Disclaimer: I don't own CSI Miami. Shocker.

A/N: Yeah, sorry for the delay…LOL… I'm in college now. Haha… I glanced at this briefly and cried… heh. XD

Chapter 26:

The two children scampered quickly after their fast-paced grandmother. All three were racing throughout Dade Memorial's ER. The siblings had no idea what that meant or what it stood for, but they knew that it could not be good.

"What do you think happened to Daddy?" The little girl asked her older brother. Despite what he may have thought, she looked up to and completely adored him.

He was worried and he didn't want to frighten his baby sister. Abuela Clorinda looked so upset when she spoke with the receptionist and the doctors…or nurses. Actually, upset was an understatement; his grandmother was absolutely frazzled and for good reason. "I don't know," he whispered, "It sounds bad… but I don't know."

"You don't think he's dead, do you?" JoJo was held tight against her chest.

For a child, his face was very grim and had lost all touches of spontaneity. He was maturing too rapidly for his age. Protectively, he wrapped an arm around his sister as they scurried to keep up with their grandmother. "We wouldn't be here if he was. He's gonna be fine."

"I just wanna go home…"

"Me too."

"Abuela…" They had finally caught up with her.

"Sí, mi querida?"

"Where's daddy?"

"He's in one of these rooms…" The doctors stabilized him, but they still want to do all these examinations… I don't understand… what happened to my baby? I called Pavel…he should be coming soon… I need to stay calm for these little ones… "…here we are. Oh, oh…"

"Abuela?" Jem was scared for his grandmother, for his sister, for his whole family. Why is this happening?

"DADDY!" Ella shrieked and her face scrunched up as she began to scream and cry. "WHAT HAPPENED TO DADDY?"

Their father appeared to be in a full body cast, but in reality, his wounds were just covered with huge bandages and gauze, his limbs supported by levitated slings.

"Ella, shut up!" Her older brother's voice cracked. "Otherwise they're gonna kick us out!"

Her screams swiftly subdued into mere sobs and tears. She observed in amazement at how her brother was taking this all in with little emotion. How can he be so calm…but he's not… She could see in his eyes the turmoil that lay beneath. He's so quiet…

A doctor passed by, about to enter the room. "You can't be over here."

The old woman turned on her heel. "My son is there! We're going to see him."

The doctor was surprised. He was used to seeing old frail woman, but this one was strong and tough. "Ma'am. You're this young man's mother?"

"Yes. I am."

"And who are those two?"

Without a heartbeat's hesitation, she retorted, "His children. May we see my son!" It's not a lie…it's a truth…one that he better explain when he's coherent. She stonily glared at the doctor.

"You might want to listen to her." A deep Russian voice reverberated throughout the short hallway. "She's one tough nut."

The awkward silence was broken by a chorus of 'Abuelo's and 'Pavel'. The elder man pulled his wife into a warm embrace. She was so worried, but he was like a rock. Whose children are those? Marísol hasn't given birth… His eyes narrowed as he peered over to his son. What did he do? He married behind our backs too? His jaw set slightly. Did he marry?

That was beside the point. He decided to worry about all that later and just smiled warmly to the small children, assuring them that they were safe. The brother and sister bounded into the room to see how their father was while the two adults stayed outside to speak with the medical doctor.

"Okay, tell us what's really going on," her husband commanded.

"We've stabilized him, sir. But he's still in critical condition; he suffered a tremendous trauma to the head and back, as well as some other areas. We had some troubles on the way here. He, uhm, he flat-lined three times and once more when we arrived."

She covered her mouth with her hand as she silently sobbed into her husband's shirt. He too was having trouble breathing. There's always something going on with this family. Always… "What does that mean?"

"He's stabilized now. But we had to drug him for the pain and discomfort, so he's a little incoherent."

"What happened to him?"

"I honestly don't know. Right now, he just needs plenty of rest. Since you're all family, you're welcome to stay with him, just try to refrain from disturbing him too much."

"Thank you." The old man guided his wife into the room.

"Mamí! Papí!" A young woman stood up from her seat beside her ginger-haired husband and desperately hugged her parents. The newlyweds had gone unnoticed since they had been at a different angle from her parent's line of sight.

The children were aware of their aunt and uncle's presence, but were too preoccupied at trying to get their father to wake up to say anything.

Their son-in-law stood up and politely shook her father's hand, firm grip matching firm grip. "Good to see you again, sir."

"Likewise," the man stated gruffly.

The old woman warmly embraced her daughter's husband. "How is my son doing?"

