Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. Just the plot etc...

I'd like to thank Queen Em, though I was going to do a hospital visit, for some reason when she mentioned it in her review I got some inspiration!!
Thanks for continuing to read all those of you who are returing readers! Thanks for reading if it's yer first read through!

Chapter Four

Calleigh, Eric and Natalia had all the bomb fragments that they could find laid out in front of them on a backlit tabletop. They had taken a moment to comprehend how mammoth the task ahead was going to be before ploughing ahead with their mission. They separated the sections they recognised, electrical circuitry, casing and random pieces that they were sure they could place later.

"Its times like this I really miss Speed." Eric commented aloud.

Calleigh smiled at him, the memory of Speed's deftness while reconstructing bomb fragments forced the corners of her mouth upwards despite the internal pain she was suffering. It was good to have happy memories of him. The sadness of his death would never go away but her recollections of the fun times they'd all shared kept her spirits up whenever she felt sad about his passing.

"You know, he woulda shown us how this was done, he coulda had it put together in minutes." She replied smiling at Eric.

He grinned back at her, "Let's get this constructed and see what we can find. I'm sure we can live up to Speed's legacy."

Natalia watched the back and forth between her two workmates. She'd never met Speed but felt she had become acquainted with him through all of their little tales and anecdotes. They got back to work, each of them were concentrating on the task at hand when the door opened and Frank joined them. They looked behind him to see if Ryan was with him.

"He'll be here in momentarily." He responded to the enquiring looks. "How is it going in here?"

They showed him how they had progressed, which wasn't really very far. They had some pieces matched up. Nothing as yet looked like a signature. Ryan quietly joined the group. He glanced at the table, and pointed to a chunk that he thought joined a section they were working on.

-oOo-

Natalia took the leap, "So, um, did you see anything that might help on the video?" you could see she was wary of asking, but knew she had to.

Ryan coughed. "Yeah, well, no." He paused for a moment, "You see whoever did it, moved the camera. So they knew about it; the camera. But also they moved it back so it kinda recorded everything after the bomb was planted." He cleared his throat again.

They all glanced at each other then back at Ryan, who continued, "Eric, did you pass anyone on your way to the locker room? Because they were in there not ten minutes before you went in there for your shower."

"They were? I can't really remember I'd just gotten back from a scene. It had been my third underwater recovery of the day. Let me think." He closed his eyes and scrunched them up. His cheeks started to colour. "I'm sorry guys, I know I must have passed a lot of people but I can't remember any of them. It's like my mind is blanking it all out. Which is great as we need it to be open right now!"

"It's okay," Natalia consoled, "trauma causes your mind to do funny things. You for one should know that. It'll come back to you."

"I almost forgot," Ryan said, "the bomb was planted in Speedle's locker."

The others looked at each other. It was kind of weird how they'd just been discussing Speedle then this development came along. Ryan raised an eyebrow questioningly at the shared look between them. Calleigh explained about the earlier conversation.

"So, Speedle dealt with bombs too?" He asked. "Maybe we are looking at this from the wrong angle. Maybe it's not about Horatio at all. Eric do you think you can lift any prints off the camera? Or is it too mangled?"

"I think I might be able to get something, if it's there I can probably find it." He told him. Ryan had no doubt that Eric was correct.

Calleigh remained quiet; she still thought it was aimed at Horatio. No one else would have stayed to check out the noise, to try to defuse the device rather than leave the building along with everyone else. But right now she didn't want to make waves, so she kept her opinion to herself. She put her head down and continued to put pieces together.

"What are you going to do now Ryan?" Natalia asked, "Eric is printing, me and Calleigh are gonna get on with this. What's next for you?"

"I'm going to take Frank to the hospital. Visit H. Then I think maybe we need to find any parts of Speedle's locker that we can. I can start on that when I return."

Just as he went to leave, Natalia caught his arm, "Did you see it all? What happened to Horatio?"

Ryan's glance instantly fell to the floor, the images replaying in his mind. He looked up at her slightly glassy eyed and simply nodded. Then he left the room with Frank close behind.

-oOo-

The hush at the hospital was almost disturbing after the hubbub of the outside world. Miami was as usual bustling and inside the hospital was a haven of peace and quiet. The only noises in Horatio's private room were the beeping of the numerous machines monitoring him, and of those that were keeping him breathing. Frank approached his friend. He took in a deep breath and noisily exhaled, he wasn't sure what to say, Ryan had told him that Horatio may be able to hear every word. Or not. They didn't know. So after taking a quick look back at Ryan he reached for a chair and sat himself down next to Horatio.

"So, I'm back from my vacation. Obviously, 'cause I'm here. I wasn't so impressed to find you in the hospital. Not where I really expected you to be." He took another nervous glance towards Ryan, who was wearing an odd smile on his face. Not a happy smile, but he looked almost content; maybe it was becuase Frank was talking to Horatio so calmly. So he continued. "It was good, my vacation. I needed the break. Maybe after all ofthis is over and you are feeling better you should take one. If anyone deserves one it's you, right? The guys are working really hard on this. You'd be proud of them; your team. You've trained them well. They're functioning okay; I think they'd be better with their leader." He tried not to look at Ryan, not that it would have mattered if he had, he had turned away so Frank didn't see how his words stung. Not that Frank meant them in an unkind way; he meant that the team missed their main guy. It wasn't like Ryan didn't know that. In fact he knew it and appreciated the sentiment one hundred percent. "Well, we have to go. Ryan needs to get back. They have some evidence to process, that's what they do. Right?"

Ryan could tell Frank was starting to struggle. He didn't know what to say. Ryan understood that, it had been the same for him the previous day. He stepped forward, "Hey H. The others have started to reconstruct the bomb. I know that's what you'd have us do first. But it's so hard. We don't know who to look to as leader. A few times they've all asked me what I'm doing, and I wonder if they're looking to me for some direction." The look he gave Frank was almost a begging expression, imploring him to not tell the others about this conversation. "I can't step into your shoes! I'm no Horatio Caine. I don't know what to do. How do you deal with the pressure? They might not even want anything like leadership from me. I don't want to misread them; make them think that I think I'm above them in any way. It's only been a day and," he choked, "I miss you. We all do."

Ryan glanced at Frank who nodded at him. It was time to leave. "I'll be back. In fact I promise that when we find who done this I'll be right here to tell you. Then when you get better, I'll be here to give you a ride home. It's the least I can do to repay all the things you've done for me over the last five years."

They said their goodbyes and left the still form of Horatio lying silently on the bed. His chest rising and falling rhythmically as a machine breathed for him. The steady beeps informing the nurses his heart was still beating was the last thing Ryan heard as he walked away.

A/N: Thanks for reading. Please take the time to review, it takes like a weeny minute or so... just a teeny tiny moment of your time PURLEASE!! Thanks for all the people who have already reviewed, and to people who have reviewed each chapter. Love you guys!
Sarry xx