Chapter Forty-seven: Trouble Is

Calleigh looked around the hospital with a look of unease upon her face. Last time she'd been in this place it was because Speed nearly died. She hated to have the memories forced so thoroughly back into the forefront of her mind. And so shortly after another shooting. She could feel her stomach churning, a dizzy feeling coming over her. Thankfully as she wandered the white halls she came across a set of chairs outside a room. Since nobody was occupying them she figured it wouldn't matter if she took a sit until the feelings passed. As she sank into the uncomfortable wooden chair, the padded seat having been worn over the years, she felt the tears stinging her eyes. The raid on the militia home hadn't exactly gone as planned. There were wounded and dead, though there was some comfort in the fact that those who had died were not innocent civilians or members of law enforcement. But those simple facts didn't make the impact of the event on her any less. She kept hearing the shooting of the guns. Combined with the noises of the busy hospital she couldn't get images of Speed lying on a gurney and being rushed to the hospital out of her mind.

She wiped away her tears with a shaky hand.

"Calleigh?"

The voice surprised her. She looked up to her left. "H, what are you doing here?" Had someone called him to the hospital from the scene? Then she remembered the look on his face when he got called away a few hours ago. "Oh god…is Tim okay?"

He settled in the chair next to her, his elbows resting on his thighs, his sunglasses in his hands. "He's fine. Someone broke into my house but Speed got out unharmed. He climbed out the window."

"Quick thinking," Calleigh said as she noted Horatio's sly smile. "If everything was okay why…?"

He looked at her, his eyes not the vibrant blue they usually were. "He seemed to be feeling fine when we found him but by the time we walked the short distance back to the house…He said he wasn't feeling too good. Though I think his exact words were something along the lines of feeling 'funny'."

"Is he going to be okay?" The last thing she needed was to find herself worrying about Speed again. There was already so much on her mind, the weight of the world on her shoulders.

"His doctor took him to get a CT scan," answered Horatio. "Just to make sure that everything's okay. How did the raid go?"

Calleigh pushed her grief and worry deep inside and slipped into a more professional mode. "I think all ten militia members in the house ended up dead. Maybe one or two of them got out wounded, though somewhat seriously. According to Delko he had a man with a machete come running at him. A SWAT guy killed the guy with a single bullet between the eyes." She paused as she collected herself once again. She didn't want to think about the possibility of how things would have ended had that SWAT guy not been with Delko.

"Calleigh?" Horatio placed a hand on her shoulder.

She smiled, though somewhat unconvincingly. "I'm all right, Horatio, just trying to decide what's important right now and what isn't. Let's see…"

"Were any of our guys hurt?"

"Ryan," she said without hesitating. If she didn't get it out now she'd never find the words to speak.

"How seriously?"

"The doctor was looking him over when I left but from what I saw, not too much to worry about. He won't have full use of his left arm for awful."

"Did they find Hagen and Jesup?"

"No," Calleigh shook her head with her eyes closed. "They didn't find Hagen. I didn't think we were going to find them but surprise of all surprises, Jesup was in the basement. He wasn't conscious, alive though."

Horatio stood and offered her his hand. "Why don't we get fetch Speed and then head over to see how Ryan and Jesup are?"

--

The three of them trooped through the hospital to the emergency room which was swarming with officers, mostly members of the SWAT who had been unfortunate enough to end up wounded at the scene. Speed could feel the anxiety washing over and through him. He wanted so desperately to get out of the hospital, having grown to hate the place in the last few months. Unfortunately for him it was going to be another few months before he was finished with it completely, and that was only if he could manage to stay out of harm's way. He counted himself lucky to get through the batch of tests without much more than a stern warning from his doctor about him needing to stay in bed. There had been a little tearing to the continually healing wound in his chest but that was it. Everything else looked to be on the mend.

He stopped beside Calleigh as Horatio threaded his way through the crowd to find a doctor he could talk to. Speed looked around the emergency room, the anxiety growing worse with every passing second. He could feel the familiar tightening in his chest, the increase in the beat of his heart. As if reading his mind, or maybe just his body language, Calleigh reached out and took hold of his hand, giving him a gentle squeeze. Before he could say anything Horatio waved them over, starting down a hallway after the doctor. The two of them followed after, finding it relatively easy to get through the emergency room. Calleigh kept a firm grip on his hand as they went down the hall. He wasn't sure if the affect of comfort was more for him or for her. He didn't think it would be right to ask.

The doctor led them to a room a ways off from the hubbub of the emergency room and all its people. Dare he think that it was actually quiet in this part of the hallway? Aside form the beep of machines that he could hear through partially closed doors. The doctor said that normally only one person was allowed in a room at time but for them he was willing to make an exception this time. Horatio thanked him. Together they trooped into the room, the door closing behind them. Only once they were in the room did Calleigh let go of his hand as she crossed the room toward Ryan, who stood there with his arm in a sling. She gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Delko, Ryan, are the two of you good?"

Delko nodded. Ryan lifted his arm encased in the sling, wincing slightly in pain. "Through and through, only damaged muscle. After a few weeks I'll be as good as new."

Speed could feel the anxiety easing from his body, though he wasn't sure why. The beeping of the heart monitor did make him cringe slightly, the sound reminding him of what it was like to come awake in the hospital after the shooting.

"How's Officer Jesup?" Horatio asked.

Delko looked momentarily at the sleeping officer in the bed, wires and tubes running here and there. "A few broken ribs. Mild concussion. Hairline fracture to his jaw. Dislocated shoulder. Severely sprained wrist. And a fracture to his right femur. They really gave him a beating. Doctor says he's lucky."

"And there was no sign of Hagen?"

With a shake of his head Ryan said, "I think he was there. I saw some evidence down in the basement that suggests two people were being kept there. I wouldn't be surprised if we just missed him."

Though he stood there listening to them talk Speed wasn't really paying attention to them or the conversation. He was trying to make sense of things. Out in the hallway he'd been so close to having an anxiety attack but now, he felt as normal as someone standing in the hospital could. He ignored the aches of his bruised muscles, the annoying beeping and whirs of the machines. Here in this room he actually felt almost comfortable. And then, as he locked eyes with Delko, he began to understand why. Out in the emergency room proper he'd noticed that Delko was not present. That's when the anxiety began to set in. But there he stood now, in one piece and unharmed. And the anxiety was gone. And Speed wasn't quite sure what to make of it.