Thanks very much for the reviews! And a big thanks to my editor, Alisa!
It was Calleigh who found him; lying on the floor in his office, heart beating irregularly, sweat pouring down his face and his breathing labored. She had tried to wake him up, but the only thing Horatio could do was grunt and his face contort in a grimace of pain. The ambulance arrived quickly and it was also clear early on that the paramedics had no idea what the Lieutenant was suffering from. Calleigh went with Horatio in the ambulance while Eric got the mission of calling Mac and telling him that his lover was seriously ill.
In the ambulance Horatio got worse and soon started throwing up blood. Calleigh stared at her boss and friend as he started to convulse and the paramedic did his best to stop it. She grabbed Horatio's hand and held on tight; after a moment or two he stilled, but he was far from out of danger. The one time Horatio opened his eyes they were filled with pain and fear. Calleigh had only seen Horatio this scared once before and it was when Mac had been shot. The ride to the hospital seemed to take forever and Calleigh prayed silently the whole time that God would not take Horatio away from them.
Once at the hospital she followed the paramedics inside, but had to wait outside the emergency room while the doctors and nurses frantically tried to treat the symptoms the redhead had. He kept on vomiting blood and was beginning to convulse again.
"His pulse is shy high!" Someone yelled.
"Order every scan we have! Get me an endoscopy camera." The doctor in charge ordered.
"He's not breathing properly!" A nurse called.
Calleigh watched as the doctor gave Horatio several different drugs and eventually his convulsing stopped. The doctor had decided to sedate Horatio for now, while they did their scans. Eventually Mac and Eric appeared next to Calleigh and Mac reached for the doors to the room, but the doctor quickly stopped him as he stepped outside to join them.
"Are you family to the Lieutenant?" He asked.
"We are." Mac said.
"I'm Doctor Carly Hannigan." The woman introduced herself, "I'm going to be honest; I don't have a clear picture of what is wrong with Lieutenant Caine."
"Nothing?" Mac asked.
"No, the onset happened so quickly that we think it's something poisonous. Has the Lieutenant been in contact with anything poisonous recently?" Doctor Hannigan asked.
"Not that I know. What are you going to do?" Mac asked.
"Scan his body, do an endoscopy and blood tests for a start, hopefully that will tell us what we're working with." Doctor Hannigan said calmly.
She could tell that Mac was upset and worried and she understood that Mac's relationship with the Lieutenant was most likely a romantic one.
"Are you his lover?" She asked.
"Yes." Mac said, "How can we help?"
"Where did he get sick?" Hannigan asked.
"His office." Calleigh said.
"And it happened quickly?"
"Yes. I was talking to him and left for only five minutes before I forgot that I had to give him a file on a cold case that I had found new evidence on. That's when I found him on the floor." Calleigh said, her voice shaking slightly.
"Then I'd say something in his office made him sick. You can help by processing it." Hannigan said.
"I'll start." Eric said and left right away.
"I'll go with the Lieutenant to the scan now, and come find you when we're done with our examination." Hannigan said.
Mac nodded and quickly kissed Horatio on the forehead as he was wheeled out of the room and towards the scans he had waiting for him. Calleigh then grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the waiting area, they were alone in there and Mac wasted no time in giving his theory of what happened.
"Stetler did this." Mac said.
"Stetler? Yes, he probably would do something that could possibly ki-"
"Kill Horatio? Absolutely. Stetler caused this and when I get my hands on that little weasel he's going to wish he had never been born." Mac growled.
-I-
It was an unnerving feeling to process your boss's office. Ryan and Eric worked in silence, but quickly and thoroughly. Given that they already had a tape of Rick entering the office and pretending to drop off a file, even though he left with the same amount of files he had entered with, they had a good idea of where to start. The open water bottle on the table made it easier as well, but even so they swabbed and checked for fingerprints on the computer keyboard, desk and chair as well. Last they checked H's small fridge where he kept water bottles for the team. They dusted the fridge for prints before taking the water bottles with them to of the labs for further checking.
Once there they found an injection hole in the bottle cap.
"Only a few bottles have injection holes. All of those bottles were on the first row." Eric said.
"So, he wanted to make sure that Horatio would definitely take a poisonous bottle." Ryan said.
"Any luck with fingerprints?" Eric asked.
"I'm still running a few of them from the outside of the fridge, but I got our fingerprints as well as Stetler's. The idiot didn't even use gloves." Ryan snorted, "And anyone would agree that Stetler has no reason to take a bottle out H's fridge as he doesn't even work in the lab."
"What about the prints from the bottles?"
"Stetler's prints are on all of the ones with an injection hole." Ryan said, "And on the bottle that H drank from there are only H's and Stetler's prints on it."
"So we got Stetler for attempted murder of a police officer." Eric said, "Our only problem is that Stetler has already left Miami."
"Yeah, but if he even goes near an airport or train station, or border control he'll get arrested." Ryan said, "Although, I have an uneasy feeling that Stetler will stay hidden for a long time though."
"He's got connections and he's not stupid, even if he forgot to wear gloves when he decided to poison H." Eric said, "We have to take the water bottles to the hospital and have them test what poison it is."
Ryan started bagging and tagging each bottle with an injection hole. So far Horatio's condition had not changed and the latest news from Calleigh was that the scans had been negative, the blood tests hadn't revealed anything when tested for the fifty most common poisons and the endoscopy revealed an enflamed throat, mouth and stomach; meaning Horatio had ingested the poison orally.
