A/N: I do not own CSI Miami or any of it's characters, affiliates...etc. This is just my imagination running with it! I hope you all enjoy!
Special shout out to Anonymous Troublemaker, for helping me with the wording on one part of this! Kind of a long chapter! Hope everyone enjoys!
Chapter 4
Officer Down
He hung up his phone as the Hummer pulled up. She stepped out and he shook his head. "I'll be damn."
"What?" she glanced at him accusingly.
"He was right. I thought for sure he was talking out of his head."
"What are you talking about Walter?"
"You're bleeding. Again. I knew I wasn't on crack earlier at the lab. Then Horatio called and told me you were on your way here and there was blood on his gown when you hugged him. You're not going in here with me. Ryan is on his way."
"Ryan!?" she asked incredulously. "This is my case Walter! Not his!" she spouted angrily.
"Not this time hon. Go back to the hospital and get checked out. Those are orders from your boss." he said, repeating what Horatio had told him.
"Whatever. I'm fine. We don't have time to argue about this, or to wait on anyone else to get here. He's going to get away." and she turned as she saw a shadow dart across in front of them. "Shit! He's on the move. Let's go!"
Guns drawn, they both took off after the figure, who was now trying to evade them. She'd been right. There had been no time. She was closer to him than Walter and she'd ducked around, when the man wasn't looking and got ahead of him. Circling around she ran full force into him and had him on the ground a mere second before her partner got there. A growl of both pain and frustration made it from her throat as her cut ripped even further and she straddled the man after getting him face down.
Walter was beside her and had the man on his feet. It wasn't until he started walking him to the car that he stopped and turned. She was leaned against a tree, throwing up, her side killing her with every time her body heaved. "Charli?"
"I'll catch up. Get him to the truck. Do not let him go." she said, the adrenaline starting to fade away. She hoped like hell he hadn't caught it in her voice. Satisfied when she saw him disappear toward the flashing lights, she could barely see flickering in the distance, she dropped to her knees and threw up again. Dammit her side hurt so bad. She finally stopped heaving and stepped her foot up to stand and collapsed right there on the ground.
Walter turned once the man was in the back of the cruiser, getting a sinking feeling in his gut. She should have been back now. Walking back to where he'd left her, he caught her figure laying on the ground and started to run. "Charli?" and he dropped next to her. Grabbing his phone he hit the radio button on the side. "Officer down! Officer down! Get me an ambulance!" Then he turned her body to where she was flat on her back. Her skin was hot to the touch and he noticed her complexion had taken on an almost gray color now, indicative of a massive infection. Glancing at her side where she'd been bleeding, he noticed it bleeding worse now, all the way through her shirt. "Dammit! I knew something was wrong with you earlier. Come on kid. Hang in there. Horatio's going to kill me!"
There was no response. She could hear someone talking, but it was all a jumbled mess and none of it made any sense. She could feel her body being moved, and could hear more voices, but still nothing made sense. Was someone slapping her? Damn she was suddenly cold. Where was her shirt?
"Come on Charli. Talk to me here." The blond headed EMT shook his head toward the driver. He had cut her shirt straight up the front, and as he peeled back the fabric, he took note that her white bra was turning a deep red, almost the same color as her shirt. He flashed a light in her eyes and she didn't flinch. "She's not responding. Let them know she has a bad wound on her left side, right in her rib cage. Not deep but it's infected." then he kept working. He shook his head once more. "Dammit this should have had stitches when it happened. And what in the hell is this hole from?"
Getting a sick feeling in his gut, he thought back. "It's where someone pressed their thumb into the wound. It happened earlier today."
"I can't get a vein. I'm running an IV in her artery!" he called up front.
"Wait, can you do that?" Walter asked, confused as well as concerned.
"We can. We just don't like to." and he fidgeted trying to get the artery to even show itself.
Poor girl. The underside of her wrist was bright red where the EMT was slapping and thumping to get the artery to show itself and by the time it finally did, he was almost sick to his stomach. "Man do you have to do that?"
