Basketball, Birthdays And Other Happenings

Chapter 1

The arena was crowded. He knew that it could take up to 20,000 people and it seemed to him that every seat was taken today. It felt like being in a hive; people were running around, searching for their seats, talking to each other, shouting chants and in the middle of this craziness were him and his company.

Turning around he made sure that he hadn't lost his company. It was easy to get lost in this crowd and since he didn't have the tickets and didn't know the exact number of their seats, it would be quite annoying if he indeed lose sight of him. "Dad, are you coming?"

"I am, I am," Horatio rolled his eyes at his son's antics and did his best to make his way through the fan crowd. "You do realize that the game won't start until," he had a look at his watch, "in an hour?"

"I do, but there's no way that we can miss the cheerleaders," the boy grinned in return and waited until his father reached him.

"I didn't buy us season tickets for the cheerleaders, Kyle," Horatio chided him softly and gave him a reproaching look. He was still positively surprised about Kyle's suggestion of spending more time together and buying the one or other ticket to watch a game. Horatio had, of course, happily agreed to this suggestion and had called in a favor in the city administration, because he knew that they always had some tickets for their civil servants.

In the end he had gotten hold of season tickets and he didn't have to wait long for the envy of his friends and co-workers. He knew that season tickets were something precious, but what was even more precious for Horatio was the good time he had with his boy.

"Well but you bought the tickets for the whole evening and the cheerleaders do belong to that," Kyle pointed out and snatched the tickets out of his father's grasp. "I knew it was section 118, row 11," the boy read out loud and started walking again.

"It's always the same seat, Son," Horatio answered and couldn't help but smile at Kyle's eagerness, even though the boy claimed it was just because of the cheerleaders. Thinking back to the first weeks and months after they had found out about their relationship, it still amazed him how close they had gotten over the last couple of months.

It had actually started after Christmas, which they had spend together and Horatio was still very thankful that he had taken Stella's advice and had called the boy. This day had been one of the best days of his life, even though their turkey got a little burnt. Not that he would ever admit that and neither would Kyle, but they had had so much fun the whole day long that a slightly burnt turkey hadn't harmed at all. No, it was actually a very fond memory for him, one that he would treasure for the rest of his life.

Sitting down on his seat, Kyle took a deep breath and grinned at his father, who seemed to be a bit out of breath. He hadn't been that quick, right? Waiting until Horatio had sat down, he put on his best puppy face, just like his father's. "Would you be annoyed if I tell you, that we should rather get some drinks and food now, instead of getting it during the break?"

Giving his son an unreadable look, Horatio just shrugged. "Depends on, if you're going to volunteer in this case." There was no way that he would walk all the way back again, not after being happy that he had finally made it to his seat. Not to forget that he then had to fight his way back again after buying the food and this time with a tray in his hands.

Having foreseen this answer, Kyle did his best to hide the big smirk, which was forming on his face. "But what about the cheerleaders?" he asked innocently.

"Well it's either food or girls, but not both. Your choice, Son."

"Hmm," now that was a tough decision for a teenage boy. "Well, maybe, if I'm quick, I can make it to the hot-dog stand and be here again before their show has started," he thought out loud.

"Not if you continue to sit here and just think it through," Horatio chuckled amused.

"Right," the boy nodded determinedly and was up with a start. "What can I get you?"

Surprised, Horatio looked up. Normally it was him, who paid for their meals, because he wanted his son to have a great time and not worrying about money. "The usual," he answered and before he could add something, the boy had vanished. "Interesting," Horatio murmured and took out his cell phone, checking if he had missed any calls. Thankfully he hadn't, because that might have meant that he had to cut the evening short. Slipping it back into his pocket, he decided to keep it on in case the boy would lose his way back to their seats and try to call him. Not that he assumed that Kyle had such a bad sense of direction, but you never knew and sometimes Horatio was a bit too cautious when it came to his son. Once Kyle would be back, he would turn the cell phone off though, because this evening belonged to his son and only him.

