Author: Sam

Story: Speed Trap: 4 of 23

Series: Speed-Burn

Setting: Early December, 2004. Miami.

Note: I will be going back to the main story in the next chapter. This one does come into play later, however.

Feedback: Yes, please? Especially constructive. samwise_baggins@yahoo.co.uk

Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/samwise_baggins/index.html

She sat perched on the edge of her chair, impatiently checking her tiny, gold watch. Annoyance lit her grey eyes as she saw the time and she flicked her head, sending her trailing mahogany curls shimmering over her back to fall once more over her shoulders. The woman was beautiful still, even at the age of forty, and it was readily apparent that she would be beautiful for many years to come.

Horatio stopped, staring at the image his ex-wife made. She was sitting in a local Bistro, surrounded by natives in their Florida winter gear or tourists in their shorts and T-shirts; Peg, however, was dressed in an expensive suit by one designer or another. Nothing but the best for Margaret Wilson-Caine, after all. With a sigh, offering a small smile to his companion, Alexx, Horatio made his way forward once more. Best to get this confrontation over with.

Peg looked up as the pair approached, feeling once again the stab of jealousy at seeing Horatio with a beautiful woman, even if it was Alexx Woods. She knew the medical examiner was nothing but a friend for her former husband, and truly she didn't even have the right to jealousy; they'd been divorced for ten years. That didn't stop the same old feelings from resurfacing. Her ex-husband was an attractive man, and it had been extremely hard to believe he hadn't used that to his advantage and played the field when they were together. Of course, knowing Horatio, she had to admit that she'd really never felt he had been cheating... but it sure sounded like a more reasonable explanation to Peg than that he had to work late with the bomb squad all the time. Just how many bombs did one man see in a life time?

Holding a chair out for Alexx then slipping into one himself, Horatio tried his normal, easy-going smile on the woman who'd broken his heart. It worked, and the annoyance drained from her expression, to be replaced by an equally bright smile. He nodded then noted that there was a third place set at the small iron-wrought table. So Peg had brought a companion as well, that actually boded well. Perhaps this meeting was her way of showing that she had gotten on with her life, found a new man. If so, he was definitely supportive of the idea. A new man meant Peg would finally stop calling him, maybe even stop haunting his unguarded moments, filling him with bitterness he no longer wanted to feel.

"'Ratio, Alexx. I'm glad you could make it." Her words were actually directed towards Horatio, but her smile took in the medical examiner as well. Apparently, showing up with another woman hadn't rankled his ex-wife. Good. It shouldn't.

"Peg. Have you ordered?"

Observing the pleasantries made this meeting appear more sociable, less strained. After all, if he was right and Peg had brought her new man to meet him, he wanted to be receptive and supportive. Besides, if they were eating, it was less likely Peg would be winding herself up talking about their ancient history together.

Flicking her curls, and having them fall again back into her face, Peg laughed lightly. Horatio's ears perked. That wasn't an easy laugh; it was nervous. Something was really bothering Peg; she was rarely nervous around anyone. That woman oozed confidence. "Yes, we've ordered. I took the liberty of ordering for you, as well. If I had known you had a lunch date, I'd have waited." Was she actually babbling?

Alexx, for her part, smiled easily and stayed out of the conversation. She flagged a waiter down, ordered a tuna melt, then sat back to enjoy the bright sunshine and show her support for her friend. Soon enough it would be her turn to bend his ear, and her conversation probably would be just as upsetting.

Horatio tilted his head, glancing at Peg sideways, never full on. It was a habit he had formed who knows when, and one he'd never taken the time to break. The words 'we've ordered' didn't slip by him and only confirmed that she had brought a companion along specifically to meet him. Otherwise, she'd have come herself; Peg had never been afraid to meet him alone, even during the four months of divorce proceedings. "What did you want to talk about, Peg?" He kept his tone light.

She picked up her napkin, and Horatio was surprised to see the woman's hands trembling. Trembling? She really is nervous. That surprised him more than the letter had earlier. Gently, Horatio placed a hand over his ex-wife's hands, looking into her eyes, trying to reassure her in whatever crisis she was now facing. They had been friends and lovers once; he could find it in his heart to help her now.

Her eyes met his and she nodded, once, firmly getting a grip on her emotions. Sliding her hands from under Horatio's, she took a steadying breath and let it out slowly. "All right. The divorce," at Horatio's sudden frown she lifted a manicured hand and said, "please, hear me out. This isn't easy."

