A/N: Thank you all for your reviews. So how will the team react and what is Horatio's story? Read and find out. Oh and..it's a long chapter, so be prepared.^^

Chapter 5

It was just after 8 p.m. when two cars and one motorcycle stopped in front of Horatio's beach house. The way to the house hadn't been easy at all. First, it was a bit out of town and second, there had been a gatehouse at the beginning of the street. Of course they had heard of such streets and had also handled cases where the victims had lived in such exclusive areas, but that their boss was living in such a neighborhood had definitely surprised them.

What had even more surprised them was the fact, that the gatekeeper had just waved them through without asking for their I.D.'s, which was pretty untypical, since the residents of such areas wanted their privacy and paid a lot of money for it. So did this mean that Horatio was really waiting for them? Or had this just been a coincidence? Whatever it was, they were going to find out.

Together they made their way to the front door and couldn't help but letting their eyes roam over the front garden. To their right, the Hummer was parked on the driveway, which told them, that they really were at the correct address. To their left, they saw a nice rock garden, including a gurgling fountain.

"This must have cost a fortune," Eric whispered in awe and the others could just nod in agreement. They knew pretty much what Horatio's income was and there was no way that he could afford such a house with his salary.

"This is kinda weird," Speed voiced what everybody was thinking and carefully rang the bell. They had no idea what they had to expect, but the sight that opened the door for them, definitely wasn't.

"Finally," Horatio greeted them and opened the door a bit wider. He was dressed casually in jeans and t-shirt, his ever present sunglasses nowhere to be seen. "Come on in, we're already waiting for you."

"We?" They looked at each other in confusion.

"It's either staying outside or getting in folks," Horatio sighed and nodded in approval when they slowly entered the cool house. Horatio closed the door behind them and made his way to, what the others assumed, the living room was. "They finally made it," he called out, which made the others even more confused.

Didn't he want to talk in private? Who's the other person in the house? Another vampire? Did he actually wanted to talk or did he have something more sinister in his mind? They'd seen what he was capable of and they knew they couldn't stand a chance against him or let alone two of his kind. Shivers were running down their spines, when they carefully followed him.

"Too bad, you won the bet, Honey. I thought they would come straight from shifts end," they heard the other voice reply and when they finally entered the living room, it took a load off their minds.

"Alexx!" they exclaimed and let out a deep breath.

"Of course it's me, babies," the woman smiled from the couch. "What did you expect? A coven?" she laughed and rolled her eyes, when she just got an awkward silence in response.

"See? I told you so," Horatio chuckled amused. "This makes 20 bucks, Alexx."

"It's really a shame," she shook her head. "I'll give you the money later," she told him.

"That's fine by me, I can wait," he nodded and looked at his other guests. "You want something to drink?"

In unison they winced and turned their heads into his direction. "Uh…"

Horatio rolled his eyes at them. "Water maybe? I also have fresh made lemonade," he offered them.

"Lemonade maybe?" Calleigh asked and the others nodded.

"Okay, I'll be back in a few. Make yourself comfortable," he replied and disappeared into the kitchen.

"You know, he won't bite your heads off," Alexx commented and silently ordered them to sit down on the couch and chairs.

"Yeah, he only bites in our necks," Speed snorted and got a glare in response.

"That wasn't nice, Timothy," Alexx chided him.

"But the truth," Eric supported his friend. "I mean…we saw it today," he elaborated.

"It's not exactly the truth, it's not like he bites everyone in his near," Alexx responded.

"Why are you here, Alexx? I thought you were still at the hospital?" Calleigh changed the subject, because she wasn't in the mood for a heated argument, and right now every wrong word could lead into it.

"Oh, the doctors released me early afternoon. I was feeling fine and they couldn't detect any venom in my blood. To be honest, I've never felt better," she replied happily.

"You sound like you're high, Alexx," Horatio laughed from the kitchen and moments later, appeared with a tray again. "But then again, you always do when you drink my blood."

