CSI Miami – The Littlest CSI

By: Celtic Lady

Genre: Humor

Pairing(s): None

Chapter(s): 1 of 8

Characters: General cast plus Madison Keaton.

Rating: T (age 13+)

Summary: Madison Keaton unknowingly helps her uncle Horatio solve a crime.

Author's Notes: Everyone liked my other Madison story so much I thought I'd write another one. And of course, I just couldn't resist picking on Stetler a little. Oh, and this story has Alexx Woods as the Medical Examiner – not the new girl.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters so please don't sue. If the real owners want to use anything from my story (yeah, wishful thinking), go ahead, you can have it for free. :-)

Horatio was more than happy to take his niece, Madison, for a week while her mother attended a conference in Washington, D.C. He was getting use to baby sitting the little tike and always enjoyed their time together - she was like the daughter he never had. In anticipation of their time together, Horatio had put in for a week of vacation with the understanding that if the work load got too bad, he'd find a way to come in to work.

In the hopes that Madison wouldn't get homesick, Horatio had several things planned with his little house guest. Madison had wanted desperately to go to the zoo and see the penguins so that was first on the list.

As they walked along the zoo grounds, Madison's smile never left her face as she ran ahead of Horatio, eager to see what the next enclosure contained. She was so in awe of everything. At each exhibit, she would ask him what the animal was and Horatio would read the descriptive plaque for her.

"Horsey's!" Madison exclaimed as she jumped up on the railing of the fence.

Horatio smiled as he corrected her, "Zebras Madison. They're Zebra's from Africa."

Madison laughed as she pointed, "Look! There's a baby."

"Yeah." Horatio replied to her. He found her astonishment so refreshing and even entertaining.

Madison then ran to the next exhibit to see what she could find. Horatio had his hands full just keeping up with her. He knew he was going to get a workout that day.

As she ran into the Reptile House, Horatio had to yell at her to wait up. She impatiently urged him, "C'mon. C'mon. There's stuff in here." She motioned for Horatio to hurry and couldn't understand why he wasn't as excited as her.

Once inside, Horatio was able to catch his breath as Madison began looking at the glass displays of different reptiles until suddenly, her eyes got wide in amazement. "Uncle Ratio – A dinosaur!"

She pointed to the 8 inch lizard who was putting on a display. The lizard had a flap of skin around it's neck that it could fan out making it look just like some of her plastic dinosaurs at home.

Horatio smiled at her comment as he read the plaque. "It's a Frilled Lizard from New Guinea."

"Wow!" She exclaimed. Her attention quickly turned to the next exhibit and then the next.

Their next stop was the monkey house. Horatio was sure she'd have fun there. As they walked along, they came upon the Orangutan exhibit and Madison stood there looking at them for the longest time. Horatio couldn't understand what her fascination was and finally asked her.

"Their hair looks just like your's," she explained.

"Hmmm." Horatio couldn't help but laugh at her knowing that she had just implied that he had hair like an Orangutan. Only Madison could get away with a comment like that. "I think your hair is that color too, if I remember right." He rubbed his chin as he pretended to think.

Little by little, they made their way to the penguins. Madison had her nose pressed against the glass for several minutes as she watched them swim back and forth.

"I like that one!" She pointed to a smaller penguin sitting on the bank watching all the others. After some time, Horatio was finally able to get her out of there and took her to a gift shop. She walked up and down all the isles until she found it – a stuffed penguin.

"Please? Can I have this? Please?" She pleaded. Horatio couldn't resist and said okay. They picked out some other toys as well and Horatio paid for them. He got her a beach kit, for making sand castles, since he knew the beach was on his to-do list as well and some rubber snakes, bugs, and lizards that she seemed fascinated with.

"Now don't leave any of these in my bed. I mean it." He had a funny feeling he'd find them there anyways.

As the middle of the day was coming near, Horatio could feel the heat. He was sure glad to be in shorts and a short sleeve shirt instead of a suit. While he was standing in a long line for some food and drinks, his phone rang.

"This is Horatio Caine." He listened for several minutes and tried to steer the person to Eric Delko or Calleigh Duquesne but the caller wanted him and no one else. Horatio had no choice but to run by the office and see what Stetler wanted.

"Madison, I need to go by work for a minute okay. So we'll get something to eat around there." He hoisted her up and walked to his car and put her in her car seat. Horatio put the bag of toys next to her as he climbed in and drove away. While he was driving, Madison rummaged through the bag and pulled out the stuffed penguin and the plastic animals. Horatio kept a watchful eye on her in his rear view mirror.

As soon as he arrived at the crime lab, Horatio took Madison and made a bee-line to Stetler's office. "What did you need Rick?" Horatio asked as he stood in Stetler's doorway with Madison in his arms.

Stetler frowned upon seeing Horatio had a child with him. He wanted to yell at him about something but didn't want to frighten the kid.

"I need to talk to you about the chop shop." Stetler stood to face Horatio and nervously wiped the palm of his hand across his mouth. "Some of the cars were there for repairs and the owners want them back."

Horatio sighed, "How many?"

"One in particular."

"Let's walk over and talk to Eric and see what the status is on that car." Rick followed Horatio downstairs to the garage where Eric was processing a partially dismantled car.

Horatio sat Madison down over to the side and out of the way while the three men discussed the case. It didn't take little Madison long to get bored so she decided to go back upstairs by herself. Horatio didn't seem to notice she was gone.

She walked along the hallway looking at all the colorful lights and the many people behind the glass walls doing their work. Every now and then, she'd stop and press her nose against the window and watch them. Then she'd pretend she was reading a plaque telling what that particular animal was for her penguin friend.

"Pengy, this is a Zebra Lizard from Guinea Pig." She held the stuffed penguin up so he could see.

Then she'd move down the hall to the next pretend cage and repeat the process. Once she reached the end of the hallway, the game was over and she proceeded on her journey. She eventually found herself back at Rick Stetler's office and went inside. While she was waiting for her uncle Horatio, she decided to climb into Rick's chair to sit and make herself comfortable. This enabled her to have a full view of his desk and she immediately saw the computer screen and keyboard. Mimicking what she saw other people do, Madison pretended to type a letter as she struck as many different keys as she could not realizing she had hit the overtype key and every letter replaced one of the screen. Before long, Rick's unsaved memo was gibberish and she turned her attention elsewhere.

Madison realized that Rick didn't have any fun stuff on his desk at all, like other people did, so she figured she'd give him one of her toys. Madison was sure he'd like that – after all, she was always taught to share. She looked at her collection of plastic animals and pulled out a bright purple snake with yellow and blue polka dots on it and put it next to his keyboard. Pleased with herself, she decided to go look for her uncle as she was ready to go now.

It didn't take her long to find him as he and Rick were returning to Stetler's office. When Horatio spotted her in the hallway, he picked her up and told Rick to be patient as he left.