Twenty One:

It wasn't hard at all for Horatio to get back into the groove of being home. He came home first, along with Ryan, of course and immediately wanted to get started on dinner. Ryan wanted him to lay down in the bed to relax first. Ryan didn't want him to just start cooking on his first day back home. It didn't seem fair. But Horatio was hellbent on not just lounging around. He told Ryan that he'd been 'relaxing' in the hospital bed for two weeks. He refused to lay down again until he was going to bed.

So Horatio started cooking. He made his and Ryan's favorite food; spaghetti. And he made Alana's favorite drink; banana and blueberry smoothies. He even asked Ryan if he needed to go to the store to pick up anything for his cravings. Of course Ryan said no, but he was grateful that Horatio at least asked. Ryan left Horatio to do his thing, while he went to go pick up Alana from his parents house. They thought it might have been safe enough for Alana to finally come home. Rick had told them that Ron Saris had left Miami. They had no idea why or where he was. But they knew he'd be back for Julia's court case. Until then, Alana was coming home. Quite frankly because, Ryan and Horatio both missed her. And Ryan hated taking care of Domino all alone.

Alana was practically bouncing out of her seat the entire car ride. Kyle sat in the front seat, but he would occasionally turn around to tell Alana to calm down or to stop jumping.

Although Kyle wouldn't let it show, Ryan could tell he was just as excited as Alana to finally be able to see Horatio. He kept smiling the whole ride, and kept tapping his fingers on everything- his legs, the glovebox of the car, the car door, the arm rest. The constant tapping was mildly annoying to the very hormonal Ryan, but he stayed quiet and let it go. After all, he was excited too. Though he had seen Horatio constantly. He was just excited for Alana and Kyle.

When they pulled up to the house, Ryan barely had time to put the car in park before both Kyle and Alana had their seatbelts off and were trying to open the door. To no avail, because it was locked. Ryan chuckled and shook his head, telling them that it was dangerous to try to jump out of a car like that. Neither of them said anything as Ryan unlocked the car doors. They only opened them and darted for the front door. Ryan watched as Kyle tried to open the locked front door. He grunted in frustration and instead of waiting for Ryan to open the door, he started knocking. Loudly.

Before Ryan could make it to the front door to unlock it, it opened and Kyle immediately flung himself at Horatio. Ryan was worried he'd hurt Horatio, but he kept his mouth shut. Kyle hugged Horatio tightly and Horatio hugged back with his one good arm. Alana clung onto Horatio's legs, since she was so short and couldn't reach higher. The whole scene was pretty heartwarming. Still, Ryan was worried about them hurting Horatio.

He expressed his worry, only to have Horatio shut it down, stating that he would be fine. He told Ryan not to worry about it. That was to be expected, though. Ryan was paranoid, he thought to just let it go.

When Kyle and Alana let go, they all finally went inside. Horatio told them that he made dinner and that he had it ready on the table for them. They sat down at the kitchen table, only for Alana to burst into loud, unintelligible sobs. Horatio put his arm around her, to soothe his daughter but she just wouldn't calm down. She started screaming, saying she missed Horatio so much. She missed him tucking her in at night, she missed his cooking and baking. She missed the way he'd read stories to her. She just missed him.

Horatio just nodded his head, listening to her. He noticed Kyle's eyes were teary as well, but he didn't comment on it. He didn't think Kyle would have wanted him to.

Ryan saw Horatio wince in pain as Alana squeezed him tighter.

"Hey, Alana; maybe not so tight?" Ryan suggested. To which immediately, Horatio gave him a look. One that made Ryan stop talking and to look down at the food in front of him. He felt a hand touch his arm, and looked over to Kyle who was staring at him. Kyle offered Ryan a smile, making Ryan return one. Then Kyle removed his hand and then started eating, all the while Alana cried and clung onto Horatio.

That night, Ryan sat up in bed. He held some papers in his hands that he thought that Horatio might have wanted to see. Horatio was in the guest room, speaking to Kyle who had decided to stay over for the night. Alana was also in the room, despite it being way past her bedtime. Ryan did sit with them for a little while, but after that he decided to shower and go to bed. Only, he couldn't sleep. So there he was, waiting for Horatio to come to bed and to hope that he wouldn't fall asleep in the guest room.

A twinge of guilt rushed through Ryan. He felt selfish. He wanted Horatio to come to bed now. He knew that Horatio along with Kyle and Alana were excited to see each other again. He knew that being apart for that long was devastating for them. But it was for Ryan, too. Sure, Ryan got to visit Horatio in the hospital while Alana and Kyle couldn't. But they were out of the hospital now and Ryan just wanted to sit with Horatio. Alone and out of the hospital to talk about any and everything. Ryan felt selfish because he knew that Horatio wanted and deserved alone time with his kids. But he wanted alone time, too.

Ryan sighed to himself and looked at the clock yet again. It was a little after eleven pm and he could still hear Alana laughing. She had preschool in the morning and she was still awake. She would be so cranky by the time she had to get up in the morning. And she would be in a bad mood all day if she didn't go to sleep.

Ryan climbed out of bed and walked down the long hallway toward the guest room. He heard Kyle and Alana laughing, and when he peered inside, he saw that Horatio had a large smile on his face. To get their attentions, he knocked on the already opened door. Alana and Kyle looked at him, but Horatio hadn't. "Sorry to interrupt but it's after 11:00 o'clock. It's time for Alana to go to sleep now."

