"In the long, sleepless watches of the night."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
***
The car plowed with efficient haste through the traffic. Calleigh on some distant level was stunned at how quickly Alexx could get across the city when she wanted to. They rounded the final corner, and the ME brought the car quickly to a halt, pulling over to the curb, leaning forward herself with stunned eyes as she absorbed the scene. "My God," said Alexx quietly, and it was a prayer, not just for Horatio but for everyone who was a target of that chaotic swarm of emergency vehicles. The entire block was cordoned off with police tape already. Alexx counted five ambulances and a dozen police cars. The house in the center of the taped-off square had been utterly demolished, blown to such shreds that all resemblance to a house had been lost. Houses two, three, and even four away had suffered some damage. Residents clustered in stunned groups on the sidewalks or around the ambulances. Many of them were bleeding from flying debris.
Calleigh had the door open almost before Alexx stopped. She bolted toward the center of the disaster, barely remembering to duck beneath the police tape before she ran straight through it. A policeman grabbed her arm, and she flashed her badge at him and kept running. It wasn't Horatio she saw first but Tripp, being fastened onto an gurney. He had a cut on his forehead which was still bleeding steadily, despite the pressure by an EMT, and his right leg was splinted. His expression would have made a charging bull think twice. Not simple pain but pure fury. "Tripp," Calleigh gasped as she ran up to him. "Where's Horatio?" He waved a hand toward the right, and Calleigh swung that way without slowing. She passed a body respectfully covered with a police tarp, hesitated, then kept going. She would check among the living first.
She heard his voice suddenly, and she nearly collapsed in relief. He was alive. Not only alive, but speaking her own name. "Has anyone called Calleigh yet? Somebody needs to call her, tell her I'm fine." Calleigh ducked around the back of the nearest ambulance and crashed back from relief into fear. The rear doors were open, and Horatio was sitting there, with an EMT trying to evaluate him and hold him still simultaneously, a difficult task since he kept trying to get up. The front of his shirt was bloodstained, and both of his arms were absolutely soaked in blood from the elbows to wrists. It looked like he had plunged both arms into a barrel of red paint. Calleigh gasped, and he heard it and turned his head instantly.
"Calleigh. I'm okay." He followed her stunned eyes. "Really. Most of it isn't mine."
"Plenty of it is," the EMT corrected. "This would be a lot easier if you'd stop trying to get up."
Calleigh went around to his other side and planted both hands on his shoulders, firmly pushing him back down. "Be still, Horatio," she said sharply.
He stopped resisting the medic, but his expression was still concerned, and not for himself. "Are you okay, Cal?" The medic shook his head in exasperation and continued trying to assess the damage.
"I'm fine," she said. "What happened?"
"It was a meth house. The lead perp on the pharmacy cases worked from here, and we were closing in on him when the whole place blew. Probably accidental." His eyes switched briefly from her to the former house, then back to hers. "No one would commit suicide like that, and he didn't have enough notice to rig anything up for us."
"What happened to you?"
"I was with Tripp and another officer, coming toward the front door. We weren't in yet. The door hit Tripp and knocked him several feet. He's got a broken leg. I took the frame from the front window, but I managed to get my hands up in front of my face. It hit me across both arms and knocked me down."
"Are you sure you didn't get hit on the head?" Calleigh demanded. The EMT had finished putting a field dressing on one of Horatio's arms and came around to the other side. Calleigh shifted over herself to let him work, but she maintained contact, both hands still on his shoulders.
"Positive. I got my arms up in time, like I said."
"Good thing," the EMT put in.
Calleigh switched her interrogation to the EMT. "How badly did it hurt him?"
"He's got multiple deep cuts on both forearms and probably severe bruising. That's the most obvious thing, but they will check him over thoroughly at the ER." The EMT finished wrapping the second arm and glanced at the first one, where blood had started to soak through the bandage. "No arteries hit, but plenty of veins. He's going to look like he got his arms run over by a sewing machine."
"He had a craniotomy a year ago on the right with repair of several arteries," Calleigh put in.
The medic ran his hands along Horatio's head, instantly finding the spot. "Yeah, I can tell, but there's no swelling anywhere around it. It feels stable to me. They will check everything out when we get to the hospital."
"I didn't get hit on the head," Horatio insisted. "Just the arms." His eyes went back to the house. "Others weren't as lucky."
Calleigh couldn't care less about others at the moment. She tightened her grip on his shoulders. "I love you, Horatio," she said with as much conviction as she could put into it.
His uncertain eyes acknowledged the statement and appreciated it, but she could tell he wondered how much of it was just because he was hurt. "I love you, too, Cal," he responded, and there was no doubt in that answer at all.
She squeezed his shoulders even more tightly. "I mean it," she insisted.
Alexx came around the open ambulance door. "Horatio! Are you okay?" Her eyes calculated the damage.
"Fine," he said. "Just a few cuts."
Another gurney was wheeled up at that point. "We've got to get these two to the hospital," the second EMT said. "Let's get them loaded."
Horatio stood up, but Calleigh didn't let him go. "I'll ride along with you."
"No room," the EMT protested. "We're running two and three patients on a load, and at that, we'll have to come back."
"How many?" Alexx asked.
"Don't know yet," said the EMT, and Horatio spoke up.
"At least 3 killed, counting the perp. Probably dozens injured, counting the residents." He smiled at Calleigh reassuringly, or tried to, anyway. "Just follow us, Cal. There are a lot more people here besides me who need the room in the ambulance."
