Title: Catch As Catch Can
Pairing: Horatio Caine and Danny Messer
Theme Set: Water Prompt # 24 Bare
Fandom: CSI: Miami and CSI:NY
Rating FRAO, Slash
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters nor am I making any money off of this story.
Summary: Danny and Horatio play catch in the surf.
Horatio stood on his balcony trying to calm down after the phone call he had received from Ryan. Ryan’s timing could have been better since Horatio had been making up for ignoring his lover, but he couldn’t fault the junior CSI for alerting him to potential trouble at the lab.
Ryan had told him about his conversation with Erica Sykes and the fact that she knew about the mole that had been placed in the lab to bring it down.
He growled in the back of his throat.
The off shore breeze blew his reddish gold hair off his forehead and played with the edges of his open shirt as it helped to cool his temper. He had thrown the shirt on to shield his pale skin from the late afternoon sun. His lover had teased him that it matched his swim trunks, but he had been too annoyed to appreciate their inside joke.
He pounded his fist on the balcony railing making the metal sing. It annoyed him to see what he and his team had worked so hard to achieve be destroyed from inside because of somebody’s misguided agenda.
Ever since Speed’s death, the lab had been under attack in some fashion. It made his job that much more difficult because he constantly was on the defensive; constantly scrutinizing everybody’s work; constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop.
He sighed.
There were days when he contemplated resigning and moving back to New York to be with his lover.
"Brooding about stuff at the lab won't make it go away," his lover observed in a gentle voice.
"I know," Horatio reluctantly admitted as he turned to face his lover. Danny had flown down for the weekend. It hadn’t been much of a weekend with all the fallout from the break-in at the lab to deal with, but Danny hadn’t seemed to mind. “It just pisses me off that on top of everything else I now have to deal with a mole instead of solving crimes.”
Danny walked onto the balcony his swim trunks riding low on his narrow waist. He pulled Horatio into a hug. “I called Mac,” he said and felt Horatio tense up. “I told him what was going on, so that he could be on the lookout for it. We just got that new lab and I don’t want to see it shot all up because some punk ass gets off on bucking authority.”
“What did he say?”
“Officially, he said he hoped the State’s Attorney threw the book at them,” Danny replied. “Unofficially, he hoped you kicked some ass.”
Horatio relaxed and laughed.
It was music to Danny’s ears. “He also gave me a couple more days off.”
“That was nice of him.”
The blond gave Horatio a squeeze and then released him. "I have an idea that will take your mind off of things," he said effectively changing the subject. He didn’t want Horatio to know that he had bargained with Mac to get those few extra days off. Making Horatio happy would be worth the double shifts.
"And what would that be?"
"Going down to the beach and playing catch."
“Playing catch?" Horatio raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"Yeah. I throw a ball to you and you throw it back to me," Danny remarked. He sauntered over to the gate that blocked the stairs that led down to the beach.
"I know what catch is, Danny," Horatio groused. "How is it going to help me with my problem?"
"You'll be so busy trying to stay up with me that all the pieces of the puzzle will fall into place and you'll have your solution," Danny explained.
“I can keep up with you,” Horatio retorted.
“If you say so, old man,” Danny taunted before opening the gate and hurrying down the stairs to the beach.
Horatio caught up with the younger man at the edge of the beach. He brought him down with a flying tackle and they ended up rolling into the surf.
Danny ended up straddling the redhead with water dripping from his short hair onto Horatio’s bare chest. “Still wanna play catch?” he asked with a chuckle.
“Nah,” Horatio answered. He reached up and pulled Danny toward him. “I caught what I want.” He took Danny’s mouth in a soft, teasing kiss.
The End