Recuperating
chapter 10
A/N: First of all, my deepest apologies for making you wait so long for this, the final chapter. I got just past halfway through writing the chapter and then I was hit with a massive writer's block! Ugh! It took FOREVER to smash through it!
For everyone that has taken the time to review and encourage me to keep updating, thank you very much. I'd almost given up writing altogether after a batch of really severely harsh reviews in another fanfic universe. They even called for me to completely rewrite entire chapters because they felt that it was misrepresenting something and I was only going on what I know/researched. I wanted to give up.
I started to fall back in love with CSI:Miami after watching a couple of marathons of the first several years over the last many weeks. (responsible for smashing the writer's block) The fun is coming back. Updates might not be very swift, but they'll be there. This story is finished, but updates will happen for Little Steps, so look for those if you're enjoying this one.
For the sound of the coquis, go to YouTube and type in "the sound of Puerto Rican coquis singing". It is adorable! You'll see why Calleigh fell in love with the tiny songsters.
Also, new happiness is in the fact that my show rat, Ninja, just gave birth to a litter while I had the blockage. There's 11 of them! One is completely blonde and is a girl. Three guesses what her name is! Two of them don't count.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! You gave me new life! And even after the time jump, I still feel great about writing again! Thank you!
While I'll be continuing Little Steps, I'm casting around for new story ideas to keep the fun coming. Suggest away!
The pool area hadn't been private, but, because of the street fair, a great deal of the guests pushed swimming aside for other activities. Calleigh snuggled into Eric's chest, wrapping her arm around his middle, sighing contentedly. "I wish this weekend would never end. I know I'm still recovering and all, but I haven't felt as good as I have all weekend since before the fire. I'm afraid when we go home that that'll stop, too."
"Cal-"
"No, let me finish. I know you need to be back at the Lab and, right now, they're down two CSI's. I can handle it. I will handle it."
Eric hugged her close, placing a gentle kiss to the top of her head. "Yes, you will. And we're going to make an effort to change your routine up a bit when we get home. That might help a little. Breakfast on the patio in the morning, every morning, together. And we can go out for a walk every day after work. And swimming in the ocean for fun and to strengthen your lungs."
Calleigh sighed again. "Romantic dinners?"
"Always."
She looked up at him, smiling broadly. "Just what the doctor ordered."
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After the jacuzzi, they changed clothes and had dinner by candle light on the patio of the hotel restaurant, ordering tropical drinks and having whatever they wished. The tiny coquis made their soft music somewhere nearby.
Calleigh smiled softly, looking in vain to see if she could find one tiny songster. "I wish I could see one one more time."
Eric chuckled. "I'm surprised that they didn't make it into our room. I usually get two or three that just wander in."
"Well, maybe they were being polite this time," Calleigh observed with a chuckle of her own. "I mean, you aren't visiting alone."
"Maybe."
They were silent for a short while until Calleigh spoke. "Do you remember when we first met?"
Eric swallowed his steak. "I do. I thought I was all that and you'd fall right into my arms. I was so full of myself."
"You were. Let's see...'Do you want my number now or later?' I believe it was," she said.
Eric colored slightly. "Yeah, that never worked. I can't believe that you remembered that. And you said you'd never even consider dating anyone remotely involved in your work."
She bat her eyes a little. "Guess I was wrong about that. I did date John and Jake...Jake twice. And then there's that one guy that I've been seeing. I think you know him. He's handsome and part Cuban and he has these sexy eyes and a smile that makes me melt whenever he smiles at me. "
Eric smiled at her. "Yeah?"
"Yeah."
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The waves lapped softly at the sand as the couple strolled down the beach, the moon hanging in a crescent in the velvety black sky. There was no need for speech as they walked, hand in hand, each lost in their own thoughts for the time being. There was no angst here, no worry; just peace.
They slowly moved toward the water to allow the waves to rush up around their bare feet, to run away and then rush back again. Eric looked over at Calleigh's face, radiant in the moonlight, watching her watch the waves as they played around their feet and retreated again. She looked at the water so longingly, so lovingly. And he was suddenly struck with an idea. They'd gone several times at home, but she'd never been in Puerto Rico. Their flight wasn't until 6:45 pm anyway. Plenty of time.
"Cal, want to go swimming in the ocean tomorrow? Actually, it's more of an inlet that isn't too far from here. We can rent some equipment and a car, or a boat, if you want," he said, excitement lacing his voice.
Calleigh looked up into his deep chocolate eyes and saw the excitement shining in them. She hesitated. "What about our flight?"
"6:45 tomorrow evening. What do you say? No scuba or snorkeling, just swimming in the ocean." he said quickly. "You're still healing up and I don't know what those would do to you."
