And the finale. It is a hideously long chapter, so read it when you have plenty of time (or in two or more segments). Thanks to everyone who's come along on the ride on this one and is still with me. I hope we didn't have any casualties along the way. Many of you will wish this last part could be easier. I really do myself, but I can't write something (in a serious story) that I know is unrealistic. I am familiar with septic shock both personally and through my job, and there is no way in the world that anyone could just snap out of it in a few days. So everything won't just suddenly be fine, but it will be eventually. Don't loosen your seatbelt just yet, but there is the happy ending, as promised. Thanks for the feedback.

***

"I was ever a fighter. So, one fight more, The best and the last."

Robert Browning, Prospice

***

The car blasted down the road. Both of the children were wailing in fear, and Calleigh had to fight the urge to join them. She tried to push the accelerator down further, but it was already on the floor. It was late afternoon, but the road was totally deserted. Where was the traffic? Where was the Highway Patrol? She would be thrilled to get stopped for speeding at the moment. She looked across at Horatio again. He was still breathing, but it was more uneven just in the last few minutes. This can't be happening, she thought. Otis is dead. He can't keep hurting us after he's dead.

Calleigh rounded a curve, slowing down to 70 for it, and suddenly saw red and blue lights swirling ahead. A police cruiser was leading the way, coming from the other direction, and behind it was the familiar blocky shape of a CSI Hummer. She hit the brakes, then spun the wheel, sending the car careening wildly to a halt sideways across the road, blocking it completely. She was already out of the door as the other vehicles screeched to a stop. Adele, Eric, Speed, and Alexx leaped out. She had never been so glad to see them in her life, especially Alexx. "Calleigh!" The ME raced toward her. "The baby. . ."

"I'm fine, Alexx, but you've got to help Horatio! Please." She wrenched the passenger's door open, then forced herself to stand aside. Alexx unfastened the seatbelt and passed Rosalind to Calleigh, who passed her on to Adele. Alexx picked up Horatio's wrist, checking his pulse, then instantly put her other hand against his forehead, not even waiting to count the heartbeats. She turned back, and Calleigh saw something in Alexx's eyes she'd never seen there before – absolute helplessness.

"One of you call for a helicopter."

"Eric's calling for an ambulance," said Speed.

"Too slow. We need a helicopter right now." Adele passed Rosalind back to Calleigh and raced toward the police cruiser. "Tell them he's in septic shock," Alexx called after her, and Adele nodded without turning around. Alexx turned back to Horatio and studied him more thoroughly, checking the slight abrasion on his face and then dismissing it. "Calleigh, where is he hurt?"

"His left leg. It's broken about halfway below the knee."

Alexx tried to reach across to the leg, but the dash was in the way. "Help me get him out of here," she said to Speed. He joined her. Between them, they worked Horatio out of the car and laid him down flat on the roadway. Alexx knelt on the left, and Calleigh crouched on the other side. Alexx tried to roll up his pants leg, then gave up, snapping open the small medical kit she had with her. She had brought basic first aid supplies in case they were needed, but she had never expected this. At least she did have scissors. She cut the material off just below the knee, exposing the leg, then bowed her head, closing her eyes in prayer and frustration.

"Damn." Eric had joined the group and looked down at his boss. Speed was gaping next to him. None of them had ever seen a wound that looked worse on someone who was still alive. They'd seen fatal ones that looked a lot better on victims.

Adele came up. "The helicopter is coming." She joined the rest of them in staring.

Calleigh shook herself out of paralysis. "Alexx, can't you do something?" she pleaded.

Alexx's sad eyes met hers across Horatio's body. "I haven't got what he needs with me."

"Antibiotics, right?"

Alexx felt torn between truth and comfort. Truth won. "He needs a lot more than antibiotics at this point, Calleigh. The infection is into the bloodstream. It's attacking every system in his body now." She looked back down at her friend and clenched her hands into helpless fists. She knew exactly, in painful medical detail, what was happening, and she was powerless to do anything but wait for help along with the rest of them and pray that it wouldn't come too late. He needed a full ICU, not her first aid kit. She slowly slipped out of her jacket and placed it over him, then took a thermometer out of her bag and inserted it into his mouth. She could make a good guess at the answer, but it would help to have a baseline for the paramedics to compare to. "How long ago did he break the leg? Was that from the car accident?"

"Right, the day we were abducted. What day is this?"

"Sunday," said Adele.

They had been in that room for six days, then. "There was nothing I could do," Calleigh half-sobbed. "Otis had us locked in one small room. He wouldn't even give me some Tylenol."

"Where is Otis?" asked Eric.

"He's dead. Horatio killed him. He was going to take Rosalind." She suddenly remembered her daughter and looked down at her. Rosalind had stopped crying, but her wide, frightened eyes were rolling from one of them to the other, wondering what crazy world she had arrived in. Calleigh reached out and put her on top of Horatio. Maybe his daughter could reach him. "Stay with us, Horatio," she pleaded. "Rosalind needs you. I need you."

Alexx gently picked up the child and handed her back. "Don't put her on his chest, Calleigh. He's having trouble breathing." He was breathing in rapid, shallow gasps now. Calleigh picked up his hand and held it tightly, wrapping Rosalind's tiny hand between both of theirs. What was taking that helicopter so long? She shifted her hand slightly to take his pulse, to reassure herself that it was still there, and her eyes widened as much as Rosalind's as she felt the thready, ragged gallop. She timed it herself on her watch. 148 beats per minute. "Alexx? Why is his pulse like that?"

