Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Chapter 5-Sopapillas and Sympathy

In the glow of the candlelight she leaned her head back against the marble bathtub and closed her eyes. Her senses drank in the lavender aroma of the candles and the soft bubbles that tickled her shoulders. In a fit of playfulness she took some suds into her hands and blew them into the air, giggling as they went airborne and landed on her polished toenails. The rising steam made her hair cling to her neck and shoulders.

"Yelina."

She knew that voice. Slowly she turned and folded her arms on the edge of the tub, resting her chin on her hands and giving him a come-hither look. "Horatio."

Horatio stood at the bathroom door wearing only a dark blue bathrobe. "May I come in?"

"Well, that depends."

"On what?"

"Will you wash my back?"

As he came up behind her, he let his bathrobe fall to the floor. He then knelt down on the tiles and wrapped his strong, confident arms around her. She squirmed and moaned at the feeling of his skin against her wet back and his lips tasting her shoulders. "I'll do more than that if you'll let me, Yelina" he whispered.

"Mmm. Horatio" she purred. "Climb in? Wash my back for me?"

"Anything you want, Yelina."

Slowly he climbed into the warm water behind her, wrapping his arms around her again, and tasted her wet neck. "Mmmm. Yelina. And then how about you get me wet in your own special way?"

"Yelina."

She stirred and opened one eye, groggy from her deep sleep. "Hmm? Horatio?"

The Lieutenant knelt down to her, watching her tenderly. "Good afternoon. Hope we didn't wake you."

Yelina's whole body felt weighed down, and she still had trouble making sense of things. "We?" In the background she could hear voices and noise. As her senses came back to her, she recognized the faucet running, a vacuum cleaner, an odd banging noise, and what sounded like Frank and Delko arguing.

"Geez, Tripp! You didn't have to eat half my sopapillas! They're for Yelina!"

"That what they are? They look like the kidney stones I passed last week!"

"Hey, I worked hard on those!"

"I only ate a couple. What are those supposed to be again?"

"They're called sopapillas. They're a dessert."

"Okay, Eric. Let's just serve these up, okay?" she heard Calleigh say. "Frank, why don't take Ray Jr?"

"Come on, Ray. Ready to go to the skate park, Buddy?"

Alexx stood at the door and nodded with a smile. "Horatio? If you'll excuse us for a moment, I'd like to check on Yelina and see how she's healing up."

Horatio backed out. "She's all yours, Alexx." With that he closed the door.

"Just like to see how you're healing up there, Sweetie. Here. Lie on your back."

Yelina had held a pillow over her swollen belly. She now lay on her back and let Alexx fold down the blanket and pull up her tee shirt. Her sutures were red and bruised. Her skin was still a little yellow from the Betadine.

"You haven't taken a shower yet, have you?"

Yelina shook her head. "Too tired."

Her once smooth, flat belly was swollen almost as though she were pregnant again.

"How do those scars feel?"

"Itching."

"Great. Means they're healing. I don't see any signs of infection." Alexx touched Yelina's forehead and neck. "No fever. Baby, you're gonna be out raising hell and catching those bad guys in no time" Alexx assured her as she gently covered her and tucked the blanket up around her chest. "Just gonna be swollen for a little while, while the muscles heal and your insides get used to things. How's that Tylox working out for you?"

"It works fine. But…."

"But what?"

In her grogginess, Yelina just sort of smiled. "I'm having some very strange dreams."

"That's just a side effect. Between that and the anesthesia, your mind's gonna be playing tricks on you for about four weeks. The doctor probably told you you can't drive for 24 hours after you stop taking it. How long are you on leave?"

"The doctor said four weeks, but I'm gonna try to go back when I feel better."

The M.E. looked at her with that motherly sternness now. "You're gonna take it easy and get well. We don't need you hurting yourself. Horatio doesn't want to see you back in the ICU. Right now just rest up and enjoy those dreams."

The P.I. just gave her a sleepy smile. She understood. "Thank you." She then tipped her head toward the door. "What's going on out there?"

"Oh, Horatio asked us to come give you a hand getting caught up on some household chores. Feel well enough to join us? Horatio set your chair up in the living room."

"Yes. I'd like that."

Alexx grabbed her robe. "Here, Sweetie. Now roll over on your side." Gingerly Yelina squirmed onto her side and sat up, hanging her head until her senses came back to her. Her ears rang and she moaned. Alexx draped her white robe over her and steadied her to her feet. "Can you walk all right?"

Yelina nodded.

As she opened the door, the sounds of the vacuum, the washer and voices assaulted her sleepy senses.

"Well hey, look who's here" Natalia said cheerily as she turned off the vacuum cleaner. "How are you feeling?"

Yelina didn't answer. She just clutched her swollen stomach as she eased herself down into the chair. Horatio placed her legs on the Ottoman and let her hold a pillow to herself.

"Yelina's up?" Calleigh yelled from the kitchen. "Eric, why don't you bring her the Sopapillas we made for her?"

"You mean the ones Tripp didn't eat?" Delko grumbled. "I don't think she wants any of these, Cal."

"Come on, Eric. They don't look that bad. You hungry, Yelina?"

She smiled tiredly. "Maybe a little."

Delko carried a plate out to her. "Hey, Yelina. Wanted to make you something Columbian, but the sopapillas were all I could make. Cal helped."

As he held the plate in front of her, she studied them. "Ooh. Are these for me?"

Delko smirked. "Frank ate about half of them."

"Don't worry; they taste better than they look" Calleigh said with a smile.

On the plate were a dozen or so oddly-shaped sopapillas drizzled with honey and confectioner's sugar. "We were trying to make them look like birds, but they melted in the fryer."

"That's okay, Eric" Yelina said with her sleepy smile. "Thank you." Carefully she took a bite of one. "Mmm. Delicious."

"But we were able to make you some café cubano" Calleigh said proudly as she put down the coffee cup on the table next to her. "Here you go. Anything's got to be better than hospital food."

Delicately Yelina sipped her coffee. "This is good. Thank you. Actually, my food at the hospital was very good. They gave me some beef and mushroom broth the first day. Then the next day they fed me a cheese omelet with toast and oatmeal. The coffee was delicious. They fed me chicken salad, hamburger steak, chef salad. It was almost like being in a restaurant." As she took another sip of coffee, she glanced around. "You did all this for me?"

Horatio smiled. "Frank took Ray Jr. out to the skateboard park for the afternoon. Everybody came over to help get caught up on some chores. Mr. Wolfe is out buying you some groceries. Ray Jr. told him everything you like to eat, though frankly I think Ray Jr. told Mr. Wolfe what he likes."

"Eric and I cooked supper for you for the next couple of days. You just have to put it in the microwave" Calleigh said, motioning to the kitchen. "Then we did the dishes."

"And I'm on vacation for the next two weeks so you can get healed up" Horatio told her.

"Oh hey, you want to watch TV or something?" Delko asked, looking around for the remote.

She held her hand up. "No, that's okay, Eric. I'd just rather talk with you." Suddenly she hung her head and held her swollen belly.

"You okay?"

Still holding the pillow to her belly, she just looked around at her house and her friends. Then she looked at Horatio. "I'm fine" she said more confidently. "Everything's just fine."