By Your Side

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI: Miami or it's characters. If I did, this would be the script((:

_x.X.x_

Horatio watched powerlessly as they wheeled Calleigh into one of the trauma rooms. He felt his whole chest tighten up and he could barely breathe himself as he watched her tiny body struggle to receive the much needed oxygen. She was deathly pale and he could hear the raspy noise she made every time the air tried to pass into her sick lungs. How had they gotten here? To the point where Horatio was losing his other half, the only person that made him feel complete by just walking into the same room as him. He had never even told her how he felt about her. And now...

He took a deep breath and looked away as Alexx and her colleagues desperately tried to help Calleigh start breathing again. He knew he should have sent her straight to the hospital from the time he had pulled up to the location of the house that Calleigh and Ryan had been in. She had been coughing so violently, but she had brushed it off as usual. Horatio knew what a fire could do to you, but he ignored it as she had.

"Where is she?! I have to see her!"

Eric.

Horatio suddenly felt like an intruder as he looked up and saw the young Cuban asking for Calleigh. She didn't belong to him. There was a greater chance that she and Eric would get together than them. Of course they would. Horatio took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze before he sadly left the room but continued watching from behind the glass window as Eric made his way in and was soon demanded out by Alexx. She sent him an angry look, but he wasn't sure why. Had he gotten in the way? Had he made them loose precious time? He would never forgive himself if Calleigh ended up getting even more hurt from his being in there.

Horatio's whole world was crumbling down around him. How would he go on without her? How would he be able to look into the ballistics lab and find comfort knowing that she wasn't in there any longer? She had to get through this. She just had to.

"How's she doing?" Horatio asked quietly as he continued looking through the glass. He didn't need to look next to him to know that Alexx was there.

She too turned and looked in at her best friend. Calleigh was dying; they could all see it. "Not good. She's not able to breathe on her own. We're going to put her on a ventilator and some medication, but we can't keep her on it forever. It'll eventually shut down her respiratory system completely if we do. She's gonna need to start breathing soon. And who the hell do you think you are running out like that?" Alexx suddenly turned on Horatio and he gave her a startled look.

"Excuse me?" He blinked and continued to stare at the African American woman next to him. What in the world was she talking about?

"You saw Eric coming and you shot out of there. Calleigh was doing great while you were there with her and plunged downward when you left."

Horatio shook his head, disbelievingly. That just wasn't possible. It was herself trying to fight for her life. He paid Alexx no attention as he looked back into the room and sighed as Calleigh's tiny body was placed onto another bed and a couple of nurses wheeled her out. "Where are they taking her?"

"They're going to change her into a gown then take her to a private room to get her on the ventilator and her medication. And, baby, I raised two kids; don't change the subject. You love her and you let other people walk all over you when you're with her. You're always thinking negatively and you can't. Not right now. If our baby girl's going to get through this, she's going to need you by her side. She doesn't love Eric; you know that? She told me herself. She's tried to but her heart's already taken."

He immediately looked away from Alexx, pained at the thought that she was in love with another man. Was that better than her loving Eric? No. Not really.

"Horatio Caine, you're an idiot! Now go on over to Calleigh's room and be with her. She's the last door down the hallway." She shook her head and walked away, all the while cursing Horatio in her head. They were both in love with each other and didn't even know it. Some CSI's.

Horatio watched as Alexx left then turned to face the other end of the hallway to where Calleigh was. Was it possible that Calleigh had been talking about him? Could the young, beautiful southern belle actually be in love with him? Though he was over ten years her senior? When he realized Eric had left, he looked down and sighed. He had to tell Calleigh no matter what. He had to tell her before it was too late.

Horatio made his way down the hallway then. He passed the multiple rooms until he was met with a flash of blonde. He quickly turned into the room and crossed it to stand right in front of Calleigh's bed. There was a tube down her throat already, hooked up to the ventilator Alexx had been talking about. It was the only thing keeping Calleigh alive. He moved around the bed and took a seat in the chair right next to her bed. He reached out and took her hand in his, he gave it a gentle squeeze as he had done earlier and bowed his head down.

"I'm right here, Calleigh. I'm here, Sweetheart. I know we haven't talked much these past few months, but you have to understand that I wasn't avoiding you. I didn't want to ruin your life by hovering over you at all times; I thought it safer to keep my distance. But... it seems that I can't anymore. Not with you lying here, having a machine breathe for you. You have to pull through it, Calleigh. For your dad, the lab and everyone in it. For Alexx, your mother, your brothers and sister-in-law. You're nieces. And me. I can't lose you, Cal. I love you. I've always loved you and I always will. And when you get out of this hospital, I hope you'll give me a chance to prove it to you."

