A/N: Thank you all for your reviews. So.. did they stop or didn't they? Let's find out, shall we?

Chapter 9

When Stella woke up the next morning, she felt utterly comfortable. Strong arms were wrapped around her and a solid frame was pressed against her back. She was aching in all the right places and the warmth that was radiating from her bedfellow made it hard for her to stay awake. But she wanted to stay awake. She wanted to relish every second of it. It had been a long, long time since she'd felt this peace and not even Boston came close to this experience. It was one thing to share a bed, but a totally different one from sharing body and soul. And that's what they'd done last night.

Smiling to herself, she relieved certain moments of their lovemaking; the way his hands had felt on her body, the way his smooth skin had felt under her fingertips. How complete she'd felt when they'd joined…

A loud snore brought her back to reality and she could already feel the heat boiling inside of her again. She had realized one thing last night – Horatio Caine was not only a passionate man, but also a passionate lover.

Turning on her other side, she smiled gently at the sleeping face in front of her. His eyes were moving quickly under his eyelids, which told her that he was still in dreamland.

Good.

This way she had more time to observe him. Again. She'd done that in Boston as well, but this time it was different in a way. Not that she could explain what kind of different, but it didn't change her feeling.

Carefully, if not to wake him by accident, she brushed a lose strand out of his face. He still looked that much younger when he was asleep and more peaceful. "Well maybe more peaceful because of certain activities during the night," she mused to herself cheekily, "but peaceful nevertheless." Scooting a little closer, she kissed his nose and grinned when he pulled a face. He was really cute if he wanted to be.

"Don't pull a face," she whispered to him and brushed his cheek. There was slight stubble already, but she didn't mind. No, she rather liked this 'wild side' of him; when he wasn't as neat as pin. Though, in contrast to Boston, she had to admit that she liked him naked even more than in a pyjama. "I wonder how you'd look like with a beard," she mumbled to herself, but somehow couldn't picture him with a beard. A three-day beard, yes; but a full beard? Heck, no! It would only hide his handsome face anyway.

Kissing her forefinger she pressed it against his lips. "No, we wouldn't want you to hide your face," she told him and let her finger travel over his chin down to his neck. "That would be a waste." Hearing his grunt, she had to laugh softly. "You don't agree with me?" she asked playfully. "I don't care; you have no idea how beautiful you are, inside and out."

As if he was embarrassed by her praise, Horatio made a grunting sound and turned on his other side. With a deep sigh he snuggled deeper into his pillow and remained asleep.

Shaking her head at him, Stella wanted to snuggle closer when something caught her eye. Thanks to Horatio's turning over, the sheets had slid down to his waste and his back had become visible. And with that, also the scars it bore.

She knew better than that, but still she couldn't help but let out a small gasp. Quickly she held her breath and listened to his still regular breathing before she let out a breath in relief. He hadn't heard her quiet lack of control.

"What happened to you?" she asked him nevertheless and eyed the scars. Some seemed to be very old, some a little younger. Some were very small, while others were wide and long. "The perfect size of a belt," came into her mind and she closed her eyes at that. She'd been a police officer for too many years to not realize where those scars were proceeded from.

Abuse.

And judging by the way they looked like…

Child abuse.

Opening her eyes, she felt a wave of compassion running through her body. She would have never guessed that Horatio had been a victim of abuse in his childhood. He was so gentle and kind to everyone, especially to children. But then again, maybe this was one of the reasons why he was so compassionate, because he knew where the victims were coming from.

"That's why you wanted me to make my peace with Frankie, didn't you? That's why you knew why it's so important," she realized and without noticing, she started to run her fingertips over the white scars. "You didn't act as a police officer that night, you acted as a victim yourself." Now a lot of things made sense.

"You're even more beautiful than I thought." He was probably broken and battered, but he was a beautiful being. When her lips started to caress the upper scars, she suddenly felt the shift in the room. Horatio's breathing sounded different, she couldn't here any snoring and suddenly, his whole body stiffened. He was awake and from experience she knew that his whole body language screamed to hide, but she wouldn't let him. Not now, not ever.

So she just wrapped her arm around him, snuggled as close as she was able to and nuzzled his neck. "Good morning," she greeted him softly. She had no intention of interrogating him about the story behind the scars and telling by his reaction, he wasn't so keen on telling her anyway, so she acted like nothing had happened.

