I know, I'm horrible. I like dropped off the face of the earth for almost 2 months. Really sorry about that, won't happen again! I hope I haven't lost all of my dear readers because of my really long bout of writers block. For some reason, this chapter was extremely hard for me to write. Anyways, thanx again to everyone who has reviewed, the list has become so long that it takes up almost a whole page on WORD. Anywho, onto the story:
Darkness. That was all Eric knew. It was as if he was floating in nothingness. None of his senses worked. It seemed as though someone had flipped off the switch on his life.
His first sensation was pain. His entire body ached, his head throbbed.
Slowly his hearing came back. The pounding in his ears blocked out most sound. The only sound he could distinguish from the insistent drum beat was a loud blaring noise that only made his headache worse.
As Eric sat in that dazed state, he wondered how long he'd been out. It seemed like only a minute ago that Horatio had been trying to save Mrs. Sash. Mrs. Sash he thought, I wonder if she made it.
All at once his senses came back. The sharp smell of antiseptic made his eyes flutter.
"Hello there sleepyhead," a soft voice said. "Welcome back." It sounded as though he was below 20 feet of water and the voice was on the surface. Opening his eyes slowly, the CSI saw nothing but an orange smudge with a white background. It took a minute for his vision to clear, and when it did, he wasn't happy about what he saw.
Eric was in an ambulance. He was lying on a gurney and staring up at the face of a paramedic. "Where's H?" he whispered, still unable to speak properly. Even in his current state of mind, Eric was still worried about his team. "Nat?"
The look on the paramedics face told Eric everything. Something bad had happened and he was about to hear about it. "The Red head is in the ambulance behind us. He's gonna be ok," The medic paused slightly before slowly continuing. "The woman you were with… she was barely breathing when we got there. We tried to stabilize her, but we were too late."
Eric tried to sit up, but a wave of nausea hit him and he had to lie back down. No! She can't be dead, she just can't, but even as he thought it, Eric knew it wasn't true. Natalia was dead, and he could do nothing to help her.
The Hummer flew down the highway, reaching speeds so fast the other cars on the road barely had time to move out of the way. Ryan focused all his thoughts on the road. Driving towards Dade Memorial he didn't even notice when Valera cried out from the seat next to him. "Ryan! Slow down!"
Looking towards the driver seat, Valera saw Ryan's expression and knew her efforts were of no use. Since they had received a text telling them one of their own was in the hospital, Ryan had focused on nothing but getting to the hospital. All it had said was that the person was female. And Valera knew without a doubt that Ryan would do anything for it not to be Natalia.
Alexx Woods stared at her assistant in shock. The words the nurse had just said skimmed right over the top of her head. All but a few, A CSI from the Miami Dade Crime Lab. Hearing those words, her heart skipped a beat. No, she thought. Not one of my babies! The fierce motherly love she felt for all of the CSI's almost overwhelmed her.
Although it had been a few months since she had left her post as ME, she was still part of the family. The CSIs were as much her family as Jamie and Bryan.
Shaking her head slightly, Alexx snapped back into reality. Slowly, her footsteps heavy with worry, the caring doctor moved towards the ER.
Rushing outside, Alexx reached the Ambulance just as it stopped. Pushing the doors open from the inside, a paramedic jumped out of the vehicle and grabbed the end of the gurney. With him pulling and another medic pushing, it was only a matter of seconds before the gurney was out of the ambulance and speeding towards the hospital.
Alexx almost gasped in shock. Her babies long blonde hair was fanned out across the pillow, her skin a sickly grey. As an ER doctor, previously a ME, Alexx had seen worse things. Bloated corpses, decomp so bad even the victims own mother couldn't recognise them. But even after all that, her stomach still turned at the sight of her baby.
The medic was spouting off Calleigh's BP, Respiratory rate, and everything else the ER Doctor would need to know. But Alexx wasn't listening. She knew she should have been, but the only thing running through her head was, Not again. She could still remember the shock of seeing Calleigh in a coma, hooked up to a respirator. Not again, she thought. I won't let my baby go through that twice.
Ryan and Valera rushed into the ER at top speed. Storming up to one of the nurses, Ryan almost shouted, "Where is she?" The only thing that stopped him from doing that, was the knowledge that if people thought he was crazy he would never get answers. Instead, he quietly asked the nurse where he could find his friend who had just come in an ambulance.
"I'm sorry," said the nurse, "but you'll have to wait to see your friend. I can show you to the waiting room if you'd like..." the nurse trailed off as Ryan flashed his badge. Her eyes widened and she slowly turned to lead him to the back of the ER. Ryan followed. They walked through the doors and Ryan's heart jumped. Alexx flew by him with Calleigh in tow. His gaze followed her until she turned the corner. Valera stood, shocked, beside him. Ryan was shocked too, but in a guilty sort of way, he was glad it was Calleigh not Natalia.
OOOHHH! Is Natalia really dead? How's Ryan gonna react when he finds out? These questions will be answered next chapter. And this time, I promise not to wait two months before updating.
