CSI: MIAMI SEASON 11
Episode 6
Horatio leaned back against the oak with his shirt still unbuttoned to the cool morning breeze. Calleigh was nestled in between his legs, holding his arms around her.
"You're right, Sweetheart, this is a relaxing spot." He moved her hair and placed a kiss on her neck.
"Well, I've never used it for this. That was amazing, Horatio."
"Hmm, yes it was. We can't do this in Miami."
"Sure we can. MDPD arrests people all the time for doing just what we did."
"Well, this isn't a public park, this is private land."
She giggled and stood quickly, tucking her shirt into her jeans and buttoning them up. "We'd better get back before Mama sends out the posse." She reached for his hands and helped him up, and then slowly began re buttoning his shirt. "Even though I'd rather see you without it, we don't want to broadcast what we've been doin' up here."
It was Horatio's turn to laugh. "Not with all your brothers coming today."
"Don't forget Daddy, he always comes when the whole family's together."
"Do you really think we'll be able to sneak out tonight?"
"You are NOT getting out of that, you promised me my fantasy, and yes, I've snuck out of this house and driven into town more times than I can remember."
"I married a rebel."
She smacked his arm lightly. "Oh, hush, you knew that a LONG time before you married me!"
He grabbed her and pulled her to him. "Just one of the many things I love about you." He placed a gentle kiss on her nose, and then took her hand and led her to the horses.
"Do you need a boost, Handsome?" She rode her horse in circles around him.
He shot her a frown, swung up on the horse and kicked it into motion, leaving Calleigh in the dust.
"Oh, you are SO going to pay for that one." She kicked her horse and rode for all she was worth, passing Horatio about halfway back to the barn. She blew him a kiss as she passed, but never looked back until she dismounted. She stood in the barn door as he arrived, hands on her hips and grinning from ear to ear. "Nice try. There isn't a horse in the Parish that can beat my baby."
"Now she tells me." He mumbled under his breath.
They looked up as John and Austin were returning. As Calleigh eyed her son, her brother threw up his hands, not our fault, we were repairing some fence and he slipped in the mud. Mom's got a washing machine, Cal, don't fuss at the boy. I told him that I'd ask you to let us borrow him this summer so he could work with J.J and me. Make a little money, have some fun with boys his own age.
Calleigh looked at her mud-covered son who was watching his parents with pleading eyes. "What do ya think, Dad?"
"I think it would be wonderful for him, as long as you can part with him."
"Uh, Sis, he said he won't come without his sister, said it wouldn't be fair. I already checked with Mom, she's onboard."
Calleigh looked at Horatio again, who nodded slowly. "All right, we'll give it a try, but if they want to come home early, no questions, understood?"
"It'll be great having an extra set of hands, and when he fell in the mud, he just kept working."
Austin grinned. "So what's next, Uncle John?"
"Well, before you get out of those muddy clothes, you'll need to wash the mud off your horse and saddle, and treat the leather."
"Is it hard?"
"Not at all, just go pull that hose over here and we'll get started." While Austin got the hose, John pulled the saddle and brought a box over for his nephew. Calleigh and Horatio stood and watched as Austin took in all his instructions. He obviously loved his new family.
"Let's go in and let them do this alone, Austin will be fine without us looking over his shoulder."
"He just looks so grown up, Horatio."
"Yes, yes he does." He wrapped his arm around his wife's waist and led her to the house.
As soon as they entered the house, her mothers 'mom radar' clicked on. "How was your, uh, ride, kids?" She wore a huge grin.
"It was great, Mama, Horatio's a good rider, almost wore me out." That should fix her. She looked over at her husband who wore a deep shade of red. "We're going upstairs to clean up, what time are the rest of the boys getting here?"
"Not for a couple of hours yet, Petite, you have plenty of time."
"All right, Austin is out with John cleaning the horses, he'll need a bath when he comes in, and his clothes are muddy." She looked around the house. "It's too quiet, where's Patty?"
