Trouble with Friends

Chapter 8

Ignoring the numerous looks of concern from those he passed, Horatio slowly walked down the hallway to the elevator. Having left the Captain's office in somewhat a state of shock, he could only concentrate on one thing, reaching the solitude of his office. There he hoped to be able comprehend what had just occurred.

After stepping inside his personal retreat, he closed the door and slowly walked across the office where he sat down heavily in his chair behind the desk which was covered with paperwork in need of his attention. He couldn't focus at the moment, not on that at least. His head hurt from not only the injury, but from the strained conversation with Captain Nause.

I can't believe I just did that. There's not a sliver of doubt in my mind how I feel toward Calleigh, I love her with all of my heart, but to make a decision as I just did, on the spur of the moment, I don't know…it's just…, he propped his elbows on the top of the desk and covered his face with his hands. He was numb. After several minutes, he moved his hands and opened his eyes. The room was spinning. He grabbed the arms of his chair to keep from landing on the floor. Easing back into his chair, laying his head against its back, he thought he'd just wait it out. After a few minutes, believing the worst had passed he knew the reports on his desk needed his attention, but not before opening a drawer and reaching for a bottle containing over the counter pain medicine. Tossing two pills into his mouth, he chased them with a cup of coffee.

After the confrontation with Eric, Calleigh sat on the bench for quite a while, lost in her thoughts. Finally realizing she'd been out much too long considering what waited for her in the ballistics lab; the tests on not only the assault rifle use against Horatio and Frank, but the bullets and shell casings that came from the incident in Little Havana. Sequestering herself in her lab, she buried herself in the work and before she knew it, it was 6:00 when everything was completed. Securing evidence and turning off the lights in her lab, she immediately went to Horatio's office to hear the verdict from the Captain. It concerns me that I haven't heard from Horatio. That can be a bad sign.

Walking through the lab, she realized everyone was gone for the day, but Eric. Thinking it would be best to bypass him for the time being, she climbed the steps that led to Horatio's office. After knocking, she entered and found him working on reports.

Calleigh greeted, "Hey, it's been a long day. Don't you think we ought to call it quits for the evening?" The strain on Horatio's face didn't escape her notice.

Horatio sat back in his chair with a sigh and ran a shaky hand over his face before responding, "I think we should. How'd it go with Eric?" He quickly noticed the abrupt change in her expression telling him that it must not have gone well.

"Can we talk about that after we eat dinner?"

"Of course Sweetheart."

"What was the Captain's response?" She asked, anxious to hear the outcome of that meeting.

Horatio broke eye contact with her, smiling ruefully as he looked out the large windows of his office at the warm glow of the evening sky before turning back to her, "He wasn't too open about it at first, but our situation is going to work out. Everything will be alright."

Calleigh was hoping for more details, but thought she wouldn't press him, especially since she declined to tell him about the confrontation with Eric at the moment.

After a subdued dinner at Rosito's, they headed to Horatio's house for the night. Both felt washed out by the day's events, so they decided to forego their usual walk and instead settled for just walking down to the water's edge. Embracing each other while listening to the waves lapping at the shore, both realized they had the area to themselves as none of the other residents in the community were taking advantage of a beautiful moonlit beach. Horatio steeled himself before glancing down at Calleigh, deciding to ask about Eric's reaction.

"Can we discuss your meeting with Eric this afternoon now?"

Horatio knew by her avoiding talking about it earlier, the reaction from Eric was just as he imagined it would be. Over the last year, he had picked up on Eric's interest in Calleigh, all the while hoping that Calleigh would not be interested in the Cuban. While he loved Eric as a brother, the young man seemed to bounce between women as if he were playing a game. His opinion was that Calleigh didn't need that type of situation. The men in her past had already given her enough trouble.

Calleigh knew she'd have to tell him sooner or later. Fortifying her resolve she began….

When she was through filling him in on how the afternoon conversation went, he remained silent. She hung her head against his chest; wishing what she'd just told him hadn't happened. The last thing she wanted was to come between Eric and Horatio. Plus, she'd also been questioning herself after Eric's stinging words.

