A/N: Thanks to all who are still sticking with this story and all the new readers. Hope you like this.
Disclaimer: Still the same. I do not own any of the character of the show or the show.
Never cut a tree down in the winter time. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.
~Robert H. Shuller
Chapter 21
"We're here."
Allison looked up from the files that were on her lap. She carefully placed the papers back into the file folder before paying the fare and getting out of the cab. The Naval Officer stood and stared up at the Crime Lab for a couple of minutes before taking a deep breath and walking towards the entrance.
She took another deep breath as she rode the elevator up to the third floor. The brunette didn't know why she was so nervous. She knew that this is what she wanted to do. This is what she had to do. The elevator finally arrived to its destination and the doors slid open to let her out.
"Hi Ali." The quirky receptionist greeted her.
"Hi, Lisa. I was wondering if Horatio was in his office."
"Yes he is. Did you want me to tell him you're here?"
"No, that's ok. I'll just head over. I'm pretty sure he's expecting me." Ali answered.
"Ok. I'm glad to see that you're doing better."
"Thank you." The officer answered with a smile.
With that she turned and headed in the direction of her boss' office. When she got half way down the hallway her boyfriend came out of the trace lab to meet her.
"Hey babe, what are you doing here?" The CSI asked.
"You know why I'm here, Ry. We talked about it yesterday." Ali responded.
"Yeah I know, but I thought we agreed that you would wait a little. Maybe talk with him, listen to what he has to say."
"No, we didn't agree to anything. You came up with that idea all on your own. "
"Come on Allison. Aren't you the least bit curious what his side of the story is?" Ryan asked.
"No, I neither need or want to know what his side of the story is. All I know is that he had an affair with my mother."
"Yeah, but..." Ryan tried.
"Ry, there is nothing you can say to me that is going to change my mind. He lied to me. I don't want to listen to anything that man has to say to me."
"What about Samantha?"
Allison let out a sigh. "She can see him and talk to him if she decides that she wants to. Even if I am not fond of the idea of her talking with him, I'm not going to stop her."
Ryan just simply gave her a faint smile before he places a hand on each side of her face and pulls her into soft quick kiss. "Ok. I just want you to be sure before you do this. I don't want you to regret this later on."
"I won't. The only thing I'll regret is not being able to work alongside you."
"Me too."
Ali gives her boyfriend a small smile. "Well, I have to go. I want to get this over with as soon as possible."
"Ok babe. I'll see later on for dinner?"
"Yeah." she responds giving him another small peck. "Sam is excited about it. Our first dinner as a family."
"I'm excited to. Alright, I'll see you later. Love you."
"Love you too."
They gave each other one last hug and kiss before Allison was back on her way towards Horatio's office. As she was walking Ryan's words kept echoing in her head. She had convinced herself that she did not want to know anything about the man that gave her life. She told herself that she didn't want to hear any lie that he was going to tell her but, now it seemed that she was having second thoughts.
Allison finally arrived at Horatio's office but she stopped dead in her tracks just before she got to his door. The red head was standing by the window and looking out into the city. His shoulders were slumped more than she remembered them, like he was carrying the weight of the world upon them.
The Naval officer was suddenly having second thoughts about handing in her resignation right at that moment. Maybe she could wait until another day that he didn't seem so stressed out. Why was she feeling so sympathetic for this man? This man who didn't have sympathy when he almost destroyed a family by having an affair with her mother.
She kept wondering why a man of such high prestige would do something so sleazy. Why had he not attempted to contact her in all these years? Why did he chose now to bring her here to Miami and to tell her the truth? The officer shook herself out of her musing and decided to just get it over with.
Allison knocked three short knocks causing the Lieutenant to turn and acknowledge her. The brunette felt something tighten in her chest when she saw the somber look that graced the red heads features. Why was she feeling so bad about this? There was absolutely no reason for her to feel this way. She slowly opened the door and walked in when he waved her in.
"Miss Cahill." Horatio greeted.
"Horatio. I assume you know why I'm here."
"I do."
Ali handed over the folder that was in her hands. "In there is my letter of resignation and my transfer papers to the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office. All you have to do is sign it."
The Lieutenant skimmed through the papers in his hands. "You will have quite a commute."
"It won't be a problem."