"Ruthie took the girls over to her place so I could cook in peace and quiet. When everyone gets here, she said she'd let all the kids go swimming, the moms will watch them while the men bbq and boil."
"They're grilling too? Please tell me it's Patrick's ribs."
"You think your brother would let you come here and not get his ribs? You are the reason he's cookin' them, otherwise it'd just be a boil."
"Yum. Have you heard from Daddy?"
"He had just crossed the Mississippi line when he called me, so it shouldn't be long."
"You two gonna behave?"
"You have my word, Calleigh. All the times he's called me he's been sober, doing great in the Public Defender's Office."
"I haven't had to go after him once since he went to work. I'm really proud of him, he's even still goin' to meetings, even when he's not feelin' like a drink."
"We were always better apart." She sighed and looked out the window. "You two better get upstairs and get cleaned up before you have a couple of little ones demanding your attention."
Calleigh grinned. "Yes, Ma'am."
Horatio smiled at Calleigh and whispered in her ear, "That's my line."
She giggled as he took her hand and led her upstairs to their bedroom. He opened the door and pulled her in, locking it behind them. He enjoyed their time in the meadow, and was ready for more. He pushed her against the door and captured her lips, while slowly unbuttoning her shirt. She tried to unbutton his, but his hands were in the way, so she pulled it from his pants and went for his jeans. Once his hands were out of her way, she worked his buttons quickly and shoved the sleeves down his arms. They quickly finished undressing each other and Calleigh began running her tongue along his collar bone. He loosened his grip on her and she slipped beneath his grasp.
"Last one to the shower has to scrub the other one's back first!" Horatio let get as far as the bathroom door, and then grabbed her around the waist, spinning her behind him. She squealed and giggled, trying to to let her mother hear what was going on.
"Looks like you lose, Mrs. Caine." He reached in and turned on the shower while Calleigh admired his toned back and sexy butt. She moved forward, cupping each cheek with her hands and squeezed gently.
"No, I think I won." She reached around and fondled him, loving the feeling of him growing in her hand.
He turned slowly, pulling her to him, molding their bodies together. He kissed her softly. "Your shower, Ma'am." He took her hand and helped her in, and then handed her the washcloth and the soap.
She licked her lips as she rubbed the soap into the cloth. She couldn't wait to touch every inch of this man. She bathed him slowly, applying soft kisses as she rinsed the soap away. When she was done she handed the soap to him, and he put it on the basket. He leaned into her, taking her breasts into his hands and kissing her as his hands moved over her body. She moaned into his mouth as his hands reached the apex of her thighs. His hand continued down her thigh to her knee, and then lifted it before impaling her with his rigid length. She moaned again, and he silenced her with another kiss.
When they were finished, they were both breathless, leaning on the shower walls for support. "I think I need another cleaning, Sweetheart."
"Give me a minute, I don't think I can move." She was still holding the wall and trying to catch her breath.
"Here, hold still and I'll clean you up." She simply nodded, and Horatio began to soap her body, massaging her as he cleaned. "Feel better?"
"Yeah, I think so, let me have the soap." She slowly cleaned him off, and then he stepped out, and held a towel for her. "Thank you, Handsome."
He wrapped the towel around her and held her tight. "You're welcome." He kissed the side of her head. "I love you."
She turned in his arms. "I love you, too."
Once dried off and dressed, they headed downstairs where they found the rest of the family arriving. The front yard was full of playing children, and she saw her brother's bbq pit and two boiling pots set up on the side of the house. Now THIS was home. "Mama, where are my kids?"
"Over at John and Ruthie's in the pool. The kids had suits that fit them, now get that look off your face, they're fine. I figured you'd be a while up there, y'all bein' newlyweds and all."
"Mama!" Now it was Calleigh's turn to blush. "Do you need any help in there?"
Marie wiped her hands on her apron. "No, Cher, just pour some tea for you and that handsome man of yours and relax on the porch for a spell. You DO like sweet tea, don't you, Horatio?"
