A/N: blushes exuberantly

Dedication: My reviewers!!

I'm so very sorry for the long delay between posts… I'm concentrating on my studies. Let me know if this totally sucked!

-Nath

Chapter 8: Heart of gold

"Take this blindness away from me and let me bask inside your golden sea." – Galaxy by Jason Mraz.

Calleigh breathed deeply and turned in Horatio's arms. He gently stroked her side until she moved again, turning onto her stomach. His listened to her breathing for a while then, yawning, he got out of bed, sliding into a pair of boxer shorts.

He smoothly made his way outside to the patio and settled back in a beach chair, silently looking up at the sky. The stars were flickering above him in the darkness and he watched the thin clouds, stretched over the moon, flow by with the strong wind from high above. Horatio stared at the beautiful sparkling starlight similar to the one in Calleigh's eyes. A rare diamond sky lit up in her eyes when she smiled, he thought.

He started to mull over how and when he'd tell her what was really bothering him. It wasn't going to be easy because he felt slightly ashamed of feeling this way. He didn't at all like keeping this from her – she deserved better, but he was afraid it would hurt her and he had promised to never hurt her. Was it worth all the heartache? He would leave his job and things would get better, he thought, automatically believing that doing so would solve the problem. He'd been feeling this way for weeks now and he felt that he needed to do something about it fast before it ruined the good that they had. However, he was looking forward to some time away from work, away from his professional self and, who knows, maybe that's all he needed to do; get away for a while, and he wouldn't need to tell her. In the back of his mind, though, he planned to tell her after their long weekend together, if things hadn't changed.

"Horatio?" Calleigh's melodious, sleep-filled voice, tickled his ears.

He turned his head towards her and saw her standing by him, wearing her silk robe, smiling gently.

He repositioned his leg, pulling it up as she moved to sit at his feet.

She watched him for a moment before starting up a conversation. She had the impression that he was relaxed, sitting out here in his boxers, but she knew better. It was an illusion of peace because she knew any serenity for Horatio had been momentary for a long while now. He always had and probably always will carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, but there was a time when he came home from work and livened up the moment he put a foot through the door – putting tiredness, stress and everything from the job aside.

"What are you doing out here, Handsome?" she questioned.

He didn't answer. He simply caught her stare and lowered his gaze. He couldn't tell her. Not now.

She leaned back on her palms, looking up at the sky. "Watching the stars, evidently." She tilted her head towards him, wanting to keep the mood light although, it was harder than she thought and, her tongue slipped: "Tell me, what's on your mind?"

Horatio stayed motionless, eyes trained on her delicate hands and on her sparkling wedding ring. He sat up, taking hold of her arm, beckoning her to him. She followed his lead and, as he moved to sit on the edge of the long beach chair, she sat close beside him.

Horatio put an arm around her, holding her head against his chest, and held her hand in his free hand.

Nodding, she responded, moving her head away from him, "You can't – it's okay. Just remember that I'm your life partner and that you don't have to be afraid of telling me anything." Her gaze fell, "Honestly, it's worrying me a bit that it's that serious, since you can't seem to tell me."

"No, Calleigh," he appeased, "it concerns you only because you're a part of who I am now, but it's a problem I have and I have to deal with it."

"Let me help you."

"I wish I could…" He shook his head, his voice breaking, "putting up with me is enough."

He had turned his head away from her, so she brought it back towards her with a gentle touch, "Don't say that."

He covered her hand with his and kissed her palm, mumbling, "I think some time away from the job will help." He was battling the fact that he loved his job and the fact that it brought problems to his private life.

Horatio looked over Calleigh, "I talked to Yelina yesterday and persuaded her to let Ray come with us. It's only two days and he's doing well in school so I told her to think of it as a reward."

Calleigh smiled, "I bet she said she wanted you to do guy things with him, not take him to Disney World."

Horatio chuckled. "That's kind of what she said, yeah." Horatio gazed up at the stars, "He should have the opportunity to see things and enjoy his youth, though."

Calleigh knew Horatio hadn't had opportunities as a child because he was raised solely by his mother

"He's lucky to have you." Calleigh gave him one of her million dollar smiles, "we're all so very lucky to have you."

Horatio brought his lips close to Calleigh's and, holding her chin up, he kissed her tenderly.

Yelina stopped along the sidewalk leading to the school and waited as Ray picked up his bag from the car floor in front of him.

"Bye, mom. Thanks," Ray reached for the door handle.

"See you tonight, sweetheart."

