Title: All over again

Author: Little Horatio

Warning filled with: Angst, Humor, Tragedy, General, more angst, more humor

Summary: What will Horatio do when he realizes that his violent childhood is happening all over again? Will fear overcome him? Will he tell the truth to his friends? And when did Rick Stetler become the good guy?

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters nor do I own CSI: Miami. This is just a fictional story with fictional characters developed by yours truly using her sick and twisted mind and imagination. Putting my creativity and imagination into good use…

Note: I have changed a lot of timelines, including the death of Horatio's mother. Instead of her dying when he was 23, I changed it to when he was only 14. It makes his suffering and trauma a little more intense and dramatic. I also brought up his suppose-to-be-dead father. Putting in Horatio's father has helped me capture the Lieutenant's true feelings about how he had dealt with his mother's death (along with the others) and how he had lived his childhood. I know it's weird but I've put Stetler in a situation where he ends up being the good guy for once. Don't worry he is still kind of an ass.

The main characters are as follows: Horatio Caine, Rick Stetler, Calleigh Duquesne, Eric Delko, Ryan Wolfe, Alexx Woods and Marc Anthony Caine.

Chapter 1: Coffee Cups

Leaning his forehead on his Hummer, he let out a long sigh. 'God, my head is throbbing like crazy.' he thought. Horatio closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Again, he woke up in three in the morning and had another bad dream, no, wait, a nightmare. Waking up early in the morning, he knew it was impossible for him to get back to sleep so he went out of his beach house and sat on the white sand, watched the distant ocean and the never-ending clouds. After a few hours, he went back in and took a shower, got dressed in one of his designer-labeled suits, went up to the living room table and got his sunglasses and keys for the Hummer, completely ignoring having breakfast.

He was used to being alone in MDPD Crime Lab, getting there awfully early before anyone else did was one of his bad habits. Even though he preferred to be at home, he knew he would have nothing else to do so instead go to headquarters to finish up on their cases.

Horatio got inside the break room and turned on the coffee machine. He stood next to it, leaning on the counter, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. His head was still throbbing and he felt exhausted for some reason. He knew it was because of his recurring dreams, correction, nightmares. It's been weeks since he'd have had some decent sleep and his chronic insomnia was not helping at all. It's been years and still his past haunted him. The death of his wife, Marisol Delko Caine, his little brother, Raymund Caine, Sr. and his mother, Katherine Ann Duncan. So many deaths of his loved ones he endured and he doesn't think he'll last much longer.

Horatio opened his eyes as he heard the coffee machine beep and took a cup that had "Lieutenant Horatio Caine" and sunglasses printed on it. He let out a little chuckle, remembering why the team's cups in the break room now had a name printed on it and each had different pictures indicating what their owner liked or had. It had happened a few months after he had hired his youngest CSI, Ryan Wolfe.

Horatio just went in the break room to get some coffee when he had heard the commotion.

"What is this doing here?" Calleigh snapped at Delko, holding a soaked coffee bag.

"What?!" Eric said backing a little.

"How many times do I have to tell you to never leave one of your Café Cubano bags in the cup?"

"What? Just grab another cup or something. We've got plenty!" Eric said, pointing at the container full of cups.

"Yeah. Plenty that smells like your Café Cubano!" she pointed out. "Do you know that not all of us have a liking for this stuff?"

Alexx and Ryan just looked at the two bicker meanwhile Horatio just stood where he was and thought of how things would progress. Ryan took a sip of his coffee and couldn't stifle his laugh anymore, looking at the two adults acting like five year-olds.

"And what are you laughing at, Mr. Wolfe? Mmm?" Calleigh said to Ryan, giving him a look.

"And what's with the lipstick, man?" said Eric confusingly, a little freaked out.

"Lipstick? What lipstick?" questioned Ryan as he brought up a hand and wiped his mouth. He saw red smudges on his hand. "What the…"

"So that's where my cup's been through," Alexx sighed, rolling her eyes. "Don't worry I don't need it anymore." She sipped her coffee.

"Wait! This is your cup?!" Ryan said, overreacting.

"Mm-hmm." Alexx answered, "Used to be."

Ryan gave her a crazed look and started wiping his mouth as if it touched something contagious. He put down his coffee on the table and kept wiping his mouth, looking somewhat disgusted.

Alexx shot him a look. "What's that suppose to mean? Is my cup too toxic for you, Mr. Wolfe?"

"No," he jumped a little, seeing her look, "I'm just not used to having lipstick on me or any make-up for that matter. Why didn't you tell me it was yours?"

"Why didn't YOU ask ME if it was mine?" Alexx shot back. "And WHY did YOU take a cup that wasn't yours?"

