Chapter 21

Stevie quickly realized that Horatio had gone back to remember something, and gently moved his hand down the man's arm. "Hey, H. You still with us?" Stevie looked up at Jessica, confused.

She shook her head at him and put her finger to her lips. Jessica then walked around the bed, to stand beside the red head as she put her hand on his shoulder, shaking it gently. "Horatio?"

Before Jessica had another chance to attempt to bring Horatio back to the here and now, Alexx walked back into the room. "Ok, Horatio……." She noticed everyone at the head of the bed.

Suddenly, the red head jumped up from the bed. "Speed." He mumbled just loud enough for Alexx to hear as he walked by. She looked over at Stevie and Jessica, as she walked toward them. "What happened?" She whispered.

"It's my fault, Dr Alexx." Stevie admitted, slowly. "We were talking about what my Dad's company does. I was explaining how some gems can be made in the lab. The next thing we know, he's remembering Det Speed."

"Oh, Honey. It's not anyone's fault." Alexx explained. "Det Speed died in what felt like a routine investigation, Stevie. It happened very unexpectedly when Horatio and Speed went to a jewelers to follow up on a lead. There was a shootout, and Speed died in Horatio's arms. It doesn't take much for him to remember back to that day. You do understand, don't you sweetie? It wasn't anything you did, ok?"

The boy nodded. "Sure, I understand, Dr Alexx, but I'm still sorry that we made him remember that day."

"I know you are, Sweetheart. That's what makes you such a good friend. Horatio needs all the friends he can get, you know that, right?"

The youngster nodded with a smile. "Sure. I get it, Dr Alexx."

Alexx quirked a grin at the boy. "I knew you would." She slowly walked over towards the red head. "Horatio?" She asked softly, gently, not wanting to startle him. When he still does not respond, she inched closer to him, still attempting to gently bring him back to the here and now. The red head continued to stand there, with his hands on his hips, staring out the window, looking down towards the street. Alexx reached out to him, and gently put her hand on his arm. When he didn't flinch from her touch, Alexx walked around him, to stand in front of him, to purposefully block his view of whatever he was seeing. She put her hands just above his on his torso, and gently shook him. "Horatio?"

He suddenly blinked back, and closed his eyes for a minute. When they opened again, Alexx was relieved to see them instantly focus on her. "Hey, Alexx….."

"Don't try that with me mister." She interrupted him before he could put any kind of wall up. "Are you ok, Horatio?"

He sighed as he dropped his hands. He also attempted to move away from her, but she tightened her grip and would not let him move. "Yeah, I'm fine, Alexx. Just a little unwanted trip down memory lane, that's all." His voice betrayed how 'fine' he really was.

"I gathered." She told him, attempting to gentle her own voice, knowing how quickly the red head's walls would come up with just the wrong word. "I think Calleigh might have told him something about what happened to Speed. Stevie's pretty worried about you, you know?"

"I know. I'm sorry to have worried everyone." He told her. "Give me just a minute and we'll get out of here. Ok?"

She nodded.

After another minute or so, Horatio finally turned and walked back over towards the bed. "Sorry about that, partner."

"That's ok, H. I'm sorry if I made you remember something bad."

Horatio resumed his place, sitting on the bed. "Not something bad, partner, just something unfortunate, that I'm not sure could have been prevented, that's all."

Stevie looked up at his mom, briefly, then turned back to the red head. "Yeah, Aunt Calleigh told us about what happened with Det Speed. She was pretty upset by it too. She kept saying that if she'd just made sure that he was cleaning his gun that maybe he'd still be alive."

Horatio nodded. "You know, Stevie. There are going to be some things that happen in your life, like the accident with you and your Dad, where you're going to look back and say 'if I had done anything differently' and wonder if the outcome would have been different. That's the way it is with what happened to Speed. If we had just made sure that he was cleaning his gun, would that have changed what happened? Unfortunately, just like with every other time you're going to ask this question, you, and I, will never know and there's no time machine to take us back to see what would happen."

The youngster, in an attempt to lighten the mood, nodded, as he replied. "And no Enterprise to slingshot back in time, either."

The adults laughed."Uh, no." Horatio agreed. He looked up at Jessica. "Did you want to stay a bit longer, Jessica. I can come back to get you?"

Now it was her turn to look confused. "You're not going straight home, Horatio? You're the one who needs to hit the sack a bit earlier than normal tonight."

He and Alexx chuckled at that, and he took a minute to steal a look at his M.E. that told her not to say a thing. "Don't worry about me, Jessica. I actually have to go back to the lab for a couple of things, but I will admit that I've conditioned myself over the years to function on very little sleep, so I'll be fine. I can come back to get you if you need me to?" He offered.

"Only if your sure I'm not imposing?" She asked. When he nodded, she agreed. "Ok. Yes, please, come back and get me."

"Not a problem." He told her, then he turned to the youngster in the bed. "Stevie, do you mind if Dr Alexx comes to watch the cleansing procedure in the morning?" Before the boy could put voice to the puzzlement on his face, Horatio explained. "I just want to make sure that everything is ok and that we're not making anything worse, ok?"

Stevie looked up at Alexx. "Are you sure you want to, Dr Alexx? I'm going to look worse than I do now because Dr Fitz said that he missed some glass and they're going to have to cut on me to remove the rest of it. Then they're going to put me in a saline bath to cleanse everything and then they're going to cover them with liquid bandages. I may freak out, but hopefully with H there, the freaking will be held down to a minimum."

Horatio chuckled. "I'm not going to let you go in by yourself, Stevie. I'll be there to back you up, just like a partner is supposed to."

"Actually, Stevie, you don't look that bad, Honey." Alexx added. "I'll try my best to keep the extra incisions down to a minimum, but you shouldn't look that much worse." She explained.

The youngster looked up at her skeptically. "You're sure, Dr Alexx?"She nodded. "I'm positive, baby."

"I guess I'll see you in the morning then. It's actually kind of early, Dr Alexx. I think Dr Fitz wanted to get started about 7 or 8 in the morning, once the Nurse's shift change is completed."

"That's fine. See you in the morning."

Stevie looked over at Horatio and got a nod. "Ok. We'll see you then."

Horatio stood and walked with Alexx to the door. He stopped there and turned back. "I'll be back to get you in a couple of hours, Jessica. If that's ok?"

"That's fine, Horatio. We'll see you then."

Horatio and Alexx walked out the door and down the hall, to the elevator.