A few minutes later, Horatio wasn't sure how much time had actually passed, he heard his son's voice who thanked the other persons in their row, because they let him through. Smiling, Horatio took in the sight of his son and couldn't help but being proud of the young man Kyle was more and more becoming. Sometimes he couldn't believe how much Kyle had changed for the best, but he surely had. Getting up from his seat he smiled at his son. "Need some help with that?" he asked and nodded at the fully laden tray in Kyle's hands.

"Yeah, would be great," the boy nodded and carefully handed Horatio the tray. He knew his luck and didn't want to risk that the food would land on the floor while he tried to sit down.

Eyeing the slathers of food on the tray, Horatio raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that you didn't bring food for the whole row?" he chuckled and sat down again.

"No?" Kyle asked in return and had no idea what his father was talking about. He was hungry after all, because he hadn't eaten since lunch.

Shaking his head inwardly, Horatio just shrugged and grabbed his drink. "Just asking," he answered and promised himself that he would never laugh at Yelina again, when she was ranting about Ray jr and his eating habits. She'd always claimed that Ray was 'eating her out of house and home' and now Horatio knew what she meant. It seemed that Kyle was no exception in that. "Okay let's see what we got here," he said and reached for a Hot Dog, but was stopped by Kyle.

"Wait Dad, I got you a special one."

"A special one?" Horatio asked and was torn between in believing that it was good kind of 'special' or a bad one.

"Yeah, they had the normal ones and the special ones also called the healthy ones," the boy smirked and reached for what seemed his own hot dog. The 'normal' one Horatio assumed.

"Healthy ones?" Horatio inquired and wasn't sure if he wanted to hear the answer. The combination of the words 'healthy' and 'hot dogs' just didn't sound right to him.

"Mhm," Kyle nodded and happily chewed on his meal. "Yeah, they're made of tofu."

"Tofu?" he asked incredulously. Was the kid out of his mind? Why would he get him something like that?

"Yep," the boy commented nonchalantly. "They said that it's especially for people who are a bit older and-"

"I'm not old," Horatio huffed and completely missed the mischief playing in his son's eyes.

"Well your birthday is in a few weeks, so," Kyle shrugged and bit into his hot dog again.

"That doesn't mean that I'm old," Horatio pointed out and reached for this special hot dog. "But I do know that I'll buy my own food from now on."

Laughing, Kyle almost chocked on his food. "Just try it out, maybe it's not that bad."

"Easy for you to say," Horatio mumbled. "Well at least it looks like the real thing," he said to himself and took a small bite. Chewing on it, his face changed several times until realization hit him great time. "This is a normal Hot Dog," he exclaimed and shot his son a death glare.

Kyle on the other hand was literally shaking with laughter. It was very hard to fool Horatio Caine, master CSI, but he had succeeded. This was too good to be true.

"Very funny," Horatio grumbled, but couldn't help but smile. "I really fell for your trick, didn't I?" he said and wondered where his boy got that from.

"Absolutely," Kyle brought out and started coughing when some of the food in his mouth took the wrong way.

Tapping his son's back, Horatio smiled. "See? This is the punishment when you fool your old man."

"The shock on your face when you heard the word 'healthy' was totally worth it, Dad," the boy replied and took a sip of his drink.

"I bet," Horatio chuckled and thoroughly enjoyed their banter. A few months back, Kyle wouldn't have entertained the idea to fool him, so Horatio didn't mind this little trick at all. It showed him that they were getting closer and this was all that mattered.

"And look at this," Kyle continued and pointed to the court. "I was quick enough for the cheerleaders."

"Well then, good job I guess," he sipped his drink and leaned back. This looked like it was going to be a great evening.

It was almost midnight when the black SUV stopped in front of the small apartment building. Its two passengers were busy talking about the events of the last hours.

"Oh my god I still can't believe that the Heats won per free throw," Kyle exclaimed and shook his head. "Especially since they hadn't been the better team." Seeing the look on his father's face he shrugged, "Sorry Dad, but the Celtics were so much better." He knew that his father's heart was beating for the Heats (and the Knicks of course) but it had to be said.

"Well they probably were the better team, but sometimes luck isn't on your side. I'm happy that the Heats won, because they deserved it after so many defeats." His poor fan heart had been broken game after game when his team had lost, but now he hoped that this win was the start into the right direction.

"True, but the Heats have to keep an eye on their defense, or this victory will be a one time thing," Kyle clarified his position, much to the amusement of his father.