Alexx picked up his other wrist, checking the pulse again. "He's going into circulatory collapse. As the pressure fails, his heart is trying to work harder to compensate." She didn't have to say that the effort wouldn't be successful. She removed the thermometer, looked at it, then wordlessly tucked it back into her useless kit, her expression giving no clue. She had expected that answer.

"How high is it?" Calleigh insisted.

Alexx met her eyes with sympathetic directness. "105.5."

"What?" Speed shook his head, thinking maybe he had heard it wrong.

"How long has he been unconscious, Calleigh?" asked Alexx.

She tried to force herself to think clearly. Any information she could give might help him. She couldn't let herself just fall apart. "I'm not totally sure. I was driving. About 20 minutes maybe. He's been fading in and out all day before that, though." She had finally realized it in retrospect. How had she possibly missed seeing how much worse he was today? She had actually been glad, thinking only that he was finally getting some sound sleep, but the clues had been there. She had just been too caught up in her own ordeal to assess his condition.

"Only 20 minutes?" Alexx was surprised. "I'm amazed he was functional at all today, even hit and miss."

Calleigh looked at Rosalind again. "He was trying to hold it together for me. He delivered Rosalind." Even afterwards, she had just laid there on the bed admiring Rosalind for what now seemed like forever, not even realizing how Horatio had collapsed beside her. Those minutes, at least, were ones where she could have moved faster. If he died, she would never forgive herself. Or him, for that matter. "He never said anything at all to me today about feeling worse, Alexx. Not one word." She prayed that she would get the chance to discuss that with him at some point, forcefully enough to knock some sense into him. Selflessness could be carried too far.

Alexx read her mind. "I honestly don't think he could have accurately judged it, Calleigh. Not today. He wouldn't realize just how bad it was himself. He probably thought the pain was getting better, if anything."

Calleigh shuddered. "He did say that." Once she had finally gotten down to talking about how he was feeling, instead of being centered on her own pain. She hadn't even asked him all day today until after Rosalind's birth. She looked at his face, frighteningly still beneath the obvious battle to breathe, like he had already at some level moved beyond the fight his body was still putting up. I should have noticed sooner, she thought. I don't have any excuse. Alexx read her mind again but knew that there was nothing she could say at the moment. Calleigh wouldn't listen to anything but her own accusations right now.

Eric suddenly noticed the other child hovering in frightened uncertainty in the background. "Who's the other kid?"

"Aaron. Otis had him." Calleigh didn't even look up. She couldn't spare thought for anyone else right now, not even another victim. She gripped Horatio's hand tightly, hoping that he could feel it on some level. "Horatio, don't leave me," she begged. "You promised me we would all be fine, remember?" A single tear fell over the edge and kissed him as it fell. Calleigh fiercely blinked back others, refusing to let anything block her view of him, afraid if she did, he would disappear from her life forever at that instant, leaving her with only his child to remember him by. "This is our daughter's birthday, Horatio. Don't you dare die on our daughter's birthday."

Alexx abruptly remembered that there was more than one patient. "Are you hurt, Calleigh?"

"No. I wasn't in the car. Horatio was." Alexx reached across and took Rosalind from her, examining the child briefly. She started to comment on the eyes and bit back the remark. Calleigh was shivering, more in fear than cold, and Eric took his jacket off and gave it to her. After that, they all just huddled there in helpless silence, watching Horatio slide downhill, unable to pull him back. It was like starting the nightmare of the last week over again, only this time, they were watching it first hand, so they knew there was no mistake. Finally, the whip of the rotors was heard in the distance, gradually growing louder, and the helicopter landed on the deserted road behind them.

They might have taken their time coming, but Calleigh had no complaints with how fast the paramedics moved now. They already had one IV running before Horatio was thoroughly strapped onto the gurney, and the medic started forcing fluid in as a bolus, not just letting it drip in slowly, before they had even reached the helicopter. Calleigh bolted after him, starting to climb into the helicopter herself. One of the medics looked dubiously at her, figuring out the weight load.

"She's a patient, too," Alexx put in. "She just gave birth. She needs to be checked out herself."

"Right." Calleigh grabbed Rosalind from Alexx and exhibited her as proof. "I need to go, too." The medic made no further protest. They secured everything, and the helicopter took off again, moving with reassuring speed toward Miami.

Left behind on the ground, the team stood watching the helicopter forlornly until it vanished. Adele turned to Aaron finally, talking to him, reassuring him. Eric caught Alexx's arm as they started to return to their Hummer. "Alexx, what's the survival rate for septic shock?"

She hesitated. "It's right around 50%, but most of the stats are based on people who develop it while they're already hospitalized for whatever it was a complication of."

"You mean half the people die anyway, even with immediate treatment?" Speed asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Alexx confirmed softly. "It's one of the leading causes of deaths in ICUs." She looked after the vanished helicopter. "I've never heard of anyone that advanced before getting any treatment at all who survived."

"I'll secure the scene at the warehouse," said Adele. "You all take Aaron and go back to Miami. He ought to be checked out at the hospital, too. Otis is dead. We can process the warehouse later." Gratefully, the team piled into the Hummer and headed for the hospital. Adele was left alone in the middle of the road. She pulled Otis' car to the side and locked it, but she stood there for a long time herself, looking back toward Miami, before she finally started the police cruiser and slowly drove in the opposite direction.

