Trouble with Friends

Chapter 5

"Of course I would come. No one was going to tell me I couldn't. As far as the chief knows, I came not only to check on you and Frank, but to retrieve the assault rifle used in the attack against you." Calleigh gently sat down on the bed, careful not to press against Horatio's side.

"When you didn't call last night…I was so scared. As it turned out, my fears were warranted. But, the worst part was when the state trooper called me from your phone."

Horatio smiled as he softly whispered, "I'm alright Sweetheart," gesturing with open arms for her to let him embrace her. He longed to feel her next to him.

"Are you sure? I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't hurt me Calleigh." As she felt his arms wrap around her, she knew she would always want his love and it frightened her to think how close she came to loosing him. When she accidently made light contact with his ribs, he stifled a groan, not wanting to alarm her. She feels wonderful. She's all the medicine I need.

Enjoying the much needed embrace for a few minutes, he turned his head and then tenderly kissed her cheek that pressed against his, softly commenting, "All I remember was thinking about you before…." But this time he couldn't stop the involuntary groan that escaped his lips and his body stiffened in reaction to a sudden shot of pain that radiated through his chest.

Calleigh quickly lifted herself off of his body, bracing herself with her hands on the bed on either side of him. With alarm very evident in her voice she gasped, "I'm so sorry Horatio, I hurt you."

"You didn't Sweetheart; in fact…you felt, wonderful," he whispered as his lips curved into a slight smile while he gently rubbed her arm in his attempt to reassure her, as the intense pain subsided.

"Um, have you heard...how Frank is doing?"

"They operated on him, I don't know any more than that, but we can ask his doctor. He's supposed to come by here to talk to me about his condition. Linda will be here tomorrow. She really wanted to come with me, but said she had to get things situated at work before leaving Miami. She's planning to stay with Frank for however long it takes to get him back home." Horatio swallowed and squeezed his eyes shut.

Horatio thought he'd better let Calleigh know, "Frank knows about us. I told him before the accident; and as I figured, he'd already picked up that something was going on between us. Our secret will be safe – he's a good guy."

"It probably is good to confide in him. Who knows, we might need his help sometime," Calleigh smiled replying and then realized Horatio still had his eyes closed. He looks so haggard, she thought as she lovingly caressed his cheek.

Opening his eyes he asked, "Sweetheart, would you help me? I have to see him."

"Horatio, I don't think that would be the best thing for you to do right now. You should rest."

"Calleigh, I need to see how he's really doing…I've got to." He began pushing the sheet back, and suddenly felt very grateful after realizing he had on pajama bottoms instead of a hospital gown. Then he slid his left leg over the side of the bed. With every movement there was pain, but he was determined it wasn't going to stop him.

"Wait Horatio; let me get over on that side of the bed and help, if you're determined to do this."

Calleigh made sure his IV line didn't get pulled and then helped him to sit up. She saw the unmistakable evidence of pain that reflected in his expression with every move, even though she knew he was making every attempt to hide it from her.

"Just sit there. DON'T try to get up on your own," she ordered. "I'm going out in the hall and see if I can find a nurse to help get a shirt on you and to commandeer a wheel chair."

"A wheel chair?" Horatio asked in an incredulous tone of voice, cringing at the thought.

Calleigh turned around and stopped after walking just a few feet, answering in a tone that left no room for argument.

"Yes macho man, a wheel chair. You didn't think you were going to walk did you?" Taking note of his sheepish expression at the moment, she realized that's exactly what he had planned to do.

"You did." Her expression was one that told him she wasn't giving him a choice as she continued, "Well, if you want my help mister, it's going to be with a wheel chair," she stood with her arms crossed waiting for her offer to sink into his hard head.

He glanced up, noticing her no nonsense countenance, he hung his head with defeat very obvious in his tone, "You win; go get a wheel chair."

Calleigh had found out Frank's room number from the nurse on Horatio's floor, discovering that he was just over on the next hall. Entering the room, Calleigh pushed Horatio close to Frank's bed. Horatio looked at his friend, then down at his lap, as the anger began to permeate his thinking. It hurt him deeply to see the big man incapacitated - such an abnormal sight, and one I never want to see again. Frank had always escaped serious injury during his career, but now, Horatio felt it was his fault that his best friend was hurt.

