Disclaimer: I don't own them, I'm just borrowing them. I'll put 'em back when I'm done, just a little worn out maybe.

Rated R

Rick Stetler seethed as Horatio Caine walked away. Who did he think he was, anyway? Caine had threatened him, told him he would kill him if he ever laid a hand on Yelina. As if. Caine needed to get over himself. And as for that bitch, she would get her comeuppance; he would make sure of that.

Yelina had called Horatio and gotten him involved in "their" business again. That kid of hers didn't know how to stay out of trouble for even one weekend while they were gone. He'd run from his grandmother's home, and Yelina decided to call Horatio so he'd step in. By the time they had gotten back into town, Horatio had found the kid and gotten the case taken care of sans Ray Jr. Whoopee for Horatio. And the way the man mooned over Yelina and Ray Jr. when he and Yelina came to pick the kid up. Please. The man needs to get a life of his own and stop drooling over someone else's. That kid needed someone to teach him a lesson on how to act.

Rick, needlessly in his mind, again reminded Horatio Caine that he needed to finish his counseling regarding Tim Speedle's shooting. The shooting was regrettable, avoidable as far as he was concerned, kid should have cleaned his weapon. Horatio should have run a tighter ship.

Rick Stetler drove over to Yelina Salas' house for dinner with her and her son Ray Jr. Things were going okay. It seemed as if Horatio Caine were finally starting to get his nose out of their business. He had heard from a reliable source Caine was getting it on with the A.D.A Maybe with her on his mind he could stop mooning over Yelina. And, hopefully, once he stopped mooning over Yelina, and she realized she wasn't getting him back, she could stop mooning over Horatio every time she saw him. And get down to the business of taking care of him, Rick Stetler, for a change.

Rick helped get the plates on the table for dinner.

"Where's Ray?" he asked.

"He's upstairs in his room, he said he didn't feel like eating right now."

"Well, as far as I am concerned, he is going to get his butt down here and eat with us," said Rick.

Rick stomped up the stairs and threw open Ray Jr's bedroom door. "Get those headphones off, and come down to dinner."

Ray Jr. scowled at Rick; he didn't want to eat dinner with him. When was his mom going to get a clue? "Don't feel like it."

"I said come down to dinner, and you're going to do what I tell you," stated Rick. He pulled Ray Jr off the bed and led him downstairs.

Yelina saw Ray Jr and smiled. "Hi, you decided to join us, eh?"

"Join you? I didn't know I had a choice. This jerk hauled me down here," complained Ray.

Yelina tried to smile again. "Well, since you're down here, why don't you have a bite to eat with us?"

Ray Jr. slouched into the nearest chair, watching his mom and 'Stetler' sit in the other two. After taking a few bites, he felt he was done with this charade, and got up to leave the table. He went back upstairs to his room, replacing his headphones and drowning out what was going on downstairs. Why his mom was with that man instead of Uncle Horatio was beyond him. He knew she still wanted him, and he could tell Horatio wanted her. What was the big deal anyway?

Downstairs, Rick and Yelina were talking about their day. Rick mentioned what had been going on with Horatio today, and what he had felt a need to tell him. Yelina asked Rick why he didn't just leave Horatio alone, striking a spark in Rick that would have been better unlit.

Rebecca stood a little ways from Horatio, listening as he told her of his recurring nightmare based on the day Speed got shot. Her heart broke for him in the listening. She reassured him the best way she knew for now, and reminded him that his gun did fire. She kneeled down in front of him, her heart in her throat; she was taking a big step. She clasped her fingers around his.

"Ma'am?"

"Sir."

Horatio's cell phone rang.

Horatio glanced apologetically at Rebecca as he pulled his cell phone out and answered it.

"Caine."

"Uncle Horatio? I need your help! Mom needs your help! We need your help! Please, come over to our house. Quick!" yelled Ray Jr. frantically.

Horatio heard Stetler's voice in the background, "Kid! Who are you calling? That damn Horatio? Give me that phone!"