***

Calleigh never took her eyes off Horatio's face. He was on oxygen now, and they were forcing fluids into him through two IVs. The medic was in radio communication with a doctor at the hospital, and she heard the conversation at a distance, somehow. Only Horatio was reality at the moment. Everything else was disconnected background. He was still alive. She heard the medic tell the doctor that his temperature was 105.6. How could it possibly still be rising? She held his hand tightly, joining Rosalind's with them, as if that link alone could keep him from slipping away from them. In spite of the fever, his fingers felt cold now.

The helicopter made a sickening swing, realigning itself, and she saw the hospital landing pad racing up beneath them. They had the doors open as soon as the helicopter touched down, and Calleigh scrambled out herself, never taking her eyes off Horatio. A swarm of medical personnel descended on him, and they rolled the gurney at a brisk run into the ER. Calleigh tried to keep pace and couldn't. Her legs still felt shaky.

A nurse appeared at her side, gripping her arm firmly but gently. "They're doing everything they can for him, ma'am. We need to get you examined, too." Calleigh let herself be propelled into a cubicle, but she was part of the disconnected background now. She barely noticed the staff taking her vitals, their comments on Rosalind, or the treatment release forms she signed for all of them. Her whole being was focused into her ears, and they were next door, listening to the doctors battle death for Horatio.

"Pressure is still falling. . . Two units of packed red cells now. . . Get blood cultures and a culture from that leg, and then I want antibiotic coverage for all the major organisms . . . Saturation 80% on full oxygen. . . Temp is now 105.7. . .Still has tachycardia, increasing arrhythmia. . .Come on, Lieutenant, fight for it. You've got to help us out here."

Calleigh swung her legs sideways and dropped off the exam table to the floor with a thump, hardly hearing the protests of the nurse who was taking her information. She drove her shaky legs into a run for the short distance it took to reach him. Death might separate them, but the ER staff wasn't going to.

"Ma'am, you can't . . ." Calleigh plowed straight past the protesting technician and the huddle of personnel and finally reached his side. She picked up his hand. The entire hand was cold now.

"Horatio, listen to me," she said urgently. "We're not safe yet." The babble of protest around her gradually died as the staff realized what she was doing. "Do you hear me? I'm still in danger, Horatio. So is Rosalind. You've got to help us. You can't leave us here alone. We need you to save us." She slid her hand up his arm until she got past the coldness to where she thought he might feel it. "Help us, Horatio."

She squeezed his arm tightly, her eyes glued to his face. The voices still sounded quietly in the background around her. "Rhythm is evening out. Still too fast but more regular. . . Pressure is stabilizing a bit. . . O2 saturation now 82%. . . Temperature still 105.7."

A hand touched her gently on the arm. "Mrs. Caine, you really need to let us finish checking you out."

"I don't need it," Calleigh protested. "I'm absolutely fine." She straightened up slightly from Horatio, turned around to face her challenger defiantly while still keeping her hand on her husband's arm, and, for the first time in her life, totally passed out.

***

Calleigh opened her eyes to bright morning sunlight. She was in a hospital bed. She didn't have her watch on or her clothes anymore, but it looked like morning sunlight to her. What had happened? She remembered nothing past the ER.

She swung the sheet back and started to get out of bed, and at that minute, Alexx came into the room. "Calleigh! You're awake now. Great."

Calleigh stood up on legs that weren't shaky anymore to face the ME. "Horatio?" Her heart was too full for her to say anything more just then.

"He's holding his own. Still in critical condition, but he's doing a little better. Things look better for him than they did on Sunday."

"Is this Monday? What time is it, Alexx?"

"Tuesday. 9:00 AM."

"Tuesday? What happened to Monday?"

Alexx smiled. "If you'll get back in bed for a minute, I'll fill you in."

"I need to see Horatio."

"Of course, but don't you want to know the details first?"

Calleigh reluctantly climbed back into bed. "Okay, but make it fast."

"You passed out in the ER. You really weren't in great shape yourself, dehydrated and run down, and you'd just given birth. They sedated you so you'd get the rest your body needed while they got your fluids back up."

"Who gave them permission to do that?"

"You did. You signed releases for any treatment deemed medically necessary on all three of you."

All three of them. "Is Rosalind okay?"

"She's fine. She's in the best shape of any of you. Charming the nurses to death. They all love the eyes."

"Alexx, tell me about Horatio."

"They've got him more stabilized now. His fever is down some, and his blood pressure is up some. Not that they're normal yet at all, but he's doing better. He has a long fight ahead still, but I think he's going to make it. His doctor won't grant you that much yet, but his doctor doesn't know him. We do." She reached out to give Calleigh's arm a reassuring squeeze. "We know quite a bit about how people die from this, unfortunately. Most of the time, when it's fatal, they won't make any real improvement, just keep spiraling down. All of his numbers are a little better now. Also, he never totally stopped breathing on his own, and that's a very good sign."

Calleigh met her eyes directly. "You really believe he's going to recover?"

"Yes." Alexx matched her directness. "Honestly, Calleigh, I wouldn't have given him a chance Sunday. It's amazing that he's picking up at all, as far gone as he was. But I really think that if he was going to die, he would have died Sunday night." She leaned over the bed, hugging Calleigh. "You've still got him, sweetheart. It will take a long time, but he'll make it all the way back."

