Eric woke up by the smell of coffee. And not just any coffee. Not Café Cubano. His all time favorite.
He sleepily made his way out from the bedroom to the kitchen. His father was standing by the coffee machine. Joseph loved Café Cubano just like Eric.
"Good Morning Eric." Joseph said.
Eric chuckled and sat down by the table.
"How did you know I was here?" Eric asked.
"I got a feeling that you were looking at me." Joseph smiled.
"What time is it?" Eric asked.
"Only 6:30." Joseph answered, "Too early for you to be awake."
"Not really, I have to work today. So this is a good time to wake up." Eric said.
"Where is… Horatio, yes?" Joseph asked.
Eric nodded, "Horatio. He's still asleep." He said.
"I'm bad with names." Joseph said.
"Call him H." Eric smiled, "I hope we don't get an awkward moment when he wakes up."
"Like I said last night, I may be a little bit uncomfortable in the beginning. But in time it will go away." Joseph smiled.
"Good." Horatio said from the doorway.
"Make some noise when you move." Joseph smiled, startled.
Horatio smiled, "Sorry."
"He does it all the time dad. Get used to it." Eric smiled.
Joseph laughed, "I'm Joseph Delko, Eric's father. Nice to meet you Mr Caine." Joseph said.
"Nice you meet you too, and please call me Horatio or H." Horatio said.
"That's right, H. I forget names so easily." Joseph said, "Comes with the age I guess."
The trio laughed.
"You're not that old, dad." Eric said.
"No, but I'm not young anymore either." Joseph smiled.
"So you came around huh?" Horatio asked and sat down next to Eric.
"Yes. As I said to Eric yesterday. The older you get the more you understand that you shouldn't decide your child's life for them." Joseph said, "I am willing to learn to accept your relationship."
Horatio and Eric smiled.
"That's good." Horatio said.
Joseph nodded.
"Maybe I can make you two dinner tonight. We can catch up on all the lost years." Joseph suggested.
"Yeah, that would be great." Eric and Horatio said unison.
Joseph nodded.
-I-
Valera walked in with a big smile to Natalia's lab.
"This would be first time you have a smile on your face at 8 in the morning." Natalia said, "Let me take a photo of this moment." She joked.
"Well, I might start getting a smile on my face more often now." Valera said.
"Is it from having a food fight with Raquel, that by the way everybody knows about now?" Natalia asked, "We are so proud of you." She smiled.
Valera laughed.
"No, I got a date with Jason Maxton." Valera smiled.
"Really? You do?" Natalia asked, "That's the doctor right?"
Valera nodded, "Yep. I called him this morning and we're going out to eat tonight."
"I'm so happy for you Valera. It's really great!" Natalia smiled.
"Thank you. I think this can work our pretty good." Valera said.
"I do too." Natalia smiled.
"So I was wondering, since you and Eric's sister constantly gossip with each other." Valera smiled, "Have you heard anything about their parents? Weren't Maya and Trish going to give them a tongue lashing they would never forget?" Valera asked.
"Yes, and they did." Natalia smiled, "Maya talked to their father, and they think he's coming around. Their mother however." Natalia said, "She's hard as a rock and refuses to budge."
"She's is such a…"
"Valera, calm down." Natalia interrupted, "She's not here right now, so there's no need to get mad." She smiled.
Valera chuckled.
"I know. But she's going to regret everything later." Valera said.
Natalia nodded, "Well, then that's her problem."
"Well, look which two just showed up. And they have big smiles on their faces." Valera said and pointed at the entrance.
"Yeah, Ryan and Calleigh." Natalia said, "They always smile."
"They're here too?" Valera asked, "´Cause I was talking about H and Eric."
"I don't see them." Natalia said.
"They're behind Ryan and Calleigh."
"Oh there, yeah, they're smiling. Why is that strange? They always smile too don't they?" Natalia asked.
"No Nat. Not like this." Valera said, "Something good has happened to them."
"Maybe H proposed?" Natalia shrieked.
"No. But I think Ryan's going to do that soon." Valera said, "Something else is up with H and Eric."
"You think Ryan is going to propose?" Natalia asked.
