A/N: Thank you Daxy for your review. It means a lot to me that you're still reading the story and enjoy it.

Chapter 14

Horatio was a little bit later than usual, when he stopped in front of the Delkos' house to pick up his daughter. Stetler had somehow managed to get him wrapped up in a discussion about his team's appearance again and Horatio, like always, had told him loud and clearly what he thought about such nonsense. Of course he hadn't yelled at him, no he had learned quite early that the quieter he became, the more alert and probably even frightened Stetler became. Of course this never stopped the weasel to snoop around and putting his nose in other people's business, but there was still hope.

He had called Marta when he had entered the parking lot in order to forewarn her about his delay and now he just wanted to pick up his daughter, get some dinner and either read a good book or having a nice warm bath; or probably both. He definitely deserved that after a long day of paperwork and putting together a bomb with a billion pieces. The nightshift supervisor had asked him for his help and being the only member of the lab who had experiences with bombs, Horatio had readily agreed to help him out. Now his back and neck were hurting and he'd have given a lot for a nice massage, but this was sadly but true utopian.

"Horatio, come on in, Son," Pavel opened the door and held it open for his son-in-law. "Marta's already been waiting for you, so is your daughter."

"Yeah, I'm sorry that I'm late, but Rick Stetler was on his war path again," he sighed and entered the hallway. "But I called Marta a few minutes ago, so she wouldn't think that I had an accident or something," he defended himself.

"You know my wife, she's always worried about her family's safety," Pavel replied and closed the door behind him.

"True," Horatio acknowledged and couldn't help but smile, when he heard his daughter's laughter. "Where's my little Princess," he called out before he even entered the living room and chuckled to himself when he heard the particular noises she always made when she heard his voice. Elena was still too young to talk, but in a way he could understand her baby language; at least most of the time that is. "Oh look there she is," he announced and kneeled down, when he noticed that Marta was holding Elena on both her hands. They'd been practice walking for a few weeks now and became better and better every day.

"Hallo Horatio, someone had been missing you greatly today," Marta greeted her son-in-law and slowly walked to him, always aware of Elena being able to follow her.

"Mhm, I missed her too," Horatio grinned and gathered Ellie in his strong arms when they finally reached him. "You did very well baby girl, Daddy is so proud of you," he praised her and kissed her hair. "Mhm and you smell after the new baby shower gel," he noticed a bit amazed.

"Well yeah," Marta sighed, "we've done some gardening today and it seems like your daughter is very fond of mud packs," Marta rolled her eyes and then winked at him. "So there was no other way than having a little bath."

"Well sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to look pretty, right Ellie?" Horatio chuckled and lifted her up. "Not that you need it anyway," he added as an afterthought. "Thanks for keeping her a bit longer today, I hope I didn't destroy any plans of you?" he looked at his in-laws.

"You didn't, don't worry, Horatio," Pavel shook his head and sat down on the armchair again so he could continue reading the newspaper.

"That's good, well I don't want to keep you off your well deserved evening, so I better get going," Horatio announced, but was stopped by Marta.

"You don't have to leave, Horatio. In fact there's something we want to talk about with you."

"Oh?" he asked surprised. "Has something happened?" he asked alarmed.

"No, no. Why don't you sit down for a bit?" she gestured to the couch.

"Okay," Horatio just shrugged and did as he was told. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I wondered what you have planed for Elena's birthday next week," Marta didn't beat around the bush and looked at him expectantly. Every birthday was something special in the Delko family and was celebrated.

"I…uh…," he mumbled and held Elena by her arms, since she had slid from his lap in order to stand. "Not a lot, I mean…," he shrugged and didn't know what to say. He had never planned a birthday party before, especially not for a baby.

"That's what I thought," Marta nodded, but wasn't angry with him. "I wondered if you want to spend the day here. We could make a small family BBQ and have a cake for Ellie," she smiled at him.

"I can't demand that from you….both of you," Horatio denied. "It's my job to prepare a party and-"

"Normally I would agree with that, but I seriously doubt that you have enough toys, movies and beds for your nieces and nephews," Marta interrupted him. "And by the way, you don't demand it, we offered it. That's a huge difference."

