No Other One, Chapter 64
Title: No Other One, Chapter 64
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, Chapter 19, Chapter 20, Chapter 21, Chapter 22, Chapter 23, Chapter 24, Chapter 25, Chapter 26, Chapter 27, Chapter 28, Chapter 29, Chapter 30, Chapter 31, Chapter 32, Chapter 33, Chapter 34, Chapter 35, Chapter 36, Chapter 37, Chapter 38, Chapter 39, Chapter 40, Chapter 41, Chapter 42, Chapter 43, Chapter 44, Chapter 45, Chapter 46, Chapter 47, Chapter 48, Chapter 49, Chapter 50, Chapter 51, Chapter 52, Chapter 53, Chapter 54, Chapter 55, Chapter 56, Chapter 57, Chapter 58, Chapter 59, Chapter 60, Chapter 61, Chapter 62, and Chapter 63.
Disclaimer: I don't own the show.
“I have a feeling that being in love sometimes means the projection of your desires onto another person.” - Eric Braeden
The alarm clock by the bed ticked loudly, the minute noise reminding Horatio that time was passing by and a decision needed to be made. Yelina had already struck down the notion of keeping Ray and Kyle separate for the foreseeable future. And for the life of him, Horatio couldn’t really see why that was such a bad idea. Admittedly, it wasn’t a great plan, but it was better than lying together with no plan of action in place.
And that was what they were doing right now - a whole lot of procrastinating with her at his side and an ice pack long forgotten between them.
Naturally, the implication of their current positions did not go unnoticed by him; especially with the way they were discussing their respective children, it was nearly impossible to miss the “couple” vibe in the room.
But then again it always was.
At least it was for him anyway. Having never polled Yelina on how she felt, he didn’t know her feelings on the matter. And truth be told, he didn’t really care either; his own emotions were more than enough for him to handle in this case.
They always had been.
Over the years, Horatio had lamented the injustice of it all. The one woman who wanted him for reasons not related to the badge (and the need-to-be-rescued complex it aroused in some women) had married his brother. The one woman Horatio had wanted more than anything else had married the most selfish, deranged bastard on the planet, and because Horatio had some honor in himself, he’d never crossed that line.
Ever.
Of course, the true irony of the situation was that Raymond would have easily tried to seduce any woman Horatio loved. The rules of brotherhood never applied to Raymond, and with the flirtation always coming albeit unintentionally from Yelina, Horatio never ceased to feel like the only one abiding by the rules.
He was, and had been for quite some time, the only one following the rules of the game.
And he didn’t even want to play.
What Horatio wanted was her.
What he wanted was her lips kissing his and her hand held tightly in his. What he wanted was her fingertips lightly pressed into his chest as she slept by his side and her face, partially obscured by her dark hair, to be the one he greeted every morning. What he wanted was her… love and the unspoken by unequivocal promise to love him for the rest of their lives. What he wanted - if he were being truly honest with himself - was the security that relationship could offer him.
But what he wanted, he could not have.
And since he couldn’t have any of that, what Horatio really wanted was a way to make all of that desire disappear.
But there didn’t seem to be a way to make that happen. It was no easier, he realized, to forget his feelings than it was to find a solution to the Ray-Kyle divide in their family. And in Horatio’s estimation, in both instances, if the problem couldn’t be fixed, the best thing to do was… avoid making the situation worse.
Without a doubt, it sounded childish. Even in his own mind, the plan sounded immature, sounded like he was trying to pretend that his feelings for Yelina or his nephew’s feelings towards Kyle didn’t exist.
The truth, however, wasn’t that simple. He wouldn’t deny that there was an element of avoidance involved; of course there was. But more than anything what Horatio hoped was that time and space - distance - would give him (and the boys) a fresh set of eyes upon which he could gaze at their problems.
He wanted a chance to step back and reassess, and even though that philosophy hadn’t exactly worked with Yelina, he thought it might with Ray and Kyle. They were two hotheaded, troublesome boys; they could benefit from the distance, and maybe if they stewed in the knowledge that the other one existed… things could get better.
