Everything was in absolute order. It was less then five minutes before Eric's parents would arrive and he was pacing around in the living room. Valera sat on the couch and watched her "boyfriend".

"Why are you so freaking nervous to meet your parents?" Valera asked.

"They don't know me very well and I just… I guess they're almost like strangers." Eric said.

"Yeah, and lying to them ain't going to make them any less strangers to you." Valera said.

Eric glared at her, "Alright! I get it okay; I am an ass to Horatio. I will tell them Valera." He snapped.

"You better, or I will." Valera snapped back.

Eric was about to say something when the doorbell rang.

"Let's just get through tonight." Eric said to Valera. She nodded.

As Eric opened the front door his mother pulled him into her arms and almost hugged him to death.

Eric's father however looked at Valera from the toes to the head.

"Hello, I'm Joseph, Eric's father." Joseph said and shook Valera's hand.

"I'm Valera, the bitch in the house." Valera smiled. She fought against the urge to laugh as Raquel and Joseph looked at Valera. Stunned as hell. Eric sighed; he should have guessed that Valera was going to destroy the night.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Joseph asked.

"I said I am Eric's girlfriend." Valera smiled, "wich makes me the bitch in this beautiful house."

Raquel gasped, "Marie! How can you say something like that?"

Valera smiled, "Oh it's really easy, I just opened my mouth and used my voice." She said.

"Mom! Valera! Please, calm down!" Eric growled, "Mom, I'm sorry for Valera's behavior, she has…"

"Marie." Raquel interrupted.

"What?" Eric asked.

"Her name is from now on Marie; we will go and change her name to Marie next week." Raquel said.

Eric's eyes widened, was this his mother? Were they related?

"Alright, well, Marie just has PMS." Eric said and Valera slapped his shoulder.

"Thanks a lot asshole." Valera said and walked inside the house.

Eric sighed and showed his parents to the kitchen. He had prepared a small dinner with pasta, shrimps some meat and a lot of other things that his parents liked.

"Excuse me; I'm just going to talk to Val… I mean, Marie for a second." Eric said and went to find Valera.

He found her in the living room, absolutely furious.

"Do not yell please." Eric said.

Valera glared at him, "I hate that woman." Valera said, "She wants us to get married, she wants me to have your babies, and she wants me to change my name into Marie!" Valera growled.

"I'm sorry, but let's just get through tonight, alright?" Eric said.

"And then what? You're going to tell them that you're gay? You said that they were like strangers to you, how can you tell a stranger that you're gay?" Valera asked and disappeared into the kitchen to join her future in laws.

Eric sighed and followed Valera.

-I-

The dinner had started well, but Valera had made up her mind to piss Raquel off as much as possible.

Joseph Delko turned out to be a very quiet and calm man, the opposite of Raquel. He didn't ask Valera for anything, but neither did he object to any of the strange stuff that his wife said.

No he just sat there and said nothing.

"Are you feeling any better?" Raquel asked, she had given Valera some painkillers for her PMS problems.

"Huh?" Valera asked.

"Do you feel better?" Raquel asked.

"Oh yeah, I do. I feel high at the moment, I think I want some of that drugs that we have in the bathroom." Valera said.

Raquel and Eric choked on the food and looked stunned at Valera.

"Drugs?" Raquel asked. "You have drugs?!"

"No mom we don't!" Eric sad and glared at Valera, "She's just kidding, she has a sick sense of humor."

"Yeah, but we do have drugs though. I buy every Friday just for me and Eric." Valera said.

"She also happens to have a very wild imagination." Eric said.

"Yeah, so wild that sometimes I imagine that Eric is gay." Valera said and Eric choked on his water.

"Just stop okay!" Eric growled, "Mom, she's not telling you the truth."

Raquel and Joseph said nothing; they just sat and watched the show. But inside Raquel was furious, and she wanted to slap Valera so hard it would make her ancestors dizzy.

"Well, what about the gay porn you hide behind the toilet?" Valera asked.

"Porn?!" Raquel shrieked and Valera covered her ears to save her hearing.