"Just swimming?"
"Yeah. The water there is so clear that you can see all the way to the bottom," Eric enthused.
She smiled up at him. "Okay. It really...all the way to the bottom?"
"I promise! And the water is like bath water. You'll love it!" He tugged on her hand. "If we want to catch high tide then we need to get up early. That's when all the beautiful fish go to feed there."
Laughing, Calleigh let him pull her down the beach.
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They awoke early, Calleigh feeling, yet again, extremely well, despite the recovery and medication. While she was downing her morning meds with a small bit of fruit and tea, Eric called to rent a car and readied their things for the morning.
"Okay, we can pick up our car in about half an hour," Eric said, throwing a couple of towels in the large canvas bag Calleigh had bought while at the street fair the day before. He reached over and stole a piece of mango and popped it in his mouth. "You gonna be ready?"
"I will if you stop eating my breakfast and eat your own," she replied, slapping at his hand as he reached in to steal another piece of her fruit. She reached over and speared some of his potato hash, popping it in her mouth. "Oh, dear God, why did I not order that?"
Eric grinned at her. "You share a little of your fruit and I'll share some of my potatoes."
"Deal."
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They made it to the cove in under half an hour after picking up a nice picnic brunch and the car. Eric refused to allow Calleigh to carry anything other than her own personal bag to the deserted beach. Walking through the white sand, Calleigh sighed at the seclusion. It was perfect. They could admire the wildlife without fear of interruption from other tourists. She set her bag down and opened the rainbow colored beach towel she had bought the day before and that Eric had so thoughtfully packed for her. She laid the towel out on the sand and waited for Eric to finish hauling everything else over.
"You know, I could have helped you with that." she said, slipping her cover up off her shoulders and showing Eric's favorite purple one piece of hers.
"Nope. Not until you fully recover. I am your beast of burden," he said, setting the picnic basket down. He turned back toward the car. "I'll just be a minute. Don't go anywhere."
"Wouldn't dream of it," she replied with laughter in her voice. She opened her sunscreen tube and smoothed it over every spot she could reach. She waited for Eric to return. He was huffing and puffing a bit. She pat the towel next to her. "Sit. You need a rest."
"I'm good."
"Liar," Calleigh countered, handing him a bottle of water. "Rest a bit. We have hours and hours. We don't need to be at the airport until 4:00 at the latest. I want us to take our time, here. Humor me."
Eric smiled and took the water from her and drank greedily, slaking his thirst. "Okay, okay." He finished his water and stood, giving her a hand up. "Come on, I want to show you something."
Eric lead Calleigh over to a tide pool teeming with life. She gasped at the abundance. "Is that a sea star? Oh my gosh, Eric! The tide is ebbing. Do you think it'll be okay until high tide?"
"Probably. They're awfully resilient." He replied with a small chuckle. "That's one of the things I love about you, Calleigh. You're concerned about something so small as a sea star. You have a huge heart. Take Winnie, for example. I would have smashed him with a shovel if you hadn't stopped me. Once that case was over, you couldn't find his owners and kept him instead of turning him in to a reptile rescue. You found beauty in a lizard. I wouldn't have if you didn't show me."
"Hey, there is beauty in all things," Calleigh replied. "Come on, why don't we get a little swimming in before we eat? I want to see the Puerto Rican sea life."
Eric laughed. "Okay, okay! But we're not taking any chances with your breathing, alright?"
"I've already taken my medication this morning and I brought my inhaler. Everything will be fine. You called my doctor and Alexx last night and they both said I could scuba a little as long as the oxygen in the tank was mixed correctly and you already did that...four times. Stop worrying! I have a higher chance of being eaten by a whale than anything to do with the tanks. Now, come on. I want to get up close and personal with the tropical fish!" Calleigh said, beginning to shrug on the scuba tanks.
Eric shook his head in wonderment at Calleigh's sheer resilience and stubbornness. Not more than five days ago, she was struggling through her day, now she was racing, laughing and enjoying her life again. He almost hated to take her back to Miami, but, like they discussed the night before, all the continued healing with a new routine could go on and would. He shrugged his tank on and motioned to her to follow him.
They waded in until the water was at Calleigh's waist. They both put the regulators in their mouths and ducked under. The water was clear and the early morning light quite bright. Eric tapped the blonde on the arm and pointed to a coral outcrop. She nodded her understanding and they lazily swam over, Eric keeping a very close eye on Calleigh.
