No Other One, Chapter 20
Title: No Other One, Chapter 20
Author: Duckie Nicks
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Yelina Salas, Horatio Caine, the whole Caine family
Author's Note: WARNING: SPOILER FOR SEASON 6.
Summary: Almost two decades ago, Horatio made a decision that would change his family forever. Will they ever forgive him? Will he ever tell Yelina how he feels? This is an alternative to the beginning of season 6. A Horatio and Kyle story; H/Y romance in the future.
Previous Chapters: Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, and Chapter 19
Disclaimer: I don't own the show. Don't sue me.
No Other One
Chapter Twenty: Sticky Questions
By Duckie Nicks
“Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” - Robert E. Howard
“Yelina.”
Closing the door behind her, the brunette was shocked. She’d been under the impression that this meeting would involve several members of IAB, the chief of police, and anyone else who was interested in her year in Rio. But now, at the police department, Yelina could see that only one person had shown up. And it was the last person in the world she wanted to question her about anything.
Rick Stetler.
He sat perched on the long wooden table in the center of the room. His legs dangling off the edge, irritation radiating off all of his features, he instantly made her feel uneasy.
Had Rick aged at all, she thought this meeting might go more smoothly. But instead, her ex looked as potently handsome as he always had. Her eyes roaming over him, she could see that he still looked as fit as he had two years ago. And inwardly, the brunette cursed her traitorous mind for thinking that he still looked so good.
Especially after everything that had happened between them both, it seemed wrong to think it. Stetler was rude, lecherous, cruel - that’s what she should be reminding herself, Yelina knew. She thought she should be able to look at him and only see the bad, but… she couldn’t entirely, which she hated herself for.
The last time she’d seen him, they’d been fighting. And Yelina doubted that he was interested in hiring her back, making this whole interview seem like a waste of time.
Her mouth felt dry, and she nervously ran her tongue along her teeth. Maybe they were waiting for everyone else to arrive? It seemed ridiculous that they would meet here and not his office, if it was only going to be the two of them.
She took a few steps into the room. “Rick,” she said tersely. Her accent was thicker than she wanted, thanks to her emotions, so she decided small sentences were best. When he said nothing, she asked him, “Where is everyone else?”
He stood up. “This was supposed to be a full-out meeting. But… well, it turns out… they don’t have a problem rehiring you.”
Yelina thought that this should provide her with some relief, but all it did was make her feel even more unsure. “But you do?” she asked, reading between his lines.
He moved closer to her, putting his hands on his hips. “I think they would too, if they could get past some of your…” His voice trailed off as he looked her over lasciviously. “More obvious attributes,” Stetler emphasized. It made her skin crawl, the way she felt like a piece of meat, but the brunette stubbornly refused to show her discomfort.
“Glad to see you have,” she drawled, her tone cool.
Rick opened his mouth, seemingly ready to say more on the subject. But instead he turned away from her. After a moment, he told her, “As I am the only one with objections, it seemed ridiculous to involve the rest of the board.” The bitterness in his Southern accent was noticeable.
“So it’s going to just be you and me,” the brunette realized.
He spun around to face her once more. “See, that’s what I always liked about you: your mind. Nothing ever got passed you,” he said sarcastically.
She frowned. As much as she could handle the back and forth, as much as she was tempted to say something equally horrible, Yelina knew that this was getting them nowhere. “Let’s just get this over with, hmm?”
They both took seats at the large wooden table, and it was then that the brunette saw he’d come prepared. In front of Rick were a steno pad filled with yellow-tinted paper and several ball point pens laying in a neat line. His large fingers clasped around one of the pens, but he didn’t start writing right away. “I should warn you,” he started in a tone that hardly seemed caring or concerned. “Since you’ve left, rules have changed.”
Yelina leaned forward. “All right.”
“Inter-departmental fraternization.” It sounded so innocent, really, and if she were an outsider, the brunette thought that his meaning would have been lost. But the intent in his eyes, nor his aim behind his words, was lost on her. And for a moment, she almost had to laugh at how little he’d changed in the time they had been separated.