But in order to do that, Horatio knew he would need to convince Yelina. And doing that was about as easy as herding cats.
He supposed, however, that it was worth a shot. If he could get her to be in agreement, they’d have a plan. They would have something to rely on, and that was better than nothing.
His head cocked in her direction, he suggested slowly, “Maybe… some distance is the best thing… for them. They need… time.” And he could see the urge to interject rising inside of her, so he quickly added, “It wouldn’t be long term. Okay? It wouldn’t be… forever. Just until they can stand to be in the same room with one another.”
Yelina arched an eyebrow and asked doubtfully, “And you don’t think that dynamic would change more quickly if he forced them to -”
“I don’t think that… forcing the boys to do anything is going to work, Yelina.”
She pursed her lips together in a momentary gesture that spoke to him about her irritation. It was such a small movement that anyone unfamiliar with her would have missed it. But having known her for nearly two decades, Horatio could not say he was one of those people; he knew she was annoyed, and he knew that, even if he were to drop the matter now, there was no way to dissipate that feeling inside of her quickly. Because although, on the whole, she was fast to forgive, when it came to family…
Things were not so simple.
And indeed, it came as no surprise when Yelina spoke once more with her voice filled with knowing and irritation. “Is this really about them? Are you really doing what’s best for them?”
“Of course,” he answered quickly, his tongue tripping over his words. “Of course, I am trying to do what is… best for them.” Her implication that he wasn’t confused him more than anything else, though deep down, he could feel a hurt-filled pang at the accusation.
Why else would he be doing any of this if he didn’t want to do what was best for Ray and Kyle?
He never got to ask the question, because Yelina started talking once more. “I know you want to do the right thing for all of us. But I also believe that you have other reasons for suggesting that you keep Kyle away.”
Horatio looked at her carefully. “Such as?”
Her dark curls bobbed a little as she moved her body in a way that looked like half a shrug and half a shake of the head. “You know how many times we’ve seen each other over the last two and a half years?”
Coming seemingly out of nowhere, the question was one he hadn’t expected or understood. And he was glad that she just kept talking so he didn’t have to ask for clarification. “Probably ten times. Or less.”
“Well… you know I’ve been busy,” he responded in a politely terse manner.
Yelina scoffed. “You don’t have to offer an explanation, Horatio. Especially since it would be a lie, I’d rather not listen to an excuse.”
Her words were harsh but not nearly as painful as the truth she was about to utter. “I know why you stay away. You think I don’t, because I look at the same situation and do not share your conclusion. But I understand: you do not like the dynamic between us.”
It was a polite, indirect way of broaching the subject that he would have preferred to leave untouched. But that didn’t make him feel any better. Because she was trying to get him to admit that there was no point in fighting his desire for her; she might not have been directly saying it, but it was implied, and he had no intention of saying those words out loud.
He couldn’t do it.
Gently he explained simply, “Raymond was my brother.”
“And my husband,” she snapped back immediately. “And while he was alive, I did everything I could to be loyal to him.”
Horatio hadn’t meant to imply that she had no loyalty to Ray. But her defensiveness suggested to the redhead that he must have done precisely that to upset her. “I married him, had his child,” she said with emphasis. “I told him not to go undercover, yes? But I let him do it.” There was a hint of anger in her voice - not necessarily at him but at what had happened in the past. So it was no surprise that she continued speaking with disdain, “I supported him. I said nothing when he became addicted, and when he did admit to having a problem, I tried to help him.”
She paused to swallow hard. “And when he died, when he pretended to die, I held my son every night and lied about what an honorable man his father had been.”
Not for the first time, Horatio realized that she could list thousands of more selfless acts she’d done in the name of loving Raymond. There wasn’t enough time in the world to name every kind thing she’d done for Horatio’s brother in the name of love. And the fact was Horatio really didn’t want to hear even a short list of such things; that would just make him feel like he’d failed his entire family more than he already did.
