A Man's World

Part 1

Horatio stood in front of his bathroom mirror and grabbed his toothbrush, since the mirror was still steamed up, thanks to his recent shower. Because of that, he only wore his towel wrapped around his waist. He knew that he still had enough time to get ready for tonight, so he started to brush his teeth.

Tonight was the annual police ball and, not surprisingly, he and Cal had been invited. Normally, he wasn't so fond of balls and/or banquets, but he did like this special one, because he didn't need to play politics. Tonight he would enjoy the good food, the drinks, the time he could spend with his team off the clock and of course having his wife for his own. He could dance with her, which sadly happened rather rarely. But tonight they wouldn't need to have a close look at the watch, since Aaron was spending the night at his grandparents'. He loved his son, there was no question about it, but he did enjoy a night out with his wife.

Deep in thoughts he spit out his mouthwash and was about to grab his shaving foam, when he was interrupted.

Grinning from ear to ear Aaron stormed into the bathroom, dressed only in his grey jeans and a white undershirt, wearing no shoes. "Daaaaddyyyy! When do we go to Nana? Are you ready?" He wanted to know as he stood beside the basin, looking up to his father, very excited about tonight. Although Horatio still wore the towel, Aaron couldn't help but asking anyway. "Mommy says that you should hurry up."

"I'm sure I still have enough time to shave," Horatio grinned and looked at his son. "Are you looking forward to spend the night with Nana?" He asked him, though it was pretty obvious. In the mean time he had grabbed the foam and placed some in his hand and spread it in his face.

Aaron nodded in agreement. "Yes, yes....go to Nana!" He then grew silent as he intently watched his Daddy doing something odd in his opinion. "Why are you doing this? Is that whipping cream? Don't you eat it?"

Laughing Horatio shook his head and cleaned his hands under the warm water. "No, it's not whipping cream. Its shaving foam," he explained to him. "You can't eat it, it...smells and tastes like soap. And I need to shave my face...," he added and lifted his son onto the lavatory. "See?" He said and showed him his razor. "I need this to shave away my beard. It's very sharp, so you have to be very careful while using it."

Not fully convinced the boy touched Horatio's white cheek, feeling the stubbles lightly prickling the skin of his palm. He grinned. "Like Uncle Tim." Then he took his hand away and looked at it, since some of the foam was sticking on his own skin. Within seconds he made a decision, looked at his own image in the mirror and padded his cheek with the foam soaked hand in order to imitate his father's moves he had seen earlier. But the foam wasn't enough so his head got up to Horatio. "Need more!"

"Hmm do you think you need to shave?" Horatio asked and stroke Aaron's cheek. "Oh oh.. I really think you need to...," he said in shock and gave him the bottle. "Let me see if I can find a razor for you, we can't let you go to nana with stubbles." Crouching down, he opened the small cupboard underneath the sink and searched for his old razor, which didn't have a razor blade. "Nana won't be pleased if I send her an unshaved grandson...," he told Aaron and when he looked up with the razor in his hand, he was quite shocked. It seemed like Aaron had used a little too much of the foam. Even his lips and nose were soaped. "Hmm...is there my son underneath the foam?" He asked amused and grinned at him.

Aaron knit his brows as he studied himself in the mirror. He hadn't had any experience with the dispenser so he had used a good handful of foam and now looked really like a snowman and had to laugh out loud at his own sight. Doing so, he revealed his little teeth, giving away an adorable grin. "I'm looking just like you," he stated seriously after he took a deep breath in order to calm down.

"Really? You look like Santa," Horatio smirked and showed him the razor. "This is yours from now on. Your personal razor...so if you ever got the feeling that you need to shave...you come to me. But we don't have to shave you every day, you're a young man and young men don't have to shave every day, okay Aaron?" He told the boy and ruffled his blond hair.

"Okay," he simply answered and carefully grabbed the razor, looking at it in astonishment as if it was something really precious, then back to his father because he didn't know what to do with it.

"Good," Horatio nodded and took his own razor. "So...let's start with the cheeks," he said and did just that. "Slowly and carefully, we don't want to cut ourselves…," he told him while watching himself in the mirror. After all these years of practicing, he didn't really need the mirror, but he could watch Aaron's movements. "Yeah...this looks really good," he praised him. "You're a natural, son," he said proudly and cleaned his razor under warm water, waiting for Aaron to do the same.

The words flattered him and so Aaron beamed with pride into the mirror where he could see his Dad standing right behind him. Very concentrated he copied every move and even though he was a bit untrained he did a good job, shaving away most of the foam.

After cleaning the razor for the last time, Horatio grabbed a washcloth and wet it. "You can wipe away the remaining of the foam with it...," he smiled at his son and watched him. "Let me see if we did a good job." With that, he stroke Aaron's cheek and wiped away the not existing sweat on his own forehead. "No stubbles…phew…we did a great job, nana will be very pleased. Learn this now son; a woman likes well shaved men. Sometimes they like stubbles, but not when you're going out," he gave his son a man to man speech in which he could pass his life experiences.

Because of the tone of his father's voice, Aaron knew that he should listen intently and that's what he did, even though he couldn't figure out any deeper meaning behind it. So he nodded again and said: "Okay. Are you ready now? You need to get dressed."

"Nope, there is one other very important thing you need to do after shaving," Horatio shook his head. "Every man needs a good After Shave...," he said and showed Aaron the small bottle of his Armani. "We shouldn't use too much, but not too little," he explained him and poured a tiny bit of the lotion into Aaron's hand, before he did the same for himself. "Now you need to rub them together and spread it in your face...," he grinned and showed him how. "It stings a bit, but the ladies love it." He knew that Aaron was too young to understand such things, but nevertheless he loved talking about it with his only son.

The boy chuckled, as he felt the cool fluid in his palm. "It smells funny," he said but did as he was told and grimaced and shook his head. "I don't like that."

Losing his smile for a second, Horatio rolled his eyes playfully. "You don't?" He sighed and shook his head. "Well Mr. Caine, the only way to get rid of it, is washing your face. With water AND," he made a theatric pause and lifted one finger, "soap."

"But I already had soap," Aaron protested, like every child he wasn't very responsive to the suggestion his father just told him concerning his washing methods.

"Yeah, but that was before the After Shave," Horatio grinned amused about his son's antics and prepared the washcloth. "So let's see if we can get rid of the smell...," he winked at Aaron and started to wash his face. "Oh my.. I think we need to clean your ears too..," he laughed and did it. The squeal he got in response was a wonderful sound.

"Nooo noooo," the child giggled and tried to escape, but since he was sitting on the lavatory, his chances to ran away were very low. "I'm clean! I'm clean!"

"Are you sure, son? Maybe we need a little bit more soap to be sure...," Horatio threatened him playfully and started to tickle Aaron. Laughing together with his son, he soon stopped the tickling and just wrapped his strong arms around Aaron. Giving him a soft kiss on his hair, he needed a moment to calm himself. "I think we're ready now, Partner," he told him and lifted him up. "Why don't you get your Shirt and we will meet in the bedroom again?"

Smiling Aaron was happy to stand on his own feet and held up his thumb. "Yeah. I'm first...I'm the first one!" he shouted and ran out of the bathroom. The excitement grew bigger with every second.