The journey to the hospital seemed to last forever as Eric sat on the opposite side of the ambulance watching the paramedic work hurriedly on his fallen friend, all the while hearing the sirens of his colleague's vehicles providing a speedy escort for the ambulance.

He let out a small sigh of relief, it was still early morning and traffic would be minimal at this hour anyway, but he felt better for knowing that Calleigh's Hummer, along with those of their colleagues would be carving a route straight to the hospital that would enable them to get there as quickly as possible.

It only took one look back to Horatio to realise that for all their effort it might prove to be too late to save the redhead. He watched as the paramedic attached wires to his friend's bare chest and frowned as he saw the unstable readings on the monitors, it didn't take a doctor to realise that the man on the stretcher was barely hanging on.

The paramedic shook his head and hung another bag of fluid over the stretcher, trying to physically force the ailing redhead's blood pressure back up. Eric had never felt so helpless in his life; there was simply nothing he could do to help Horatio now. All he could do was sit back and pray that fate was on their side.

The sight of Horatio's eyes flickering took both Eric and the paramedic by surprise as a soft groan emanated from the man on the stretcher. Eric closed the short distance and placed his head in his brother-in-law's line of vision. He wasn't even sure that the redhead could see him or understand him, but he had to try.

"H, it's me, Eric. We've got you; you're going to be ok. You hear me?

He looked down, trying to find an undamaged portion of Horatio's body to take hold of and squeeze reassuringly. He finally settled on touching the other man's right shoulder which for the most part looked relatively wound-free.

He found himself barged out of the way as the one eye that wasn't swollen shut opened in a panicked and wide-eyed stare. He could hear the gurgling noises that Horatio was making from the other side of the ambulance as the redhead began gasping and choking, trying to get air into his lungs.

"Roy, you need to step on it. I don't think he's going to last much longer," the paramedic called out to his colleague who was driving the vehicle.

"We're about two minutes out, the ER team are ready and standing by."

Eric sat back and watched as the paramedic placed an oxygen mask over his friend's face in an effort to help his breathing but it seemed to have little effect as the monitor recording Horatio's vitals beeped more erratically as each moment ticked by.

He had to brace himself as the ambulance skidded to a stop outside the hospital, grabbing onto the shelving at his side in an attempt to stop himself from falling. He'd barely had time to right himself before the doors were opened and hospital staff began swarming the area.

His eyes met those of a familiar face as he saw Alexx Woods leading the ER team. He didn't miss the way her eyes widened in alarm as she saw who was lying on the stretcher. It took her a few moments before she began shouting commands at her colleagues as she ran alongside the stretcher as it was taken into the hospital.

She gave Eric a quick glance, "We'll do everything we can, sugar. I promise you."

And with that she was gone.

"Eric?"

"Eric?"

Finally, he looked up into the soft green eyes of his colleague and gave her a shaky smile.

"You ok, Eric?"

"Yeah, I think so….I'm not sure."

"He's tough, he'll be ok."

He looked at her with pained eyes, "You don't know that, Cal. You didn't see what he looked like."

"He's made it this far, he's not going to give up now." The words sounded hollow, even to her own ears.

The two of them walked in silence into the ER waiting room, joining their colleagues along with Kyle and Andy who were sitting next to each other, talking quietly. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing and looked up at them.

"How's Horatio?" Natalia asked nervously.

Eric pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and fatigue. "He was alive when they got him here, barely."

He saw Kyle flinch at his blunt assessment of the situation.

"Alexx was here when they took him in. She'll come and find us as soon as she knows anything."

"And how long is that going to take?" Andy grumbled as he crossed his hands over his portly stomach.

"No news is good news, right guys?" Ryan added as he stood awkwardly across the room.

After remaining uncharacteristically silent, Calleigh finally spoke up, addressing those assembled in the room.

"There's not much we can all do here, why don't you head home and get some rest. We'll call you as soon as we know anything."