So he quickly admitted, “I know.”
But that didn’t stop her.
“He had a child with someone else? I supported her. He turned up alive and wanting a family with me? I did what he wanted.” She shrugged in defeat, a sharp contrast to the bitterness in her words. “And he killed himself anyway.”
Instinctively Horatio understood what she meant. Ray might not have killed himself with a gun or a razor blade or a noose. He might not have even wanted to die when he passed. Yet there was no denying that, through his own selfish actions, Raymond had killed himself.
Yelina’s steely gaze and exhausted voice pulled Horatio from his thoughts. “I am tired of being loyal to a man who has no concept of what that word means.”
She fell into a brief silence, perhaps to let the words sink into his brain. But it wasn’t for a long period of time, because he didn’t have a chance to speak before she explained, “And I understand that you’re not ready to accept that about him.” A subdued smile on her lips, she said, “You want to believe that other people will be good if you are… you want to believe that, by looking at me as your brother’s wife, my marriage to Ray will have some sort of meaning.”
“It does have meaning,” he insisted.
But she was quick to shoot the sentiment down. “It doesn’t. He never believed it did, and outside of Ray Junior, I don’t believe that anymore either.”
Horatio wanted to disagree with her, but she wasn’t having any of it. “You still think it does; I respect that. But do not for a second believe that Kyle shares your need to avoid his family because of the uncomfortable emotions it stirs within you.”
He eyed her carefully. Very carefully for a moment as though she could continue to show insight into who he was, as though the very things she was saying could harm him. He didn’t trust himself to speak at that moment, her words aggravating something inside of him. Frustration and anger building within him, Horatio knew he needed time to calm down, to mentally step back from the situation.
That was hard to do, of course, and all the while, he reminded himself that this was the problem he had with Yelina. For all of her ability to understand him, sometimes she failed to see how her words and actions affected him. Sometimes she would be so intent on demonstrating her intimate knowledge of him that she neglected to understand how awful it felt to be laid so bare for her to assess.
But then he supposed that that was his own fault. He worked so hard to maintain that cool façade she was used to that it was likely that she had no idea how her words affected him.
Because he never showed her.
He wasn’t going to.
That was revealing more than he ever wanted to.
So he simply allowed for just the slightest hit of agitation to filter through his exterior as he asked, “You think I’m interested in keeping Kyle… all to myself for… personal reasons?”
She didn’t nod or shake her head. Actually, she offered no physical tell of any sort and instead vaguely explained, “I believe that you are so afraid of spending any time with your family that you are not fully seeing how your son would benefit from such exposure.”
Her cool tone was matched by his. “Ray Junior assaulted Kyle… and you. So… you… are right about that. I don’t see it.”
“Then imagine for a moment that you were your son,” she ordered none too gently. “You haven’t had a family in years, and you only get one after breaking the law and being arrested. You get a family by accident,” she emphasized. “You’re thrown into this… insane and, if I may say so, bizarre dynamic that you have no understanding of. And the first thing that happens is your cousin punches you in the face.”
Peevishly Horatio replied, not really seeing a point in the recap, “I think a few other things happened before -”
“My point,” she interrupted with a glower, “is that all he knows right now is that we never anticipated his existence and Ray Junior resents it.”
“All the more reason to keep them apart,” Horatio said resolutely.
Her eyes narrowed on him as though she were trying to decide if he were being this dense on purpose. But she never asked that question, and he guessed that she still felt, no matter his intentions, that she could convince him. Because immediately following her silent assessment were the words - “No. This is all the more reason to show him that his family won’t abandon him.”
Horatio understood what she was trying to say; Kyle had had so much transience in his life that he needed to know that this situation wasn’t more of the same. But, as Horatio pointed out to Yelina, “I can do that. I… will do that. But to try and show him that while Ray is… breathing down his neck and… hoping things will end badly?” He shook his head once. “That… that will not work.”
