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Proof of Existence	By : CainesSparkly Category: 1 through F > CSI: Miami Views: 2639 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own CSI: Miami, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Disclaimer: We all know I don’t own CSI: Miami or any of its characters; the great and wonderful CBS, Jerry Bruckheimer, and a few others I’m sure I’ve forgotten do and we should all worship them for giving us such wonderful characters to play with. Mara Hohlman, however, does belong to me and I’d like to be consulted before she’s used elsewhere.
Author’s Note: I am playing fast and loose with vampire legends here… any similarity to other works is purely unintentional. This story is set in an alternate universe… and I don’t think there are any spoilers. If there are, they’re for Season 4… I think.
Archive: If you want it, take it, but please tell me where my baby will be. I can be reached at djsparkles@insightbb.com.
Chapter Three

Caine woke slowly the next morning, momentarily disoriented, until he remembered he’d spent the night in Wolfe’s guest room. He’d wanted to be near, in case the boy needed something.
Memories of the dream crowded his mind and he groaned. It had been a long time since he’d let himself go, even in his dreams. And that had certainly been one of the more… realistic ones. He half expected to find the sheets wet.
They weren’t. That was a relief. He knew Ryan would change the sheets anyway after he left, but he hadn’t wanted to explain to the younger man just how they had gotten so dirty. *Especially* since it was Ryan’s girlfriend who had starred in his dream.
Speaking of Wolfe, he should check on the kid. Alexx had been so worried about him that she had called twice before dark to make certain Horatio was going to stay with him.
He stuck his head in the door to Wolfe’s room and breathed an unconscious sigh of relief. It seemed Ryan hadn’t moved a millimeter since he’d collapsed on the bed the night before. Horatio watched him long enough to reassure himself that Ryan was breathing, and then quietly closed the door.
He retreated to the kitchen, where he made a pot of coffee and considered things.
It was the weekend, so neither of them would have to go in to work unless an all hands was called; hopefully that wouldn’t happen. It would give Ryan a chance to rest and recover a little.
His own thoughts seemed a little muddled, despite the coffee. Maybe a shower would help clear the fog a little.
He had been to the apartment often enough to know where Ryan kept things; he retrieved a towel and headed for the shower.
He let the steam rise, bracing his arms against the sides of the shower stall to let the hot water play over the muscles of his back and shoulders. It stung, but some of the stiffness started to abate and he washed up quickly.
He went to the mirror with his shaving kit and wiped the steam away, giving himself no more than a cursory glance in the mirror, until something caught the corner of his eye and he stiffened.
His fingers went to his neck, to the junction between neck and shoulder, just above the collarbone. Two tiny punctures marred the skin.
His dream came back to him then, in perfect clarity. In the dream, Mara had bitten him. She had called herself a vampire, and she had bitten him.
So where had these marks come from? If it had been a dream… and it had to have been a dream, vampires didn’t exist… then she had never been here. So how had he ended up with visible fang marks on his neck?
Fangs. The thought boggled the mind. He finished shaving and padded out into the living room, finding his cell phone and flipping it open. “Alexx.”
“How’s Ryan?” Horatio had to smile that her first words weren’t a greeting but a demand for information.
“He’s still sleeping,” he answered quietly with a glance toward the bedroom. “Hasn’t so much as twitched since I put him to bed.”
“Good. Make sure he stays in bed for a couple days. And make sure he eats, too. That boy is too thin.”
“Alexx. Can you swing by here sometime today? I’d like you to have another look at him, and there’s something I wanted to discuss.” He hated asking it of her; she got so little time with her family as it was. Nonetheless, he wanted her opinion on a couple of things.
“I’ll come by this afternoon, then, if that’s soon enough. Peter is taking the kids to the movies so I’ll have a couple of hours.” She paused a moment. “Sounds serious. Should I bring my bag?”
“It might not be such a bad idea.” He thought for a moment. “Alexx, I need to know what to feed him to build him up. You’re right, he needs some weight.”
“Well, he’s anemic, so iron-rich foods will be a plus. Red meats, any dark green leafy vegetables. Broth would be good to start with, it doesn’t require much to digest and he’s probably too damn tired to eat. I swear I’m going to kill that boy myself if he doesn’t start taking care of himself.”
She rang off, promising to be there early in the afternoon, and Horatio glanced at his watch. Just after ten. That gave him probably two and maybe three hours to kill. No, not kill; Ryan would need to eat. So he made a detour into the kitchen to assess the situation.
Remarkably well stocked, for someone who lived alone. Horatio started to put together a light meal, hoping he wouldn’t have to wake Wolfe to make him eat.
He shouldn’t have worried. Ryan shuffled into the kitchen, drawn by the smells of breakfast, and stopped in the doorway. “Hey, H,” he said sleepily. “I thought it was Mara, sorry. Smelled better than she usually cooks though.” He gave a crooked grin and headed for the coffee pot.
He sat down at the table and Horatio smoothly replaced his coffee cup with a large glass of orange juice. “Alexx says you need to build yourself up, and I agree,” Horatio said firmly. “You’re too thin and you’ve been neglecting your health, Ryan.”
“And you and Alexx have appointed yourselves as my keepers for a while, right?” Wolfe wasn’t too happy with that. He knew it was because they cared; but it was bound to put a crimp in his social life, such as it was. He didn’t think Mara would like having to work around a couple of guard dogs. “Honest, H, I’m a big boy, I can take care of myself.”
“And such a fine job you’ve been doing of it, too,” Horatio shot back smoothly as he took the other seat. “We’re concerned because we’re your friends, Ryan. I don’t think you realize just how bad off you are.”
“Bad enough that my friends think I’m in some kind of danger, obviously. I’m just tired, H, that’s all, just tired.” He was making a good inroads on his plate, though, and Horatio forced down a smile. “This is good, I didn’t know you could cook.”