"We'll be right behind you," Alexx put in. She pried Calleigh's hands off Horatio. "Come on, Calleigh, he's right. I'm still driving, though." Horatio gave Alexx a look of pure gratitude and finally yielded to the EMT's urging, entering the ambulance.
***
The ER doctor finished putting in the last stitch. "That's 63 altogether," he said. "We'll get you started on antibiotics, too. And even though there doesn't seem to be any other damage, I want you to stay here at least tonight for observation.
"No," Horatio said, with quiet iron in the voice. "We're going home."
"We are not," Calleigh insisted. "We're staying here."
"You've got to get some rest, and you won't sleep as well if we're here."
"They need to keep an eye on you, so we're staying."
"Wrong." Horatio stood up, shaking loose the doctor, who was trying to apply a bandage. "We're going home."
"No way." Calleigh planted herself squarely between him and the door. "We're not going anywhere."
The ER doctor cleared his throat. "If I could make a suggestion, Mrs. Caine, why don't you go home, and he can stay here. There's no reason you have to stay together tonight."
Calleigh and Horatio both turned on him with a joint fury that actually backed him up a few steps. Their responses came in perfect unison, without even an echo. "No."
Horatio turned back to Calleigh. "You can't just sit here all night. You've been under enough stress the last few days. We're going home."
"You aren't setting one foot outside this hospital until the doctor clears it." Calleigh's lips tightened up in determination.
"Yes, I am," he corrected.
"No, you aren't." Their voices had been rising slightly all through this exchange, and now they both fell into silence momentarily, glaring at each other, both breathing a little quickly. The blue eyes locked. The irresistible force met the immovable object. Abruptly, after a few seconds of stalemate, they both seemed to deflate suddenly, simultaneously, as they really looked at each other, realizing how exhausted the other one was. Again, they spoke in perfect unison as they switched sides.
"Maybe we could stay," Horatio conceded.
"Maybe we could go," Calleigh acknowledged at precisely the same time. Their eyes locked again. A crowd of spectators was gathering, looking back and forth like they were watching a tennis match.
"We can get a room with two beds here, and they can keep an eye on both of us," said Horatio.
"You wouldn't get any rest here, and you know it. We're going home and getting in our own bed."
"No, we're not. We're staying here tonight."
"Wrong." Calleigh gripped his arm right across several of his 63 stitches and shifted her hand to above his elbow instantly as he winced. "Come on, Horatio, we're going home." She started trying to drag him across the room to the door.
"We aren't going anywhere," Horatio countered. He dug in his heels, and he weighed more. She couldn't budge him.
"Come on, Horatio. I'll call in reinforcements, if I have to."
"I'm not moving. We're staying here tonight. At least tonight." His jaw was set stubbornly.
Alexx's sharp whistle froze the action more efficiently than a referee's would have. She had come up unnoticed by either of them. "Both of you, sit down. Now!"
Calleigh and Horatio split apart and sat, Calleigh dropping into a chair and Horatio sitting back down on the edge of the examining table. The doctor shot Alexx a look of grateful respect and closed the distance again, starting to bandage Horatio's arms. Horatio barely seemed to notice. He and Calleigh both sat motionless, eyes still on each other. Alexx stood there looking from one to the other of them and trying to decide who needed the most urgent care - him, her, or them. She reached her decision as the doctor finished taping down the end of the last bandage. "Come on. I'm driving both of you home."
They both stood and fell in behind her as meekly as if she were the Pied Piper. Alexx turned to the doctor. "Just give me the prescriptions he needs, and we'll get them filled at the hospital pharmacy on the way out."
"If he's leaving, he'll have to sign out against medical advice. I really do recommend that he stay here at least for tonight."
"I'm a doctor myself," Alexx said. "I'll accept full responsibility."
The doctor glanced uncertainly from Horatio to Calleigh and dropped his voice into a near whisper. "Are you sure they're safe together?" he asked. They never even glanced at him, still locked on each other like missile guidance systems.
"Of course," Alexx said. "They're really extremely affectionate with each other."
The doctor eyed them dubiously, then shrugged. He did have other patients waiting, probably more appreciative ones. Still grumbling under his breath, he scribbled out prescriptions for antibiotics and painkillers and handed them to her. She pocketed them and marched out of the ER, Horatio and Calleigh both trailing her silently. As the double doors swung to behind them, the audience of ER workers and patients slowly began to disperse, and the hospital hush crept back in.
***
Alexx pulled Calleigh's car into the driveway but didn't bother to turn off the ignition. "I'll be back at 7:00 tomorrow morning to check on you, and I'll return the car then. Make sure he takes those pills, Calleigh."
"I will," she promised, the first words either of them had spoken since leaving the hospital.
"Good night, then."
"Thank you, Alexx," said Horatio. "Good night." They both got out of the car and headed for the house in silence. Alexx backed out of the driveway and left as Calleigh unlocked the front door.
The minute they were inside the house with the door shut, they turned to each other. Calleigh wrapped her arms around him fiercely, squeezing him with every ounce of strength in her. He put his arms around her gingerly, but the feeling wasn't any less. "I'm sorry, Horatio," she said. "I'm so sorry. I can't believe I said those things this morning. I didn't mean it."
"Why did you ask me, then?"
She pulled him over to the couch, and they sat down, not side by side but facing each other, allowing full communication. "I was just scared. I didn't think about it before I spoke."
His eyes softened a bit. "Scared of what?"