"That's not my fault, you made me drink it this time," Alexx argued back and helped Horatio to distribute the drinks.

The rest of the team just stared at the conversation the two had and felt like they had stepped into the Buffy universe. They were talking about drinking blood like it was a normal thing everyone would do, but it sure as hell wasn't. The situation was almost surreal and neither of them did know what to say.

"I think we shocked them," Horatio commented in his casual way, but inside he was tense. He loved his life like it was, with all the people that belonged to it. His team was the closest thing to a family that he could call his and he didn't want to lose his friends.

"It seems like it," Alexx nodded and looked at the dumbfounded faces of her colleagues. She knew that Horatio was afraid of their possible rejection and she had a bad conscience, because she somehow made him to reveal his true nature. Not that she had done it on purpose, but nevertheless. "You can drink the lemonade, you know?" she hinted softly and took a sip of it in order to be a good role-model.

Like as they'd arranged it, the three took their glasses and took a careful sip.

"It's…good," Calleigh uttered and kept the glass in her hands. "So…the venom didn't cause any damage?" she asked and looked hesitantly between Horatio and Alexx.

"No, it didn't. Thank God," Alexx answered her, happy that at least one of them said anything. "But the doctor told me, that even though it was a great risk of Horatio, it probably saved my life. The bite had been in a very sensitive area and since we were so far out of the city…," she trailed off.

Calleigh just nodded in understanding and looked at her fellow campaigners who seemed to have lost their tongues. Though she could see that Eric was rather okay and probably even curious about this whole vampire thing, it was different with Speed. He was brooding over it and she knew it.

Horatio let out a sigh and sat down next to Alexx, who was now sitting in between himself and Calleigh. "You know, you can ask… I mean you wanted to talk about it earlier and now…you have the chance to do so."

Eric put his glass on the coffee table in front of him and showed his courage. "I never thought that…you know…vampires exist."

Horatio just smiled at him. "Well I'm the living…or not so living proof that we do exist."

"We? Are there more?" Eric went into it and wasn't sure if he wanted to hear the answer. Just thinking about other undead people walking around, scared him a bit.

"Of course there are," Horatio grinned. "Everywhere, all over the world. I can't think of any country where you won't find at least one of us. Well maybe not in the Arctic or something, but otherwise…," he shrugged.

"Are you a vampire too, Alexx?" Eric asked and held his breath.

"No," she giggled. "Most definitely not. I'm as alive as you are."

"But you drank his blood," Speed pointed out and vowed that he would kill Horatio if he had hurt his mom in any way.

"I did, yes. But this doesn't make me a vampire. Horatio just helped me heal, that's all."

"How's that?" Calleigh asked confused. "How can blood help?"

"Well, it's not just blood," Horatio replied. "A vampire's blood is different from human's one. It's healing blood."

"Healing blood?" Speed snorted.

"Believe it or not, but it is," Alexx said. "Why do you think can a vampire survive a gun shot?"

"Because he's already dead, probably?" Speed replied sarcastically.

Alexx rolled her eyes. "And why don't you see bullet holes on Horatio? Why has his wrist healed? Why did my bite marks fade so quickly?"

This was a question Speed couldn't answer, so he just shrugged. He had never been into these supernatural things, so how should he know why this and that happened?

"Does this mean that you can heal anyone who drinks from your blood?" Eric asked amazed.

"No. Sadly but no. I can't heal every disease. My blood works on wounds and several other things like the snake venom, but I can't heal cancer for example. I can only heal what could happen to me and since I'm dead…I won't get a disease," Horatio explained.

"But it's very helpful anyway," Alexx joked and petted Horatio's leg.

"You've done that before?" Eric asked and he didn't even want to imagine what it'd taste like. Eeeww.

"Yes, I think the first time we tried it out was when I had a toxemia, right?" she looked at Horatio questioningly.

"Hmm, yeah I think it was. You stepped into a rusty nail and were too stubborn to go to a doctor," he rolled his eyes at her. "Your mother was quite frantic on the phone when she called me and as far as I remember you got quite a tongue lashing afterwards," he smirked at the memory.