Calleigh leaned against Alexx for a minute, feeling the tension of the last week start to ebb. Alexx hadn't lied to her Sunday. She wouldn't lie to her now. After a minute, Calleigh pulled back, ready for the details now that the big question was answered. "Did they fix his leg?"

"No. He isn't stable enough for anesthesia, and there's no point in it anyway. A severely infected wound like that isn't going to heal. When they get the systemic infection cleared up, it will be just like the break was fresh. The leg isn't the primary problem anymore; the infection in the blood is. He was quite dehydrated, too, even more than you were. That was compounding the shock. You wouldn't believe how much fluid and medicine it took to get his blood pressure up."

"He's hardly felt like eating or drinking much last week."

"I can imagine," Alexx said reverently. "Fortunately, he was in excellent physical condition before all of this. If he hadn't been, he never could have survived it."

"So the fracture isn't going to be a problem? We were worried about malunion, since it hadn't been set."

"No. The bone hadn't even started to heal, and it isn't going to until he's in a lot better shape. It will need a plate, to hold the tibia together, but they won't be doing that until the infection is beaten. It isn't an easy fracture to deal with, but as long as the bone starts healing once it isn't infected any more, he should make a full recovery from it. Fortunately, it was well above his old ankle fracture. There is some chance of nonunion after an infection into the bone like that, but I can't see Horatio doing anything halfway. They did do some emergency work on the leg. Flushed it out, trimmed up the edges of the wound, debrided the necrotic bits, and put drains in, so it's being flushed with antibiotic saline constantly now."

"You just said he wasn't stable enough for anesthesia."

"They didn't give him any, just IV pain meds to try to take the edge off. They did use local, as much as that could do, but it isn't really effective on a deep bone wound like that." Calleigh sat up straight, her eyes flashing, and Alexx quickly went on. "Trust me, Calleigh, he isn't going to remember it. I doubt he ever remembers much of those last one or two days. And as much as it must have been hurting him anyway, the difference for them to work on it was minor."

"Is he still unconscious?"

"Most of the time. He wakes up for a minute or two sometimes. I've been in to see him – and you – regularly, talking to you, giving you updates on each other. He only woke up once when I was there, though, and he didn't make a lot of sense then."

"Did he think you were me?"

Alexx smiled. "No, he'd have to be more than delirious to make that mistake. He recognized me, all right. He asked where you were, and I told him that you were in your own room, that the doctors had knocked you out so that your body could get the rest it needed. That's where he didn't make sense. All he said was, 'Serves her right.'"

Calleigh burst into relieved laughter. "He was more there than you thought he was. I've knocked him out a couple of times, as an absolute last resort when he couldn't sleep at all. He hates it."

Alexx looked at Calleigh with new respect. "I'll bet."

"Where is he, Alexx? I need to see him."

"He's in the ICU on the 2nd floor. Calleigh, he's still not in good shape. The improvement is relative. Also, if he does wake up, I'm sure his memory is going to have holes in it. Don't expect too much from him."

"I just want to see him," she insisted. "I don't care what he looks like, or how little sense he makes." Calleigh stalked out of the room with as much dignity as anyone can muster wearing a hospital gown, and Alexx smiled to herself. Calleigh, at least, was back.

***

Calleigh entered the ICU and spoke briefly to the nurse at the central desk. The room was lined with individual cubicles, and the nurse indicated Horatio's. Calleigh walked around the half-pulled curtain and just stood there for a minute, looking at him.

He lay motionless, eyes closed. His face was drawn, and his color still wasn't normal. An oxygen cannula was taped into place, and multiple monitors and tubes of all sorts were hooked up to him. He had an arterial monitoring line in his left arm, and a central venous port in the subclavian vein in his left shoulder had replaced the peripheral IVs, allowing the doctors even more direct access to give him fluids and medicine. It looked like he had some sort of cage over his left leg, holding the sheet up off it. Various tubes ran to the leg, apparently flushing the open wound constantly, like Alexx had said. Calleigh looked at the monitor screens by his head. Heart rate 105, respirations 23, blood pressure 90/59. His temperature was 104.4. She stepped up quietly to the bedside and lifted the sheet over his left leg, wanting to reassure herself that it was indeed better. It looked like something from a science fiction movie, the leg encased in a complicated dressing and brace with tubes running in and out. Even that was an improvement over how it had looked Sunday, though. It was obviously being treated now, at least. The red streaks were still there. She dropped the sheet again and stepped up beside his head, bending over to kiss him. "You scared me, Horatio," she said softly. "You should have said something that day, told me how you were feeling, as much as you knew, anyway. I'm sorry I didn't notice." The only response was the steady if fast beat of his heart on the monitor. She stroked his hot face with her hand for several minutes, watching the monitors. Not normal, like Alexx had said, but better and perfectly steady. His hands weren't cold anymore, either. As usual, Alexx was right, Calleigh decided. He had turned the corner. She felt reassured a bit, although still worried. "Thank you, God," she said aloud.

His eyelids fluttered slightly, and his head turned on the pillow. "Horatio," she said softly. "Horatio. Are you there?"

The eyes slowly opened. They still didn't look anything close to normal. There was instant recognition in them, though. "Calleigh," he said weakly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. You're the one we're worried about now. We thought we'd lost you there for a little while."

"I'm not going anywhere," he said.

"I'll hold you to that." She bent to kiss him again. "You made me a promise, after all."

"Sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, Horatio."

"How did we get out?"

"Do you remember Otis?"

"He had us. He wanted Rosalind." He smiled faintly. "I remember Rosalind."

"She's fine. Everybody's fine now, except you. And you need to hurry up and get that way."

"Working on it," he replied. "How did we get away?"

Calleigh hesitated for a second. "You killed him. You don't remember that?"

He shook his head slightly. "Did I have to?"

"Yes," she said firmly. "No choice at all." She was relieved that he seemed to accept the assurance.

"Was that when he came to get Rosalind?"

"No. He was dead before she was born, actually." Calleigh caught just a second of his usual analytical skill flicker through his mind, trying to arrange the timeline, before it bogged down in the marsh of feverish weakness.

"I don't remember it," he protested faintly. "Or getting out. Too many missing pieces." He always hated missing pieces.

Calleigh stroked his face gently. "Don't worry about it, Horatio. I'll tell you everything that happened, so you can fit it all together. But later on, okay? Right now, the only thing that matters is that we're all three safe."

"You sure you're okay? Alexx said you were a patient, too."

"I'm fine, Horatio."

"Be sure to take care of yourself, Cal."

She smiled at him. "You do the same." His eyes were drifting shut again. "You're wearing yourself out talking. You need to rest if you're going to beat this. Why don't you get some more sleep?" He nodded faintly, eyes totally shut now, and Calleigh made her big mistake. "I'll be right here with you."

The eyes snapped open like they were on a spring release. "No."

"What?"

"You're not staying. You've got to take care of yourself. I won't let you just sit here with me."

Calleigh gritted her teeth in familiar exasperation. "Horatio, I'm fine. You're the one who's in bad shape. Don't worry about me."

"No." His voice was rising slightly, and he shifted weakly, trying to push himself up to a sitting position. "You're not staying."

Calleigh tried to press him back against the pillow. "Easy now. Settle down, Horatio."

"You aren't going to just sit here. You've got to look after yourself. And Rosalind. I won't let you do it." He pushed his way back up against her resistance. His heart rate had kicked up even more.

"Horatio, take it easy. You don't need to be getting excited. You'll hurt yourself." She tried to stroke his hair soothingly, and he pulled away from her.

"You'll hurt yourself. If I have to walk out of here to keep you from just sitting by this bed, I'll do it." He managed to get up to a sitting position in the bed. Alarms on two monitors went off.

"Horatio, you can't walk!" Calleigh tried to stop him, but he shifted his legs, starting to get up and walk out of ICU, and hit the left one sharply on the hospital bed rails, a painful metal clang sounding as the brace knocked into the railing. Two nurses were descending on the cubicle in brisk professional disapproval.

"What's going on here? Mr. Caine, you can't get up!" Mr. Caine had just discovered that. He fell back sideways against the pillow, his breathing coming in shallow gasps again. What little color he had had in his face had vanished. The beeps of the monitors had become uneven.

One of the nurses locked eyes with Calleigh and jerked her head toward the door, speaking softly but firmly. "I think you'd better leave."

Calleigh fought down her resentment. The woman was right. She nodded to the nurse but didn't move away from the bed immediately. Instead, she leaned over and touched her husband's cheek lightly. He was sweating. "Horatio." The fever-glazed eyes opened halfway and looked back at her, and she winced herself at the pain in them. "Listen to me. I'm leaving, okay?" He relaxed a fraction, although the pain was obviously still severe. "I'll go and take care of myself, and I won't stay here, but only if you cooperate with everybody and lie still. Deal?" He nodded weakly. She kissed him again. "Be good now, Horatio. I'm gone. I'll come back and visit you later, just for a few minutes." She left the cubicle but went only as far as the nurse's station, leaning against it, watching as the nurses straightened him out, checked all the lines, fixed the cage over his leg again, and rehooked the one drain tube he had managed to pull out. Finally, one of them left the bedside. The other stayed, obviously intending to watch him personally until everything stabilized again.

"I'm sorry," Calleigh said softly as the nurse re-entered the station. "I didn't expect him to react like that."

"He's not himself at the moment, honey. You're going to have to make allowances."

"I'll remember that," Calleigh promised, but her mistake had been not realizing how much Horatio was himself. She had thought that while he was so sick, he would want the comfort of having her near him. Wrong. Even half-delirious, Horatio would think of others before himself. Knowing that she had just given birth, that she was a patient, too, he wouldn't accept her vigil. She would only agitate him trying. "Is he okay?" she asked with concern.

The nurse was making a note in Horatio's chart. "No, he's not okay. But I don't think he's any worse off than he was before." She closed the chart and opened another one, switching her thoughts to another case. Calleigh stayed by the nurse's station watching for a long time, fairly sure that Horatio's perceptions didn't extend this far at the moment. When she was finally convinced that he was stable again and that he wasn't fighting the staff's care, she returned to her own room to keep her end of their bargain.

***

Calleigh had just finished feeding Rosalind the next morning when Alexx entered the room. "Good morning. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Calleigh insisted, and it wasn't that much of a stretch to say it anymore. "They're going to let me go this afternoon. Could you give me and Rosalind a ride home?"

"Of course. Would you like me to stay over for the first night or two?" Alexx saw the independence fires ignite in Calleigh's eyes and quickly continued. "Horatio would probably rest easier knowing that you had some help, at least for tonight. You know he'll ask you."

