Disclaimer: I do not own CSI Miami or Chrysler 300, but I can dream.
I thought I was done with these stories, but I felt like we needed some Horatio and Kyle bonding time. Hope you enjoy.
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Kyle bent over double as another round of hacking coughs hit him hard. He rubbed his chest and stood up slowly, the world around him spinning for a second. He took a couple of deep breaths and started slowly walking towards the front doors of the school.
He had told his mom that he didn't feel well, not that she couldn't hear it in the way he'd been hacking his lungs out every night.
All she had done was tell him that she was leaving for a business trip to Las Vegas, and then handed him twenty dollars to get some cold medicine.
That was two days ago and the medicine he had purchased wasn't doing anything for him.
He pushed through the doors and squinted in the bright Miami sunshine. It was late October and the temperatures were slightly cooler this time of year, but it was no match for the heat that was coming off of him.
He was burning up.
He knew he had a temperature, his whole body ached and he was surprised he had managed to stay awake in class today he was so tired.
He pulled the sweatshirt he had warn to school that morning up and over his head, and then bent over again as that small action caused another round of coughing.
He just needed to get to his dad; somehow he knew that the older man would make everything better.
He wished he had his license, but had only gotten as far as getting his permit.
"Harmon! What are you doing?" A hand slapped Kyle on the back, startling the blonde and causing him to start coughing again.
When Kyle finally caught his breath he stood up to find his friend, Nick standing in front of him a look of concern on the older boy's face.
Kyle ignored his question and looked at him with pleading eyes. "Can you…" His voice came out in a croak from all the coughing; he cleared his throat and tried again. "Can you give me a lift to my dad's work?"
"Yeah, sure. Come on."
A few minutes later they were climbing into Nick's Chrysler 300.
Kyle buckled his seat belt and leaned his head against the window. "This is a nice car."
"Eh, it's ok." Nick backed the car out of the parking spot and steered them to the main road. "It's my mom's old car, I'm getting a new one for Christmas."
Kyle snorted and immediately regretted it as it caused his head to ache painfully. There was a time not long ago when he would have been happy driving his foster parent's beat up Station Wagon.
"So, where does your dad work?"
He closed his eyes and pointed in the direction he thought the lab was in. "Miami Dade Crime Lab."
Nick pulled the car onto the road. "So, your dad's one of those CSI guys?"
Kyle smiled, "Something like that."
After that his breathing evened out and that was all he knew until they pulled into the parking lot twenty minutes later.
"Harmon." He felt someone poking him in the arm.
He blinked his eyes open slowly and looked around. "Are we here?"
"Yep." Nick shook his head. "You need to get some rest, you sound like crap man."
"I'll do that." He grabbed his book bag and then reached over for the door handle. "Thanks for the ride." He pushed the door open and slowly stepped out. He groaned as just stepping out of the car awakened all of his aching muscles and made him feel like he was ninety years old.
He shut the door and started trudging towards the familiar doors of the Crime Lab.
He didn't know what he expected his father to do for him; he just knew that somehow in a way that his own mother couldn't, that just being around his father would make everything better.
He rode the elevator up to his father's floor and was immediately stopped by Calleigh when he stepped out.
"Hi, Kyle."
He waived at her and wrapped his arms around himself, the air conditioning was going and instead of feeling nice after how hot he was, he was now cold and shivering.
"Hey, Calleigh." He forced a smile onto his face.
"Are you ok?" She immediately noticed something was off with the teenager.
He shrugged and then fixed the strap on his book bag as it tried to fall off his shoulder. "Not feeling too great today."
He glanced to the end of the hall where Horatio's office was. "Is my dad in?"
Calleigh gave him a concerned look. "He's actually in a meeting, but he shouldn't be too much longer." She laid a hand on Kyle's arm, immediately noticing the heat that was radiating off of him. "Why don't you come back and wait for him in his office."
"That would be good." He followed the blonde down the hall and into his father's office.
He laid his book bag on the floor next to his father's desk and took a seat on the couch; he felt a hand on his forehead and opened the eyes that he didn't remember closing.
