Chapter 4

Being in a very good mood, Elijah stood in front of a group of people, who were sitting in his mom's garden, and told them his view of the game. "Oh well, the fact that Dominic started to argue with the referee at the end of the fifth Inning, was our advantage," he told them with a grin. He wore his baseball cap the wrong way, which made him look cheekier. In his right hand he had his limo can, while he needed the left one to gesticulate. "Apart from the fact that we were the better team anyway."

Samantha and Paul looked at each other and shook their heads. The boy didn't lack self-confidence, that was for sure. "I didn't expect anything else," Paul nodded and smiled. Even though Elijah wasn't his biological son, they got along pretty well. Which was perhaps down to the fact, that the boy had a very good relationship with his parents, who in turn weren't at loggerheads.

Amber wasn't so much into Baseball and so she couldn't add a lot to the conversation. But she did have a compliment in store for her boyfriend. "You were really great today," she confirmed and looked at him lovingly.

Elijah got a bit shy when he heard the words. It was the one thing getting compliments from your parents, but getting them from your girlfriend was so much better. "Thanks," he murmured, tilted his head and looked at the dark-blondish girl charmingly.

Grinning, Samantha looked from her son to her boyfriend and gently nudged his side when she noticed that Eli blushed. He only did that when he was really shy. Just like his father, when she thought about it. "You all played very well," she nodded. "Could I interest someone in a dessert?" After the game, they had gotten some pizza and eaten it in the garden. She already knew the answers of the men, so she asked Amber directly. "Would you like some?" Since the day, one week ago, when Elijah had told her about his girlfriend, she was always happy to see the girl. A second woman in the male dominated household was a blessing.

"I'd love to, Mrs. Fisher," Amber replied politely. "May I help you?"

"Sure, if you want to. We have ice cream in many variations," she smiled back and stood up. "We'll be back in a minute." Together they went into the house to prepare the dessert.

Paul gazed after them, sipped on his beer bottle and looked at Elijah, who had started to clear away the pizza boxes. "She's a very nice girl. You're a lucky boy," he winked at him.

This caused Elijah to blush again. "I'm happy that you like her." An outside observer would have never guessed, that they weren't related at all, since they acted quite conversantly.

***

Cheerfully, Horatio grabbed the small present for his son and locked up the car. Sadly, he didn't have the chance to come to the game, since he had to be at a court hearing. He knew that Elijah was old enough to understand that, but he still had a bad conscience when he couldn't be a part of important occasion of his son. He ignored the front door and walked straight to the garden, where he'd heard voices. And since he had once owned this place, he still had a key for the door, so he entered it without any problems. "Junior!" He greeted his son, "How did it end?"

Startled, Elijah turned to the garden gate. "Dad!" He smiled and walked up to him. "What do you think?" He stopped right in front of his dad and spread his arms. This posture and his huge smile should be enough evidence.

"Well, when I see you smile like that, you won of course," Horatio laughed and hugged his son with only one arm, the other he kept behind his back. "Congratulations, that's awesome." He was always very proud of his son, whether or not the team had won. The important thing was that Elijah had tried his best.

"Hello, Paul," he gave the man a nod and parted from his son. He and Paul…well they got along. As long as the man didn't hurt Samantha or even worse his son, Horatio was content. But should Paul hurt them, Horatio would have his head and Paul knew that.

"Horatio," the man nodded in return in form of a greeting.

"Where's mom?"

"Inside, preparing the dessert. We had Pizza, but I didn't know you would come, so there's nothing left," Elijah told him and it was obvious that it was awkward for him to have nothing for his father to eat. "Maybe mom has something for you?" He offered him and then noticed that his dad appeared to be one-armed. "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing?" Horatio laughed and shook his head. "That's fine, I just left court. Had been surprising, but nevertheless I'm happy, because I had the time to get something very important done," he started to make things a bit more suspenseful. When he noticed that his son got more and more impatient, he handed him a small package, one that had been hidden behind his back.

"F-for me? Why's that?" Elijah asked obviously surprised, took the present but didn't open it.

"Just because, Eli. Open it. I know you've been waiting a long time for it and I'm sorry that I needed so long," Horatio replied. Since he'd started going out with Calleigh, his thoughts hadn't been in the here and now but more on cloud nine most of the time. In addition to that, the job had claimed his attention and therefore he hadn't found the time to get the present. But now he had made it.

"Wow, thanks," the boy smiled, even though he had no idea what was inside the package. Quickly he ripped the gift wrap apart and opened the cardboard box. There wasn't much inside, but what he saw was even better. Blinking he looked at his dad and then back to the contents. The only thing that came into his mind was a "Wow".

Horatio smirked when Elijah hold up the famous 'L' plate, which allowed him to drive. "I hope you like it."