Frank heard someone in the room and opened his eyes, he saw Horatio in a wheel chair with Calleigh behind him.

Calleigh stepped closer to the bed then leaned over and gave Frank a quick kiss on his cheek as she said, "Hey Frank. I'm so sorry this happened. Can I get you anything?" He smiled as he responded,

"I'm ok Cal. Take a lot more than this to put me down for long. Man, y'all are a sight for sore eyes! How ya doin Horatio?" Frank teased, but in a quieter voice than normal.

"I'm good Frank, how about you?"

Eying his friend, Frank saw the dark bruises on his face and head and thought, you sure have looked better my friend.

"Well, they tell me I had one hell of night, and this morning hasn't been too great…but I'm starting to feel better this afternoon. Just feels like a mule has kicked me in my chest. What happened…to the two bozos…that did all this?"

"I know one is dead. I don't know what happened to the other one, but I plan to find out soon."

"You getting out?" Frank asked somewhat astonished.

"If I can convince my doctor, I am," he looked up and saw the shocked look on Calleigh's face, "if not today, definitely tomorrow. I need to pay a visit to the sheriff's department and get brought up to date about what's going on."

Calleigh interjected, "Horatio, you'll do no such thing. Your doctor said two days and…"

"Sweetheart, I just have a couple of cracked ribs and a bump on my head. Even the gunshot wound is nothing…I'm fine. I need to follow up on what happened and I can't do that in here."

"Horatio…" she hesitated, realizing now he was giving her his famous stare. "You are the most stubborn man!" she huffed.

Frank smiled and watched as the couple bickered about Horatio's plans. Oh yeah, they're in love. Better get used to this Calleigh, H is one tough SOB and once he gets a plan in his head, well you know how he is.

Frank's doctor stepped through the door and saw the blonde, who his colleague had told him requested an update on Sargent Tripp.

"Here you are. I stopped by Lieutenant Caine's room and the nurse told me that I'd find you here…. It seems that Mr. Tripp is one lucky man." The doctor began explaining the outcome of Frank's injuries.

Calleigh stayed in the room with Horatio that night and then early the next morning his doctor came by making his rounds.

"How are you this morning Lieutenant? Ms. Duquesne." Dr. Thrombill asked cheerfully, smiling at Calleigh.

"Better doctor. I really don't think I need to be in here." Horatio replied.

The doctor grunted as he looked over Horatio's chart in his hands. "Seems you had a good night, any severe pain?" Asking as he placed the chart on the tray and began giving Horatio an exam. Calleigh sat down in the chair closest to the bed as the doctor began pressing on Horatio's midsection.

"No. Doctor, I need to…" Horatio clenched his teeth suddenly from the pain that gripped him when the doctor pressed on his abdomen.

"Um-hmm, just as I thought, still tender where the seat belt pressed into your body. Well, let's see what a CT scan shows this morning before talking about being released, shall we?"

Later that morning, Horatio was returned to his room from the tests and Calleigh had just completed her call to the lab back in Miami when the orderlies rolled the bed in.

Standing up from the sofa, she walked over to Horatio after the orderlies had left and in trying to brighten his mood she said,

"Just talked to Eric, everything is fine at the lab. They have a couple of new cases today, but they're not too complicated. He said everyone there wanted him to let you know that they are thinking of you and Frank and hope to see you both soon."

"That's good. I appreciate their concern." He turned silent and focused on Calleigh.

"Sweetheart, you need to go back to Miami. If that other man is still around here, I don't want you to get involved in this."

"I'm staying right here. The team will be fine and the chief gave me the rest of the week to come up here and find out what's going on. Besides, I'm not going to leave you alone to face whatever."

The door suddenly opened and Dr. Thrombill walked in with the results from the scans.

"Your tests came back normal, but that doesn't mean you're in the clear, just yet. A head injury can cause problems days later. That is the injury that most concerns me. Your ribs will heal with time, probably in a couple of weeks you'll notice improvement. The rest of your problem is just deep tissue bruising from the car accident and those will heal in time as well, but you will feel the effects for quite a while. If I release you, when do you plan to fly back to Miami?"

Horatio, encouraged by the fact the doctor was considering letting him out replied, "Not for at least a couple of days."