"Ray? Ray? Ray?!"

The phone was dead.

"Rebecca, I'm sorry, I'm needed."

Horatio ran out the door, and jumped in his Hummer. He called the police department on his cell phone, and asked for Detective Tripp.

"Frank? Call up Calleigh and Eric, and have them meet me at Detective Salas's house, and bring an ambulance with you, just in case."

Horatio hung up the phone as he swung around another corner. He pulled onto the street Yelina lived on and saw a pair of taillights turning off at the other end. Stetler's? He wasn't sure, but he didn't see any other vehicles in the driveway as he pulled in and raced from the Hummer to the front door.

"Yelina!? Ray!?"

No one answered and the front door was unlocked. Horatio raced inside, gun drawn. He walked carefully in, and saw nothing in the living room and dining room. As he slid around the wall from the dining room to the kitchen, his heart landed in his throat. Yelina lay crumpled by the kitchen wall, lying in a puddle of blood. She had been badly beaten.

"Yelina?" Horatio raced to her side. She looked like she was barely breathing. He gently felt for a pulse, and with a little work he found one. It was slow and weak. "Hang on, Yelina." Horatio said with a lump in his throat. Then he looked up. "Ray!?"

Horatio stood up, confident only in the fact that he trusted Frank to do what he asked. He hated having to leave Yelina, but he needed to find Ray. He rushed up the stairs, still holding his gun and keeping an eye out for Stetler. He cleared Yelina's room, and eased into Ray Jr's room. Stetler wasn't there, but Ray was. Horatio gasped. Ray was lying on his floor, the phone inches from him. Apparently Stetler had grabbed the phone from Ray Jr, and used it to knock him out. Horatio ran to him.

"Ray?" There was no answer. Horatio felt for Ray's pulse, and was reassured. Ray's pulse was strong and steady. Horatio picked up Ray Jr and carried him downstairs and placed him gently on the couch in the living room. Then he went back to Yelina; was she still breathing? He held his breath until he could see her take a shallow breath herself. He wanted to take her in his arms, carry her to his Hummer, and take her to the hospital. But Frank had to be nearly here, and he was bringing an ambulance with him. She was still alive for now, and they needed to conserve the DNA on her, to get Stetler. He bent over her, kissed her forehead. "Yelina, you hang on, okay? You hang on."

He stood up as he heard vehicles in the driveway, and the siren of the ambulance. He raced out of the house to tell the paramedics where Yelina and Ray Jr. were. Frank came over to meet him, followed closely by Calleigh and Eric. Horatio filled them in on the phone call and what he had found in the house. He asked Calleigh and Eric to process the house and told them that he was going to the hospital with Ray Jr and Yelina. Horatio turned to leave when Frank grabbed his arm. "You got to tell me what you know about what happened here, Horatio." He sighed deeply and gave Frank his statement.

The ambulance had already left when Horatio was done, and he obeyed no speed laws getting to the hospital himself. Horatio raced into the parking lot of the hospital and threw his Hummer into park, not caring a how he was parked. He raced into the emergency room, and asked at the nurses' desk where Yelina and Ray Jr. were. Yelina was already in surgery, he was directed to the area where Ray was. He took a deep breath, and walked through the curtain to where Ray was. Ray Jr was still unconscious, and had a large bruise on his temple. The doctor in the room with him assured him Ray would be okay, but they were going to admit him overnight for observation. Horatio compressed his lips and nodded his head. He looked back at Ray again, and took his hand. "Ray, I'm going to go check on your mom, I'll see you soon. I won't leave here without you."

Horatio headed to the elevator and rode it to the level the O.R. was on. The hall was quiet; he let the nurse at the station know he was there. He then went to the reception area, but he wasn't able to sit down. He leaned against the wall, waiting anxiously for any news. Horatio leaned his back against the wall and closed his eyes. The past raced through his mind, all the missed opportunities; all that could have been. Time seemed to be crawling; it felt like it had been ages since he had walked up here. He heard footsteps in the hall, looking up he saw Rebecca.