"And then some, dad", Eli said and was utterly happy when he hugged his dad fiercely. Only a few more inches and he would be as tall as his dad. "Thanks so much."

"My pleasure." His son got taller and taller every day. Soon he'd be taller than him. "So mom is inside? Better get inside to get some ice cream," Horatio grinned.

"There's no need to do that, Horatio. I saw you coming," Samantha stopped him when she appeared with a tray. "I thought you wouldn't say no to chocolate. But first of all – Hi, it's good to see that you made it."

Amber had followed her and gave the strange man a polite smile. "Hi."

"You know me too well, Samantha," Horatio nodded at her and then focused on the girl. "Hi, you have to be Amber, right? It's a pleasure to meet you." He really meant it, because he was very curious about meeting her, since she was the first one of Eli's friends who would get to know him as Eli's father.

When she heard her name, Amber put down the other tray and looked at the red haired man. "Yes, I am. But how do you..?"

Elijah took advantage of the favorable situation. "Amber, I want you to meet my father," he stood next to her and pointed to his dad. "This is Horatio." As Horatio had already worked out who she was, he didn't have to introduce her to him, but did anyway. "Dad, this is Amber." Proudly he let his arm rest over her waist.

Amber struggled to follow the conversation. "B-but I thought…Paul is your father?" She asked quietly and seemed to be unsure.

Now it was Paul's turn to throw his 2 cents in. "No, Amber. I'm not his father. He is."

"Right. It's a bit…complicated here," Horatio rolled his eyes in an amused way. "But I am indeed Elijah's father."

"Paul is my partner," Samantha stepped in, because she knew that it was quite confusing. She didn't want to use the phrase surrogate father, since Paul wasn't. You only needed someone like that, when the biological father wasn't present in your life, but Horatio surely was.

"Oh, okay," Amber nodded and tried to process the news. "I didn't know that, Eli had never said…anything about that."

"Well, like it's been said…it's complicated," Elijah used nearly the same words like Horatio did. "But let's eat the ice cream, it's starting to melt."

"This sounds good," Horatio agreed and motioned the others to have a seat.

"What's that in your hand?" Samantha asked curiously when she handed out the dessert.

"You won't believe it," Elijah smiled broadly and proudly presented her the plate. "My free ticket for the Hummer!"

"I never said that," Horatio interjected and already choked on his ice cream.

"Oh that's the dream of any mother; Father and son driving around in a car, which is more a tank, than a car."

"Exactly. Nothing can happen to us," Eli responded calmly and shoved a big spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.

"It's not you I'm worried about," Samantha shook her head.

"Neither am I", Horatio agreed and wondered how he could come out of this.

"I do hope you give a holler when you're under way, right? Because then I'll stay at home," Paul went one better.

"Hey! I'm not that bad," Elijah sulked, but was very satisfied. Right now his father strove against driving lessons with the Hummer, but it was only a matter of time since he had wrapped him around his little finger.

"We will see. But I don't see any problem, if you have inherited my talent."

Samantha couldn't help but laugh. "Lord help us!"

"Nonsense," Elijah put her off. "We can make it, right dad?" Looking at Amber he asked, "Have you ever sat in a Hummer? It's awesome."

"Uhm, no. Where can you do that?"

"Dad has one," the answer came easily over his lips and it didn't take a lot to notice that Junior was as fascinated by the car as Senior.

"And what makes you think, that we can use the Service-Hummer?" Horatio asked and tried to avert the calamity. Albeit he loved the fact that his son was as smitten by the car as he was.

"Service-Hummer?" Amber asked confused.

"We could also use a private Hummer, if you own one," the boy countered, his steel blue eyes twinkling in mischief. Smiling he leaned towards Amber. "Dad works for the police."

"No kidding? That's cool."

"Yes, but that's also the reason why no one knows that Elijah is my son," Horatio said calmly, but seriously. "There aren't only police friendly people here."

"Oh, okay. Does that mean, I shouldn't tell anyone?"

He liked the girl; she was smart. "If you wouldn't mind…"

"Are you something like a secret agent?" Amber asked briskly, if still playfully. She had never experienced something like this before, but found it interesting.

Laughingly Horatio shook his head. "With this hair? No. I'm a CSI. Therefore I have a lot of contact with criminals and I don't want them to vent on my son's spleen. It's that easy."

The girl nodded. "I won't say a thing."

Mindfully, Elijah had followed the conversation and was relieved. "Thank you, Amber. This means a lot to me."

"You're very welcome," she smiled and hugged him.

Satisfied, Horatio sat back and spooned his ice. His life was perfect at the moment. His son was happily taken, the girl was very nice and he himself had a wonderful woman by his side. It couldn't get any better.

tbc