Horatio knew that his reaction and fear were unnecessary, but after so many years, the habit was hard to break. Willing himself to get his control back, he took a deep breath and did his best to relax into her arms. "Morning," he mumbled sheepishly.

"Not a good one?" Stella asked cheekily and didn't want to give him any chance to dwell on bad thoughts.

Realizing this, Horatio smiled to himself. "Maybe…"

"Aww," Stella drawled and nudged his bottom. "Well I think it's a good one," she huffed.

In one quick motion, Horatio turned around and rolled above her. "Stop that," he growled playfully.

"What?" Stella asked innocently and pinched his bottom. "That?"

"Yes, that, woman," he nodded and gave her a stern glare.

"I don't know, I think you like it," Stella didn't back down and pinched him again.

"If you continue like this, I won't be able to sit," he complained, which made her laugh.

"Then it's a good thing that you're lying right now," she grinned and winked at him. "Good morning," she tried again and this time with success.

"Good morning," he leaned down and kissed her. "Did you sleep well?"

"Very well in fact," she nodded and licked her lips. "What about you?"

"Oh," he thought out loud, "I think I can't complain."

"Hey," she exclaimed and glared at him. "Aren't you charming this morning?"

"I aim to please," he shrugged lightly and tilted his head to the right. "Does it work?"

"Not really, but keep on trying," she snorted and rolled her eyes at him.

"There's no try you know? Do or do not..," he couldn't stop himself from replying and laughed when she gave him an annoyed glare. He really liked their teasing and the fact that they weren't embarrassed about what had happened last night. This was a very good sign.

"If you continue quoting Master Yoda in bed, then I'll kick you out," she threatened him.

"I'm sure you would," he sighed happily and winked at her. "So…any plans for today?"

"What about staying in bed all day?" she answered saucily.

"Already ready for a second round?" he raised his brows.

"Don't you mean a third one?" she asked nonchalantly and grinned when his face turned into a nice shade of pink.

Clearing his throat, Horatio nodded his approval. "Yeah…you could be right about that."

"I always am," she told him. "Especially when it comes to something like that."

"Interesting," he commented and groaned in complete embarrassment when his stomach rumbled rather loudly. "Breakfast first?" he asked in hope to keep a little of his dignity.

If she'd been able to, Stella would have rolled on the bed laughing. Leave it to Horatio and his stomach to break a rather appealing moment like this. Wiping away the tears, she nodded at him. "Well I can't let you starve, now can I? Though this would be a really interesting case, I might add."

"Haha," Horatio grimaced and poked out his tongue at her. "Stop laughing at me, since it's your fault that I'm hungry," he huffed in good humour and rolled back onto his side of the bed.

"Mine?" Stella asked incredulously and sat up.

"Two rounds?" Horatio shot back easily and got up from the bed. Reaching for his boxers, he put them on before he gave her his famous hands-on-the-hips stance. "That costs a lot of energy."

Snorting, she shook her head. "Poor man," she gave him a puppy face. "I hope you can make it to the kitchen."

"I hope so too, or you have to serve me in bed. Thinking about it that's not such a bad idea actually…"

"In your dreams, Mr. Caine," she put on some clothes and walked to the door.

"Well we still have some days, so I'll work on it," he smiled at her and together they left the room

With slow steps, Stella walked from one end to the other of the cupboard. Horatio was busy cleaning the kitchen and she had made use of this by snooping a little bit around. At first she had checked his DVD collection (and combined it with hers at home), then his music collection (and once again compared it with her own) and finally his books. It would have been an overstatement to say that Horatio's taste was only going into one direction; no he seemed to be pretty open to things and she liked that a lot.

Sure, she still wasn't so much into classical music and action movies, but it could have been a lot worse. Horror movies for example or country music. Not that she held some grudge against these genres, but they just weren't hers at all. Though picturing Horatio doing the square dance had something amusing.

Grinning to herself, she stopped in front of the most interesting shelf – the photo gallery. Taking a sip from her coffee she viewed the pictures and while she recognized some of the people, there were also some that conveyed nothing to her.

"I can't leave you out of my sight for even a moment, huh?" a voice behind her startled her and she quickly turned around to see Horatio who was still wearing his bathrobe just like she did. "I was curious," she told him without regret and smiled at him. "And pictured you doing some square dance."

