Thank you everyone for reading Like Horatio, Like Madison. Now it's the sequel. I do not own CSI: Miami or its characters, only the situations I put them in.
Madison woke up in Horatio's bed. She stretched and looked at her surroundings for a moment, not remembering what had happened the night before, and then it clicked. In a flood of memories, she remembered her old nightmare, the screaming, the fighting, and the fear. She took a deep breath to calm herself, and reluctantly threw the covers off of her. She knew Horatio would play Question Twenty-One with her, trying to find out what had triggered her nightmares again. She rubbed her face with her hands, knowing what had caused the relapse, but she could not tell him, the news would devastate him as it had her.
Slowly and weakly she rose off the bed and stretched again. She carefully walked over to the bedroom door, opened it about a half an inch, and looked around for Horatio. She heard someone moving around in the kitchen and then smelled the wonderful aroma of breakfast. She wanted to rush out and get it, for this morning to be a normal morning. However, she knew today would be filled with nothing but tension and questions, and that Horatio would stay close to her for the next couple of days to make sure she would be okay.
She was pulled out of her thoughts when her stomach growled from hunger. As quietly as she could, she opened the door the rest of the way, and nervously walked into the kitchen. When Horatio saw her, he stopped for just a second before he smiled and turned back to the bacon. Madison smiled back and then walked out onto the lanai where she settled herself into the chair that was facing the sun so she could get woken up.
Horatio watched her for a while. It was hard to believe that only last night, that serene teenage girl was thrashing around; haunted by images he could not help her with because she would never tell him. Horatio sighed as he fixed his and her plate and carried it out to the lanai. He placed her plate in front of her then setting his own plate down asked quietly, "What would you like to drink?"
"Chocolate milk, please?"
Horatio smiled and nodded. He headed back inside to get their drinks, and when he came back out he noticed Madison had not touched a single piece of food. He watched her for a moment as she simply stared at a single cloud, apparently lost in thought. He cleared his throat, causing her to jump and asked, "Do you not want your food?"
"Yeah," Madison said hurriedly, "I do, I was just thinking."
"I could tell," Horatio replied, poking an egg with his fork.
He and Madison ate in silence. It took her longer than usual to eat, the images of the night before would momentarily cause her to lose her appetite. Horatio would occasionally glance up from his paper to make sure she was okay. Sometimes he saw her pull her plate towards her in hunger, and then the next moment would be pushing it away in disgust. Horatio had never felt so helpless. Well, except for when she had been shot and it made him mad to think he was in this position again, as he had sworn to himself that he would never be here again. It also made him mad to think that Ambers was still causing her so much discomfort even though he was dead. That was what troubled Horatio. It did not make sense for Madison to still fear him when she knew he would never hurt her again. No, there was something else going on, and he hoped that Angela would be able to help him figure it out.
After another ten minutes, Madison finally pushed her plate away for good and said, "I'm done."
Horatio smiled and nodded to show her it was okay. However, she did not get up and go in the house, she merely sat there, staring at the sky and every once in a while, Horatio would catch her absentmindedly rubbing her scar where she had been shot. Horatio crinkled his brow in sadness. He wanted to know what was wrong with his little girl (even though she was not that little anymore).It killed him inside to think that she was going through something that caused her great pain all by herself, and that she would not tell him to probably, from what he guessed, protect him. He heaved a mental sigh, and then stood up from the table, gathering the dishes to take into the kitchen. When he came back he looked at Madison's face and saw her crying.
"Madison," Horatio asked in hushed tones, coming around in front of her so that he was facing her, "what's the matter?"
"Nothing," she said quickly, wiping the stray tear away and giving him a smile, "I'm fine."
Horatio shook his head as he knelt down in front of her. He took both of her hands in his and asked, "Is there anything I can do? You're killing me by not letting me in."
Madison wrinkled her eyebrows in understanding for she knew she was hurting him by not confiding in him. Madison shook her head slightly as she said, "No, you're doing enough by just being here."
Horatio sighed, that not being the answer he had been hoping for. Then thinking back to yesterday he decided to voice his question.
"Madison, what made you start having nightmares again?"
Madison stared him in the eye unblinking as she thought about his question. She did not want to tell him, she could not tell him. She merely shrugged.
"Sweetheart, I want to know," Horatio said a little more sternly. "I have the right to know when you are in pain or in trouble. Now please, let me help you."