"No mom!" Eric said, "She's just kidding."

"Well there is an easy way to find out; we could just go check the toilet." Joseph said.

"What? You don't believe your own son?" Eric snapped.

Joseph shrugged, "Does it matter, either you're lying or she's lying." He said.

"Eric!" Raquel yelled, "I am going to check the toilet and if I find something there…" Raquel warned.

Valera smiled, maybe she was a little bit too harsh to Eric, but she figured he had had his chances to tell his parents, and he had chosen not to. So now she was going to do it for him. Valera happened to have a gay cousin, and that cousin had agreed to buy gay porn for her to hide in Eric's bathroom. Now all that was left was for Raquel to find it.

Raquel was gone for a while; Eric had expected a scream, since he was suspecting that Valera must have hid something in his bathroom for his mother to find. But there was no sound whatsoever from the bathroom.

Raquel came back after a while and smiled at Eric and Valera.

"There was nothing there." She said.

Valera then remembered that she had forgotten the gay stuff at her house. She banged her head against her table.

"It was a good joke." Joseph chuckled. Raquel slapped him.

"It was not a good joke, it was a bad one. Why did you make a joke like that?" Raquel asked, obviously furious at Valera.

Valera looked up from the table.

"I'm sorry." She said, "But your son is gay."

"Oh stop it! Stop making jokes." Raquel said.

Valera picked up a shrimp and threw it at Raquel. Raquel gasped as the shrimp landed inside her clothes.

"Oh you want a fight; you're going to get one." Raquel growled and picked up her plate and threw the food at Valera.

Valera ducked and the food landed on the floor, instead she threw her drink at Raquel.

And she laughed as it hit Raquel's face, wich made her make up all messed up.

It didn't take long before Raquel threw her husbands food at Valera; wich hit her in the face.

Soon Valera and Raquel were yelling at each other and throwing things at each other.

Eric tried to make them stop, while Joseph sat in his chair, laughing his butt off.

"Mom! Valera! Stop!" Eric yelled. But Valera and Raquel didn't listen and Valera took a hold of Raquel's dress and ripped it open.

"You little hag!" Raquel yelled and slapped Valera across the face.

Valera was quick to slap back and soon the fight was very much physical.

Valera was on top of Raquel and they were pulling each other's hair. Eric and his father were trying to make them calm down and managed to drag them away from each other.

"I am not going to let you marry my son!" Raquel growled.

"Good, ´cause I'm not even his girlfriend!" Valera yelled, "And you're no the one to decide who he should marry or not!"

"I'm going to make sure that you pay for this." Raquel said.

Valera made a move to attack Raquel again, but Eric held her back.

"Stop it Valera!" Eric growled.

"Tell her Eric! Tell her." Valera said.

"Tell me what?" Raquel said and looked at her only son.

Valera calmed down and now everybody were looking at Eric.

"What is it you're supposed to tell me?" Raquel asked.

Eric looked and his mother.

"I can't." He whispered to Valera.

"Yes you can, you're stronger than this Eric." Valera whispered.

"I don't have all day Eric." Raquel said.

"Mom, I uh… I don't know if I can tell you." Eric said.

Valera sighed. It was time for her final prank.

She started coughing and grabbed her throat. Valera made gasping sounds and her knees buckled.

"Valera, what's wrong?" Eric worried.

"I think she's having an allergic reaction." Joseph said, "We have to drive her to the hospital."

"Why should we drive that little…?" Raquel started saying but was cut off by her husbands glare.

"Raquel, a woman's life is at stake here, put aside your anger for a minute." Joseph said.

He gave Raquel the car keys and told her to start the car so that they could drive Valera to the hospital.

"Valera, what are you allergic to?" Eric asked, he was very worried.

Valera didn't answer; she started gasping more and fought to bring tears to her eyes. She wanted it to look like she was really about to die.

"We should call and ambulance instead dad." Eric said.

"No!" Joseph said, "We will get her to the hospital faster if we drive."