Yet she remained as untaken with his proposal as he was with hers. Her voice terse, she reminded him, “There’s more to this family than you. There’s -”
“I realize that,” he interrupted in an admittedly patronizing manner. Condescending wasn’t exactly what he’d been going for, he conceded, but at the moment he was hardly bothered by it. “And when Kyle’s ready, I’ll let him spend time with Eric -”
“Eric.” She scoffed at the name.
And Horatio was quick to point out the obvious, “He’s my family too.”
She looked almost disgusted at the thought but said nothing. Which he was grateful for; the last thing he wanted to do was discuss the legitimacy of his marriage to Marisol. Because as much as he knew he’d done the right thing, he wasn’t sure he was ready to hear Yelina condemn him for it.
So he glossed over the moment by trying to appease her with “And if you’d let me finish, I would have said… your name right after that.”
“Fine,” she replied swiftly, which made him feel like things were anything but fine between them. But he didn’t even have time to challenge her before she added, “You’re Kyle’s father, and I obviously cannot change your mind, so fine. Do what you think is best.”
He hadn’t expected that.
Her sudden capitulation was something he hadn’t even thought possible… at least not so early into the conversation. And the fact that she was so easily cajoled on the matter made him wonder what was going on; something was obviously not right.
But he wasn’t going to press her on the matter. That much was clear to him. Because although he was curious about her motivation, Horatio suspected that asking such a question would only reignite her passion.
And he didn’t want that.
So he got off the bed and told her calmly, “I will. And in the meantime, you, young lady,” he ordered with a smile, “should keep some ice on that eye.”
“Right.” Her voice was polite, but her eyes looked like she had a strong desire to rip his face off.
Still he ignored it. “Thank you for helping Kyle today. You didn’t have to do that.”
He thought the conversation was over then. Everything he’d wanted to say had been said. And he turned to leave, only to be stopped by Yelina’s cool voice. “It’s no problem. We’re family.”
But when that was precisely the issue, Horatio couldn’t take comfort in her words.
With a sigh, he left the room, all the while wondering:
Would it ever get any easier?
End (65/??)
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, Chapter 19, Chapter 20, Chapter 21, Chapter 22, Chapter 23, Chapter 24, Chapter 25, Chapter 26, Chapter 27, Chapter 28, Chapter 29, Chapter 30, Chapter 31, Chapter 32, Chapter 33, Chapter 34, Chapter 35, Chapter 36, Chapter 37, Chapter 38, Chapter 39, Chapter 40, Chapter 41, Chapter 42, Chapter 43, Chapter 44, Chapter 45, Chapter 46, Chapter 47, Chapter 48, Chapter 49, Chapter 50, Chapter 51, Chapter 52, Chapter 53, Chapter 54, Chapter 55, Chapter 56, Chapter 57, Chapter 58, Chapter 59, Chapter 60, Chapter 61, Chapter 62, and Chapter 63.
Disclaimer: I don't own the show.
“I have a feeling that being in love sometimes means the projection of your desires onto another person.” - Eric Braeden
The alarm clock by the bed ticked loudly, the minute noise reminding Horatio that time was passing by and a decision needed to be made. Yelina had already struck down the notion of keeping Ray and Kyle separate for the foreseeable future. And for the life of him, Horatio couldn’t really see why that was such a bad idea. Admittedly, it wasn’t a great plan, but it was better than lying together with no plan of action in place.
And that was what they were doing right now - a whole lot of procrastinating with her at his side and an ice pack long forgotten between them.
Naturally, the implication of their current positions did not go unnoticed by him; especially with the way they were discussing their respective children, it was nearly impossible to miss the “couple” vibe in the room.
But then again it always was.
At least it was for him anyway. Having never polled Yelina on how she felt, he didn’t know her feelings on the matter. And truth be told, he didn’t really care either; his own emotions were more than enough for him to handle in this case.
They always had been.