-I-
Mac watched as his lover's head moved restlessly from side to side. The doctor had taken him off the sedation but was still pumping enough drugs into his system that Horatio wouldn't be completely lucid.
"I feel like shit." The redhead said quietly.
"And you will until the doctors figure out what you ingested." Mac said.
He grabbed his lover's hand and squeezed it. Horatio looked at Mac with a pained expression.
"I feel like my heart is racing and I keep shaking."
"You have some slight tremors in your body still, and your heart is beating a bit too fast and irregularly." Mac said, "What do you remember, love?"
"Just being in the office and feeling weak all... all of s-sudden." Horatio slurred.
"You drank something from one of your water bottles." Mac said, "It's been a few hours now and we know that Stetler did it, as his prints are on the bottles and the fridge, but no one has yet to figure out what you've ingested."
"I'm s-sorry."
"For what?"
"This."
Mac grabbed his lover's head so he had to look at him. He bent down and kissed him deeply.
"Never apologize for something that is not your fault." Mac said firmly, "When I find Stetler... I'm going to make him suffer."
Horatio chuckled quietly and then coughed. Mac could tell that every breath and every movement hurt his lover. Mac hated feeling helpless and knowing there was nothing he could do to fix things. And deep down he knew that if the doctors couldn't find what poison was running in Horatio's system, then they wouldn't be able to help him either. Mac couldn't lose Horatio, he just couldn't. But for every hour that passed his beloved redhead's condition worsened and Mac feared that Horatio wouldn't make it out of this.
"How is he?" Came a female voice from the door.
Mac knew it belonged to Calleigh as she had stayed with him the whole time, only leaving when she called the team or they called her. Calleigh walked over to her chair across the bed from Mac.
"He woke up a little while ago." Mac said, "He tries to hide it but I can see in his eyes how much pain he is in."
"Typical Horatio." Calleigh smiled fondly.
"Yeah, it is." Mac said, "Any news?"
"A bit. The police in Washington got a tip that Stetler was there, but so far nothing more than that." Calleigh said, "And the hospital's lab has started testing Horatio's blood and the water he drank for more uncommon poisons."
"Meaning also more deadly ones." Mac said.
"Mac, Horatio will make it." Calleigh said.
"We have to realize that there is a risk that Horatio won't. I don't mean to give up, but think of all the hatred Stetler has for Horatio. If he really wanted to make sure he suffered and that we suffered, he would give Horatio a poison that kills him slowly and painfully, and that there is no antivirus for." Mac said and a tear escaped his eyes.
"I don't believe it." Calleigh said, "Stetler didn't even use gloves when he injected the bottles with the poison, he's not clever enough to give Horatio something that has no antivirus."
Mac and Calleigh froze as Horatio groaned and twitched in bed. His heart monitor beeping irregularly. After a few moments he settled down.
"I hope you're right." Mac whispered as he stroked his lover's red hair, "I can't lose him."
-I-
Stella usually enjoyed going to forensic conferences, but this time she was worried sick about Horatio. It had been several hours since he had been poisoned and she had just booked a flight down to Miami from Washington when a storm hit and all flights had been cancelled. There was no way that anyone from the team in New York could fly down either as the storm stopped all flight from coming or going to New York as well.
So she waited in the hotel lobby where the conference was being held and read a magazine instead. She couldn't possibly relax and rest when Horatio was ill and Mac was going crazy with worry. If only she could shoot Stetler and bring some justice upon him.
In the meantime across the street an oblivious man on the way to escape the Miami justice saw a nice looking hotel and decided to check in under a different name. He had even bought a fake mustache and a wig to make sure no one recognized him. Stetler had even been clever enough not to use his credit card when buying anything. He knew that it was risky checking into a hotel even if only for one night, but he needed a place to sleep and he wasn't about to sleep in some cheap place without proper beds or food. He considered himself to good for something except high quality service.
So happily he strolled into the hotel and towards the first cashier he saw. Rick used a fake name and a fake ID card. He couldn't wipe the smug grin off his face when he succeeded in booking a room and even a breakfast buffet the following day.
"Have a nice stay, sir." The cashier smiled.
"Thank you." Rick said and turned around.
Instantly he was knocked to the ground and his wig and mustache fell off. Above him stood a woman with long curly hair and a NYPD badge at the hip.
"I knew it! You son of a bitch! I recognized your voice right away!" Stella growled.
Rick wasn't afraid to defend himself and pushed Stella away roughly as he got to the floor. She fell with a yelp and as Rick tried to run away she latched onto his leg and dragged him down on the floor.
Rick hit her in the face and Stella responded with a nice right hook in the eye. Rick finally got to his feet and started to run away, but he didn't get far as Stella jumped up on his back and knocked him down to the floor. Rick rolled over, crushing Stella underneath him and as a response Stella grabbed a chokehold around his neck.
People stopped and stared while the cashier called hotel security. Some people seemed to think it was all a show, while others realized that it was serious but they were too afraid to break Stella and Stetler apart.
Stetler threw his head back and hit Stella's nose, making her loose her grip. He got up to his feet only to receive a well placed kick in his privates. He stumbled away with Stella close behind. He then remembered the gun he had inside his pants and he reached for it, turned around just as Stella got her gun from her holster.
There was a loud gasp coming from the audience as a shot rang out.
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* Editor's Note: I apologize for the wait of this chapter...we might have found a way to get this to you all, after all...HAPPY NEW YEAR, here's hoping that 2014 is better for ALL , then 2013 was...KEEP THOSE REVIEWS COMING...AND REMEMBER: BE NICE. ...Thanks, Alisa123 *
