Title: Love Makes a Family
Author: Carina Scott ([info]nicknrick4eva)
Fandom: CSI: Miami
Rating: FRM
Genre: Slash
Pairing: Horatio/Tim
Summary: Tim makes a selfless sacrifice in Horatio’s best interest.
Challenge: 10_urt_Comfort
Prompt: #9 Fear
Spoilers: All Season to be safe, even if this is slightly AU
Author's Note: That whole "Raymond isn't dead" thing? Didn't happen. Neither did the whole "Speedle is dead." Nope, none of it happened, consider it a figment of someone's twisted imagination. *eyes Miami writes*
Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own. *sigh* Please don't sue, no harm is intended.
Word Count: 2,007
 

~*~

Speed stands in the doorway to their bedroom, watching as his lover sleeps peaceful. He takes in the slightly parted lips, the soft snore, and the bed mussed hair. Horatio is beautiful.

Wiping at the random tear that slides down his cheek, Speed takes one last look at his beloved Horatio, before turning and walking into the living room. Grabbing his jacket and keys, he heads to the front door. Pausing at the front door, he stares down at his keys. With a shaking hand, he removes a key from the ring and sets it on the foyer table. Closing the door behind him, Tim walks to his bike. Climbing on, he ignores the tears that fall from his eyes and peels out of the driveway.

~*~

Horatio startles awake, looking around sleepily for what woke him. Rubbing his eyes sleepily, he looks at the empty space next to him, wondering where his wayward lover has disappeared to. “Speed?”

Getting no response, Horatio sits up on the side of the bed, looking around for his house slippers. Sliding his feet into the plush comfort, he wanders down the hall in search of Speed.

Assuming his lover has fallen asleep in the study once again, Horatio heads that way. Glancing in the empty study, he smiles to himself. ‘Ice cream’ he thinks, remembering the new carton he’d brought home last night, knowing it is his lover’s guilty pleasure.

“I thought I was the only sweetness you needed,” Horatio calls out teasingly, coming up short when he finds the kitchen empty. Fear creeping into his chest, Horatio calls out once again. “Tim? Hon, where are you?”

Still receiving no response, Horatio hurries to the front door. Looking out he sighs in relief when he notices that Speed’s bike is gone. ‘He’s just gone for a ride to clear his head.’ Horatio thinks, knowing its habit after rough cases. He ignores the little voice in his head that reminds him that Tim never goes off without telling him.

Closing the door behind him, Horatio sighs as the relief begins to drain from his tense shoulders.

As he turns to head back to the kitchen, suddenly craving ice cream, his heart stutters.

“No,” Horatio says, his voice barely above a whisper, as he notices Tim’s key for the first time.

~*~

Tim slams the door behind him, flinging his keys and jacket onto the couch, before slumping down into the oversized reading chair he loves.

He hates himself right now, but he knows he made the right choice. In time, Horatio will realize it too.

Jumping up suddenly, Tim heads into his bedroom. Searching in the back of his closet, Tim finally reemerges with a box. Finding the packing tape in his kitchen, Speed proceeds to go through the house, putting anything that even remotely reminds him of Horatio in the box.

By the time he is on box two, Speed is emotionally drained. It’s of no use. He would have to pack up the entire house to get rid of everything that reminds him of Horatio and it still wouldn’t be enough. Horatio had left his mark, in every way imaginable.

From the plants hanging on his balcony, just out of direct sunlight to the coffee in his pantry, evidence of Horatio’s presence is everywhere. The plush towels in his linen closet, the aromatic incense hidden in his desk drawer in his office, and the hand woven quilt that lay at the foot of his bed were all a part of Horatio. Horatio had either given them to him or inspired him to purchase them. Even the paint on the wall was indicative of Horatio’s affect on Tim’s life. Before the walls had been a stark white, but one exhausting weekend and every room had been painted; no wall was left bare.

Sitting down in the middle of his bedroom, Tim began to rummage through the boxes he’d just packed. Pulling out a Ziploc bag, he couldn’t help but smile. In it was the napkin Horatio had used on their first date. Or rather the shredded remains of the napkin. He had been so nervous that he had shredded the napkin before the waitress could even bring their drink orders. Tim had found it endearing, while Horatio had been mortified when he realized what he’d done. He never told Horatio, but he’d kept it as a reminder of that night.

Reaching back into the box, Tim fought to keep the tears welling up in his eyes from spilling over. It was a dragon, a stuffed toy he had received on an outing with Horatio and Madison. They’d taken her out for the day, to a local carnival, and Horatio had won him the silly dragon. It had been sitting on his bed ever since.

Looking down into the box once again, light glinted off of one object, capturing Tim’s attention. Lifting the frame from amongst the various items stuffed into the box, Tim stifled a sob.

The frame held his most cherished photo. It was one of those booth photos, taken the same day Horatio had won the dragon. Madison had dragged both men into the booth, demanding that they take a picture to capture the day. In a moment of absolute coincidence, both men had turned to kiss Madison on the cheek, delighting at the squeal of happiness it pulled from her. The camera had captured the moment in perfect clarity. He’d been ecstatic when Horatio had brought him a larger framed version to display on his desk. IT was his most cherished possession, but it hurt too much to look at it.

“That’s my favorite photo.” Tim jumped at the voice behind him, turning slightly, he looked up in shock, coming face to face with his lover.