"Wait, wait… first of all, how can you drink it Alexx? I mean blood isn't exactly something…delicious," Eric held up his hand.

"And what do you mean by "your mother called me"?" Calleigh continued.

"Ah, here are the questions," Horatio smiled and nodded at Alexx. "You're the one who has to answer the first question."

"Oh, that's really hard to describe. It tastes like...water actually. It doesn't taste like anything," she shrugged.

"That's because a human tongue can't taste such flavors," Horatio explained, but wasn't sure if the others had needed this explanation. Their faces said obviously no. "Sorry, but it's the truth."

"So your mom?" Calleigh quickly asked before they would continue talking about such…rather nasty topics.

"Ah, yes…my mom. Well I didn't want to go the doctor, because I was afraid of needles," she started but was interrupted by Horatio.

"Which is rather funny, thinking of her profession," he snickered.

"Yes," she nodded and hit him in his side with her elbow. "Anyway where was I? Right, I didn't go to the doctor and suddenly I felt very ill, my foot started to swell and it felt hot. That's when my mother decided to call Horatio, because she was convinced that I had a toxemia."

"Yeah, and then we cured it, didn't we?" Horatio added. "You had more luck than judgment."

"How...how old were you at that time?" Calleigh asked because nothing of this made any sense. Neither the fact that Alexx didn't go to the doctor, nor that her mother of all people had called Horatio.

"Five…or six…no I was five at that time."

The jaws simultaneously hit the ground. "Five?"

"I'm pretty sure about that, or am I mistaken Horatio?"

"No, I thought you were four but oh well…my memory is not always the best."

"But…but…," Speed stammered and was helped out by Calleigh.

"But for how long do you know each other?"

"Oh that's easy," Horatio grinned. "I've known Alexx since she was a baby. She was about three months old the first time I saw her. She saw me…started crying and…well that's how it started," he laughed.

"You're telling me, that you've known Alexx for all her life?" Speed inquired. "You know, I can fool me on my own, I don't need you for that."

"But he's saying the truth," Alexx stated and gave her boy a serious glare. "Horatio is part of my family for a very long time."

"How long?" Eric asked curiously. If Alexx was saying that it was the truth, he believed her.

"I actually know Alexx' family since I helped her grandmother many, many years ago. She was in trouble and I saved her. And like the women in her family are, she adopted me at an instant. Funny, actually, they all claim to be my mother, but I'm older than them," he chuckled.

This was a lot of information in such a short time and it was pretty difficult to process.

"No man is too old for a little mothering here and there," Alexx chided him and looked at her other babies. "Are you okay?"

Calleigh blinked and shook her head. "It's uhm…not easy to process," she brought out and took a large sip of her drink.

"It sounds hardly believable," Speed stated and stayed to his opinion that only evidence never lied.

"In a normal case, yes," Horatio nodded. "And in a way it depends on your own opinion if you want to believe it or not, but the fact that you've seen what had happened earlier, should normally be enough evidence," he pointed out and slowly stood up from his couch. He still wasn't sure if the others wouldn't shoot him if he made a wrong move. So far they were confused, probably even angry and not believing what they had heard and seen. He could feel the fear still radiating from them and this was always tricky and needed cautious handling.

"But still it's hard to understand and believe, Horatio. I mean…vampires are myths and legends. You see them in horror movies but…," Eric shrugged and watched him walking to one of his bookcases. "Why are you able to walk in the sun anyway?" As much as this was all surreal to him, he couldn't help but being curious the same time.

"That's because I'm a good one," Horatio turned around and smirked.

"A good one? Since when are vampires good?" Speed snorted.

"Well, you shouldn't believe everything that you see on T.V.," Horatio countered amused and grabbed a photo album.

"So you want to tell us that every vampire is good?" Calleigh asked confused.

"No, I didn't say that. I just said that I'm a good one and not every vampire is evil. Of course there are evil vampires, like there are evil humans; that's just how life is," Horatio replied and walked back to the sofa.