"I won't even ask why you thought of that," Horatio shook his head.

"That's probably better," she giggled and turned her attention back to the pictures. "This is your team," she stated when she felt two strong arms around her waist.

"Mhm," he mumbled.

"But there are two men I don't recognize from the party. And they're not in the same picture."

"That's true as well," Horatio nodded and reached for one of the pictures. "This is…the old team so to say," he said softly. "This man on the left is Tim Speedle."

Stella just nodded.

Putting the picture back again, he reached for another one. "And this is the new team. As you can see there's Natalia and Ryan. Ryan is…Speed's replacement...so to say. After his death," he took a small breath, "I needed someone to fill Tim's place in the lab and well…"

She immediately realized his choice of words. 'Tim's place in the lab', he had said, not 'Tim's place in the team'. "Was he successful?"

"Mr. Wolfe is a good man and a good CSI. Yes, he did fill in, but he's not Speed and never will be." Speed had been one of his best friends, maybe even his best friend in particular, so no one would ever fill this empty place in Horatio's heart.

"I understand." And Stella did. After Aiden Burn had been fired, Lindsay Monroe had come to the lab and she'd never filled in Aiden's place when it came to the team, but in fact she had found her own one. So Stella guessed that this was the same for Ryan. One person could never fully replace another, because that was impossible. Every person had their own character and so they needed to find their own space in a team.

"Speed will always be missed and I have to admit that we didn't make it easy for Ryan in the first place, but he's fully accepted now so…"

"I can relate to that," she turned her head to look at him so she could give him a small smile. "So tell me, where this one was taken?" she asked and pointed at the old team. Horatio was holding a small trophy in his hands and everyone was grinning.

"Oh," he laughed, "I think that's when our shift won the beach volleyball tournament."

"You really have interesting things going on here," she raised her brows and shook her head.

"Well it's good for the team spirit," he just shrugged. "And it's always a lot of fun."

"I bet," she chuckled and reached for the next picture. "Who's that?"

"That's my family; my brother Ray, his wife Yelina and my nephew Ray jr. It's an old picture though, because Ray's been dead for...over ten years." Today he knew that this had been wrong, but in a way Ray's first death (even though it wasn't the real one) was always the date he used when talking about it with others. Eric knew about his brother, but then again due to his memory loss, Horatio wasn't even sure if he still remembered it. So the faked death was the measure to all things.

"I'm sorry, Horatio," she apologized even though there was no need to.

"It's okay; it happened long ago and even though it still hurts and will always do, I can talk about it."

Giving him a reassuring smile she leaned back a bit. "May I say that you two don't look…similar?"

Resting his chin on her shoulder, he smirked. "Yes you may and you're right, we don't...or...didn't. He was the lucky one of us and inherited the brown hair," he joked.

"Don't say that, it makes you really special."

"And standing out, especially as a kid," he pointed out.

"But also very attractive, especially to the ladies no matter which age," she shot back which made him smile.

"Maybe…"

"And that's Marisol?" she wondered out loud.

"Mhm...yeah...it was taken on our wedding day."

"She looks beautiful," Stella said in awe.

"She did...she really did," Horatio sighed with a hint of sadness. "I still don't know why she wanted to marry me. She was young and full of life."

"I guess she loved you," Stella stated matter of factly. And she couldn't blame Marisol for doing so. It was very easy to fall in love with him.

"Yeah…," he just mumbled and shook himself out of his misery. She still had a place in his heart and would always have, but it wasn't as big any longer as it'd been for a long time.

"And here we have, Kyle," Stella said after a while and rested her arms on his. "With….?"

"Julia, his mother." He'd never wanted to have a picture of her in his house, but this had been the first photo of his son ever, so he hadn't had the heart to hide it somewhere. "This was the first photo I ever got my hands on, so..yeah…she's on it as well," he explained to her, because he didn't want her to think that he was keeping pictures of his ex around.

"I see," came the short reply. She reached for the photo and scrutinized it a little closer. Horatio certainly knew how to pick out beautiful women, that was for sure. "Kyle's got her hair, but otherwise he looks more like you," she stated. So this was the woman who'd kept his son from Horatio. How kind of her!