Her daughter burst into tears, which didn't help the children calm down. They were scared since their father was really not acting normally and kept moaning the name 'Natalia' and something that sounded like 'Larry'.

Who's Natalia? Ella was tired and confused. She just wanted everything to go back to being normal again. Wait did he say… Larry? That sounds familiar…why? Her eyebrows furrowed deeply in thought. She gasped out loud.

"UNCLE HORATIO!" The ginger-haired man's head snapped up. "He keeps saying Natalia and Larry!"

"I know, dear."

"I don't know about Natalia," her brother smacked his head with his hand at what he perceived as his little sister's foolishness, "but Larry…that's the name that Mr. Norman McFinley mentioned yesterday during my interga-intero-interaga-interrogation! He said Larry… Miller. And then he said something 'bout murder and how Mr. Larry killed someone and that he's lying. Mr. Larry's a liar cuz he's pretendin' to be Mr. Luke…Litano." She nodded as she recalled a small slice of her previous day's adventures.

Her eight-year old brother looked a bit distressed. "Ella…how come…seriously…how come you came remember all those names… but you don't know mommy's name?" His sister stuck out her tongue.

The adults of the room coughed. The lieutenant figured that if that was true, it would most certainly explain a lot. "I'm very sorry, but I need to make another phone call."

"Sí, sí. Whatever you need to do." The elderly woman addressed him kindly before making her way over to her son. He still wasn't conscious, or maybe he was, but his eyes weren't open. She fondly touched his cuts and bruises and the bandages covering most of the ghastly injuries.

"Honey, are you going to be okay?" The fifty-year old was worried about his wife and the health of their baby.

"Horatio. Go make your phone call. I'll still be here." Her eyes were rimmed with red, but she much was calmer now, thanks to her husband's constant reassurance that the worst was most likely over.

Her father placed a hand on his son-in-law's shoulder before the man exited the room. He strode over to where his wife sat beside their son. He hasn't been to the hospital in a long time. His wife was crying her heart out onto their son.

He held onto his son's left hand, while his daughter, on the other side of the bed was holding onto his right hand. The two children were just poking at his feet, trying to wake their father up.

Suddenly, Jem gasped out loud. Everyone looked up. Ella frowned. Her brother wasn't the gasping type. He just isn't… "What?"

"You just… WAH! You did it again! You didn't feel that!" Her older brother was giving her a wide-eyed incredulous look. The three adults shook there heads trusting that there was something wrong with the lighting.

"What? What did I do?" She was too confused and didn't understand what was going on. What is Jem talking about? He's scaring me…

"You-You… flickered." Is that evenly humanly possible?

"What does that mean?" Flickering? What's a flicker? Is that bad? I don't wanna be hurt… why can't everything just be normal again…

Before the adults present in the room could make a comment, the bed-ridden patient began to come to.

His head was pounding. Everything hurt and he felt dull and numb. Where am I? What's going on? What…happened? Natalia…ohhhh… oh, no… "Arrr…ugh…Natalia…" He moaned out before he started violently coughing. "Natalia…" I failed her…I failed… His coughing became a soft cry of rage.

His eyes fluttered open. They felt extremely heavy. Where am I? Mamí and Papí…Marísol…Jem and Ella… Am I dead? I died… no… no, if that happened… then Natalia would be here… Why's Mamí crying…why's everyone… crying? "Mamí? Papí?"

"OH. Oh, mi niño, mi niño!" She moaned. "Eric, Eric… How are you? How are you, mi niño? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Mamí, Papí really…" The drugs were wearing off and he could feel all the pain of the blows he had received from the criminal. It was Larry… that guy, Larry… it was… the guy from the deli… Natalia… something happened to her… wait…wait…

"Marísol…where's Horatio and Alexx? Are they okay?" Where's Natalia?

"Oh. Eric." She was so concerned about the welfare of her baby brother. He had to go get hurt like this… "They're both fine. Bruises and scratches…nothing too bad." He's probably concerned about Natalia…

"Not as bad as me you mean."

"Oh, mi querida. Your sister didn't mean that." His mother look so distressed and his father… I've got a lot of explaining to do…

"Where's Natalia?" He looked at his mother and sister, who he figured knew something on the matter. His father frowned.

"Who's Natalia?" He asked sternly. The mother of these children? His girlfriend?

"She's the very sweet and kind señorita from earlier," the older woman informed her inquisitive husband.

"From earlier?" What happened when I was at work? "Who is she?"