Looking up, he nodded at the brown eyes staring back, laced with concern. "If she doesn't get some fluids run, she's going to die from dehydration before I can even think about helping her with the cut."
Glancing around the ambulance, he knew this guy was doing his job and knew what he was talking about. As they rushed to the hospital, and he entered in, he walked straight to Horatio's room. Natalia was in there and flipping lazily through a magazine.
Her brown eyes met his. "Walter? What's wrong?" she asked, sitting forward.
Horatio's eyes opened at the intensity in the room. Grabbing the hand close to his, he squeezed.
Walter noticed both the worry and the frustration, as well as H's eyes open. He cleared his throat. "Charli. She's..."
"Walter." Horatio's voice resonated.
"Charli's here."
"Okay." then he took in the possible meaning behind the statement. "What exactly, do you mean, by 'here'?" he asked quietly.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Charli had to be brought in. I didn't know what else to do..." and he shook his head as his entire composure deflated. "I don't know what happened H. She was fine, and she caught our perp, then she threw up, but she said she was fine, so I took him to the car...I turned around and she was gone. I ran back to where I left her and..." he shook his head again. "They're trying to save her life. She was stabbed the other night, and she's...she's not in good shape. I didn't have a clue. I didn't know. I swear I thought she was okay. I mean, I knew she was having a hard time, because you called me, but physically...I had no idea."
"Walter, stop." Horatio boomed. "First off, it's not your fault. Second, calm down and tell me what's going on."
Taking another breath, he looked at his superior, now sitting upright in the bed. "Okay. Charli showed up. We were arguing over whether or not she was well enough and the guy came out of nowhere. She saw him. And honestly, I don't know if I could have caught the guy. She managed to run around and tackled him from the front. As I was pulling the guy to the car, which was about quarter of a mile away, she leaned against a tree and told me to not let him go." He closed his eyes and shook his head, regretting everything in an instant. "When I came back after immediately noticing that she wasn't there, I found her on the ground...I called for an ambulance...I couldn't make her respond. She wouldn't respond."
"Where is she?" the redhead asked.
"They're prepping her for ICU right now."
His heart sunk. "What's wrong with her?"
"She has a thirteen inch cut along her ribs, and it can't be closed...and it got really infected...and she's running a massive fever." He said, stuttering almost, as he tried to understand and keep his job. "H, I'm sorry. I didn't realize...and she's so sick. I didn't know." he defended.
Poor Walter, was so panicked and worried. And he didn't get upset about much, so if he was now, it was bad. "Where is she?" he asked again, with intensity.
Standing, Natalia spoke for the first time since it'd started. "I'll go. She's probably still in the ER."
"I want you to come back and tell me as soon as she's in a room. Do you understand?"
Not arguing, she nodded. "Walter, you stay here and..."
He was already nodding. "Go."
She made her way to emergency and talked to administration. Showing the woman her badge, once she had her attention, she said "Charli Gibbens was brought in here by ambulance a few minutes ago."
The nurse looked up. "She's being triaged. I'll see if you can go back." and she disappeared. Reappearing a few moments later, she thinned her lips. "I can't let you back there yet. She's non-responsive and they're trying to get her stable. Once she is, I can take you, but until then, if you'll take a seat, I'll let you know as soon as she is."
Nodding, she took a seat and waited. It was almost an hour before the brown headed nurse showed back up. Her soft darker skin was almost glowing, even though she wasn't wearing a smile. "You can come back now."
"How is she?"
She shook her head. "She's not doing good at all..." and she proceeded to run down the list. When she got to the room, the breath left her body. "Ma'am? Do you need to sit down?"
Blindly staring, she waved her off. "I'll be alright." But she wouldn't be alright. She swiped at the tear that rolled down her cheek. The loud, strong girl that she'd come to know and love as a sister, was laying so still in the bed, and looked so frail. Sitting down beside her, she touched her hand. It was cold to the touch and so lifeless.