"Yeah, he's been thinking about it." Valera smiled.
"Calleigh is going to be so happy." Natalia smiled, "But why don't you just ask Eric and H why they are so happy?"
"Nah, they'll say it when the time is right." Valera said, "But I might do a little snooping around." She chuckled, "See ya later Nat."
"See ya."
Valera left Natalia's lab and almost ran towards Eric, H, Ryan and Calleigh.
"Are you alright?" Valera asked.
"Good morning Valera and yes we're alright, why?" Eric smiled.
"Just asking ya know." Valera said innocently.
The others laughed.
"Hey, H can Ryan and I take four days off, starting tomorrow?" Calleigh asked.
"Yeah, no problem." Horatio said, "But you don't have to take the weekend off. We don't work then anyway." He said.
"Well, we just thought we'd to it anyway. So that we don't have to get called in." Ryan said.
"Alright." Horatio said.
"Thank you." Calleigh and Ryan said.
Horatio disappeared into his office, Eric and Calleigh disappeared into their labs. Ryan was left standing alone with Valera.
"What?" Ryan asked as Valera looked at him, smiling.
"So why are you and Calleigh taking four days off?" Valera asked.
"Meet me for lunch today and I'll tell you." Ryan said, "And bring Alexx and Natalia with you as well." He said and left Valera alone.
Once Ryan had disappeared behind a corner, Valera shrieked off joy.
-I-
They day had gone by slow, but it had been one murder case for the team.
That's why Horatio was at the moment down in the morgue with Alexx.
"What can you tell me Alexx?" Horatio asked.
"Well, this young girl died from a stab injury to the neck. She bleed out." Alexx said.
Horatio nodded.
"Anything else?" He asked.
"Well, a bunch of trace. I sent it to the lab." Alexx said, "Now, can you tell me why you are so happy after the whole Eric's parents thing?" She asked.
Horatio sighed, nothing went past Alexx.
"Well, his father has come around. He's staying with us at the moment." Horatio said.
"Wow, that's fast." Alexx said.
"His wife threw him out." Horatio said.
"Raquel Delko has really turned mad hasn't she?" Alexx asked.
"A little bit maybe." Horatio said.
"How's Eric taking all of this?" Alexx asked."Well, he is sad about his mother. But happy about his father, though still a little bit suspicious about if his father's intentions are good or bad." Horatio said.
"And what about you?" Alexx asked.
"If Eric is happy, then I'm happy." Horatio answered.
"Yeah, but you do have feeling on your own as well, so answer the question again."
Horatio stayed quiet for a while.
"Well…" He said after a while, "I've never met his parents before, and I didn't miss that part before. But now that I've met his father, I know that he is a person that I would like to know better." Horatio said, "His mother I'm still not sure about. If she doesn't change her mind, then there is nothing we can do."
Alexx nodded.
"I've met Joseph Delko a few times before, and he is a sweet and caring man." Alexx said, "He just has a weird way of showing it sometimes." Alexx said, "And you're never too old to learn something new."
Horatio nodded and smiled.
"And you're not feeling strange since the explosion?" Alexx asked.
Horatio shook his head.
"Good." Alexx smiled.
-I-
As the night came Joseph made dinner and he, Eric and Horatio were now sitting around their dinner table. Enjoying Paella. Horatio and Eric's favorite dish.
"I was thinking about the explosion." Joseph said, "Does it happen a lot?" He asked.
"No. But there is always a risk; however it doesn't happen very often." Horatio said.
"Good. Do all of you carry guns?" Joseph asked.
Horatio nodded.
"And how did you pass that test?" He joked with Eric.
Eric laughed. Horatio looked confused at the father and son.
"Eric was always afraid of guns as a child." Joseph explained to Horatio, "He said that he always wanted to swim in waters with sharks in it. But he got nightmares if he saw a gun." Joseph chuckled.
"How did it go away? ´Cause I don't remember Eric ever being afraid." Horatio asked.
"Well, Trish found out that I was transferring to CSI. So she forced me to watch thirty action movies with guns all the time." Eric said, "Until I wasn't scared anymore."
"And it must have worked." Horatio smiled.