Finally Horatio spoke in a quiet voice. "He's right you know…. I hope we never face such a situation Calleigh, but I want you to promise me that you'll remember your training and choose the option to save the ones you can, even if it means sacrificing me."

Tears filled her eyes as her body began shaking with emotion. Horatio's response was to pull her snug against his chest, engulfing her petite frame with his arms. They stood silent for several long minutes before Calleigh reigned in her emotions enough to enable her to finally speak.

Looking up into his tired eyes, that were filled with concern she declared, "I've had feelings for you for years…never, have I ever neglected to cover anyone on the team when the situation was tense. I've always done both, made sure you were alright and that other team members were too. I'll continue to do the same."

Horatio looked down into her glistening green eyes that were highlighted by the moonlight, gently pushing her hair back as he whispered, "You're a trained police officer. I wouldn't expect anything less from you. I can assure you that nothing on God's earth will keep me from protecting you Sweetheart. Being in command, I'm concerned about all the team's safety, but through the years I've especially watched out for both you and Natalia. It's just my nature to do so." Calleigh smiled with his admittance, a true gentleman indeed.

They turned in early. Horatio was exhausted and understandably so. Calleigh, while tired as well, couldn't relax enough to ease into sleep for some time. She laid there next to the man she dearly loved as she contemplated over and over in her mind what she actually would do if she had to choose between Horatio and another team member. After what seemed like hours, she finally drifted off into sleep, albeit restless.

They finally had Joe Miller cornered in one of his warehouses. She, Horatio and Eric had arrived first before the rest of the team. Uniformed officers were positioned around the back side and ends of the large building, ready to prevent anyone from exiting.

Turning to Horatio Eric asked, "We're going to wait for SWAT before going in there, aren't we?"

Horatio glanced at Calleigh's worried countenance answering, "We'll wait, but we need to get in a better position. Calleigh, you stay here and provide cover fire, should we need it, while Eric and I move closer."

"Be careful," she admonished them both.

From her position behind the storage chest, she watched nervously as the two cautiously weaved their way closer. Horatio had just moved away from a stack of crates, following Eric's lead when suddenly automatic gunfire erupted from the warehouse. Bullets were sprayed everywhere and Calleigh's return fire effort seemed small in comparison. As she rose back up to return fire, to her horror she saw Horatio lying prone on the concrete deathly still. Eric had reached a position right outside the large opening of the building, but his cover wasn't much and he was being bombarded by heavy gunfire.

Her heart felt as if it were literally twisting in her chest. Her first instinct was to run to Horatio to help him. He wasn't that far from her, but Eric was screaming at her to get the shooter off of him. Torn, she stayed where she was and though it was difficult to focus through tears she continued firing at the point inside the building where she knew the shooter had to be. As quickly as it started, the gunfire abruptly stopped.

Hearing the large SWAT van pulling up behind her, she closed her eyes, thankful help had arrived. As the heavily armored men ran past her toward the warehouse, she fell in step behind them running to Horatio.

Falling to her knees by his side, her hand flew to her mouth as blood pulsed from a gaping wound in his chest. Horatio sensed her presence and opened his eyes. Between coughs that produced blood out of the corners of his mouth, he smiled, his voice ragged as he barely said,

"You…followed…procedure. No…worries. I…love…," he exhaled his last breath before he could finish the phrase. Suddenly, his blue eyes became empty of life, but his lips were still turned upward in a slight smile.

"NO HORATIO…NO…YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME!" Calleigh screamed and gathered him up into her arms sobbing, calling his name over and over. Through her tears she repeated over and over, "I love you…I love you."

"I love you…Horatio," her head tossing side to side. Deep, racking sobs broke the stillness of the night.

Suddenly she jerked up into a sitting position as her eyes flew open, her lungs screaming for air, she raggedly sucked in large amounts of air between sobs. Her heart felt as if it were going to literally jump out of her chest.