Calleigh gave a resigned sigh. "Okay, then. And thanks." There was nothing reluctant about the smile she gave her friend.

"Have you seen Horatio yet this morning? I came up here first."

"Yes, for a few minutes. You know, you've sabotaged things, Alexx. Horatio wants to see me, but he gets upset if I stay. You spent 36 hours telling him I was a patient, too, before I ever got a chance to tell him I was perfectly fine."

"Sorry about that," said the ME innocently. "What's his fever this morning?"

"104.1." Calleigh shuddered slightly. "I've never been so scared in my life."

"It was a close thing. A little longer, and he wouldn't have made it." Alexx saw Calleigh's expression change suddenly. "What's wrong?"

"I didn't even notice him, Alexx."

Alexx sighed. "Calleigh," she started.

Calleigh plowed straight over her. She didn't want reassurance at the moment; she wanted guilt, wanted to punish herself with it. "That whole last day, he was so much worse. I can see it now, thinking back, but I honestly didn't realize it at the time. And then, all during the birth, he was making such an incredible effort for me, and I didn't even notice what it was costing him."

"You had an excellent excuse for not being at your best, Calleigh."

"So did he," Calleigh insisted. "I keep thinking I could have at least moved faster after Rosalind was born. I just laid there for I don't know how long, Alexx, and Horatio had basically passed out next to me. And I didn't see it until it was almost too late."

Alexx grasped her hands firmly, forcing reassurance on her whether she wanted it or not. "Calleigh, listen to me. Horatio was in that condition because of Otis. It was the six days without treatment that caused it, not you stopping for a minute to look at your baby. I think you did remarkably well. I don't know of anyone else who could have taken charge, gotten Horatio into the car, and driven for help right after giving birth. You saved him, Calleigh. It probably would have been too late if we had driven all the way out to the warehouse before we called for the helicopter. You even managed to rescue Aaron in the middle of it."

Calleigh smiled suddenly. "That was Horatio, too. I was trying to drag him out to the car, and he kept insisting he heard something. I thought he was hallucinating."

Alexx shook her head fondly. "I think he'd hear someone needing help if he was totally dead, not just half." She squeezed Calleigh's arm warmly. "You are the two most remarkable people I know, and I think you did each other proud. You have nothing to be ashamed of." She reached out for Rosalind, and Calleigh let her take her. "This young lady ought to be extraordinary if she's even halfway like her parents." Rosalind looked back at her with Horatio's eyes. "Amazing how much time she spends just looking around. You can see the wheels turning."

"The nurses have all noticed that. She's pretty quiet most of the time, they say, although she'll sure let you know when she needs something. But she's always watching the world."

"You had quite an introduction to it, didn't you, honey?" Alexx said to the baby.

A knock sounded on the door. "Come in," Calleigh called, and she was surprised to see the captain enter the room.

"Mrs. Caine, how are you doing?" He extended one finger to tickle Rosalind, who looked back at him like he was a specimen in the CSI lab.

"I'm doing fine. I'll be going home this afternoon."

"Wonderful. There were just a few paperwork issues I'm seeing to myself. I've already filled out the form for maternity leave for you. Also a medical leave of absence for Horatio. I'm assuming that he'll be out for several weeks."

"At a minimum," said Alexx. "He'll probably be in the hospital for weeks, and they haven't even dealt with his broken leg yet."

"How is he?"

"Still critical but gaining," said Calleigh. "The doctor finally admitted this morning that he thought he'd recover."

"Excellent. He's irreplaceable to all of us."

"What's happening with CSI?" Calleigh wondered.

"Horatio had already arranged for help with ballistics while you were on maternity leave. We just asked that person to start immediately. I've already been in communication with the CSI in Fort Lauderdale. Their people are going to help us out where they can, and their department head is going to be splitting his time between his office and Miami, to keep up with the administrative paperwork. He's a friend of Horatio's. He was glad to help, even though it will mean long hours for him. Can we even make a guess at this point how long Horatio will be out?"

"No." Alexx answered. "It depends on how long it takes to beat the infection, and there are too many variables there. He'll be on crutches for six weeks at least after that, but I doubt he'll be strong enough to work yet, anyway. A systemic infection like that leaves you weak quite a while even after it's gone. When he can work will depend on his general condition. At the moment, he's got a long way to go."

"Well, keep me informed." The captain stared out the window and fiddled with his keys.

"Sir, was there something else?" Calleigh asked.

"Um, yes. There's also the official investigation into the death of Stewart Otis."

"WHAT?" Calleigh sat straight up in the bed. Rosalind whimpered, and Alexx rocked her soothingly.

"It's department procedure. You know that, Calleigh. Any time an officer kills someone, we have to investigate. I'm trying to make this as easy as I can."

Calleigh settled back a bit, but her eyes were still flashing. "Even when the alleged person he killed had held us captive for six days, almost killed Horatio, and was threatening to take our daughter?"

"Calleigh, he doesn't have to do this himself," Alexx reminded her. "You could be talking to IAB. But it is required. You know the rules."

"The CSIs have processed the warehouse, and it's absolutely consistent with you being held captive there, just like you said. But I have to document everything for the record. As far as I'm concerned, this is just a formality, but I do need a statement from you and Horatio."

"Not Horatio," Calleigh insisted. "He doesn't even remember it, and you'd just upset him by trying to make him think about it." She had already had to tell Horatio three times that he'd had no choice but to kill Otis, and he seemed to believe her, although he then wanted the assurance repeated later. She wasn't about to let him face an inquisition.

