Title: Upside Down

Author: Aeon Cole

Rating: FRT

Warning: Slash

Fandom: CSI: Miami

Spoilers: 710 The DeLuca Motel

Challenge: Philosophy 20

Prompt: #9 Orientation

Word Count: 375

Summary: Tag for episode.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

ooo

Horatio watched as Eric drove off. He was worried but he knew Eric needed some time alone to deal with everything that had happened. Finding out that his father wasn't his father, that he'd been born in Cuba not Florida, it had to have a significant impact on the young man. Eric had been keeping him at arms length since the whole faking his death thing, so all of this had come as something of a surprise to him.

He'd grown worried recently after he realized that Eric hadn't been home in a several weeks. And then he'd found out he was staying at the motel. He was even more worried now that he knew the reasons. But he suspected that he knew where Eric would go. He would have one of the others stop by his sister's house later to make sure he was all right. Eric was so close to his family and it was hard for Horatio to imagine what this knew information would do to that relationship or if he would even tell his sisters.

He wandered back into the lab and ran into Ryan in the hallway. "H, did you find out what's going on with Eric?" Ryan asked.

Horatio stopped and placed his hand on his hip. He looked down for a moment before he said, "Yes, Mr. Wolfe, I have." He looked the young man in the eye. "I think," he hesitated. "I think he would prefer to be alone right now, but, he could probably use a friend to talk to at some point."

He saw Ryan nod and he gave him a tight smile. Horatio wanted to be that friend but he didn't trust himself to be objective and not try to shelter his brother-in-law. He knew that Eric would rebel against that sort of behavior and that would just make everything worse. Better to let someone else be that friend, at least until Eric was willing to allow Horatio that privilege. He could watch Eric's back discretely, from a distance. Try to keep him safe and out of harms way. The last thing he wanted was to lose another member of his team because he wasn't paying close enough attention.

Fin