AN: Thank you for the review. Here is a new chapter to those who are still interested.

Chapter 17: Finding out

The minute Horatio heard that name, a name he hadn't heard in seventeen years, made his heart race, no wonder the boy looked familiar, he actually had a lot of his mother in him, so there was no doubt who his mother even was.

He mentally shook his head before immediately asking, needing to know. "You mentioned a father's name on the birth certificate. What was it?"

Laura paused to think before replying. "John Walden." She then shook her head with a small chuckle as she continued, not aware of Horatio's even more shocked state. "I did hear they tried to find his father after Julia died before giving him to his grandmother, but it was like he just disappeared off the face of the earth. Or if he had ever existed at all, she could had very well just made that name up."

Horatio didn't know what to say, he was still processing on what was happening here.

Did he just find out he had a son, who was fighting for his life? And if he was his son, could he lose him before he got to know him. Not to mention, he just found out Julia had died, and he didn't know how to deal with that piece of news.

On one hand, he had completely moved on from her, he knew his feelings for Julia never reached the height he felt for his wife, but on the other hand, when he was with her, his feelings for her were real, there was no denying that, and they potentially had a child together.

Horatio's thoughts get interrupted by Laura. "Horatio, are you ok?"

He nodded his head, trying to shake off the shock of what he was finding out in one setting, and he was about to speak but was interrupted when a doctor in his early fifties, who was around Horatio's height, had an athletic body with dark hair that was turning white, spoke. "Excuse me, are you family to Kyle Harmon?"

Horatio almost went on instinct and was going to immediately declare he was, even though the timing would fit perfectly for him to be and with Julia putting his 'name' on Kyle's birthday certificate, he still needed that DNA proof, so he kept quiet but did stand up along with Laura as she nodded with tears in her eyes.

"Yes, I'm Laura Reynolds, I'm his legal guardian. Is he going to be ok? Please tell me he will be, I can't…."

The doctor cuts her off with a smile. "Yes, Mrs. Reynolds, Kyle is going to pull through. He was very lucky."

Laura did a sigh of relief, which Horatio did one too, just more on the inside, before Laura held out her hand to the doctor with a smile. "Thank you."

He shook the woman's hand as he replied. "You're welcome, but he did most of the work."

As they released hands, Laura then asked. "Can I go see him?"

"Yes, but he does need his rest."

"Of course. I understand."

Laura looks at Horatio and asked. "You are welcome to come too if you want."

And a part of him really did, but he needed to figure out some stuff first, so he gave her a smile and replied. "Maybe in a little bit, if you don't mind."

She shook her head with a smile as she held out her hand to him. "Not at all. Thank you for helping him. If you hadn't been there who knows what would have happened."

As Horatio shook the woman's hand, he replied. "I'm glad we will never find that out."

Laura nodded in agreement, then got Cynthia's attention, who hugged Horatio, before the two of them headed for Kyle's hospital room after finding out what room number he was in.

The doctor gave Horatio a head nod of acknowledgement before he turned and started walking away but was stopped by Horatio's voice. "Excuse me Doctor, but I would like to ask you about doing a blood test for paternity."

"Ok, and who would you like to test for that? An unborn child, a newborn..."

Horatio cuts him off after clearing his throat. "Your patient, Kyle Harmon."

The doctor looked shocked. "But I thought Mrs. Reynolds was the legal guardian?"

"She is. But after some things she told me, there is a chance that teenage boy could be mine. Everything fits, but I need to be 100% sure before I start shifting a lot of lives around."

"I understand where you are coming from, but in order for any of us to do a test like that, you are going to need permission from Mrs. Reynolds and Kyle, there is no other way around that."

"Yeah, I figured."

He pulled out a business card and hands it to Horatio as he spoke again. "When you get things figured out and you're ready to do that test, let me know. I will be happy to help. And I wish you all the best."

Horatio took the card from him with a nod. "Thank you, and I will. And thanks again for saving him. I know you're going to say he did most of the work, but that doesn't minimize the part you had in saving his life."

The doctor nodded with a smile before walking away.

