***

Thank you vivalavidaa and tbsavafob for the reviews.

Thank you to Mtwapa, tbsavafob, vivalavidaa, daxy, and Wolfsong98 for the reviews of "Apples", the autumn ficlet.

Announcement: "Apples" and "Rickstock: Three Days of H and Stetler" are part of the community HandS. If you're into Horatio and Stetler stories, I highly recommend checking it out.

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. I do not own or claim to own CSI: NY characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

Chapter Seventeen: After Dinner

Horatio stood in the lobby, watching the other CSIs file out of the great hall. He looked impatiently down at his watch, wondering if Mac even saw him duck out of dinner. Horatio had taken his time in his room, picking things up and finding an outfit that would cover all the bruises. Consequentially, he was a little late for dinner. The hall was already full when he came in, he had to sit in the back with some CSIs from Maine and West Virginia.

"There you are," Mac called out as he wandered out of the hall, "You feelin' better?"

"Much. I think I just needed to eat something not made by Stetler. What a horrible cook," Horatio lied.

"Well," Mac chuckled, "what did you expect?"

"If you want something done right…"

"You're telling me. Oh, by the way, Yelina called and Ray Jr. is fine. Just as you suspected, he was hiding out at his friend's house until he got his nerves back under control. He damn near gave his mother a heart attack too. And I told Yelina about the whole cabin thing, she is (I quote) 'sorry you had to spend the night with that spineless bastard'".

The vast number of friends from whom he had to keep this secret was beginning to dawn on Horatio. He hadn't really thought much of Yelina's homophobia since Rick pointed it out to him, but it was something he would have to confront eventually. She mustn't have known that Horatio himself was bi at the time. But they had known each other for a while by then. Perhaps his sexual orientation was a bit more secretive than he thought it was. He just hoped that she didn't pass her ideas on to Ray Jr. He'd hate to lose a nephew because of this.

Despite what was going on in his head, he had to laugh at this. Mac was just trying to lighten the mood, after all.

"Come up to my room so we can talk about my days in hell in peace," Horatio said with a light smile.

"Alright, I just need to do something first. I should be back in five minutes, okay?"

Horatio nodded and Mac disappeared into the crowd. He stood there, replaying in his head the description of the fight he had to make up. He didn't want to be unrehearsed. He felt a small tug on his shirt sleeve. He turned and looked down to see Victoria; she was a lot shorter than he thought she was. She smiled up at him.

"Rick says 'hi'," she whispered to him.

"How is he?" Horatio quietly responded

"Fine, fine. I have a present for you," she pulled out a flash drive from her pocket and handed it to him, "Rick has the original. I thought you'd appreciate a copy".

"What is it?"

"I can't tell you," she grinned, "just don't plug it into a company computer".

Horatio's eyes widened as he realized what he was holding, he stuffed it into his pocket. He leaned down and spoke very quietly into her ear.

"Thanks for setting me up with him".

"No problem, thanks for being a sweet distraction away from the other four cabins I had to watch".

Horatio felt the blush rise up the back of his neck and fill his cheeks. He looked away, smiling but not sure what to say.

"I didn't invade your privacy, H," she giggled, "I just wanted to help you keep it".

"You're very sweet".

"As are you, Rick's a very lucky guy," she babbled, "I mean, just look at you, you're gorgeous. Hell, if you weren't going out with my best friend I would totally- oh dear, I've said too much. Gotta go".

She started blushing herself as she scampered off. Horatio stood back up, chuckling quietly. If they didn't just eat he was sure that she would have offered to cook him dinner, as so many women have done before her. But she was a good person, he wasn't quite sure if he could have done what she did; even for his best friend, Frank Tripp. Frank: just another person who wouldn't understand his relationship with Rick. Oh well, they'll make new friends at the places they will hide out at.

Mac walked back up to Horatio, he hadn't seen Victoria and had no idea of the contents of a flash drive Horatio now had in his possession.

"Should we get away from the crowd?" Mac asked as the constant drone of chatter began to grow louder. Horatio nodded and led Mac to the elevator, all the way rubbing the USB drive in his pocket.

