Horatio parked the hummer in the valet parking lane leaving his flashers on. He didn't even bother shutting off the engine. The emergency room doors opened, and Horatio and Lauren ran in. They didn't see Alexx anywhere. Spotting a nurse, Horatio asked, "Where's my officer?" The young woman thought for a moment. "Officer Speedle, where is he?"
"Yes, that's right. I'm sorry, Lt. Caine. I just arrived so I'm not too familiar with what's going on. I'll go find out some information for you," she said jogging to the back room.
Horatio turned to Lauren. Her eyes were red and puffy. He walked over to her, and pulled her into a hug letting her cry. He couldn't tell her it was going to be all right, because he himself didn't know. Speed had lost a tremendous amount of blood in the jewelry store, but he hoped for Lauren's sake and all of theirs he survived. They needed him in their lives.
"H!" Eric yelled running down the hall. Horatio looked up, and saw Eric walking toward him. He looked lost and confused. "Horatio, what happened? Is Speed all right? Calleigh said he'd been shot and that he died then he came back and… and now he's alive. What's going on?"
Lauren didn't show any signs of letting go. Horatio didn't push her away. "Eric, there was a shooting at McCauley Jewelers. Speed got shot in the crossfire. Blood was everywhere. I thought… I thought he was gone. Alexx… on her way back to the morgue said Speed woke up. I couldn't believe it. I thought I was dreaming, but I wasn't. Speed is alive and he's back in there fighting for his life right now," Horatio said holding onto Lauren tighter. He saw the tears start to form in Eric's eyes.
"H, is he is… is he going to be okay? I mean he can't leave us. Speed can't leave us…" Eric looked down and closed his eyes. A single tear falls from both eyes.
All Horatio could say was, "I don't know."
Eric looked down again, and for the first time he saw his boss holding someone tight; he noticed he was holding a woman. He put the two and two together and realized the woman was probably Lauren, Speed's girlfriend. The one that he was always on the phone with; the one that could turn his mood from bad to good; the woman who captured his heart.
Horatio and Eric exchanged looks; Horatio knew what he was going to ask. "Yes," he said.
"HORATIO!" Alexx shouted as she walked down the other side of the hallway, opposite from the way Eric had come from.
Lauren broke free from Horatio's embrace. "Alexx is he okay?" she cried out.
"Oh, baby you must be, Lauren. Come here," she said pulling her into a hug. "I don't know, baby. I really don't know. He's a fighter, and he's got something to live for." Alexx broke the embrace and looked Lauren in the eye. "He's got you."
Lauren smiled a watery smile and nodded. "He's got you guys too."
"Alexx can we give blood? Can we doing anything?" Eric asked fighting back his tears.
"No baby, he's on plasma blood now. He's lost too much blood already. It wouldn't help him, and we can wait in the waiting room. Dr. Wonka will come out when he's finished doing what he needs to do." No more words were said as they walked to the nearest waiting room.
**8 Hours Later – 11:00P.M**
Another case had come up and Eric, Alexx, and Horatio had to leave. They would be working late into the night, which wasn't something they wanted to do. They wanted be at the hospital, but were thankful Lauren was there.
Lauren was grateful Horatio took the initiative, and called Speed's parents for her. She didn't think she would have been able to do it. Lauren called Jen some time ago to let her know what was going on. Molly was asking a lot of questions that Lauren didn't want to answer yet. She explained everything to Jen, Lauren had Jen tell Molly, Speed was in the hospital, and there trip to New York had been cancelled; she would fill in the rest of the blanks in later.
Lauren continued to wonder how his gun had misfired; she heard Horatio talking to Calleigh. She hoped and prayed it wasn't because of poor gun maintenance after what happened a couple years ago on a Dispo Day. Life had been hectic for him at that time, and cleaning his gun slipped his mind, but now it was something he did every other day like clockwork.
The little boy had been found. A man involved had place little Joey in Hell's Bay; Joey was left on an old wooden dock. It turned out the step-mother had nothing to with the kidnapping and the fake jewelry. Mrs. Williams continued to apologize for what had happened to Speed.
Lauren was about to head into the waiting room, after grabbing a cup of coffee when she heard her name being called. "LAUREN!" a young woman yelled as she briskly walked down the hospital hallway; she was a few years older than Lauren. Lauren spun around and walked back out into the hallway. She immediately recognized the young woman. It was her best friend, Margret Clifford. The two have been friends ever since Lauren had moved to New York.
"Maggie, what are you doing here?" Lauren asked shocked.
"I'm here reporting on a big storm headed Miami's way," Margaret said stopping in front of her best friend. Margret was a weather girl on the weather channel. "I just got out of work about an hour ago. I was at my hotel and turned on the TV. That's when I saw what happened to Tim. I saw you on TV and when I heard he was taken here I hauled the first cab out. How is he?"
