Thank you all very much for the reviews!
Sorry for the long wait for an update; there has been some trouble with the internet at home and so I haven't been able to upload a new chapter.
Anyway, this is the penultimate chapter.
Chapter 10
It seemed to happen in slow motion. Calleigh and at least ten officers ran down the hill. They saw the crashed car that belonged to Kyle and with their flashlights illuminated two figures lying on the ground.
Calleigh heard Natalia scream for Horatio as she ran behind her. Calleigh could then only hear the sound of her own heartbeat in her ears as she got closer and closer. One man was Whitmore and on top of him was a redhead. She felt her heart sink as she realized that none of the two men were moving and tears were already making their way down her face and she got closer. The air around her and her fellows officers was filled with worry that Horatio was the one that had been shot. She glanced around at their faces as they all ran towards Whitmore and Horatio. They were all thinking the same thing and all of them were praying that Horatio was alive.
Finally they reached the two men and gently pulled Horatio off of Whitmore. Horatio gasped and groaned in pain. But he had no gunshot wound. They moved Horatio further away from the now dead body of Ross Whitmore; with a bullet wound right above his heart.
"Horatio? Can you hear me?" Calleigh asked.
"Cal-" He gasped and coughed.
Blood appeared on his lips and Calleigh realized that he most likely had a punctured lung. Horatio was having a hard time breathing and as he struggled to take in air, his ribs ached with the movement of his chest. It caused him to groan in pain. His head was aching from the concussion and his body was finally telling him that the beating Mason and given him, the electrocution from the stun gun and this recent fight was enough and that he needed medical attention.
Horatio's lungs had water in them still from when Mason had thrown cold water at him. He started shaking as everything finally caught up with him. The beating, the stunning, the ice cold water, the crash and the shock.
"Horatio!" Natalia exclaimed as she sat down on the other side of him.
Horatio's eyes tried to focus on her and he gave her a weak smile.
"Hi s-sweetie." He croaked and coughed.
"Shh, don't talk. Just concentrate on staying awake and breathing." Natalia said and ran her fingers through his hair.
Both Natalia and Calleigh noticed his shivering and felt how cold he was. He was also covered in dirt and most likely had bruises all over his body. Natalia noticed the strange way his shoulder was aiming and realized that it was dislocated.
"I'm s-sorry." Horatio slurred; finding it harder and harder to stay awake.
"It's okay. You have nothing to be sorry for." Natalia said; silently crying as she watched her lover struggle.
"Is Kyle?" Horatio asked.
"He will be okay. He is of course worried sick about you." Natalia said, "He has some injuries, but he is awake and is being cared for."
Natalia knew that trying to tell Horatio that Kyle wasn't injured would never work. She would never lie to him about his son. Horatio knew she was telling the truth and nodded weakly. His eyelids were getting heavy and he felt it was getting harder and harder to breathe.
As he started gasping for air he felt both Natalia and Calleigh squeeze his hands tightly. Then someone asked them to step away. An oxygen mask was placed over his mouth and nose. Horatio vaguely noticed someone lighting into his eyes and calling his name before he completely blacked out.
Natalia and Calleigh hugged each other as they watched the paramedics work on Horatio. His breathing was getting worse and they radioed for a helicopter. Natalia started crying and watched as the paramedics realized that Horatio needed even more help breathing so they inserted a tube down his throat.
"Is Alexx at the hospital?" Natalia asked.
"Yes, she is waiting for Horatio to arrive, together with the best team she has." Calleigh said and wiped away some of her own tears.
The two women waited until Horatio had been loaded into the helicopter before going back up the hill and joining Eric and Walter. The two men were doing their best to keep Kyle inside the ambulance as the young man was desperate in trying to go to his father.
"How is he? Please, somebody tell me. I saw the helicopter." Kyle demanded.
"Kyle." Natalia said, "He is in bad shape, but he will be fine. Alexx will tend to him."
She knew that knowing that Alexx would be the one to take care of his father would make Kyle calmer.
"He has trouble breathing, but with Alexx and her team's help he will be okay." Natalia said.
Kyle nodded and then slumped against the gurney.
"I should have helped him." Kyle said, "I shouldn't have gone for help."
"Oh Kyle, don't. You did what your father told you to do." Calleigh said, "You did nothing wrong. Whitmore is gone and your father will recover."
"Still, I can't help thinking that I should have stayed." Kyle sighed.
"Actually, if you had we might have missed you." Eric said "We didn't know you were here until we saw you. We were on our way to the factory."
"Exactly, so you did help your father Kyle." Walter said, "You saved your father and yourself."
Kyle smiled slightly. Knowing deep down that they were telling him the truth. The paramedics tending to Kyle finally decided that enough was enough and that Kyle could wait no longer. He needed to go to the hospital. Kyle asked Natalia to ride with him in the ambulance and she jumped right inside it.
The others would secure the scene first before getting the night shift to help them process it. Then they would join Natalia at the hospital. On the ride over the hospital Kyle fell asleep almost instantly and Natalia smiled; he looked so much like his father when he was sleeping.
-I-
Natalia was pacing in the hospital waiting room. She was waiting for news on both Horatio and Kyle. Alexx's very capable colleague Doctor Liam Jacobs was taking care of Kyle. While she was pacing she didn't notice Frank approaching.
Frank had been assigned by the Chief to oversee the investigation with the evidence collected by Mason. He had interrogated every crooked cop that had been named in the evidence and arrested several of the people Mason had proof had been involved with Whitmore.
