Chapter Nine

"You used to ask me for help all the time when you were a kid. I would encourage you to do things yourself but you would ask me for help still sometimes. I tried not to get in the way, but it was so difficult. You were so adorable and you were my only weakness. Now I wonder if you had called me when it happened if you would still be here with me."

Arianna walked into her house. She was confused by the sound of water slashing and glass clinking. The smell of alcohol thick in the air. She ran to the kitchen and felt her heart stop for a moment as she stared at the sight before her.

Carli Anne sat on the counter next to the sink, pouring a bottle of vodka down the drain. She hopped onto a chair next to the counter and dropped the bottle into a completely full recycling bin filled with empty liquor bottles. Artimus struggled to climb up onto the counter by himself, but managed with a little help from Horatio. He uncapped a scotch bottle and sloppily slashed it into the sink.

"Alright, that's the last of it," Horatio said, locking the empty liquor cabinet back up. "Who wants to help me take it outside for the garbage man?"

"I do!" all four of his children said at once.

"Can I do it?" Arianna whispered from the doorway.

Horatio looked at her with a surprised expression on his face. "Ari," he whispered, "When did you get home?"

"Just now," Arianna quietly said, walking into the kitchen. "We closed the case early and Calleigh let us all go home early."

Horatio nodded his head. "Is Calleigh the Lieutenant now?" he asked.

Arianna nodded her head. "Has been for about nine months now," she whispered.

"Can you help me carry this outside, Ari?" Horatio quietly asked. "I can't really do it by myself," he said, indicating his arm in the sling.

"Of course I'll help you," Arianna said with a smile, "Because that's what I'm here for."

They each grabbed a handle and carried the heavy plastic bin to the curb. They set it down and Horatio looked at Arianna with sadness in his eyes. He leaned down and gently kissed her, intertwining their fingers with his good hand.

"Thank you," he whispered, "I couldn't have done it without you."

They walked back into the house and sat in the living room on the couch. Their children slowly gathered around them and Horatio cuddled Atrimus on his lap.

"Will you tell me what's happened?" he quietly asked Arianna.

"About what?" she quietly asked.

"Tell me what's happened the last eighteen months," he whispered, "Because I can hardly remember any of it. This is the longest I've been sober since her funeral, and I've started to realize I don't know what's happened over the course of almost a year and a half." Horatio looked at Arianna with grief in his blue eyes. "Will you help me?"

Arianna looked at him as tears overflowed his eyes. She held his hand and kissed his knuckles.

"Of course," she whispered, "Because I've here for you, Horatio."

Ryan smiled as Natalia walked into his condo carrying several bags of food.

"I thought you could use a little home cooking," she said with a wink. "You know since your specialty is whatever can be made by someone else in ninety seconds or less."

"Oh shut up you," Ryan chuckled as he followed her towards the kitchen. He stumbled and stubbed his foot on a doll house he couldn't see. "Damn it," he muttered under his breath as he walked around it.

Natalia couldn't help but laugh as she quickly began cooking. "You need a seeing eye dog or something," she teased.

"Well Jess does want a dog," Ryan chuckled. His laughs turned to dread as he realized he spoke of his late wife in present tense.

"I'm sorry Ryan," Natalia whispered, gently grasping his hand.

"It's ok," he whispered, "The pain will stop some day."

It was a lovely dinner that they ate together with Ryan's children. Afterwards Natalia helped put each of them to bed and clean up the kitchen.

She had just laid Evan in his bed on the second floor and was about to leave when she poked her head into Ryan's bedroom to find him sitting on the left side of his bed. Natalia quietly walked in and looked at him with a sad expression.

"She always slept on the left side," Ryan whispered, tears forming in his eyes. "I had the right side and she had the left. A few months after she died I tried sleeping on the left side. I couldn't do it. It just reminded me that she wasn't there anymore."

Natalia quietly walked in and looked down at where he sat on the bed. She gently touched his face and looked deep into his hazel eyes. Ryan reached up twined his fingers into her hair, pulling her down to his face. He kissed her passionately as he pulled her onto the bed with him.

Horatio pulled up outside the old warehouse in the Hummer. He and Jessica climbed out and began slowly walking towards it.

"This is where your source told you the gun smuggling was going down?" Horatio asked her.

"Yeah, Steve said this was the place," Jessica said, placing her sunglasses on top of her head.

"Alright, let's go," Horatio said, walking through the open door. He looked around, making sure the room was clear. "Do you want left or right?" he asked when they got to a fork in the hall.

"I'll take right," she smirked, heading that way.

"Are you sure?" Horatio asked. "Don't you usually go left?"

"Yeah, but I thought I would switch it up a bit today," Jessica said with a smile.

"You sure you don't want to wait for Eric to get here?" Horatio inquired.

"No, he can join us when he gets here," Jessica said with a wink. "I'll call you if I find anything."

"I'll be waiting, Bug," Horatio smiled.

Horatio searched through the warehouse, on high alert for any kind of sound. He looked around every corner and held his glock out in front of him for protection. When he was sure he was alone on his half he called Jessica to see how she was doing.

"Hey Jess, how are things on the east side?"

"Fine, but I'm thinking that guy gave us a bad lead. There's no one here."

"Well we'll look around a little more and then call it quits. Let's check upstairs before we go."

"Rodger that, Dad," Jessica said as she hung up.

Horatio climbed the stairs to the second floor. He peered around every door and into every room. He was coming up empty and was disappointed they had wasted so much time that they could have used else where.

Loud gunshots sounding from somewhere down the hall caused him to snap back to reality. He ran down the hall towards the sound. Two men ran from a room and turned and fired at him. Horatio shot back at them as he ran but they got away.

He ducked into the room they had fled from and felt his blood run cold at the sight that met him.

"Oh god no," he whispered as he began to sweat.

Horatio woke up screaming in his bed. He clawed at his face and neck as pain ripped through him. Arianna grabbed for his hands and held them away from his face. She held him in her arms and began her nightly ritual of soothing her husband from the dreams he never dared speak of.