My mojo seems to be working really well lately and I am happy that you all like the story. Here is another chapter and I
hope you like.
It took Horatio a little while to find the room where Emily was being held in. She was in single closed room that had wide windows on one of the walls so you could see inside. Calleigh was sitting in a chair that she had pulled up closer to the bed. Calleigh had Emily's left hand in her hands and was talking to the girl. Horatio couldn't tell what Calleigh was saying but before he could try to read her lips, Alexx walked up to Horatio with a folder in her hands. "Honey what is going on? You are acting strangely. I know you care about the victims but you are acting like she means more. Tell me what is going on Horatio." Horatio closed his eyes and took a few deep breathes trying to calm himself before he threw something. "Alexx I can't lose her, not now." He told Alexx with his head down and eyes half closed.
Alexx knew that Horatio always took it hard when someone died when they were on his watch but he had never taken it this hard. "Honey I know that this is always hard but that is a big possibility from the state that she is in." Alexx told Horatio trying to keep him from beating himself up over it. "No Alexx you don't understand!" Horatio snapped at her. Horatio walked closer to the glass window that looked into Emily's room and put his hands on the seal. "And what is it that I don't understand Horatio?" Alexx asked irritated now. She put her hands on her hips and stared at Horatio waiting for him to answer. Horatio breathed in deeply and never took his eyes off the room as he handed Alexx the letter that he had read earlier. Alexx looked at Horatio curiously as she took the letter from him and opened it up.
Alexx quickly read through the letter and when she finished she look back up at Horatio and asked "Horatio how do you even know that this is real?" Alexx held the letter up to him. Horatio took the letter back and held it in his hand. "I ran her blood against mine Alexx. It was a match." Horatio said quietly. Alexx saw the truth in his eyes and softened a bit but she still didn't understand something. "Would she really have left like that?" Horatio gave Alexx a soft chuckle and looked up at the ceiling. "Her mom and I met in college and fell for each other. Sara was working towards a nursing degree. We were in love but when she was offered the opportunity to go to Utah, she debated whether she would go or not. She invited me to lunch the next day and she was concerned about me. That was when she told me about the job opportunity in Utah.
She was upset but took it really well and I spent the rest of the day with her trying to comfort her. She told me she needed to go ahead and go. She said that it would be a great opportunity for her and that I should stay. I had just got settled in here in Miami and she said that it would be best. I never really heard from her again once I left." Alexx was no longer mad at Horatio. Instead she felt sorry for him. She rubbed his back as she said "We will do everything we can alright?" Horatio nodded but she could see that he was still upset about something. "Horatio?" She gently asked.
"How could this happen to me again? How can I have two children that I never knew about?" Horatio asked her desperately. Alexx gave him a smile. "I don't know but what I do know is that you have a child in there that needs you. Why about you go relieve Calleigh and stay with your girl for a while Horatio?" Alexx suggested. Horatio told Alexx that he would. Alexx gave him one last smile before she left.
Horatio swallowed before he went into the room. Calleigh had fallen asleep with her head resting on the bed next to Emily's hand. Emily had a breathing tube and an IV that had two bags hooked to it with one blood bag that was almost gone. Her heart monitor showed a weak but constant heart beat. Horatio gently shook Calleigh awake. "Hmm… oh sorry H." Calleigh said when she woke up and saw Horatio standing next to her. Horatio gave Calleigh a small smile. "It's alright. Why don't you call Eric and have him give you a ride home so you can rest? I will stay with her." Horatio suggested as Calleigh yawned. Calleigh nodded her head ok and stood up, stretching. "What was in that envelope Horatio?" Calleigh asked him. Horatio looked at Emily before he answered her. "Can we talk about that another time. I promise I will tell you about it later alright?" Calleigh slowly nodded her head.
"Alright." She leaned over and left a soft kiss on Emily's forehead. Calleigh rubbed Emily's hand for a minute before she nodded her head to Horatio and left. Horatio sat down in the chair next to the bed and picked up Emily's hand in both of his. "Emily, sweetheart I need you to stay with us. I got that letter that you asked Calleigh to give me from your mother. I need to tell something but you have to stay here." Horatio told Emily. Horatio kept a hold of Emily's hand in one of his while with his other he stroked her forehead. "Please." He asked her in a whisper, choking down his tears. Her monitor beeped and showed that Emily's pulse had gotten a little stronger but not by much. It was a start. "Good girl." Horatio said. Horatio stayed with her the rest of the day and through the night.