"But what's the difference between them? I mean, what makes a vampire good or evil?" Eric chimed in and found this highly interesting.

"Oh well, the most important difference is, that a good vampire can walk around even though it's day. He can live among humans; an evil vampire can't do that. He's most definitely what people call a creature of the night."

"I've never heard of that before," Eric admitted.

"That's fine, Eric. Don't worry about it, most people don't know about that; makes it easier for us to live among you, without being eyed suspiciously or getting pursued. A good vampire has the task to help humans, that's why every good one has a job that contains help in one or the other way. It could be a police officer or a doctor for example. We're not allowed to hurt humans, as long as we have no other chance. We are not allowed to turn humans against their will or even bite them without their consent. You do that, you'll lose your ability to live in the sun. It's just that easy. An evil vampire can do all this things and he indeed doesn't care about what happens to a human. He has nothing to lose."

The three looked stunned at him and were once again speechless. This was getting more and more weird.

"Uhm and how? I mean.. how do you decide that? Can't you just say, I'm good.. and a few years later you can say now I'm evil.. and then….?" Eric asked.

"You decide that the minute you're turned. Of course a good vampire can turn into a bad one, but it actually never happens the opposite way. The problem is, that even if a bad vampire decides, that he wants to be good again, he would never have the ability to walk in the sun. And believe me.. I've never met a bad vampire in all these years who was thinking about it," Horatio replied and gave Calleigh the photo album.

"Ah, okay," Eric replied unsure, because he wasn't sure if he really understood this explanation. Maybe you had to be a vampire to actually see the sense in it.

Noticing this, Horatio smiled at him. "A good vampire wears an item which gives them the opportunity to survive in the sun. In the old days, it was ring with a gem. Women also used to wear it in earrings or a necklace." He showed them a small scar on the underside of his forearm. "You see this? This is where I have mine. A man walking around with a huge ring isn't all that fashionable in the modern world," he chuckled. "Or at least I didn't feel like doing so, so I got it implanted."

"And what kind of gem is that?" Eric asked intrigued after he had examined Horatio's arm.

"Honestly, I don't know. There are only a very few vampires who do know and they keep it as a secret. If everybody would know, even bad ones could find a way to produce their own, you know?"

It surprised Eric that his actually made some sense. "I see," he nodded. "And if you do something bad, they take it away from you," he concluded.

"Exactly," Horatio smiled at him, happy that his explanations had made sense to them.

Calleigh, who had listened to their conversation closely, opened the photo album carefully and hesitated when she saw the first picture. She was about to say something, when Horatio already answered her unspoken question.

"They're digitally remastered since the pictures would probably be faded by now," he told her.

Curiously she looked at him. "Do you still have the originals?"

"Of course," he nodded. "But not here at home, they're somewhere safe. Some of them are so old they need extra care and an extra climate so to say."

"Okay," she replied satisfied and turned the first page. "Oh my God," she exclaimed and pointed at a picture. "This is you and Abraham Lincoln!"

"What?" the boys exclaimed and literally jumped to their feet and gathered around Calleigh and the album.

"Heck, this IS President Lincoln," Speed said and together they turned their heads towards Horatio, who was smiling at them.

"I know what you want to ask, and I can answer you that straight away. No, I didn't know him personally, I just ran into the picture. I was in my own thoughts and didn't realize that they were about to take a picture of him and that's why you can see me in the background."

The three just looked at him and turned their attention towards the picture again. There was unquestionably Horatio on this photograph, wearing a uniform and there was President Lincoln.

"When was this?" Eric asked.

"Oh, this was…," Horatio craned his neck to have a look at the photo, "this was a few days after we won the Civil War actually."

"What?"

"You mean THE Civil War?"

"As far as I know, we only had one, so yeah, THE civil war," Horatio nodded.

"Jeez, Horatio.. how old are you?" Eric asked in complete confusion. He expected that some camera team would enter the room any second and a moderator would shout Busted.