Horatio certainly enjoyed such talks about sports. Kyle was very much into basketball, just like he was and it was almost a tradition that they analyzed each game on their way back home. "I definitely agree with that," Horatio nodded, because the boy was right. "Let's hope that the coach will have a heart to heart with them."

"Well, we'll see that next week, won't we?" Kyle asked rather hypothetically, because he already knew the answer. There was no way that his Dad would take a rain check except of something very important would come up at work.

"That we will, Son," Horatio nodded and had a look at his watch. "I think we just call it a night, you have to get up early tomorrow." Of course the boy was old enough to decide on when he goes to bed or not, but he couldn't stop himself from saying such things.

"Just like you, Dad," the boy smirked. "The night's still young, just like I am, but people your age..," he trailed off, because his father was already pulling a face again.

"I really think it's time for you to leave this car right now, before I start thinking over this whole basketball idea," Horatio threatened and rolled his eyes, when Kyle started laughing. "Just keep on laughing, boy, maybe I'm so old next week that I can't remember picking you up for the game."

"Then it's a good thing that I can remind you in the lab," Kyle shot back playfully and opened the passenger's door. Before he stepped out of the car though, he stopped and turned to Horatio. "Actually, there's something I wanted to ask you."

"Oh?" Horatio tilted his head to the side and looked at him questioningly. "Something wrong in the morgue?"

"No, no work is fine, don't worry Dad," he quickly shook his head. "I just wondered if, you know, if you've already planned something for your birthday?"

"For my birthday?" Horatio frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well I mean if you've planned a party or something? I don't know," he shrugged, "maybe invite some friends, play blind man's bluff, or whatever you enjoy," he smiled.

"Well if we could shoot the 'cow' I'm sure Calleigh would be into it," Horatio chuckled. "But to answer your question, no, I haven't planned anything. I'm not even sure if I want to have a party."

"Oh. Hmm, okay," the boy replied quietly, unsure of what to say.

"Do you have any idea for a party?" Horatio asked, touched by the fact that Kyle was showing so much interest in this special day.

"What about a BBQ? Your birthday is on a Saturday, isn't it? Why not celebrate into your birthday? That way, everyone can come to your party, regardless if they're on call on Saturday or not."

"Hmm," Horatio thought out loud. "Celebrating into my birthday?" he repeated and tapped his finger against his lips. "I don't think that I've ever done that before."

"And this is a good or a bad thing?" Kyle pressed on.

"Actually," he turned his head to look at Kyle, "I actually think that this is a very nice idea. It's been a while since we had our last BBQ together and I do see your valid point about the others being on call. I think I'll tell them tomorrow and if they're up for it, it's settled."

"That's great, Dad, I'm sure they'll be up for it," Kyle smiled broadly. "I mean who on earth would say no to a BBQ?"

"Probably not that many," Horatio chuckled. "As long as there won't be any Tofu food on the barbecue, that is."

Laughing, Kyle shook his head. "No way! The others would kill us if we serve them with Tofu."

"True; and the bad thing is that they know how to hide our bodies," Horatio chimed in. "And that's not the way I want to celebrate my birthday." Certainly not.

"I bet," Kyle smirked. "So who are you going to invite?"

"Oh, hmm, the usual suspects I guess. The team, Frank and Alexx." Or in other words his surrogate family.

Noticing that Horatio hadn't mentioned his mother, Kyle nodded. "Sounds good." He knew that his parents didn't get along well, but still he couldn't help but hope and wish that this might change. No kid liked seeing its parents fight; no matter if they were married or not. "I'm sure it will be fun."

"We'll see," Horatio smiled. "But now it's really time for you to get some sleep, I don't want to hear Dr. Price complaining that you've fallen asleep during work."

Knowing that it was fruitless to keep on their little discussion, Kyle saluted playfully. "Aye, aye Sir." Reaching for his keys and opening the door again, he said, "Have a good night Dad."

"Sleep well, Kyle," Horatio nodded and waited until his son had reached his front door and entered his apartment. With a last small wave he started the engine and drove off; his mind already preoccupied about all the things he had to plan for this small come together.

Tbc if you want…