Horatio took a breath before he started walking towards the hall that would lead him to the room where Kyle was.

When he got there, he stopped at the closed door and looked through the window since the blinds were opened and saw that Kyle still had has his eyes closed, so not to disturb him, Horatio turned and started to walk away but heard Laura's excited voice, so he turned back towards the window and smiled, seeing Kyle's eyes now open and a smile on his face while holding onto Laura's hand.

Horatio took a breath, placed his hand on the doorknob, but then changed his mind, wanting them to have their time together for a bit before he had to go and turn their lives around. But eventually he had to know for sure, there was no way he can just forget that Kyle could be his son. He wasn't there for him for the first fifteen, almost sixteen, years of his life, which no one could blame him since he didn't know, but he was going to be there for him now, especially if he was his son.

After walking out of the hospital building, Horatio pulled his phone out of his pocket, hit speed dial number 3 and placed it up to his ear just in time to hear Eric's voice. "Hey boss, what's going on?"

"The victim, Kyle has woken up. I need you to come down to the hospital to get his account on what happened."

"You got it."

"How is the case going?"

"Actually, not bad, but the few eyewitnesses who saw the man running from the scene had different accounts on what he looked like, so Kyle's description will probably break the case wide open."

"Good know, keep me updated."

"I will." Eric then smirked. "But you know boss, you could have done Kyle's interview yourself."

Knowing he couldn't be anywhere near the questioning, if it turns out Kyle was in fact his son, Horatio was quick to respond. "Your lead Eric, so it's your case to the end, including all interviews and interrogations." Horatio then smirked a little, wanting to put a little humor into his statement. "Besides, I'm supposed to be off today, remember?"

Eric chuckled, then after finishing their pleasantries, they ended the call before Horatio gets into his vehicle and heads to the beach, his favorite place to be alone with his thoughts as he hears the calming waves.

Horatio didn't know how long he was standing there, but eventually he gets a text message from Eric, claiming they got the suspect, so he turns his back to the ocean and heads to his vehicle so he could go to the lab and see the man for himself.

Once he got to the lab, he gets out of his vehicle, and he was halfway up the walkway when Eric and a few cops was walking the suspect to the police car.

They all stopped while Horatio took off his sunglasses and just eyed the man, who looked to be a homeless man just trying to get money. But that didn't excuse him for his actions, especially towards a teenage boy, potentially his teenage boy at that, so anger was coursing through his body, but he kept it in-check before he did something he would regret as he eyed the man down, who now looked a little scared at seeing the fire in Horatio's eyes.

A moment later, Horatio moved to the side and spoke. "Take that man out of here."

The two cops nodded while continuing their walk, leaving Horatio and Eric behind.

The two men watched them until the vehicle drove away, then Eric and Horatio looked at one another before Horatio spoke. "Well, done Eric."

Eric shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal. "This one was pretty straight forward. He wasn't exactly the smartest tool in the shed. But you'll read about it when you look over the report, which I have to finish it up."

Before Eric walked away, Horatio did something very unexpected, he gave Eric a hug as he spoke again. "I mean it, thank you for your help today."

Even though Eric was shocked at his boss's action, and maybe a little confused on why he felt like he needed hug him since he had never hugged him the other times he's done his job, he hugged the older man back with a smile. "You're welcome boss. And anytime."

Once they pulled back, Eric turned to walk away, but once again stopped and turned back before speaking again. "Oh, I before I forget, Mrs. Reynolds wanted me to tell you that she hopes you go back to the hospital so you can officially meet Kyle." Eric then chuckled and shook his head. "And I got to say, I know this might sound crazy and all, but he reminds me a lot of you."

Horatio's heart started to race as he asked. "How so?"

"Just his personality. He's very protective of those he cares about, I would even say brave. And I don't know, maybe I'm reading into this part a little too much, but I think you two have the same smile." Eric then smirked. "I mean, when I do get to see you smile that is." Horatio just shook his head with a smile, causing Eric to chuckle before he finished. "I'm just glad everything worked out for them you know, they needed to have some good news after her losing her husband just a few months ago."

