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She had no idea how he had moved so quickly, within the blink of an eye he had grabbed her roughly by the wrist, he stared at her with unseeing eyes, breathing heavily. It suddenly dawned on her that although his eyes were open he was still in the grip of a horrible nightmare, "I warned you to stay away from her!" he shouted, looking through her as he squeezed her arm tighter, his knuckles turning white.
"Horatio!" she pleaded, trying to rouse him from his dream state. "You're hurting me, let me go!" she said as she struggled in vain to free herself from his vice-like grip. It was fortunate that she saw the movement of his right arm out of the corner of her eye; she swayed back as his he swung his fist violently at his perceived attacker. Worrying more about the damage Horatio might do to himself rather than her own well-being she did the only thing she could think of to bring him back to reality. With her free hand she slapped his face with as much force as she could muster; still in the grips of his nightmare he seemed to take no notice of the stinging sensation on his face. He raised his right arm again, trying to fend his enemy off as she swung out of the way she countered with another harsh slap with her free hand. This time it registered as he raised his free hand to his face, he slowly came back to reality as Calleigh watched his emotions change from anger, confusion and then to abject horror as he glanced down at the hand still gripping Calleigh tightly.
He let go of her arm as if he had been burnt, he screwed his eyes shut as the voices in his head battled each other for his attention. "You beat women now? You coward!" one taunted as another joined in, "Like father, like son…" He gripped his head in his bandaged hands and squeezed as hard as he could, as if the physical force alone could stop the voices from taunting him.
Calleigh sat down on the bed, her mouth open. She absent-mindedly rubbed her sore wrist as she looked at the man in front of her. If she had any illusions that Jeff would be able to fix Horatio in one session she was certain now that it would take more than tea and sympathy to put her beloved boss back together again. She watched him intently as he waged battle with the demons in his mind; she had taken for granted the way that Horatio always remained in control no matter the situation or provocation. It frightened her to see him so unhinged, his emotions and behaviour at the moment were unpredictable at best. His slim build belied his physical strength, she knew that Horatio was capable of killing a man with his bare hands should the need arise. It terrified her to realise that he was capable of hurting those around him when he was not in his right mind, she had seen what he had done to himself and his home, she realised then that had she not seen his attack coming that she could have been next on his list of victims.
She shook her head and admonished herself thinking of him as a criminal, it was clear that Horatio had suffered some kind of emotional breakdown, he was not in control of his actions at the moment, she told herself to remember that he was the victim not the perpetrator. She willed herself to get a grip on her own emotions as she tried to get through to him, "Horatio. It's ok, it was just a dream" He looked up at her, the sorrow in his eyes was almost enough to break her heart. "Are you ok?" she asked him gently, reaching out to place a hand on his arm, he flinched when she touched him but did not move away.
"I hurt you" he said, looking devastated.
"No you didn't. I'm fine, Horatio. You didn't hurt me" she tried to reassure him; she glanced down at the angry red mark on her arm, hoping that he hadn't seen it too.
"You should stay away from me" he told her, looking away. "They all get hurt" he muttered, "They get hurt because of me. I'm the one to blame" his breath hitched as he tried to gulp in air, he willed himself not to cry in front of her, she would only pity him more if he did.
She moved further on to the bed and took his bandaged hands in hers, "Oh Horatio" she whispered, feeling helpless. "You're going to get through this, you hear me?" She pulled him into her warm embrace as the tears fell from his eyes, he held on to her like a drowning man clinging to a life raft. Calleigh knew that words would not be enough to fix the man in her arms; she hugged him fiercely as if the physical contact alone would heal his wounded soul.
She had no idea how long they had stayed entwined in each other's arms, at some point his tears had stopped and his breathing evened out, she realised that he had fallen asleep on her. Reluctant to move for fear of waking him she debated whether or not to stay in this position for a while longer, unfortunately the cramp in her left leg had other ideas. She moved slightly and attempted to remove herself from his embrace but each time she tried to free herself he unconsciously held on to her tighter. Formulating a new plan in her mind, Calleigh eased herself further on to the bed until she had her back against the pillows; she gently manoeuvred herself and the sleeping man so that they were both lying comfortably on the bed. He murmured softly and lay on his side with his head on Calleigh's stomach; she stroked the arm closest to her gently as she crooned soothing words in his ear. Soon she found her own eyelids getting heavy as the drama of the last few days finally caught up with her, her last thoughts before drifting off to sleep were that this was the most peaceful and serene she had seen Horatio in what seemed like a lifetime.
