The car ride was awkward to say the least. Miami passed by in a haze of light, thumping beats, and misty air, and all three occupants of the Mustang kept to themselves. Kyle occasionally piped up from the back seat, asking for a radio station to be changed, or pointing out some landmark or place he had been with Julia. Horatio would turn the dial, reply with interest to what Kyle said, and then go back to looking out the windshield as the city passed by. Laila broke in with her own stories about some of the places, but would inevitably return to silently driving.
Kyle was unsure exactly what had happened. He'd been more concerned with finding his shoes. Julia always picked them up and put them back in his closet, but he could never remember that. He knew his mom had a friend over, but he hadn't really cared that much. Julia had friends over all the time, and unless he really knew them, he tended to stay on the second floor, watching television, playing games, or catching up on his homework.
He had heard his Dad come in, the door swinging shut was loud enough for the whole house to hear. He just been pulling on his shoes and was just about to come down the stairs when he heard them talking. He had never heard his mother be quite so ... bitter. Like she had just seen something that made her want to puke. He had stopped at the bottom of the stairs, watching the scene before him for a moment. Laila was looking unsure of herself, standing a bit behind Horatio who Kyle could tell was pissed off.
Kyle hadn't seen the look of joy that was on Julia's face before. Her friend, AshLee, wore the same look before they noticed him. As usual, the adults swept everything under the rug as soon as he appeared, making it seem as if nothing was wrong at all. He hated when they did that, it always dug at him. They didn't let him know anything, just told him what to do without any background information.
He shook the thoughts out of his head as Laila pulled into a parking spot, turning the motor off even as the wheels bumped up against the curb. As Kyle got out, he wasn't quite sure what he had expected. Someplace fancy maybe, but not this. It was small, not exactly in the most exciting area of town, and the parking lot wasn't overly crowded. Laila smirked at his skeptical expression.
"Just give it a chance Kyle, you'll love it." She stepped up the curb, her sandals slapping on the pavement.
He turned to his father. Horatio was tucking away his sunglasses, but smiled at Kyle's raised eyebrows. "She does this, but it usually turns out good in the end."
"Usually?"
Horatio chuckled a bit. "Well, there was this one time. We tried a new sushi place, and that was a wrong move." He smiled as Kyle blanched. "But it wound up being food poisoning."
That didn't inspire much confidence, but Kyle couldn't deny that he felt a little better about the whole thing when Horatio clapped him on the shoulder.
Horatio hadn't been quite sure himself of the Mexican place Laila had driven them to, but any doubt he had left when he tasted the chips and salsa laid out on the table. The chips were fresh, crunchy and lightly salted. Kyle had tried the first bite, swabbing up some of the green salsa. His face turned red, he started to sweat, and he quickly fanned himself with his menu.
So far, the dinner had gone better than the drive. They had been sat on the restaurant's patio, under a small tree threaded with lights. The stuccoed walls were painted a muted shade of yellow, brightly painted plates and pottery hanging from it. A fountain ran behind them, water laughing as it burbled and plinked down into the basin. Instrumental guitar music filtered from hidden speakers, giving the place a relaxing vibe.
Horatio enjoyed the atmosphere. It wasn't overly crowded, but you could hear the slight murmur of conversation from the other people gathered at their tables. Laila seemed to have gotten over the spat at Julia's, and was currently entertaining Kyle with some of the crazier clients she had worked for. Kyle, for his part, seemed happy. If a little sweaty. Horatio just let himself enjoy this nice, normal family moment.
He hadn't enjoyed a family outing in a long time.
Laila excused herself from the table after their orders had been taken, going towards the restrooms. Horatio waited until she had walked back inside the restaurant before turning to Kyle. He sipped his drink before asking, "So, what do you think?"
Kyle cracked a chip in half. "She's nice. Funny."
"You like her?"
"Yeah." Kyle raised his eyebrows. "Why are you asking me all this anyway?"
Horatio shrugged his shoulders slightly. "I've been thinking. We're already living together, and everything seems to be going fine." Horatio steepled his fingers, grinning behind them. "So why not propose?"
Kyle didn't move for about thirty seconds. "Seriously?"
Horatio nodded. "I'm not getting any younger, Kyle. And with my job," Again, he shrugged. "Better sooner than later."
"Have you already picked out a ring yet"
"Ah, no." Horatio felt a slight blush rise to his cheeks. "Haven't had the chance to look yet." He grabbed another chip, eating to hide his misstep. "But I wanted to see what you would say."
"Dad, it's what you want. It's your life, not mine."
"Kyle, you're a part of my life." He watched Kyle look down to his plate, hiding his face. "I wanted to know what you thought." The boy fiddled with his fork, almost jumping up from his chair when Laila sat back down.
She smiled at the both of them. "Well, what did I miss?"
Laila knew something was up, both Horatio and Kyle didn't want to meet her gaze and stared their plates before Horatio mumbled something about the Marlins and their chances for the National League pennant. She called bullshit on that, but she only did it mentally. Instead she launched them into a discussion on exactly how the Marlins would win the pennant, seeing as they were currently in last place.
Kyle defended them, claiming, "I always love an underdog."
Horatio was more or less indifferent, more focused on grabbing chips so that he wouldn't have to talk. That was when she decided something was definitely up, for there were only a few things that Horatio avoided talking about. Sex,—in front of the public at least—, his family life when he was a kid, and emotions. He only really brought up emotions when something serious was going on. Usually he was content to enjoy whatever they did together, he told her he loved her, but it wasn't as if he gave off some stunning revelation every time.
He didn't need to. She knew he loved her, she loved him and that was that. Some girls may have needed the repeated affirmations of their affections, in varying ways of success, but Laila was content with what they had. It was stable, happy. She didn't need flowers sent to her place everyday, expensive jewelry bought for her. All she needed was to know that Horatio would be there when she needed him, and she would be there for him.
