Horatio was in deep sleep. He had been asleep for almost five hours. Which was good, considering the problems he had had sleeping lately. Rick smirked as he was standing in the bedroom, looking at the Lt. sleeping. He had broken into the house, using the back porch door. It had been very risky, but the redhead hadn't woken up when Rick had broken the glass. While he was standing there, Rick though about how he wanted his revenge. He wasn't sure if he wanted it to be quick or not.
"I need a gun." Rick muttered to himself.
He smirked evilly as he though of Horatio's gun. What a fun thing to do to the Lt! Shoot him with his own gun! Rick left the bedroom in search of the gun. He checked all the desk drawers in Horatio's home office. He sighed angrily as he didn't find it. He looked in the kitchen, living room and even the bathroom, but it was nowhere to be found. There was only one place left to search in. The bedroom. But, Rick had already checked the nightstand and the gun wasn't there. As he entered the bedroom again, he turned on the light. Horatio stirred, but didn't wake up.
"Where are you hiding your gun carrot top?" Rick asked the sleeping man.
Rick carefully searched through the closet and looked inside some boxes on the floor. But it was empty. That's when it hit him! The laundry! Smirking he walked towards the laundry basket in one of the corners of the room. He found the gun immediately. It was still in the holster, attached to Horatio's trousers.
"You must have been so damn tired that you didn't bother to remove the gun." Rick chuckled, "Idiot."
Rick un-holstered the gun and walked towards the redhead. He aimed the gun at his head and smiled as he got ready to shoot. The sound of a car distracted Rick and he froze.
"Horatio?" He heard a female voice call from the door.
He recognized the voice as Natalia's. Rick smirked evilly, wondering what she was doing at her boss's door at two in the morning.
"Horatio, it's me Natalia."
Had they been fighting? Or was Natalia expecting Horatio to be awake? Rick shrugged and got ready to shoot. He wanted Natalia to leave, but wasn't sure if Horatio would wake up before she did.
"Horatio. I'd like to talk to you." Natalia sighed.
Horatio stirred and moaned as he was beginning to wake up. Rick paled and knew he had to do something. He hit Horatio in the head with the gun and then walked towards the doorway of the bedroom. He could see Natalia's silhouette on the other side of the front door as he peeked out in the hallway.
"Horatio? Hello?" Natalia called out louder and knocked on the door.
Rick panicked as he heard Horatio moan from behind him. He rushed back to the bed and kicked Horatio in the head, but it just woke Horatio up more. Horatio stared into the eyes of Rick and was about to yell for help, when Rick's hand covered his mouth. They struggled and Horatio tried to bite Rick's hand. Rick pulled Horatio down on the floor and kicked his ribs. Horatio groaned and knocked Rick's nose with his head.
"Shut the fuck up or I will shoot you and Boa Vista!" Rick growled and managed to aim the gun at Horatio's head.
Horatio stopped moving and looked at the gun. It was his own! He growled and tried to bite Rick's hand again. Rick hit him with the gun across his face and managed to cut Horatio at the eyebrow. Horatio kicked Rick's crotch and managed to get free. He ran towards bedroom door and was just about to close it as Rick ran straight into him. Horatio fell backwards and landed on his living room table, that was made of glass.
"Horatio! What the fuck is going on in there?" Natalia asked, she had heard glass breaking and un-holstered her gun.
"Natalia!" Horatio yelled, "Call for help!"
Rick growled and picked Horatio up by the hair. Horatio was still exhausted and his body wasn't as strong as it used to be. But he still managed to kick Rick's leg and Rick lost his grip on Horatio. Just as he was about to run towards the front door, Rick grabbed his legs and pulled them towards him. Horatio fell down on the floor, hitting his head on the edge of a small drawer. Rick smirked evilly as he noticed that Horatio was almost knocked unconscious.
"Horatio, I'm coming in!" Natalia yelled and finally kicked the door open.
She aimed her gun at Rick and he aimed at her. Carefully she walked towards Rick.
"Rick. This is so wrong." She said, "What the hell have you done?"
"I just showed Horatio who the boss is." Rick smirked, "All of you idiots got me fired!"
"You got yourself fired." Natalia said, "Horatio can you hear me?"
Horatio moaned and coughed. His ribs, eyebrow and head hurt. He knew he was bleeding from at least two different wounds. Rick smirked and backed away from Horatio. He couldn't kill the redhead while Natalia was still there. He had to get rid of her first.
"Goodbye Boa Vista." Rick said, "See you in hell."
"You'll be alone in hell, Rick." Natalia said and got ready to shoot.
Just as Rick was about to pull the trigger, Horatio grabbed his legs and pulled him towards him. Rick tripped and his bullet went up in the roof. Natalia fired as Rick pulled the trigger and fell, and shot Rick in the chest. Rick was lying on the floor, not moving. Natalia holstered her gun and rushed to Horatio's side.
"You got a cut at your eyebrow and another at your left temple." Natalia said, "I should have managed to kick the door in sooner."
"Don't blame yourself." Horatio slurred, "It's not your fault."