"Wasn't mine?!" Ryan said, not backing down. "I thought it didn't matter. I mean, come on, the cups all look the same."

"Well, it mattered now," she said, putting a hand on her hip.

Horatio still stood there, hiding behind the scenes, not making a sound and watching his friends duke it out at each other. Secretly, he was enjoying every minute of this. He'd been resisting a grin the moment he reached the break room. 'Finally' he thought, 'Something to get my mind off work.'

"Delko, if you leave any of your Café Cubano bags in one of these cups again," Calleigh warned, "I swear I'll do God knows what."

"Calleigh, they're just coffee. Like what you're drinking," Eric said in a try-to-be-reasonable way.

"No, Eric, they're not just coffee, they're YOUR coffee," Calleigh said, now very annoyed, "And remember the last time you left one of your Café Cubano bags in here?"

"Yeah," Eric laughed and looked at Ryan. "Wolfe-boy, here, couldn't take the heat and couldn't stop twitching all day."

"WHAT?" Ryan exclaimed, "I DID NOT TWITCH…all day."

"Uh-huh," Calleigh said, raising an eyebrow. Delko was still laughing. His eyes were now watery.

"Shut up, Delko!" Ryan said to the man who was trying and failing to stop laughing. "I was not twitchy!"

"Oh, yes, you were, honey," Alexx reassured him. "All that and a lot more."

"You-You," Eric tried to get the words out, "You looked like a little bunny with OCD smoking a ton of crack."

"Take that back," Ryan threatened, pointing a finger at him.

"Oooh. Did I, Eric Delko, just hit a nerve?" Eric said mockingly.

"Now, Eric…" Alexx warned.

"Yeah, in your dreams, pal. Not even in Delko-Time you couldn't," Ryan said with a smile.

"WOLFE!" Eric shouted, now pissed off, "I told you to NEVER say that!"

"Ryan…" Alexx warned.

"Oooh. Did I, Ryan Wolfe, just hit a nerve?" Ryan said mockingly.

Delko was beginning to charge at Ryan when Calleigh caught him by the shirt just in time to stop him. Ryan gave Eric a boyish grin and stuck his tongue out, laughing. Now, that made Delko more pissed.

'I think that was my cue,' Horatio thought as things were now getting out of hand. 'If I leave them alone for another second, they'll really duke it out.' Just as he was about to step in, he saw Alexx gently put her cup of coffee down and put both her hands on her hips, looking pissed. Horatio stopped, 'Here it goes,' he thought, knowing what was about to happen next.

"Would everybody, please…" she said firmly, "…be QUIET!"

Everybody stopped abruptly and turned their eyes to Alexx.

"You should all be ashamed of yourselves!" she said, looking at them disappointingly.

'Like the mother she is,' Horatio thought, straining on keeping a straight face.

Alexx continued. "Fighting over cups of coffee? Please." She rolled her eyes. "With the way you three have been acting—ESPECIALLY YOU TWO," she pointed out, Eric and Ryan dropped their gaze and look at the floor, feeling very scolded, "—I would have bent you two down over my knee and give you a good spanking for what it's worth."

Now THAT really made Horatio smile and he was now fighting off the urge to laugh out loud. He couldn't risk it and covered his mouth, wishing that the urge would just go away before he gets himself into the mix. 'This just keeps getting better and better,' he thought, struggling not to laugh, which he rarely and, I mean, rarely did.

"Now, Calleigh, apologize to Eric, Eric, apologize to Calleigh and Ryan, and Ryan, apologize to Eric," she said, waiting.

It took awhile but they eventually said or mumbled their sorry and the regular atmosphere in the break room went back.

"That wasn't bad, now, was it?" she said and saw them nod. "Now, what we need to do is to solve this problem like the matured adults we are."

'Adults? Yes, but matured?' Horatio thought, 'I am not sure.' He shifted a bit from where he stood, getting more comfortable.

Horatio hadn't realized that he gave himself away, shifting like that. Now, all four of them knew and felt his presence but didn't look at him. The three of them looked down and grinned while Alexx, lucky that she had her back turned, gave a smile that said 'Oh, you think you got away, huh?' to her teammates. All three of them saw Alexx's smile and theirs went ear to ear.

'Now, what are they smiling about?' Horatio thought, haven't a clue.

Alexx got herself together, her facial expression still away from Horatio. "Anybody have an idea on how to solve our little problem?"

"How about different…colors?" Ryan suggested, playing along.

"Yeah, what color would you like? Pink?" Eric said with a grin.

"NO!" Ryan exclaimed. Just then, Calleigh covered her mouth and coughed mockingly. Her cough clearly sounded a "YES!" Ryan gave her a firm look which Calleigh returned with an innocent why-are-you-looking-at-me-for smile.