"I do, Calleigh makes it all the time and brings it into the lab."
"And he drinks it all before anyone else gets a chance." She grabbed two glasses and filled them with the strong tea and they headed to the porch. "Over here. I love this swing, Daddy built it when the boys were little, before I was even born. He's had to make some repairs now and then, but third generation Duquesnes are now rocking in it." Horatio sat down first, and she leaned back against him, letting her leg drape over the side and brush the ground, pushing it from time to time to keep it rocking.
They sat there quietly rocking and sipping their tea until two of Calleigh's brothers came around from the back of the house. "Wow, Mama said y'all were happy, but I think that was an understatement. Just look at you, Sis, I don't think I've ever seen you like this."
"I don't think I've ever felt like this." She smiled and ran her hand over Horatio's knee.
"Well, how about we steal that man of yours and show him how to do a proper boil so he can wow your city friends?"
"Well, I don't know if he..."
"Actually, I think that's a good idea, Sweetheart. It would be fun to have everyone over for your tea and some boiled seafood. Can we get crawfish in Miami?"
"Not like this, but we can have some flown in. Patrick is a pilot, so we could kill two birds with one stone. He can bring us crawfish and family."
"How about the spices?"
"I'm going to stock up on the spices before we leave, I can use them in other dishes."
"Like gumbo and etoufee?" Marie appeared on the porch with the pitcher and refilled their glasses.
"Yes, Mama, I promise to make those for Horatio and the kids. It'll never taste like yours, though." She stood up to let Horatio join her brothers, and looked at a cloud of dust heading their way. "I'll bet that's Daddy." She smiled as the car pulled into the yard, and then walked over to greet her father.
"Hey, Lambchop." He drew her in for a warm embrace. "The boys haven't started yet, have they?"
"No, they were just grabbing Horatio to teach him how to do it."
"Horatio? This I have got to see." He chuckled as he headed to the porch, taking the offered glass of tea. "Thanks, Marie." He kissed her on the cheek, and then looked around the yard. "Where are all the little ones?"
"Out back in the pool. Ruthie is watching them, and once we get started cooking, Calleigh's going to head back there to help her."
"I guess that's my cue, Handsome. Now pay attention to the boys, they've been doin' this all their lives."
He kissed her softly. "Yes, Ma'am." His eyes sparkled as he watched her walk away, and then turned his attention to the Duquesne men. "All right, gentlemen, where do we start?"
By the time the food was ready, the women had all the children out of the pool and dried off. Austin and Patty hung back while the rest of the kids dug into the pile of food on the table, filling their trays almost to overflowing. "Come on, you two, grab a tray and eat."
"Mama, the food is on newspaper!" Patty wrinkled her nose.
Austin picked up a large crawfish. "They look like baby lobsters."
Calleigh laughed. "Grab a tray and follow me. These are the crawfish, I'll show you how to eat them in a minute. Get some corn and potatoes, and there should be some sausage in there, unless your cousins grabbed it all."
"What's this?"
"That's garlic, honey, you probably don't want to eat that. Now, let's go sit by your daddy and I'll give you your first crawfish lesson."
Calleigh and Horatio patiently showed the children how to remove the head and suck out the tasty juices, and then how to open the tail. After three or four tries, the kids were keeping pace with their cousins. "It's not too spicy, kids?"
They shook their heads and dove back into their trays. "Is there more?" Patty had already gone through all her crawfish, leaving nothing but empty shells on her tray.
"Back on the table, just dump your shells in the trash when you go back."
"Me, too!" Austin was up and following his sister.
"Don't get too full, kids, there's peach cobbler and bread pudding for dessert." Marie smiled at her daughter.
"I should have known that Placide would make bread pudding." She licked her lips. "She makes the best bread pudding...and Mama makes the best cobbler. Y'all are spoiling us."
"You know, if you lived here, Sis..."
She cut him off. "John, we've talked about this. Miami is my home now. Horatio and I have jobs there, we just can't pick up and move back here. What would we do?"