"I've been having this dream the last three nights." She plunged into the story, unable to believe she had resisted talking about it with him. Telling him was even easier than telling Alexx, and his expression didn't show a trace of thinking it was silly. "So when Tripp called, I suddenly had this feeling that it would all come true, and I'd never see you again. That's why I asked you not to take any risks. But I didn't think about how it would sound to you, without knowing any of the background."
He relaxed suddenly. "I didn't know, Calleigh. I'm sorry."
"I shouldn't have asked you anyway." She scooted a little closer to him. "Horatio, don't ever change yourself. I think you're wonderful just like you are. That's why I don't want to lose you. But I'd rather lose you than force you to compromise yourself." She put a hand on his arm and instantly removed it as he drew his breath in sharply. The whole arm felt hot to the touch. "You'd better take some of those antibiotics. The painkillers, too."
He smiled at her, his old easy grin. "I'm okay, Cal. I wasn't hurt badly. It won't take long to heal."
She stood up and ruffled his hair affectionately but stuck to the literal meaning of the words. "Even so, you're taking your medicine. I'll make us some hot tea."
He followed her into the kitchen. "So that's what's been bothering you the last few days. I'm sorry I didn't notice when you were asleep. I could have woken you up from it. You haven't been restless at nights, though."
"It ends up just frozen. It's the weirdest dream, really. So vivid." She grinned suddenly, enjoying the ability to laugh at it. "I nearly snapped Speed's head off the other day, after you had mentioned his tripping over the stool."
"That explains it, then."
"What?"
"How carefully he was watching where he was going in the other pharmacies. He was afraid of annoying you. I'm happy to report that he hasn't tripped over anything for two days. At least not when I was around."
The microwave dinged, and she removed the cups and dropped teabags in. "Poor Speed. I ought to send him a note or something to apologize."
"Send him a doughnut. Believe me, it will mean more to him."
She laughed. "Probably would. Bakeries could take lessons from FTD. Apology doughnuts, sympathy doughnuts."
"Congratulations doughnuts," he added. "There's a fortune waiting to be made there."
It felt unbelievably good just to relax with him. She sat down at the table. "Horatio, now that you know, we can keep it from happening, can't we?"
"Absolutely," he agreed. "If I ever find myself in an abandoned restaurant chasing a perp, I won't give Speed the opportunity to fall over things and distract me. And I promise you that."
She opened the prescription bottles, giving him one of each along with his tea cup. He stared at them unwillingly. "Take them, Horatio. I don't want to force feed them to you, but I will if I have to."
He gulped them down. "I hate drugs." His mind went back to the pharmacy cases, which led him straight back to the meth house explosion that day. He started to bring that up, to talk about what had happened, and stopped himself abruptly as he looked over at Calleigh. She was staring at her own cup, and she looked about as tired as he felt. She needed sleep, not more conversation. "We both need some rest tonight, Calleigh. Between your dreams and my wondering what was wrong, I don't think last night counted for either of us. And the two before that weren't much better."
She looked back up at him and gave him a tired smile. "Are we okay?"
He got up and came around the table to her, giving her an affectionate squeeze with just his fingertips. "We're fine. Come on. High time the three of us were in bed."
She stood up. "I think Rosalind has more energy left than the rest of us."
"She's had the easiest day." He smiled at her. "Think of February, Calleigh. It's going to be wonderful."
"Yes," she agreed. "All three of us. We'll be a great family."
He kissed her. "We already are." They switched out the kitchen light and headed to the bedroom together.
***
Calleigh woke up, not from her dream but just a refreshingly normal waking up. She raised her head to look at the digital clock and realized abruptly that Horatio wasn't there. She sat up, listening intently. She couldn't hear him anywhere. It was 2:30 AM. Calleigh got up, pulled her robe on, and padded down the hall in her bare feet. He wasn't in the bathroom. She reached the end of the hall and spotted his silhouette instantly in the moonlight that flooded the living room. He was sitting on the couch, and his shoulders were quivering. Still, there was no sound. He was just sitting there crying silently. He came alert suddenly, looking back toward the hall, and she walked around the end of the couch and climbed onto it with him.
"What's wrong, Horatio? Are your arms still hurting?" She knew that wasn't it as soon as she said it. Mere physical pain could not make him cry.
He shook his head, not trying to hide his tear-streaked face from her. He hadn't wanted to wake her up, but now that she was awake, he appreciated the company. "I was just thinking of Paul."
"Paul who?"
"Paul Martin. He's on the narcotics squad. Or was, I should say. He's one of the two officers who died in that explosion."
The explosion. Calleigh realized guiltily that she still didn't know who had died there. She hadn't even given the others a thought, too focused on Horatio. "I didn't even ask. I'm sorry, Horatio."
He squeezed her and instantly let go as he hurt himself doing it. "You had plenty else to think about. Are you feeling better? You weren't having that dream again, were you? I prodded you when I woke up, and you just said mmm. Sure didn't sound like a nightmare."
"No, I wasn't having it. Nice dreams this time. And yes, I'm feeling better. I haven't slept that soundly in days. Now tell me about that explosion." She couldn't believe she hadn't already asked him for details. Of course he needed to talk about it. He had said that most of the blood wasn't his, but she hadn't drawn the obvious conclusion. "You were trying to help him, weren't you?"
