Fighting Back
Calleigh ran to where Horatio lay crumpled next to their car, as she cautiously looked around to make sure no one was near. "Horatio…what happened," she frantically asked as she knelt down beside him, carefully turning him over on his back.
Horatio's eyes fluttered open and tried to focus, he heard her voice calling to him from far away. After a few moments, finally he was able to whisper, "Cal…are…you ok?"
"AM I OK…Horatio you are badly hurt…I need to call an ambulance!"
Regaining more awareness of the situation Horatio managed a weak, "NO…I'll be alright Cal, let me lie here awhile. Got…to think about…adoption. Don't need…attention…hospital report."
"Horatio…YOU are more important to me!" Calleigh said as she wiped the blood off his cheek with a tissue she had in her pocket.
"CAL…NO," as he said those words it felt as if his chest was going to literally burst open from the pain.
Trying to swallow, but found his mouth was filled with blood, he turned to the side…"Cal…I'm about…to…be sick…forgive me." Then Horatio vomited up the blood that had reached his stomach.
"Oh Handsome…you will feel better now," Calleigh said as she attempted to soothe him by gently rubbing his back. Calleigh was a little concerned when she observed how much blood came up.
"Horatio, if you won't let me call an ambulance…I'm calling Alexx, and then Frank to come and help. I can't handle your weight by myself."
"That would…be better Cal."
Frank and Alexx arrived at about the same time. Rushing up to Horatio lying in the drive, Alexx was very concerned about the pale color of Horatio's face. Frank stood over them and looked on with concern for his friend.
"Sugar, do you feel like Frank helping you up and into the house now?" Alexx asked Horatio.
"I think…I can manage that," he replied weakly.
Frank kneeled down and first helped Horatio into a sitting position…then when he was ready he told him that on the count of three, he would carefully pull him up on his feet. Calleigh and Alexx got on the opposite side of Horatio to help him balance.
Horatio let out a loud moan of pain and grimaced, but stood up with Frank holding on to him. The entourage walked slowly up to the door and into the living room, and Frank gingerly laid Horatio down on the couch.
With her patient in a better position and with more light, Alexx began to tenderly examine Horatio's injuries. Calleigh watched Horatio's reaction of pain whenever she pressed on the left side of his abdomen and ribs.
Frank suddenly commented, "Damn Horatio…who beat the hell out of you…got any ideas?"
Horatio tried to let out a chuckle but grimaced again answering, "Just some thugs…"
Calleigh began filling Frank in with the details Horatio and the team had learned earlier in the week and her guess was this was connected.
Alexx spoke up, "Horatio, you need to be checked out at the hospital. You could have internal bleeding that may not manifest right now, but could before long. I am concerned about your spleen, at the very least it is probably bruised and I am sure you have a couple of broken ribs. They are not bad enough to puncture a lung, but as you know, they will hurt like hell with every breath you take."
"Alexx, I can't…we are trying to adopt those children and if the adoption board were to get wind of this, it will greatly hurt our chances," Horatio softly said as he held Calleigh's hand.
"No worries…leave it up to me. Would you go if I told you I can admit you under a different name? Celebrities do it all the time, that way the media does not find out what's going on. Only myself, and the attending doctor will know and I have a colleague who won't divulge our secret plus, he is an excellent trauma surgeon."
"Please Handsome for me?" Calleigh pleaded.
"I think you need to do this Horatio…hell, right now you look like something the cat dragged in. Eric is covering the lab tomorr…uh, today so no problem there," Frank chimed in.
"Looks like I'm outnumbered, ok I give up, but I'm not staying overnight…I have to cover the lab tomorrow," Horatio adamantly said as he grimaced in more pain. Alexx just shook her head at his stubbornness.
"Frank…call an ambulance and tell them no lights or siren," Alexx requested of her friend.
Horatio growled, "A bus? Can't…" he moaned, "Can't I go in a car?"
"Oh you could…and possibly hurt even worse! Would you rather do that?" Alexx asked.