Over the years, Horatio had lamented the injustice of it all. The one woman who wanted him for reasons not related to the badge (and the need-to-be-rescued complex it aroused in some women) had married his brother. The one woman Horatio had wanted more than anything else had married the most selfish, deranged bastard on the planet, and because Horatio had some honor in himself, he’d never crossed that line.
Ever.
Of course, the true irony of the situation was that Raymond would have easily tried to seduce any woman Horatio loved. The rules of brotherhood never applied to Raymond, and with the flirtation always coming albeit unintentionally from Yelina, Horatio never ceased to feel like the only one abiding by the rules.
He was, and had been for quite some time, the only one following the rules of the game.
And he didn’t even want to play.
What Horatio wanted was her.
What he wanted was her lips kissing his and her hand held tightly in his. What he wanted was her fingertips lightly pressed into his chest as she slept by his side and her face, partially obscured by her dark hair, to be the one he greeted every morning. What he wanted was her… love and the unspoken by unequivocal promise to love him for the rest of their lives. What he wanted - if he were being truly honest with himself - was the security that relationship could offer him.
But what he wanted, he could not have.
And since he couldn’t have any of that, what Horatio really wanted was a way to make all of that desire disappear.
But there didn’t seem to be a way to make that happen. It was no easier, he realized, to forget his feelings than it was to find a solution to the Ray-Kyle divide in their family. And in Horatio’s estimation, in both instances, if the problem couldn’t be fixed, the best thing to do was… avoid making the situation worse.
Without a doubt, it sounded childish. Even in his own mind, the plan sounded immature, sounded like he was trying to pretend that his feelings for Yelina or his nephew’s feelings towards Kyle didn’t exist.
The truth, however, wasn’t that simple. He wouldn’t deny that there was an element of avoidance involved; of course there was. But more than anything what Horatio hoped was that time and space - distance - would give him (and the boys) a fresh set of eyes upon which he could gaze at their problems.
He wanted a chance to step back and reassess, and even though that philosophy hadn’t exactly worked with Yelina, he thought it might with Ray and Kyle. They were two hotheaded, troublesome boys; they could benefit from the distance, and maybe if they stewed in the knowledge that the other one existed… things could get better.
But in order to do that, Horatio knew he would need to convince Yelina. And doing that was about as easy as herding cats.
He supposed, however, that it was worth a shot. If he could get her to be in agreement, they’d have a plan. They would have something to rely on, and that was better than nothing.
His head cocked in her direction, he suggested slowly, “Maybe… some distance is the best thing… for them. They need… time.” And he could see the urge to interject rising inside of her, so he quickly added, “It wouldn’t be long term. Okay? It wouldn’t be… forever. Just until they can stand to be in the same room with one another.”
Yelina arched an eyebrow and asked doubtfully, “And you don’t think that dynamic would change more quickly if he forced them to -”
“I don’t think that… forcing the boys to do anything is going to work, Yelina.”
She pursed her lips together in a momentary gesture that spoke to him about her irritation. It was such a small movement that anyone unfamiliar with her would have missed it. But having known her for nearly two decades, Horatio could not say he was one of those people; he knew she was annoyed, and he knew that, even if he were to drop the matter now, there was no way to dissipate that feeling inside of her quickly. Because although, on the whole, she was fast to forgive, when it came to family…
Things were not so simple.
And indeed, it came as no surprise when Yelina spoke once more with her voice filled with knowing and irritation. “Is this really about them? Are you really doing what’s best for them?”
“Of course,” he answered quickly, his tongue tripping over his words. “Of course, I am trying to do what is… best for them.” Her implication that he wasn’t confused him more than anything else, though deep down, he could feel a hurt-filled pang at the accusation.
Why else would he be doing any of this if he didn’t want to do what was best for Ray and Kyle?
He never got to ask the question, because Yelina started talking once more. “I know you want to do the right thing for all of us. But I also believe that you have other reasons for suggesting that you keep Kyle away.”
Horatio looked at her carefully. “Such as?”
Her dark curls bobbed a little as she moved her body in a way that looked like half a shrug and half a shake of the head. “You know how many times we’ve seen each other over the last two and a half years?”