***

Horatio opened the door and held it open for Mac, who was given pause before he even set foot inside. Mac gingerly lifted Horatio's hand from the doorknob and pushed up Horatio's sleeve, revealing the entire bruise on his wrist.

"Jesus Christ," Mac murmured as he examined the wound, "what'd he do to you?"

"We got into a fight, he got the other one too," he said revealing his other wrist, "and he hit my right thigh pretty hard as well".

"I was wondering why you were limping," Mac nodded.

"I got him back though," Horatio quickly stated, just in case there was any suspicion in Mac's mind, "right in the side of the knee".

"I'm just surprised that you didn't blacken that jerk's eye".

"Pardon?"

"Well, I've seen you fight before," Mac started, "you usually don't go very far beyond an immobilizing punch to the face".

Horatio felt his palms begin to sweat; he wasn't used to dancing around a lie such as this. "You know those IAB agents," Horatio finally said after a long sigh, "always wanting to call us out on excessive force".

"You're preaching to the choir, H," Mac said with a smile as he plopped down on the bed.

Horatio began nervously drumming his fingers against his leg in anticipation. He had the feeling that Mac knew something that he just wasn't letting on. Or else Mac hadn't gotten much sleep and wouldn't be expressing much emotion anyways. It was hard to tell with him. At any rate, he was starting to regret agreeing to this.

"Wanna catch the game?" Mac blurted out.

"What?"

"C'mon, H! Football! You like football, right?"

"Football's good," Horatio muttered as he watched Mac fumble with the remote.

"You go for the Dolphins or the Giants? Oh wait, the Giants aren't playing today. Lucky you".

Horatio smiled weakly as he sat on the other side of the bed. He wasn't sure about any of Mac's actions anymore. But he didn't want to say anything, just in case Mac was ignorant of what happened. He was afraid that the truth might ruin a good friendship.

"Can I make room service bring us some beer?" Mac turned to Horatio, phone already in hand.

"Wha? Oh. Yeah. Go ahead".

"You okay, Horatio?"

"Yeah, these past few days have just been a little much for me".

"Understandably so," Mac said as he turned back to the phone and ordered the beer.

The two of them sat on the bed, watching the Dolphins play the Packers, commenting on the game and drinking beer when it finally arrived. After a while Horatio's fears began to slip away from him, but only to be brought back to him as the evening wore on.

"I know why you've been so on edge, Horatio," Mac said quietly, "You don't have to be ashamed".

"What are you talking about?" Horatio pretended.

"Don't act like you don't know".

Horatio sat there quietly, not sure if he was truly found out or not. Mac was pretty bright, so it wouldn't surprise him if he did. But how much was he letting on? He wasn't quite sure. Maybe Mac heard him and Victoria talking. It was doubtful, but still a possibility. Anyways, he should probably respond soon, preferably with something verbal and neutral.

"You don't think any less of me?" Horatio finally said.

"A real friend would never think any less of you for that," Mac responded.

You sneaky bastard, why won't you come out and say it? Now it sounds like I know what I'm talking about. Oh well, better continue beating around the bush until he drops a hint.

"You're sure you're not ashamed?"

"Of course not," Mac smiled, "I've been in your position before… well… something similar at least".

Mac's gay? No. That doesn't sound right. Now I'm really confused. Time to start delving.

"Really?"Horatio said, cocking his head.

"Oh yeah, more times than I'd usually care to admit", Mac sighed, "It hurts like hell at first, but at the same time you don't want to stop. After a while you just accept that you've gone too far and there's no turning back, you gotta finish what you started. Eventually you are able to walk away, thoroughly tenderized and knowing that you just experienced something you can't exactly write home about".

Does Mac know he's speaking in innuendos? God I hate farce. This is ridiculous. I have no idea what he's talking about.

"I have no idea what you're talking about".

"Oh come on, Horatio. You can't just deny it. Look at yourself, the bruises, the limp, everything. You'd have to be blind not to see it. And Rick, not a scratch on him. You got your ass pounded, didn't you".

Does he think I lost a fight or is he just being incredibly raunchy?

"You can't win every fight, H," Mac concluded.

Oh thank God.

"Yeah," Horatio sighed in relief, "I guess you're right".