"No…I guess not…it's bad enough now."
"Sweetheart, I'm going to ride with you, everything will be fine," Calleigh assured him.
The paramedics loaded their patient into the truck and Alexx and Calleigh joined him for the ride to the hospital.
Frank said he would come by the hospital later and check on them.
Alexx instructed the paramedic to administer an injection of Droperidol to help settle Horatio's nausea and help him relax.
Once at the hospital, Alexx paged Dr. Woodall, the doctor she had referred to as being very discrete, and the doctor she thought would be excellent if Horatio needed surgery.
As Horatio rested in a bed in one of the many cubicles in the trauma department, Dr. Woodall entered with Alexx and politely acknowledged Calleigh sitting in a chair beside the bed.
"Mrs. Caine?" the doctor inquired.
Calleigh responded, "Yes."
"The first thing I would like to do is get a CT scan of his abdominal area, particularly the left side to find out the condition of his spleen. It could be only bruised, or it could actually be ruptured from the trauma he sustained. I will be able to tell you more in a couple of hours when we have our results of the scan."
"Doctor, what would be the treatment for both scenarios?" Calleigh inquired.
"If the spleen is only bruised, he will be sent home today with some medicine for the pain and nausea. If we find a rupture, he will be taken into surgery to repair the tear. During surgery if we were to find it severely damaged, we would have no choice but remove the spleen, but I don't believe it is that damaged because he would be exhibiting more serious symptoms than he currently is showing."
Calleigh reached for Horatio's hand and took it in hers. Leaning over Horatio she kissed him softly and it caused Horatio to stir. "Umm, Sweetheart…I'm going…to be ok…don't…worry."
"Oh Handsome…it's my job to worry! I will be waiting right here for you when they bring you back from the scan." Horatio smiled weakly at his wife.
It seemed to take forever before the door opened and the orderlies were rolling Horatio back into the room. Alexx had stayed with her, going to get coffee for them and just chatting, it had really been a blessing for her to have the company.
Calleigh was relieved that Horatio came back…it meant no surgery. He seemed to still be under the effect of the shot Alexx ordered in the ambulance and she was glad he was sleepy.
Dr. Woodall came into the room shortly after and gave Calleigh and Alexx the results of the test.
"As I suspected, his spleen is bruised, he has a couple of broken ribs and something that surprised me, a bruised kidney. He evidently sustained blunt force trauma to his back on the left side as well."
"Will he need to stay in the hospital doctor?" Calleigh inquired.
"I think it will be fine for him to return home later today…I would like to keep him under observation for most of the day though. I understand your need for privacy concerning this matter so, I have instructed the nurses that he will remain in this room…hospital policy says that a person can stay in ER for 23 hours without being admitted and I think he will be able to go home before that time. I will instruct the nurses that he can eat a soft diet later when he wakes up, just let the nurse know and they will bring a tray for him later. Mrs. Caine, would you like a tray now?"
"I will wait until they bring my husband's, I am not actually hungry right now, but thank you."
Alexx told Calleigh that she would go on home to get some rest, but she would be on duty before Horatio went home and she would come by and check on them.
"Thank you Alexx for everything you have done for us…I am sorry we had to disrupt your night," Calleigh told her friend as she gave her a hug.
"I would have been hurt if you hadn't called me Calleigh, now you try to get some rest…Horatio will mend. I am sure Frank will take you both home later."
"Yeah, I'm sure he will…or Eric."
A short time after Alexx left, Horatio began to wake up and become more alert.
"Hey Handsome…I feel better now that I see those sexy blue eyes of yours!" Calleigh playfully said, trying to lighten the situation.
"Sweetheart…is there some…water around? My mouth feels like cotton."
"Coming right up!" Calleigh answered spying a pitcher of water on the table on the other side of the bed.
When Frank arrived later that afternoon he was relieved at how much better Horatio looked, in fact the nurses had raised his bed slightly and he noticed a partially eaten food tray off to the side.