Clearing her throat, she leaned forward. "Charli? I'm here hon. I'm not going anywhere, alright?" and she swiped at a couple more tears as they fell. "In a few minutes I'm going to have to go back and check on Horatio, but I wont leave this hospital." Grabbing her phone, she dialed Walter. "She's not in a room yet. She's still in the ER." and she cleared her throat again.
Catching on immediately, he asked her. "Is she okay?"
"I don't know Walter." came the whispered response. "If...if you'll come down here, I'll fill Horatio in."
"Yeah, okay. I'll be there in a couple of minutes." and he hung up. "I'm going to her, Natalia's going to come back to you and let you know what's up."
Nodding, he waited.
Walter made it around the corner when he braced himself for what was to come. Stepping into the room, his breath left his chest and he had to catch himself for a moment. Natalia was sitting in the chair, lost in her own world, not even realizing that he was there. He stepped closer and softly touched her shoulder. "Nat?"
Sitting up, she inhaled sharply. Looking up at him, it was impossible to keep the tears at bay any longer. Standing up, she hugged him, and laid her head on his chest. "I can't believe I let this happen. I knew something was up this morning when I found her throwing up in the locker room. But she just argued with me and told me nothing was going on."
Cradling her head to his shoulder her rocked her softly. Knowing she wasn't one to really show emotion unless she was mad, if she was accepting it now, she was really upset. "It's alright. Why don't you go talk to Horatio and let him know what's going on, and I'll stay here and let you know when they move her." he said softly.
Straightening herself out, she took a deep breath and resolved herself. "Okay. I'll be back." and she walked up to her boss's hospital room.
The look in her eyes told him everything he needed to know. It was worse than he thought. "How bad?"
Watery eyes gazed back at him. "It's bad. The infection has gotten into her blood. They've got her on some strong antibiotics, but she's in bad shape. They can't get her blood pressure back up and they're not sure her level of unconsciousness yet, but she hasn't responded or waken up since she was brought in. They said it could be because of the fact that she didn't sleep for almost forty hours. They're prepping her for the ICU but she hasn't been moved. Walter is staying with her."
"Did we catch our guy?"
Nodding, she pulled her phone from her pocket. "Calleigh texted me earlier. There's a full confession. I guess some guy that you put away for drugs, got his brother to try and come after you. They hired Deblass to get to you, through Charli."
"Dammit. That kid is never going to make a connection with someone."
Closing her eyes, she admitted she hadn't even thought about that. "No. Probably not now."
Sitting up, he grunted and winced in pain.
"What are you doing?"
Getting vertical, he threw his legs off the bed. "What does it look like? The doctor wants me to move around."
"Yeah but sit tight. She doesn't even have a room yet."
"I don't care. I want to see her."
Not pushing the argument, she looked at him and finally nodded as he stood. "Alright. Fine. I will help you, but as soon as the doctor tells you to leave, you're putting your ass right back in this bed. Do you hear me?"
Nodding, deciding he would argue about it later, he got down on none too steady feet, and with Natalia's help, they made their way down to where she was, Walter, still sitting beside her. Knowing he hated to be in the position he was in, she tried not to help too much as he sat down when Walter stood. He couldn't remember the last time Charli looked so vulnerable.
There was a lot of anger and frustration, as well as guilt, running through her mind, and even in her vulnerable state, he could tell the internal war was raging. No, she wouldn't give up. She would fight, if for no other reason than the chance to make amends, for what she deemed her mistakes. Reaching out a shaking hand, he took her own in his as he'd done before. He hadn't noticed Natalia and Walter had backed out of the room until he looked up and was going to ask for a minute.
Letting out a resigned sigh, he squeezed. "You'd better hang on, kid. If I wasn't so glad you were alive, I'd probably kill you for letting yourself get this bad. And I know why you did it. I know you better than that. I told you I didn't want to lose you. You promised me. You're never one to go back on your promises so don't start now. But you better believe we're going to talk about lying to me, when you wake up." and he stopped when the door opened.