The sudden chirp of his cell sent Horatio jumping in his seat. He stood up and settled Calleigh's hand on her stomach as he pulled out his phone and flipped it open. He sighed and was torn between leaving it or catching the son of a bitch who had put Calleigh here. He decided to go back to the lab and come quickly back to be with Calleigh as soon as he was finished there.

"I love you, Cal. Fight this; we both know you can do it." He whispered as he placed a soft kiss on her forehead and headed out.

_x.X.x_

Calleigh's eyes fluttered open and she looked around her, startled at first, but then she calmed down and realized that the tube was still down her throat. She fumbled around, trying to grab the remote for the nurse's station. She wanted it out now. It wasn't the most pleasant feeling in the world. She couldn't help but give a tiny smile as Alexx rushed into the room.

"Calleigh! Nice of you to join us again, sugar. You gave us quite a scare." Alexx soothed down Calleigh's hair and smiled warmly down at her friend. "Ready to get that tube out?" When she received a nod from the blonde, she instructed her to take a deep breath and hold it while she pulled it out. Calleigh ended up in a coughing fit but soon calmed down as Alexx and a nurse settled her back against the pillows. "Can you breathe fine?"

Calleigh nodded once again and looked around the room before her eyes landed back on Alexx. "Hor-atio. Where..." She took a deep breath before she was able to continue. "...is he?"

"He's at the lab, arresting the guy who landed you in here. He said he would be back to check up on you as soon as possible."

Calleigh smiled and gave a short nod. She glanced down at her hand and sighed when she saw that Eric's watch was on her wrist. No doubt he was coming back later too. "Can." Calleigh cleared her throat and looked over towards the window. "Can you call him? I want him here." She turned her green eyes back towards her friend's brown ones.

"Of course."

_x.X.x_

Horatio rushed down the hallway in a jog, until he reached Calleigh's room. When he had received Alexx's phone call, he had been expecting the worst, but when she told him Calleigh was awake and asking for him, he's dropped everything and ran faster than he ever had in his life. He knocked on the door and slowly pushed it open, only to be greeted by Calleigh's brilliant laughter. Alexx looked up and smiled at Horatio. She stood and silently walked out of the room.

"Hey." He greeted her with a shy smile as he took his former seat next to her.

"Hey yourself." She gave him one of her beautiful smiles and his heart completely melted.

"How're you feeling?"

"Ugh. Stupid."

Horatio let out a small laugh and she grinned back at him. "I meant your lungs."

"Well, I can now breathe on my own very well, and Alexx says I've made one of the fastest recoveries she'd ever seen... So I'm going to go with okay." She answered with another sassy smile, earning another laugh from Horatio.

"I can go with okay."

"Listen..." She started as the smile fell alittle. "I-I heard what you said, earlier."

"Oh..." Horatio was fully prepared for the rejection, he had seen it coming, but it still stung even before she said it.

"No. No! Hear me out please? Just listen. Everyone is saying that I truly have a will to live, and I believe that. What I don't believe is that they say I made it out because I was a fighter. I made it out because you asked me too. Because you told me that... that you loved me. And... my only answer... to that is that... I love you too. You have no idea how long I've waited to hear those words come from you. And I think I'll take you up on that offer to let you prove it to me." She smiled softly as she let her eyes meet his, letting her guard down for once in her life and showing him everything she was feeling at that moment.

Horatio rose from his chair, a tiny smile gracing his lips. "Calleigh..." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and she let her eyes fall closed as he did so. When his fingers pushed back a stray strand of long, blonde hair, she opened her eyes again and was instantly met with his lips on hers. It was a light, quick kiss, due to her current condition. He didn't want to push her health too far, but he hoped that it showed her some of the love he felt for her.

"I love you, Horatio."

"I love you too, Calleigh."

_x.X.x_

Alexx Wood shook her head happily as she moved away from Calleigh's doorway, letting the couple have their privacy. She sighed cheerfully as she made her way down the hallway, to check up on a few more patients. It was about time those two finally saw it. Too bad that they had almost lost each other in the process. At least they were together now.

That was the only important thing.

_x.X.x_

Neh, yeh? R&R!