Here's the next chapter, the angst-athon is still in full swing so buckle your seatbelts...
Eric looked up as the door opened, Ryan stood awkwardly in the doorway, unsure of whether he should enter the room, "Wolfe" he said, looking at the other man.
"Have you been here all night, Eric?"
He rubbed a tired hand over his face once more and felt the stubble that had been growing over the last few days. "Yeah, he was pretty bad last night. Don't think either of us got much sleep" he said, glancing to the man in the bed who appeared to be resting peacefully. "I think he's just exhausted, he fell asleep a couple of hours ago"
"Go home and get some rest, Eric" Ryan told him, avoiding eye contact. "I'll stay with him, I won't let anything happen to him. I promise"
Having still not forgiven Ryan for the incident at the warehouse Eric was wary of leaving Horatio alone with him, he remembered Calleigh's words yesterday, he knew he would be no use to Horatio if he ran himself into the ground. "If anything happens I'm the first person you call, got it?" he demanded.
"I understand, Eric. Go home and get some rest"
Eric raised himself wearily from his chair, slipped his jacket on and left the room, glancing once more at the man lying on the bed. "I'll be back later, H" he said before closing the door quietly behind him.
Ryan took his place in the chair that Eric had vacated, he took Horatio's hand and told him about what had been going on in the lab. "H, we got the guys who did this to you. They rolled on the other gang members too, they didn't really have much of a choice when the D.A threatened to go for the max on an attempted murder charge" Ryan winced as he remembered how the raid on the warehouse had fallen apart, he still felt guilty as hell. "You'll be up and out of here in no time, just you see"
Horatio mumbled as he opened his eyes, squinting as he tried to adjust his vision to the light in the room. "Ray?" he asked shakily, looking in Ryan's direction.
Half expecting Horatio to be dazed and confused he reassured the other man, "No H, it's Ryan" he smiled at him.
"Ray, what are you still doing here?" Horatio asked, starting to become agitated.
"H, it's Ryan. Ryan Wolfe" the younger man said once more, gripping Horatio's hand tighter in an effort to calm him.
"Ray!" he shouted, "He's going to be back any minute. You have to get out of here!"
Realising that Horatio was hallucinating Ryan was caught in two minds as to play along with it or try to bring the lieutenant back to some sort of reality. "H, I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying right here with you" he promised, knowing that Eric would have his head on a platter if anything happened to Horatio.
"Ray, go now!" he shouted, his breathing becoming harder and faster now. "Please, you have to go. Now!" he demanded as he grabbed hold of Ryan's shirt, pulling him towards his face. "Don't you understand? He's going to kill us all. Get out, now!" he pleaded with the younger man, clearly in the grip of a vivid and violent hallucination.
Not knowing what else to say, Ryan placed his hands over Horatio's and spoke to him calmly. "It's ok, H. It's going to be alright. I'm staying here with you"
The grip on Ryan's shirt eased as fatigue came over Horatio once more, he helped the other man to lay back down on the bed and ran a comforting hand through his hair as his eyes slowly closed. Hearing a soft knock at the door Ryan turned to see a nurse standing in the doorway, motioning to get out of the chair he was stopped by the nurse, "It's ok, sir" she told him, "I just need to take a few readings and note them on the chart. I heard shouting, is everything ok?" she asked kindly.
Ryan let out a long breath, "I think so, he was having a hallucination" he told her worriedly.
"It's quite normal in these situations, sir"
"How long will it last for?" he asked the nurse.
"Every patient is different" she began, whilst adjusting the morphine pump. "Mr Caine's morphine has been reduced significantly over the last twenty four hours, if all goes well the doctor may decide to stop administering it completely by the end of today"
"I just want this to be over" he told her honestly, "I'm not sure how much more of this he can take"
"Your friend is stronger than you think, he's made it this far" she began, "It looks like he's got a lot of people around him that care for him very much"
The nurse finished her duties and closed the door behind her, Ryan turned back to Horatio who appeared to be sleeping. He picked up the trembling hand once more, "I'm right here with you, H" he told him as he saw Horatio mutter and move his head from side to side on the pillow. "It won't be long now, then all of this will be over, ok?" he tried to reassure him.
By mid-morning the agonising stomach cramps had returned, now it was Ryan's turn to sit by helplessly as Horatio writhed in the hospital bed begging for an end to his suffering. "Argh, make it stop!" Horatio pleaded over and over again as the sweat poured from his body. Ryan held onto his hand tighter, fighting his own instinct to run away.
"Just hold on, H" he told him, his voice cracking. "It'll be over soon, I promise"
It appeared as if Ryan's words had fallen on deaf ears as the other man continued to moan and plead for relief from the pain tormenting him, unable to understand why no one would help him.
Shortly after lunch Eric returned to the room, Ryan could see that the other man had at least had a shave and changed his clothes. "How's he doing?" Eric asked as he closed the door behind him.
"He's been hallucinating again. He thought I was Ray" he told Eric, "He's been in agony the last few hours. I feel so helpless Eric, there was nothing I could do to help him. He just kept begging me to make the pain stop" Ryan said, his voice shaking as tears welled in his eyes. He looked Eric straight in the eyes, "I'm so sorry Eric. If I could change places with him right now I would" pleading with the other man to understand him.
"I know, Wolfe. I know"