H: A Time for Healing

Chapter 26

"Come on, Jo, we're not at Aunt Flo's. You can tell me what REALLY happened the other night." Jo watched her nephews splashing and falling as they attempted to play catch with their foam football amongst the waves. Aidan was sitting between Jo and his mother, happily shoveling sand into a brightly colored plastic bucket. Jo tried to keep the irritation from her voice as she answered her sister.

"I've told you before, Jilly, nothing happened." Jo idly used her finger to draw a smiling face sunshine in the sand beside her young nephew. He imitated her by trailing his chubby finger through the smooth sand alongside his aunt's leg. "I told you, Horatio got a phone call, I sat down on the sofa and fell asleep. When I woke up in the morning, I was in his bed. That's all. He was a perfect gentleman. And, just so you know I'm serious, if you ask me again, I'm not taking the boys for an overnight for the rest of the year," Jo said severely, looking over the top of her sunglasses.

"Now you're just being mean," Jilly mumbled, burrowing her brightly painted toenails in the sand. "Something must have happened because we haven't seen him since then." Jo decided to let her sister's comment go and went back to watching her nephews as she let her mind wander. As was too often the case these days, she found herself thinking about the very thing she didn't want to discuss with Jilly.

"Horatio, I'll be fine out here on the sofa, you don't need to offer me your bedroom." Jo looked at the tall, handsome man standing before her in the dimly lit living room. He seemed ill-at-ease now that they were actually in the house and Jo wondered if he was regretting an impetuous but well-meaning decision.

"I'm a nurse remember? I've slept on my share of uncomfortable cots and Staff Lounge sofas. I'll feel like I'm at the Sheraton compared to those."

"I don't like this Horatio." Dr. Woods tapped the report she was holding on the edge of his desk. They were in his office, the afternoon sun glinting off the windowed walls. "All the signs point to this young man expiring from an overdose." Horatio's blue eyes narrowed and he reached silently for the report.

"That's what Josie thought," he said quietly, opening the file and skimming the report, pointedly ignoring his ME's arched eyebrows.

"Josie, mmm?" Dr. Woods smiled at her friend, unable to contain her curiosity. "The woman who helped you pull them out of the lagoon. She has a background in medicine?"

"Yes. She worked in the ER at a city hospital." Horatio didn't volunteer any further information. "We have to identify this drug Alexx," he said, his blue gaze intense, before he turned to stare out the window.

Fifteen minutes later, Horatio was in his Hummer, heading to Miami Dade General to speak with the first young man he had pulled from the lagoon. As he drove, his mind drifted back to the wee hours of Sunday morning. He had been unprepared for the feelings of guilt that had threatened to overcome him when he looked at Jo standing there in his living room.

Taking a step closer to Jo, Horatio had seen the exhaustion in her face, the droop to her shoulders. Reaching out a hand, he gently moved the damp, heavy hair behind her shoulder. From some corner of his mind he heard Mari's voice encouraging him.

"That's it, Horatio. The first step is always the hardest. You both deserve a good night's sleep. Now, offer her one of your t-shirts to wear to bed and tuck her in. Good-night lover." Horatio blinked his eyes, but nothing changed in the dimly lit room. Jo seemed even closer to falling asleep on her feet and he put his arm around her, helping her to the sofa. When his phone had buzzed, Horatio had quickly excused himself to take Yelina's call if only to have a moment to collect his thoughts. After reassuring his sister-in-law he was none the worse for wear, he took a deep breath and went back to find Jo fast asleep on the sofa. For the second time that night, he picked her up in his arms. Carefully he had carried her to his bedroom and set her down on the edge of the bed, turning on the small lamp on the night table. Her eyes fluttered open in her pale face and she mumbled something as he went to the bureau and found her something to wear for the night. Returning to her side, he helped her out of her borrowed sweats. Five minutes later, Jo was tucked into his bed, sound asleep. He had watched her from the doorway for some time, aware of the beginning of a sense of peacefulness settling over him that he had not thought he would ever experience again.