Calleigh, for her part, could not believe how great she felt that morning. She found herself taking sheer delight in the small darting fish as they played peek a boo with her in and out of the coral. The ballistics expert soon became so engrossed examining the fascinating coral that she initially took no notice of the soft brush from something cool against her left calf. There was a sharp pain and she jerked her leg away, rolling in the water to see what stung her. Just as she righted herself, Eric was at her side, pulling her further away. Box jellyfish. They broke the surface, relieved to see that there was only one lone jellyfish and not a school of them Eric continued to pull Calleigh to whee she could easily stand.
"How bad did it get you?" Eric asked as soon as they were both standing. He supported her weight as he assisted her to the blanket.
"It's not bad, really, Eric," she said, wincing, as he helped her to sit on the blanket. "I'm fine!"
He took out their salad dressing, balsamic vinegar, and liberally emptied it over her leg to stop the pain. "I gotta get you to an emergency room."
She placed her hand on his arm, stilling him. "Eric, I'm fine. My breathing is fine. I've been stung by jellyfish before, remember? It was just a little guy," she tried to reason. "Just a baby."
"Calleigh, you almost died from smoke inhalation and have been too sick to do anything much before this week. I'm taking you to the ER to be safe. No arguing with me and I'm calling Alexx and Horatio," Eric stated. He picked her up and put her in the car first and then hurriedly scooped up all their things, dumping it all very unceremoniously in the trunk before screeching off to the nearest ER.
He carried her in and there was general confusion about it all. Between he and Calleigh, they got the full explanation out about what happened to her with the fires and then the recuperation time and then the medications she was currently on and, finally, the jellyfish sting, which already was looking better than it had at the beach.
After speaking at length with Calleigh's doctor and Alexx, Dr. Rodriguez shook his head and applied a topical cream on her leg while his nurse checked Calleigh's breathing. "Mr. Delko, Ms. Duquesne is fine. Her breathing is well within the norm. I find no reason to keep her for observation. Her doctor would like to see her tomorrow, however. There will be no reason to take her in after you land this evening."
"She's okay to fly?"
"I spoke with Dr. Goldflies and Dr. Woods and they both don't think it's an issue. In fact, Dr. Woods has insisted that Ms. Duquesne has been stung far worse by jellyfish before. She insisted on a picture of the sting. She likened it to a painful mosquito bite after hearing that Ms. Duquesne is perfectly fine, otherwise." The older man gave Eric a sympathetic look. "I know she's been through something horrifically life threatening, but, right now, she's just fine. I put a topical analgesic on it for the pain and wrapped it to avoid friction irritations. I also gave her a small dose of pain meds just to take the edge off. It might make her a little sleepy. My call would be to let her nap, get both your things from the hotel, check out, pick her up and take her to a nice last evening on the island dinner, get on your flight and get home. Dr. Woods said she'd be waiting for the both of you when you land." Dr. Rodriguez gave Eric a sage look, not unlike Alexx's. "She really will be alright. From what I can see and from the conference call I have had with both Dr.s Goldflies and Woods, Ms. Duquesne's issues are now beginning to stem almost entirely from the medication. It's still needed, but she's well enough to handle that little sting. From what I saw, it was just a baby."
Eric let out a frustrated sigh. This guy didn't see Calleigh just a day ago! "But she was-"
"I understand how concerned you are, I really do, but she will be fine. You can see her if you like."
Eric didn't say anything else as he brushed past the doctor and into Calleigh's cubicle. He stopped and took in her appearance. Her breathing was easy and her color was good. She looked a little drowsy, but the doctor said he gave her a little something. "Hey, how do you feel?"
Calleigh gave him a laguid look from half opened eyelids. "Okay. The doctor said the sting was nothing and everything will be okay. I can go home after a nap. I want to take a nap."
"Are you sick to your stomach or anything?"
She gave him a lazy smile. "No, just a little sleepy. Kind of hungry, but I want to nap first. You don't mind, do you?"
Eric gave her a soft smile and took her hand, holding it gently. "Of course not. How about I get our stuff, check out and then pick you up for dinner before we fly home?"
"Sounds great," Calleigh said and then yawned. "So sorry! I'm just so sleepy all of a sudden."
He leaned down and kissed her. "Get some sleep. I'll be back before you wake up."
Calleigh nodded and closed her eyes. She was sound asleep in moments.
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Calleigh was already dressed and sitting up when Eric came back into her cubicle. She gave him a stern look. "Thought you said that you'd be back before I woke up."
Eric gave her a sheepish grin. "Yeah, well repacking and checking out took a little longer than I had thought. How are you feeling?"
"Surprisingly good," she answered, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "I've already been released, so we can just go."
"Your leg, how does your leg feel?"