Around 9pm Horatio's eyes slowly closed and he fell asleep. Alexx came by to check up on the girl at 10:30pm and saw that Horatio was asleep. She got him a blanket and smiled at him. She check the girls monitor and noticed that the girl's blood pressure was up some more and that was a hopeful sign. Alexx patted the girl's hand. "Good girl, just keep up what you are doing." Alexx whispered to her before she left the two in peace.
Horatio's eyes fluttered open when he heard someone in the room with him. He looked around and saw that it was Alexx. "Morning, I don't know what you did but she is getting better Horatio." Alexx said when she saw Horatio wake up. He looked at her for a second and then gave her a small smile. "Why don't you go get something to eat? I will stay here until you get back." Alexx suggested. "Alright Alexx." Horatio replied as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Alexx quietly chuckled when Horatio left the room.
The girl's monitor beeped showing her heart rate go slightly erratic but Alexx quickly soothed her. "It's alright baby, he will be right back. I need to make sure he stays healthy so I don't have to worry about both of you." Alexx said as she smoothed hair out of the girl's face. Emily's heart rate calmed and went back to the way it was. Horatio was back in a few more minutes. He had grabbed a coffee and a biscuit to hold him. He saw Alexx smile down at Emily and wondered what had made Alexx smile. Horatio walked back in the room taking a sip of his coffee. He raised his eyebrows at Alexx asking her what was going on. She just smiled and said "You have one unique girl here Horatio."
"Yes I know that Alexx but I am still curious as to why you say that." Horatio said with a chuckle. Alexx shook her head. "When she heard you leave she panicked but once I told her you were coming back she settled down pretty quick." Horatio smiled. He sat back down next to the bed again. He had just sat down when Calleigh and Eric walked in. Horatio stood back up. "How are you feeling Calleigh?" Horatio asked. "Fine thank you. How is she doing Alexx?" Calleigh said right back. "She is doing better." Alexx replied. Alexx hugged Calleigh and Eric before she left to check on her other patients. Calleigh went straight over to Emily's bed and picked up her hand. "I did as you asked and now it is time for you to hold up you end. We would not be here if it wasn't for you and I thank you for that but we need you to get better."
Calleigh said to the girl still holding her hand. "Eric, have you talked to Mr. Wolfe?" Horatio asked. Horatio put his hands on his hips as he waited for an answer. "Yeah H, he said that he was fine." Eric answered but before he could go on, they heard a sound that brought all their attention to Emily. Calleigh gasped as they watched Emily take in a shaky breath in by herself. After a bit she did it again. Calleigh jumped up and ran into Eric's arms as they both cheered. Horatio broke out in a huge smile and looked down. "What is going on in here?" Alexx demanded as she walked in. "Just be quiet and watch Alexx." Eric told her as he nodded toward Emily. They all got quiet as they waited. Emily took a long breath and Alexx quickly walked over to her monitors. "This is incredible…" Alexx said as she looked from the monitors back to Emily as she took another breath on her own.
They all laughed with relief. "Well if she keeps this up may be this afternoon we can take her breathing tube out. Until then I am going to continue with my rounds." Alexx said with a laugh as she left. Calleigh dragged Eric with her back to Emily's side. Horatio just continued to smile as he watched. Emily took in another breath. Calleigh's face showed pure happiness as she watched Emily try to breathe on her own. "Eric have we identified all three of the men that were in the house?" Horatio asked. Calleigh's smile faded and she slowly turned to the two of them. She pushed them to the back of the room and said
"What do you mean three? There should be four, Horatio. There were four of them." Calleigh had a slightly worried expression as she waited for an answer. Horatio and Eric looked at each other and then looked back at Calleigh. Horatio cleared his throat and gently asked Calleigh, "Calleigh… there were only three in the house not counting Emily. Do you think you could see who was there and who was not?" Calleigh looked back at Emily and then nodded her head that she would. Eric took her back to the lab and said that he would be back later to relieve Horatio.
Horatio thanked him and went back to his daughter's side. Horatio smiled again when his daughter took another breath on her own. This one was a more solid with only one small pause. Alexx walked back in to see how her patient was doing. Horatio looked up at her when he heard here come in. "How is our little miracle doing? Is she still trying to breathe on her own?" Alexx asked as she checked the monitor. Emily took a breath in after Alexx had asked her questions. They both smiled. Horatio looked up at Alexx "I do believe that she just gave both of us an answer." Horatio said with a small chuckle. Alexx laughed and got a huge smile on her face. "Yes I think so too." Alexx listened to Emily's heart beat and lungs. Alexx smile got even bigger when as she was trying to listen to Emily breathe, the girl took a deep breath in. The breath was cut short.