"Well, I would say you look damn chipper, compared to earlier today," Frank drawled in his usual gruff voice.
Horatio smiled warmly at his friend and said, "I imagine I do Francis. Thank you for helping us last night…I'm glad Calleigh had you and Alexx to be with her."
"Anytime H…anytime, but I don't want to get a call like that again…you hear me?"
"I agree," Horatio answered.
Behind Frank the door opened revealing Eric wearing a large grin as he said, "Hey H, you must be feeling better."
"I am Eric…how is everything at the lab?"
Eric shook his head as he chuckled and answered his boss, "Everything is fine H…the place is still standing. When are you going to be able to break out of here?"
"I…plan to go home this evening," Horatio responded with a smile toward Calleigh.
Horatio did in fact go home before night with pain medicine and something for nausea. He informed Eric that he would be at work the next morning, much to the dismay of everyone in the room that evening. The shooting dagger looks from Calleigh and Alexx, which reflected their disbelief at his insistence, did not go un-noticed by him either.
That night as Calleigh eased into bed beside Horatio, she propped up on an elbow and just stared at him, finally saying, "Horatio, you can't feel like going in to the lab tomorrow after everything you went through today."
"Calleigh, who will oversee the lab if I'm not there?"
"What about me? I am second in command still am I not? I would hate to leave you here by yourself, but I could ask my father and Alexx to come by and check on you during the day."
Horatio, unable to turn on his side, swiftly turned his head toward her and replied, "Sweetheart I have disrupted people's time off enough for a while, besides, there is the case we are working on that I want to continue examining and try to connect it to Vogel. But a very important reason is that you need a day off…you need the rest after being up all night and staying at the hospital all day with me."
"Oh no you don't mister…if you are going to work, so am I."
"Calleigh…don't make me pull rank on you…YOU are staying home."
Calleigh just smiled and said, "We'll see."
The next morning Horatio reached to turn off the alarm and felt an excruciating pain run across his chest and down the left side to his hip. It hit him so quickly that he could not stifle a loud moan escaping his lips.
Calleigh immediately woke up from the moaning and sat up quickly to see Horatio wincing with pain and holding his left side.
"Handsome…tell me what's going on."
When he was able to catch his breath he managed to just say, "I…just need…to watch those…left jabs," while attempting a smile, but he couldn't hide much from Calleigh.
"And you are going to the lab?" Calleigh said in a slightly sarcastic tone.
"I…am after you help me get out of this bed."
"Ohhh, you are just hopeless Horatio Caine!"
After a quick shower and shave, Horatio slowly made his way to the kitchen to start the coffee. He was drinking his second cup while eating an apple Danish when Calleigh walked in dressed for work.
"Cal…"
"Lieutenant…don't you say it or I will pull rank on you by contacting the Chief and have you put on medical leave!"
"You wouldn't…"
Calleigh gave him a smirk and replied, "Try me!"
Horatio knew better than to try…he knew she would do exactly what she threatened. He took her carefully in his arms and kissed her tenderly then said, "I love you Sweetheart…even if you are mean to me sometimes," and chuckled, which caused him more pain and reminded him to take a pain pill.
"I love you Handsome…take it easy today ok?"
Horatio smiled, "Have to Sweetheart!"
Later that morning, Horatio was in his office signing paperwork Eric had left him from the previous day and was recalling the interrogation with Randy Moulton last week and the negative results trying to tie him to the evidence they had collected from the victim and the print on the bullet. The only charge they had him on was parole violation which would put him back in jail, but only for a short time.
During the meeting, he was adamant about losing the gun he was associated with in a craps game before the murder was committed. He claimed he did not know the other men in the game, but Horatio planned to bring in all of Randy's known associates and check them for a match to the evidence.
Frank had left a couple of hours ago to hunt down the next associate of Randy's, one Anthony Antero who had been charged with murder a couple of years ago, but the evidence was inconclusive. The information in the database listed Vogel as his legal counsel.