He tried to bat her hand away, but she was having none of it.
What did his father say about Calleigh? That's right, something about her being very stubborn.
"You're burning up, Kyle." She stated in a matter of fact tone.
Something deep inside of him hurt at that comment. Why was it that someone who barely knew him could see how sick he was within a few minutes, but his own mother couldn't.
He blinked back the watery eyes and looked away. "I'm fine." But his voice cut out on the last word and he started coughing.
Calleigh shook her head. "Why don't you lie down here on the couch and I'll be back in just a minute with some water."
Kyle watched her leave as he stretched out onto the couch, he closed his eyes and was fast asleep when Calleigh returned a moment later.
Calleigh walked in with a blanket in one hand a bottle of water in the other, after seeing that Kyle was asleep she placed the bottle of water on Horatio's desk and then covered the teenager with the blanket.
She turned on Horatio's desk lamp, turned off the lights in the office and closed the door on her way out.
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Calleigh caught up to Horatio a half an hour later as he walked back to his office.
"You've got a visitor in your office."
Horatio stopped walking and looked at her. "Do you want to tell me who it is?"
"Kyle."
Horatio's eyebrows rose at hearing this. "I thought I wasn't going to see him until the end of the week."
"He's pretty sick." Calleigh shrugged at Horatio's questioning look, "I got him settled in your office for you."
"Thank you, Calleigh."
"No problem."
He watched the blonde walk back towards the elevators and then he turned and started walking more quickly to his office.
He slowly turned the knob on his office door trying to enter the small area without too much noise. He walked over to his desk, stepped around Kyle's book bag and laid the paperwork he had been working on next to his keyboard.
He took a seat in his chair and rolled it over to where Kyle lay sleeping on the couch. He ran a hand gently through his son's hair and smiled as the simple action woke Kyle from his light slumber.
Kyle's eyes became wide as he realized who was sitting in front of him and that he had also fallen asleep. He pushed the blanket down to his waist and looked up at Horatio, "Hey."
That simple word is all it took for Horatio to know that his son was sick. The word was spoken softly, cutting out slightly and with little enthusiasm. He reached up and pressed his hand against Kyle's forehead and wasn't surprised to find the heat radiating off him.
"How long have you been sick?"
Kyle shrugged as he stared down at the floor. "Couple of days."
"Have you taken anything?"
"I took some pain reliever this morning before school."
Horatio raised an eyebrow at that, and pushed the chair back so that he could search through the drawers in his desk. He grabbed a bottle of pills and shook two into his hand, noticing the bottle of water on his desk he grabbed that and rolled his way back over to Kyle.
"Take these." He unscrewed the cap and handed the items to Kyle. "Where's your mom at, Kyle?"
Kyle swallowed the pills and glanced at his father before quickly looking back to the floor. "Vegas."
He caught the angry look on the older man's face. "She tries." He felt the need to defend her, even though she had left him home alone and sick.
He honestly didn't care about that right now, he was right where he wanted to be.
Horatio sighed and shook his head; this was an argument they could have at another time.
He took a seat next to Kyle on the couch. "How about we head back to my place so that you can lie down in a real bed and then in the morning we'll take you to the doctor."
"The doctor?" Kyle groaned and shook his head.
"Yes." Horatio nodded.
"Let me shut down the computer and then we can go."
Kyle felt the couch dip down again several minutes later; he opened his eyes to see his father looking at him expectantly. "You ready to go?"
"Yeah."
Horatio grabbed his arm and helped his son into a standing position.
"My book bag."
"I've got it." Horatio reached down and grabbed the book bag slinging it over his other shoulder.
Horatio grabbed his wallet and put it into his pocket, he grabbed his sun glasses and placed them on Kyle's face causing the teenager to smile.
"Thanks, Dad."
"No, problem." He gently squeezed Kyle's shoulder and pulled him closer to his side.
Horatio reached over and turned out the desk lamp. "Ready to go home?"
"Yes."