Title: An Old Photo
By: Monkey Dom
Pairings: gen
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I don't own them. If I did, I wouldn't be so bloody poor.
Summary: Horatio finds an old Photo and thinks of his little brother.

***

Horatio sighed as he stood in the middle of his office and looked around. How the hell did it get so freaking messy when he was barely in here? Taking a closer look, he realised that most of this stuff was random crap left behind by his team.

Dragging his feet over to his chair, Horatio shrugged off his jacket and began to sort through the mess on his desk. He stared down at the various amounts of paperwork and budget cuts that littered his desktop before sorting it all out and filing it away. That way, he could pretend it didn't exist.

Horatio lifted a case file and noticed a photograph sticking out from under one of Eric's reports. Horatio frowned and pulled it out. It was an old photo of himself and Raymond. He didn't remember ever having the photo in here and he could swear that he hadn't looked at it in years. It was taken on Raymond's 15th birthday, Horatio had been around 22.

Horatio had his arm thrown around Ray's shoulders and both had huge grins on their faces. Horatio stared down at his little brother. His bright green eyes were shining, even in the old photo. It had been so long since Horatio had seen Ray so happy and even then it had been a rare sight.

The picture had been taken at Ray's birthday party. Horatio and a few of his friends had decided that Ray needed a huge party, as he'd never really had one. When he was little, Ray usually spent his birthday in the hospital. But Ray lived with their grandmother and deserved a decent birthday party; Nothing like a bunch of New Yorkers getting together to party.

One of Ray's friends' parents had gone away for the weekend, allowing many teenagers and a group of Horatio's friends to get as drunk as they liked on Halloween.

Horatio still didn't remember most of that night; neither did anyone else who was there. He was pretty sure that at least two girls got pregnant that night and that his friend Colm was supposedly the father of both.

By the next morning, there had only been a few of them left, passed out among the various bottles scattered across the floor.

Horatio had woken up with a splitting headache and lying on a couch. Raymond had passed out on the couch with his head on Horatio's chest. Horatio could remember smiling before rolling over and throwing his little brother onto the floor.

"Ah, you bastard!"

"How's your head?" Horatio had asked.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Raymond had said before racing to the bathroom. Horatio and just chuckled and stumbled after him. Ray's first Hangover.

A knock at the door startled Horatio and he looked up.

"Calleigh, what can I do for you?"

She smiled and handed him another folder to add to his collection. "The ballistics report on our victim showed…"

After she left, Horatio smiled down at the photo before placing it ih his jacket pocket and returned to his cleaning.

***