Horatio nodded with a small sigh. "Yeah."

"And by the way, do you still want to look at Mrs. Reynolds report?"

"Yes."

"Ok, I'll put it on your desk along with the casefile once I'm done with it."

"Thanks again Eric."

After Eric nodded one more time, he turned around once again, and this time actually made it back into the lab.

Horatio was placing his glasses back on when he feels his phone vibrate, so he pulls it out of his pocket and sees a text from Calleigh.

'Miss you. Is everything ok?'

'I'll be home in a few minutes, at the lab right now. Case got closed.'

After he hits send, he headed to his vehicle, and got a reply back. 'That's good to hear. Ok, I'll see you when you get home. Love you, Handsome.'

Horatio smiled as he text her back. 'Love you too, sweetheart.'

He placed the keys in the ignition, turned on his vehicle before leaving the lab so he could go home and have a talk with Calleigh, knowing he couldn't move forward with what he was about to do without informing her on what he found out since her life will be impacted as well, he just hopes that what happened in his past doesn't blow up his future.

Once he gets home, he stays in his vehicle a few extra minutes before getting out and walking towards the front door to the house. He opens it and steps in, smiling right away when he saw his two favorite girls sitting on the living room floor. "Hi ladies."

Beverly gets on her hands and knees and pulls herself up before she started walking towards Horatio, babbling 'daddy' all the way to him, Horatio, with a big smile picks up his strawberry blond haired, green-eyed beauty and kisses her cheek. "Hi baby girl. You know how much daddy loves you?"

Beverly gives him a slobbery kiss and hug with a laugh as her response, causing Horatio to chuckle and hug her back.

Calleigh got up from the floor and walked towards her husband with a bright, loving, smile. "I think she very well knows how much you love her."

He sighed as he ran his hand up and down her back. "I really hope so."

After one more long hug, Beverly was squirming to get back down, so he placed her back on the floor and she walked right back to her toys and plopped right down.

They watched her play for a few minutes with smiles on their faces before Calleigh looks at her husband, who was watching their daughter with an unreadable look in his eyes, so she asked. "Are you ok? You seem a little off right now."

Knowing he can't put this off any longer, he sighed as he looked over at her before replying. "We need to talk."

Calleigh tried to push away the nervous feeling she was now getting from the seriousness of his tone and the look in his eyes as she cupped his cheek. "Ok, and whatever it is, we'll get through it together."

He moved his hand up to hers that was on his cheek and took it before walking them towards the couch as he replied. "I really hope you'll feel the same once I tell you what I am about to tell you."

"Ok, now you're really starting to scare me, what's going on?"

After they sat down on the couch, they made sure Beverly was still completely occupied with her toys before they looked at one another with their hands still clasped together, then he took another breath before speaking. "You remember me telling you when I had to go undercover back when I was working in New York."

"Yeah, and you said that it ended successfully." She then gasped with worry. "Why, were there some lose ends that weren't as tied up as you thought? Are you in trou..."

He cuts her off with in a soothing tone. "Sweetheart, every lose end was tied up, there is no trouble were that is concerned. This, what I'm trying to say, has nothing to do with the case itself. It's what else happened while I was undercover."

She took a breath. "Oh, that. The woman that you had met."

When they were talking about past relationships, Julia was obviously mentioned, but Calleigh didn't want to really hear the details on what exactly happened, which Horatio didn't want to really hear any details about her past relationships either. So, they agreed to stop talking about the 'others' and just be happy that they ended up together.

"Yes, and I know we both agreed to just let the past stay in the past, but this is something we need to talk about now."

Now she was back to being a little scared, so she asked softly. "Ok, and you're bringing this up now because why? Did she show back up in your life?"

"That's kind of a trick question, because I guess in a way you can say that, or I should say really think that." Before Calleigh could speak, he continued while squeezing her hand. "Please, let me get this out." She nodded and kept quiet while he continued. "The last day of my undercover work, after I was done with the professional part of it, I wanted to tell Julia who I really was, even knowing that it could risk our relationship. I just knew I couldn't keep the lie going for the rest of my life, so I went to her place to tell her, but she wasn't there, she had packed up and left. I did try looking for her a few months once I got back to New York, but I could never find her or why she even left in the first place." He paused for a moment before he finished. "Well, I didn't know why she left until now. Or at least I have a pretty good idea why she left."