Coming seemingly out of nowhere, the question was one he hadn’t expected or understood. And he was glad that she just kept talking so he didn’t have to ask for clarification. “Probably ten times. Or less.”
“Well… you know I’ve been busy,” he responded in a politely terse manner.
Yelina scoffed. “You don’t have to offer an explanation, Horatio. Especially since it would be a lie, I’d rather not listen to an excuse.”
Her words were harsh but not nearly as painful as the truth she was about to utter. “I know why you stay away. You think I don’t, because I look at the same situation and do not share your conclusion. But I understand: you do not like the dynamic between us.”
It was a polite, indirect way of broaching the subject that he would have preferred to leave untouched. But that didn’t make him feel any better. Because she was trying to get him to admit that there was no point in fighting his desire for her; she might not have been directly saying it, but it was implied, and he had no intention of saying those words out loud.
He couldn’t do it.
Gently he explained simply, “Raymond was my brother.”
“And my husband,” she snapped back immediately. “And while he was alive, I did everything I could to be loyal to him.”
Horatio hadn’t meant to imply that she had no loyalty to Ray. But her defensiveness suggested to the redhead that he must have done precisely that to upset her. “I married him, had his child,” she said with emphasis. “I told him not to go undercover, yes? But I let him do it.” There was a hint of anger in her voice - not necessarily at him but at what had happened in the past. So it was no surprise that she continued speaking with disdain, “I supported him. I said nothing when he became addicted, and when he did admit to having a problem, I tried to help him.”
She paused to swallow hard. “And when he died, when he pretended to die, I held my son every night and lied about what an honorable man his father had been.”
Not for the first time, Horatio realized that she could list thousands of more selfless acts she’d done in the name of loving Raymond. There wasn’t enough time in the world to name every kind thing she’d done for Horatio’s brother in the name of love. And the fact was Horatio really didn’t want to hear even a short list of such things; that would just make him feel like he’d failed his entire family more than he already did.
So he quickly admitted, “I know.”
But that didn’t stop her.
“He had a child with someone else? I supported her. He turned up alive and wanting a family with me? I did what he wanted.” She shrugged in defeat, a sharp contrast to the bitterness in her words. “And he killed himself anyway.”
Instinctively Horatio understood what she meant. Ray might not have killed himself with a gun or a razor blade or a noose. He might not have even wanted to die when he passed. Yet there was no denying that, through his own selfish actions, Raymond had killed himself.
Yelina’s steely gaze and exhausted voice pulled Horatio from his thoughts. “I am tired of being loyal to a man who has no concept of what that word means.”
She fell into a brief silence, perhaps to let the words sink into his brain. But it wasn’t for a long period of time, because he didn’t have a chance to speak before she explained, “And I understand that you’re not ready to accept that about him.” A subdued smile on her lips, she said, “You want to believe that other people will be good if you are… you want to believe that, by looking at me as your brother’s wife, my marriage to Ray will have some sort of meaning.”
“It does have meaning,” he insisted.
But she was quick to shoot the sentiment down. “It doesn’t. He never believed it did, and outside of Ray Junior, I don’t believe that anymore either.”
Horatio wanted to disagree with her, but she wasn’t having any of it. “You still think it does; I respect that. But do not for a second believe that Kyle shares your need to avoid his family because of the uncomfortable emotions it stirs within you.”
He eyed her carefully. Very carefully for a moment as though she could continue to show insight into who he was, as though the very things she was saying could harm him. He didn’t trust himself to speak at that moment, her words aggravating something inside of him. Frustration and anger building within him, Horatio knew he needed time to calm down, to mentally step back from the situation.
That was hard to do, of course, and all the while, he reminded himself that this was the problem he had with Yelina. For all of her ability to understand him, sometimes she failed to see how her words and actions affected him. Sometimes she would be so intent on demonstrating her intimate knowledge of him that she neglected to understand how awful it felt to be laid so bare for her to assess.