"Good, because the difference in air pressure would be detrimental to your concussion." The doctor then turned to Calleigh, "Ms. Duquesne, I assume you will be with Lieutenant Caine once he leaves the hospital?"

"Yes sir, I will be with him constantly," answering as she and Horatio shared a smile while holding hands.

"I hope I'm not making a mistake," Dr. Thrombill gave Horatio a stern look as he resumed, "I'm signing your discharge papers, but there are certain symptoms I want to describe to both of you to watch for."

It took a little longer for Horatio to ease his bruised body down into the car, but he was grateful to be out of the hospital. He'd always detested the places; the sterile atmosphere was depressing. Often wondering why the places bothered him so; he could only assume it was from his childhood.

Breaking Horatio's thoughts, Calleigh commented, "We've got a room at a motel, courtesy of the department. We could go there and you could rest for a while."

"We'll go later Sweetheart. First we need to go by the sheriff's department. I want to examine any evidence found and I'd like for you to test that rifle, hopefully they have it." As she drove, she couldn't help but wonder if this was a mistake – Horatio being released early, for she knew all too well how he pushes himself. Her concentration so focused on Horatio, she failed to notice the small car pull out of the hospital parking lot behind them.

Arriving at the sheriff's department, they walked in and Horatio asked for the person in charge of the accident two days ago out on county road 14. Soon, a fairly young chief deputy walked out and greeted them and invited them into his office.

"I must say," Chief Deputy Donell began, "I'm a little surprised to see you walking about Lieutenant considering the condition of your car after the accident. That bank was about a 200 foot drop y'all rolled down." Calleigh shuddered listening to the description of the accident.

As Horatio sat and listened to the young man tell of their investigation, he was pleasantly surprised with the attention to detail this department seem to exhibit. They had bagged all visible evidence found at both the accident site and where the shooting had occurred. He admitted that the second man got away, but they had already identified the dead shooter as being Roscoe Bredloe from Miami, which piqued their interest. But, the most important item they had in their possession was the assault rifle. Horatio had wanted Calleigh to fire the gun and document the striations on the bullet to compare with the bullets recovered from the hanger. Before even learning the shooter was from Miami, Horatio had already considered a possible connection with the hanger incident a few days ago. They found the staff there, had already performed the test and all Calleigh had to do was send the results to the lab in Miami for comparison, which they did. Before leaving the sheriff's office, Eric had called to let them know they were a match.

A couple of hours later, Calleigh drove them from the restaurant, where they'd had dinner, to their motel. After helping Horatio inside their room, she realized the physical toll the afternoon had taken on him.

"Just sit down on the bed Handsome. I'll help you get undressed."

Horatio did as she suggested, then added, "I'm in desperate need of a shower." He smiled and tilted his head toward her, "Would you feel up to helping me?"

She smiled radiantly at him as she answered, "I believe I can manage that."

Once in the shower, Horatio couldn't stop his physical need for her. He sensed she wanted to give in, but was reluctant to do so, probably afraid of hurting me.

"We can be careful Sweetheart, I want you so much…I need to feel you," he whispered between the mind blowing, passionate kisses they were exchanging.

A few minutes later, the release he felt as she called out his name, while her walls closed tight around his member, was well worth the protest of pain from his ribs. Unable to move for a few moments after a most powerful climax, the feeling of the warm water from the shower cascading down his back, only added to his soothed emotions.

Finally, Calleigh found the strength to ask, "Are you alright?"

"Never better, are you?" She nodded her head that she was. "I love you so much Calleigh," he managed to whisper into her ear, still too weak to move his head from beside hers.

Later, as they snuggled close in the bed, Calleigh looked up at him as her head lay on his left shoulder and whispered, "I love you. Please don't ever leave me."

Looking down into the most sparkling green eyes he'd ever seen, he answered, "Never Calleigh. I will love you the rest of my life."

Jared waited for a couple of hours, allowing the area to get quiet, to let traffic die down before slowly driving into the motel's parking lot. He'd watched from his car, while parked in a next door business's parking lot, as the redhead and blonde entered their room. He had been astonished watching the two together asking himself, how much luck can one man have? Now that he was cautiously exiting his car, watching for any sign of movement, he thought, 'bout time that redhead's luck runs out.

TBC…