Lauren stared blankly at, Margaret. She shrugged her shoulders, and her bottom lip stared to quiver. "I don't know. I've been here alone for, who knows how long. I've been to the chapel like five times. I haven't heard from a doctor or nurse in like eight hours. I'm on my fifth cup of coffee. I keep avoiding calls from Molly, because I have no idea what to say. I'm tired and, and I don't even know. I haven't heard from Horatio…" Margaret pulled her friend into a hug. "Oh God!" she cried out.
"Okay, okay. It's going to be okay. Tim is going to be okay, and everything else is going to be okay. I know it may not seem like it right now, but it will I promise… I promise." Margaret held Lauren until she saw a man with white scrubs on and a hair net on his head; his face mask hanging around his neck. "Um, Lauren I think there's a doctor here for you."
Lauren turned around and wiped the tears away. Dr. Wonka was making his way over to here. "Are you here for Officer Speedle?" Dr. Wonka asked.
"Yes, yes I am. Lauren Schneider. I'm his fiancée… is he going to be okay?"
Dr. Wonka sighed. "He's stable right now, Miss Schneider. We lost him several times. My team, and I repaired all the damage done by the bullet. Officer Speedle was given a blood transfusion. He was given what we call plasma blood, because he had lost so much of his own. So far no complications have come up. He's a very lucky man Miss," Dr. Wonka explained.
"Is he going to be okay?" Lauren asked again. Margaret placed a calming hand on her friend's shoulder.
"That, Miss Schneider I don't know. He's been through a lot and his heart may give out, but he could end up making a full recovery. It's up to him now. All we can do now is continue our care and watch him. If the situation presents itself revive him if need be." Dr. Wonka squeezed the side of Lauren's arm for encouragement. "I'm very sorry this had happened to you, Miss Schneider."
Lauren's bottom lip started to quiver again, and tears began to spill down her face like a waterfall. "Can I see him… please?"
"Not at the moment we're still getting him settled into a room. I'll have a nurse come get you when Mr. Speedle is ready for visitors." Lauren nodded. Dr. Wonka turned and left.
"This is not happening, this is not happening," Lauren sobbed as she leaned against the wall and sank to the floor. "We were supposed to go to New York tomorrow, and spend time with our families. I was going to tell them about our engagement. I let Molly take a week off of school… Tim has been shot and I don't know if he's going to make it!" Lauren cried out. "We're supposed to be getting married."
Margaret walked over to Lauren, and sat down next to her. "Come here, Lauren. I know this is all hard to take in. I can't imagine what you're going through right now, but I promise things will work out. I know Tim is going to pull through this. It may not be immediately, but he will make it through. He's got you and Molly. The two best people in the world," she said comforting her friend. She pulled her in a hug and let her cry some more.
Meanwhile, back at CSI, Horatio and his team were in the layout room looking at the evidence collected from the new crime scene. No one could focus, not even Horatio. He still blamed himself for what happened to Speed. "H," Eric said. Horatio didn't respond he was in his own world.
"Horatio," Calleigh said. Still nothing.
"Lt. Caine," Ryan Wolfe, the newest member to the team said. Horatio had hired him when he returned to the lab, and the young officer had been asking for a job change for a while. He knew they would need an extra pair of hands while Speed was out of commission.
"What? I'm sorry guys," Horatio said apologizing.
"It's all right, Horatio. We can't find anything that helps locate the killer or even suggests a murder weapon," Calleigh said emotionless.
"H, we shouldn't be here. We should be at the hospital with Speed. Swing or nightshift can take this case," Eric said forcefully. Horatio looked at Eric. He knew he was frustrated.
"I can stay here and work on the case if you guys want to leave," Ryan said softly.
Horatio smiled. "Mr. Wolfe, that won't be necessary. I'll get nightshift to take over. You did excellent work today. Go home and get some rest or you can come with us to the hospital."
Ryan smiled back. "Thank you, Lt. Caine. I think I'll go home at take a shower then head over to the hospital. Officer Speedle gave me the courage to come ask you for the job. I think I owe him a thank you."
"Okay, I'm going to go talk to the nightshift supervisor. Put the evidence back and I'll meet you all out front. Don't forget to call Alexx." Eric was already halfway out the door. His lab coat barely caught onto the hook, and his latex gloves barely made it into the trash can.
Calleigh and Ryan looked at one another and he said, "Go ahead. I'll put everything away. You go see, Speedle." She thanked her newest team member, took off her latex gloves, hung her lab coat on top of Eric's, and headed out.