Just as he said it, Alana rubbed her eyes and shook her head. "But I'm not tired."

"Alana it's bedtime." Kyle told her. "Maybe I can pick you up after preschool and we can go to the mall or maybe the park?"

Alana eagerly nodded her head. "Okay. Can dad read me a story?"

"I think you should actually just go straight to bed." Ryan said.

Horatio shook his head. "No, I can read you a story, Alana." He stood and lifted Alana with his one arm and held her tightly to his chest. Ryan saw him wince again. "Horatio, she really-."

"I can read one little story to my daughter, Ryan." Horatio answered.

Alana and Kyle both looked a little uncomfortable. They both noticed the sudden shift in the mood. And they definitely heard Horatio's tone of voice. Alana had looked at Horatio with her wide eyes, surprised. Kyle just bit his bottom lip and didn't make eye contact with them.

Silently, Ryan just nodded his head and turned to leave the room again. He heard Horatio's footsteps behind him, but that stopped when Horatio turned and entered Alana's room. Suddenly, Ryan felt like a mood killer. He knew that Horatio just wanted to spend more time with them. And that was to be expected. He thought about maybe relenting and allowing Alana to stay up longer but he knew that would really mess up her sleep schedule.

Ryan got back into the bed, leaving the papers he wanted to show Horatio on his own side. Ryan rolled over, turned off the light and closed his eyes. A while later, he was awoken when he heard Horatio mumbling under his breath and shifting on the bed. Ryan turned his head and looked at Horatio, who was holding at his chest and looked in pain. Horatio saw Ryan looking at him.

"Think I might have overdone it today."

"As usual. That's nothing new." Ryan answered. Then he remembered the papers and looked closer, to make sure Horatio wasn't sitting on them.

Horatio grabbed them off of the nightstand table next to the bed and held it so Ryan could see the papers were safe. "I saw them already. Thanks for giving me the ultrasound pictures."

He told Horatio that he thought he might want to see them. Ryan lay flat on his back and continued to look at Horatio. But Horatio wasn't looking at him. He looked at Ryan's hair, then his nose, then to his stomach. But he didn't look him in the eyes. Ryan hated that. "You're doing it again."

"What?"

"Avoiding eye contact."

Horatio only hummed in response and nodded. He continued looking at Ryan's nose before finally looking him in the eyes. Ryan nodded and rolled back over, looking at the clock. It was now 1am, and he wondered if Horatio had just gotten into the bed or if he'd been there a while. But he didn't want to ask. "Did you have fun?"

"It's really nice to see Alana and Kyle. I missed them so much, but I had no idea how much they missed me." Horatio answered.

"Of course they did. You're all they talked about." Ryan said. "We all missed you."

Ryan felt Horatio move in closer to him and kiss his cheek. "I missed you guys, too."

Unexpectedly, Ryan shook his head. "What's up with you today?" Ryan questioned. Before waiting for an answer he continued, "I get that you didn't want to lay in bed all day; you did that at the hospital. You wanted to cook for your family- I get that, too and I appreciate it. But you've been acting so short with me. And when it was time for Alana to go to bed, you insisted on reading her a story when you know how she gets when she stays up past her bedtime. It messes up her sleep schedule."

Horatio seemed baffled. "You didn't want our daughter to hug me-"

That got Ryan to lean up. "Why wouldn't I? I just didn't want her to hurt you. You were obviously in pain."

"- and excuse me for wanting to spend some more time with my kids."

"Even you just admitted you overdid it today. And you can barely look me in the eye."

Horatio sighed. "I'm not this fragile being. I can handle being squeezed by a child."

Ryan huffed out in frustration. He just shook his head again and just laid back down. "Okay. I'm not trying to argue with you. I'm happy you're home. I'm just going to go to bed." He closed his eyes, and felt the bed move. Horatio had laid down, too. Ryan tried to clear his mind, because he really did hate going to bed mad at Horatio. And he was happy he was home. And now he felt bad for ruining Horatio's good mood.

"What's the story with you and Rick?"

Ryan opened his eyes again to find Horatio staring blankly at the ceiling. "There's no story."

"Well, Eric told me that Rick helped with the case a lot. Surprisingly, really. And when he came to the hospital to tell me about Julia you took his side about Ron. I don't know, you just seemed different around each other. Did you two become friends? I mean, it makes sense because you were both working so close together." Horatio explained. Ryan breathed out, not even realizing he was holding his breath.

Ryan shrugged. "I wouldn't say we're friends. We just have a better understanding of each other. Eric's right, he did help with the case. So much. I'm grateful. And I think he's just happy you're not dead."

"I shouldn't have kept Alana up so late."

"You were just excited. I understand. I just wish you wouldn't dismiss me so easily."

Horatio glanced at Ryan. Then he leaned over again and kissed him on the lips. When Horatio pulled away and saw that Ryan had a panicked look on his face. This was… odd. Definitely not the face Ryan usually had when they kissed. Before Horatio could ask what was wrong, Ryan put his arm over his own eyes.

"Rick…" Ryan said.

Horatio chuckled. "That's not my name."

"No. Rick…I…." Ryan suddenly shot out of bed. "I need water."

Surprised, Horatio's response was "okay". Ryan's behavior was questionable. Horatio concluded that he was more upset than Horatio had thought. He would make it a point to apologize again to Ryan about today.