Chapter 3

Horatio reemerged into consciousness around mid morning. The now empty bottle of scotch was still clenched in his now stiff hand. Bright sunlight attacked from every angle and he winced in pain as it hit his eyes.

Moving wasn't an option because he'd either throw up or pass out, though both seemed possible at the moment. From some distant place, a door slammed and footsteps fired off like shotgun blasts.

"Horatio!" Calleigh called out as she entered through the unlocked front door into the old but well maintained house. She walked slowly through the wooden halls and stared in reverie at the pale yellows walls that were covered from floor to ceiling in pictures.

A large one in a solid black frame in the middle of all the others caught her eye. Two handsome boys flanked a beautiful redheaded woman. The taller, older boy shared the same deep blue eyes as the woman while the other boy had darker hair and lighter, less serious eyes. Underneath the picture, in neat, feminine script were four words.

Emma and her boys.

Calleigh ran a hand over the glass, trying to etch the image of little Horatio into her memory forever. He looked so innocent and pure that brought tears to her eyes. He was just a baby and yet, she could read in his face that he'd already been through in that short amount of time then most children. Thinking back on her own childhood, she came to realize that they had more in common then she realized. The sound of shattering glass brought her back to the present and she rested her hand on the butt of her gun as she went deeper into the house.

"Horatio, is that you?" She called out again and once again received no response. She unsnapped the holster but did not remove her weapon as she searched from room to room.

A wave of relief washed over her when she found him incapacitated on the couch in the den in the back of the house. A broken liquor bottle lay next to his outstretched hand.

"Oh Handsome." She sighed and shook her head as she approached him. He stared up at her through the slivers of his open eyes. "Hi." She squatted down on her haunches to be face to face with him. She kept her voice cheery. "Hung over aren't ya?" He groaned miserably. She smiled knowingly as he nodded. Patting her thighs, she rose. "Well come on. Let's get you sobered up and cleaned up." He made no attempt to move.

"Either you get up on your own or I kick your ass up." She stated again, her voice not as sweet as before. Slowly, he swung his feet over to the floor and followed orders. Once on his feet, she balanced him against her and together they made their way to the bathroom.

He sat on the toilet seat cover while she started the shower and undressed him. Neither was bashful about his nudity. It was nothing new to them. Once she was sure he was safely settled, she left him and headed to the kitchen to make a brutal pot of coffee.

She was trying really hard to suppress her feelings of anger that had risen to the surface when she found him passed out drunk but it was not an easy battle to fight. Her feelings at first were directed at him. How could he do that to her? He knew her feelings on using alcohol as a bandage.

And then she realized how selfish she was being. Horatio had just lost his brother, his only remaining family. He was weak and broken and had every right to do what he did. Her thoughts then turned on herself. She should have been stronger for him; she should have tried hard to help him deal with his pain so that he wouldn't have to abuse himself this way.

As the coffee pot continued to brew, she looked around in the cabinets to find a mug to pour it into. That's when she stumbled across it. A cabinet filled with some full and some half empty bottles of hard liquor. She clenched her jaw as images of her father flashed before her. Blinking back tears, she pulled the bottles down and poured them all down the sink. There was no way this was going to happen again, that much she was going to make sure of.

She had just poured him a cup when he came stumbling into the kitchen wearing a black bathrobe. His five o'clock shadow was still present but he looked better and his eyes were a little clearer. She set the mug down in front of him as he sat down at the table. He looked at it and then at her.

"You know coffee doesn't sober you up any faster." She shrugged.

"No, but it pisses your stomach off enough that you throw up and then you feel better." She said, speaking from experience. With all the pots of coffee she had made for her father, she could start her own Starbucks.

"I never thought you'd find me here Cal. I really didn't." He took a tentative sip before pushing it away.

"Yeah well, do us both a favor and never do that to me again." She declared as she sat down across from him at the table.

"How did you find me?"

"I'm a detective, Horatio. It's my job to find out where and what people are hiding." She replied, dead serious. "Now it's my turn to ask a question. Why here?" She gestured to their surroundings.

"Ray and I grew up in this house." The sapphire in his eyes turned almost black as a memory tightly gripped his mind. "We shared a bedroom until I was 13… I threw him out of my room because it wasn't cool to share a bedroom with my little brother…. He was 9 and I wanted nothing to do with him. So I moved into the attic. But every time it stormed, Ray would come into my room 'cause he was scared. And I protected him." His voice started to break as he recalled the memory.

Seeing her true love in this kind of pain ripped Calleigh's heart into pieces. Desperately feeling the need to hold him close and comfort him, she stood and took his hand to help him up where she then led him into the living room, which, like the hall, was full of pictures.

They laid down on the couch with Calleigh on top of him as he held on to her for strength. She looked in his eyes again but he was still far away.

"You did the best you could, Horatio."

"Did I? I protected Ray. I cleaned up after him when he made a mistake, I fixed things when he screwed up but I never told my brother that I loved him, that I was proud of him. All I ever did was push him down." Horatio pulled her off of him and disappeared down the hall.

His emotions were running too close to the surface and he just wasn't ready to relinquish that control to her yet.

Calleigh listened to him stormed off and flinched when he slammed the bedroom door.

Tears poured down both of their cheeks as they lay apart, and allowed the pain to slowly surrounding them.