Chapter 3
After what seemed liked hours the machines started beeping to show her normal heart rate. Horatio breathed out a sigh of relief, a breath he didn't even realise he was holding. The doctors and nurses came out and Horatio went back in and straight over to her side again. He took hold of her hand gently, then released it while he pulled the chair back over. He put the chair where he had it before, sat back down, and took hold of her hand again, he talked to her gently, he didn't know if she could hear him or not, but he thought he'd try, at least then if she could hear him she'd know she wasn't alone, he thought maybe he could coax her to wake up,
'Hey Cal', he started, but his voice cracked a little, 'you scared me there', he continued, 'twice', he smiled a small smile, 'I'm so glad your still here', he squeezed her hand lightly, 'come back to us Cal, wake up', he tried, he looked down for a moment, away from her face, trying to think what he could do or say to wake her up, he looked back at her face, she looked so peaceful, sleeping, apart from all the tubing, she looked like she had no cares in the world. Horatio knew this wasn't the case. He didn't know the details, but he knew she'd been called a few times by a bar to come and collect her drunk father and take him home. He knew she worried about him. He knew she worked harder than she needed to, to try and prove she was capable, he knew she was capable. He knew she didn't need to tire herself out with endless double shifts and overtime. He reached over to her face and brushed a strand of golden blonde hair off her face. He thought he saw her eyelids flutter, but he just figured he imagined it or it was her body's reaction to a touch. He put his hand back down to his other hand holding hers, he covered her small hand with his two slightly larger hands. He resumed tracing small circles on the back of her hand like he had been before with one hand, and laced his fingers into hers with his other. He continued talking to her for a while, about old cases and memories of them. He talked about Eric, Speed and Alexx and how upset they would be if she didn't wake up. A while later the nurses came in to check on Calleigh, they told Horatio he should go home and rest, he didn't want to leave her but the nurses assured him they would look after her. He went to stand up and remove his hand from Calleigh's, but she tightened her grasp. He looked at her shocked and sat back down,
'Calleigh?', he asked, he saw as the corners of her lips twitched into a small smile as she recognised his voice, her eyes were still closed but they were fluttering as though they were trying to open. Horatio squeezed her hand again gently, she squeezed back and smiled a little more, she finally managed to open her eyes and saw Horatio looking at her, he looked as though he was about to cry he was so relieved.
'Hey there', he greeted her threw the tears in his eyes,
'hi', she managed back, she tried to move but winced in pain, the nurses moved around her to give her more pain killers and to help her sit up. Horatio never let go of her hand. Once the nurses had done with Calleigh and checked everything was okay, they left again, Horatio moved the chair closer, and held her hand tightly but gently. He still looked as though he was about to let the tears spill over. She looked at him and smiled as a tear slid down his cheek, she reached over with her good arm and gently wiped it away. He closed his eyes as her hand touched his face, she saw this and cupped her hand around his face,
'why the tears Horatio?', she asked his softly, he opened his eyes again and looked into hers,
'I thought I lost you Cal, I was so scared', he told her, she smiled lightly,
'I'm sorry I scared you Horatio, but I'm okay', she told him ,
'no, Cal, I'm sorry, I should have protected you better and you never would have took that bullet, and now you have a permanent reminder', he told her as his eyes drifted to her shoulder were the bullet wound was. Calleigh watched his eyes move and moved his head back gently to look into her eyes, away from the wound,
'Horatio', she started seriously, 'its not your fault, he shot at us, I missed the guy and he shot me, its not your fault', she repeated, 'you hit him and took him down, you couldn't have done anything else',
'I could've taken the bullet for you', he told her, she could tell he had been thinking that for a while,
'No, Horatio, no, because then you would have lying here and I would feel awful that you...', she stopped, she was going to say lost his life because of her but couldn't bring herself to even think it,
'Calleigh, I would have taken that bullet for you, I thought I'd never get to see your eyes again, I thought I'd never hear your voice again, and it scared me, it also made me realise', he looked down, he noticed their hands were still entwined,
'realise what?', Calleigh asked slowly, he looked back up into her eyes, he was about to tell her, but the doctor walked in,
'Miss Duquesne', he said cheerfully, oblivious to what he had walked in on, 'I'm glad to see you've returned to us, we almost lost you twice, you're strong', he told her, Horatio looked away from Calleigh, removed his hands from her and stood up to let the doctor see to Calleigh, Calleigh just smiled politely at the doctor, she understood the doctor needed to come see if she was okay and check her over, but she was upset that the doctor had interrupted at that particular time.
A/N: ok, another chapter up for you guys, and there, Calleigh is alive and well, hope you enjoy, please review, I'll see what you suggest and start on chapter 4, ((if you think I should continue or just leave it here?)) let me know, thnx, xx.