“Horatio? What are you doing here?”

“Seems to me I should be asking you the same thing.”

~*~  

Horatio and Tim sat at the dining table, each man staring into their rapidly cooling cups of coffee.

“Why?” Horatio asked his voice thick with emotion.

Tim looked up at the question, the pain evident in Horatio’s tone. “Because I love you.”

Horatio raised a brow at that response, “Walking away from me is a definitely a funny way of showing it.”

“I did it out of love. It’s for the best.”

“How can you say that? How could losing you possibly be for the best!”

“Horatio, I heard the lawyer. I’m not good for you, not right now. Maybe later, after everything has blown over we can try again, but for now it’s the best.”

“Tim, please. Don’t do this. We can find some other way to get around this.”

“Horatio, as respected as you are, the stigma of being gay is far reaching. Right now, no matter how we feel, we have to think about Maddy.”

“Tim, I’m thinking about Maddy. Right now she needs us. Both of us.”

“And I’ll be here for her, you know that. But we can’t do it together. It’s too risky. We could lose her.”

Wiping the tear that slipped from Tim’s eyes, Horatio cupped his lover’s cheek. “Tim, when Susie found out she was dying, she made us promise that we would raise Maddy. She wanted you to be Maddy’s father. When you signed the papers to adopt her, you know how happy she was.”

“I know, but she didn’t think her parents would fight against it when she died. And her parents already have enough ammo with your hectic work schedule. I’m not gonna give them even more by flaunting our relationship to them.”

“Tim, please…”

“No Horatio! You have a dangerous job, you risk your life everyday, you could be killed or hurt at any moment. You never work a steady schedule, and at any moment you could be called in. People have lost custody battles with far less. I refuse to be the reason you lose Maddy!”

“Tim, baby, calm down.” Horatio pleaded as he grabbed his frantic lover. “Calm down. We’ll figure this out.”

Sobbing into his lover’s embrace, Tim tried to get his emotions under control, “I can’t be the reason you lose her Horatio. I just can’t. I couldn’t bare the thought that my selfishness placed her with those people. She’s been through too much already, losing both her parents. I can’t let her lose you too. I won’t. I love both of you too much.”

“I know, Tim. I love you too. We’ll get through this together. No matter what happens, Madison will know that we fought with everything for her. Everything. Okay?”

Shaking his head, Tim buried his head into his lover’s chest, “Okay. Together; we’ll do it together. I love you Horatio.”

“I love you too, Tim.”

~*~ two months later ~*~

Tim paced frantically back and forth across his living room floor.

“Timmy, you’re gonna wear a hole through the carpet. Calm down,” Alexx said from her seat on the couch.

Tim sat down with a sigh, “He said he would call as soon as he heard anything. It’s been three hours! It doesn’t take that long to make a decision.”

“You know how court is, it always takes longer than you expect. You’ve been running yourself ragged for the last few days, why don’t you try take a nap,” Alexx suggested, knowing Timmy wasn’t going to take her advice, but she had to make the effort.

“I can’t sleep now! What if he calls? No, I have to stay by the phone.” Tim almost fell off the couch when the phone rang.

Sprinting for it, he grabbed it on the second ring, “Horatio?” He listened for a second before frowning, “No I don’t have a spare moment to answer your idiotic survey questions!” Slamming down the phone, Tim stalked back over to sit next to Alexx.

Alexx wisely kept quiet.

Hearing a knock at the door, Alexx placed a calming hand on Tim’s knee, “I’ll get it.”

Tim drummed his fingers on his knees nervously, trying to figure out why Horatio hadn’t called. He had promised. It wasn’t like him to bre-

“Uncle Timmy!” Tim looked up to see a shock of red hair bounding toward him.

As he hugged the bundle of joy tightly, he looked up questioningly at his lover as he walked in at a much slower pace.

“I thought you were gonna call.”

“Maddy begged me not to, said she wanted it to be a surprise.”

Not wanting to get his hopes up, even with the bundle of joy in his arms, Speed quirked a brow, “So what happened?”

Before Horatio could answer, Maddy piped up, “We won! I get to stay with you and Uncle ‘Ratio!”

Tim looked at his lover for confirmation, and breathed a sigh of relief at the answering nod.

Horatio joined his lover and niece on the couch, sharing in the hugs and kisses as the stress of the last few months drained away.

Alexx stood before the trio, smiling brightly, “So do I get to hug my grandbaby?”

Maddy immediately bounded over and hugged Alexx tightly. Alexx settled into the over sized easy chair, pulling Maddy up into her lap. “Hey Maddy, how about we go shopping this weekend. We can get some cool girly stuff for your room while your uncles paint it a bright pink. What do you think about that?”

Horatio and Tim laughed as Maddy started to gush about all the things she wanted for her room.

“She’s already spoiling her!” Tim groaned.

“And this is only the beginning,” Alexx commented before resuming her intense conversation with Madison.

“Just think what’s gonna happen when Cal gets a hold of her,” Horatio replied. Both men shared a look before groaning in unison.

“I guess we should start saving for college and her credit card bills.”

“Probably so, but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Horatio replied, entwining his fingers with Tim’s.

Placing a soft kiss to Horatio’s hand, Tim smiled as he looked over at their daughter, “Me either.”

THE END