Horatio stood there for another minute just looking at the papers. Allison was beginning to get a little impatient. She didn't understand why he couldn't just sign the damn papers.
"I'm sorry Lieutenant but, could you please just sign the papers? I have a busy day today and I need to get going."
"I'm sorry Ali but, I can't sign this."
The Naval officer narrowed her eyes and fixed Horatio with an incredulous look. "Excuse me?"
"I said I can't sign these papers." The red head responded, calmly.
"Why the hell can't you sign them? Everything is there. All the forms are complete."
"I know. I see it all here."
"Then why can't you?"
"Because you are an asset to this team and I cannot let you go." Horatio responded.
"Oh don't give me that bull. You and I both know that you didn't bring me onto this team because I was an asset. You brought me onto this team because you wanted to convince me that you were this perfect man and that you could do no harm. You were trying to sell yourself to me so that I would accept you as my father and so that I wouldn't question what you did."
"That is far from the truth. Ali,"
"I don't want to hear it Horatio." Ali interrupted. "Just please, sign the papers."
"Ali I never knew that Trisha was pregnant."
Allison let out a bitter laugh. There was so much that she wanted to say to this man. It was on the tip of her tongue but she couldn't get the words out. She didn't want to hear any of this.
"Allison I promise you that Trisha never told me that she was pregnant with you. "
The officer turned to look at Horatio. "You promise? I'm sorry but, don't be offended if I don't believe you."
"I met your mother when I used to live in New York. She was friends with one of the witnesses I went to question one day. I left both her and her friend my card in case they had any more information."
"Let me guess. Trisha called you?"
"She actually went to the precinct to ask me out."
Ali chuckled. "So is that what you're going with? You're just going to blame this all on her? You're innocent in all this?"
"Allison, I didn't know she was married. She never wore a ring. When I got offered a job here in Miami I offered her to come with me."
The CSI turned and looked at Horatio with surprise. The Lieutenant didn't miss this and had a glimmer of hope that he was finally getting through to his daughter. "Obviously you know she declined because our lives would have been so much different if she hadn't but, she just couldn't be the wife of a cop. She told me that I couldn't offer her the life that she wanted and deserved. She told me the truth after that and then she left back to New Jersey and I moved to Miami not knowing that you ever existed."
The Naval Officer wiped a traitorous tear that was running down her cheek, hoping that the red head wouldn't notice it. "So what, you just left it like that then? You never thought about doing a search on her? Find out where she lived? Whatever happened to her? You were never remotely curious as to what happened to her?"
Horatio let out a deep sigh. "I thought about her every day since the day she left me."
Something tightened in the brunette's chest when she saw the love in her boss' eyes when he thought about her mother. How can this man still love a women that just played with him and ripped his heart apart? It was making her feel sorry for him and she was trying really hard to fight that feeling. She's not suppose to feel sorry for him. She's supposed to be angry with him.
"There were many times that I wanted to try and find her but, then I remembered that she had a husband and maybe children. Years later I happen to be in Jersey and saw her obituary in the newspaper. I wanted to pay my last respects so I went to the funeral, and that's when I saw you. Ali, at that moment I knew you were my daughter. I didn't want to tell you anything until I knew for sure."
Allison turned to look out the window, swiping away more tears. All this new information was beginning to get overwhelming. She didn't know whether or not she should believe a word that the Lieutenant was saying. She turned back around and looked the red head in the eye. "You should have told me the truth."
"I know I should have, sweetheart."
"Don't. Don't call me that."
"Allison," Horatio tried.
"No, just stop please." Ali couldn't keep doing this. She needed to get out of Horatio's office before she went crazy. "You are not my father. My father's name was Jonathan Cahill. There is nothing that you can say or do to make me accept you." The tears started flowing freely down her cheeks. "I don't care if you knew about me or not or any of the other lies that you are telling me. You are not my father and you never will be."
Ali took in a deep breath. "You can sign the paper or not, I don't care but, I'm not coming back here. I don't want anything to do with you. I want you out of my life."
The Naval Officer grabbed her purse off the chair and stormed out of the office, not giving Horatio any chance to stop her. The Lieutenant simply sat on the edge of his desk and watched his daughter walk away. He didn't know where it went wrong. He thought that their conversation was going well, and that he was finally getting through to her.
