Disclaimer: I always knew three years eventually would pass and it would be time to say goodbye; I never realized it would be this soon. However, could I please borrow CSI: Miami and its characters for some last flings?
Author's Note: Originally intended as an Innocent post-ep but Yelina's departure has changed more than a few things. For the usual crew, thank you.
Summary: Then, he came to the request. It was a small, innocuous-looking postscript beneath the signatures of his family.
Feedback: Required only for complaints about style, structure, and/or plot. Personal attacks must first survive my buffer zone to affect me.
Rating: PG/K+
Archive(s): Lonely Road, mine. Anybody else, email me.
Pairing(s): None specifically stated.
Spoiler(s): (2x24) Innocent; (3x16) Nothing To Lose; (3x24) 10-7.
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Title: An Absentee's Request
Author: Laeta
Horatio faced the grave marker on a cloudless day, but the leaves of a swaying tree systematically darkened his sight. In his hands, he held a white, crisply defined envelope and a gold picture frame, which opened like a book.
The day felt like a dichotomy to the task he gave himself for today. For many reasons, goodbyes were better suited to rainy days than to this bright sunshine.
To pass time, Horatio rocked forward onto his toes to kneel as he examined the tombstone closer than on his previous trips. It took a few minutes, but he saw the motion activated camera that clicked rhythmically. If he had not been told of its location, he doubted he would have thought to look.
He debated quickly on which item to look at first. Opting for the gilded picture frame, he tucked the envelope into the inner pocket of his suit jacket.
On the left panel of the book-like frame, Yelina's smiling face masked her emotions. Her expression was one expected on a woman who watched daily as her son become more and more like her late husband. Ray, Junior's arm was draped over her shoulders; he smiled as well, but only the passing months would heal the loss of his father from his eyes.
Horatio smiled reflexively when he looked at the right panel. The infectious goodness in Madison's guileless grin always grounded him in life's simplicity. Suzie, on the other hand, put up a brave front, but the hard years pressed down on her. It took everything within him to stop the complete rise of his 'elder brother' status and fix all the wrongs in Suzie's life. She was right though; there were some things she had to do on her own.
Committing the smiling faces, faux and real, to his memory, Horatio snapped the picture frame shut with an audible click. Here, at the conclusion of this request, he now wanted to move on, to be happy and confident about his future. He had enough delays.
He reached out and propped the closed frame against the base of the tombstone. There in the quiet afternoon, Horatio stood and addressed the remaining physical memory that he had of his brother.
"Ray, I've come to say goodbye. Be happy where you are."
Then, he turned and walked without looking back.
xxxxx
The scratch of paper against fabric reminded him of the letter in his pocket when he gathered together his suits for the dry cleaners. Not for the first time did Horatio wonder if he had done right by answering it as he did.
He eased himself into a comfortable armchair where he could hear the ever-present sounds of the ocean. The crashing of waves as they broke at shallow depths was the constant rhythm of his life. The light was good enough to ready by so he withdrew the letter.
It was addressed to his home--not the lab--and postmarked "air mail". The feminine handwriting wrote "Brazil" with such a flourish that his heart ached. Never mind the unfamiliar name; he had many acquaintances in a lot of places but he knew of one woman in Brazil.
She began with the flight, of Ray Junior's enthusiasm with the airplane. He swore to become a pilot when he grew up. There was anger, of course, at the father who abandoned his son to rumors of corruption and to grief. Her tone at that point was factual, devoid of emotion, hinting that his nephew was not alone in feeling that kind of antagonism.
Once in Brazil, a few days probably were spent in classified debriefings. That was the one explanation Horatio could think of because nothing was written until she described her work. It also would explain why the familiar handwriting attributed itself to a "Senhora Helena Celio". For anybody looking hard enough, the Celios would be easy to find, to trace, and to recall. However, the search itself would raise so many red flags, nothing would be obtained; after all, Yelina had a terrific job offer that prompted her and her son to move south.
There was another break in time during which Horatio assumed routines were created and maintained.
Her next paragraph shook the mental image of domestic tranquility he hoped they achieved but just slightly with no real harm done. Father and son were re-establishing ties long ago burned to ashes. They played ball together and dared each other to sample the more exotic local dishes.
Ray, Junior had told his father about the day at the hospital to help Madison. His father understood why Horatio and Yelina had said merely that Horatio was not a match but would Ray, Junior as his nephew be willing to save this little girl's life?
The confrontation between Raymond and Yelina had been low-key. The central issue was: Though she had known of his infidelity, why was she still with him? Senhora Celio wrote that her reason was solely for her husband's ears.
Horatio smiled at the colorful comment.
Then, he came to the request. It was a small, innocuous-looking postscript beneath the signatures of his family.
He had spent a day contemplating his willingness but caved because it came from Raymond. The next day, he ushered Suzie and Madison into a studio for their picture; that night, he sat with the family photo album to find the best photograph of Yelina and Ray, Junior.
He flipped through pages and saw dozens of memories. The lack of bitterness arising from Raymond's absence surprised Horatio the most. He knew it was because they were making new memories now; it was how life should be.
So, he chose a photograph from one of their barbeques during which Ray, Junior had been learning how to grill. Grilling, Horatio thought as he inserted the picture into the frame, had been Raymond's job. Surely Raymond would be proud of his son.
At the first chance he had, he had gone to the cemetery and seen the camera installed there. Yelina could write as she pleased but Horatio's communication was that hidden micro-technology. He knew somebody would come soon and pick up his gift. There was no desire for him to meet his FBI--perhaps--liaison; for once, he could respect the secrecy protecting his brother's family.
xxxxx
Footsteps sounded loud against the echo of the ocean. Horatio looked at the doorway in time to see his future smile at him from the threshold. She smiled in familiar greeting and held another envelope in her hands.
"It's for you. Found it stuck in the doorjamb when I came back from my run."
There was no postmark, no return address, and his name was typed; nothing hinted at the sender. Instinctively, Horatio knew what was inside.
"Want me to go, Horatio?"
She smiled again, understanding his reply before he could speak, and mentioned the lure of his shower. Horatio grinned at the invitation; he promised to join her soon.
With his personal safe unlocked and waiting, he opened the slim envelope and found a cashier's check for one-thousand dollars payable to Suzie: child support. Good for Raymond. He would see her in a few days; he could give her the check then.
He shut the safe's door with a soft hiss. Singing broke through his contemplation of simultaneously closing a door on a chapter of his life; it reminded him that another chapter awaited him.
FIN