"Any news?" she asked.

"I haven't heard anything yet."

"I stopped in the emergency room, and then to Ray Jr's room. He's awake and asking for you."

"Alright, they've had Yelina for a while. I hope to hear something soon, then I'll go check on him."

"It would be good to get a statement from him about what he knows, but we can't take anything officially without a guardian present," Rebecca said.

"Yelina is not going to be in any condition to be there with him, or give her consent. I'll talk to him."

"Horatio, if you want to use anything he says, he needs to have a guardian present. You're not his guardian, just his uncle. You want to get the guy that did this; we need to do something to get an official statement. Even file a complaint, get a warrant, anything."

"Whatever you're trying to tell me, get to the point, please."

"We can file an emergency injunction to assign you as his guardian, get a judge to sign it. Then you can be there while another one of your people talks to Ray."

"If that is what needs to be done, then do it. I'll worry about the repercussions with Yelina when she is alert and ready."

Rebecca nodded her head, touched Horatio's arm consolingly, and turned to walk down the hall. As she turned the end, the O.R. doors opened and a doctor came out.

"Lieutenant Caine."

"How is she doing?"

"It was touch and go, we lost her once on the table, but if she's strong, she'll pull through. We'll know more in the morning, she needs to make it through the night."

Horatio nodded, swallowing past another lump in his throat.

"She's in recovery right now, in a few hours we'll move her to her room."

"Alright, I'll be in her son's room. Let me know when she is there?"

"Sure thing."

Horatio walked down the hall to the elevator, rode it to Ray's floor and went to find his room. He poked his head in and saw Ray was awake.

"Hey buddy. How's your head?"

"Uncle Horatio!"

"That was a brave thing you did. I am very glad you called me."

"Ahh, man. That guy is a jerk. How's my mom?"

Horatio turned to close the door and turned back to look at him. He sat on the edge of the bed by Ray and looked closely at him.

"She … um… I … she'll make it. She's in pretty bad shape."

"I heard all the noise downstairs, even through my headphones. I went down there to see what was going on. I saw him knock her into the wall. She didn't look good."

Horatio moved to put his arm around Ray's shoulders, and Ray dove into the shelter offered, burying his head into Horatio's shoulder. Horatio held him tightly. He heard Ray take several jagged breaths.

"I wanted to run and do the same thing to him! He was hurting my mom! I couldn't think of what else to do, except call you!" Ray's voice cracked in anger. He wrapped an arm fiercely around Horatio's shoulder holding on tighter. Horatio held Ray's body even closer. He took a deep breath so he could speak.

"You did the right thing, Ray. I'll always be here for you and your mom," Horatio said, clenching his jaw, fighting his own tears. His hands trembled as he placed one on the back of Ray's head, cradling it. A fiery surge of anger swept through his body. By God, he would get Stetler, and he would make him pay. Nobody hurt his family.

Ray was trying to be strong; he was trying so hard not to cry. Horatio could feel his body shaking, and he gently rocked on the bed as he held him, comforting him.

There was a knock at the door. Horatio gently sat Ray back down on the edge of the bed, rubbed his hand over his face, and got up to answer the door. Eric and Calleigh were standing in the hallway. He looked back at Ray and told him he would be right back, and stepped out into the hallway.

Calleigh stuck her head briefly through the door. "Hi Ray, you doing okay?"

Ray had moved up to the head of the bed, leaning against the headboard, and folded his knees up to his chest. He glanced at Calleigh and said, "I guess."

Eric moved closer to the doorway so he could see Ray. "Think it would be alright if I came in here and sat with you while Calleigh talks to Horatio?" Ray nodded his head. Eric stepped into the room and shut the door partway. Horatio glanced back and could see him pulling a chair up close to the bed so he could talk to Ray.

"What've you got for me?"

Calleigh looked closely at Horatio, she would have thought he would have looked angrier, sad even. It looked like he had distanced himself from his emotions. His face was drawn and pale. His fists were clenched, the only outward sign of what he must have been feeling.