But then he supposed that that was his own fault. He worked so hard to maintain that cool façade she was used to that it was likely that she had no idea how her words affected him.
Because he never showed her.
He wasn’t going to.
That was revealing more than he ever wanted to.
So he simply allowed for just the slightest hit of agitation to filter through his exterior as he asked, “You think I’m interested in keeping Kyle… all to myself for… personal reasons?”
She didn’t nod or shake her head. Actually, she offered no physical tell of any sort and instead vaguely explained, “I believe that you are so afraid of spending any time with your family that you are not fully seeing how your son would benefit from such exposure.”
Her cool tone was matched by his. “Ray Junior assaulted Kyle… and you. So… you… are right about that. I don’t see it.”
“Then imagine for a moment that you were your son,” she ordered none too gently. “You haven’t had a family in years, and you only get one after breaking the law and being arrested. You get a family by accident,” she emphasized. “You’re thrown into this… insane and, if I may say so, bizarre dynamic that you have no understanding of. And the first thing that happens is your cousin punches you in the face.”
Peevishly Horatio replied, not really seeing a point in the recap, “I think a few other things happened before -”
“My point,” she interrupted with a glower, “is that all he knows right now is that we never anticipated his existence and Ray Junior resents it.”
“All the more reason to keep them apart,” Horatio said resolutely.
Her eyes narrowed on him as though she were trying to decide if he were being this dense on purpose. But she never asked that question, and he guessed that she still felt, no matter his intentions, that she could convince him. Because immediately following her silent assessment were the words - “No. This is all the more reason to show him that his family won’t abandon him.”
Horatio understood what she was trying to say; Kyle had had so much transience in his life that he needed to know that this situation wasn’t more of the same. But, as Horatio pointed out to Yelina, “I can do that. I… will do that. But to try and show him that while Ray is… breathing down his neck and… hoping things will end badly?” He shook his head once. “That… that will not work.”
Yet she remained as untaken with his proposal as he was with hers. Her voice terse, she reminded him, “There’s more to this family than you. There’s -”
“I realize that,” he interrupted in an admittedly patronizing manner. Condescending wasn’t exactly what he’d been going for, he conceded, but at the moment he was hardly bothered by it. “And when Kyle’s ready, I’ll let him spend time with Eric -”
“Eric.” She scoffed at the name.
And Horatio was quick to point out the obvious, “He’s my family too.”
She looked almost disgusted at the thought but said nothing. Which he was grateful for; the last thing he wanted to do was discuss the legitimacy of his marriage to Marisol. Because as much as he knew he’d done the right thing, he wasn’t sure he was ready to hear Yelina condemn him for it.
So he glossed over the moment by trying to appease her with “And if you’d let me finish, I would have said… your name right after that.”
“Fine,” she replied swiftly, which made him feel like things were anything but fine between them. But he didn’t even have time to challenge her before she added, “You’re Kyle’s father, and I obviously cannot change your mind, so fine. Do what you think is best.”
He hadn’t expected that.
Her sudden capitulation was something he hadn’t even thought possible… at least not so early into the conversation. And the fact that she was so easily cajoled on the matter made him wonder what was going on; something was obviously not right.
But he wasn’t going to press her on the matter. That much was clear to him. Because although he was curious about her motivation, Horatio suspected that asking such a question would only reignite her passion.
And he didn’t want that.
So he got off the bed and told her calmly, “I will. And in the meantime, you, young lady,” he ordered with a smile, “should keep some ice on that eye.”
“Right.” Her voice was polite, but her eyes looked like she had a strong desire to rip his face off.
Still he ignored it. “Thank you for helping Kyle today. You didn’t have to do that.”
He thought the conversation was over then. Everything he’d wanted to say had been said. And he turned to leave, only to be stopped by Yelina’s cool voice. “It’s no problem. We’re family.”
But when that was precisely the issue, Horatio couldn’t take comfort in her words.
With a sigh, he left the room, all the while wondering:
Would it ever get any easier?
End (65/??)