Horatio's smile faded when he heard the breath not finish and slid closer to Emily with concern written all over his face. Alexx gave him a reassuring smile and said "Don't worry Horatio. She probably was cut short because of the pain. She tried to take too deep of a breath and most likely pulled on the wound." He shook his head alright and gave another small smile. "Her heart rate is up, so is her blood pressure and at this rate she will be breathing on her own without the tube soon. If I didn't already know that she was your daughter, I would be thinking it now. She is just like you, a strong fighter." Alexx said to Horatio as she walked over to him. Horatio looked at her and raised his eyebrows with an innocent look on his face.
"Now don't you give me that innocent look. We both know that you are stubborn and especially so when it comes to being in the hospital." Alexx said as she gave Horatio a playful glare. "Yes I guess you are right Alexx." Horatio responded with a laugh before he turned his attention back to his daughter. Alexx watched Horatio with his daughter for a minute before she went back to work. She was there when he found out about his son and he was sad and happy at the same time. He was so sad that he had missed out on his son's childhood and Alexx knew that he was going to go through that all again. Right now Horatio seemed happy that his daughter was doing better and didn't seem to be taking it as hard as he did the first time.
Alexx smiled when she saw Horatio kiss the top of his daughter's head and sit down, taking one of his daughter's hands in his. Back at the lab, Calleigh was going through the pictures of the men who were in the house. Eric and Ryan were in the interrogating room with Calleigh, watching her to see what she would find. "That is the man that tied us up with ropes and that one is the one that blind folded us." Calleigh said pointing to each one in turn. Calleigh put her head in her hands and rubbed her forehead between the eyes. "The man who appeared to be in charge is missing. He is almost six feet tall and dark brown hair." Calleigh said to Eric and Ryan. Ryan grabbed a big binder off the floor that he had set there earlier and passed it over to Calleigh. "Can you go through these and see if you see this other man? He more than likely has had priors because of the way you described his actions. He knew what he was doing." Ryan asked. Eric looked at her with affection and concern.
"You don't have to right now. We can come back and do this latter if you need to." Eric said. He could see that she was struggling with something and didn't want to push her. "No I will go through it now. He is still out there Eric and they were after Emily. Me and Ryan were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Calleigh responded with a shake of her head. Eric could see the determination in her eyes so he lent her a hand. Ryan got up and excused himself. "Here I will help you. You said that he was tall with dark hair right?" Eric asked. "Yeah." Calleigh replied with her nose buried in the binder. Eric opened another binder to help her.
Back at the hospital, Natalia joined Horatio at Emily's bedside. She was covering for Eric who said he was going to be there but couldn't make it so she came in his place. "How is she doing H?" Natalia asked as she dragged another chair over by Horatio. "She is doing better Ms. Boa Vista. She is breathing almost completely on her own now." Horatio replied. Natalia gave a soft smile as she looked at Emily. "Did you know that on the way here, the only thing she was worried about was Ryan and Calleigh?" Natalia quietly asked Horatio. She gave a small, quiet laugh. "She wasn't concerned about who I was or what was going to happen to her. She just asked about them and if I could remind Calleigh about a promise." Horatio looked at Natalia. Natalia noticed him looking at her and turned her head so she could look at him.
"What?" She asked. The corner of his mouth turned up in a small smile. Horatio looked at Emily for a second before he looked back at Natalia. "Nothing…don't worry about it." Horatio said. "Ok." Natalia said back with a shrug. Horatio's phone rang and he stood up to answer it. "Caine." Horatio listened intently in the corner of the room. "Alright, thank you." He said at the end of the call. He closed his phone and looked off into space as he thought about something. Natalia saw Horatio's thinking face and turned to him. "What is it H? There anything I can do?" Horatio glanced over at her and then replied.
"Umm… yes. Could you go back to the lab and process some blood that they found at the house." He put a hand on his hip while the other still held his phone. "Yeah no problem I will head right down there and get right on it." Natalia brushed Emily's forehead. She smiled down to her and gave Horatio a smile to as she left for the lab. Horatio watched her leave and stayed standing as he watched his daughter. She was getting better but she still had a ways to go. Horatio was relieved that Emily was getting better. He opened his phone and was looking as some missed calls when the monitor in the room set its alarm off.