The portly, soft brown haired nurse appeared. "I'm not sure you're supposed to be in here, sir." she said softly, taking in his pasty complexion and weakened state, sitting in a hospital gown and robe.
"I'm probably not." he replied. "But I'm not leaving."
She watched the concern in his gaze for the girl, and knew not to intervene. "She's got a pretty tough battle raging."
"I've heard."
"Do you know, has she slept much?"
Closing his eyes, he shook his head. "We were in a warehouse the night I was shot. That was last night." then he looked at the clock. "Well, technically two days ago now, but as well as I know her, I'm betting that no, she hasn't slept since she got up Tuesday morning, and from what I've heard from my team, she hasn't eaten and she's vomited a couple of times."
"Oh I wouldn't doubt that one bit. Poor girl's in pretty rough shape. Got a bump to the head, nasty slice across her ribs, and that's what is so infected. She's also pretty dehydrated, and that is definitely not helping the infection. She would have been alright if she'd gotten in here, or at least gotten some sleep."
"That's not her way." he said gently, remembering how she'd set at his bedside. The look of guilt and sorrow that completely took over her entire being, had been so prominent to him, even though she argued the fact, over and over that she was alright. Damn kid. He shook his head ruefully. "Charli will run herself into the ground, before she'll feel like she's failed anyone."
Taking in his words, she nodded thoughtfully. "But who would she have failed?"
"Me." came out the husky, pained answer. "She has no idea that the only way she could ever fail me, is if she gave up."
She studied him. He loved her. Like a father loved a child. It was as evident as his hair was red. Taking a breath, she let it out softly. "Well, I'll let you stay, as long as you don't start collapsing."
Nodding in understanding he looked at her. "Thank you ma'am."
"There's nothing to thank. I just make sure that I keep my patients in good shape. So don't make me kick you out. Alright?"
Smiling, he nodded. "I give you my word." and she left. He reached up and tucked the hair on her face, behind her ear. "Dammit Charli. You had no right to take this away from me. No right to keep this from me. You're as close to me as Kyle is. Does that mean nothing to you?"
The voice had come out so whispered, she wondered for a moment if she'd actually heard him correctly. Opening her eyes in a simple slit, she tried to speak. It came out as nothing more than a mere squeak, but dammit, she tried.
Feeling her hand in his, he looked at her eyes. Did her lashes flutter? Yes. They had. A pained moan escaped her throat and he stared for a moment. "Charli?"
She moaned again. Dammit she hurt. Swallowing hard, a tear rolled down the side of her face from the corner of her eye.
"Easy, sweetheart. You're alright."
She held her breath. "No." and she stretched as if being struck in her back, lifting off of the mattress. Swallowing hard once more, she moaned again.
"Charli?"
"Need...to..." and she took another breath, holding it again. "Get...up. Got...to...find him."
H's attention was averted to the monitors when one of them began beeping rapidly indicating her blood pressure and heart rate both, were jumping up. Her breathing was erratic and her expression, panicked. "Charli? You need to calm down."
"Shot...can't stop. Need...to find...him. Can't...stop."
"Sweetheart, I'm right here."
Her eyes closed as more tears fell, her head shook back and forth. "My fault." she whispered, in pained words.
He looked at her, writhing as if she were on a chopping block, and knew it. "Charli, look at me."
Her eyes never met his. "My fault." she repeated.
"Dammit, look at me!" and he grabbed her face so her eyes met his. "I'm okay. I'm alive. I survived."
Losing all of her strength as well as all of her fight, she laid flat, monitors continuing to tell a story that she couldn't hear, and her body finally stopping the struggle. "My...fault." she whispered, barely audible, before her eyes closed, her body fell completely slack, and the monitors started screaming, lines going flat and bumps becoming solid bars.
"No you don't kid! Don't you dare! Come back to me Charli! Now!" and nurses flooded the room, pushing him back and out of the way as they worked to bring her back to life.
