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This chapter has skipped another few weeks since Dr Turner went to talk to Horatio. He is now waiting to see her when she comes back from physio.

0o0o0o

Calleigh was exhausted but elated as Anne pushed her wheelchair back into her room. She had just managed to stand with only a little support from Greg and Andy and taken 12 steps which was her furthest distance yet.

Positioning the wheelchair beside the bed, Anne wrapped her arms around Calleigh's torso and together they pivoted Calleigh's wait onto the bed and after Anne had helped settle her patient, she left the room.

She was slowly becoming stronger again. Anne had reassured her that the speed of her recovery would hasten and it would not be too long before she would be able to use a walker, and then crutches for shorter distances, and hopefully, abandon them altogether in a year or two.

Calleigh reached out to her bedside table and wrapped her fingers around her cup and jug. Putting her fingers inside the cup she was able to pour herself a glass of water without spilling any or having the cup overflow.

She had settled herself back onto her pillows when she suddenly had the feeling that she was no longer in the room alone.

"Is someone there?" she called out, keeping her voice as neutral as possible. She couldn't think who it would be. Anyone who worked in the hospital and her team mates all knew by now that they had to tell her that they were there.

She heard a gasp and a chair being scrapped across the linoleum floor.

"It's... uh...uh... it's me." The voice managed to spit out.

Calleigh thought for a moment. She knew that voice. "Horatio?" Her tone was incredulous.

He nodded.

"Are you nodding? Because I'm pretty sure that someone in your team has told you by now that I can't see that."

Horatio was shocked as the words spit venomously from her mouth. Never, in all the years he had known her had he heard her so angry. Not that she didn't have every right to be. He was ashamed of how long it had taken him to come here.

"Calleigh, I'm sorry"

"You're sorry? You're sorry? I was tortured and held captive for months. I have been in here, going through hell for another six. I lost my sight. I can't walk and you have the nerve to come in here and tell me that you're sorry!" she was practically screaming the words at him.

"What else do you want me to say Calleigh?" He sounded defeated as he paced the room.

"The first thing you can do" she snarled "Is to stop pacing. You are driving me crazy. Either sit down or get out."

Horatio looked at the door, longing to escape from this woman that he did not recognise, but he sat. He would never forgive himself if he left now.

"Umm... I sat..."

"I know that. I'm blind, not stupid. If you had left the door would have opened unless you had decided to take a flying leap out of my open window. And you moved the chair as far away from my bed as possible. Move it back over here. If you are going to stay, then we are going to talk but you do not get to cower from me anymore."

More ashamed than ever, Horatio picked up his chair and brought it beside her bed where he sat down. When she spoke, she was no longer shouting, but there was a distinctly cold edge to her voice that he had never heard before.

"I know you Horatio. Or, at least, I thought I did. It turns out that I don't. The Horatio I knew would have been here fussing like a mother hen with one chick until he got kicked out. I know you feel guilty for closing the investigation, but you shouldn't. According to protocol, you made the right decision. I don't blame you for that. What I do blame you for is for not having the guts to come and visit me, even once."

"I know Calleigh. You have no idea how guilty I have felt. First about closing the investigation and then not coming to see you, even after I knew about your prognosis."

There was a tense silence which Calleigh refused to fill as she glared at a point just over Horatio's left shoulder, waiting for him to say something else.

Horatio was visibly shaking after hearing her harsh words, which he knew he wholly deserved and more. Her gaze was unwavering, but it killed him to see her glaring at some unseen point over his shoulder.

"I know that nothing I ever say or do will be able to make it up to you and that the relationship that we shared is over. I was too holed up in myself to be there when you needed me most, and for that, I am sorry. I am not asking for forgiveness, I only want to say that, should it ever come to it, the same thing will not happen again."

"I know that it won't happen again Horatio but you are right. Our relationship is so over but we can build a new one. It will be different because I'm afraid that these last six months have caused me to lose any trust and respect that I had for you. But, your team has been there for me and I do not want the team dynamics to break down because of me. I know what that can lead to, so for that reason, I can be civil."

0o0o0o

Eric made his way up to Calleigh's room. He was running a little late, he had planned to be there for her physio session but had got caught up in a case.

Turning right at the end of the hall, he stopped dead in his tracks. Horatio was in the room with Calleigh. She was glaring in his direction and was clearly very angry, but he had arrived just in time to hear her last words as he slid open the door.

"Hey Calleigh! It's only me."

"It's never only you Eric" she smiled reaching out and hugging him tightly. She shifted slightly in her bed, and Eric sat down beside her."

"I think I should go now"

"That's probably a good idea Horatio, but you can come back you know."

"I'll remember that Calleigh. Thank-you".

He pushed back his chair and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

As soon as he had left, Calleigh sagged in Eric's arms, trying very unsuccessfully to hold in her emotions.

It had been a long day, both physically and emotionally and it wasn't long before sleep took hold of her.

0o0o0o

Horatio collapsed in a chair, just down the hall. That had been the worst hour ever.

Not that he didn't deserve it.

His team was civil to him, but they no longer came to him with anything personal as they once had. He knew that they were all ashamed of him and his behaviour.

He deserved that too.

He was the team leader; he was supposed to be the glue that held them all together.

Instead, his team were going to Calleigh, despite her being in hospital, they were relying on her to not let the team dynamics break down.

The worst was still to come. With no prospect of getting her sight back, Horatio was going to have to tell Calleigh that she could no longer be a CSI. It just wouldn't be possible.

There were other options. She could take a teaching position or consult on cases, but he knew that pretty much her whole life was her job.

0o0o0o

I'm going to skip forward another bit in the next chapter because now that she has met with Horatio, I want to focus on her recovery and I feel that the next major step will be getting her home, but she's not quite ready for that at this stage of the story.

Review and tell me what you thought!