See Chapter One for Disclaimers and Rating.
Author's Note: Reviews Rock!. Thanks to you all, especiallyHotchner for the use of the word EXCELLENT that many times in one review! Becs, there is nothing I love more than hurt-Horatio so don't worry, lots more of it to come.
Something gentle as a feather was stroking his cheek, tickling him, teasing him awake. Horatio opened his eyes and a familiar face floated slowly into focus.
"Hi there," Alexx whispered. "It's nice to have you back."
Horatio centered on that incredible smile for what seemed like a very long time. Finally he sighed, licked his lips and tried to speak.
"Shhh." Alexx laid a finger across his lips. "Not yet. You're at Jackson Memorial, you've had emergency surgery to relieve swelling on your brain. I'm afraid the headache's going to hang around for a week or two but you'll be perfectly fine after some rest."
There was a burning question in Horatio's eyes. Alexx thought hard about what it might be.
"Tuesday afternoon?" she guessed and knew she'd got it wrong when he shook his head faintly.
"Calleigh?" he rasped.
Alexx picked up a glass of water and guided the bent straw between his lips. "One swallow. Very small. Sorry."
Horatio rolled the tiny, delightful wetness around his mouth for a moment. "Thanks, that's better. How's Calleigh?"
"I'm sure she's fine, Horatio. You're the one with the fractured skull."
"She's not here? Where is she?"
"I don't know, actually." Alexx looked mildly worried. "She wore a bare spot in the waiting room carpet pacing the whole time you were in surgery. Afterwards I explained everything, reassured her you were in stable condition and came in to see that you were settled comfortably. When I went back to the waiting room she was gone."
"Calleigh wouldn't just leave without a reason." His voice petered out to a raspy croak but his eyes pleaded for her to explain.
"All right, Horatio. Ready or not, if it's the whole truth you want then it's the whole truth you'll get. Calleigh's feeling extremely guilty about your condition worsening to the point it did. You scared the hell out of us both in the ambulance and she knows damn well she should have called for Rescue immediately. In other words, she shouldn't have fallen for that stupid male macho crap you handed her about being okay."
Horatio sat up. Fast.
Stupid male macho crap…
Whatever ever other scathing thoughts Alexx may have had were lost in a flurry of activity as she placed one hand on his chest and pressured him firmly back down towards the mattress while the other hand securely cupped and protected the back of his heavily bandaged head. One glance at Horatio's face told her what was coming next and just in time she eased his upper body to the side, sliding a stainless steel kidney dish in place.
After the small sip of water came back up there was nothing left in his stomach and it was just a long, racking spasm of dry heaves. Alexx supported his shoulders until he finally quit retching and settled back shakily on the pillow. "Done sitting up for the moment?" she snapped as she wrung out a cloth in cool water and wiped his face for him. The sharpness in her voice was such a contrast to Alexx's gentle touch that Horatio blinked in confusion. His head was throbbing and little black dots were swimming at the edges of his vision.
"Don't give me that bewildered look," she cautioned him, but her voice had softened to its former croon in deference to his aching head. She dipped the cloth again and folded it, cold, across his eyes. "Here." He felt her press something into the palm of his hand. "Morphine. Half a milligram every time you push," she explained, knowing he wouldn't use the PCA pump if he didn't know the drug or the dosage.
He hit the button once and lay still, waiting. Alexx nodded approvingly and pressed feather light fingertips on the ends of the cloth, delicately massaging his temples in a soothing, circular motion.
Horatio groaned softly as the exquisite sensation completely overwhelmed the headache. After a few minutes the tenseness seeped from his body and his breathing evened out. Alexx removed the cloth from his eyes. "Better?" she asked softly.
"Yeah. Thanks." He had the grace to look sheepish as he cleared his throat. "Sorry."
"Say it to Calleigh, Horatio, not me."
"I would only …" he glanced around emptily. "Any chance you could go look for her, Alexx?"
The M.E. sighed. "I suppose I could do that, although I have no idea where she might have gone."
Horatio thought for a moment. "The beach, maybe. There's a little spot about half a mile north of my place that's sort of special for her. The firing range would be my next guess." He shrugged an eyebrow. "The lab, to work through it. Julie's across the street. Home, eventually." He sighed, little worry lines creasing his eyes. "What do you think, Alexx? How bad was she feeling?"
"She's not answering her cell." The worry lines deepened and Alexx placed her hand comfortingly on his forearm. "All she needs is to see you, honey. Then all that guilt is going to change into righteous anger and you're going to be in for an ear full." Alexx stood up. "I'll do my best while you," she stabbed a stern finger at his chest, "get some sleep. Calleigh mad as a bag of wet cats will be quite a handful to deal with."
"Thank you, Alexx." She watched him for a moment, until he closed his eyes. He felt her tuck the button securely into his hand, pressing it once before she let go. The soft sound of her footsteps retreated to the door. When it snicked shut behind her Horatio resolutely pushed the button out of reach and lay there thinking.