Happy Easter, everyone! Sorry for the delay! After looking through several episodes on several boxsets, I've decided to use one of the same troublemakers from Horatio's Baby but with a twist. Stay tuned!

What If's and a big question from a Small Boy...

Horatio hadn't seen Julia Albery the day he bought two-day-old Kyle from the hospital. Julia was adamant she didn't want to see Horatio and Horatio had no reason to see her. If they had anything to say to say to each other it would be through their lawyers. Horatio did have his attorney inform Julia's of the name he had given their son. He had rushed to the hospital to meet the baby the moment he got the call. The new father had spent the entire previous day at the hospital with the boy. By looking at the boy a DNA wasn't required to ensure he was indeed Horatio's boy. However, his attorney had advised him to "have all his ducks in a row." Julia had amniocentesis preformed at six months pregnant and DNA come back well before Kyle was born that Horatio Caine were indeed his father.

Julia had moved to Europe.

Paris, France, to be exact.

Not that Horatio cared.

Even if Julia had decided she now wanted Kyle, the statute of limitations for her to ask the court to reinstate her parental rights had ran out three years ago. After that Florida allowed no exceptions. Whether or not Julia would agree to have her biological son adopted by another woman was irrelevant. She now had no say in the matter. For the past five years, Kyle had been Horatio's son and his alone. The most Horatio would ever consider giving Julia was supervised visitation since she had never been any part of Kyle's life.

Nearly a year into their relationship Aimee and Horatio were talking about the "what if"'s. The idea of them being married wasn't far-fetched in the least. Though they hadn't decided anything for sure yet they were seriously considering moving in together. They hadn't told Kyle a word of the adult discussion. They both knew he would be too excited at the very idea and very disappointed if the plans didn't go through. When they finally did sit the boy down and tell him they could only laugh at his over-the-top excitement. Since Aimee and Kyle had been introduced and began their own relationship, Aimee had spent many nights at the Caine home. Everybody in Aimee and Horatio's lives knew it was "just a matter of time" before the couple moved in together.

Three months later, Aimee had expected to have some sad emotions when she was packing up her place to move with Horatio on the following day. But she only felt excitement and happiness. She looked forward to this new phase in her life. She looked forward to being awakened by a little boy jumping in between her and his dad. Kyle Caine woke his dad this since he could get out of bed by himself.

It was evident the boy now thought of Aimee as the primary mother-figure in his life. After the Mother's Day party. One of Kyle's teachers had called Horatio to tell him how happy she was to finally meet Aimee. The boy had been talking about her for weeks before the party.

"She's so wonderful with him," the woman said. What she didn't say was from the natural way the two interacted that she wasn't the boy's birthmother.


Hearing Aimee was moving in with him and his father was like Christmas for Kyle Caine. He wondered if he was finally going to get a mom of his own.

"Aimee," he said when he was being tucked into bed. "I'm glad you're stayin' here. I'll be extra good."

Kyle believing that if he wasn't "good" that Aimee would move out got to her.

When she thought back on it for the two days she had now been there the boy had been perfectly behaved.

Too perfect, in fact.

"Kyle, honey. Look at me," Aimee said, touching the boy's cheek, turning his face to look at her. "I love you very much, sweetheart. Whether you behave or not, okay?"

"Okay," Kyle nodded.

In what was now their bedroom Horatio kissed Aimee.

"I love you so much, sweetheart," Horatio whispered to her "And I know you meant it."

At 5:04am Aimee woke up slowly to the little voice whispering "daddy, daddy!" she opened her eyes to see Kyle poking his father's arm. Horatio was asleep on the outside of the bed.

"What is it, buddy?" He said sleepily.

"I peed in my bed. Sorry," Kyle said.

"That's all right," Horatio said softly. "No worries, buddy. C'mon, I'll help you wash up."

Aimee was now awake. She admired how understanding Horatio was. A lot of fathers would reprimand a child who was almost six years old and wet the bed.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked him.

"Can you change his sheets?"

Kyle's mattress had protective cover so the job didn't take long. And she didn't mind. It was like her first task of parenthood. Exiting his room to put the sheets in the hamper she saw Kyle carrying an almost sleeping Kyle from the bathroom. She heard Horatio's voice telling his son that Aimee was not upset with him.

"Sorry, Aimee," The boy said, sleep slurring his words.

"Oh, that's all right, buddy," Aimee said, rubbing Kyle's back. "That's happens."

Kyle appeared to forget his "accident" by 8:30am that morning, a Saturday. The boy were in a groggy stupor when he came to his father. He probably didn't remember it and both choose not to bring it up.

Horatio had to go to the lab for a short time that morning. Aimee and her boyfriend's son were alone playing when out of the blue Kyle asked her a question.

"Would you be my mom?"

Aimee always knew she wanted to be this boy's mom but still she hadn't expected to hear this question so suddenly. She hoped her shocked expression didn't hurt the boy's feelings.


At the lab IAB agent Rick Stetler was doing what he were best at, and appeared to enjoy the most, pestering Horatio.

Horatio were at his desk going over files when Rick Stetler knocked on his door. Horatio sighed when he saw Rick.

"What's is it, Rick? I would like to get out of here as soon as possible. I'd like to get home to my family. So just spit it out."

"I heard your girlfriend moved in with you," Rick said.

"Uh-huh," Horatio said, not even looking up from the file he were had taken a rare two personal days off to help Aimee move in.

"You know, that's frowned upon. You two living like that outside of marriage."

Horatio couldn't help but laugh now.

"Why, Rick, I didn't know you were a religious man. And what I do or who I live with, is none of your business. Last time I checked, Aimee had no connection to my job here."

In his personal office, to accommodate Kyle, there was a child-sized Cars-themed table near the corner with some coloring books, crayons and a portable DVD with some Disney DVDs. He had his supervisor's permission to put it there, in fact, it was his supervisor's suggestion.

"Well, I just hope this doesn't effect your job," Rick replied, eyeing the kids table.

Rick already didn't like seeing "the kid" around the lab.

"Whatever you say, Rick," Horatio said. Seeing the other man eyed the table, he said "by the way, not that it's any of your business, but check with my supervisor about that," he said, his eyes going to the table. "I have permission to put it there."


We all know pretty much what Aimee's answer to Kyle will be but will her initial reaction and expression hurt the sensitive boy's feelings? And what will daddy say?