“What you mean to say is: ‘if I hire you back, Yelina, you can’t fulfill my paranoid delusions about your brother-in-law.’ Isn’t that right, Rick?”
He smirked. “We both know there’s nothing paranoid or delusional about that. Which is why I’m warning you. If everything goes well, though I don’t think that will happen… you can pine after Horatio Caine or you can work here. You can’t do both.”
Leaning back in her chair, Yelina nodded her head. “I have no intention of doing both.”
That wasn’t a lie, she thought. Of course she… liked her brother-in-law, but the brunette knew that he would probably never be comfortable with his own attraction for her. And so until Horatio made the first move, which he never would now that it was against department policy, what could she do? In her heart, Yelina wished that there was still hope, wished there was now reason to lie, but… she knew better.
“Good. Then let’s get started.” He started writing, the sound of the pen scratching against the paper filling the air. “In May 2005, you filed a claim for early retirement, correct?”
“No, I did not,” she said. “Horatio did that.”
“But you did take early retirement, did you not?” Rick asked testily.
“Yes.” Mentally, Yelina wondered how long this would take, given that they couldn’t even get through the simplest of questions without doingthis.
“And you spent the proceeding year in Brazil with your husband?” He wasn’t even trying to make it sound horrible, but the brunette couldn’t help but think that it all seemed so… carefree and foolish.
“Yes, I did,” she merely said.
“The same husband who everyone believed to be dead?”
She scowled at him. “Yes.”
Rick said nothing at first, sat there silently, thinking. Eventually, he used the index finger of his free hand to scratch his head. “So… did you know Ray Caine was alive or -”
“Of course not,” she snapped. The brunette angrily pushed a curl behind her ear. “I thought he was dead - of course, I didn’t know.”
He said, “okay,” but in that way he so often talked, like he didn’t believe her at all. “Let’s move on…”
“No. No, we’re not moving on until you understand. I did not know that he was alive.” She leaned forward in her chair. “If I had known…”
Her voice trailed off, and Yelina was unable to finish the thought. For Ray Junior’s sake, she had put aside her feelings of betrayal in Rio. Or at least, she had done that as much as anyone could. But now, it all seemed to bubble to the surface, and she could not deny just how much it killed her to know that her husband had put her through such hell.
Shaking her head, her curls sliding over her shoulders, Yelina said, “I… really did believe he was dead. Maybe I should have known,” she admitted, the bitterness firmly infusing itself in her voice. “But I didn’t think for a second that Ray would do something like that. I had no idea, Rick.” Their eyes met, and she could see that, behind the almost onyx irises, sympathy was beginning to filter through.
She jumped at the opportunity. “As much as you may despise me now… you know I wouldn’t have let my husband do that to my son. I would not have let him leave.”
Rick didn’t say anything at first, just watched her. Finally, he sighed and nodded his head. “Yeah. All right.” And this time, he seemed convinced or at least had enough sense to keep his disbelief from her.
But then, suddenly, he reached out to her, gently grasping her hand with his own. “I believe you,” Stetler said.
The warm touch made her feel so… ambivalent. Having dated the man, Yelina was very aware of how he could be. He could be soft and sympathetic, much like he was right now. And she couldn’t help but be attracted to him in those moments.
But there was that other side of him, and the brunette thought that it was wrong to still see the good qualities in him after everything that had happened. He could be so cruel; only minutes before he’d shown a little bit of that facet. His thumb slowly dragged along the back of her hand, and Yelina wished she hated it.
Based on the way he treated her, the touch should have burned, should have made her skin crawl. But it didn’t, and she despised herself for it. How desperate was she for affection if Stetler seemed like a logical choice?
The brunette refused to let her mind answer the question.
Thankfully the moment was over just as quickly as it had begun. Pulling his hand back, he cleared his throat. “Let’s move on,” he told her.
Eager to do just that, Yelina nodded her head. She’d prepared herself to relive her time with her husband. But… her relationship with Rick was something she hadn’t even remotely thought about.
They didn’t work well together; for the most part, they hated one another.
So how had he, with a single touch, made her think differently?