"I was born on April 7th, 1802," Horatio answered truthfully and had no idea of what to expect now.

"1802," Speed snorted and nodded his head. "Of course, when else, right? It's only 200 years ago," he said sarcastically. "Are you sure that it wasn't 1492 and you've been here with Columbus?" he sneered.

"Tim," Calleigh tried to calm him, but to no avail.

"No, Cal. Don't you see that he's playing with us? Fu**ing 1802? Are you all out of your minds?" he looked around and shook his head in despair. "I can't believe it. I can't believe that you actually believe this without any evidence for it."

"But the photos," Eric tried to argue, but was rudely interrupted by his friend.

"Any five year old is capable of manipulating a picture," Speed stated and couldn't believe his eyes and ears. "I so need to get out of this asylum," he said and made his way to the patio door. They were all crazy, yes, that's what they were.

"Timothy," Alexx stood up in order to follow him, but was stopped by a hand on her arm.

"It's okay, Alexx. Leave him be. You know what he's like, he needs some time alone to process things," Horatio told her and made her sit down again.

"But," she tried to argue back.

"No buts, it's okay. We should leave him alone. I'll try to talk to him later. If we corner him now, he will just lash out and that's not the idea of this meeting, okay?" he said softly. He was very good at studying people, he had had a lot of practice after all, so he was pretty sure that some cool off time for Speed was what the man needed, or at least he hoped so.

The two other members of the team were torn between following Tim and staying with Alexx and Horatio, but in the end, curiosity won. "So are you really…200 years old?" Eric asked perplexed.

"Not yet, but I will be next year," Horatio clarified and made Alexx chuckle.

"He's very fussy when it comes to his age," she said, ignored his glare and winked at Eric, who gave her a small smile.

"So this photo is real?" Calleigh chimed in.

"It is, yes. I found it in a newspaper after I got home and decided to keep it," Horatio nodded. "Thanks to modern technology, you can make it look like a real photo again," he continued. "So yes, Speed is in a way right that you can manipulate a picture."

Calleigh just nodded and together with Eric she continued to turn over the pages. There weren't a lot of pictures of course, since photography has still been in it's infancy at that time especially for normal people, but it was enough to have a very small glimpse of Horatio's life.

"When was this?" she asked after some time and pointed onto a Horatio who was wearing an army uniform.

"This was…in 1945, a couple of days before we went home from Germany again," he answered her. The tone of his voice showing that this wasn't a topic he wanted to talk about.

"You've been in the Army?" Eric asked nevertheless, because he couldn't picture Horatio as a soldier at all. If one had asked him, he would have said that Horatio was against war.

"Kind off, yes. It was a different time back then and as you know, war has its own laws."

They nodded in understanding, knowing that not every soldier had been there on his or her own will, so they decided to drop the subject, since it was obvious that Horatio didn't want to go into detail. Changing the subject was easy though, when they looked at the next picture and saw Horatio with a baby in his arms.

"Is that Jamie or Bryan?" Calleigh asked surprised and looked at Alexx. If they knew each other for such a long time, it was highly possible that Horatio would know Alexx' kids since their birth as well.

Looking at the picture Alexx shook her head. "Nope, that's none of my babies."

"It's Alexx herself," Horatio continued and grinned at the surprised faces. "Yeah, it's obvious. Don't you see the cranky face she's making?" he laughed and got a slap on his arm.

"Stop that," he muttered.

"Not as long as you won't stop talking such nonsense," Alexx glared at him and then focused on Cal and Eric again. "He's right though. That's me. My father has taken the picture, but please don't ask me how old I was back then."

"That's incredible," Eric whispered. "So it was true? What he said about your grandmother?"

"As true as I'm sitting here, baby," Alexx nodded. "He saved her from a robber all these years ago and since he looked a little lost and like he needed some mothering, she decided to keep him."

"This sounds like I'm a pet, Alexx," he rolled his eyes playfully.

"But we all know better than that," she patted his knee in response.