"We collected fingerprints from the phone upstairs, as well as throughout the house. They'll probably lead us to Rick Stetler, but that may not be enough. He has been in the house regularly. They won't give us any additional information, or proof. We need something more compelling."

"Like something from Yelina. She's out of surgery, and should be out of recovery shortly. Let's see what she collected for us."

"I brought you a small kit, I thought you might want to collect that yourself."

"Thank you Calleigh, I believe I do. As soon as she is in her room, I'll go see her."

"Has Ray told you anything yet? We don't have much for a warrant yet."

Horatio took a deep breath; she saw a quick flash of anger in his eyes, and just as quickly buried.

"No. The A.D.A. is pulling some strings so that when we do this, the package on Stetler is wrapped tight. We don't want him getting out of this, at all."

"Frank sent a car to Stetler's house, but he wasn't there. We're keeping an eye out for him."

"Keep me posted."

Calleigh turned to walk back down the hall and Horatio turned to go back into Ray's room. He saw the Eric was still talking to Ray; he stood looking in for a minute. Then he turned to find the reception room, and a cup of coffee. As he was returning to Ray's room a nurse caught him, and told him Yelena was being taken to her room. Horatio continued to Ray's room and stepped in. Eric was still talking to Ray.

"Hey Ray, you're mom is getting into a room of her own. I'd like to go check on her and see how she is doing. You going to be alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay."

"Hey H, I can sit with him a little while longer. There's not much more we can do at the lab right now."

"You sure, Eric?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, thank you."

Horatio looked at Ray. Ray nodded his head.

"Okay. I will see you soon, Ray."

"Okay, hey, let my mom know I'm okay, tell her I love her," said Ray

"I will do that."

As Horatio walked towards Yelina's room, he met Rebecca.

"Sir."

"Ma'am," Horatio said slowly.

"I've filed the paperwork, found a judge at home and had him sign it. It's done. Whenever you and Ray are ready we can start this."

"Yeah, um, great. Right now, I'm headed over to check on Yelina, and Ray should get some rest first. We'll probably do it in the morning."

"You need some company?"

"Um… No. I think I'm going to sit with her for a while. Let her know that Ray is okay."

Rebecca looked intently at Horatio's face, and in his eyes. "You are still in love with her," she said smiling. "Go on, go be with her. And when she wakes up, tell her." Rebecca walked away. He watched her, his eyes creased slightly, thinking.

Horatio walked quietly into her room and shut the door. He glanced, worriedly, at the respirator, IV pole and lines, and the heart monitor. He looked at her, and it pained him deeply to see all of these things going into her. He ached to see her so misused. Black eyes, and cuts on her face, stitches closing the deepest ones, and blood still oozing out of them. He sighed; he needed to collect evidence from her nails. He sat down by her, and brushed his hand over her hair, splayed out on the pillow behind her. He promised her silently that Stetler would pay for this, dearly. He picked up her hands, caressing them, and laid them out on the blanket. He collected samples from under her fingernails, hoping, hoping, she had fought back, and that she hadn't convinced herself somehow that she had deserved it.

When he was done, he held his hand over hers. He looked at her, and silently told her he loved her. "Please Yelina," he thought, "pull through. Be strong. Make it, for me, for Ray. I need you. Ray needs you."

"Ray told me to tell you he's okay, and that he loves you," he said out loud to her.

He stood up and looked at her. He took a paper towel, wet it, and cleaned some of the fresh blood off her face, gently. He touched her hands again, they seemed to be the only place he could touch her without the fear of hurting her more.

He sat down in the chair, pulling it close to the bed, and sat watching her breathe.

A little while later, a nurse came in to hang a new I.V. bag. Horatio stepped out into the hall, and saw Eric coming his way.

"Hey."

"Hey, H. I thought I would come and let you know, Ray is asleep. Did Yelina get anything for us?"

"Let's hope so." Horatio handed the scrapings from Yelina's fingernails to Eric.