At his solemn nod, she took another breath and started again. "I never claimed alimony from you, 'Ratio." Before he might even consider asking if that was what she wanted now, she shook her head with a small, bitter smile. "I never needed it, despite everything, and I still don't. I've made a name for myself in the journalistic community, and am very well off." Her grey eyes met his blue ones again. "So, I'm not after money... exactly."

"Exactly?" Horatio tilted his head, a frown crossing his face, clouding his eyes. His tone held more bitterness than he'd intended, but he let it go. If she was so well off, couldn't she see that a cop's salary could hardly make a dent in what she was already making?

Lunch arrived and Horatio waited for the waiter to settle everything on the table and move off before asking, "What are you after, if it's not money... exactly?" He put a chip into his mouth, just to have something else to do.

"A home?"

Horatio choked on the food and felt Alexx pounding his back. Peg had the grace to blush as Horatio sipped water and tried to clear the coughing sensation. Finally, once again under control, he choked out in a hoarse voice, "A home? What about the house you got in the divorce?"

Peg started shaking her head, hair bouncing wildly. "It's not for me, 'Ratio. It's for him." And she pointed to a spot near the Bistro, behind Horatio's chair. He slowly turned and what he saw nearly took his breath away.

There, coming hesitantly towards them, was a boy. He was perhaps nine, with flaming red hair and too-large blue eyes. His expression was uncertain, but the way he carried his self was all quiet confidence. It was like looking at a miniature copy of himself... a self from forty years ago.

The red-haired man didn't take his eyes off the equally red-haired boy for a second; however, his question was in no doubt aimed at the woman sitting across from him. "You were pregnant... and didn't tell me, Peg?"

"Oh, there you go, 'Ratio." The bitterness in her voice finally drew his attention back to her. "And next you'll be saying how you should have been helping me with him all these years." She glared at him, her eyes steely in disgust. "Always the hero, right, 'Ratio? Well, I didn't tell you because I wanted him to myself."

Confusion lit the man's eyes, quickly followed by hurt then anger. She continued, unrelenting.

"Yes, I'm a selfish bitch. I didn't want you in his life, chafing at my ideas of child rearing, and turning his head with your damn adventurous cop stories. I wanted to prove to everyone, including myself, that I could do it. I could have a child and a career, without having a man to lean on." Peg's eyes were blazing, and there was no stopping her now. "And I did it. I raised that boy for nine years and still made myself a star in the journalism industry." Pride and anger warred in the woman's voice.

Horatio clenched his fists and turned his head to once more study the approaching boy. Slowly, so softly it would have warned any of his friends that he was in a very dangerous mood, Horatio asked, "And why are you telling me now? You haven't needed me in his life so far... what makes you need a low-life man... a cop, after nine years?"

"I'm going over seas and I can't take him with me. He needs a stable home to grow up in, and I have no idea how long I'll be gone. I'm being sent to Iraq to cover the fighting."

Slowly, Horatio turned to his ex-wife, not seeing the embarrassed sympathy in Alexx's face or the wary curiosity in the approaching boy's. "So, you don't even tell me I'm a father for over nine years then you expect me to rearrange my life... my dangerous, over-worked life... to raise a boy who doesn't even know me and probably has heard only negative things about me?"

"Oh, get off your damned high horse, 'Ratio. It's not about you; it never has been." She threw down her napkin and stood up, pulling forward a stuffed gym bag he hadn't noticed before then. "Will you take him or not?"

Sitting straight and proud in the wrought-iron chair, Horatio Caine glared at the woman he'd loved all those years ago, a woman he'd begun to hate, but now he didn't even dislike her. He had no emotions remaining for this selfish woman, only disdain for the way she used everyone around her. "I'll take him, Peg. But don't expect to ever take him back. I'll fight you in the courts if I have to."

The detective stood up and took the bag from her suddenly nerveless fingers. His look of contempt served to make her pale as he started to turn away. Turning back one last time, his voice soft and deadly as a cobra's strike, he said, "And it was never about me, Margaret. It was supposed to be about us." With that, Horatio strode quickly towards the boy he'd never known existed, followed silently by an embarrassed, and rather angry, Alexx.

Neither looked back at the woman who'd so blatantly thrown Horatio out of her life.