable silence.
“So,” Michael said hesitantly. “You like it down there in Florida?”
Arya nodded. “It’s nice. I’m getting too old to deal with the cold weather. And it’s nice to be near the boys again.”
“Boys?” Michael asked, emphasizing the plural. “We only have one son.”
“You remember Timmy’s friend Jeff Beckman?”
Michael rolled his eyes. “You mean that little blonde hellion that Tim hung around with? How could I forget?”
“They’re neighbors, and business partners,” Arya told him.
He wheezed out a sigh. “What’s he like, Ary? What’s our son like now?”
“I brought you a picture,” she said as she dug into her purse. She pulled out a picture that was taken at her housewarming party. It was of her with Tim and Horatio. She handed it over to her husband.
Michael took the picture and stared at it for a long moment. He ran a hand over the image of his son. “He’s so thin, Ary. Does he eat?”
Arya laughed. “Believe me, he eats. He cooks too.” Michael glanced up at her and she nodded. “Remembers everything you ever taught him.” She watched the emotions play over her husbands face. They were subtle changes recognizable only by someone who’d spent a lifetime with him. “He’s a good man, Michael. He spends his life helping others.”
Michael nodded then turned his focus to the other man in the photo. “This other fella. This is Horatio?”
She nodded but something in his tone made her ask, “What?” She was ready for one of his homophobic tirades but it didn’t come. His reply amused her.
“What kinda mother names her kid Horatio?” he asked.
Arya chuckled. “A woman in love with the works of Horatio Alger. That’s who.”
One side of Michael’s mouth quirked up. “What’s his family name?”
“Caine,” she answered.
“Irish?” Arya nodded. “Well that’s something anyway.” He stared at the picture again. “He looks happy.”
It was a simple observation but the implication was great, Arya realized. It meant that her husband had begun to accept things. “They are happy. They have a good life together.” She hesitated for a moment before adding, “You’ll like him when you meet him.” Michael raised an eyebrow. “They’ve made plans to come to New York next month, together.”
A nurse entered the room before Michael had a chance to reply. “Ma’am, visiting hours are ending,” she said.
Arya turned and said, “Thanks. I’ll be out in a moment.”
After the nurse left, Michael said, “They’re like storm troupers. Too many rules and regulations in this place.”
Arya smiled and shook her head. She picked up her things. “She’s right. It’s getting late and you need your rest.”
Michael held up the picture. “Can I keep this?”
She nodded. “I’ll be back in the morning,” she said as she leaned down and kissed his forehead. “Get some sleep.”
Before she got to the door, Michael called to her. “Ary?” She turned and glanced back at him. He looked down for a moment then fixed his gaze on her. “Thanks,” he said.
She smiled. “I’ll see you in the morning,” she replied and left the room.
He stared after her for a several minutes before he rolled to his side and stood the photo on the bedside table. He fell asleep with an image of his son, as he looked today, on his mind.
***
Horatio stood in the doorway adjoining the living room to the hallway. Tim sat on the sofa staring blankly at the television. He was certain that if he walked in and turned the program off, Tim would barely notice.
He wandered in and took a seat next to his partner. Tim barely registered his presence. Horatio reached a hand out and rubbed it along Tim’s back. Tim leaned over and rested his head on Horatio’s shoulder.
“Tomorrow,” he said.
Horatio nodded, “Tomorrow. Come on. Let’s go to bed.”
Part 5