The Birthday Curse
By: Kuroi Neko-kun
Summary: Horatio's birthday is coming up. He strongly believes that he is cursed because every year he becomes accident prone. So, he decided to stay at home this year. But what if there was a little surprise he had not counted for?
Warnings: Slash!! SLASH!! SLASH!!! Okay, mild slash but still slash.
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. CSI or CSI: Miami. –Glares at CBS-
A/N: Part of my Cross Jurisdiction series. Gil/Horatio pairing. Oh, and since the QuickEdit has dumbly got rid of dashes to be used as page breaks, so I will be using '&&&'.
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It had been an almost challenging week for Horatio. Three politically involved murders and he had to chase the perpetrator all the way to the Keys to catch him. Why was it almost challenging? He caught the bad guy, didn't he? Well, all said and done, he was really thankful for his workaholic team. Without them, he could not gather enough evidence for the perpetrator's arrest. He sighed, now sinking into his office chair, allowing the weariness to take over him as he pressed his hands onto his face. He would do anything for just a phone call from his lover in Vegas about now. A few words of comfort and he'll become an Energizer Bunny. But in truth, he missed Gil more than anything in the world. His inability to write theory papers limited him from seeing Gil at Vegas. And since the Vegas crime lab (night shift especially) was somewhere near the top, Gil was often too busy to actually call. He noticed that the distance was causing major friction in their relationship. He sighed, wondering how Speed deals with the distance in his relationship with Sara. Maybe he should get his report done and stop all this pointless thinking. He picked up a pen and glanced at the calendar, searching for a date. He dropped his pen realizing what month it was. Oh, crap…
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"I don't know what the big deal is," Eric complained as he dumped the birthday decorations into a cardboard box," We were planning this for a week now, why did H suddenly tell us that he didn't want any party for his birthday? It's like he knows about the surprise…" Calleigh raised an eyebrow, knowing that it was not about H knowing.
"Well, do you believe in a birthday curse, Eric?" the blonde asked. Eric shook his head. "Well, it's said that when a person who seems to be always perfect will have a day where he becomes completely accident prone." It was Speed's turn to raise an eyebrow as he got off the phone with one of their party guests.
"You don't seriously believe that, do you? It's unorthodox, for one thing…"
"I know," Calleigh said, grinning," But we all can't help noticing that H always end up in a hospital bed when his birthday arrives."
"Yeah, like that time he tripped and fell down the stairs," Eric pointed out.
"Or when he broke his arm during a case," the blonde continued.
"And when his Hummer stalled and the airbag just blew up at his face," the Cuban said, laughing.
"And when he took the dare of a drinking contest," Speed said, remembering what happened then. If a sober Horatio Caine could get into so much pain, imagine what how much damage a drunken H could get.
"Wow… I have to wonder what happened even before he met us," Calleigh pointed out. After a few of their own renditions to what could have happened, Horatio popped up and got them running about again.
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He just wanted to get home, take off his clothes, shower and sleep. It was the 7th of April and he had been extra careful to a lot of things today and it was the cause of his exhaustion. But when he entered his house, he found that something was amiss. His living room coffee table, usually cluttered with his reports and case files, was cleared and a cake was placed in the middle of it. He curiously went over to the cake, noticing the icing letters on the cake. Happy Birthday, my love… Almost instantly, a pair of arms grabbed him by the waist in a warm embrace. H was so shocked that he could not do anything at the moment but enjoy the nuzzling done to his neck. Okay, so he was not that shocked. But he was surprised. He turned to his lover. Gil Grissom smiled at him before kissing his forehead.
"Happy Birthday," he said before giving H a full blown kiss. This H did not mind at all as he gave in totally to the kiss. To hell with a birthday curse, he missed Gil too much to even care. Slowly, Gil broke the kiss and looked at him.
"Okay, let's have some cake first," he declared before mooching over to the cake and lighted a few candles. H sat beside Gil. "Make a wish."
"A wish? You're kidding, right?" Gil laughed at H's reaction.
"Just for the fun of it?" Finally, H gave in and blew the candles. What did he wished for? For his birthday curse to disappear, at least for today…
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He realized that it was the same hospital ward that he had been for the past three years. His mind wondered if the hospital had specially reserved one for him on that day. He glanced at Gil, who had a worried look on his face.
"I'm so sorry, Horatio," Gil said," I should've at least got you to your bedroom before we—"H raised a hand, quieting his lover down. The walls have ears. A recap to what happened was that after H made his wish, they had cake. They got into a childish game of smearing cake all over each other before heading to a not so childish game of licking it off each other. During their pleasurable account, H fell, banging his head on his coffee table, breaking the glass table piece. After fifteen stitches later, H was hospitalized for the night. He sighed, knowing that his wish did not come true.
"Damn birthday curses…" he muttered. Gil gave him a look.
"You don't believe in that, do you?"
"If it happens once too often, you definitely have to believe in something," H said, sourly. Gil hid an amused smile.
"Well, I half expected you to be here." They looked at the door where Alexx Woods and Calleigh Duquesne entered the ward, amusement on their faces. H scowled.
"Aw, come on, Horatio," the blonde said," It wasn't as bad as the last time." H saw the now peaking interest of his lover. Before Gil could ask what happened, the other two male CSIs came in before bursting out in complete laughter. Apparently, seeing H with a bump on his head was hilarious.
"What's wrong with you two?" Calleigh asked, refraining from doing the same thing.
"H, what happened?" Speed asked before squeezing in a wheeze of laughter. Horatio's glare was not efficient at this place and time.
"It was entirely my fault," Gil said," I dropped by after my speech at the Miami University and we had a small birthday celebration together. While I was leaving, I accidentally tripped Horatio and he banged his head onto the coffee table." There was another outburst of laughter from the boys. They were imagining H's fall in a more cartoonish sense.
"Shut up before I dock your pay," H muttered. He was not in the mood at all but the laughter went on.
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H was placed back on his bed the following day. Gil had taken the week off just for him, even after H's protests that he had to get back to work.
"Cath can deal with me gone for the week," he pointed out," And Speed is capable of dealing with the team or do you want another laugh fest courtesy of Tim Speedle and Eric Delko?" H gave in to the odds. Soon enough, Gil climbed into his bed and held him in his arms. "Maybe next year, I'll come by just to make sure nothing happens to you." H smiled at that as he closed his eyes. For the first time, he was looking forward to his next birthday.
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End
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