"It did." Joseph said, "And today it's hard to imagine Eric being afraid of a gun. ´Cause now he loves them." Joseph smiled.
"Well, I have to agree with Calleigh. Guns do have a certain grace and charm." Eric chuckled.
"What about you Horatio, were you afraid of guns?" Joseph asked.
"Not that I can remember." Horatio said.
"Did anything freak you out as a rookie cop?" Eric asked.
"Yes, the autopsies." Horatio smiled.
"You didn't have a strong stomach did you?" Joseph smiled.
"No, not in the beginning. I think that it took me seven autopsies before I learned to just look at a dead body." Horatio chuckled, "My boss forced me to participate in the autopsy."
"He did that?!" Eric exclaimed, "Isn't that a bit too harsh?"
"No, back then it wasn't. He said it was the only way." Horatio smiled.
"And it seems as if though it worked." Joseph said.
Horatio nodded.
"Since we're talking about fears. I'm wondering what you're afraid of dad." Eric said.
"For starters, your sisters." Joseph joked and the trio laughed.
"But my real phobia is the cold." Joseph said, "It's something I've been afraid of my whole life. And I am not talking about winter like in America. I'm talking really cold, so cold that you would freeze to death if you didn't wear four layers of clothes." Joseph said.
"Wow." Eric said.
"Is that from your childhood?" Horatio asked.
Joseph smiled.
"Yes, I grew up in Russia." Joseph said, "And the winters there are very cold. I saw my grandfather and many other people freeze to death." Joseph said.
"Yeah, I think you told me about that sometime." Eric said.
"Yes. Where I lived people were poor and the winters always killed someone." Joseph said.
The trio went quiet for a while.
"Let's talk about something more fun, yes?" Joseph asked.
Horatio and Eric nodded.
"Tell me about Eric as a child, was he accident prone?" Horatio asked.
"No, actually not. His sister Trish was." Joseph said.
"Trish? No, no way." Eric said, "She's like so careful and gentle."
"Yeah, well she learned from having many trips to the hospital. Broken arms, legs, ribs, concussions and so on." Joseph smiled, "she had such energy as a kid."
"Eric had energy, but he stayed out of dangerous things." Joseph smiled.
"Instead I dreamed of becoming a Casanova diver." Eric chuckled.
The trio laughed.
"But I don't regret becoming a CSI." Eric smiled, "Or meeting H."
"What about you Horatio?" Joseph asked.
"Yeah, I hurt myself sometimes." Horatio said.
Both Eric and Horatio knew that it was Horatio's father that was responsible for all of Horatio's trips to the hospital. But it was too soon to tell Joseph about that.
"I actually twisted my back in a cross bike accident once." Horatio chuckled.
Even Eric didn't know about that.
"How did that happen?" Eric asked.
"It was a tricky road and I was still a beginner. So I turned my bike to fast and landed on the ground a weird way." Horatio said, "With the bike over me."
"How old were you?" Joseph asked.
"Thirteen, and I've never driven a cross bike since then." Horatio chuckled.
The night went on with a lot of talking about everything that popped up the men's heads.
As the clock struck midnight Joseph was asleep in the guest room and Eric and Horatio was entwined in each other.
"That was a success." Eric smiled.
Horatio nodded.
"What are we going to do this weekend then?" Horatio asked.
"How about we stay in bed the whole weekend and just cuddle?" Eric smiled.
"I like the sound of that, but there is one thing that we have to go to." Horatio said.
"What is that?" Eric asked.
"We have to go to Natalia's party. " Horatio said.
"Oh yeah, that's right." Eric smiled, "But that means that Calleigh and Ryan are going to miss it?"
"Yeah, and whatever it is that Ryan has planned. It's something that only Alexx, Valera and Nat who knows about it." Horatio said, "Therefore Natalia probably doesn't mind that they miss the party."
"Ryan had planned something?" Eric asked.
"Yes, I saw Ryan, Alexx, Valera and Nat having lunch together today." Horatio smiled.
"Without Calleigh?" Eric asked.
Horatio nodded.
"Well, I guess we'll find out after the weekend." Eric smiled.
TBC…
AN: Hope you liked this chapter, more coming soon! Please review!