Jessica woke up in a lonely bed. It was Saturday and normally Horatio would be right next to her. She saw a note on her nightstand and as she read it was clear that Horatio been called in to work. Jessica shrugged and hummed to herself as she made breakfast. She didn't mind that Horatio had to work overtime or on the weekends. It was his job. She loved the fact that he was a CSI.

"What are you singing?" Kyle asked and chuckled when Jessica jumped.

"Kyle, you scared me!" Jessica exclaimed, "Make some noise when you move."

"I can't. I'm like dad."

"I've noticed." Jessica laughed, "Have you had breakfast?"

"Yep, I am going to my mom. I'll probably come home for dinner." Kyle smiled.

Jessica nodded and the two said goodbye. Once Kyle was gone, Jessica noticed how quiet everything was. She was used to hearing Kyle run up and down the stairs or eat breakfast with her and Horatio. She was simply used to always hearing somebody else in the house. Sometimes the silence was nice though.

"I need to get a hobby." Jessica grinned, "Or a pet."

She ate a small breakfast and took a shower. Then she searched the net for something to buy that might be missing in the house. She watched TV and even talked to her mother on the phone. Jessica had never realized how slow time seemed to pass when you had nothing to do.

Eventually, Jessca started looking at photos on a shelf in the living room. It was a photo there of the whole team, but before Ryan and Natalia had joined. There was somebody else on the picture, probably Speed. Horatio had told her about Speed. Horatio also had a picture of Kyle and of Raymond. In the middle of all photos there was a picture of Jessica and Horatio taken on their second date. They had gone in to a photo booth. She remembered how shy Horatio had been at the first two pictures, then he made a funny face for the third and they shared a kiss on the forth. It was the forth picture that he had on display. Then Jessica noticed some baby photos of Horatio. He was asleep in a blanket and looked incredibly cute. She also saw a picture of a young Horatio and a young Raymond. They were out in the snow and smiling at whoever took the photo. Horatio had mentioned that his mother had taken most photos and if she hadn't taken them, then her mother had.

At lunch Jessica got a phone call, she had hoped she would never get. It was Alexx calling her and telling her some of the worst news that Jessica had ever received.

"Horatio's been shot! He's on the way to Miami Dade Hospital. Do you need me to pick you up?" Alexx asked.

"Um, what? No, is he okay? How badly injured is he?"

"He's unconscious." Alexx sighed, "Can you drive?"

"Yes, yes." Jessica said and hung up.

She stared at the phone in her hand as she took in the news. Horatio had been shot. She had always known that there was a possibility he could get injured at work, but that it would actually happened was something she hadn't imagined. Jessica shook her head and grabbed her car keys. She started crying in the car as she didn't seem to get to the hospital fast enough. Once she was there, she ran to the nurse's station in the ER. They told her the usual thing; sit down and wait.

"Jessica honey, over here!" Alexx called for her and lead her to a chair.

"Do you know anything?" Jessica asked.

"No, I don't. They won't tell me anything yet." Alexx sighed.

"What happened?"

"Horatio and Frank were going to talk to a witness and the witness seemed convinced that they were there to arrest him. He shot Horatio in the upper left chest and then got shot himself by Frank." Alexx said, "I got to the scene just as Horatio was being put in the ambulance."

"What if…"

"Honey, he will be alright. You have to believe that." Alexx said and gave Jessica hug.

Jessica and Horatio had only been together for three months. But they had already proven to everyone that their love was strong. Jessica couldn't imagine her life without Horatio.

"I have to call Kyle."

"Already taken care of. He's on his way here." Alexx said.

Jessica was so shocked that she didn't notice that the hours passed and Alexx called the team, they arrived one after the other. Kyle arrived and sat down next to her, but she didn't notice.

"How long has he been here?" Eric asked.

"Four hours." Alexx sighed.

"Why aren't they telling us something?" Kyle growled.

"Because they probably have everything under control. My guess is that he's in surgery right now." Alexx said.

"He's my father, I deserve to know where he is." Kyle said.

"Relax Kyle. If he wasn't fine they would have told us." Ryan said and patted the young man's shoulder.

Jessica snapped out of her deep thoughts. She looked at the people around her. They were all there because they loved and cared for Horatio. She glanced at Jesse, she had never seen him look so serious before, but then again, nothing like this had happened before.

"I need coffee." Frank sighed.

Frank, Jesse and Alexx went to buy everyone coffee. Calleigh sat down next to Jessica and gave her a hug.

"Horatio will fight, because he has something to fight for." Calleigh whispered.

Jessica nodded. Horatio had Kyle and his team. He had Jessica. He had a family to fight for.

