Welcome back, old readers! And to my new readers, I give you a fond and angst driven hello! I'm kind of back with the sequel to my slightly infamous angst/suspense story, Retribution and its interlude Recollection. Ladies, gentlemen, readers of all fandoms, I bring you... Recapitulation.

Remember the pairings: E/C, RaiN, WinStet -JuliaStetler for ye new people- implied HY

Nope, don't own it.

1. Interlude: Glimmer of Hope

The rain hadn't stopped for days. It was now day twelve of a two-week rain shower, and Miami, Florida was nearly flooded from overflowing causeways and rivers and lakes. It was the area of disaster, and if you hadn't have lived there during that time, you would have thought it was the city of Atlantis resurfacing. Houses were nearly being flooded, people were fleeing to the upper-level counties in Florida, and residential police officers were making an attempt to keep order amongst hysterical residents that chose to stay. Nursing homes were being evacuated, and hospitals were soon to follow.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of hospitals and not a lot of evacuating personnel. And this made things only worse for the Miami-Dade team of Crime Scene Investigators.

It had been two weeks since Lieutenant Horatio Caine had gotten shot in the chest in a drive-by shooting on his former sister-in-law's porch. The day had been very quiet since an incident happened a week before the shooting. Horatio's medical examiner of the team and one of his closest friends, Alexx Woods, had been murdered on her own front porch. It was on that day as well that the lieutenant's son, Kyle Winston-Caine, had been kidnapped by his guardian Ron Saris. Ron had bad blood with Horatio after a number of run-ins with the law, and he had wanted to claim revenge on the Caine family. What better way than to take the father's son?

It certainly wasn't one of the better days that Ron had. The man had gotten a beat down of the most vicious kind and was the killer of Alexx. It was also on this day that he got arrested for both these crimes.

But you can't keep a sadistic serial killer down- only a week after Horatio was shot, Ron escaped from jail.

And that entire timeline brought you up to this very moment.

12:36 PM, Thursday afternoon.

Yelina Salas stared down at the picture on the table of herself, Horatio, and Raymond Caine, Jr. at the beach. The day had been nearly ten years ago, when Ray had been three years old. Tears slowly rolled down her face and she sniffled and wiped them away with the back of her hand. Mascara ran down like ooze, and she took a napkin from the table and wiped her cheeks, taking a deep shuddering breath. "I wish you could hear me right now, Horatio," she murmured, stroking the picture frame. "Everyone at the lab misses you with all their heart. The rain doesn't seem to want to stop. It's as if it's been crying these past days."

"Mom? Who are you talking to?"

The private investigator looked up from the table and saw her son Ray Jr. and Horatio's son, Kyle, standing at the table watching her. Kyle looked nervous, pawing his foot and averting Yelina's swollen eyes. The woman heaved a sigh, fingering her fingers and looking unsure of what to say. Finally, she told him softly, "I'm talking to Kyle's father. I know he can't hear me right now, but... I figured if I was going to talk to him, it may as well be to a picture. I can't talk to him in a coma- it feels too strange."

Kyle winced, feeling a singing sensation through his cheek where Ron had sliced him with a knife. "Do you know when he could wake up, Yelina?"

Now, the woman had to admit that she was still trying to get used to Horatio's son calling her by her first name. She shook her head, some brown curls falling in front of her face. "I can't say for sure. The doctors haven't given us any news about his condition since last week. Now, I know both you boys are worried about him and such, but don't worry. I know he'll come around soon enough." Even as she said this, it seemed as she was just trying to convince herself more than the boys in the room.

There was a clap of thunder outside. Ray looked out the window in disbelief. "Mom. The pool is flooding and is starting to come up to the window."

She looked to where he was pointing and felt fear wash over her body. Before she could begin instructing the boys on what to do to the items on he ground that could get water-damage, the phone rang. Getting up, she walked over and answered, "Hello?"

"Yelina Salas?" an unfamiliar voice replied on the other end.

She frowned, motioning to the two cousins to begin picking up items and bring them to the second floor. "Yes? May I ask who is calling?"

"I'm calling on behalf on the Miami-Dade Hospital. I'm Dr. Gitch, and I thought you would like to know that your brother-in-law Horatio Caine has just awoken from his coma."

Yelina nearly dropped the phone in shock. Horatio was awake? As in, able to speak?

Oh, thank the heavens above. He was alive...

"Julia, cut that out!" the brunette teased, brushing her hand away lightly and taking a swig of his drink. "Listen, I gotta go to work for a bit. Being an Internal Affairs agent doesn't always come with vacation during floods and massive rains."

Julia Winston shook her head and smiled slightly at Rick Stetler's gesture of affection. They had now been together for two weeks, and they were hitting off better than Yelina and Stetler could have ever hoped for. The nights were long for the two of them as they both vented and spoke to each other about their different lives. They had already gone for it, and apparently, Julia had been due for a sonogram within the next couple of hours- seven, to be exact. Julia had made Rick swear to not come and make her more nervous than she probably would have already would have been, and he surprisingly obliged to her request.

As Stetler grabbed for his trench coat, Julia looked out the window as another roll of thunder was heard. The rain began to fall harder, small pieces of hail beginning to plunk own on the agent's car. She groaned and shook her head. "It had to start hailing now, huh?"

He landed a quick kiss on her cheek and winked. "Must be my lucky day to go to work, huh?"

"That's not funny," the blonde scolded lightly, giving him a gentle smack on the arm. "Be careful out there. The roads are flooded like hell."

Stetler raised an eyebrow before opening the door and allowing the rush of noise to fill the house. "Hell is full of fire, Jules, not water," he quipped before smiling and shutting the door.

Julia took out her cell phone and typed in the number of her son's cell. There were three rings until... "Mom?"

"Kyle," she said, breathing a sigh of relief. "How are things going over at Yelina's? You think I could drop by today?"

His voice sounded bitter. "It's bad over here in our part of the city. The streets are being completely overrun by the lakes overflowing, and we don't have any access to the back porch because the water could leak into Yelina's house if we open the door. I'd say no. You can't come by today. How're things with Rick?"

"I thought you didn't like him."

Kyle chuckled a little. "I still love and worry about you, Mom."

She gave a small laugh of her own. "We're doing fine here. Just talking and such."

There was silence for a moment. Julia could have sworn she heard the distinct sound of Yelina requesting Kyle's help for something. And sure enough... "Hey, Mom. I have to go. I'll talk to you later."

Julia's voice was soft, sincere. "I love you, Kyle."

"Love you too, Mom."

The line went dead. Thunder boomed again, like the hands of God clapping together as hard as they could, and hail hit the rooftop like the constant rhythm of some instrument. Julia looked out the window and lay her head on the window pane. "I love you so much, Kyle," she whispered.

And with that, she took her head off the pane and grabbed her coat, shuffling out the door to her vehicle. She was going to go and see him again, no matter what Yelina said. And nothing was going to get in her way.

Nothing but the black car that silently followed her through the flooded streets of Miami, Florida.

I'm back!... Okay, I'm slightly back. I'll be updating this as best as I can. There will be new twists, questions, and perhaps the shock of a lifetime in here. It's not what you think it is, either... someone makes a choice that will change their life forever. Reviews are appreciated. Thanks for reading!