End (21/??)
Author: Duckie Nicks
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Yelina Salas, Horatio Caine, the whole Caine family
Author's Note: WARNING: SPOILER FOR SEASON 6.
Summary: Almost two decades ago, Horatio made a decision that would change his family forever. Will they ever forgive him? Will he ever tell Yelina how he feels? This is an alternative to the beginning of season 6. A Horatio and Kyle story; H/Y romance in the future.
Previous Chapters: Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, and Chapter 19
Disclaimer: I don't own the show. Don't sue me.
No Other One
Chapter Twenty: Sticky Questions
By Duckie Nicks
“Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” - Robert E. Howard
“Yelina.”
Closing the door behind her, the brunette was shocked. She’d been under the impression that this meeting would involve several members of IAB, the chief of police, and anyone else who was interested in her year in Rio. But now, at the police department, Yelina could see that only one person had shown up. And it was the last person in the world she wanted to question her about anything.
Rick Stetler.
He sat perched on the long wooden table in the center of the room. His legs dangling off the edge, irritation radiating off all of his features, he instantly made her feel uneasy.
Had Rick aged at all, she thought this meeting might go more smoothly. But instead, her ex looked as potently handsome as he always had. Her eyes roaming over him, she could see that he still looked as fit as he had two years ago. And inwardly, the brunette cursed her traitorous mind for thinking that he still looked so good.
Especially after everything that had happened between them both, it seemed wrong to think it. Stetler was rude, lecherous, cruel - that’s what she should be reminding herself, Yelina knew. She thought she should be able to look at him and only see the bad, but… she couldn’t entirely, which she hated herself for.
The last time she’d seen him, they’d been fighting. And Yelina doubted that he was interested in hiring her back, making this whole interview seem like a waste of time.
Her mouth felt dry, and she nervously ran her tongue along her teeth. Maybe they were waiting for everyone else to arrive? It seemed ridiculous that they would meet here and not his office, if it was only going to be the two of them.
She took a few steps into the room. “Rick,” she said tersely. Her accent was thicker than she wanted, thanks to her emotions, so she decided small sentences were best. When he said nothing, she asked him, “Where is everyone else?”
He stood up. “This was supposed to be a full-out meeting. But… well, it turns out… they don’t have a problem rehiring you.”
Yelina thought that this should provide her with some relief, but all it did was make her feel even more unsure. “But you do?” she asked, reading between his lines.
He moved closer to her, putting his hands on his hips. “I think they would too, if they could get past some of your…” His voice trailed off as he looked her over lasciviously. “More obvious attributes,” Stetler emphasized. It made her skin crawl, the way she felt like a piece of meat, but the brunette stubbornly refused to show her discomfort.
“Glad to see you have,” she drawled, her tone cool.
Rick opened his mouth, seemingly ready to say more on the subject. But instead he turned away from her. After a moment, he told her, “As I am the only one with objections, it seemed ridiculous to involve the rest of the board.” The bitterness in his Southern accent was noticeable.
“So it’s going to just be you and me,” the brunette realized.
He spun around to face her once more. “See, that’s what I always liked about you: your mind. Nothing ever got passed you,” he said sarcastically.
She frowned. As much as she could handle the back and forth, as much as she was tempted to say something equally horrible, Yelina knew that this was getting them nowhere. “Let’s just get this over with, hmm?”
They both took seats at the large wooden table, and it was then that the brunette saw he’d come prepared. In front of Rick were a steno pad filled with yellow-tinted paper and several ball point pens laying in a neat line. His large fingers clasped around one of the pens, but he didn’t start writing right away. “I should warn you,” he started in a tone that hardly seemed caring or concerned. “Since you’ve left, rules have changed.”
Yelina leaned forward. “All right.”
“Inter-departmental fraternization.” It sounded so innocent, really, and if she were an outsider, the brunette thought that his meaning would have been lost. But the intent in his eyes, nor his aim behind his words, was lost on her. And for a moment, she almost had to laugh at how little he’d changed in the time they had been separated.