"What if he doesn't make it?" Jessica whispered back.

"But he will make it." Calleigh said.

"I can't imagine my life without him. I don't even think I had a life before I met him."

"Now that is true love. And Horatio feels the same way." Calleigh smiled, "Did you know that he can see himself living with you for the rest of his life?"

"He's said that?"

"Yes, he has. He wants to wake up next to you until the day he dies as an old, old man." Calleigh smiled.

She remembered the conversation she had had with Horatio about his love for Jessica. Her boss and friend had never been so open about his feelings before, but he had no doubt that Jessica was the woman he would be with forever.

It took another two hours, before a doctor finally told them how Horatio was doing.

"We took him to surgery to remove the bullet. He will be sore for a while." The doctor smiled, "He is resting right now and the sedatives are starting to come off."

"So he's fine?" Jesse asked to be sure.

"He will be." The doctor said, "He's in room 315. I would suggest that only a few of you see him tonight."

Everyone went to the room, but waited outside. It was without a problem decided that Jessica and Kyle should visit Horatio. The others would come back tomorrow. As Jessica entered the room, she started to cry silently. She had never seen Horatio so vulnerable before and it scared her. She had come close of losing him. Kyle seemed just as shocked as her, because he just stared at his father in the bed. Jessica sat down on a chair and grabbed Horatio's hand. She squeezed it softly. Kyle sat down on the other side of the bed.

"I've always seen him as invincible." Kyle whispered, "It never occurred to me that he's just as much human as anyone of us."

"Yeah, it's hard." Jessica nodded.

"He is quite known for putting himself in dangerous situations. And I admire him for that. But I also think he sometimes don't always realize how close he has come to die." Kyle said and wiped a few tears away.

"I don't think he had much to live for before her found you." Jessica smiled.

"Well, know he has both you and me to live for." Kyle said.

"Well, even if he does sometimes forget to care about his own safety, I'm glad that cares so much about others." Jessica said, "I wouldn't want him to change that."

"Neither would I." Kyle said and wasn't able to hold back a yawn.

Even if it wasn't very late yet, the day had been hard to go through.

"Need more coffee?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah, do you?"

"Absolutely. I'm not leaving him alone tonight." Jessica said, "I will be right by his side all night."

"So will I. Although, when he wakes up he will probably tell us to go home and get some sleep." Kyle smiled and stood up to get some coffee.

"He can always try to get me out of here." Jessica grinned.

She ran her fingers through Horatio's hair and smiled. He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping. Jessica liked to watch him sleep if she woke up before him. She was pretty sure he liked to watch her too.

"I love you Horatio." She whispered in his ear.

Horatio stirred and managed to open his eyes halfway. Jessica kissed his check and felt him squeeze her hand softly. Horatio was still under a lot of sedatives.

"I love you too." He said quietly and then closed his eyes again.

The door opened and Kyle came back with some coffee.

"He woke up and went back to sleep." Jessica smiled.

"Good, give him a few hours and he will be more alert and grumpy." Kyle chuckled.

"He hates hospitals, huh?"

"He hates being a patient." Kyle grinned.

Jessica chuckled and caressed Horatio's cheek. After a few hours, Kyle fell asleep in the chair and Jessica started to become tired herself. She rested her head on her arms in the bed and closed her eyes for a moment. She fell asleep and didn't wake up, until she felt Horatio's move his arm to hold her around her shoulders. She smiled and looked up at him. His eyes were still closed.

Jessica looked at his bandaged upper left chest. It was where he had been shot. Jessica had never been seriously injured before and hoped she never would be either. It didn't take long for Jessica to fall asleep again and she was in such a deep sleep that she missed how Kyle took a photo of the couple with his phone. He was as crazy about taking photos to preserve memories as his father.

"Dad, you better not scare us again." Kyle whispered, "Especially not Jessica."

Horatio opened his eyes and nodded.

"Oh and by the way, after this you take her out to dinner and show her how much you love her. She deserves that after being scared by this." Kyle grinned.

Horatio gave him thumbs up and then closed his eyes again. Kyle sat back down on the chair and waited for the sun to come up. He realized how much he would miss his dad if he died, as he glanced at the wound. Horatio and Kyle might have got a bad start, but they had become closer and closer all the time. Kyle had grown a lot since that day 3 years ago. He was happy and knew he had a family that would always support him and help him. He actually thought he had a future. Before he had found his father, he had always thought he would die young. Now, he wanted to find true love like Horatio had. He wanted to have his own children and eventually pass away as a very old man.

"You should know dad, that you've saved me from an early grave." Kyle whispered and squeezed his father's hand softly.

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