"Aunt Flo?" Lieutenant Allen was surprised to hear his Aunt's voice answering his sister's cell phone. "How are you doing with your knee rehab? Josie been keeping you on track with that physical therapy?"

"It's so good to hear your voice, Jasper Dan. I hope you are keeping yourself safe over there. Roxie is looking forward to meeting her new master."

"I can't wait to meet her, Aunt Flo. Josie tells me she's quite a little spitfire."

"That she is, Jasper. But she's perfect for you." When his aunt paused, Jasper quickly asked if he could speak to Jo.

"Oh, she's at the beach with Jilly and the kids. They are going back to Minnesota tomorrow. It's been nice to see them, but Jo has spent so much time driving them about and taking them here and there, she's been neglecting the Lieutenant."

"Oh? I heard she was spending quite a bit of time with him." Before his aunt could ask how he knew that, Jasper hurried on to the purpose of his call.

"Aunt Flo, I wanted to let Josie know I won't be able to call her as usual for a couple weeks. I can't give her details of course, but I didn't want her to worry. Will you let her know for me? Don't let her work too hard and give Rox a hug for me. I'll call as soon as I can."

Aunt Flo's quiet "Be safe, Jasper Dan."

"It's good to see you awake, son." Horatio swung the chair around and straddled it, arms resting across the top as he looked at the pale young man lying in the bed. "You were lucky your friends had enough sense to go for help and that some of that help was a woman with ER training."

"Did you help us?" The young man squinted at Horatio, thinking the red hair seemed familiar. Horatio nodded, his expression serious.

"I did, and Ms. Allen. She kept you alive until the EMT's got there. There were people from the restaurant that came down to help. You owe them all a thank you." Horatio watched through narrowed eyes as the young man nodded tiredly.

"I need," Horatio fiddled with his sunglasses, blue eyes intense as he held the young man's attention, "the name of the person who gave you the drug."

"I don't remember."

"May I remind you," Horatio paused, looking toward the glass windows of the room, "that one of your friends is dead." The young man groaned and looked away. Returning his attention back to the prone man, Horatio went on quietly.

"Now, the best thing you can do is to give me the name of the person who sold you the drug so I, can get him and his deadly merchandise off the street." The figure in the bed remained still. "You are the only person who has survived an overdose of this substance. And until I know what it is and where it's coming from, more young people will die. Can you live with that?" Horatio watched and waited, tapping his sunglasses against the chair. Idly looking around the room, his thoughts wandered back to Sunday morning in his own bedroom.

"Jezebel, move over, you're taking up the whole bed," he heard Jo mumble as she tried to wriggle into a more comfortable position. A few minutes later he had heard her voice again.

"Jez, that tickles!" Jo had accompanied the words with a swat at the back of her neck and attempted to sit up, but had found the solid weight of his muscled arm around her midsection.

"Mmmm, it's still early, Sweetheart. No reason to rush out of bed just yet. And I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that you just mistook me for your dog." Horatio's voice was quiet in the early morning stillness of the bedroom, the merest hint of a smile in his words. "It was very late when we turned in last night. Go back to sleep for a few hours. You deserve a lie-in Josie." He kissed her bared shoulder, remembering how unprepared he had been for the sudden rush of guilt that had overcome him once he had ushered Jo inside his home. With the exception of Kyle, no one else had been here since Marisol had stayed with him. The personal items she had kept here had been sorted through one incredibly painful afternoon after he and Erik had returned from Rio. The knowledge that he had exacted his revenge for Mari's death had not made the task any easier nor had it assuaged the guilt that had been eating away at him in the darkness night after night as he lay here in this bed alone.

But he was not alone this morning, he thought, listening to Jo's soft breathing. She had cried out in the early hours and he had rushed in to find her tangled in the sheet, her long hair clinging to her hot face. Speaking to her softly, reassuring her that she was safe, Horatio had slowly coaxed her awake. One look into her anguished blue eyes, and he had not given a second thought to spending what was left of the night with her in his arms.

