Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:Miami in any shape or form – so I am not making any money from this. I will put them back gently after I am finished playing with the characters. As before anything appearing in Italics means that the character is using American Sign Language.
a/n: And the timeline for this story is set after Horatio and Eric returned from Brazil and before the events of Calleigh's accident and Eric being shot – I wrote this story the fall of 2006.
Chapter 2 – Splish Splash
Mari looked up from where she was sitting when she saw flashing lights and realized that they were police cars.
"Ma'am, are you alright?" a uniformed officer knelt beside Mari, but she didn't hear him and there wasn't enough light for her to lip-read him.
"Please, I'm deaf and I need to see your face to be able to lip-read," explained Mari. "I work for Lt. Horatio Caine of the CSI lab. Could you please contact him for me? My name is Mari Jessop." Shivering from the cold water.
The uniformed officer wrapped an emergency blanket around Mari's shoulder's that his partner passed to him before shining his flashlight up in his face so Mari could see his face. "Are you hurt anywhere?"
"I think that I hit my head."
"Were you drinking tonight, ma'am?" the officer asked, then noticed Lt. Caine walking up.
"Officer, I would like to speak with Mari."
"Yes sir," the officer standing up so Horatio could take his place.
"Horatio, we need to stop meeting like this," Mari quipped weakly, starting to get up.
Horatio placed his hand on her shoulder, holding her in place. "Officer, give me your flashlight," Horatio requested, taking the flashlight and shining it on his face. "Mari, I want you to stay still until Rescue can check you over."
"Okay, I think that it was a car that hit me, pushing me into the canal. I don't see it, they must have left," Mari looking around.
"Another car," Horatio - flipped his cell phone open, requesting that dispatch contact Eric Delko to respond to the scene, then flipped his phone shut and motioned Rescue over to Mari.
"Please check Mari over and be advised that Mari is deaf and needs to see your faces to lip-read."
"Yes sir," Rescue nodded, and started examining Mari, then helped her up onto the gurney and wheeling the gurney to the ambulance – placing the gurney with Mari on it inside the back of the ambulance. Horatio climbed in once everyone else was inside.
"Are you hurt anywhere?" asked Terry the dark haired EMT - carefully checking Mari for seatbelt injuries.
"I think that I hit my head on the window."
"Mari, what are you holding in your hand?" questioned Horatio.
Mari looked blankly at her hand - slowly opening it. "I tried to keep my hearing aids from getting wet. But I don't think that it worked."
Horatio took the bag from Mari's hand, tearing it open and draining the water out. "Maybe they can be dried out," Horatio placing the hearing aids on a piece of gauze.
The back doors of the ambulance opened up and Eric was standing there wearing a diver's wet suit. "Hey H," Eric looked past Horatio, startled to see Mari lying on the gurney in a sitting position. "Mari, was that you that went into the canal?"
Mari smiled ruefully and nodded.
"Eric, I want you to oversee Mari's car being retrieved from the canal, and its safe delivery to the lab, where it can be checked for trace from the other car," requested Horatio.
"Where will you be?"
"I will be on my cell; I'm going to follow the ambulance to Miami General."
"I don't need to go to emergency," Mari protested.
"I want to make sure that you have no head injuries," explained Horatio.
"I'll contact you once I have had a chance to check the car over. Take care Mari," Eric stepped back, closing the back doors.
Meanwhile Terry kept checking Mari over, checking her airway, breathing and circulation (the ABC's) then taking her blood pressure and checking Mari's pupils with a small pen light. Mari winced as the light was shined in each eye.
"Does that bother you?"
"The light is making my head ache," complained Mari.
"You may have a concussion," explained Terry. "Are you riding with us or following Lt. Caine?"
Mari paled, clapping her hand over her mouth; Terry grabbed a small basin - holding it as Mari vomited.
"I'll ride, let's go," ordered Horatio.
"Let's go Bryan, the Lt. is riding with us," Terry barked at his partner Bryan in the driver's seat.
As the ambulance lurched into motion, Mari groaned - looking green.
"Are you going to be sick again?"
"I hope not, I get carsick easy, when I ride backwards," Mari moaned.
"Try closing your eyes that might help," suggested Terry. Mari closed her eyes - lying quietly, as Terry continued monitoring her breathing and heart rate.
Eventually they were backing up to the emergency room doors, and Horatio reached for Mari's hand - saying. "We've stopped; you can open your eyes." But Mari didn't respond.
"Let's get her inside, she's lost consciousness," ordered Terry. Horatio opened the back doors, hopping out - helping the EMT's to unload Mari's gurney and pushing it inside, standing back as Terry reported Mari's vital signs to the doctor on duty.
Horatio requested that the ER staff keep their masks off when speaking to Mari, so she could lip-read.
"Has Mari's next of kin been notified?" asked the doctor, as she started checking Mari over.
"I am Mari's emergency contact, but I will contact her fiancé," Horatio replied before stepping outside to call Dean. Then returned to the emergency room, where he found that Mari had regained consciousness, but was groggy.
"Horatio, what happened? Why am I here?" mumbled Mari.
"You were in a car accident and you hit your head," explained Horatio.
"Where's Aaron? Did someone call him?" Mari looked around the room.
The doctor looked at Horatio, who quietly explained that Aaron was Mari's brother and he had been killed in the line of duty, making sure that Mari didn't see him talking.
"He'll be here later," the doctor said, looking at Horatio - shaking her head slightly. "I want to see if Mari will remember later." Speaking out of Mari's line of sight.