"Nat." He said.
Natalia jumped slightly. She embraced Frank and thanked him for coming. Frank felt slightly guilty though for not having been around when they had gone to find Horatio. But the Chief had wanted Frank to work only on what was now being called the "Mason-case". Still, Frank felt he should have been there. Horatio was his best friend and like a brother to him.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there when you found him." Frank sighed, "I was on the other side of town when the call came that you had a location and I drove as fast as I could. Then Eric called and asked me to come here instead."
"Oh Frank. Don't worry." Natalia said, "I know that the Chief put you on the Mason-case and that is equally important."
"I'm not sure about that." Frank sighed, "I mean, Horatio is my best friend and while you were trying to find him I was interrogating and arresting people with the FBI."
"And finding evidence needed to put several asshole away." Natalia said, "Frank, you have helped the case. And trust me, we weren't getting any closer at finding Horatio. Kyle did the work. He found him and then we traced his phone."
"Still-"
"Frank, listen to me." Natalia smiled, "I know how much Horatio means to you. He knows that too. He would never hold this against you. You have done nothing wrong."
Frank sighed and nodded. It still felt weird to have been doing so many other things when your best friend had been missing. However, he also knew that Natalia was right. Had he been with the team it would have been just the five of them sitting in the lab trying to find Horatio somehow and still Kyle's text would have been the way they finally did it.
"You got any news yet?" Frank asked.
"Only that Kyle is being tended to; x-rayed to see if he has any broken bones or dislocations other than his knee." Natalia said, "And Horatio is also being x-rayed, but probably won't require surgery."
"I heard he had trouble breathing." Frank said.
"Yeah, seems he swallowed a lot of water... Mason must have tortured him with it." Natalia said quietly, "And he most likely has a punctured lung. Alexx promised to tell me more as soon as she could; you know how she usually waits to tell news until she has all the information she needs."
Frank nodded. They both knew that they were in for a long wait. Alexx wouldn't tell them anymore than she had already said until she had definite news to give them. She wouldn't come running every now and then with only bits and pieces of information. Instead she would wait until she could tell them everything at once.
"You want coffee?" Frank asked.
"Please, thank you." Natalia smiled.
Frank went to get some coffee and when he came back the two of them saw in silence and just waited.
-I-
Kyle groaned and tried to open his eyes. It felt like his eyelids weighed a thousand tons and it took almost a minute before he could them to open. He quickly shut them again at the bright light.
"Sorry, I'll cover the windows with blinds." He heard a voice say.
Kyle groaned again and when he opened his eyes this time he found it was much better. His eyes landed on Walter and Calleigh. They both smiled at him.
"Hi." He croaked, "What day is it?"
"Friday." Calleigh said, "You've been asleep the whole night. Drugged up on painkillers and sedatives."
"I've only been here one day?" Kyle asked, making sure he hadn't missed a whole week of his life and a whole week of finding out how his dad was doing.
"Yep, I promise." Calleigh smiled, "How are you feeling?"
"Like I've been in a car crash." Kyle groaned.
"Well, you have a dislocated knee, two cracked ribs, a concussion, internal bruising and a bruised diaphragm." Walter said.
"Not to mention a cut above your eye and cuts and bruises on your hands." Calleigh said.
"Well, I feel like shit." Kyle said, "How is dad?"
"Your father is doing quite okay. They are keeping him sedated right now to allow his lung to heal." Calleigh said, "He has three cracked ribs, bruises both internally and externally, concussion. He swallowed a lot of water and so they had to drain his lungs from it. Also, his heart was struggling from having been electrocuted with a stun gun."
"But he will be okay?" Kyle asked, worried.
"Yes, he will be." Calleigh smiled, "It will take some time. But he will be."
"Can I see him?" Kyle asked.
"Later yes, right now you need to eat lunch." Walter said and pointed at the food tray next to the bed.
"Kyle, we know you want to see your dad right away, but you have to make sure you stay healthy as well." Calleigh said, "They will probably wake your father up tomorrow afternoon or the day after that."
"And Whitmore?" Kyle asked.
"In the morgue." Walter said, "We processed the crash site and the factory. Case closed as far your father and you are involved."
"I know I probably shouldn't say it, but I'm glad Whitmore is dead." Kyle said quietly.
"Well, we understand how you feel." Walter said.
Deep down they all felt the same way. While Kyle ate they told him that he would get to visit his father afterwards. Kyle asked how Natalia was doing and they told him that she wasn't sleeping or eating much, but they were working on that. They were hoping that Kyle would be able to persuade her to sleep and eat now that he was awake. Natalia had switched between watching over Kyle and Horatio all night and morning.
When Kyle had finished eating, Walter and Calleigh helped him into a wheelchair and took him to see his father. When they saw that Natalia was there as well and sleeping Kyle put up a hand to stop them.
"Let's not disturb them." He smiled, "I just had to see for myself that he was okay."
In fact his father looked much better than when Kyle had found him. Sure, he had tube down his throat to help him breathe and he still looked like shit; but even then he looked better than before.
"We can go back." Kyle said, "I can come back when Natalia is awake. It's important she takes care of herself."
Of course Kyle knew how important this was for another reason than the others, but it wasn't his secret to tell. He just smiled and asked them to return to his room. Chatting happily now, Kyle spent some hours with Walter and Calleigh. Eric and Frank came by for a visit as well.
Later in the evening his visited his father with Natalia and he felt reassured yet again that in time his father would be okay.
To be continued...