He shut the door and walked off towards the schoolyard. Yelina watched him until she couldn't see him anymore and pulled away, heading for CSI.

Ray found his group of friends hanging out near the fence to the baseball field.

"Hey guys," he dropped his schoolbag and joined in, listening to their conversation.

"I'm serious - my dad said I could get one for my birthday if I passed this year," one kid said.

"What are you talking about?" Ray asked.

Mark pointed to Jason, "He said his dad will get him a BMX bike if he passes-"

Ray laughed. How many times had his friend flunked his exams anyway?

"You got something to say, Caine?" Jason stepped closer.

Ray looked passed him.

"Hey, I'm talking to you," the boy shoved Ray's shoulder.

Ray pushed him away, never looking at him. "Hang on, guys," he walked passed his group of buddies.

"Where are you going?" one of them asked.

"Watch my stuff," Ray said.

The group of boys turned in the direction that Ray was headed, wondering what he was doing. When they saw he was headed towards the sandbox, they lost interest as Jason started talking about his future bike.

"Weirdo," a third kid said of Ray before turning back to the guys.

Ray walked faster, going around other kids playing. He was fuming. A boy in his class he hated was picking on first graders. Ray would have left it alone, slamming into him in the hallway or something to indirectly give him a taste of his own medicine, but no one had the right to touch Ray's half sister, Madison.

Ray had seen him pull on her pigtails, remove her elastic and run away with it. Madison had run after him, wanting her elastic back. As Ray got closer, he saw Madison struggling with the boy's height, trying to reach for her elastic, which he held up high above her head. The kid grabbed her arms, turning her, holding them at her back. "Kiss me and I'll give it back," he tried to kiss her and she turned her head, "No!" Madison stomped on his foot.

"Let her go, Tommy," Ray fought to not punch him as Tommy ignored him.

Held captive, Madison squirmed, urging Tommy to let go of her.

"You're hurting me! Let go!" She kicked his leg.

"Ow," Tommy got angry and pulled on her hair.

Ray exploded in rage, launching himself at Tommy, punching him in the stomach.

Madison was freed and ran, crying.

The school bell rang, but that didn't stop Ray from giving Tommy what he had coming.

One punch.

Don't you know you're not supposed to hurt girls?

Another punch.

That's my sister. Don't you forget that.

Another punch.

Mess with her again and I'll make you regret it.

Another punch.

Why don't you pick on someone your own size.

Jason, Mark and the others ran over and cheered Ray on.

A teacher spotted the group of boys and, seeing all the commotion, ran over.

"Raymond Caine! Tommy Reed! You stop this right this minute." She strained to stop the boys who were rolling in the grass, still exchanging blows.

"I'm calling your parents," she yelled.

Ray lost his focus and received a blow to the head. His nose started to bleed.

The teacher told the boys standing around to help her separate the wrestlers. They grabbed hold of Ray and held onto him.

He was still furious when another teacher arrived and helped sort things out.

"Both of you, principle's office. Now," the first teacher said.

The second guided Ray to the school. His friends followed him, trying to know if Ray was okay, until they were told to get to class.

The first teacher guided Tommy and they all ended up at the secretary's desk beside the principle's office.

Yelina briskly strolled in the secretary's office of her son's school to find Ray sitting against the wall, the door to the principle's office on his right.

"Ray, what happened?" Her face was tense, Ray glanced up long enough to notice. She was passed the worrying about whether or not he was okay because the principle had mentioned it over the phone. Ray was okay. The other boy, a little less.

Ray opened his mouth, "Mom I…" He wanted to explain, but decided it was best not to say anything right now – she was very angry – and closed his mouth. His nose had stopped bleeding and he crumpled the tissues in his hand.

"No, you know what - " she started again, "don't even bother lying to me." She stayed on her feet, clearly trying to be the parent, but she knew she frequently struggled with the control over her son ever since Ray's death. "I get a call at work from your school telling me that you were involved in a fight…" Yelina noticed the loudness of her voice - the secretary and the other person in the room glaring at her. She fell silent for a moment taking the seat in the chair beside Ray. She stared at her son and said lowly, "It's a déjà vu all over again. What am I supposed to do, Ray?"

Ray looked up at her, his eyes pleading, "I'm sorry I bothered you at work." He wasn't sorry for what he'd done.

"Yeah, well, the only thing I can think of to do is that you're not going anywhere with your uncle this weekend."

"What?"

"You heard me. Did you think I'm going to let you miss two days of school and go to Disney World after this?"