"I'll get these back to the lab and see what we can get with them."

"Thank you, Eric."

The nurse came back out of the room, and Eric headed down the hall. Horatio walked back into Yelina's room. He settled back into the chair, to wait the night out, and see what morning brought.

Morning came. Yelina had made it through the night. Horatio wiped his hand over his face and glanced at the monitors, nothing had changed. The nurse came in, to change Yelina's IV and clean her up. Horatio left the room, and walked down to the visitor's reception room to get something to snack on. Calleigh found him there.

"Calleigh. Anything new?"

"We processed the fingerprints and the scrapings you got from Yelina's nails. There was tissue there. The fingerprints are definitely Stetler's. We haven't confirmed the DNA yet."

"We will. Let's go talk to Ray, see how he's feeling. You and I can talk to him, see what we can do to get a warrant on Stetler."

Horatio and Calleigh went to Ray's room to find him up and moving around.

"Hey buddy, ready to get out of here?"

"Hey. Yeah. How's mom?"

"She's going to be okay. You want to go your grandma's or your aunt's until she's home?"

"Nah, take me to your place. I'll feel better there, and if you have to go, I'll be alright till you get back."

"Alright, let's go."

Horatio and Ray Jr. drove to Horatio's apartment, Calleigh followed. They all walked into the apartment together. Horatio led them to the living room, and had Ray and Calleigh sit down. Horatio leaned against the wall, not ready to sit down to hear this.

"Ray, I need to ask you some questions about last night. Horatio is going to be here for you during the tough parts, okay?"

Ray glanced at Horatio, who nodded. "Yeah, okay."

After Ray Jr had left the table, he had gone upstairs to his room, and put his headphones back on. He didn't want to hear any of what almost always happened downstairs. He just wondered when his mom would get tired of it and stop seeing Stetler. The yelling started downstairs, and he turned up the sound. He heard glass shattering and shook his head. Then he had heard the pounding, like someone hitting the wall. That had him taking off his headphones and going downstairs to see what was going on. He had turned the corner into the kitchen and saw Stetler hitting his mom. She had looked at Ray and shook her head. Ray had run back upstairs, grabbing the phone out of his mom's room and running to his bedroom. He had called Horatio, and was talking to him when Stetler slammed the door to his room open. He had grabbed the phone out of Ray's hand, and the last thing Ray remembered was seeing the phone coming towards him.

Ray Jr. stopped talking, and took a deep breath. Sometime during that, Horatio had sat beside him on the couch; his hand was on his back, supporting him. Ray looked at him. Horatio rubbed his back and nodded his head.

"Alright Ray?"

Ray nodded his head, and Horatio handed him his handkerchief, Ray had lost a few tears.

Calleigh looked up from her writing. She smiled a quick, short smile at Ray.

"Okay, that should do it."

She looked at Horatio. "That should be plenty to get us a warrant. I'll get it over to Frank and we'll start things moving."

"Alright, Calleigh. Thank you. Keep me posted, will you?"

"Sure thing."

Calleigh left, and Horatio stayed on the couch with Ray Jr. for a while. They sat back on the couch, Ray curling up against Horatio's body. It hurt Horatio so much to see him like this. A new surge of anger filled him.

At lunchtime Horatio got up to make them some lunch. After they ate, he took a quick shower.

"I'm going to go check on your mom, you want to come along?"

"Nah, thanks, I don't want to go back to the hospital yet. Maybe tomorrow."

Horatio locked the door behind him and headed out. He called Eric and asked him if he would mind going to his apartment and sitting with Ray.

"Not a problem, H."

Horatio drove to the hospital, parked and walked in. He took an elevator up to the intensive care unit, and asked the nurse how Yelina was doing. "The doctor saw her today. He said the swelling has gone down, she should be waking up soon."

He walked into her room, leaving the door cracked slightly. The room was quieter today, the heart monitor had been removed and she wasn't on the respirator either. The I.V. pump and her breathing were the only noises in the room. Horatio's jaw tightened as he looked at Yelina's face, and heard Ray's words again about what had happened. He debated, briefly, on sitting down and waiting for her to wake-up, and rejected the idea.

