The next morning she didn't want to get out of bed. The sunglasses case was still on her nightstand, and she gently brushed her fingers up against it. It only made the ache in her heart worse. Because he was gone, gone gone gone. She knew she should do something, call her parents, go claim his body or meet with his lawyer to begin the process of fulfilling his will. She fell back onto her pillow, sobbing. "Tomorrow, I'll do it tomorrow."
There wasn't much else for her to do but let the grief and sorrow run over her. It was late in the afternoon before she even got out of bed, wrapping her hand around the case and bringing it with her. She sat in the sun, opened the case and ran her fingers over the broken lens, the wire that was bent slightly but still held the lenses in place. This was all she had, all that was left. She sniffed when she heard a knocking on the door, almost unwilling to rise. But she did, even if it was just someone else coming by to offer their sympathies.
When she opened the door, she almost fainted.
Horatio was standing there, a new pair of sunglasses in his hand and a small, sad smile on his face. Laila tightened her fingers on the door, swaying but unwilling to give in to the unconsciousness that threatened to consume her. Her first thought was to slap him, make sure he was real and not a hallucination her addled mind had dreamed up. Her second thought was to slap herself and make sure she wasn't dreaming.
"You're dead." She whispered. "They came by and they said you died, Ryan he-he-" She turned around, floundering for the sunglasses case, her proof. They skittered across the floor before she was able to grab it and bring it over. He had come inside, closing the door behind him. She extended them to him, unsure of what she should do. He opened the case, smirking before setting them aside.
"I faked my death," He explained, "I needed to be dead to do what needed to be done."
"But your team, they all said." She mumbled, rubbing at the tears that had started to come.
"It needed to look real, it had to be. I couldn't tell them, only Ryan knew. Because I asked him to help."
"And me? You just left me here? I thought you were dead and gone. I cried, I didn't know what to do with myself." Laila snapped.
"It had to look real, and I am so, so sorry you had to go through that." He replied, bringing a hand up to cup her face. His voice was strained, slow. "But I'm back now, alright?"
"But what if this is just a dream? What if I wake up tomorrow and you're really gone?" She whispered, bringing her own hand up to cover his. This may be all a dream, something her mind made up to ease her through her grief. Horatio leaned in though, pressing his lips to hers. He felt firm, warm, real and when his hands tightened around her race the warmth that raced through her made her realize that this was real. That she could remember last night as some tortured dream, and this was reality.