It may not be the traditional kind of romance, she thought, but I love it all the same.
The dinner passed happily, Kyle getting one of the more bland things from the menu. Laila had gone for spicy, enjoying the sizzle on her tongue. It felt good, to have a little sweat come out, her ears burn. It warmed her. Finally, after the last bit of food had been swiped up, they got up to leave. Just as she was seat-belting herself into the car, Horatio's phone rang.
He answered it quickly. "Horatio." Laila and Kyle both leaned in to listen to a one sided conversation.
"Really."
Pause.
"I'll be there." He shut the phone, sighing.
The car barely had a second of silence.
"Who was that, Dad?" Kyle asked, Laila could see him cock his head in the rearview mirror.
Horatio slipped his phone back into his pocket. "I need you to drop me off." He said, giving her an address. Laila was already driving when he turned back to Kyle. "They need me at a crime scene." The city slipped by, bright club lights fading as quickly as they came, replaced by the whirring red and blue of police cars. The crime scene apparently was spread out in front of a club, a line of police blocking off access to the area.
It didn't really stop people. Some were holding their cell phones up, shooting photos randomly. Others were giving off screams, some were crying, but most were pressing forward to try and see what had happened. Laila pulled the Mustang to a stop, which sent an officer scurrying over. He rapped on her window, gesturing for her to roll it down.
She obliged.
"You're going to have to move." He said, then cut himself off. Horatio was smirking slightly from the passenger seat. "Oh, sorry there Lieutenant Caine."
Laila chuckled slightly, then leaned over and gave Horatio a quick kiss on the cheek. "Have fun, I'll see you when you get home." He smiled, snorting at her farewell. Once he was gone, and his door shut she pulled away, heading back to Star Island. The bridges connecting the mainland to the island went by quickly, and luckily her cousin was gone by the time she pulled up. She unlocked the door for Kyle, watching through the rearview mirror.
"Have fun, tonight?" She asked.
"Oh, yeah. It was great." He reached for the handle. "I'll, uh, see you around sometime." After he got out, Laila sped back to her apartment. With what had gone on, there was a tub of ice cream calling her name.
Horatio didn't really know what he had been expecting. Thank God it wasn't another murder from the killer they were chasing. This was just a mugging gone wrong, but luckily the guy wasn't in any danger of dying from it. He just wouldn't be able to use his arm for three weeks. There really wasn't much for him to do. Whoever had shot the poor kid had run the second his gun went off, so until they were able to access the security camera footage that the club had, they wouldn't be able to do much. The victim had given them a description, but he was pretty shaken up so it seemed to change every time he told them.
None of his regular team was there, instead the night shift was collecting what little evidence there was. What piqued his interest though was when Frank walked over, a bit of a smile on his face. "We may have a break here, Horatio."
"Why is that, Frank?" He asked, watching as they loaded the kid into the back of an ambulance.
"People at the club were nice enough to pull up the security camera footage. Our perp's got a limp, just like our sick little artist." Frank sounded pleased. "We're getting a copy of the tape, could run a comparison and see if we get any matches, right?"
Horatio shook his head. "There's got to be hundreds of people with a limp, Frank."
"I'll put ten buck down that says it's our guy."
"Deal."
Frank was kind enough to drop him at the apartment on his way back to the station. He walked in, noticing Laila watching a movie, a bowl of half melted ice cream in her hand. She turned her head, catching his eye and smiling. "That was fast."
He shrugged, pulling off his badge and gun. "It wasn't too bad, but work ought to be interesting tomorrow." He sat down on the couch, barely paying attention to whatever she had on the television. "Did Kyle get home okay?"
"Yeah, let him off at the curb."
Horatio turned his head slightly. "Didn't want to walk him in?"
Laila hesitated a moment before answering. "I didn't want to deal with Julia again."
"I meant to ask you, why did you get all," He searched for the right word. "Flustered in there."
Laila set the bowl down, then drew her knees up to her chest and perched her chin on them. She didn't speak for a moment, but he could see her thinking. Her eyes twitched from side to side, focusing on one thing, then sliding to another. Finally, she sighed, then looked him straight in the eye.
"I always tell myself that I can take AshLee on. Physically, I know I can. I've roughhoused enough to be able to kick her around. In business? No contest, she's never done anything like that. But emotionally? Romantically?" She sighed, burying her head in her hands. "She's always had the edge."
"What do you mean?" Horatio sat up, tracing his fingers through her hair.
She snorted. "What I mean is that, she-she always was better at me than that. Always had more boyfriends, was the pride and joy of her family. She did exactly what they wanted, and they rewarded her for it. She lives the perfect, white picket fence, two point five kids kind of life. She's the pride of her family." Laila's voice dropped, barely a whisper now. "They say people like that have it all, the perfect life. I look at her, and I see what I could have been."
"And?"
"I never wanted it." She laughed, a single hoarse chuckle. "They tried to push it on me, and I shrugged it away."
Horatio smiled, "Maybe it was a good thing, then."
"Oh, it definitely was." Laila's voice was returning to her normal tone. "I just see her, and she pushes everything on me. Like that paper," Laila shook her head. "The only reasons 'a prim and proper lady' should be in the paper is for three events, her wedding, the birth of her child, and her death." Her eyes moved to his. "Not dancing in some club with a man. Especially a Yankee."
He couldn't help it. He laughed.
Laila did the same. "I'd tell them to go shove it, but sometimes a little emotion can wreak havoc on a girl."
"Try not to scare me like that again." Horatio moved his hand from her knee, wrapping it around her shoulders.
"I highly doubt you were scared."
"Well, concerned."