He nodded again. "There were five of us going in. Three in the front, and Martin and his partner went around back to secure the back way and keep the perp from escaping. They were a lot closer to the house than we were." He paused for a second, then went on. "His partner died instantly. Paul was hit in the chest and neck by debris. He was bleeding badly, and I was trying to stop it. But I couldn't save him, Cal." His glistening eyes met hers. "If the ambulances had gotten there just a little faster, he might have had a chance."
"That's not your fault. You did your best. So that's why Tripp was the one to call it in."
"Right. I could move, but he couldn't. The other man with us had been knocked out, so I was the one who went around to check on the others." He shivered slightly. "At least he didn't die alone."
"What family did he have?" She was sure he would know. Horatio knew what family most of the people on the force had.
"A wife, no kids. They had only been married for six months. He told me to tell her he loved her. I'll have to get in touch with her tomorrow to deliver the message. Or is it today?" He didn't have his watch on since the bandages extended down to the tops of his hands.
"It's 2:30. Would you like me to go with you when you talk to her, Horatio?"
He looked at her gratefully. "Yes. I think it might help, having another woman there. She's got nothing left, Cal."
Calleigh shook her head. "She's got memories. Being left with memories is better than never having known it at all." Her own eyes welled up in sympathy for that other woman whose husband hadn't come home. She hoped they had been in perfect harmony when he left that morning and that Mrs. Martin wouldn't be going through the rest of her life regretting a last conversation that she didn't know was the last one. Like Calleigh herself had come frighteningly close to. She reached out and stroked Horatio's face lightly. "How did you find out about the house in the first place?"
"The man who was shot and lived at the pharmacy was Alvarez's son. He'd fallen in with the wrong crowd, got tied up with drug gangs and ran up a debt. They gave him drugs to get him hooked, then threatened him when he couldn't pay for all they'd given him. His getting the code for his father's pharmacy was payback, but I think the gang knew his father owned a pharmacy up front. Otherwise, why extend him credit on drugs? The leader of the gang was supposed to cancel his debt if he could get them in and get some drugs for them, especially hydrocodone and meth components. Hydrocodone sells big these days."
"But the leader wasn't satisfied with one pharmacy."
"Right. Too easy. He threatened to kill the Alvarez kid unless he went along with them. He knew too much from that first pharmacy. The second one was settling a grudge, too. The gang leader - a man called Snake - had been dealing to the pharmacist's son, and his father packed his son off to rehab and shut off all contact with his friends. That's why that particular pharmacy was picked. Snake knew the pharmacist by sight. They had had a confrontation when the father followed his son to a drug deal. When he saw him working there late, he decided to take care of him at the same time he stole the drugs. He was wearing a mask, but he told the pharmacist exactly who he was, at gunpoint, made him beg for his life, then shot him anyway." Calleigh shivered. "At the third pharmacy, Snake shot an employee of the cleaning service, just because he was there. Didn't even know him. Alvarez freaked out and said he was going straight to the police, and Snake shot him, too. The kid at least had enough sense to play dead. First intelligent move he's made in a while."
"What about the alarm system on the third pharmacy?"
"It wasn't working properly. Hadn't been tested in ages."
"So the Alvarez kid is talking now?"
"He couldn't wait to. He contributed the DNA on the broken glass at the second pharmacy, by the way. The evidence on him is rock solid, so his only hope was to deal. The trouble is, he only knew Snake by that name, and the third perp who was with them on the robberies he didn't have a name for at all. We spent a good bit of yesterday at the hospital running photos by him. He identified Snake finally, and we tracked down rumors of what they thought was his meth house through the Narcotics squad. We got the warrant and came in quietly. And the whole place blew."
"Was Snake in there?"
"Someone had seen him go in half an hour before. We'll have to wait and see what bodies turn up, but I'm sure he was there."
"So the case is closed, then?"
He shook his head. "The third perp is still out there, unless he happened to get killed in the explosion, too. If he didn't, I'll catch him. Two officers died working this case. Everyone involved is going down. If that third man isn't facing God right now, he's about to be facing me." His eyes glowed almost like a cat's in the dark, burning with predatory intent.
Calleigh reached out and pulled him gently against her, holding him soothingly, wincing herself at the pain hiding beneath the bandages. In spite of his disclaimer, she could tell his arms were hurting him more again. It was probably that which had woken him up in the first place, she thought. "I'm not sure if you should go to work tomorrow - today."
"There's nothing wrong with my legs. I'm not leaving this one, Calleigh."
She relented, standing up and heading for the kitchen. "You'd better take some more of those painkillers, then. You need more rest before morning. We do have to talk to Mrs. Martin, too."
He stood up and followed her. "We have to talk to Mrs. Martin twice, in fact."
She shook out two of the painkillers instead of one this time and handed them to him, along with a glass of water. "Twice?"
"Twice," he confirmed. "Once to give her Paul's message, and once to tell her that every single living person involved is now behind bars. And both of those conversations will take place today."
She hugged him carefully, squeezing his ribs, not his arms. "I believe you," she said sincerely. "But let's get some more sleep, first. Are you okay now?"