Natalia could see that Horatio was loosing consciousness. He was trying to keep his eyes open, but failed. Natalia had called for an ambulance and the police before kicking the door open. They arrived just as Horatio closed his eyes and lost consciousness.
"Whoa! Stetler?" One of the officers asked, "Better call the ME. He's dead."
Natalia sighed in relief. She had never wanted to kill anyone, not even Stetler. But she couldn't help but to feel a bit relieved as she was told that he was dead.
The paramedics put Horatio on a gurney. Natalia followed them to the hospital. And then she sat there, calling the rest of the team and waiting for them to arrive. Ryan was already at the hospital of course, as well as Calleigh and the baby boy.
-I-
Cooper was watching the new ballistic expert fire Horatio's weapon, it was procedure. Once she was done with Horatio's gun, she would test Natalia's. The new ballistic expert was a young woman. Her name was Charlize Rush. Charlie for short. Cooper was already in love with her even though he had just met her.
"Do you think anyone would hate me if I bought a cake and celebrated Rick's death?" Cooper asked as he was checking out Charlie's ass.
"Honestly? Yes… It's a bit weird." Charlie said, "Stop looking at my ass!"
Cooper snapped out of his dirty thoughts and looked at Charlie's ponytail instead. She was standing with her back towards him, but she could feel Cooper's eyes all over her.
"Well, nobody will miss him." Cooper shrugged.
"Really? What about his family? Mother? Father?" Charlie asked.
"He didn't have any."
"Well, that's kind of sad, don't ya think?"
"Yeah, a little." Cooper said, "Look, Rick was a pain in the ass and he caused his own death. If he hadn't gone after H, then Natalia would never have had to shoot him."
"I'm not saying that Boa Vista did something wrong. But the guy is dead. You don't have to celebrate it." Charlie snapped.
Cooper winced. He really liked Charlie and apparently she was a tough nut. His sense of humour didn't seem to go well with her. He had to think of some other way to impress her.
"Sorry." Cooper said, "I won't bring it up again."
"Don't you have work to do?" Charlie asked.
"I always have. But the boss is away, so I can play." Cooper smiled, "Feel like playing with me?"
Charlie gave him a weird look and Cooper blushed.
"That came out totally wrong." He said, "I mean like… d you feel like, doing a prank of Frank?"
"I'm pretty sure that he will kill if you if you do it." Charlie said.
"Nah, Frank would never do that." Cooper said.
Cooper would be proven wrong of course. Frank was not a fun person to be around at four in the morning. He was tired and pissed because his friend had almost been killed by Rick. He tried his best to not snap at Alexx as she finished her autopsy on Rick. Alexx could sense that Frank was pissed. Almost everyone was. The last thing that Horatio needed, was to be at the hospital, almost beaten to death.
"Well, Rick here, died instantly. The bullet went straight through his heart." Alexx said.
"For being such a bad shooter, Natalia actually hit the bulls-eye this time." Frank said, "What else?"
"He had been drinking before he died. Probably to have the courage to attack Horatio."
"Shit." Frank sighed, "IAB will say that Rick was too drunk to fully understand his actions."
"No way." Alexx growled, "He knew exactly what he was doing. The effects of the alcohol had already started to fade by the time he attacked H."
"Good to know." Frank said, "Alright, well. Thanks Alexx."
"Bye Sugar." Alexx sighed and watched the big Texan leave.
Frank felt relieved as he walked through the lab. The case would be closed within hours and nothing would happen to Natalia or Horatio. IAB had nothing they could find in the case that could cause problems for them. Frank got inside the elevator and sighed as he leaned against the elevator wall. Suddenly the elevator stopped between two floors.
"Son of a bitch!" Frank growled and pushed as many buttons as he could.
The elevator started moving again, but this time back to the lab. Frank hit the buttons and cursed at the elevator. It stopped again and this time it was moving down. Just like Frank wanted.
"Thank you." Frank muttered.
He was about to rip his ears off when the elevator stopped again. He kicked at the elevator door and the elevator started moving. Again, back to the lab.
"I want to get to the parking lot!" Frank yelled angrily and pushed all the buttons he could.
The elevator stopped. But when the doors opened, Frank noticed that only the lower half of the elevator was at the lab. The other half, was above it. Frank knelt down and peeked outside.
"Cooper! Help me out!" Frank growled, "The elevator is acting weird."
Cooper smirked and showed Frank his knew water gun. Frank growled. Cooper laughed as he started squirting the water at Frank's face. Frank growled and stood up. Cooper grabed his other "weapon". He threw some soap on the elevator floor and as Frank tried to move away from it, he tripped and fell down on the floor. Cooper was laughing so hard that he could barely stand straight. He walked closer to the door to see if Frank was okay. Frank grabbed Cooper's shirt and tried to pull him inside the elevator.
In the control room, Charlie was laughing at the scene on the cameras. Cooper's lowed body was hanging outside the elevator and Cooper was kicking with his legs, desperately trying to get out. Inside the elevator, Frank was picking hair away from Cooper's eyebrows. One by one. Cooper screamed like a girl and tried to make Frank fall, by hitting his legs.
"Don't move Cooper, this will be over in a minute." Frank smirked.
