Five:

Ryan watched Horatio as he moved around the bedroom.

He had a towel wrapped around his waist, and his hair was damp from the shower he just took. He was going through every single drawer in the bedroom looking for a blazer.

Now Horatio had a lot of blazers. But he was looking for one in specific. To Ryan is was just a plain black blazer. But to Horatio it was his lucky shirt. Ryan thought it was a little endearing that Horatio Caine had a blazer he that he thought was lucky.

Horatio was absolutely refusing to let it go. And Ryan knew that if he didn't find it, he'd be in a fowl mood. "Are you sure you don't need any help?" Ryan asked, yet again. Although he knew that Horatio would just tell him no and that he would find it himself. And that was exactly what happened. Ryan just remained in his spot and continued to watch Horatio.

He had disappeared from the room for a few moments and Ryan could hear him rummaging through the hall closet by the bedroom. Again. At the rate Horatio was going, Ryan knew they'd be late for the first day of court. Ryan was already dressed and completely ready to go. So he could leave at any time. Even Horatio had told him that himself. But Ryan wouldn't leave Horatio. It was very important to him that they showed up together. To keep up appearances.

Sure, it was shallow. But Ryan felt that if there seemed to be problems with them, it could somehow hurt them.

And not to mention Ryan wanted to go with Horatio. Even if the car ride was silent, he still wanted to show that he supported Horatio. Especially given everything that he had gone through.

Horatio had re-entered the room, looking pretty frustrated. And Ryan had felt bad that he couldn't find the blazer. He wanted to help but he knew that Horatio would just get even more frustrated. And Ryan could understand that; today was a stressful day. Sure Horatio had been to court plenty of times. As CSI's, they all had been. But since it was because of something that had actually happened to Horatio, it was different. Horatio hadn't been sleeping right the last few days and once Ryan had awoken to Horatio in the room. Horatio had told him that he was just looking for something but Ryan had a feeling that Horatio wanted to sleep in the room.

It wasn't uncommon for Horatio to be stressed out or over thinking something. And usually when that happened, he would sleep, or at least try to, with his arms tightly wrapped around Ryan. But since they were sleeping in separate rooms, that wasn't happening. Ryan had to admit, it would have been a pleasant surprise to wake up and find Horatio there with him.

Alana had come running into the room. She held a dark grey, almost black blazer in her hands. When Horatio saw her, his face lit up in excitement. Which in turn, made Alana's face light up as well. "Where did you find it?"

"It was in a box in the basement."

"Why would it be down there?" Ryan questioned.

Horatio simply shrugged, gave Alana a small hug and she went on her way. Horatio shut the door behind her and started putting the shirt on. Ryan was impressed on how Horatio was adjusting with using only one arm getting dressed. It was a little struggle in the beginning, but he was doing fairly well now.

When Horatio had gotten his pants on, he gave himself a look in a mirror.

"You look fine." Ryan told him. "A little nervous, but you look fine."

Horatio started messing with his hair and sighed.

"We have to get going, Horatio. We don't want to be late."

"Yeah, alright. Are you ready?"

"I've been ready." Ryan answered.

Ryan got off of the bed and opened the door as Horatio sat down to put his shoes on. He made his way downstairs and saw Alana sitting on the couch, drawing a picture with Kyle sitting on the floor. He was in front of the TV, with his gaming system hooked up. He was staring intently at the screen with his face scrunched up and he furiously pushed buttons.

He had come over voluntarily to watch Alana while Ryan and Horatio were out. They both thought that was nice, but they also figured his goal was to use their television which was much larger compared to his. But they didn't mind it, as long as he paid attention to Alana. And made sure she didn't get into trouble.

Horatio made his way down the stairs and then sighed heavily. He approached Ryan and then stopped. "I think I'm ready."

Ryan nodded and said goodbye to Kyle and Alana. Alana yelled out saying good luck, though she really had no idea what she was wishing luck for. Horatio and Ryan had told her that they had to go make sure a 'bad person' got put away. And that was enough for Alana. Kyle though, was upset. That was to be expected. He was old enough for Horatio to tell him exactly what happened. And hearing that his own mother wanted to kill him, his dad and his half-sister was, shocking to say the least. He obviously didn't take it too well but he seemed to be holding up alright. Ryan was just worried about how Kyle would handle things later. Kyle barely paid attention to them, only making a grunting sound to show he heard them. But his eyes never left the TV screen.

When they made it to the courthouse, Horatio tensed up. There were already a ton of reporters outside. Which made sense. The public had no idea that Horatio Caine was still alive up until about a month ago. After Dan Cooper had confessed to 'killing' him and being arrested, people believed him. And they decided to just go with it- not confirming nor denying it. And it helped that hospital staff weren't permitted to disclose information about who was and was not a resident. So when people would call in and ask if Horatio Caine was alive and in the hospital, the staff would tell them they weren't permitted to answer that. With him not in the public eye, people just assumed it was true. And that was a good thing, seeing as they had no idea if there were still people out there who wanted to hurt him. They still didn't know if that was the case.

When Horatio had left the hospital, people started saying that they had spotted him leaving. But they couldn't confirm it. Then people started seeing him going in and out of the lab. That got more people talking. That got a lot of attention. And now people wanted to question Horatio about his experience and about what really happened to him while in captivity.

