AN: Trying to post once a week… so many thoughts going through my head… hard to put them on paper without messing the crap out of the story… hope you like this chapter…
Because Of You
Chapter 15
Horatio and Eric held their breath as the doctor approached, in his hand a small bag.
"How is she? Is she okay?" Eric couldn't stand the silence. The wait had been excruciating.
"She's stable." The doctor paused. "We had a couple close calls but miraculously she pulled through. There was some internal bleeding, her lung had been punctured, if she hadn't been brought in as soon as she had she wouldn't have made it."
He handed the small bag to Horatio. "We removed the chip without a problem, she'd tried removing it herself but it was just too deep for her to reach, the open wound was infected along with other cuts she had." He took a deep breath before continuing.
"She has four broken, two fractured ribs, some deep bruising on her arms, legs, back and abdomen. These will take sometime to heal, so she will be very sore. There is some swelling on her back, but that shouldn't be a problem, she'll have a difficult time moving for the next several days, she is on anti-inflammatory medication it will speed up the process. She has a concussion and was severally malnourished." He paused again, there was no easy way in saying this.
"We found some needle marks so I went ahead and requested a full blood work up. I should have the results within the next few hours."
"Is she going to be okay?" Eric asked hesitant, her reaction to him still nagging him.
"It's up to her now. From what I can tell, she's a fighter no one could have survived what she endured. She'll need some time to process everything. Once she's released I suggested she stay with somebody."
"That's not going to be a problem. Can we see her?" Horatio spoke for the first time.
"We've moved her to a private room, I'll have a nurse come take you."
When the doctor left Horatio took his phone and called Natalia.
"How is she?" She answered in way of greeting.
"She's fighting, they have her in a private room now we'll go see her but she's not awake yet."
"But she'll be okay right?"
"We'll know more in the morning." He went to pass all that the doctor had told him.
"Let us know if anything changes, the chips from the other women just got here along with the techs, I'll let you know what we find."
"I'll have an officer bring you the chip they took out from Calleigh."
"Thanks Horatio." Horatio hung up as a nurse stepped towards them. After brief introductions they followed her to Calleigh's room.
Eric froze at the entrance of the room. She looked so pale against the white sheets. He'd almost lost her and that scared the crap out of him. The steady beeping of her heart assured him she was still alive. The wires connected to her did little to ease his mind. He glanced at the bags of fluids around her bed all connected to one IV. One for the infection, one for pain medication and the other no doubt for the dehydration and nourishment.
This wasn't fair. She didn't deserve this. No one did. There were just too many machines surrounding her.
"She's going to be fine Eric."
Eric couldn't voice his thoughts. What if she wouldn't? What if she couldn't stand to be around him?
"There has to be an explanation to her reaction to you Eric don't hold it against her, we don't know what they did to her while they had her."
Nodding he stepped towards her. Afraid to touch her instead he reached for a chair and pulled it beside her. For now he would just be there.
**************************Warehouse************************
Passing all that Horatio had told her to Ryan, Natalia focused all her attention on the chips. The fourth chip would be delivered in the next hour giving them plenty of time to learn how they worked.
"Natalia." Marcus the tech motioned her over. "We think we have it now." He pointed to the monitors. Jasmine the second tech had gone to the room Calleigh was found in. Calling her he told her to go ahead and activate the chip. Natalia watched Jasmine take out the remote she'd seen earlier in this room and point it towards the chip. She nodded to the camera. Marcus pressed a button on his end and the projector activated along with a video.
Natalia gasped at the images before her. Having watched all three videos she wasn't sure she wanted to see what the fourth video would show. Calleigh was the intended target so everything done to these women would be done much worse to Calleigh.
"Horatio, they had video of everyone these woman thought important in their life. They threatened to kill all those they held near and dear to them just as they'd taken the one person important to Juliana."
"Good work, anything on the chip we took from Calleigh?"
"No, we don't have it yet."
"Let me know, I just hope she doesn't wake up until we know what they've done to have her be afraid of Eric."
"How is he?" She'd seen Calleigh's reaction to him and had to admit in his situation if Ryan had acted in the same manner she would have been devastated.
"Hanging in there, we need answers Natalia."
She promised to call as soon as they had anything.
"Frank, any word on Montez, he was suppose to be here already."
"He'll be here in thirty. There was a fatal accident along the way."
"How you holding up?" Ryan reached a hand to her lower back.
"I just, I just want this week to be over and everything to return to normal."
"It will, but its going to take time." He rubbed circles on her back.
"I know, it's just these women, they didn't deserve this, Calleigh didn't deserve this." She was starting to lose it and she knew it. This was not the time or place but the long week was starting to catch up to her. She'd almost lost one of the people closest to her.
"No she did not, but she made it Natalia and she has the best support system. She has a boyfriend who loves and adores her and a team that is like family and will do anything for her, we just need to remind her that it's okay to need us and that we'll always be there for her."
She smiled, raising a hand to his cheek she drew him closer to her placing a small kiss first on his cheek then his lips. "You are absolutely amazing you know that?"
"Only to you love." He reached around her hugging her. He was so blessed to have her, he didn't know what he would do if anything happened to her.
"Officer Boa Vista." The officer ran to her handing over the last of the chips.
With a quick thank you she ran it to Jasmine. She and Ryan stood in the middle of the room as Jasmine activated the chip and Marcus started the projector.
"Oh my God." Ryan gasped his hand immediately finding his phone. All four walls began streaming the video, closing your eyed did little to help as the audio blared.
"Horatio, you have to see this." As Natalia had feared this video had been much worse then all the others combined.
AN: Now we're getting somewhere… Yikes… I'm having a hard time keeping with all the names I'm using to the point of rereading a lot of the chapters… hmmm… hope you enjoyed…drop a line…