He smiled at her. "Not yet, but doing better. I won't be okay until this one is closed." He followed her back to the bedroom, and they snuggled down under the covers together. He spooned himself against her gratefully, but he couldn't help thinking of Paul Martin's wife, sleeping alone tonight and the other future nights. "I'll get him, Cal," he promised. "I'll get him." It was the last thing he said before drifting off to sleep again, and she knew it would be the first thought in his mind on awakening. Look out, perp, she thought. Horatio is coming. With one final prayer herself for Mrs. Martin and the other new widow, she followed him into sleep - deep, dreamless sleep.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
***
The car plowed with efficient haste through the traffic. Calleigh on some distant level was stunned at how quickly Alexx could get across the city when she wanted to. They rounded the final corner, and the ME brought the car quickly to a halt, pulling over to the curb, leaning forward herself with stunned eyes as she absorbed the scene. "My God," said Alexx quietly, and it was a prayer, not just for Horatio but for everyone who was a target of that chaotic swarm of emergency vehicles. The entire block was cordoned off with police tape already. Alexx counted five ambulances and a dozen police cars. The house in the center of the taped-off square had been utterly demolished, blown to such shreds that all resemblance to a house had been lost. Houses two, three, and even four away had suffered some damage. Residents clustered in stunned groups on the sidewalks or around the ambulances. Many of them were bleeding from flying debris.
Calleigh had the door open almost before Alexx stopped. She bolted toward the center of the disaster, barely remembering to duck beneath the police tape before she ran straight through it. A policeman grabbed her arm, and she flashed her badge at him and kept running. It wasn't Horatio she saw first but Tripp, being fastened onto an gurney. He had a cut on his forehead which was still bleeding steadily, despite the pressure by an EMT, and his right leg was splinted. His expression would have made a charging bull think twice. Not simple pain but pure fury. "Tripp," Calleigh gasped as she ran up to him. "Where's Horatio?" He waved a hand toward the right, and Calleigh swung that way without slowing. She passed a body respectfully covered with a police tarp, hesitated, then kept going. She would check among the living first.
She heard his voice suddenly, and she nearly collapsed in relief. He was alive. Not only alive, but speaking her own name. "Has anyone called Calleigh yet? Somebody needs to call her, tell her I'm fine." Calleigh ducked around the back of the nearest ambulance and crashed back from relief into fear. The rear doors were open, and Horatio was sitting there, with an EMT trying to evaluate him and hold him still simultaneously, a difficult task since he kept trying to get up. The front of his shirt was bloodstained, and both of his arms were absolutely soaked in blood from the elbows to wrists. It looked like he had plunged both arms into a barrel of red paint. Calleigh gasped, and he heard it and turned his head instantly.
"Calleigh. I'm okay." He followed her stunned eyes. "Really. Most of it isn't mine."
"Plenty of it is," the EMT corrected. "This would be a lot easier if you'd stop trying to get up."
Calleigh went around to his other side and planted both hands on his shoulders, firmly pushing him back down. "Be still, Horatio," she said sharply.
He stopped resisting the medic, but his expression was still concerned, and not for himself. "Are you okay, Cal?" The medic shook his head in exasperation and continued trying to assess the damage.
"I'm fine," she said. "What happened?"
"It was a meth house. The lead perp on the pharmacy cases worked from here, and we were closing in on him when the whole place blew. Probably accidental." His eyes switched briefly from her to the former house, then back to hers. "No one would commit suicide like that, and he didn't have enough notice to rig anything up for us."
"What happened to you?"
"I was with Tripp and another officer, coming toward the front door. We weren't in yet. The door hit Tripp and knocked him several feet. He's got a broken leg. I took the frame from the front window, but I managed to get my hands up in front of my face. It hit me across both arms and knocked me down."
"Are you sure you didn't get hit on the head?" Calleigh demanded. The EMT had finished putting a field dressing on one of Horatio's arms and came around to the other side. Calleigh shifted over herself to let him work, but she maintained contact, both hands still on his shoulders.
"Positive. I got my arms up in time, like I said."
"Good thing," the EMT put in.
Calleigh switched her interrogation to the EMT. "How badly did it hurt him?"
"He's got multiple deep cuts on both forearms and probably severe bruising. That's the most obvious thing, but they will check him over thoroughly at the ER." The EMT finished wrapping the second arm and glanced at the first one, where blood had started to soak through the bandage. "No arteries hit, but plenty of veins. He's going to look like he got his arms run over by a sewing machine."
"He had a craniotomy a year ago on the right with repair of several arteries," Calleigh put in.
The medic ran his hands along Horatio's head, instantly finding the spot. "Yeah, I can tell, but there's no swelling anywhere around it. It feels stable to me. They will check everything out when we get to the hospital."
"I didn't get hit on the head," Horatio insisted. "Just the arms." His eyes went back to the house. "Others weren't as lucky."
Calleigh couldn't care less about others at the moment. She tightened her grip on his shoulders. "I love you, Horatio," she said with as much conviction as she could put into it.
His uncertain eyes acknowledged the statement and appreciated it, but she could tell he wondered how much of it was just because he was hurt. "I love you, too, Cal," he responded, and there was no doubt in that answer at all.
She squeezed his shoulders even more tightly. "I mean it," she insisted.
Alexx came around the open ambulance door. "Horatio! Are you okay?" Her eyes calculated the damage.
"Fine," he said. "Just a few cuts."
Another gurney was wheeled up at that point. "We've got to get these two to the hospital," the second EMT said. "Let's get them loaded."
Horatio stood up, but Calleigh didn't let him go. "I'll ride along with you."
"No room," the EMT protested. "We're running two and three patients on a load, and at that, we'll have to come back."
"How many?" Alexx asked.
"Don't know yet," said the EMT, and Horatio spoke up.
"At least 3 killed, counting the perp. Probably dozens injured, counting the residents." He smiled at Calleigh reassuringly, or tried to, anyway. "Just follow us, Cal. There are a lot more people here besides me who need the room in the ambulance."