That was true, but it still felt a bit weird to him. He hadn't really planned anything concerning Ellie's birthday, at least not something overly big. The problem was that this day was a happy and a sad one the same time. It was wonderful to celebrate Ellie's birthday but also a day where you would mourn about Marisol's death. "I know," he sighed.

"Listen Horatio, just sleep over it and tell me tomorrow. We don't want you to spend the day alone. As sad as this day is because we lost Marisol, we should make it a special day for Elena. The first birthday is a very special one," she reasoned him.

"You're right about that," he nodded. "I will think about it and tell you tomorrow."

"Good boy," she smiled. "And don't worry about anything; this house is used to big birthday parties. Don't forget that we not only have 4 kids, but also a lot of grandchildren."

"True," he agreed and looked up when he heard the front door being opened.

"¿Mamá, papa? Dondé estáis?"

"En el salon," Pavel called back without looking up from his newspaper article.

"As I said, this house is used to host a lot of people," Marta grinned at Horatio.

"¿Que usted visita?" Maria, the oldest of the Delko children asked when she entered the room and immediately broke into a smile when she saw the visitor. "Horatio, hi, how are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you. What about you?"

"Oh my husband is out with the kids today, so I'm doing really well," she laughed and looked around, acting as if she hadn't seen her niece. "You didn't come without Ellie, did you?"

"Ellie? Oh my God... Ellie!" Horatio played along and slapped his forehead as if something had occurred him.

Elena just giggled and held out her arms to Maria, who immediately walked to her.

"Hola, Ellie. ¿Comó estás mi princesa? How are you, my Princess?" she asked and lifted her up. Of course English would always be Elena's first language, but they also wanted her to get used to Spanish. She had Cuban origins after all and it would be a shame if she didn't get in touch with them. "¿Que has hecho hoy? What did you do today?" she cooed and then looked at her mother who seemed to be a bit tired. "Did you keep grandma on the run?" she laughed and added in praise, "Good girl."

"Maria!" Marta exclaimed and couldn't help but wonder where her daughter got this evil streak from. It must be from her father's side of the family. "Why don't you take Elena outside in the garden and look at the new flowers we've planted earlier this day?" she asked her daughter in a very special tone, which the woman immediately picked up.

"Sure, momma," she nodded. "So Ellie, did you and grandma plant new flowers? That's awesome," she talked to the girl and pitied Horatio. Whatever he had done, her mother would talk some sense into him. Maria had seen such a scene so often in her life, she had lost count someday. Every time one of her siblings or herself had got into trouble, her mother would have had a nice talk with them in the living room and every one else was send into their room or the garden.

Horatio wasn't stupid and since he had been a kid a long time ago, he also knew this type of tone. Now he just wondered what he'd done wrong. He couldn't think of anything recently and thus he was rather confused. All he knew was that he wouldn't get home any time soon.

Pavel looked up from his newspaper and sighed inwardly. He had asked his wife to leave the subject alone, but he should have known better. His wife could be darn stubborn if she wanted to be and he knew better than to have an argument with a Latin woman.

"Marta? Is something wrong?" Horatio asked and hoped that there was nothing wrong with Elena. Marta had a lot more experience when it came to babies and she had probably noticed something Horatio hadn't.

"It should be me asking this question, Horatio," Marta said cryptically and eyed her son-in-law.

This confused him even more. "I'm sorry, but I can't follow you."

"What my wife means is, that Eric came to us and told us about your recent behaviour," Pavel chimed in and folded his newspaper together.

"Right, he told us that you aren't your usual self in the lab and that you didn't want to talk to somebody," Marta nodded and waited for an answer.

Sometimes he hated the fact that his brother-in-law was also one of his CSI's. "Yes," he admitted freely, but didn't dwell on it any further.

"You've also been different in your private life," she stated seriously and would have made a great CSI. Pavel and she had noticed the changes in his behaviour recently, even though they just saw him for a few minutes each day and at first they had laid the blame on Marisol's upcoming obit, but when Eric had told them that this had started already weeks ago, they had grown suspicious.