He walked up to her side, "Yelina? Can you hear me?" he asked as he gently touched her cheek.

"Yelina?" He put his hand over hers. "If you can hear me, do something to let me know. Grab my hand, look at me, something."

Yelina's fingers flexed, slightly, weakly folding into his hand. "There you go, that's my girl."

Horatio looked at the fingers that had folded into his head, caressing them with is thumb. He shut his eyes, and took a deep breath. "Yelina, we're going to find him, and I am going to make him pay, do you hear me? I came too close to losing you last night; I don't want that to ever happen again. I … uh…"

A knock sounded on Yelina's door. Horatio gently put down her hand and stepped to the door to see who was there. It was Frank; Horatio stepped out into the hallway to talk to him.

"Frank?"

"Horatio, the department is all in an uproar, taking sides. A lot of people know that you and Rick have had it out for one another. The I.A.B. is up in arms; say you're trying to stick this on him with nothing more than fingerprints and your nephew's statement. And the fingerprints are no big jump, him and Yelina seeing one another hasn't been any kind of secret. We got to get something more on him, or this is going to pot."

"Frank, I am not trying to stick it to him. He did this…"

"I know that," Frank interrupted.

"He did this, you and your men catch him and bring him in, and the DNA we got from her will prove it. And if he is not any smarter than this, we will find her blood on him, no matter how small a drop it is."

"That's another problem, Horatio. We ain't findin' him. He's not at home, he had already signed for a day off today. He could be any one of a million places."

Horatio's face flushed at the thought, but he said, "Check at Yelina's house again, he may have gone back there, figuring that was the last place we would look for him. He's got to know we have a warrant by now."

Frank nodded his head and walked down the hall; Horatio turned and walked through back through the door, into Yelina's room. He looked up after closing the door and found her looking at him.

"Hey," Horatio said.

"Hey."

"I'm glad to see you awake."

"I heard you talking outside. Was it Frank?"

"Uh… yeah, yeah, it was Frank."

"You're trying to find Rick, and you think he is back at my house? Ray called you? How is he?"

"Ray is fine, he's back at my apartment right now. They admitted him overnight, and he didn't want to come back so quick."

"Horatio…"

"Yelina…"

They both said at the same time, and briefly smiled.

"I want to thank you, for getting me here. I… uh…."

"Yelina, you could have come to me, I wish you had." He shook his head. "I'm glad Ray called me, if I had known, this never would have happened. I am glad I was able to get there, and you here in time."

"I couldn't…"

"Yelina, listen. I, um, I almost lost you last night. I don't want that to happen. The doctor said..." He took a deep breath. "The doctor said they lost you once on the table. That… that scared me, it really did. Even when you were with someone else, you were still here. But, I can't imagine you not being here, at all. Yelina… I …"

"Horatio, don't. Don't lead me to believe that we have something that we don't have. Stop trying to protect me; always trying to say the right thing."

"I'm not, Yelina. I want to tell you, I love you. I realized last night how much I did. It nearly ripped my heart out seeing you on that floor."

Yelina looked at Horatio and didn't speak. Then she wet her lips slowly, and said, "I love you, too."

Horatio smiled, and leaned over to give her a kiss and brushed his fingers through her hair.

"Ok, you get some rest, now. I'll be back soon, I'm going to go check on Ray, feed him some dinner. See how they are coming on finding Stetler."

Horatio went to his apartment and sat for a while with Ray. He fed him dinner, read him a story, and saw him off to sleep before quietly shutting the apartment door behind him. Frank had called him earlier; they still hadn't found Stetler, not even at Yelina's house. His eyes searched the shadows, wondering where he could be hiding.