She did want his help, oh God, did she ever want it. However, if she told him she would get in trouble for holding back this information for so long, but if she continued to remain silent, she was still getting into more hot water. She did not know what to do.
Horatio could see her struggling in her eyes, thinking if she should or not. He was crushed when she shook her head. Horatio heaved another sigh as he pointed out, "You didn't start this till yesterday after I got off the phone with Angela. Are you mad at me because of Angela?"
"What," Madison blurted out, sitting up a little straighter, "no that's not it at all! I want you to be together because…."
Madison stopped talking abruptly as she had almost told him. She averted her eyes from his, roughly pushed past him, and quickly darted inside. Horatio stared after her and hung his head. He had been so close, she had almost said it. He slowly stood up to his full height, thinking about what he should do. Then it hit him. Anytime he had ever needed to talk to someone about Madison, he had always turned to Alexx. He briskly walked into the kitchen, picked up the cordless, and dialed her phone number. As her line was ringing, he walked back out onto the lanai and slid the patio door shut, so Madison could not eavesdrop.
On the fifth ring he heard Alexx's voice say, "Hello?"
"Hey, Alexx, it's Horatio."
"Hey, Horatio," Alexx's tone lightened, "how are you?"
"Well, to be honest," Horatio surrendered, "I'm a little distraught."
"Why," Alexx asked, adopting her mothering voice, "what's wrong? Are you and Madison alright?"
"I'm fine, Alexx," Horatio sighed, "but Madison isn't."
"Is she sick or something?"
"No, her nightmares are back again."
Alexx went silent for a moment before she asked quietly as if she were afraid Madison would be able to hear her, "Why, what caused it?"
"That's the problem," Horatio said, "I don't know and she won't tell me."
"Well, let's think back," Alexx said, "what happened yesterday?"
"Well," Horatio said, straining his brain. "We got up and had breakfast, and we didn't talk about anything special. Then the phone rang and Madison answered it. She went into her room so I just figured it was one of her friends. I don't know; anyway, she didn't start acting weird until I came in and started talking about Angela."
"What did you say to her about Angela," Alexx asked suspiciously.
"I just said…," Horatio cleared his throat, "I just said I've still got it."
Alexx remained silent for a minute until she burst into laughter and said through tears, 'I can see how that would give Madison nightmares!"
"Alexx," Horatio said aggravated, "C'mon now, be serious! I need your help!"
"Sorry, baby," Alexx said, taking in a deep breath. Then she said a little more seriously, "I think you should ask Madison who she talked to before you talked to Angela. Maybe once you found out who it was, maybe then you can ask what was said."
"It's a plan," Horatio said, nodding in agreement. 'I'll try it, and then I'll call you back."
"Okay, Horatio," Alexx said gently, "good luck."
"Thanks," Horatio said softly before he hung up the phone.
He walked back into the house and hung the phone back onto the receiver. He then turned in the direction of Madison's room and kept telling himself that he was not leaving without an answer that he was satisfied with.
MFUH
Madison was lying across her bed, trying to go to sleep. Just as she was about to drift off she heard a knock on her door. Lifting her head up slightly, she hoarsely called out, "Come in."
Horatio gently opened the door a little ways, and peeked inside. He smiled at her when he saw her, and quietly entered the room. He bent down and kissed her head before he took a seat on the edge of her bed beside her. He placed his hand on the small of her back as he said, "I want to talk to you about yesterday."
Madison remained silent, not ready to be drilled just yet. However, she neither fought nor surrendered to his statement and let him carry on.
"Who did you talk to you before I talked to Angela?"
Madison's eyes snapped open at his question. If she said it had been Angela on the other end of that line, Horatio would either be really upset with her and extend her grounding, or he would be mad at Angela and break it off with her, or both. A fter a moment she shook her head.
"C'mon now," Horatio urged, "I'm not leaving this room until you tell me who it was, and I won't stop asking you either."
Madison let out a loud sigh and said into her pillow, "It was Angela."
"What was that," Horatio asked leaning in to hear her more clearly, "I couldn't make out what you were saying."
Raising her head in frustration she repeated, "It was Angela, now leave me alone!"
Horatio sat up straighter, a little hurt by her sudden demand at being left alone. However, he also knew he would not get anything more out of her about what they talked about, so he abandoned the idea and did not even try. Patting her back, he got up off her bed, crossed her room, and left closing the door softly behind him.
He walked into the kitchen where he again picked up the cordless phone and dialed Angela's number. He was going to get to the bottom of this mess if it was the last thing he did.