Dean came into the emergency room and a nurse escorted to the treatment room doors. Looking in he saw Mari, lying on the bed with Horatio beside her - then saw Mari being sick again.
Inside the doctor ordered Mari to be sent for x-rays to check for any brain injury.
Horatio stepped outside the exam room, meeting Dean in the hallway.
"What happened to Mari?" Dean asked.
Horatio explained about the car accident and the possibly of a head injury because of the memory loss.
"Where is she? I want to be with her."
"Mari is having x-rays done right now. They will let us know when she is finished," said Horatio.
Horatio's phone rang and he flipped his phone open. "Eric, what do you have?"
"Mari's car has been brought into the garage. At first glance, I can definitely tell that Mari was forced into the canal. There is paint transfer from the other vehicle. Ryan is going to help me process Mari's car for more evidence," Eric reported.
"Good, let me know what else you find," Horatio snapped his phone shut.
"What's going on?" asked Dean.
"The accident was deliberate, another vehicle struck Mari's car - pushing it into the canal."
"Any idea who might have done this?"
"Not yet, but we will find out," promised Horatio. "Something was bothering Mari today. She had said that she needed to talk to you before she could tell me anything."
"She didn't say anything to me this evening, but then we were making wedding plans. And we also talked about how we were not seeing each other as must on account of my work," explained Dean. "Do you think that it could be related to my client? The trial is not going well for our side. Your lab has made a strong case for the prosecution."
"I would expect nothing less from my team," smiled Horatio. "I will follow up on the evidence from Mari's car and get back to you."
They both looked up as the doctor walked up to them.
"This is Mari's fiancé Dean Allan," Horatio introduced Dean to the doctor. "How is Mari doing?"
"As we suspected, Mari has a concession, so we are going to keep her overnight for observation, and you may be pleased to know that Mari did remember Aaron's death. Once she is settled in a room upstairs, you can see her then," reported the doctor.
"So her memory problems are not permanent?"
"That's correct."
"Thank you doctor," said Horatio.
"What did you mean about memory problems?" asked Dean.
"Mari was asking for her brother, she had forgotten that he was dead," explained Horatio.
Eventually a nurse showed Dean and Horatio to Mari's room. Mari looked up as the two men walked into her room.
"How are you feeling?" asked Dean as he hugged and kissed Mari.
"I've got a heavy metal band playing in my head," joked Mari weakly. "Horatio, any suspects yet?"
"You let me worry about that, you need to concentrate on getting better."
"Mari, Horatio mentioned that you were going to discuss something with me this evening, but you didn't. What did you need to talk about?" asked Dean.
"I just have been feeling that someone has been watching me lately, I'm not positive about it. I just have that feeling – you know? You know how you can sense when someone is watching you?" explained Mari. "But I haven't seen anyone. It could just be me imagining things."
"I don't think so, not after what happened tonight," stated Horatio.
The nurse came in the room and stated. "Miss Jessop needs her rest, so you gentlemen will have to leave."
"I'm going to stay with Mari," said Dean.
"No Dean, you need your rest, you have to be in court in the morning," Mari protested.
"I agree, I will stay with Mari until I arrange for a guard," said Horatio.
"Okay, but only because Horatio will be here. And I will be glad when this trial gets over. I will see you tomorrow," Dean gave Mari a goodnight kiss, and left the room.
Horatio pulled a chair up beside the bed and sat down facing Mari.
"My hearing aids, where are they?"
"I arranged for them to be delivered to the lab to see if they can be dried out. And I also have your engagement ring, the nurse gave it to me for safekeeping down in emergency," said Horatio. "Now try to get some rest."
Mari closed her eyes and fell asleep; it seemed that she had just gotten to sleep when a nurse came into the room to check Mari's vital signs and her eyes. "You are doing fine, try to get some rest," and the nurse left the room.
"That's what I was doing until you woke me up," Mari grumbled in response. Horatio chuckled, as he turned the light off for Mari.
The next morning, the nurse came into the room and woke Mari up again, who after a long night of being woken every couple of hours or so was feeling tired. She looked around the room and noticed that Horatio was no longer in the room. "When did Lt. Caine leave?" Mari asked the nurse, as she was checking her vital signs.
"Oh he left awhile ago while you were sleeping after a uniformed officer came on guard," replied the nurse. "How are you feeling this morning?"
"Okay, as long as I don't move my head and start the percussion section going," answered Mari.
"Any nausea?"
"No, which is good. In fact I feel hungry."
"The doctor will have to check you over and you may have to have some more x-rays before we can bring you some breakfast."
Mari relaxed as the nurse left the room. A while later Mari sensed someone walking next to her bed and opened her eyes, seeing Alexx looking at her.
"Hey Alexx, you're not at work?"
"I was, and then I heard what happened to you and where you was. Girl, you are a magnet for trouble," Alexx carefully hugged Mari.
"Thanks for coming."
"I've got something for you," Alexx took a small box out of her purse and opened it. Inside nestled on some foam pads were Mari's hearing aids.
"My hearing aids, they've been dried out," exclaimed Mari and she quickly fitted them on her ears turning them on. "And they work great; oh it is so nice to be able to hear sounds again. Who was the miracle worker?" asked Mari.
"Horatio contacted a friend of his, who works with hearing aids and got him to open his workshop during the night," explained Alex. "Horatio knew that you would want you hearing aids as soon as possible."
Alexx and Mari then talked about how she was feeling and wedding plans.