"We'll be right behind you," Alexx put in. She pried Calleigh's hands off Horatio. "Come on, Calleigh, he's right. I'm still driving, though." Horatio gave Alexx a look of pure gratitude and finally yielded to the EMT's urging, entering the ambulance.
***
The ER doctor finished putting in the last stitch. "That's 63 altogether," he said. "We'll get you started on antibiotics, too. And even though there doesn't seem to be any other damage, I want you to stay here at least tonight for observation.
"No," Horatio said, with quiet iron in the voice. "We're going home."
"We are not," Calleigh insisted. "We're staying here."
"You've got to get some rest, and you won't sleep as well if we're here."
"They need to keep an eye on you, so we're staying."
"Wrong." Horatio stood up, shaking loose the doctor, who was trying to apply a bandage. "We're going home."
"No way." Calleigh planted herself squarely between him and the door. "We're not going anywhere."
The ER doctor cleared his throat. "If I could make a suggestion, Mrs. Caine, why don't you go home, and he can stay here. There's no reason you have to stay together tonight."
Calleigh and Horatio both turned on him with a joint fury that actually backed him up a few steps. Their responses came in perfect unison, without even an echo. "No."
Horatio turned back to Calleigh. "You can't just sit here all night. You've been under enough stress the last few days. We're going home."
"You aren't setting one foot outside this hospital until the doctor clears it." Calleigh's lips tightened up in determination.
"Yes, I am," he corrected.
"No, you aren't." Their voices had been rising slightly all through this exchange, and now they both fell into silence momentarily, glaring at each other, both breathing a little quickly. The blue eyes locked. The irresistible force met the immovable object. Abruptly, after a few seconds of stalemate, they both seemed to deflate suddenly, simultaneously, as they really looked at each other, realizing how exhausted the other one was. Again, they spoke in perfect unison as they switched sides.
"Maybe we could stay," Horatio conceded.
"Maybe we could go," Calleigh acknowledged at precisely the same time. Their eyes locked again. A crowd of spectators was gathering, looking back and forth like they were watching a tennis match.
"We can get a room with two beds here, and they can keep an eye on both of us," said Horatio.
"You wouldn't get any rest here, and you know it. We're going home and getting in our own bed."
"No, we're not. We're staying here tonight."
"Wrong." Calleigh gripped his arm right across several of his 63 stitches and shifted her hand to above his elbow instantly as he winced. "Come on, Horatio, we're going home." She started trying to drag him across the room to the door.
"We aren't going anywhere," Horatio countered. He dug in his heels, and he weighed more. She couldn't budge him.
"Come on, Horatio. I'll call in reinforcements, if I have to."
"I'm not moving. We're staying here tonight. At least tonight." His jaw was set stubbornly.
Alexx's sharp whistle froze the action more efficiently than a referee's would have. She had come up unnoticed by either of them. "Both of you, sit down. Now!"
Calleigh and Horatio split apart and sat, Calleigh dropping into a chair and Horatio sitting back down on the edge of the examining table. The doctor shot Alexx a look of grateful respect and closed the distance again, starting to bandage Horatio's arms. Horatio barely seemed to notice. He and Calleigh both sat motionless, eyes still on each other. Alexx stood there looking from one to the other of them and trying to decide who needed the most urgent care - him, her, or them. She reached her decision as the doctor finished taping down the end of the last bandage. "Come on. I'm driving both of you home."
They both stood and fell in behind her as meekly as if she were the Pied Piper. Alexx turned to the doctor. "Just give me the prescriptions he needs, and we'll get them filled at the hospital pharmacy on the way out."
"If he's leaving, he'll have to sign out against medical advice. I really do recommend that he stay here at least for tonight."
"I'm a doctor myself," Alexx said. "I'll accept full responsibility."
The doctor glanced uncertainly from Horatio to Calleigh and dropped his voice into a near whisper. "Are you sure they're safe together?" he asked. They never even glanced at him, still locked on each other like missile guidance systems.
"Of course," Alexx said. "They're really extremely affectionate with each other."
The doctor eyed them dubiously, then shrugged. He did have other patients waiting, probably more appreciative ones. Still grumbling under his breath, he scribbled out prescriptions for antibiotics and painkillers and handed them to her. She pocketed them and marched out of the ER, Horatio and Calleigh both trailing her silently. As the double doors swung to behind them, the audience of ER workers and patients slowly began to disperse, and the hospital hush crept back in.
***
Alexx pulled Calleigh's car into the driveway but didn't bother to turn off the ignition. "I'll be back at 7:00 tomorrow morning to check on you, and I'll return the car then. Make sure he takes those pills, Calleigh."
"I will," she promised, the first words either of them had spoken since leaving the hospital.
"Good night, then."
"Thank you, Alexx," said Horatio. "Good night." They both got out of the car and headed for the house in silence. Alexx backed out of the driveway and left as Calleigh unlocked the front door.
The minute they were inside the house with the door shut, they turned to each other. Calleigh wrapped her arms around him fiercely, squeezing him with every ounce of strength in her. He put his arms around her gingerly, but the feeling wasn't any less. "I'm sorry, Horatio," she said. "I'm so sorry. I can't believe I said those things this morning. I didn't mean it."
"Why did you ask me, then?"
She pulled him over to the couch, and they sat down, not side by side but facing each other, allowing full communication. "I was just scared. I didn't think about it before I spoke."
His eyes softened a bit. "Scared of what?"