"He doesn't remember it?"

Alexx took over with smooth professionalism. "The infection that last day had progressed to the extent that it was affecting his mind. There is extensive medical documentation on the condition, and his response there is absolutely consistent. You could get a statement of that fact from his doctor. But I agree, and I think his doctor would, too. Horatio is still in critical condition. Questioning him on something he doesn't remember would just upset him, and he shouldn't be upset at the moment."

The captain hesitated. "I'll talk to his doctor. We've got to have something for the record."

"Do that," said Calleigh. She couldn't imagine the doctor agreeing to them questioning Horatio. And if he did, she'd set up a defense post herself, outside the ICU so that Horatio wouldn't realize it. "I remember everything perfectly well. I'll give you a statement."

"Regulations require statements from all involved officers." He looked guilty as he quoted one of the IAB's favorite lines. The captain really was hating this, she suddenly realized. And he was trying to run interference for them, which was a good thing. If the IAB had come down to the hospital to harass Horatio, they would have had to be admitted after Calleigh was through with them. "I'll talk to his doctor," the captain promised, "and get more information. We'll see if we can get around it and still satisfy IAB. If his condition was affecting his mind that much, he might not have even known what he was doing at the time."

"He knew what he was doing; he just doesn't remember it," Calleigh insisted. Horatio attacking Otis was one of the most heroic actions she had ever seen, and she refused to diminish it. She was certain he had known what he was doing. "I'll give you a statement, but you're talking to Horatio over my dead body."

The captain smiled suddenly. "Well, let's get what we can, then." He took a mini tape recorder out of his pocket and switched it on. "Okay, Mrs. Caine, tell me everything you can remember."

Calleigh ran through the entire week, taking Rosalind again and clutching her tightly to convince herself that it was over. Alexx, who hadn't pressed her friend for all the details, was hearing the full version for the first time, too, and her admiration for both of her coworkers swelled even more. Calleigh finished, and the captain turned the recorder off and sat there in silence for a moment.

"I'll do my best, Calleigh, to get this investigation closed quickly. I don't see any question of it being a necessity to kill him, but we do have to follow procedure. I'm sorry I had to bother you."

"I know," she said. "But you aren't questioning Horatio about this."

"Could you give me his doctor's name, so I can get a statement from him substantiating the memory loss?" Calleigh gave it to him, and he stood up. "Calleigh, all I can say is, I'm honored to know both of you." He reached out and shook her hand, then left.

Calleigh looked down at Rosalind. Her hands, holding her daughter, were steady, but her soul was trembling at reliving all of that awful week, realizing again how close she had come to losing both of them. Alexx stood up and came closer to the bedside, pulling her friend's head over against her. "It's over now, Calleigh."

"I know," she said through the tears. Alexx held her, stroking her hair, until the sobs had stopped. Calleigh finally gave her a wavering smile. "Rosalind's still looking at us. Wonder what she's thinking?"

"Soon enough, you'll know." Alexx stepped away from the bed. "I'm going down to see Horatio for a minute, and then I've got to get to work. I'll come back for you this afternoon, though."

"Thanks, Alexx."

"No, thank you."

"For what?"

"For the privilege of being your friend." The ME gave her a dazzling smile, stroked Rosalind's cheek lightly, and then left.

***

Calleigh entered Horatio's room, a private room now, and stood there for a minute looking at him. He was asleep. His spirit was regaining health faster than his body, but in spite of his protests how close to normal he now was, the amount of time he still spent asleep told her otherwise. Of course, he was still on painkillers, more than he wanted to be on, but without them, his body would not be able to get the rest he needed to win this battle. The doctors had assured them that as soon as they could get his leg set with some fixation on the fracture, the pain would decrease, but they had to beat the infection first.

She reached out and placed Rosalind on his chest, then bent over to kiss him on the forehead, trying to guess his temperature. He was off all the monitors by this point, with only a single IV left attached. Just a bit warm, she thought. He stirred slightly and smiled, and his hands came out to grasp Rosalind, but the eyes didn't open.

"Don't you want to see us?" she teased after a minute.

"I was hoping if you thought I wasn't totally awake, you'd do that again."

She kissed him again, starting on the forehead but progressing down to his lips. "Awake yet?"

"Getting there." He opened his eyes, which were his eyes once again, and smiled at her. "Or if I'm dreaming, I don't want to be awake."

She smiled back at him. "Not a dream, I promise. What was your fever this morning?"

"99.2. I was trying to convince the orthopedist that was close enough, but he didn't buy it." The doctor had refused to proceed with the operation on Horatio's leg until he had no fever at all. "Maybe in a day or two."

"No point in rushing it. You know it won't heal up until the infection is all gone."

"He did do x-rays this morning again. The fracture is still wide open, he said, but it looks a lot better. There's hardly any sign left of osteomyelitis. He was optimistic. Also, he said he'd remove the screws from that ankle as long as he's working on the leg. That old fracture doesn't need them anymore. But he won't be doing it today." He gave a sigh, and his eyes drifted toward the window, where his city was bustling on without him.

"I think you just want to get out of here," she commiserated. "Remember, though, you've still got a week, even after they fix the leg. Rushing the operation won't change that." The doctors had insisted on keeping him on IV antibiotics for a full week after his temperature was normal.