Horatio didn't know what to say, so he just shrugged. He felt like being interrogated and he already knew that he didn't like that feeling at all.

"What Marta wants to tell you is that we're family, Horatio. I already told you this almost a year ago. We care for each other and if one of us has a problem, we'll do our best to solve it."

"I know, Pavel," Horatio nodded and if it had been a problem with Elena or anything else, he would have come to them. But how could he confide them in this particular problem? How could he tell them that he had cheated on Marisol by kissing Calleigh?

"So? Why don't you tell us about it?" Marta went into it.

"That's…that's not so easy," Horatio sighed and turned his head towards the window. Outside he could see Maria playing with his daughter and he would have given a lot to switch places with them right now.

Marta and Pavel exchanged glances and sighed in unison. Marisol had told them more than once, that Horatio could be very stubborn and withdrawn when he was asked to talk about his feelings by adults. He was pretty good at it when it came to children, though. "Horatio, you're not our son by blood, but you still are a very important part of our family. It doesn't take a genius to see that something is bothering you," Marta tried to open him up.

"We won't bite your head off," Pavel joked lightly in the hope to lighten up the mood and make it easier for Horatio to talk.

"Don't make promises that you can't keep," Horatio murmured and leaned back against the back of the couch. "I did a huge mistake."

Well that was at least a start. It didn't sound good of course, but it was a start indeed. "Okay?" Marta urged him to go on.

Horatio took a deep breath. Would they hate him if he told them? Of course they would. Would they throw him out off the family? Probably. Yet he shouldn't keep it away from them any longer. They'd welcomed him into the family with open arms and so they deserved honesty. "I cheated on Marisol."

Marta gasped and put a hand over her mouth in shock (?).

Pavel's eyes narrowed and he tried his best to keep the anger out of his voice. "When? When did you cheat on our daughter??"

Horatio had seen that coming. He ducked his head and stared at his awfully interesting shoes. "A few weeks ago."

Silence followed. This time it was Pavel and Marta who couldn't follow their son-in-law. "A few weeks ago?" The confusion was evident in their voices.

"Yes," Horatio nodded.

But Marisol hadn't been alive a few weeks ago. This didn't make any sense at all. Suddenly something occurred to Marta. "Do you mean the day when you went out with the team?"

"Yes," Horatio nodded again.

This was interesting. Eric had told them, that they all had great fun that night, including Horatio. He had also told them, that Horatio's change of behaviour had started right afterwards. So this meant that Horatio was telling the truth and something had happened on this day or better said in that night. And what ever this this was, it was bothering Horatio greatly. "What happened that night, Horatio?" she asked gently.

Horatio took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. "I…I kissed another woman."

Marta looked at her husband who seemed to be relieved in a way, but also not sure of what to say and she could absolutely understand that. This wasn't an easy situation for none of them. There was a lot to talk about, but at first she needed to make one thing sure. "We're not mad at you, Horatio. It's okay, things happen."

Hearing this was a surprise. Taken aback he looked at her and shook his head. "You should be mad at me. Such things don't just happen," he declared. "My wife's not been dead for a year and I'm kissing another woman."

"Of course it's a little bit early…maybe…I don't know. I've never been in this kind of situation before, so it's not me to judge of what is too early and what's not. But what I know is that you can't choose of who and when you fall in love. It's God's choice, not ours."

"But what kind of man does that make me, Marta? What kind of husband? I loved Marisol and then... I just fall in love with another? I cheated on her, I broke the promise I gave her on our wedding day and on the day of her funeral. I promised her to be faithful," he talked himself into a rage.

"Horatio…Horatio calm down", Pavel put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's just so... so wrong, you know?" he uttered. "That night…when I came home, I went into the bedroom and saw her smiling face on our wedding picture. I felt so bad for what I've done. Marisol didn't deserve that. I mean… she'd always been so kind, almost innocent like…and I know she trusted me. She did so much for me and how am I repaying that?"