"I've been having this dream the last three nights." She plunged into the story, unable to believe she had resisted talking about it with him. Telling him was even easier than telling Alexx, and his expression didn't show a trace of thinking it was silly. "So when Tripp called, I suddenly had this feeling that it would all come true, and I'd never see you again. That's why I asked you not to take any risks. But I didn't think about how it would sound to you, without knowing any of the background."
He relaxed suddenly. "I didn't know, Calleigh. I'm sorry."
"I shouldn't have asked you anyway." She scooted a little closer to him. "Horatio, don't ever change yourself. I think you're wonderful just like you are. That's why I don't want to lose you. But I'd rather lose you than force you to compromise yourself." She put a hand on his arm and instantly removed it as he drew his breath in sharply. The whole arm felt hot to the touch. "You'd better take some of those antibiotics. The painkillers, too."
He smiled at her, his old easy grin. "I'm okay, Cal. I wasn't hurt badly. It won't take long to heal."
She stood up and ruffled his hair affectionately but stuck to the literal meaning of the words. "Even so, you're taking your medicine. I'll make us some hot tea."
He followed her into the kitchen. "So that's what's been bothering you the last few days. I'm sorry I didn't notice when you were asleep. I could have woken you up from it. You haven't been restless at nights, though."
"It ends up just frozen. It's the weirdest dream, really. So vivid." She grinned suddenly, enjoying the ability to laugh at it. "I nearly snapped Speed's head off the other day, after you had mentioned his tripping over the stool."
"That explains it, then."
"What?"
"How carefully he was watching where he was going in the other pharmacies. He was afraid of annoying you. I'm happy to report that he hasn't tripped over anything for two days. At least not when I was around."
The microwave dinged, and she removed the cups and dropped teabags in. "Poor Speed. I ought to send him a note or something to apologize."
"Send him a doughnut. Believe me, it will mean more to him."
She laughed. "Probably would. Bakeries could take lessons from FTD. Apology doughnuts, sympathy doughnuts."
"Congratulations doughnuts," he added. "There's a fortune waiting to be made there."
It felt unbelievably good just to relax with him. She sat down at the table. "Horatio, now that you know, we can keep it from happening, can't we?"
"Absolutely," he agreed. "If I ever find myself in an abandoned restaurant chasing a perp, I won't give Speed the opportunity to fall over things and distract me. And I promise you that."
She opened the prescription bottles, giving him one of each along with his tea cup. He stared at them unwillingly. "Take them, Horatio. I don't want to force feed them to you, but I will if I have to."
He gulped them down. "I hate drugs." His mind went back to the pharmacy cases, which led him straight back to the meth house explosion that day. He started to bring that up, to talk about what had happened, and stopped himself abruptly as he looked over at Calleigh. She was staring at her own cup, and she looked about as tired as he felt. She needed sleep, not more conversation. "We both need some rest tonight, Calleigh. Between your dreams and my wondering what was wrong, I don't think last night counted for either of us. And the two before that weren't much better."
She looked back up at him and gave him a tired smile. "Are we okay?"
He got up and came around the table to her, giving her an affectionate squeeze with just his fingertips. "We're fine. Come on. High time the three of us were in bed."
She stood up. "I think Rosalind has more energy left than the rest of us."
"She's had the easiest day." He smiled at her. "Think of February, Calleigh. It's going to be wonderful."
"Yes," she agreed. "All three of us. We'll be a great family."
He kissed her. "We already are." They switched out the kitchen light and headed to the bedroom together.
***
Calleigh woke up, not from her dream but just a refreshingly normal waking up. She raised her head to look at the digital clock and realized abruptly that Horatio wasn't there. She sat up, listening intently. She couldn't hear him anywhere. It was 2:30 AM. Calleigh got up, pulled her robe on, and padded down the hall in her bare feet. He wasn't in the bathroom. She reached the end of the hall and spotted his silhouette instantly in the moonlight that flooded the living room. He was sitting on the couch, and his shoulders were quivering. Still, there was no sound. He was just sitting there crying silently. He came alert suddenly, looking back toward the hall, and she walked around the end of the couch and climbed onto it with him.
"What's wrong, Horatio? Are your arms still hurting?" She knew that wasn't it as soon as she said it. Mere physical pain could not make him cry.
He shook his head, not trying to hide his tear-streaked face from her. He hadn't wanted to wake her up, but now that she was awake, he appreciated the company. "I was just thinking of Paul."
"Paul who?"
"Paul Martin. He's on the narcotics squad. Or was, I should say. He's one of the two officers who died in that explosion."
The explosion. Calleigh realized guiltily that she still didn't know who had died there. She hadn't even given the others a thought, too focused on Horatio. "I didn't even ask. I'm sorry, Horatio."
He squeezed her and instantly let go as he hurt himself doing it. "You had plenty else to think about. Are you feeling better? You weren't having that dream again, were you? I prodded you when I woke up, and you just said mmm. Sure didn't sound like a nightmare."
"No, I wasn't having it. Nice dreams this time. And yes, I'm feeling better. I haven't slept that soundly in days. Now tell me about that explosion." She couldn't believe she hadn't already asked him for details. Of course he needed to talk about it. He had said that most of the blood wasn't his, but she hadn't drawn the obvious conclusion. "You were trying to help him, weren't you?"
