A/N: Decided to go for a triple shot this time; three chapters at once. Thanks for all the reviews and your patience.

Chapter 21

Four months ago:

Sandra stared at Horatio, her jaw hanging open. He was over at her place where she was making him dinner and he had just told her he had just found out he had a sixteen year-old son by the name of Kyle Harmon. Kyle was currently facing charges of kidnapping and stealing. Yelina and DNA had confirmed that Kyle was indeed his son.

"Where the heck is his mother?" Sandra yelped, referring to Julia Winston.

"From what I understand, Julia left him with her mother and took off. He eventually wound up in foster care."

"And Julia never told you?"

"The only thing she had was my undercover name, John Walden, when I was on a Special Task Force about sixteen years ago," he admitted.

"Ouch."

"Yeah."

"How do you feel about the whole thing?" she asked as she placed a bowl of fresh salad and tomato pasta on the table. "I know you want kids and all that but something tells me that wasn't quite what you intended."

As he served himself, he voiced his concerns.

"It's a bit of a shock, I admit to that. I wish Julia had told me but there's nothing that can be done about it now."

"Spilled milk and all that, huh?" she asked, putting seasoned boneless chicken and pasta sauce on the table.

"That's right. I think he's a good kid; life just hasn't been too kind to him and he hasn't made some good choices. I just hope I can do right by him."

"Well here's to hoping a bit of positive influence will help," she said as she joined him at the table.

"Likewise. Did Steve Raye finally ask you out?" he asked, referring to a rookie cop who had hesitantly asked him about Sandra the last time he'd seen the two of them together at a recent MDPD charity picnic event.

"He did, after nearly falling over his feet stammering," she said, grinning.

"You do have that effect on a lot of guys."

"Bullshit. There's nothing special about me that would have a grown guy stammering, especially not with the beach bunnies I've seen around Miami," she shot back.

"You're too hard on yourself," he said, knowing they'd had this conversation on many occasions. It always ended the same way.

"Maybe so, but after spending nearly a year looking at yourself in the mirror and seeing nothing but scars, some things don't go away very easily," she reminded him yet again.

"That's only what you see; that's not what others see."

She smiled at him and asked, "How many times are we going to have this argument?"

"As many times as it takes to get you to listen to me," he replied.

"Not gonna happen."

"We'll see."