-1WHO WILL GUARD THE GUARDIAN?

After a phone call to Alexx confirmed her suspicions that H shouldn't be left alone for long with a fever that high, Calleigh decided to run home and grab a few things so she could stay overnight on his couch. On her way back, she made a brief detour at a grocery just a few blocks from his house. Before she'd left to head home, she'd peeked in his fridge and noticed just how poor the selection of food actually was. If he was going to succeed at getting well, it would be essential to have the right foods at hand.

Now in more comfortable clothes, a t-shirt and shorts, Calleigh made herself at home. It wasn't yet late, just past 9pm, but she hadn't eaten dinner, as her stomach was furiously reminding her. After poking her head into H's bedroom to make sure he was alright and still sleeping, she pulled out the plastic container of the salad she'd purchased, settled into the couch and flipped on the TV.

One of the few forensic procedurals she actually approved of was on, a show set in Vegas of all places, and she managed to catch the last half of the episode. There were a couple times she let out a loud burst of laughter and had to cover her mouth, as to not wake H, but she couldn't help herself. The forensic technology on the program was unrealistically quick. CODIS, AFIS and, her personal favorite, IBIS results within seconds? If only, she thought with a sigh and a smile.

As the program came to a close, so did her desire to watch television. She glanced around the room until her eyes settled on a few items on the wall-length bookshelves. Uncrossing her legs gracefully, she rose from the couch and moved across the room. Whereas most people would fill such shelves almost exclusively with books, H only used half for that purpose. The other half was filled with row upon row of CDs and LPs.

For the next hour or two she quietly moved from back and forth between the shelves and the CD player, introducing herself to the type of music H liked. What she heard confirmed what she had long suspected. Horatio Caine loved jazz, and good jazz at that. Calleigh knew very little about the genre, but the more she heard, the more she understood why he was so fond of it. If there was ever a style of music that could help him relax after an especially difficult day at work, this was it.

Throwing a glance over her shoulder in the direction of the hallway, she smiled. She knew there was more to the man than she could ever imagine, but she felt as if one more layer had just been peeled away, moving her one step closer to what hid beneath. Maybe something good was coming out of this illness after all. The only problem was, the more she learned, the harder she fell.

Calleigh sighed heavily and shook her head. It hadn't been easy to keep her feelings for Horatio a secret. On so many occasions she'd wanted to shout it to the world, but for some strange reason she got the impression that shouting "I love Horatio Caine!" at the top of her lungs wouldn't go over too well at the lab. She had told no one that she was in love, though she suspected Alexx knew and just kept her mouth shut. She also suspected that it was exactly why Alexx had chosen her to be the one to drop off H's meds. Sneaky woman.

Eventually pulling herself from her thoughts, she tiptoed down the hall to check on the object of her daydreams. As she eased the bedroom door open, the light from the hallway spilled into the bedroom. Thankfully, it wasn't enough to wake him.

As silently as she could she leaned over him and placed her cool hand on his cheek. It was still warm, but not as blazing hot as it had been when she'd taken his temperature a few hours before. It seemed that the Tylenol had had an effect.

Though it was dark she could still make out the deep lines that the tireless pursuit of justice had etched into his handsome face, giving it an even more rugged appearance. Not wanting to leave him just yet, she curled up on the floor, her side leaned against the bed, her knees pulled to her chest, her head resting on the edge of the mattress.

It was some time before she forced herself to retreat to the couch in the living room. In truth she would have preferred to stay with him, but she did have to work in the morning, and sleeping in that position on the floor would do nothing to help ready her body for the long day ahead.

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There was one good thing about H's incredibly stopped-up nose. The smell of fresh fruit being sliced in the kitchen didn't pull him from his deep sleep. Calleigh wanted him to sleep as long as possible until it was absolutely necessary to wake him.

Sadly, absolutely necessary came sooner than Calleigh would have liked. Since he wasn't going to be around to run the show at the lab, that meant she was in charge, and being in charge meant that she needed to be there extra early.

She gracefully carried the tray of fruit, fruit juice, toast and, yes, pills into his room. At first glance he seemed to be sleeping peacefully, but on closer examination, Calleigh could see the deep crease between his brows. She knew he had slept, but she wondered if much of that sleep had actually been restful.

Carefully she balanced the tray on the edge of the nightstand and knelt beside the bed. "Wake up, sleepy head," she softly said, barely holding back a smile. Had the voice belonged to anyone else, it's doubtful that H would have responded. However, it didn't belong to anyone else. It belonged to Calleigh.

It took a moment for the sound of her voice to register with his brain, but once it did, his first reaction was to smile. His eyes drifted open, and while his mind and vision were still relatively foggy, he was able to put a coherent sentence together. "I thought you would've gone by now," he whispered.

Calleigh smiled back. "I've already gone and come back. I wanted to check on you before I left for work." She skipped over the fact that she had spent the night there, not wanting him to worry. "How are you feeling?"

H let out a groan as he rolled from his side to his back. He quickly regretted the move. The shift in position jostled around the unwanted contents of his lungs, setting off a coughing fit of epic proportions. One particularly vicious cough bolted him up into a sitting position.

Calleigh felt completely helpless to do anything. With pursed lips and sympathetic eyes, she watched him as he struggled to overcome the coughing. When the fit subsided H closed his eyes, took a few cautious, deep breaths and swallowed once, his raw throat screaming for mercy.

"I'm feeling…marvelous," he rasped, finally opening his eyes. He wished he had the nerve to tell her that her mere presence made him feel a thousand times better than he would have felt had she not been there. "What time is it?" he asked, quickly wanting to get the topic of conversation away from himself.

"A quarter past six." Calleigh recognized the change in subject for what it was and went with it. Grabbing the flattened pillows from behind him, she plumped them and propped them up so he had something soft to rest upon. "I can't stick around, but I brought you breakfast." Seeing the look of trepidation on his face, she continued, "Don't worry. It's just fruit and toast. And, maybe a pill or two."

"I'm surprised you didn't try to hide the pill inmy breakfast."

"Hmm, I would if I'd thought about it." Reaching for the tray, she moved it over to his lap. "I know you don't feel like eating, but you really should. Besides, I slaved a long time over the stove making you breakfast," she teased.

H glanced down at the tray in front of him and raised an eyebrow. "I don't know what stove you're talking about, but if it can slice fruit then I'd like to see it." His tired blues locked with her bright greens and they smiled at each other for a moment. "Thank-you for this."

Before leaving, Calleigh checked his temperature once more, relieved to see that his fever was a good three degrees lower than it had been the night before. Nevertheless, it was still a fever, and since it was morning, that meant that it was only going to get higher throughout the day.

Giving him last minute instructions, she left his cell phone on the nightstand, with specific orders to make absolutely no work-related phone calls. Her last word to him was, "Sleep," and with that, she left, and, unbeknownst to him, took his keys with her to keep him from leaving and to give her a way back into the house after work.