"I haven't forgotten," he groaned. "Counting ceiling tiles is getting old, though. How are you two doing?"

"Great. Here, I've got a treat for you." She picked up the large Starbucks Styrofoam cup she had set down on the table by his bed. His appetite was still almost nonexistent. The doctors thought it was a side effect of all the antibiotics, but they weren't about to decrease them yet. Meanwhile, he had dropped from lean to definitely thin, and Calleigh had decided to start a campaign to see how many calories she could stuff him with. "Drink that while I talk."

"Real non hospital coffee?" Horatio took the cup and sniffed in appreciation.

"Even better. It's your favorite flavor of cappuccino." He took a swallow, his free hand still on Rosalind. "We're doing fine, Horatio. I'm learning to sleep in short catnaps here and there. She's amazingly scheduled, though. She wants feeding several times a night, but you can anticipate when. Very regulated. I wonder where she gets that from." She stroked his hair fondly.

"Can't imagine," he said. "You sure you're getting enough rest yourself?"

"Yes. She likes to watch everything, too. She spends a lot of time just studying the world. Doesn't cry a lot, unless she's hungry or needs changing." Rosalind was studying her father just now, and he smiled back at her. "Alexx says she's remarkably easy. She is strong willed, though. When she wants something, she wants it now. I do miss you. Even when I have her with me, she can't fill up your half of the bed."

"I'll be out of here as soon as I can," he replied. "I don't think much of this bed, either. I'll reach for you and bang into these blasted rails. I can't wait to be home sleeping in ours again. You'll have some help with things then, too." His eyes wandered past Rosalind to the cage over his leg. "I'm not sure how much help I'll be at first, though. More likely to just be in your way."

She kissed him. "Horatio, you could never be in my way. Finish your drink." He picked it back up obediently. "The insurance paid on my car, and I picked up the new one first thing this morning. I took your suggestion on a Jeep."

He nodded. "Not as good as a Hummer, but what is? You're still trading up."

"I needed to trade up," she said, looking directly at him. "My car was lagging behind the rest of my life. You know, Horatio, even with everything that's happened to us the last two years since we got together, I like this version of things a lot better."

"Immeasurable improvement," he agreed, looking right back at her with dizzying approval. His hypnotic eyes were getting more of their sparkle back every day. She bent over and kissed him again.

"What day is it, Cal?" he asked once they finally parted.

"March 18th," she answered.

"I've got to get out of here by the 3rd."

She hadn't thought of that. "You'd better hurry up and get well, then." The words were jesting, but there was nothing casual about the squeeze of support she gave his arm. "We'll deal with it, Horatio." She smiled at her daughter. "Rosalind was born on February 27th, so she's two and a half weeks old."

"The day before your birthday," he said. "Sorry I didn't give you anything on your birthday, Cal. Things didn't quite work out like I'd planned."

She kissed him. "Don't worry about it. I was knocked out myself all day that day, so I didn't notice. Wasn't how I'd planned to spend it, either. Besides, you did get me something. You gave me Rosalind." Her hand joined his on their daughter. "I've never had a better gift in my life." And even better than having Rosalind was having both of them. No, Calleigh had no complaints about her gifts at the moment.

"She's the only thing I really remember from that last day," he said after taking another swallow. "I'm glad I remember her birth, though. It's an interesting effect, really. The whole episode has this golden haze around it. Makes you both look like angels."

Calleigh shuddered. "If I'd had any idea how sick you were that last day, I would have . . ."

"You would have been twice as scared and just as unable to do more about it." He moved his free hand from Rosalind to her arm. "You were wonderful, Calleigh, from everything I hear. I just wish I remembered the end of it, when you got us out."

"You're the one who got us out. You were absolutely magnificent." She squeezed his arm in return. He had finally stopped asking for reassurance that he had had to kill Otis. At Alexx's suggestion, Calleigh had told him Otis' last words, about Rosalind being his daughter. "I've never been so glad to see the team in my life, though. They'd been working nonstop, of course, but they only got the information on the warehouse that afternoon."

"How's Aaron?" He didn't remember Aaron, but that didn't stop him from caring about him.

"Doing a lot better. He's with his grandmother, and they've got him seeing a child psychologist. He's lost his mother, of course, but Otis actually hadn't done too much with him yet. He needed him in good shape to make the tape recordings that were maintaining his alibi at the prison." She stroked his cheek again. "Everybody else came out of it in better shape than you did."

"We beat him, though. He'll never hurt anyone again this time."

"Right." She had a hidden smile for that we, though. She had no doubt who had beaten Otis, but she knew that he would never see it that way, and she suddenly loved him more, if possible. That was his nature, as much stronger than Otis as light is than darkness. "Finish that off, Horatio," she prompted. He took the last few swallows of cappuccino and handed her the empty cup, and she threw it away. "Everything is fine, now. And Rosalind was worth all of it."

"Yes," he agreed. "She's worth everything." He touched his daughter lovingly, and she looked back at him. "I'll be home soon, Cal, for both of you."

"Not soon enough." A wicked smile suddenly crossed Calleigh's face. Reassured enough to enjoy revenge now, she threw his own words from the doctor's office that fateful day back at him. "Don't hurry yourself, but just remember, Horatio, you're keeping me waiting."

*** ***

Next on CSI:Miami – Fearful Symmetry: "Yet to Be." Horatio decides that he's getting old. Can Calleigh and Rosalind help him regain his perspective?