"Probably, it's not that easy I think...and to be honest that's not so important for me. I'm just happy for him that he didn't inherit the red hair," he joked and hoped against hope that Stella wouldn't ask him about the next picture.

Of course she didn't do him the favour and he couldn't blame her for that. So when she took the last picture frame in her hand, he just sighed inwardly and braced himself for any questions she might have.

"That's you as a kid, isn't it?" she asked softly when her eyes fell on a probably 10 year old Horatio. He was standing right next to a woman who was sitting on a chair with a toddler in her lap. Behind Horatio stood a grim looking man, who didn't seem to be pleased to be there at all.

"Yes," Horatio whispered. "And my mom, my brother and my…father." Or as he always put it 'the man who'd fathered him'.

"You have her red hair and her blue eyes," Stella smiled gently at him. "She's a beautiful woman."

"Was…she was a beautiful woman," Horatio corrected her immediately.

Noticing his behaviour, she turned around in his arms. "Was?"

"Yeah, she died when I was still a kid. So did my...father."

"I'm sorry to hear that," she sighed and rested her head against his chest.

"I'm not, well.. partly…."

"I don't understand?" she asked bewildered. This wasn't the Horatio she knew and definitely not the reaction she'd expected.

"I loved my mom deeply; she was the most important person in my life. I adored her, I still do. She'd always been there for me and I truly wish that she'd still be here, but she isn't and she never will be. Do I miss her? By God, I do. But do I miss him? Not for a second."

Stella needed some time to process that. It was like seeing two Horatios at the same time. One was full of love for his mother and the other, seemed full of hatred for his father. Did this mean that… "He's the reason for your scars, isn't he?" she made the connection.

"Damn right," he brought out grimly. "Mom and I were his favourite punching ball. I can't even count all the broken bones and black eyes we received over the years thanks to him. Or all the lies I had to tell my friends and teachers about being a clumsy boy," he snarled.

"Horatio," she tried to calm him down, but he just shook his head.

"No," he interrupted her and freed himself from her embrace. He couldn't stand being close to her right now, so he pretty much fled out of the room into the garden. He needed some air to breathe and distance between him and the memories of the man who'd destroyed his childhood.

Crestfallen, Stella gazed after him. If she had only known that her curiosity would bring up such bad memories for him! "Wonderful, Stella. Really wonderful. You certainly know how to spoil a moment and turn it into a complete disaster." No, she wasn't happy with herself. With a sigh she put the picture back onto the shelf and walked to the patio door. She wanted to reach out to him; tell him that she was sorry and that her curiosity had been uncalled for; then again, she wanted to leave him alone, so he could have some time to cool down and get his thoughts back into order again.

In the end, she couldn't ignore what her heart was telling her.

When he heard his name and felt her arms around him, Horatio couldn't help but feel ashamed of his behaviour towards her. She hadn't tried to interrogate him; his grief and anger had just gotten the better of him and he was the only one to blame for that. "I'm sorry Stella," he hung his head, "my behaviour towards you was uncalled for. It's just that talking about...certain things in my life isn't easy for me."

"That's fine, Horatio. Don't worry, no harm done," she raised herself on tiptoes and kissed his neck. "I was too curious and started it. Don't blame yourself."

Too late for that. He would always blame himself for many things in his life. But this was neither the time nor the place to talk about it. "You're a CSI, it's in your blood," he tried to joke and turned around to face her. There was no pity in her eyes, which was good. He hated pity; he didn't want to be seen as weak by no one.

"But I'm not on duty," she chided him softly and snuggled up to him. "You know there's still your offer about the Ocean Drive," she changed the subject and grinned when she heard his groan. "Well you promised me that we'll go there before I fly back and that would be on Wednesday."

"Don't remind me of that," he answered and it wasn't clear if he meant the Ocean Drive or that she was going back to New York in three days. "But okay," he relented. "Ocean Drive it is and I just know the perfect restaurant for dinner tonight."

"Sounds too good to be true," she drawled and kissed his cheek. "Then let's get ready or the best clothes will already be sold," she then said and grabbed his hand. She was happy that he seemed to be in a better mood now and she wanted it to stay like this.

"Now that would be horrific," Horatio stumbled after her and asked himself if this had been such a good idea at all. Going shopping on a Sunday. Now this was like a dream coming true. Or maybe more like a nightmare?

tbc