Horatio let out a deep sigh. He didn't know how he was going to get through to her, how he was going to convince her to forgive him. He didn't care if she ever called him dad, he just wanted to get to know her and his granddaughter and for them to get to know him. He wanted to be part of their lives, he had already missed so much of it. The red head was not going to give up. He was going to win his daughter's love.
CSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSI
Allison sat in one of her deck chairs on her back porch. She had been sitting in that chair since she had gotten home from the lab. She kept playing the conversation she had had with Horatio over and over in her head. Horatio had seemed genuine when he told her what happen so many years ago. He had looked so heart broken when she had yelled at him that he was never going to be her father. Leaning her head back on the chair she let out a deep sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. This whole situation was starting to give her a migraine. She didn't know what to do with all these emotions that were swirling around inside of her.
"Mom?"
Ali turned her head back towards the house, following the voice that was calling her. She quickly got out of the chair, fixed her hair, and smoothed out her rumpled clothing. She hoped that she didn't look like she was stressed out, not wanting to worry her daughter. Walking back inside, she was surprised that her daughter wasn't alone.
"Ry, what are you doing here?"
"Hey babe. We wrapped up our case sooner than expected and H let me come home early so, I decided to pick up this beautiful young lady right here from school." He said, hugging Sam to his side.
The Naval Officer raised an incredulous eyebrow at the CSI. "What?" Ryan asked.
Samantha let out a snicker as she extracted herself from her father's side and started to head upstairs. "You just got caught up in a lie dad."
"What? How-?"
"You see that face right there?" Sam asked, pointing at her mother. "That face is the 'I'm on to you and I know you're lying' face."
Ryan turned and looked at his girlfriend smiling innocently at her. He turned back to his daughter who was already half way up the stairs. "I have no idea what you're talking about Sammy. Why don't you go on up to your room while your mother and I start dinner?"
"Whatever you say dad." Sam responded, while giggling to herself and ascending the stairs.
Wolfe turned and headed towards the kitchen. "So what's for dinner?"
Allison simply followed her boyfriend into the kitchen and leaned against the door frame while Ryan started rummaging in the refrigerator. She knew that he wasn't actually trying to find something to make for dinner because they had already agreed that they were going to make meatloaf and the ground beef was sitting right in front on the top shelf.
"So is 'wrapping up a case and sending you home early,' code for Lieutenant Caine sent you home early to check on me?"
Wolfe grabbed the meat and closed the refrigerator door. "Uh, no,"
"Well, you can report back that I'm not on some angry rampage and I'm not going to skip town or anything."
"He just wanted to know if you were ok."
"I'm perfectly fine."
Ryan studied her for a few seconds. "Are you sure?"
Ali busied herself with taking veggies for a salad out of the fridge. "Yes." She responded, not to convincingly.
"Sure, ok." Ry said, nonchalantly. A few seconds passed before Ryan spoke up again. "Just so you know, H doesn't seem ok."
"Well I'm sorry for that but there is nothing I can do about it."
"There might be."
Allison stopped chopping the vegetables, and placed the knife on the counter. "Ry, I don't want to do this right now, please. I just want to spend a nice quiet evening with my family and forget about my problems, even if it is just for a few hours."
Ryan placed the spices he had taken out of the cabinet onto the counter and turned to take in the hunched form of his partner. He slowly walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her tight against him. Ali laid her head back upon his shoulder and relaxed into his embrace.
"I'm sorry baby. I was just trying to help. I don't want you two fighting."
Allison turned in Ryan's arms and wrapped her hands around his neck. "I know babe." She gave Wolfe a soft kiss and rested her forehead against his. "And I appreciate it. I just need time to think about it, to figure things out. Everything is just jumbled up, up here." She says as she points to her head.
"I never thought that I would ever meet my biological father. I've always pictured him as some low life creep who could care less if I existed or not and now, " Ali drifted off.
Ryan waited a beat. "And now, you might give Horatio a chance?"
Allison reverted her attention back to her boyfriend. "And now, we have to make dinner because I'm starving." She said as he pulled herself out of Ryan's arms and began chopping the vegetables again.
Wolfe looked fondly at his girlfriend and gave her a knowing smirk. "Whatever you say baby, whatever you say." He gave her a soft kiss on her shoulder and went back to the task of preparing supper.