Yelina had been moved out of intensive care into a different hall. The hallway her room was on was dimly lit, normal visiting hours were over, but no one stopped him. He showed his I.D. to the nurse sitting at the station; she nodded her head and smiled. Yelina's room was dark; he thought she must have been resting again. He walked in quietly without turning any lights on; he would sit with her until she was awake again. He smiled slightly as he turned to close the door, and felt something hit his head. Horatio's body slumped to the ground.

The man in the room dragged Horatio over to the chair, taping his ankles, calves, hands, forearms, and upper arms to the chair. He bound his mouth shut, how he hated listening to his mouth. He turned the light above Yelina's bed. She blinked in the sudden light, and gasped when she saw the man's face.

"Rick!"

"Hello, Yelina. Long time no see? I see ole lover boy came to see you. Did you call him up, too?"

Yelina shook her head "He got me here…"

"Yes, I know. I caught your son calling him. So, tell me, did he tell you what you wanted to hear? All you ever hoped and dreamed to hear from him? Sure it's all true?"

Yelina opened her mouth to speak.

"You really sure, Yelina? It's not like he doesn't have a history of telling you things, or not telling you things to soothe your feelings, and keep you mooning over him because of it. You tell me. Did it hurt you more to believe that little girl was his, or would it have hurt you more to know she was Ray's? She is, you know. Horatio knew, and I knew," Rick said with a malicious grin.

Rick might have said more to Yelina, but Horatio was making noises in the chair. He had regained consciousness.

"Caine. You decided to join us. Good thing. The show must go on, but it is always better with an audience."

Caine's eyes moved from Stetler to Yelina, growing wide to see she was awake. He tried to say something.

"Don't try to talk Caine, won't do any good. Just sit there like a good boy and watch."

Stetler began to move closer to Yelina's bed. The look in his eyes made Yelina back away from him, towards the headboard. She didn't get very far. Horatio jostled around in the chair doing everything he could think of to get himself out. Stetler grasped the blankets off of her and yanked them back, out of Yelina's grasping fingers.

"Don't fight it, you might get hurt again," Stetler mocked.

Yelina looked around for anything she could grab to protect herself with, hit him with, there was nothing. She was still to weak to fight him off.

Horatio was breathing rapidly through his nose, fighting with everything he had to get out of that chair. He needed to get to Yelina, he could not allow Stetler to do anything more to her.

Stetler brushed aside Yelina's gown, and ripped off her underwear, throwing them off the bed. He unzipped his fly, and before entering her, cautioned, "You want to be careful how much noise you two make. The door is locked, they are giving you privacy, and I'd hate to have to use my gun to prevent any trouble coming in. You wouldn't make it."

Stetler entered Yelina roughly, trying to hurt her. She bit her lip to keep from crying out, and looked away from Stetler so she didn't have to see him do this to her. She met Horatio's eyes; he was looking at her. Willing her strength to get through this? Telling her he wished there was something he could for her? She wasn't quite sure; there was sorrow in his eyes. That much she did know. Stetler rammed into her hard twice more, banging her even harder into the headboard, bringing tears to her eyes. Seeing her cry, Horatio's eye's flooded; he struggled even harder than he had been. It was doing him no good. Stetler got off of Yelina, taking her gown with him, leaving her fully unclothed on the bed. She grabbed the bottom sheet trying to cover herself.

Stetler sauntered over to Horatio. "Enjoy the show, old man?" Horatio looked at him with eyes full of hate. Stetler could just imagine what Horatio would say if that tape weren't covering his mouth. "Say good-night, Horatio." Stetler hit Horatio over the head with his gun, again. Horatio slumped in the chair.

Stetler cut the tape holding Horatio to the chair, and muscled his body over to the bed. He pulled the sheet away from Yelina and forced her into position facing Horatio. He taped their legs together at the calves and thighs, and their wrists together behind the other's back. He also taped their upper arms together, no use letting them get loose, he thought. He sat in the chair and waited for Horatio to come to, kicking his leg in the air; he was going to enjoy the finale.

It was nearing midnight when Horatio woke up. He glanced around as best he could; he saw he was next to Yelina, taped to her no less. Her eyes were closed. Had Stetler knocked her out as well? He wet his lips; the tape was gone.