Eric nodded and he and his father helped Valera to her feet and out of the house, into the car.

Eric drove to the hospital as fast as he could.

-I-

As they reached the hospital Valera was put on a gurney and rolled into an examination room.

The doctor asked Eric and his parents to wait outside.

As soon as the young doctor closed the door Valera let out a deep breath and sat up.

"Wait! Lie down, you…" The doctor said.

"I am not sick." Valera interrupted, "I was faking it."

"You were faking it? That's a waste of time for both you and me." The doctor said.

"So what? You only take care of patient's that aren't a waste of time for you?" Valera snapped.

"No, of course not." The doctor said.

"Good, now pretend that I'm still sick." Valera said.

"Why?" The doctor asked.

"Because, that old lady out there with only half a dress and messed up makeup is annoying the shit out of me and if I have to see her again I might strangle her to death. So be a good doctor and save her life while you pretend to examine me in here." Valera said.

The doctor nodded, "Okay, I guess I can pretend for a while."

Valera smiled.

The doctor started to check her pulse.

"I'm Maxine Valera by the way." Valera smiled and extended her hand."Jason Maxton." The doctor smiled back and shook Valera's hand.

Valera smiled and kind of got lost in Jason's green eyes.

"What do you want me to tell your friends?" Jason asked.

"Oh tell them that I am close to death or something, just don't tell them I'm faking it." Valera said. Jason nodded and was about to leave the room.

"Wait, don't send them in either." Valera smiled and Jason chuckled as he left.

Once Jason got outside the room a worried Eric was next to him in less then a second.

"How is she doctor?" Eric asked.

"Well, um… she's um… she's still sick, but I gave her meds for her allergy." Jason said.

"Can I see her?" Eric asked.

Jason shook his head.

"Why not?" Eric asked.

"She needs to rest… alone." Jason said.

"Are you sure she's sick?" Eric asked.

"Yes, now if you excuse me, I have to go see some other patients." Jason said and left.

As soon as the doctor was out of sight Eric walked inside Valera's room.

Valera had not expected that and was caught of guard as she stood by the window.

"You don't seem very sick." Eric said.

"I'm not." Valera said.

"So why did you fake it?" Eric asked.

"Are you kidding? I would do almost anything to get away from your psycho mother!" Valera said.

"Valera, stop okay. She is my mother, show a little bit of respect please." Eric said.

"Sorry." Valera said, "You refused to tell them your little secret, so I figured what the hell."

"And how was this going to make me tell them?" Eric asked.

Valera thought for a second.

"I'm not sure." She said. "Embarrassment maybe?"

Eric chuckled, "So you went through all the trouble of pretending to be sick and you're not even sure how it was going to help?" He chuckled.

Valera smiled, "Yep, that's me. Sacrificing myself to my friends in desperate times." She laughed, "No hard feelings?"

"No hard feelings." Eric smiled, "But I was wondering something, about that gay porn stuff, what was the original idea? ´Cause I doubt that your idea was to make it sound true and then end up being caught in a lie." Eric said.

"Yep, my cousin had bought gay porn for me to plant in your bathroom. But I, um… I forgot it at home." Valera smiled sheepishly.

"Did you want to keep it for yourself?" Eric asked.

"Oh Eric, Very funny!" Valera said and slapped his arm, "Shouldn't you go out to your parents?" she asked.

"Yeah maybe, I should tell them right?" Eric said.

"Yeah, you have to Eric." Valera smiled.

Just was Eric was about to leave his phone rang, the ID said it was Frank.

"Frank, what's up?" Eric asked as he answered his phone.

"Eric! Horatio was in an explosion!" Frank said on the other end.

Eric knees almost gave out.

"An explosion?" Eric asked.

"Yeah, he's on his way to Dade Memorial right now, but he didn't look to be seriously injured." Frank said.

"How did this happen?" Eric asked.

"We got called to a crime scene an hour ago, it's a house, or was a house. It blew up." Frank said, "Listen I'm on my way to Dade Memorial myself, do you want me to pick you up?" He asked.

