Chapter 4
Alex has to control his breathing and stay upright as his savior replies "My name is Lt. Caine, but you may call me Horatio." All Alex can think about is Shakespeare and Hamlet and then a mix of murder and the god awful heat wave. But then as he moves a bit more he stops thinking of long dead poets and murder victims and just focuses on the extremely attractive man in front of him. He's barely paying attention when Caine asks him "Are you alright now? I have some questions to ask and then we can let you go for the time being." He fights with his inner self over how to proceed, but as usual Alex wins out. "Yes yes I'm alright, just a problem with my lungs. You said you had other questions to ask, I thought I'd answered all of the officer's questions." Alex and Tony both want to let a sigh or two out when Caine says, "I'd like to hear it all from the beginning, I have two of my CSI's checking out the body now and that means I have some time to gather your witness statement as well as your contacts etc." And that's how it goes for the next 45 minutes; Alex answers questions and provides his information. And soon enough is allowed to leave the scene with the promise of further phone calls if needed.
And as Alex gets back into his car he has to breathe a little more heavily. He'd avoided the temptation for ten years too long. Standing there at the scene even answering the Lt's questions made him long for the good old days. He hadn't wanted to think about how bad he missed it, but he'd nearly been vibrating with a need to grab a camera and a sketch pad and go to town. But good ole' Alex resisted, he'd answered the questions asked of him and now here he was, finally on his way to work. He looks down at the dashboard and realizes with a sigh that the school day wasn't even half over, he still had many hours to go before classes and practices were done and he could go home, and once again try and bury this need he had back down into the tiny little hole his heart allowed him. He missed the crimes, the fights, but most of all Alex…no Tony damn it missed his family, or what used to be his family.
Sitting there avoiding the inevitable Alex nearly screams when his car window is knocked on. He looks up into the same eyes that had in some small way saved him an hour before and doesn't know what to say as he rolls his window down. He can't help but smirk a little when Caine asks him "You doing okay Mr. Stowe?" Alex grins and answers quickly "Yes Lt. I was just avoiding the reality of having to go back to work today." He smiles even more when Caine replies, "I understand Alex but I am going to have ask that you drive to work now, we need to check the scene out some more, but we'll be sure to contact as soon we need to." As Caine walks away Alex can't help but sigh and long for…something really…maybe Lt. Horatio Caine or maybe the crime scene adrenaline rush all Alex knew was that today and every time he met up with the cop he'd be reminded of all that he'd lost. And as he drives away he has to force himself to keep on driving, that was his philosophy for the last ten years, just keep on going.