Now his arm tightened around her waist, pulling her closer to him, letting him know that the woman in bed with him was real, this peaceful feeling wasn't something he'd dreamed.

"Horatio, are you asleep?" Jo's voice was quiet, hesitant.

"No." He had smiled as he answered her. "But I wasn't planning on getting out of this bed quite yet, Sweetheart."

Thirty minutes later, with the name of the dealer in his possession, Horatio left the hospital, slipping on his sunglasses as he walked quickly to his Hummer. Checking his phone, he saw that he had missed a call from Kyle. Before leaving the parking lot, Horatio listened to the voicemail from his son. The words "mission" and "no communication" seemed to echo loudly in the vehicle. Suddenly pale beneath his tan, Horatio slowly wiped his hand over his face, staring unseeingly out at the activity around him.

"Would you like a cup of tea, Aunt Flo?" Jo peaked into the living room where her Aunt was giving Roxie a face rub later that evening.

"That would be lovely dear. Are you having one too? We could take them out on the deck."

"Aunt Flo," Jo's voice was hesitant and she looked at her aunt seated beside her on the bench seat, "do you suppose I missed something?"

"Whatever do you mean, Josie dear?" Her aunt set her cup down on the small glass topped table, looking at her favorite niece curiously.

Jo twisted the cup in her hands. The events of the night after she had arrived at Horatio's home in the wee hours of Sunday morning were sketchy at best. It was Tuesday evening and Horatio hadn't called or tried to get in touch with her.

"What if … Horatio was … expecting me to … sleep with him." Jo halted to a stop and took a swallow of her hot tea, almost choking on it.

"But you did sleep with him, dear." Aunt Flo's voice was matter of fact as she carefully stretched her leg where it was propped up on the low wooden patio table.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it." Jo mumbled. She stared out into the yard, watching Jezebel zig zag across the yard, hot on the trail of some night creature, no doubt. "I mean, what if he expected me to … make love with him? Jilly says I don't have a clue about what men want and Horatio is … well he's not like anyone I've ever known in Minnesota. He's handsome and successful and charming and … why else wouldn't he have called by now?" Jo's voice was a low moan.

Aunt Flo was silent for a few minutes. "Do you love him, Josie?"

"Of course I do." Jo answered without thinking and then clapped her hand to her mouth. "Oh my gosh! What did I just say?"

"The truth, my dear." Her aunt's voice was pleased. "And don't listen to Jilly, Josie. You will know when the time is right. I don't think that your Lieutenant is the sort that would expect you to sleep with him just because you spent the night. I think he's finding this relationship just as difficult to adjust to as you are, but for different reasons.'

"Because of what happened to his wife?" Jo wondered aloud, watching a small bug make it's way across the wooden bench.

"That's probably a part of it." Aunt Flo affirmed. "He needs time to adjust to the idea he loves you. He might not even realize it yet. And that's fine. No sense rushing into anything."

"You don't think I'm being … prudish or there's something wrong with me?" Jo asked hesitantly, twisting a strand of hair with her finger. The gesture reminded Aunt Flo of the young Josie, sitting out on the deck, reading her book and twisting her hair as she concentrated until her Aunt called her inside for bed.

"Certainly not! Whatever would give you that idea Josie? I did see the two of you out here the other night. You were kissing him like a woman who finds the man she's with very attractive. And I daresay the feeling was mutual for him. Now, finish your tea and let's get off to bed. Jilly and the kids will be leaving tomorrow and if your Lieutenant hasn't called by dinnertime, I think you should make the first move – if you really do love him, he's worth fighting for, don't you think?"

"Yes, Aunt Flo." Jo's voice was quiet as she whistled for the dogs and followed her aunt inside, turning out the deck lights, but not before glancing at the steps where she and Horatio had been sitting that night.

TBC