"Calleigh…it's alright, I've got you. You were just having a bad dream Sweetheart," he said trying to calm her down as he held her. She turned and stared with confusion at his face lit by the moonlight filtering in through the windows. Reaching out with a trembling hand, she softly traced his cheek with her fingers.

"You're alright. You're here…"

Horatio smiled, "I'm here Sweetheart."

Feeling so relieved that he was there and was alright, thankful that it had just been a horrible dream she threw her arms around his waist and squeezed him tight, forgetting about his injured ribs. Her actions caused Horatio to gasp and cringe with pain.

"Sweetheart…my ribs," he managed to say through gritted teeth as he began prying her arm up off of his right side.

Finally through her confusion it dawned on her as to what she had done and she instantly drew back from him and gasped,

"I'm so sorry; I didn't mean..." as he eased back down on the bed she continued, "Realizing I was only dreaming...I got carried away."

"It's ok..." Reaching up and gently wiping the tears off of her cheeks he asked, "What upset you so much Calleigh?" He actually knew what it probably was that had her upset, Eric's words, but she needed to confront what was bothering her now, so it wouldn't affect her on duty.

They talked about her dream and after the brief discussion, her tension was gone. Horatio has the most incredible ability to calm people when they are upset, just one of the reasons why I love him.

"Alright now," Horatio began as he rolled over on his left side and placed his right arm across her stomach, "get some rest Sweetheart, I'll be right here." He held her against his chest, feeling her body completely relax, as she finally drifted back off to sleep. I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to bring pain and sorrow into your life Calleigh…. He leaned over and placed a light kiss on her forehead.

The next morning, Horatio was working in his office when his phone rang. He picked it up off of his desk and answered, "Lieutenant Caine."

Recognizing the voice on the other end he greeted, "Sheriff Watkins, how is everything in Georgia this morning?"

Horatio remained silent as the Sheriff told him of Jared Hughes' murder in the county prison in the night. While still on the phone, Calleigh walked in the office with the results of ballistics tests for him to examine. Horatio motioned for her to sit down and wait.

"Thank you for calling. Your news wasn't really a surprise. I appreciate you asking; Sargent Tripp is doing fine and should be home in a couple of days. The last time I spoke with him, he told me it won't be soon enough. Anything we can do for you just let us know."

Horatio disconnected and looked over at Calleigh. "Jared was murdered last night."

Calleigh looked pensive as she listened to the news. "Like you said, not much of a surprise, you and I both knew he signed his death warrant giving us that information."

There was a quick knock on the open door and Ryan strode in the office with more news.

"H, within the last hour, the camera at Pelican picked up a few visitors who are well known by MPD – mainly suspected drug traffickers. We might need to…"

Before Ryan could finish the sentence, Eric burst into the office as if the building were on fire.

"H, the surveillance teams you put on all the locations that Jared gave us are calling in reporting high activity. Trucks are going into the warehouses and there's activity at the dock. It appears Miller is relocating the goods after he found out Jared talked." Horatio moved quickly and grabbed his coat off the back of his chair ignoring the slight dizziness he was still feeling.

"This is what we were expecting. Do we have the search warrants?"

"Oh yeah," Eric replied as he held them up. "We'll meet you at the Hummers," and he and Ryan walked out.

"Calleigh…" Horatio turned to where she was sitting, her face deathly white and he noticed a slight tremor in her body.

Looking up at him with frightened eyes she whispered, "My dream…the warehouse…"

Horatio stood in front of her looking down at her with gentle eyes, "Sweetheart…it was only a dream. Dreams don't become reality. C'mon we need to go…" he softly said as he offered her his hand.

Horatio walked behind Calleigh toward the elevator as he called the SWAT commander requesting that he send teams out to the three locations. He, Calleigh and Eric along with uniform officers, would take the loading dock in North Miami located on Empire Road. The rest of the team and uniform officers would go to another main storage place down in Coral Gables.

As Eric expertly weaved through the mid-morning traffic with the Hummer's siren wailing and blue lights flashing, Calleigh sat on the back seat, behind Horatio, struggling to push down the fear that invaded her thoughts. Oh dear God, please don't let my dream become reality today.

TBC…