"Did she know about..I mean…you already were a vampire back then, were you?" Eric took the lead, because he found this highly interesting and in fact amusing. He had always known that Horatio and Alexx had a good friendship, but seeing them now…showed him how close they really were.

"Yes, I already was a vampire, and yes she knew about me. To be honest, I didn't want her to find out, but I was a careless when I used my strength and she saw that."

"I think the reason that she didn't run away was that she was born in the Caribbean and there are a lot of myths about mysterious creatures," Alexx added. "So instead of running, she took him in and cooked him a good meal."

"And since no one stands a chance against such a commanding woman, I just relented and went with her," Horatio chuckled. "From this day on I was part of the family and while they were giving me their trust and a feeling of home, I became their guardian, even though they don't need it of course," he raised his eyebrows, which made the others laugh.

"So does everyone know about it? Even the kids?"

"Yeah, we told them quite early about my true nature," Horatio nodded. "They were pretty cool with it, only disappointed when I told them that I couldn't change into a bat, but otherwise they were fine…kids these days," he pulled a face.

"This would have been my next question," Eric laughed.

"Great, I knew Dracula would only cause problems," Horatio groaned playfully and turned his head, so he could see the garden. "I guess I'll try to talk to Speed, before he continues to run a track into my lawn," he sighed and stood up. "If you have more questions about the photos, I'm sure Alexx can answer them. And if you need more lemonade, feel free to raid my fridge," he told them and made his way outside.

There he stopped on the last step of the stair leading into the garden and watched his friend in silence for a few moments. "Please don't fall into the swimming pool, if you can arrange it," he called softly and only smiled at the glare he got in response.

"Why? Are vampires afraid of water? Oh no, they're only afraid of holy water, right?" Speed replied.

"Actually this is only a myth, but I can imagine that driving the Ducati in wet clothes isn't a nice feeling," Horatio answered him and stopped a few steps away from him.

"Whatever," Speed mumbled and wasn't sure of how to handle this situation. He had never been good in such things, so why should it be better now?

"Why don't you believe, that I'm a vampire, Speed?" Horatio just went into it, because he knew beating around the bush wouldn't help at all.

Speed turned around to face him and gave him the best duh expression.

Horatio looked down and smiled to himself. "I could show you my fangs again," he offered and when he looked up he saw the glimpse of a smile. "Or I can bite you, if this makes you happy?"

"No, thank you," Speed snorted and shook his head. "Maybe I should use a stake to see if you really are a vampire," he threatened.

"You could do that," Horatio grinned, "but I think there will be a problem, no...two actually."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," Horatio nodded. "First, I doubt that you have one with you," he stated and since he didn't get a reply from Speed he continued. "And secondly, you know that ramming a stake into a heart would also kill a human. So you're in a no win situation, right?"

Speed hated it when Horatio was using his CSI logic, especially when he couldn't argue about it. "Right," he admitted quietly.

"Speed," Horatio made a step towards him. "I don't expect you to believe everything that I'm saying, okay? I don't even expect you to be overly happy about this. All I can hope for is that you all come to terms with it, because I don't want to lose either of you. You're my team, my friends and my family and you all mean a lot to me. If you can promise me to at least think about it, than I'm not only happy but also very relieved. That's all I'm asking for, okay?"

Speed listened carefully to him and noticed the light begging in Horatio's words. "Okay," he nodded after some time and then looked at Horatio who really seemed relieved about that. "Next time, I'm gonna drink a beer, instead of lemonade."

Horatio just smirked. "You do that, my house is always open," he offered him.

"Well, your house probably is, but what about the gate. I mean Jesus... Horatio... what kind of street is this?"

That was his Speed. "Just a normal street with a gate at the beginning," Horatio chuckled. "And as you might have noticed, it was no problem for you to get in, now was it?"

"No," Speed admitted. "We were already wondering if this was a coincidence or not."

"It wasn't. The gatekeeper knows the type of car or motorcycle you're driving, plus the plates. That's why he let you in without asking for your I.D.s."