"Pavel…not now," a warning tone present in her voice, she moved aside to allow him the chance to speak with their son.

The old man, hardened from years of hard work, instantly softened his expression at his son's condition. Whatever happened to my little boy… the one whose sisters' always used to tease. He'd trip and fall, but always get up…

He's always trying to protect somebody…when he was seven, it was the neighbor's kitten…and then he fell out of that tree and broke his arm… he always had such a soft spot for helping people in need… now this… "My son." He quickly went back to the comfort of his native language. "Мой сын. Что случилось?"

"Papí… Papí, Я," his voice cracked, "Я сожалею... Я не удался." He trailed off and turned his head towards the direction of his older sister. He recognized the sorrow, the pity, in her expression and he just completely broke down. She held him…they all did.

His mother began to sing to him a long-forgotten short Cuban lullaby, letting the song flow from her lips slowly and softly.

"Duérmete mi niño.

Duérmete mi sol.

Duérmete pedazo,

De mi corazón."

Maybe had it been any other time, he would have fallen asleep from the soothing rhythm of the lullaby. The morphine was slightly wearing off and he was starting to feel the extent of his injuries… which only worsened his headache.

There was a tug at his foot. He looked at the intruder. Jem… Ella… oh … The overwhelming events of the day were leaving him in a state of suffocated exhaustion. Therefore, his response was a body-aching moan. I'm so sorry…

That was good enough for Jem, who had been trying to get his father's attention for the longest time. "Daddy."

When he was very frightened, as he was at that particular moment, he always reverted back to one of his grandparent's native languages. "Hay algo incorrecto con Ella."

Why? What happened to her? He managed to croak out a, "What?"

"Она исчезает… She's flickering." The eight-year old was wide-eyed and really scared for his baby sister, who had, since her previous incident, flickered several more times.

She faded once more in front of Eric. My eyes must be playing tricks on me… But in the pit of his stomach, he knew something was dreadfully wrong.

"Daddy, what's wrong with me?" Jem must be really upset… He never speaks all three languages unless something's up… What's happening to me?

"Я не знаю..." he groaned, his face contorting to the breathtaking pain that shot throughout his body, from toenail all the way up to hairtip. She's disappearing…Why? WHY! He couldn't breathe… 2014…that's…they said…2014…if they're from the future…2014…if we're there parents then...2014 … it's 2006…it makes no sense… 2014… she's fading, disappearing… one of us… one of us must be dying… He choked out in pure agony as a thought struck across his beating heart. Natalia… I'm so sorry… if anyone, if anyone had to die, let it be me… please… don't take her away… Hot tears fell down his cheeks. His thoughts were speeding along a little too quickly for his brain to keep up with.

It would explain why his poor brain went into complete overload, which resulted in him passing out and slipping into a more peaceful state of mind, into a moment where nothing or no one could bother him.

It would explain why, once this occurred, the machine monitoring his heartbeat flat lined. The sound sliced through the air and straight through their hearts.

A bunch of Dade Memorial's medical stuff rushed in with a crash cart and began procedures to attempt to resuscitate the badly injured patient.

"Daddy?" The five-year old burst into tears. What did I do? Why's daddy like that?

One of the doctors shouted, "Y'all have to leave now! Y'all can't be here! Wait outside or in the lobby!"

Jem tried his best to comfort his frightened sister, but it was to no avail. Not even JoJo was calming her this time. He just guided her out of the room; at first, she resisted, but then seeing that she couldn't stay, she followed her older brother.

Meanwhile, their grandmother was in a state of sheer panic. My baby, my baby! She knew she needed to stay collected for the children's sake, but she couldn't. The little voice in her head that was telling to stay calm was being drowned out by her maternal anguish. She felt her husband's strong, supportive arms around her, reassuring her that he was right there, by her side, and like Jem for Ella, tried to steer her toward the door. Their daughter was outside watching the children.

"1. 2. 3. CLEAR!" The nurse set the two paddles on the young man. The electric current caused him to arch his back, but not restart his heart. "Morrison! Higher it a notch on the dial. Chan! Prepare the injection just in case!"

He noticed that the elder couple, who he could only assume to be the parents, still standing there in horror. "Sir, ma'am, you have to leave NOW!" He roughly pushed them toward the door. He wasn't sure how strong the patient's heart was, but he knew from experience that he could NOT have the parents in the same vicinity while he followed protocol. It was too traumatizing an experience.