"It'll be alright." Ryan told him. Horatio looked surprised that Ryan had said anything. "Just avoid people, and don't make eye contact with any of them."

Horatio just nodded and opened the car door. They both got out and began walking toward the doors. It seemed Horatio took Ryan's advice, and he kept his focus down on the ground. Ryan had taken his hand into his own and guided him to the doors. The reporters and curious court-goers were shoving their cameras in Horatio's face and one even knocked into his arm. Ryan was angry and felt that they were going too far, but he let it go.

He could see Calleigh and Eric's faces. They were both standing at the front of the door, waiting for Horatio and Ryan. When they got up the steps of the courthouse, Eric opened the door letting Calleigh in, then Horatio and Ryan.

"It's crazy out there." Calleigh said.

"It is." Horatio answered.

"Rick's already here. He's with Holly. I don't know why she's here." Eric told them. His snarky tone definitely didn't go unnoticed. "No sign of Ron Saris anywhere, though. But his lawyer is here, so maybe he will show up later."

Horatio only nodded in response and turned his attention to Ryan. "And you're sure you're okay?"

Ryan chuckled, a little surprised and nodded. "I'm fine, Horatio. You're the one I should be worried about."

"No, no, I'm fine. I can handle it."

Calleigh smiled. "You can handle anything." She took Eric's hand. "We're going to go back outside. We'll come find you guys later."

"Yeah, good luck." Eric said, facing Horatio. He never once looked in Ryan's direction. And Horatio never bothered looking at Eric. Calleigh still smiled though, and guided Eric back out the doors they had just come in. Ryan put his hand on Horatio's shoulder and squeezed it lightly. "Really Horatio, are you okay? You can tell me, you know."

"I'm fine, Ryan. I'm going to go look for my attorney." His tone seemed a little stone, but he did give a small smile to Ryan, so that was a plus. Ryan just nodded and Horatio walked away in another direction. Ryan decided to go look for Rick and Dave.

Luckily for him, he didn't have to look too far for Dave.

In the hall of the building, he could see Dave stopped in front of a large painting. He just stood there staring at it. Or so, Ryan thought. When he got closer, he could see that Dave was actually looking at the frame of the painting. It was gold, shiny and reflective. "Hey Ryan."

Dave was wearing a navy suit. His hair was tied up in his usual ponytail. It was definitely a first seeing him in formal wear. He was always casual, wearing faded jeans or a shirt with print on it. It was nice seeing Dave dressed up. "Hi Dave. You look nice."

"You do too. How's Horatio?"

"I think he's nervous. But I think it'll be okay. Everything is pretty cut and dried, unless Julia, Natalia and Dan decide to recant their statements. But I don't see that happening."

"Me neither. Holly's here. I talked to her and Rick for a while." Dave told him. "She said she's here to support Rick."

Ryan crossed his arms. "She is aware that her father's name is involved in this case? And the fact that we believe him to be involved and no one can find him because he took off?"

After Ryan spoke to Horatio, he had informed Ryan that she seemed to be in disbelief. When Horatio had told her that her father Red Cline had been mentioned in the case, she said it was impossible. He even brought up the possibility of someone trying to hurt her because of her association with him, and the fact that it could've been her father himself. But she didn't believe that. She said her dad wasn't like that, and he "couldn't hurt a fly".

"She is aware." Dave answered.

They had even asked Holly to bring in pictures of her dad. They'd never seen him before. But Holly told them she didn't have any pictures of him. She claimed he hated having his picture taken, and the few she did have were ruined in a house fire. Ryan wasn't so sure he believed that, but it wasn't as if they could issue a warrant for something like that.

Dave and Ryan walked together into the courtroom. He could see familiar faces from the lab. They were there to support Horatio and to see the outcome of everything. That made Ryan happy and he was sure that it did for Horatio too.

Horatio was standing on one side of the room, he was talking with a very tall man. This man was his attorney. Horatio didn't even want one, but he knew he had to have one. But he was very confident that he could prove his own case.

Ryan glanced around and saw Holly and Rick. Holly was seated, smiling and twirling a piece of her hair around her index finger. Rick was standing in front of her, he was saying something to her. Ryan couldn't hear what considering how far away he was but he really didn't. Although he did wonder why Holly was smiling as this situation didn't seem the most appropriate.

Dave tapped Ryan and pointed at the doorway. Ron Saris was walking through the door with Calleigh and Eric behind him. Eric was eyeing Ron, but Calleigh was barely paying attention to him. Her eyes were on everything and everybody except for Ron. Calleigh had taken Eric's hand again and guided him to a seat. They both sat down as Ron continued on. Surprisingly, he walked right up to Horatio.

Horatio didn't look surprised or mad or anything. His face remained neutral. Ryan and Dave didn't hear what they were saying, but Ron laughed, Horatio blinked and then Ron started cackling even louder. His lawyer approached him, and whispered something to him. Ron continued laughing even as his lawyer guided him to a seat. Dave had touched Ryan's arm. "We should sit, too." He said. And he was right. The judge was set to show up at any moment.