Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in CSI, CSI:Miami or CSI:NY (just in case I do feel the need to crossover later, I'm covered now :P). If I did, certain people wouldn't have gotten on planes, and certain other people wouldn't have moved to London. Absolute nonsense. Let's fix that right now, shall we?

Author's Note: This is my first ever CSI fic, so I'm sorry if the characters seem a little out of character!! I've changed the timeline slightly - the Felony Flight/Manhattan Manhunt (miami/ny crossover) episodes happened at the same time as the Yelina/Rick storyline, ish. In my fic Horatio is just back from NY, and there might be a little bit of a crossover in later chapters, I'm not sure yet. The story will have some romance in it eventually, but I don't promise when! So yeah, I appreciate any feedback, good or bad, and constructive criticism is welcome! The rating is only really M because of the Yelina/Rick think - right now it's not bad at all, but I don't want to restrict myself, so later on it will probably require an M rating, so this is me covering all the bases. There may be some sexual content later.


His hands slid under her blouse and blazed fiery trails up her back as he held her against him, his lips hot on her own as she returned his passion. He pulled his mouth roughly from her own, kissing a line along her jaw and down her neck as she fumbled with his shirt, breathing heavily as he backed her up against the wall. A low moan escaped her lips as his lips found a particularly tender spot just at the hollow of her collarbone, and his hands travelled confidently upward …

Yelina Salas sat bolt upright, gasping for breath and blinking rapidly, trying to force her eyes to focus. She let out a long, slow breath as she recognised her surroundings at last – she was in her bedroom. A quick glance at the clock on her bedside table told her that it was just approaching six o'clock in the evening, and a look outside confirmed that it was, as usual, a lovely evening in Miami. Yelina sighed heavily as she stretched and climbed from her bed, picking up various articles of clothing from where they had been discarded on the surrounding carpet. Dressing quickly, she pulled her hair out of her face into a loose bun in order to cool her down a little, and then she leant heavily against the wall next to her bedroom door. She could hear him downstairs, banging around in the kitchen with pots and pans and heaven knew what else. Her boyfriend Rick. Well, she supposed that was what she should call him – she had never had strong feelings for him, really, but she had agreed to one date, mostly to make Horatio jealous.

Horatio. Yelina brought a hand to her temple and shook her head despairingly, trying to shake thoughts of the older man from her mind. It wasn't Horatio she was dating, nor was it he who was downstairs making her dinner at this very moment. No, it was Horatio who was her late husband's brother, and it was Horatio who she had recently discovered to have a daughter of his own, of whose existence Yelina had been kept in the dark despite having trusted the man implicitly. And yet, still it was Horatio who occupied her dreams.

She had tried to fight it, tried with every bone in her body, since Raymond died. It was wrong for her to have these feelings for her brother-in-law, for Ray Junior's uncle. It was an insult to Raymond's memory to fantasise about his older brother, to whom her husband had always felt inferior. Had she fed his fears by having these secret thoughts about Horatio even then? When Raymond was alive, she had only had the dreams once or twice, on occasions when Raymond had been away working for weeks and months without making contact, and Horatio had come around to support her and help her with Ray Junior. She had convinced herself that it was just a ridiculous notion she had taken because he was willing to be there for her in ways that Raymond couldn't – or, she sometimes suspected, wouldn't – be, and that she was displacing her emotions for her husband onto his brother because of this. But even now, some four years after Raymond's death, having gotten to know Horatio better, she still thought about him more than was healthy in a more than platonic sense, for the wonderful person he was in his own right.

"Hey, sleepyhead," Rick said with a smile as Yelina entered the kitchen a few minutes later, having composed herself again. She forced a smile onto her features, knowing it didn't quite reach her eyes, and stepped towards the stove.

"What can I do?" she asked, hoping he would give her an important task. She wanted to fix whatever it was he had made. Rick was a sweet guy, and he tried really hard, despite all the walls and obstacles she put up, and all her baggage, but if he had one fatal flaw – except the fact that he wasn't Horatio – it was that he couldn't cook, and he didn't know it. She didn't have the heart to tell him, of course, because he really was so kind, and he went to so much trouble to make her happy. She often wished she could offer him a true smile for his efforts, because she really did appreciate them, but it was futile. It was just impossible for her to fake emotions she didn't feel.

"No, no, I'm spoiling you tonight," Rick smiled, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. That was what Yelina had been afraid of – everything á la Rick. "It'll only be five minutes, so why don't you call Ray to wash up, and I'll do everything else?"

"All right," Yelina agreed, too guilt-ridden to refuse him when she knew how much he wanted to please her. She detangled his arms from around her and slipped through the door into the garden, expecting to find Ray Junior playing out there, possibly with some of the neighbourhood kids. But he wasn't there. It was surprising, but not a problem for her. She assumed he had gone in to play video games, and so she took the path around the exterior of the house, re-entered through the front door, and peered into the living room just in case. Not finding him there either, she ascended the staircase and knocked quietly on his bedroom door.