“I’m a man of many talents, Mr. Wolfe,” Horatio returned easily. “On another note, I’d like to hear about Mara, if you don’t mind.” His mind wouldn’t let go of the woman, for some reason. Not an obsessive need, certainly; but there were questions he needed answers to and he intended to get them from one of them. “She usually cooks you breakfast?”
“Well, only when… now come on, H, that’s really none of your business, is it?” Ryan was blushing beet red. “You’re going to have me thinking you’re jealous or something.”
“Or something.” Horatio wouldn’t let it go. “You’ve been seeing her for what, a couple of weeks? And suddenly you’re so tired you can’t properly do your job, you obviously aren’t eating… I’d like some explanations, Mr. Wolfe, and I would like them now.”
“Okay, so I’ve been playing a little too hard. It won’t happen again, H, promise.” Wolfe was suitably chastened. “Now can we stop discussing my personal life? I feel like a suspect.” His eyes went to his phone and he sighed heavily. “I figured she would be here, or at least call.”
Horatio didn’t blink, although he suddenly wasn’t too sure of how Wolfe would take his actions of the previous evening. “She did come by last night, Ryan, and she said she would be out of town for a few days. She was also concerned about your health.”
“She was here? And you didn’t wake me up?” Ryan bounced out of his seat and grabbed for the phone. “Oh, wait, you said she was going out of town. Okay, so I’m stuck here all weekend anyway. Honest, H, I don’t need a babysitter.”
“No, but you do need rest. And food. You need to refuel, Ryan, or you’re going to crash.” Horatio wasn’t about to let Wolfe go back to the admittedly destructive lifestyle he’d been living. “And if you don’t promise me you’re going to rest as much as possible, I’ll sic Alexx on you.”
Wolfe looked horrified. “Anything but that, H, I promise,” he replied with a laugh. Another yawn left him and he sat back down, suddenly deflated. “She’s really pissed at me, isn’t she.” It wasn’t a question.
“Sugar, you have no idea.” Alexx’s voice from the doorway startled both of them. “I’m early, but I found the key to let myself in.” She looked over at the table and nodded. “Good, you *both* ate. It’s about time, boys. Now, Ryan, come here and let me have a look at you.”
Wolfe went obediently, hanging his head and all but shuffling his feet. Alexx gave him a quick once over, nodding slightly as she checked his vitals. “Pressure’s back up a bit, pulse rate is down some… the rest is helping you, baby, so you make sure you do a lot of that this weekend. How could you let yourself get into that condition, Ryan? Didn’t we have this discussion about taking care of yourself a couple months ago?”
“Yeah, Alexx, we did, and I’m sorry. I promise to do better.”
“Good boy.” She patted his cheek, none too gently, and motioned to Horatio. “Your turn.”
Horatio raised an eyebrow at her, but she remained adamant. “You said you had some things you wanted to talk about, so let’s hear it.” She wasn’t backing down, and Caine sighed heavily.
He let her examine him as well, and she stopped suddenly when she read his blood pressure. “Horatio Caine, did you sleep at all last night?”
“Very well, actually, Alexx. Something wrong?” He couldn’t look over at Wolfe, who was smirking a bit at being off the hot seat, at least temporarily.
“Same symptoms. Pressure’s down, pulse rate is up… and what is *that?*” She indicated the two nice, neat punctures in his neck.
“Actually I was hoping you could tell me.” Caine sighed heavily. He didn’t want to go into things with Wolfe listening; especially since he wasn’t certain now how much of last night’s dream had actually been a dream. Vampires didn’t exist, obviously… but he thought Mara would be perfectly capable of producing such marks just to play with his head. After all, the entire dream had been a mind game, of sorts.
“I’m not sure,” Alexx replied softly as she got a closer look. “I’ll take a scraping and see what I can find out.” She stood back for a moment. “From the size of the thing, Horatio, I would think someone bit you. But there are no other marks, just the canines. Should be a full set of teeth to put that deep a puncture in.”
“That was my first reaction, too. Alexx… how would someone make a bite like that without leaving a full dental behind?” Caine was onto something, but he wasn’t certain what it was quite yet. His gut had been telling him all along the woman was dangerous; but was Mara delusional as well?
“Oh, that’s easy.” Two sets of eyes turned to Wolfe. “Mara’s a vampire.”

TBC
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Proof of Existence