He nodded again. "There were five of us going in. Three in the front, and Martin and his partner went around back to secure the back way and keep the perp from escaping. They were a lot closer to the house than we were." He paused for a second, then went on. "His partner died instantly. Paul was hit in the chest and neck by debris. He was bleeding badly, and I was trying to stop it. But I couldn't save him, Cal." His glistening eyes met hers. "If the ambulances had gotten there just a little faster, he might have had a chance."
"That's not your fault. You did your best. So that's why Tripp was the one to call it in."
"Right. I could move, but he couldn't. The other man with us had been knocked out, so I was the one who went around to check on the others." He shivered slightly. "At least he didn't die alone."
"What family did he have?" She was sure he would know. Horatio knew what family most of the people on the force had.
"A wife, no kids. They had only been married for six months. He told me to tell her he loved her. I'll have to get in touch with her tomorrow to deliver the message. Or is it today?" He didn't have his watch on since the bandages extended down to the tops of his hands.
"It's 2:30. Would you like me to go with you when you talk to her, Horatio?"
He looked at her gratefully. "Yes. I think it might help, having another woman there. She's got nothing left, Cal."
Calleigh shook her head. "She's got memories. Being left with memories is better than never having known it at all." Her own eyes welled up in sympathy for that other woman whose husband hadn't come home. She hoped they had been in perfect harmony when he left that morning and that Mrs. Martin wouldn't be going through the rest of her life regretting a last conversation that she didn't know was the last one. Like Calleigh herself had come frighteningly close to. She reached out and stroked Horatio's face lightly. "How did you find out about the house in the first place?"
"The man who was shot and lived at the pharmacy was Alvarez's son. He'd fallen in with the wrong crowd, got tied up with drug gangs and ran up a debt. They gave him drugs to get him hooked, then threatened him when he couldn't pay for all they'd given him. His getting the code for his father's pharmacy was payback, but I think the gang knew his father owned a pharmacy up front. Otherwise, why extend him credit on drugs? The leader of the gang was supposed to cancel his debt if he could get them in and get some drugs for them, especially hydrocodone and meth components. Hydrocodone sells big these days."
"But the leader wasn't satisfied with one pharmacy."
"Right. Too easy. He threatened to kill the Alvarez kid unless he went along with them. He knew too much from that first pharmacy. The second one was settling a grudge, too. The gang leader - a man called Snake - had been dealing to the pharmacist's son, and his father packed his son off to rehab and shut off all contact with his friends. That's why that particular pharmacy was picked. Snake knew the pharmacist by sight. They had had a confrontation when the father followed his son to a drug deal. When he saw him working there late, he decided to take care of him at the same time he stole the drugs. He was wearing a mask, but he told the pharmacist exactly who he was, at gunpoint, made him beg for his life, then shot him anyway." Calleigh shivered. "At the third pharmacy, Snake shot an employee of the cleaning service, just because he was there. Didn't even know him. Alvarez freaked out and said he was going straight to the police, and Snake shot him, too. The kid at least had enough sense to play dead. First intelligent move he's made in a while."
"What about the alarm system on the third pharmacy?"
"It wasn't working properly. Hadn't been tested in ages."
"So the Alvarez kid is talking now?"
"He couldn't wait to. He contributed the DNA on the broken glass at the second pharmacy, by the way. The evidence on him is rock solid, so his only hope was to deal. The trouble is, he only knew Snake by that name, and the third perp who was with them on the robberies he didn't have a name for at all. We spent a good bit of yesterday at the hospital running photos by him. He identified Snake finally, and we tracked down rumors of what they thought was his meth house through the Narcotics squad. We got the warrant and came in quietly. And the whole place blew."
"Was Snake in there?"
"Someone had seen him go in half an hour before. We'll have to wait and see what bodies turn up, but I'm sure he was there."
"So the case is closed, then?"
He shook his head. "The third perp is still out there, unless he happened to get killed in the explosion, too. If he didn't, I'll catch him. Two officers died working this case. Everyone involved is going down. If that third man isn't facing God right now, he's about to be facing me." His eyes glowed almost like a cat's in the dark, burning with predatory intent.
Calleigh reached out and pulled him gently against her, holding him soothingly, wincing herself at the pain hiding beneath the bandages. In spite of his disclaimer, she could tell his arms were hurting him more again. It was probably that which had woken him up in the first place, she thought. "I'm not sure if you should go to work tomorrow - today."
"There's nothing wrong with my legs. I'm not leaving this one, Calleigh."
She relented, standing up and heading for the kitchen. "You'd better take some more of those painkillers, then. You need more rest before morning. We do have to talk to Mrs. Martin, too."
He stood up and followed her. "We have to talk to Mrs. Martin twice, in fact."
She shook out two of the painkillers instead of one this time and handed them to him, along with a glass of water. "Twice?"
"Twice," he confirmed. "Once to give her Paul's message, and once to tell her that every single living person involved is now behind bars. And both of those conversations will take place today."
She hugged him carefully, squeezing his ribs, not his arms. "I believe you," she said sincerely. "But let's get some more sleep, first. Are you okay now?"
He smiled at her. "Not yet, but doing better. I won't be okay until this one is closed." He followed her back to the bedroom, and they snuggled down under the covers together. He spooned himself against her gratefully, but he couldn't help thinking of Paul Martin's wife, sleeping alone tonight and the other future nights. "I'll get him, Cal," he promised. "I'll get him." It was the last thing he said before drifting off to sleep again, and she knew it would be the first thought in his mind on awakening. Look out, perp, she thought. Horatio is coming. With one final prayer herself for Mrs. Martin and the other new widow, she followed him into sleep - deep, dreamless sleep.