The three grown-ups looked at one another as they waited outside. Who was going to stay? Who would go back to the lobby? Truthfully, they all wanted to, but it wouldn't be possible. It would get too crowded and they wanted Eric to get better as soon and as quickly as he possibly could. Not that his constant worry and thought circling around Natalia was doing him any good.

Finally, the eldest Delko male spoke up. "Clorinda, I'll take Marísol with me to the lobby. You stay with Eric and those two… нарушители спокойствия." He said last two words softly and both shared a secret smile. They hadn't had troublemakers around in the house since Eric went off to college.

Unless, of course, being beaten to a bloody pulp at a crime scene was still to be considered 'troublemaking.'

Personally, the elderly Russian man was starting to warm to the idea that his son was starting a family. That's what I'll assume for now…

His wife sighed. "Are you sure, Pavel? You haven't really seen him…"

"I have my whole life to see him," he said with a loving and hopeful smile, which brought one to his spouse's lips as well.

He guided his daughter toward the waiting room, where her own husband was lingering.

Clorinda found herself plopping onto the cool hard floor in the long hallway outside of her son's room. It'll have to do for now. My necessities are not as important as his.

She sighed heavily as she thought sadly to herself, What did he do to deserve such horrible treatment? Who could be so cruel and black-hearted?

Ella was so confused and began to suck her thumb to help pacify her frightened and gloomy thoughts. She stared at door and after a bit of time passed, she spoke up. "I wanna give JoJo to Daddy."

She felt Jem's presence arching his eyebrow. She could just feel it and so therefore felt compelled to explain herself. "Daddy needs JoJo now, more than I do."

She received a praise from her grandmother. "You are very thoughtful, mi niño. When your Papí wakes up, he's going to appreciate your giving heart." And then your Papí and that Natalia of his are going to have a LOT of explaining to do! "But for now, we have to wait here."

The little girl felt slightly better from the compliment, but was still upset about her condition, her father's condition, and the unknown whereabouts of her mother. She huddled into herself outside her father's door, waiting for something to happen. Something good.

Her older sibling went to his grandmother and curled into her lap.

The old woman smiled fondly and sighed as she pet his hair. Reminds me of… younger days… better days… Looks just like Eric…

"Fate…"

"Don't you DARE tell me everything's okay! Don't you DARE!"

"Okay, we're screwed."

Fate just burst into more tears. "Don't you think I know that!" She repetitively smacked her friend's arm. "What did we do? Ohhh! We're going to become humans! We're not gonna remembuh-" She trailed off into a series of incomprehensibly blubbering words.

"Look. It could be worse…" He stopped once the wild girl began hitting him again.

"It could be worse! What the heck is worse than the person we put in the time loop is beginning to disappear? And the other guy, creepy or not, is just a pile of dust! We are going to become humans! We're not going have any memory of each other of anything that we've done in the past."

Raising his arms in defense against his attacker, "See. I don't think you're mad or upset… you're just scared about the Council's decision and the consequences-"

"Well, of course, I am! Who isn't!"

"I'm not. I'm ready." I think… No, no backsies, Coop.

"You're either brave… or extremely stupid," she said in a scoffing manner.

"Tell me the truth: are you or aren't you scared?"

"Out of my wits. It drives me nuts sometimes."

"What are you scared about?"

"What is this? Therapy? The Sandman talks to me enough about this stuff as it is."

Coop gave her a look. "Ugh…I don't know…I guess I'm scared of not remembering…not knowing… Aren't you?"

Her friend shrugged. "It doesn't bother me that much… I'll take whatever the penalty is that they give to me."

"Oi…" She shivered involuntarily. "What happens if she completely disappears?"

"Don't think about that." When did a little tad of fun become such a chaotic mess… I should never have made that hole… but we could never have known that this could have happened… unless Destiny and Fate knew… I hope we can get away from this with just another fair warning, but I have my doubts. This time's different from the rest.

A/N: Thoughts? Oh yeah. Thanks floofymiko for helping me out on the whole flickering matter… hehe… at one point it was a fading "problem… LOl . LOl XD

Dictionary for Spanish and Russian:

Sí, mi querida: Yes, my dear

mi niño: my child

Мой сын. Что случилось?: My son. What happened?

Я сожалею...Я не удался.: I'm sorry. I failed.

Duérmete mi niño.: Go to sleep my child

Duérmete mi sol.: Go to sleep my sun.

Duérmete pedazo,: Go to sleep piece

De mi corazón.: Of my heart

Hay algo incorrecto con Ella.: There's something wrong with Ella.

Она исчезает: She's disappearing

Я не знаю: I don't know

нарушители спокойствия: trouble makers