"Ray?" she called softly. No answer. "Ray!" Knocking louder provided her with no response either, so she opened the door and stuck her head in – to an empty room. Yelina blinked in surprise, looking around her and into the corners of the room to be sure he wasn't hiding. Nothing. Her heart beginning to race ever so slightly, she checked all the other upstairs rooms, to no avail. Yelina hurried downstairs again, entering the kitchen much more flustered than she had left it.

"What's wrong?" Rick asked, looking up from the table, which he had been busy setting for the meal. Yelina looked out into the garden again, then cast her gaze wildly around the room.

"Have you seen Ray?" she asked anxiously, and Rick frowned, appearing surprised.

"Not for a while," he said, also coming to look through the window. "He was playing out there about half an hour ago, but I got caught up in cooking … I was sure I could still hear him out there with some of the other kids, though."

"There are some other kids out there on skateboards, but Ray isn't with them," Yelina noted, becoming more frantic by the minute. "And his isn't by the door where he usually keeps it. Rick, he's gone – we have to find him, quickly!"

"I'm sure he's just lost track of the time …" Rick said soothingly, trying to embrace her, but Yelina ducked under his arms and crossed her own.

"He knows not to leave without telling me," she said firmly. "I shouldn't have gone to sleep during the day – you should have woken me. Even if he has just gone for a ride and forgotten when dinner is, we still need him home before it gets too dark. I'm going to call Horatio and let him know."

"Because that's the solution to every problem in this family, isn't it?" Rick replied, his tone biting and frustrated. "'Call Horatio.' He's not Ray's father, Yelina!"

"And neither are you!" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. Yelina clapped a hand over her mouth, and Rick stepped back as though she had slapped him. Ignoring the flush that she felt spreading over her face, Yelina turned away and grabbed her cell phone, dialling the familiar number, but all of a sudden she felt it being torn from her hand. She whipped round angrily, and found herself face-to-face with a very angry and upset Rick.

"I'm trying," he said, in a voice that said he was struggling to keep calm, "very hard, Yelina, to make your son accept me. How the hell is he supposed to do that when Horatio's always hovering just in the background, trying to be the father figure Ray needs? That's not his role to step into!"

"He's still Ray's uncle, Rick!" she replied, snatching her phone back, stunned at how badly he was overreacting. "He's family, and Ray needs him as much as he needs me. He doesn't want anybody to replace his father, not Horatio, and not you, but he needs a male role model in his life – somebody to talk to about girls, and his friends, and everything else a young boy can't go to his mother with. He's only known you a few weeks, and you know he's wary of strangers! Of course he's going to want his uncle around – Horatio is his last remaining link to Raymond, and I won't take that from him."

"And I'm not surprised," Rick muttered bitterly, but he stepped back and allowed Yelina to dial. She shot him a look that informed him they would continue this later, and stepped out into the hall in order to make her call.

"Yelina," said the all-too-familiar warm voice on the other end of the line. "How are you?"

"Horatio," she responded, ignoring the slight chill down her spine at the sound of his calming tones. "I'm afraid this isn't social – Ray Junior isn't in the house anywhere, and his skateboard's gone. I don't know where he is."

"Yelina, Ray Junior's here." Yelina froze for a brief moment, unsure if she had heard correctly, before she heard Horatio continue. "He appeared about twenty minutes ago, saying you had given him permission to come around and see me for a while. He hadn't had dinner, and he said you were eating with Rick, so I was just getting him something. You didn't know he was coming over?"

"Uh, no," she finally managed to say, "I didn't. He didn't tell me."

"Yelina, I'm sorry," Horatio said immediately, and she could hear in his voice that he truly was. "I should have called you to make sure it was okay to give him something to eat, but he gave me the impression that he had permission. And he's done it before, so I suppose I didn't think anything of it, but I would never have wanted you to worry."

"No, it's not your fault, Horatio," Yelina assured him. "Ray should have told me, not you – and he shouldn't have lied to you, either. I'll come and collect him." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rick watching her through the slightly open door, and she turned further away from his intense gaze.

"Well, he's just about to eat, so why don't I bring him over later?" Horatio suggested.

"Oh, I couldn't ask you to do that, really –"

"You didn't ask," Horatio interrupted, and Yelina could practically feel his mouth curling upwards in a smile. "I offered. Besides, it'll give me a chance to talk to Ray about why he lied to us both, and make sure he's okay. If you don't mind, that is." She thought briefly about Rick and his accusations that Horatio was trying to usurp him in Ray's affections. Then she thought of her son, who looked to Horatio as the closest thing he had really ever had to a father who was there for him, and of Horatio, who was willing to give anything and everything he had for his nephew, and her decision was made.