"What do the rest of us do? We farm."
Calleigh closed her eyes to calm herself. Every time she went home to visit this argument started. "Can we please not fight about it this time. This is the kids first visit, and we're all so relaxed. I love coming here to escape the city for a while, but living here full time I'd go nuts, and I KNOW Horatio would, the city is all he knows."
"The kids are taking to it all right."
"And they can come during summer break and spend lots of time playing farm kids."
"Why don't you ask them? Kids, would you like to live on the farm all the time?"
"How far away is the beach?"
"Too far to drive in one day, Son."
"Sorry, Uncle John, but we like living at the beach. We like it here, too, but we don't want to be here all the time. It makes it special to be able to come visit Grandma and everyone."
John laughed. "Yeah, he's your kid, all right. Diplomatic and bright. You really hit the mommy jackpot when you found these two. Ok, I'll drop it, but we'll want them here when they're out of school."
"That won't be a problem, it'll be hard to keep them away." Horatio tousled his son's hair
After the meal was done, the kids ran and played. Horatio pushed them on the same tire swing that Calleigh had played on as a little girl. After the rest of the family had gone for the evening, Marie fixed her household a light dinner, and the Caine kids had trouble keeping their eyes open. Horatio nudged Calleigh and grinned, cutting his eyes to the barn. He knew there was no way the children would wake up if they left the house for a while. After their baths, the kids put on their pajamas and watched a movie, cuddling with their parents and grandparents. Patty started to get sleepy, and crawled into her grandpa's lap and fell asleep.
"I'll take this one upstairs and tuck her in for you, Lambchop. She's just like you were at this age." He kissed his granddaughter on the head and slowly made his way upstairs. Calleigh watched him, shaking her head.
"Now, petite balle, he knows he made mistakes with you kids. That's what grandchildren are for...to make amends. He's probably up there rocking her as we speak."
Horatio's ears perked up. Petite balle? That's one he hadn't heard yet. "Marie, what does petite balle mean?"
"Don't worry about it, Handsome, it's just another nickname I got as a kid."
"I gather that, Sweetheart, but translate it for me."
Her mother smiled as her father came down the stairs. "It means little bullet, Horatio. She was our bullet girl long before she moved to Miami."
"Petite balle. I like that."
"And don't you repeat it. It's taken me over ten years to get everyone to stop calling me bullet girl."
"You'll always be my bullet girl, Sweetheart." He kissed her softly and pointed to Austin, who had fallen asleep. "Time to take this one to bed. Poor kids are exhausted."
"Welcome to my childhood, Horatio. And everyone wonders why I work so hard. I learned it at a young age."
"Not a lot of cows to milk or fences to mend at home, Love. Let me get this guy upstairs. He's getting heavy."
"Well, we're off to bed to kids. It's been a long day and it starts early again tomorrow. The girls gathered plenty of eggs, so everyone can sleep in a bit. Breakfast at five. Good night." As Calleigh watched her parents ascend the stairs, she was sure she saw them holding hands.
She started picking up the glasses and put the movie away, and Horatio startled her in the kitchen. "You won't believe what I just saw."
"Mama and Daddy in the same room?"
"You knew?"
"They are just so stubborn. He won't leave Miami because of his job and because I'm there, and she won't leave the farm because of the boys and the grandkids."
"I thought they fought all the time."
"Only when they were drinkin'. Mama quit when the boys wouldn't let her see the grandkids, and Daddy quit because of me. He comes back here quite a bit, and sends her money every paycheck. I think that's why they are able to stay together. Well, as together as they can get living four states away."
"Let's not be like our parents then. I never want to be that far away from you."
"That's a deal. Speaking of deals, I think someone promised to let me live out my oldest fantasy. Everyone in the house is either sound asleep or busy." She ran her hands down his chest and hooked her fingers in his beltloops. "Come on, Handsome, let's play cheerleader and football captain." She led him quietly to the barn where they grabbed a horse blanket and climbed the ladder to the loft.