CSI Miami Fan Fiction "Raymond's Christmas Carol" (Fanfic format)
Chapter 9—"Christmas Future (Part 1)"
The relationship between Yelina and Raymond was starting to improve, although there were still a few rough times. Yelina was puzzled, but pleased by the subtle changes in her son. Raymond was still quiet, but there was less of the rebelliousness. He was also home more, keeping busy around the house. Yelina tried to find out what had brought these changes about, but couldn't—but she praised her son often for the good things he did, hoping to encourage him. "Whatever or whoever it is that's helping Raymond, thank God for it," Yelina thought. Bob Gormanson was still banished from Yelina's house. In fact, Raymond hadn't seen Bob at all lately.
The evening of December 13th came—another cool evening. Raymond was in his room again, getting his school things together. He found himself thinking often of other things, especially Madison,…..
As the living-room clock chimed midnight on December 14th, a large black motorcycle rolled into Raymond's room. Its large rider, dressed in black, shut off the engine and dismounted, leaning the bike on its kickstand. Raymond was awake and waiting this time. The rider removed his helmet, revealing a battered face, and nodded approvingly. "Good—you're awake!" he growled as he tossed a spare helmet to Raymond.
"Who are you?" Raymond asked warily.
"Bob Keaton-your father's partner when he was working for the Feds," he replied. "It's time, young man, to discuss your future. The future you MIGHT have." Keaton put his helmet back on and got back on his bike, waiting for Raymond. Wondering what this new visitor might do if he even tried arguing, Raymond quietly put on the helmet and got on the bike.
Their first stop was Raymond's house—but the times and circumstances were completely different. It was a dazzlingly-bright spring morning—the front yard was bursting with flowers. It took Raymond a few minutes to adjust to the sudden change. Bob parked the bike near the house; he and Raymond walked inside and leaned a-gainst a living-room wall. The two were unseen by those gathered in the room.
Gathered together was Raymond's immediate and extended family: Yelina, Horatio and Marisol, Eric, Susie and Madison, and Kyle. Raymond noticed that his mother had been crying; she now sat looking through a window, with Horatio sitting beside her. Kyle was trying to console a sobbing Madison; Eric was comforting Marisol. Susie was sadly looking through some pictures on the coffee table.
Raymond looked over Susie's shoulder. The pictures she was seeing were pictures of him at various stages of his life. Some of those pictures were with his parents, some with Uncle Horatio or another relative, or school pictures. He'd seen many of the pictures before. Raymond's yearbooks lay neatly stacked on a nearby table. Raymond asked, "Bob, why is everyone here, and why are they all so upset?"
"I told you, Raymond, this is YOUR future—if you continue on the path you're on," Bob explained. "You're dead, and your family is grieving."
"WHAT?" Raymond tried to run over to his mother—but Bob grabbed his arm.
"Forget it—nobody here can see or hear us. You're dead because of those bad choices you made. Remember the alcohol your mother was so upset about?" Bob asked Raymond, who quietly nodded. "Well," Bob continued, "you kept on with that, and you decided to drive yourself home one day. You had several too many at a party and plowed your car into a cement barrier."
Back on the bike, and the two were soon at the scene of a terrible traffic accident. A small car was smashed into a concrete barrier near a park in a late-afternoon accident. Several patrol units were already at the scene; a Hummer soon arrived. Raymond could see Calleigh and Ryan exit the vehicle and begin to survey the damage.
Calleigh, kit in hand, was first to walk over to the vehicle. She took one look inside and recognized the driver. "Oh, no! NO!" she cried.
Ryan, who had been looking at the skid marks, heard Calleigh and looked up at her. "Calleigh?" When he saw the look on her face, he asked, "Calleigh? Who is it, Calleigh?" He ran over to see what was wrong.
Calleigh pointed towards the car and answered between muffled sobs, "It's Raymond, Ryan, he's dead!"
"WHAT?" A disbelieving Ryan looked inside. He quickly felt for a pulse, and found none. Raymond's head had hit the windshield; it appeared that he had died on impact. Ryan was shaking as he took out his cellphone to contact Alexx; he thought, "How are we going to tell Yelina? Horatio and Marisol? Or Eric?"
While Ryan contacted Alexx, a shaken Calleigh contacted Eric. "Eric, you'd better come down for this…it's Raymond. I don't know how we'll tell Horatio and Yelina," she explained between sobs.
From a nearby wall, Bob and Raymond watched as Raymond's lifeless body was extracted from the car, then attended to by a shaken Alexx. Eric, who had arrived just as Alexx had started, made a formal identification for her. Then he tried to comfort his shaken teammates, telling them, "I'll tell H about this myself, then we'll tell Yelina." Eric finally contacted the night-shift CSIs to finish processing the scene for his shaken teammates. Eric absolutely dreaded having to tell Horatio and Yelina what had happened.
Bob and Raymond were back on the bike and soon in Alexx' autopsy theater. They stood, unseen, near the team. Horatio felt as if someone had hit him with a truck when he saw what happened. Eric held a weeping Calleigh. Ryan looked rather dazed, as if he were in shock. Alexx insisted on performing the autopsy herself. Then Horatio quietly gave Alexx a long hug.
Then the scene flash-forwarded to Yelina's house, where Horatio and Eric had gone to tell Yelina what had happened. A distraught Yelina was crying in disbelief and denial. "First my husband, and now my son?" she cried in anguish. Horatio held a crying Yelina for a long while; he was feeling just as distraught as his sister-in-law.
"You see now?" Bob asked a stunned Raymond. He nudged the young man, but got no response. Bob pushed Raymond towards the bike, and they were soon off to another time and place,…..