Chapter 3

Horatio slept peacefully for almost three hours. Calleigh stayed right there, holding him and keeping him warm, barely moving. Then she felt him twitch slightly, and heard a soft moan… the painkillers were beginning to wear off, rousing him from his dreamless slumber. He gave a light jolt in her arms, and she knew he was fully awake. She expected him to pull away from her once he realized where he was. But to her surprise, he only tensed up for a second, then relaxed back against her with a sigh. She felt his arm tighten a little, and another soft grunt from him.

As if on cue, his door slid open and a nurse came into the room, carrying some pills and a jar of a blue colored gel.

The nurse checked his chart, nodded to Calleigh, then turned her attention to Horatio.

"How are we doing Mr. Caine?" She asked. "I have some more pain medication for you, and it's time to put another treatment on your back,"

Calleigh tangibly felt Horatio's stress level ramp up. His body tensed...

"We don't want it to hurt," the nurse continued. "Would you rather to be sedated?"

Horatio quickly nodded his head yes.

"OK, you got it, no problem." Then speaking to Calleigh, "Ma'am, he's going to be knocked out for a while, perhaps you should let him have his bed to himself?"

Calleigh didn't get a chance to reply. She felt his breathing rate pick up, and his arm tightened firmly around her. "…no…" he mumbled… his groggy mind tumbling between several different thoughts at once…

He was startled to find himself still wrapped around his lovely CSIs warm body when he awoke. He remembered her pulling him close, offering her warmth to drive away his chilling cold. How long had he been laying there? He must have fallen asleep… And Calleigh must have stayed right there with him.

His first instinct when he woke up was to pull away, he always loathed feeling weak or vulnerable. But he was surprised to find that he was not at all uncomfortable. Quite the opposite. And he couldn't bring himself to break the physical bond. It just felt too damn good, and he wanted to stay right where he was.

But the first tinges of pain began to quickly re-emerge from his back, letting him know the painkillers were starting to wear off.

The next thing he knew, the nurse was there, saying something about touching his back again, which forced him to fight back a burst of panic. Then something else about knocking him out, and wanting to pull his warm angel away from him. "…NO…" he heard himself say…

Calleigh squeezed his arm and stroked his hair again, trying to calm him down. "It's OK Horatio, I'm right here… And I am not going anywhere." She gave a stern look to the nurse, making it was clear that the topic was not open for negotiation.

The nurse looked slightly annoyed, but didn't make any further issue out of it.

She walked over and swabbed his arm and expertly administered a syringe. "I'll be right back," she said gently, "we'll just give that a couple of minutes to work."

The nurse left the room, and Calleigh felt Horatio's body slowly melt against hers. His breathing deepened and slowed way down, and his limbs went limp. In less than 60 seconds, he was completely out.

The nurse came back a few minutes later, and carefully applied another thick coat of salve all over Horatio's ravaged back. The nurse checked his vitals when she was done and slid the door shut behind her, blanketing the room in a comfortable quiet.

Once again Calleigh laid there with him, getting lost in her own thoughts about the man lying in her arms. She had been quite surprised by him in the last few hours. His behavior was very un-Horatio-like. But considering everything he had just been through, that shouldn't come as such a shocker.

Horatio was always the solid rock, the unshakable foundation, not only of the CSI team, but quite possibly the entire department. Everyone counted on him, depended on his strength. He was the calm and quiet bedrock that everyone could turn to in a storm. She herself had turned to him for comfort and strength after going through some sort of disaster, both professional and personal. And he had always been there for her.

Now, to see him lying here, wounded, wrapped around her, wanting her to be close to him. Needing her to protect him and give him strength… It was so different to see him as an injured man, a mere mortal, not the iconic super hero that was his legendary image.

This whole role reversal was such a huge shift in their dynamic, it was tough to wrap her brain around it. She certainly had no reservations about giving the man anything he wanted or needed from her, they had developed such a strong mutual respect for each other over all the years that they had known each other and worked together. But there had never been anything like this between them before, not even close. She was proud and delighted to have earned that level of trust from him. But she did wonder how long it would last… Was he just too drugged to know any different? Once he began to heal and the meds were cut back, would he suddenly come to his senses and pull away from her? Maybe he was suffering from post-traumatic stress… that could certainly be a factor…

She stopped herself, mentally shaking her mind clear of all the chatter. She chided herself for trying to read too much into anything. What difference did it make? All that mattered was right here, right now, and whatever would help Horatio. Period.

She felt her phone vibrate, and carefully reached into her jacket pocket to retrieve it. She flipped it open and said quietly, "Hey Eric."

"Hey. Haven't heard from you in a while, you OK? How's H?"

"He's sleeping," she said, not wanting to reveal too much information, even to Eric. "They've got him pretty drugged up."

"Good, that'll give him a chance to start to heal. You coming back to the lab?"

"Um, no, actually. I'm gonna hang around here for a little while longer, just to be sure."

To be sure of what, Eric didn't ask. But he was glad that someone was there with H, keeping an eye on him.

"Sure, yeah, no problem Cal. Don't worry about it, we've got things covered here. Listen, keep in touch, OK?"

"You bet," she said brightly, then hung up the phone.

Horatio would sleep deeply for another two hours, and Calleigh stayed there with him, never leaving his side… She actually ended up taking a little nap herself, lulled by the quiet. She had no idea what awaited them both the next time he woke up…