"In passing on the love between the two of you," Pavel said matter-of-factly. "I know that you loved our daughter, Horatio and we also know that she loved you dearly. You have no idea how excited she'd been the day after your first official date. The first thing she'd said to me was 'Papa, I know he's the one and I don't care about his age or if he's Eric's boss. And if you don't like him, I'll be very angry with you'," Pavel smiled gently at this memory.

"Marisol always knew, that her cancer could come back and that she'd probably would never have the chance to grow old with you. She was so worried about it, because she didn't want you to be alone again. That was her greatest fear – you being alone. Our daughter had a big heart, Horatio. She would never want you to stay alone for the rest of your life. That's not her. She would want you to find someone else. Someone who can make you happy again."

Horatio ran his hands over his face. "But why does it feel so bad then?"

"Because your heart and mind are confused. There's still a big part of you that loves Marisol. But now, there's also a small part that is interested in another woman. You feel so bad, because the smaller part is winning. That's what makes you feel so guilty."

Horatio just nodded and silently agreed with this explanation.

"You know Horatio, we can't and won't judge your life. You just have to remember that it's not only about you, but also about your daughter."

"What brings me to the question if this woman knows about Elena," Marta went into it.

"Yes, yes she knows about her," Horatio quickly said and looked at them again. "She does."

"And she's okay with it?" Marta continued asking.

"I…I think so." How could he know when he had proverbially shut the door in Calleigh's face? "I mean, what I know is that they're getting along very well together and that she likes Ellie a lot… I just don't know if she's okay with being more than a babysitter every once in a while," he shrugged.

This sounded suspicious. "She'd babysat Elena before? I thought you just met her in the club?"

"No, I mean yes. Yes, she'd babysat her before and no, I didn't meet her in the club," he answered the question a bit sheepishly.

"Do we know her, too?" Pavel wanted to know.

"Most definitely, yes. You know her pretty well actually." He took a deep breath before he dropped the bombshell. "It's Calleigh."

Marta and Pavel were both equally stunned. "Calleigh? You mean Calleigh Duquesne? Your co-worker?"

"Doesn't make it better, does it?" Horatio asked in return and let out an unbelieving small laugh.

"Well," Marta started a bit unsure, "let's say that it was unexpected. I mean…you've worked together for how many years? Five? And suddenly you're interested in her."

"That's true, but there has always been a connection between us. Nothing," he quickly added, because this came out a little wrong, "nothing beyond friendship though. I wouldn't have married Marisol if I'd been in love with another woman. It's just that she helped me a lot these last months. I can't even explain it."

"Well that's normal for love, you can't explain it," Pavel said and noticed that Maria was coming back. "Listen to your heart Horatio, that's all I can tell you. Find out what's best for you and Elena. Marisol would have wanted you to be happy again and if you're happy with Calleigh, then take the chance. Marisol will be pleased."

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, but we have a little diaper emergency here," Maria laughed and held Elena in her arms, who looked as if she was ready to cry.

"Well that's my cue," Horatio stood up, happy about that opportunity to finish the talk. "We'd already be home normally," he apologized and took his daughter in his arms. "We just get you changed and then we drive home, right Ellie? Daddy's getting hungry and I bet so are you."

"The diapers are in the bathroom, Horatio. Do you need help?"

"I think I can even change them while I'm asleep. I'm quite sure that I already did that more than once, since I have no recollection of changing them sometimes," he laughed and left the room with a 'be back in a moment'.

Maria looked between her parents and just knew that something had happened. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing actually," Marta sighed. "It seems like Horatio has fallen in love with another woman."

"Oh? Now…that's great. Marisol would be very happy for him and Ellie."

"That's what we told him, but he's struggling with his feelings. He thinks he betrays her trust and that he breaks his promises."

"¡Pamplinas! Rubbish, he shouldn't think like that. Marisol…will never come back, he should live his life again."

Her parents just nodded in agreement. "We can only hope that he realizes this, because if he isn't happy…Elena won't be happy either."

tbc