"I see," Speed nodded and they both walked to the patio again. "This house must have cost a fortune."

"It did, but it's an advantage if you lived and worked for almost two hundred years," Horatio chuckled.

"I guess so," Speed shook his head in disbelieve and could only wonder about all the facts they didn't know about their boss.

Inside the house, the three others were busy chatting about something, but stopped when the two men entered the house.

"Look who I found," Horatio smiled and walked to the couch. "I hope that Alexx didn't tell you a lot of secrets?" he joked.

"No, she just told us when Henry had met you for the first time and how he'd been close to a heart attack when Alexx told him about your nature," Eric grinned widely and took the last sip of his lemonade.

"Oh yeah…this was an interesting meeting," Horatio agreed. "Didn't he wear a cross around his neck, just to be sure that I wouldn't bite him?" he chuckled.

"That he did," Alexx nodded and rolled her eyes at her husband's antics. "It was definitely for the better that I didn't tell him that this is only a myth," she giggled.

"Most definitely, yes, or he would have died of a heart attack, that's for sure," H couldn't help but laugh.

"So is it true that everything they tell us about vampires and how to stop them is a lie?" Eric asked.

"Except of the wooden stake and silver? Yes. I personally don't like the smell of garlic, but I didn't like it when I was still alive so," Horatio shrugged.

"So there's no way of defending oneself?"

"As a human? No, there isn't." Seeing Calleigh's worried face, he smiled gently at her. "As I already told you, the evil ones just come out at night, so during the day…there's nothing to fear. There's a minor chance of being attacked by a vampire, than being attacked of some human perp, so…"

"If this is your way of making people feel better, I think you need to improve that," Speed remarked and emptied his glass. "And before you continue with your horror stories, I'll drive home, or I can't get any sleep tonight." He wasn't afraid or something similar; he just needed some time now to process.

"Well it's the truth," Horatio argued back, but knew that Speed didn't mean it like that.

Speed just smirked and looked at the others. "Are you coming with me?"

"Yeah, I guess I need to make my own wooden stake," Eric joked and looked at Calleigh, who seemed to be a bit undecided. "You coming with us?"

She not only seemed to be undecided, she actually was. There was so much she wanted to know, but then again, she wasn't sure if she wanted to hear the answers. Her world view had shifted today, especially her view about Horatio and for now, she wasn't sure of what to make out of it. "I think so," she answered unsure, but nevertheless stood up with Eric.

Horatio didn't want them to go, but he knew better than to force them to stay. He could only imagine that their minds were working over time to process everything, and he had to give them the time and space to do so. "I already told Speed that you're more than welcome…any time," he told them and walked them to the door. "And if you have questions, then don't hesitate to ask…well as long as it's somewhere private."

"Will do," Eric answered for all of them. He'd always had an open mind for such things, so he was accepting this pretty good, at least easier than Speed and Calleigh. "We'll see you tomorrow then," he said good bye.

"Bright and early," Horatio nodded and watched them walking to their vehicles. "Have a nice evening," he called after them and waited until they had turned a corner, so he couldn't see them any longer. Slowly he closed the door and found himself face to face with Alexx. "So what do you think?"

"Well they didn't run away screaming," she smiled at him, but got more serious when she saw the look on his face. "Don't worry too much, Horatio. Of course, they will need some time to adjust, but I'm sure that this won't change your friendship with them. You need to trust their instincts now and the faith they have in you."

"I know," he sighed and hung his head. "But what if they don't-"

"They will, Honey," she interrupted him. "Don't even think of something else. And now you can tell me about the real reason I started crying when I saw you for the first time," she laughed and took him by the arm. She had great faith in their friends' judgment and she dearly hoped that they wouldn't disappoint her. She could also understand why he hadn't invited Det. Tripp this evening. The man was a good colleague, but he didn't belong to Horatio's inner circle of friends and therefore not to his surrogate family. For now the most important thing was that the team would accept Horatio's confession.

Tbc?