"Which is?"

Horatio took another breath before telling her what he believes, knowing this was going to shock her. "She was pregnant." Calleigh looked at her husband with wide eyes as he continued. "I just don't know why she left without telling me, or if she didn't know until after she left and couldn't find me."

Calleigh's heart started racing as she asked. "And you're telling me this now because?"

"I'm telling you this now because I believe I just found my son."

Putting the pieces together rather quickly since she was pretty much there after her last question, Calleigh spoke softly. "The boy in the park that got shot, Kyle." After Horatio nodded, Calleigh gasped again as she stood up and walked to the living room window. "Oh my god!"

He stood up a moment later and walked up to her as he spoke again. "Like I just said, I believe he's my son. I don't know for a fact yet, but with his age, his biological mother's name and the name she put on his birth certificate, it all fits and I can't just walk away without truly knowing if he's mine."

Calleigh looked at her husband with tears in her eyes. "I know that, and I would never ask you to."

He sighed before speaking softly. "Calleigh, I'm sor..."

She cuts him off with a confused look. "Why are you apologizing, you have nothing to be sorry for, you didn't know she was pregnant when she left."

"No, I didn't. But finding out I could have another child with a woman from my past, can't be easy to hear."

She wiped a few tears off her cheeks before smirking. "Well, it's not exactly a dream of mine to hear something like that." She paused for a second then cupped his cheek as she continued with love and understanding in her eyes. "But this changes nothing on how I feel about you and our life together. Sure, things are going to be different if he's really yours, but we'll make it work. If you think I was going anywhere after finding this unexpected news, then you have another thing coming, mister."

For the first time since connecting the dots that Kyle could be his, he felt total relief after his wife's words, so he brings her into his arms and hugs her. "I love you, Calleigh. So much."

"I love you too handsome." After they pulled back, she asked. "So, I take it you haven't told Mrs. Reynolds on what you believe is true?"

Horatio shook his head. "No, I knew I needed to talk to you first."

After Calleigh nodded, she gasped after realizing something else. "I just realized you also found out today Julia had died. How are you dealing with that?"

While she didn't like hearing about him and the women from his past, she knew he really cared for this one, and it had to sting a little after he found she had died.

"I'll admit it hurts to find out she had died, and I wish she was alive so she could answer all the questions I have right now. But honestly, I'm ok. I 'said' goodbye to her a long time ago."

After they shared another hug, they started walking back to the couch, which Beverly had her arms up for her father as they passed her, so Horatio picked her up with a smile and walked the rest of the way to the couch.

Once they sat back down, Calleigh asked. "So, when do you want to get the ball rolling on this?"

"I was planning on going back to the hospital today after I talked to you, but I don't want to make them feel like I'm pushing so soon after he got shot."

"I know you don't but wouldn't it be better if we all get this done as soon as possible."

"It will certainly make me feel better to know for sure. I just don't want them to feel like I'm taking anything from them, especially Mrs. Reynolds, who had just lost her husband..."

Knowing he was torn on what to do, she cuts him off with a smile. "I also know you wouldn't do that to them. If Kyle truly is your son, you wouldn't just keep him out of her life."

He instantly replied to that. "No, I wouldn't, from what I've heard, she's taken really good care of him the last five years. I don't know how I'll ever repay her for that."

There was a moment of silence before she stood up. "Ok, I can't wait, I believe knowing sooner rather than later is the better option."

"Yeah, me too. But what are we going to do about this little one?"

Calleigh immediately went to her phone. "I'll call Natalia and see if she could watch Beverly for a bit."

As Horatio watched her on the phone, a new burst of love flowed through him for his beautiful, understanding wife, because what's about to happen next could change their lives in a way that neither one could have predicted, and she was taking it all in stride.

AN: Thanks for reading and please review.