Cooper remembered his last plan and managed to calm down. He reached down to his pocket and found his homemade pepper-spray. Which wasn't really a pepper-spray. Instead of pepper it was itching powder. Cooper started spraying on Frank's hair and even on his back, inside his shirt. Frank let go of Cooper and he managed to escape.
"Cooper!" Frank yelled as the elevator doors closer and Frank was sent down to the parking lot. He would have his revenge!
-I-
Natalia growled as she watched the news. Erica Sykes was reporting about the attack on Horatio. But it wasn't what bothered Natalia the most. It was the fact that someone had told Erica about Horatio's cancer. Erica was telling everyone who watched that Lt. Horatio Caine had cancer and would probably not survive. Natalia was ready to pull the TV away from the wall and beat Erica to death with it.
"There is actually smoke coming out of your ears." Eric teased as he stood behind Natalia.
He hadn't seen the news, so he assumed that Natalia was angry because of what Rick had done. Natalia turned around and glared at him. Eric looked scared and backed away a few steps.
"Have you seen the news?" She asked.
"No."
"Look." Natalia said and nodded at the TV.
She could see Eric going from happy to angry in two seconds as he watched Erica's report. Eric scowled.
"I'm going to kill that woman." He growled.
"Leave that to me." Alexx said from the doorway.
Both Natalia and Eric jumped in fear at her voice and sighed in relief when they saw their beloved mother hen. Alexx growled as she joined them and saw Erica's smile as she talked about lung cancer and how fatal it could be.
"I will find out who told her." Alexx said, "And if it's necessary, I will do it with violence."
Alexx left the room and Natalia felt like running after her, to make sure that Alexx didn't actually kill anyone.
"She will be fine." Erica said and grabbed Natalia's arm.
Natalia nodded. Alexx was in better control than anyone else at the moment and if anyone could force some information out of Erica, it was Alexx. Eric sighed and sat down in a chair. Natalia sat down next to him. It had been over two hours since Horatio had been brought to the hospital and they still hadn't been told anything.
"After all he had been through in the last 24 hours..." Eric sighed, "Rick had no heart when he did this."
"He should have dated Erica. They would have made a perfect couple." Natalia said.
"Nah, they would end up hating each other because one of them would always be more heartless than the other." Eric chuckled, "Seriously though, have you told H that you love him?"
The question caught Natalia off guard and she didn't know what to answer. She shook her head and Eric sighed.
"Just tell him Nat." He said, "Just say, Horatio I love you."
"And what if he doesn't love me back?" Natalia asked, "Huh?"
"But he does." Eric smiled, "That man is crazy about you. He is just as shy about it as you. But I think that considering what he's going through right now, you might have to take the first step."
Natalia shook her head. It was so hard. She had spent several hours at home, thinking about her relationship with Horatio. They rarely said anything to each other, unless it was about work. What if they would end up finding out that they had nothing in common?
"We never talk to each other. Only about work." Natalia said.
"That's because you are both afraid to open up your hearts."
"He is older than me." Natalia said.
Eric knew what she was doing. She was trying to come up with excuses so that she wouldn't have to face the fact that she loved him and that she needed to do something about it before it was too late.
"Nat. Don't make excuses. Tell him." Eric said firmly, "If you don't, then I will."
"You will not!"
"I will!" Eric said, "You've got until noon to tell him… or I will."
Natalia was about to protest when Eric shook his head.
"Nat. It's now or never." He said sadly, "He doesn't have much time left. Would you rather spend six months longing for him to hold you then to actually be able to kiss and hold him everyday?"
Eric left Natalia as she thought about what he had said. She sighed and rubbed her tired eyes. She was so afraid to date a second Nick. Yet, she knew that Horatio wasn't like Nick. He would never hit her. She wondered what scared Horatio. Natalia jumped in fear as a nurse cleared her throat.
"Are you here for Lt. Caine?" The nurse asked.
"Yes. I'm Natalia Boa Vista."
"Are you family?"
"Well, um… I'm his girlfriend." Natalia lied.
"Well then, please come with me." The nurse smiled.
Her nametag read Lilly. Natalia followed Lilly towards a small room. Lilly stopped outside the door.
"He is quite banged up. He has a concussion and two wounds that were bleeding quite heavily. He has three broken ribs, but he can leave tomorrow if everything stays stable for the rest of the day." Lilly smiled and opened the door.
Natalia took a deep breath before entering the room. She started to cry silently as she looked at her boss and love of her live, as he lay in the bed. He was pale and looked like he was in pain. Natalia sat down in a chair next to the bed and softly held Horatio's hand in hers.
"Hi Horatio." She said, "You're safe at the hospital and can leave tomorrow if you stable."
Horatio moaned and struggled to open his eyes. Natalia smiled and squeezed his hand softly.
"You… saved me… from Rick." Horatio whispered, "Thank you."
"I would do it over and over again if I had to." Natalia grinned and blushed as she thought about what she had said.
"I would too." Horatio said before falling asleep.
Natalia smiled and kissed his lips softly. They seemed to fit perfectly with hers.
TBC…
AN: Please Review! I changed the rating to T, for safety. I'm not sure if my story will be a K+ or T later on.