"No," Alexx said, shaking her head, "Too plain."

"How about pictures of what we like, have or do?" Eric said.

"Please, Eric, you have got to have something better than that," Calleigh said.

"Oh, and I suppose you have a better proposition?" he said, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, putting our names would be identifiable enough, wouldn't you say?" she said and smiled.

"Yeah, but…where's the fun in that?" Wolfe said.

"Yeah, guess you're right," Calleigh said, thinking.

'Come on, guys, you're almost there,' Horatio thought.

"How about…" Alexx spoke, "we use all of it."

"All of what? The cups?" Eric said, not getting the drift.

"Don't be stupid, Delko," Ryan said. Eric gave him a look.

"Use all of it…" Calleigh lit up. "That's a great idea, Alexx!"

"Thanks , baby," Alexx said with a smile.

Delko finally getting it and said, "Yeah but who's gonna take care of it? The expenses, the time…"

"Oh, I know just who, sugar." They all smiled. Then Alexx said, looking over her shoulder,

"Horatio, honey, would you come in here please?"

Horatio's eyes went wide and swallowed hard. 'Uh-oh,' he thought.

"Uh-oh is right, honey," said Alexx as if reading his thoughts.

Horatio walked in the break room and gave Alexx one of his I-know-what-you're-thinking-but-I'm-innocent look. It didn't work. Calleigh, Eric, and Ryan, however, had a big grin on their face. And chorused quietly, "Busted."

Horatio heard that and he dropped his gaze and looked at the floor, knowing that he would get a tongue-lashing next.

"Did you really think that you could get away with watching free entertainment without getting caught?" Alexx said, shaking her head. "Did you? Lieutenant Horatio Caine?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Yeah, right," she said, rolling her eyes. "What were you thinking doing nothing when two of your CSIs almost knocked each other's teeth out?"

Calleigh, Eric, and Ryan loved every single second of this. They love it when Alexx gets into her "mother mode" and starts scolding one of them, mostly they were at the receiving end but this time it was their boss' turn. Their boss looked like a ten year-old boy trying to explain himself of what he did and why he did it. They very rarely saw their boss like this, if they did, like they were doing now, it was like watching a free pay-per-view. The sad thing about it was there wasn't any popcorn.

"Well?" Alexx said, getting impatient.

"I…I thought you were doing pretty well and…" Horatio said, looking up, finding the right words to say.

"And you thought I'd settle it," she finished for him.

Horatio nodded. "I thought you didn't need my help," he said with a little smile.

"Well, I would've needed your help stopping dumb and dumber here. And don't you give me this crap that you thought I could've handled it all by myself," she said, giving him a very stern look.

"But you did."

"And what if I didn't?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

Horatio's head went down again. "I'm sorry, Alexx."

"Good," she said, turning to the three sniggering CSIs behind her. "And for not bothering to involve yourself in the situation, being our supervisor and all, you will handle the cups."

His head shot back up. "What?"

"Didn't you hear me?" she said. "I said you will handle the cups."

"Me?"

"Yeah, handsome, we'll give you the names and designs later." Calleigh said with one of her bomb-shell smiles.

"Good luck, H," said Eric with a grin.

"Yeah, H, and don't be cheap," Ryan said with a laugh.

"Now, is that clear?" Alexx asked, making sure.

"Yes, ma'am."

And two days later, they all got their individually unique coffee cups. Horatio's were blue for his eyes, a name printed on it was black and also printed on were black sunglasses. Calleigh's were yellow, indicating her hair, it has her name printed on it which was black and there was even a bullet printed on it, for bullet girl. Eric's were brown for his eyes, his name was in cream and there was a picture of one of his Café Cubano bags printed on it. Ryan's were black and there was a picture of a nail printed on it, which Ryan tried to call off before getting it printed but failed, and his name was in silver too like the nail. And finally, Alexx's were white, her name was in black and instead of a picture of a dead body—"Thank God it didn't!" she said—there were the initials M.E. And that was what happened. Since then no one had a problem finding a good cup to use only their own.

Horatio sipped his coffee and went to his office so that he could start looking at the files. He looked at his watch. It was almost seven o'clock. It would be at least another hour or two before the police officers, lab techs and CSIs would get here. He always loved the eerie peace and quiet he had before all the bustling noise would ensue. He grabbed his keys with his free hand from his pocket and was starting to unlock his office door. He opened it and darkness was all he could see. 'What will the day bring me this time?' he thought and switched on the lights. He waited a moment for his eyes to adjust and he went over his desk, got to the other side and sat down. He opened his computer and took a sip of his coffee. He then set his coffee aside and sifted through all the files on his desk. He took one, opened it and began to read.