"Stetler?"

"Ahh, Caine, it's about time. I was beginning to think I was going to have to wake you up after all."

"What do you want Stetler? You already said the door is locked and no one knows you're here. You must have some escape route planned. You've gotten what you wanted? You can leave now. Don't be too confident though, I get out of this, I am hunting you down, you will not escape me."

"Always ready with a smart comment, aren't you Caine? Don't be so quick though. I'm not done, you'll know when I am."

Stetler was still sitting in the chair, now swinging his gun from his finger. He stood up and walked to the side of the bed closest to Yelina. He leaned over and asked her, "Isn't this like all you've ever dreamed of? In his arms until the day you die." Yelina's eyes flew open, she rolled them over to try to see Stetler, and paled, she did not like that tone she could hear in his voice. Till the day she died? He was going to kill her?

Horatio's eyes were filled with rage. "Stetler, haven't you done enough. You damn near killed her."

"She's only damn lucky I didn't. The bitch couldn't stop mooning over you, and was leading me on the whole time. I won't let her get away with that."

"And you, Caine, you wouldn't give her a chance to get over you either. This is all your fault, you know. None of this would have happened if it weren't for you."

Horatio closed his eyes to shut this out. He would never do anything to hurt her; Rick was simply using him as an excuse. Yelina tucked her head onto Horatio's shoulder. This had been too much for her, and she was still so tired.

Stetler stepped away from the bed, and towards the window. Horatio didn't know what Stetler had planned, but he was doing all he could to protect Yelina. He kept his body between Stetler and Yelina. Stetler aimed his gun at the two of them, and mused, "Hmm, beat this, two with one shot." He shot and threw himself out the window in seconds.

Horatio heard the shot, and felt the bullet enter his body nearly simultaneously. He hollered at the pain, and fought not to lose conscious. Yelina. He looked at Yelina. She had jerked her head off his shoulder and was looking at him wild eyed.

He looked down; he could see where the bullet had gone out of him, and into her. Please God, let her make it, he begged silently.

"Yelina? Talk to me Yelina. You hang on, you hear, you hang on. Don't you leave me."

Yelina looked at Horatio, she couldn't feel anything. Horatio saw the blood coming out of the corner of her mouth. "No, Yelina. No!" He kissed her, reaching his hands up as far as he could, he could only just touch the bottom curls of her hair. "I love you, damn it, don't you leave me.

"Horatio…love…you…"

Horatio's eyes filled with tears, he pulled her close to him, as if to give her part of his life force.

Calleigh and Frank had been coming down the hall when they heard the shot. They had been by Horatio's apartment, and finding Eric there, knew that Horatio was here. They wanted to discuss the case with Horatio. They rushed to the room and found the door locked. They forced the door, and found Horatio and Yelina on the bed bound, both of them unconscious. There was glass all over the floor. Quick on their heels were members of the medical staff, they quickly separated Horatio and Yelina and rushed them off to surgery. Frank looked out the window as the victims were leaving the room, and saw Stetler's body on the concrete three stories below. Calleigh and Frank went up to the O.R. to wait on news of their friends.

Horatio woke up in a hospital bed. He groaned and opened his eyes slowly. He tried to push himself and hurt too much to get far.

"Take it easy, Horatio, you're in pretty bad shape."

"Calleigh." He glanced over and saw her sitting in the chair. "How's Yelina?"

"She's pretty bad. She's in intensive care right now. The doctors don't know if she'll make it. She was still pretty weak from the first attack. She doesn't have much left to fight this one. The bullet was a through and through on you, it entered her body on the left side. It had enough energy left to do some damage, but it was lodged inside her. It severed an artery right above her heart. If you had been anywhere else, the doctors wouldn't have been able to do anything at all."

"Stetler?"

"He threw himself through the window, apparently. He died on impact."

Horatio lay back on the bed, grimaced, closed his eyes and sent a thought to Yelina.

"Please hold on, please. Don't you leave me."

Fin