"I'm already at the hospital Frank." Eric said.

"How and why?" Frank asked.

"Long story, I'll tell you later, I have to go." Eric said and hung up.

"Whats going on Eric?" Valera asked.

"Horatio has been in an explosion, he should arrive here any minute now. I have to go Valera." Eric said and ran out of the room towards the ER.

Valera was close behind.

As she was about to run past Eric's parents, Raquel reached out and stopped her.

"You don't seem very sick young lady." Raquel said.

"Screw you Raquel!" Valera growled and pushed Raquel away, she then continued to follow Eric.

Eric almost ran into the gurney on which Horatio was laying.

"Watch it man." One of the paramedics said.

"I know this man." Eric said and followed the doctors, nurses and paramedics into an ER room.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the room." A nurse said and led Eric out of the room.

Valera soon joined Eric as he stood outside the ER room. She grabbed his arm and told him to follow her to the waiting area.

Eric didn't hear Valera speak, but he followed her.

Eric and Valera were soon joined by Frank and the rest of the team. Eric couldn't care any less right now on the whereabouts of his parents. He didn't mind if they walked around the hospital searching for him.

The only thing he cared about right now was Horatio's status.

-I-

After two hours the young doctor who had been treating Valera walked into the waiting area.

"Hi, for those who doesn't know I'm Dr. Jason Maxton." Jason said and glanced towards Valera and Eric.

"How is he doctor?" Frank asked.

"He has no major injuries; just some cuts some small cuts here and there. He did hit his head pretty hard though, so he has a concussion. I want to keep him here overnight and then tomorrow I can determine if he has to stay here any longer." Jason said.

"Can we see him?" Eric asked.

"I can only allow one person right now; the rest will have to wait until tomorrow." Jason said.

Eric nodded.

"What are you waiting for Eric, go see him." Ryan said.

Eric nodded and followed the doctor as Jason showed him to Horatio's room.

"So how come you and he were here before the accident even occurred?" Frank asked Valera.

"Well, I was pretending to be Eric's girlfriend. He had invited his parents for dinner and he still hadn't told them about Horatio." Valera said.

"What did you do?" Alexx asked.

Valera smiled, "I made sick jokes and got into a cat fight with Eric's mother." Valera said, "Then I faked an allergic reaction." She smiled.

The team laughed.

"You are crazy Valera." Ryan laughed, "Who won the fight?" He asked.

"Well no one, we didn't get a chance to finish as Eric and his father pulled us apart." Valera said.

"Is that why you have a shrimp in your hair?" Calleigh chuckled.

"Yeah, it started as a food fight but ended with me on top of Raquel, pulling her hair." Valera smiled.

"I guess she hates you know." Alexx said.

"Oh yeah, very much." Valera smiled.

"Well, you'll have to give us details some other day, but let's go home for tonight, there is nothing we can do right now." Frank said.

"What about the crime scene?" Ryan asked.

"Night shift is taking care of that." Frank said and the all left the hospital.

-I-

Eric was holding Horatio's hand. Horatio was sleeping peacefully in a hospital bed.

"H, I am so sorry for hurting you." Eric said softly, "I will tell them, I will. I promise you that."

Eric kissed Horatio's hand.

"I'm never going to do anything like this again." Eric said.

"Good." Horatio whispered.

"Horatio! You're awake?" Eric asked.

Horatio squeezed Eric's hand.

"Yeah, I'm awake." Horatio smiled.

"How are you feeling?" Eric asked.

"Sore, but I'll be alright." Horatio said, "Eric we're going to have to talk."

"I know." Eric said.

"But that can wait for now, right now I need a kiss so that I can get better." Horatio smiled.

Eric chuckled and leaned forward to kiss Horatio.

"Eric!" The shriek of Raquel Delko could be heard.

Eric and Horatio broke the kiss and looked at Raquel.

"You are not my son!" Raquel said and she and Joseph left the room, slamming the door shut.

TBC…

AN: Uh oh, trouble on the horizon, huh?

Please review!