She gave him her most reassuring smile and stood up carefully. She winced slightly as her stung leg took her weight. "It feels like I was stung by a big old pissed off bee. The doctor gave me something to put on it and told me to keep it wrapped for a couple of days until the irritation goes down. Alexx called and she's picking us up when we land. Now I'm starving. Can we go and eat?"
Eric slung his arm around Calleigh and assisted her out and to the rental car. Se glanced at him almost shyly. "Where to?"
"I'm taking you back to Juan's place for dinner. I asked him for a reservation earlier before you got stung," Eric said as he maneuvered through traffic. "Are you up to it?"
"Sure!
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Dinner was unhurried and they both ate with good appetites, Calleigh's still lagging behind, but better than it had been for months. Juan made sure to add an extra chair to their table so Calleigh could rest her stung leg on it. Finally, after every last bite of flan had been devoured and both CSI's felt like they were about to burst, Eric pulled back from the table and paid the check. He held out his arm to Calleigh.
She stood and took the proffered arm. "Why thank you, kind sir," she purred, smiling up at him. "To the airport, I presume?"
"Yeah, you know how security is," the handsome Cuban answered as they strolled leisurely to the car. "And why rush leaving? It's such a beautiful night tonight. We can take our time getting there."
"You don't want this weekend to be over, either, do you?"
He shook his head. "Not really. But, the reality is, that we need to be back in Miami tonight. I need to be back at work in the morning and you need to be back in physical therapy."
"Yeah," the blonde said softly. "But we're changing up our routine to include things we did here. And I am looking forward to that."
"Me, too."
All too soon, they pulled into the airport and surrendered the rental. They sat in the lounge, holding hands and waiting for their flight number to be called, each lost in their own thoughts. Eric stole small glances at Calleigh every few minutes. He could see that she was tiring very rapidly again. Considering the day she had just had, he wasn't surprised at all. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she snuggled into him, laying her head on his chest. She sighed and shut her eyes. Now that her eyes were closed and she was resting, Eric allowed himself to gaze down at her. It had only been a few days, but it also felt like a lifetime since the last time they were in the airport coming to Puerto Rico. Now they were heading home. Calleigh had improved so much in such few days that he had high hopes that she wouldn't relapse when they got home. He knew that she was concerned about it as well, but they had a strategy to keep her energy and mood up from where it was before. Finally their flight number was called and they boarded the plane, this time, Calleigh taking her inhaler before they took off to short circuit the breathlessness she had on the way in. Calleigh snuggled back into Eric again and dozed while he read.
Calleigh was still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes when she heard a familiar voice echo through the terminal as they deplaned.
"Well, there you are!" Alexx called cheerfully. She waited for them to cross out of the security checkpoint before embracing them both. She held the blonde's face gently between her palms, cradling her cheeks. "Don't you look wonderful! Baby, that vacation looks like it did you wonders. How are you feeling?"
Calleigh gave her a bright smile. "Pretty wonderful, actually. Puerto Rico is is really something. Like Miami, but so not. They have these little frogs called coquis. They're about the size of your thumbnail and make these little peeping calls. They sing and sing almost all night. You'd love them. And the people are so kind hearted and cheerful and the food is amazing. You and Henry have to go sometime. It's...it gave me something back that I didn't know I needed and it's all thanks to Eric and Horatio. I owe them both a great deal."
The retired M.E. fixed her friend with a very pointed look before speaking. "Now you know those two men would move heaven and earth for you if you needed them to. Just about everyone in that lab would because they all know, without exception, that you would do the very same for them."
Calleigh glanced through blurry eyes to where Eric was still waiting for their bags. She rolled her lips and nodded, blinking back threatening tears. She sniffed hard. "I would. Oh, Alexx, I would. I felt so useless lately, being on medical leave and soaking up their time, energy and sympathy. I know they give everything freely. I just feel so like a slug."
"Now you just stop that talk right here and now, young lady," Alexx admonished before pulling her dear friend into a maternal hug. "Don't you ever think or feel like that. They all love you. We all love you. There is nothing useless about being loved like that, you hear me?"
Calleigh sniffed hard, yet again, and nodded into her friend's neck. "I know."
"Baby, I'm off tomorrow and would love to hear all about your trip. Will you be up for company?" Alexx asked.
Calleigh beamed. "You bet! Eric and I both have presents for you, but they're buried in the luggage somewhere. If you come over for a brunch tomorrow, I think I can take my time and find them."
"That sounds wonderful, baby, but I'll bring brunch to you. You just relax and get that Backgammon board out. I'm itching for a rematch."
Calleigh's smile got even brighter. "On the patio where we can enjoy the day."
"Anything you want."
Eric brought the luggage over and took in both ladies grinning from ear to ear. It made his heart glad. "What's so happy?"
Calleigh turned a joy filled face to him. "Life."