"Of course I don't mind. I'd be really grateful," Yelina said, smiling herself. "You're really great with him, Horatio. I know he really looks up to you, and I really appreciate everything you do for him."

"You know I'm happy to do it."

"I know. Thank you." She felt more than heard Rick approaching behind her, and she had a sudden horrible sinking sensation in her stomach. He wouldn't be happy.

"Okay," Horatio answered, oblivious to her problem. "I'll see you a little later, then."

"Okay. Bye, Horatio."

"Goodbye."

"Ray's with Horatio, then?" Rick asked, sounding painfully sour. Yelina braced herself for another fight, and turned to face him determinedly.

"Yes," she answered, slightly defiantly. "I don't know why, but he is, and I'm just grateful that he's safe, so can we just leave it at that?"

"It sounded like you were grateful for a lot more than that," Rick retorted scathingly. "'Oh, I'm so grateful for everything you do, Horatio.' What is this obsession everybody in Miami has with Horatio Caine?! He's just a man, for Christ's sakes! He's not the bloody Messiah! He's not Ray's father, he's not your husband, and he's not super-cop, and yet you, your son, and the entire Crime Lab worship the ground he walks on! Would you please, for the love of God, Yelina, explain to me what exactly makes that supremely average man seem so unbelievably special to the rest of the world, but me?!"

"Rick, calm down!" Yelina couldn't believe how worked up he was getting over absolutely nothing. "I never said he was perfect, and I never will – Horatio has made more than his share of mistakes, believe me! But like it or not, he's still family, and that happens to be important to me, and to Ray!"

"I knew he was family, but I wasn't aware that he was the be-all and end-all of your universe, Yelina! Nobody, and I mean nobody, sees their brother-in-law half as often as you see Horatio, and you love every minute of it!"

"How dare you say something like that to me?!" she demanded furiously. "I have welcomed you into my home, despite the reservations of my son and my brother-in-law – the one man who has been there for me through absolutely everything, without fail, Rick, even if you don't like to hear that – and I have encouraged them both to accept you, because I thought you were worth the effort! And then you turn around and accuse me of I don't even know what, because I happen to enjoy spending time with that same man, who I've trusted more than anybody for ten years now?!"

"Even when you and Raymond were still married?" Rick challenged her.

"Not that it's any of your business, but yes!" Yelina snapped. "Raymond was my husband and I loved him, but he was the biggest workaholic I've ever met! He would go off on missions that he claimed not to be able to talk about, but that I would hear about all over the office, for weeks and even months at a time without getting in touch, and who do you think was there for me then? Horatio supported me through all my marriage troubles, through my father's death, through a problematic pregnancy, through a long and difficult labour – he was there to let me break his fingers while Raymond was off playing good-cop-bad-cop with his junkie friends! Horatio was the one who sat with Ray Junior when they didn't know if he was going to make it, because I was so exhausted that I couldn't even stay awake long enough to hold my son! And Horatio was the one who protected and supported me through all of the heartache when Raymond died, and through all of the press coverage and rumours that I wasn't strong enough to cope with. And he's been supporting and protecting me ever since, even though with Raymond gone, he doesn't have any obligations to me, only to Ray Junior. I owe Horatio more in emotional debts than I'll ever be able to repay the half of – he's my best friend, Rick! And he's a damn good man, something you might see for yourself if you weren't too bloody-minded to admit that there might be more to him than the office you're so jealous of."

Rick merely stared at Yelina for a few moments after that outburst, while she held his gaze, breathing slightly more heavily than usual. She didn't normally lose her temper, and she hadn't realised she had it in her to get so defensive so quickly. But what scared her the most was that she hadn't ever thought until now about how much she had depended upon Horatio throughout her marriage and afterwards. She really did owe him a million times over for all he had done for her … and he had never asked for anything in return. He had never even confided in her about his daughter.

"You're not in a marriage with someone who can't or won't offer you the support you need any more, Yelina," Rick said eventually, his voice thick. "You're with me, not Raymond Caine. You have to decide where your allegiance lies now."

The kitchen door slammed closed as Rick stormed upstairs, presumably to sit and stew in her room. Yelina sank down into a chair, her head swimming, and blew out the now half-wasted candle that Rick had lit for them. She hated to admit it, but he was right. She needed to sort out her priorities. The problem was going to be figuring out which meant more to her – her enduring love for Horatio, or her current comfort with Rick.


A/N2: Thanks for reading - like I said, it's my first go at this, so hopefully I'll improve with time! I've written the next chapter and a half, so when I get started writing ch4, I'll post ch2. Sound fair? Let me know ;)

Alison xx