Ray knew better than to answer and simply nodded.

"Mrs. Caine," the principle appeared in the door to his office.

She looked up and Ray would have dug a hole and hid in it if he could have.

"Salas. It's Mrs. Salas, please." She wouldn't live in her husband's shadow, specially with the reputation people gave him, for one and, second, she loved the Caines, but wasn't one of them.

"Oh, right. I'm sorry. Right this way, please." The principal motioned for her and Ray to come in his office before disappearing inside.

Yelina sighed and got up, making Ray enter the office before her.

"Have a seat," the principle gestured to the chairs before his desk. He waited for them to be seated before continuing, "I spoke with your son, ma'am, asking him explain what had happened and he claims that Madison Barnham was being harassed by Tommy Reed and that he was only trying to protect her. The teacher that intervened and I have spoken with Madison and she told the same story."

"Is that true?" Yelina glanced at Ray.

He looked up at him mom, nodding.

"Now, I understand why your son, after the talk we had last time, got into a fight, but physical violence isn't the way to solve things. I'm not sure if your son knows that."

Yelina was baffled.

"He, uh, he does know it, but doesn't apply it… apparently."

In his head, Ray thought he wasn't a tattletale and that the teachers wouldn't have been there in time to help Madison.

"Ray will have detention after school for a week, just like Tommy." The principle turned to Ray, "I hope next time something like this happens, that you'll seek an adult instead of taking care of it yourself."

Again, Ray nodded.

The principle watched Ray intently. "Okay, well, Madison wants to see you. She should be waiting outside."

The three of them got up from their respective chairs when Yelina interjected, "Sir, I'd like to speak with you for a moment if that's possible –"

"Certainly."

Yelina told Ray to go see Madison and to wait outside. "I'll only be a minute," she said.

Yelina sat back down and the principle ensued at his desk.

"Sir, I had planned to let Ray go away for the weekend with his uncle… Now, I know for a fact that it would do him some good to be with his uncle and take example from him, but to go on this trip, Ray would miss two days of school."

"I know you'll do what's best."

"I will have a talk with him, a long talk, but I can't honestly punish him for doing what he did. Don't you think he had good reason to?"

"Of course. We've even had complaints about Reed picking on kids in the hallways, but any type of violence will not be tolerated on any of the school grounds and I have no choice other than to punish him as well as Reed and give example for the other students."

"I understand that, but if I'd still like Ray to go with his uncle and miss school Friday and Monday, could he have detention for a week when he gets back?"

"I suppose I don't see a problem why that wouldn't be possible."

"Thank you."

The man rose with Yelina and walked her to the door.

"Ray!" Madison shouted, her face lighting up as she saw him exit into the hallway. To his surprise, she went straight towards him and hugged him tightly. Ray winced and Madison looked up at him, "Are you okay?"

She had simply come into contact with a bruise.

"Yeah," Ray took a step back and rubbed his stomach, "I'm fine." He smiled, trying to get her to not worry. "How are you?"

Madison's eyes filled with tears and Ray instinctively took her in his arms again. "You're okay, Maddie."

She shook her head.

"Yes, you are," he said gently.

Madison changed the subject, not wanting to think about it any longer. "Can I come practice skateboarding with you this weekend?"

"Umm," Ray thought about what his mother had said and replied, "Sure."

"Cool," Madison smiled and hugged him once more, "thanks."

"If you ever need help, don't be shy about asking me, okay?"

"Okay."

Ray's mom came out into the hallway.

"Madison, are you okay, sweetie?" Yelina crouched in front of the little girl.

"Yeah," Madison bobbed her head. "They said they couldn't reach mommy at work."

"Yes, they're having a hard time getting in touch with her. Are you sure you're alright?"

"Mmhmm."

"Okay, good." Yelina rose and glanced at Ray. "I have to get back to work. We'll talk about this and your plans for this weekend tonight."

Ray furrowed his brow, "But you said –"

"I know. We'll talk about it later." She bent kissed his forehead. "Bye. Bye, Madison." Yelina brushed the girl's hair on her way by.

"Bye," the little redhead said as she spun around and skipped off to her classroom.

Ray watched her, trying to find a solution to this problem. He wanted to go to Disney World more than anything in the world, but he also had promised Madison that he'd spend time with her.

Hang out with his sweet half sister or go to Disney World?

Reluctantly, he made his way back to class, but the problem, he soon found out, trotted circles in his head for most of the day.

TBC…