“What you mean to say is: ‘if I hire you back, Yelina, you can’t fulfill my paranoid delusions about your brother-in-law.’ Isn’t that right, Rick?”
He smirked. “We both know there’s nothing paranoid or delusional about that. Which is why I’m warning you. If everything goes well, though I don’t think that will happen… you can pine after Horatio Caine or you can work here. You can’t do both.”
Leaning back in her chair, Yelina nodded her head. “I have no intention of doing both.”
That wasn’t a lie, she thought. Of course she… liked her brother-in-law, but the brunette knew that he would probably never be comfortable with his own attraction for her. And so until Horatio made the first move, which he never would now that it was against department policy, what could she do? In her heart, Yelina wished that there was still hope, wished there was now reason to lie, but… she knew better.
“Good. Then let’s get started.” He started writing, the sound of the pen scratching against the paper filling the air. “In May 2005, you filed a claim for early retirement, correct?”
“No, I did not,” she said. “Horatio did that.”
“But you did take early retirement, did you not?” Rick asked testily.
“Yes.” Mentally, Yelina wondered how long this would take, given that they couldn’t even get through the simplest of questions without doingthis.
“And you spent the proceeding year in Brazil with your husband?” He wasn’t even trying to make it sound horrible, but the brunette couldn’t help but think that it all seemed so… carefree and foolish.
“Yes, I did,” she merely said.
“The same husband who everyone believed to be dead?”
She scowled at him. “Yes.”
Rick said nothing at first, sat there silently, thinking. Eventually, he used the index finger of his free hand to scratch his head. “So… did you know Ray Caine was alive or -”
“Of course not,” she snapped. The brunette angrily pushed a curl behind her ear. “I thought he was dead - of course, I didn’t know.”
He said, “okay,” but in that way he so often talked, like he didn’t believe her at all. “Let’s move on…”
“No. No, we’re not moving on until you understand. I did not know that he was alive.” She leaned forward in her chair. “If I had known…”
Her voice trailed off, and Yelina was unable to finish the thought. For Ray Junior’s sake, she had put aside her feelings of betrayal in Rio. Or at least, she had done that as much as anyone could. But now, it all seemed to bubble to the surface, and she could not deny just how much it killed her to know that her husband had put her through such hell.
Shaking her head, her curls sliding over her shoulders, Yelina said, “I… really did believe he was dead. Maybe I should have known,” she admitted, the bitterness firmly infusing itself in her voice. “But I didn’t think for a second that Ray would do something like that. I had no idea, Rick.” Their eyes met, and she could see that, behind the almost onyx irises, sympathy was beginning to filter through.
She jumped at the opportunity. “As much as you may despise me now… you know I wouldn’t have let my husband do that to my son. I would not have let him leave.”
Rick didn’t say anything at first, just watched her. Finally, he sighed and nodded his head. “Yeah. All right.” And this time, he seemed convinced or at least had enough sense to keep his disbelief from her.
But then, suddenly, he reached out to her, gently grasping her hand with his own. “I believe you,” Stetler said.
The warm touch made her feel so… ambivalent. Having dated the man, Yelina was very aware of how he could be. He could be soft and sympathetic, much like he was right now. And she couldn’t help but be attracted to him in those moments.
But there was that other side of him, and the brunette thought that it was wrong to still see the good qualities in him after everything that had happened. He could be so cruel; only minutes before he’d shown a little bit of that facet. His thumb slowly dragged along the back of her hand, and Yelina wished she hated it.
Based on the way he treated her, the touch should have burned, should have made her skin crawl. But it didn’t, and she despised herself for it. How desperate was she for affection if Stetler seemed like a logical choice?
The brunette refused to let her mind answer the question.
Thankfully the moment was over just as quickly as it had begun. Pulling his hand back, he cleared his throat. “Let’s move on,” he told her.
Eager to do just that, Yelina nodded her head. She’d prepared herself to relive her time with her husband. But… her relationship with Rick was something she hadn’t even remotely thought about.
They didn’t work well together; for the most part, they hated one another.
So how had he, with a single touch, made her think differently?
End (21/??)