"Nope, can't do that, Calleigh," Walter said as he took a sip of his vending machine coffee and then grimaced at its foul taste.

"We're staying here until we know H is going to be ok."

"You might have a long wait," she suggested.

"We're not moving until we know what's happening, right guys?"

Walter looked to the rest of the team who all nodded in agreement and then went about making themselves comfortable for the long wait to come.

Several hours later, Dr Alexx Woods emerged from the ER looking exhausted as she wiped the perspiration from her forehead. She looked at the assembled group and found herself unable to hide the sadness from her eyes as they all looked at her expectantly.

"Why don't you all sit down," she suggested gently.

The comment sent alarm bells ringing in Calleigh's mind; surely Alexx wasn't here to break the news to them that Horatio was dead. He had made it this far, it didn't make sense for him to give up now.

"He's not gone, is he?" Ryan asked quietly.

"No, sugar, he's not."

"What is it then?" Kyle asked as he stood up and made his way towards Alexx, a woman who had shown him a great deal of love and understanding since he'd entered Horatio's life.

"Sit down, honey, and I'll explain."

Kyle found himself following her commands, her maternal nature putting him instantly at ease as he sat down next to her. For the first time since he'd returned home to find his father missing, someone was finally treating him like an adult and not a scared little boy. He didn't feel as if he were being patronised or being told what to do when he was around her, she made him feel like an equal and treated him with a sense of respect.

"Please, Dr Woods. Just tell us what's happening with my dad."

The kindly doctor took a deep breath before she began, placing a hand on Kyle's knee as she began to recite the litany of ailments that the redhead was currently battling.

"The Coast Guard did well to stabilise your father as much as they did before he got here. He was in pretty bad shape when they brought him into the ER and it took us a long time to get him anywhere near stable on the monitors."

"He's lucky that he was so cold when they found him, the hypothermia may have been what saved his life."

"So you'll warm him up and he'll be alright?" Kyle asked, using his rough knowledge of first aid from his Army training.

"It's not that simple, sugar. Your father was severely dehydrated when they brought him in; it's why the EMTs had such a hard time getting any IV lines into him, because of the lack of blood volume they struggled to find any suitable veins."

"So you need to give him fluids then?"

"We have to be extremely careful about how we do it, honey. If we force too many fluids into his system we could end up causing a number of neurological issues and I don't want to risk that with his recent head injury. We also need to be careful about how we go about raising his body temperature; if we do it too quickly we could end up causing organ failure, or worse."

"Is that it, though?" Eric asked, hoping that they'd heard the worst of it.

"No, I'm afraid not. We did some scans after we stabilised him, there's a small amount of swelling around his previous head injury and some internal bleeding in his abdomen likely caused by the explosion."

She looked at the crestfallen faces of her former colleagues and was tempted to leave her assessment there but deep down she knew that she owed it to the team and Horatio to tell them the truth.

"Horatio was struggling to breathe when they brought him in, it looks like he aspirated a fair amount of water before he was found. Because he was unconscious, we had to drain the fluid from his pleural space via a procedure called thoracentesis, which has helped him to breathe a little easier. I'm concerned about pneumonia and the build-up of fluid that could accumulate again."

"X rays showed that Horatio's left arm was broken in two places and will need to be fixed with a metal plate surgically, the fingers are broken but don't appear to be too badly damaged. He's got a number of cracked ribs, some of which are causing the internal bleeding and will need to be monitored carefully."

"We'll stitch the worst of the cuts when Horatio is a little more stable, we've just covered and wrapped them for now. Most of the burns appear to be fairly minor and should heal without scarring in time."

The team struggled to take on board the news and Alexx took pity on them, she was finding the news hard enough to deal with herself. Time and distance had not lessened the strong bond she felt with Horatio, they had kept in regular contact since her decision to quit the morgue and return to her first love of practicing medicine.

She knew that the work Horatio and his team did could often be treacherous, dreading seeing any of them being brought into her ER in need of her attention. This time it seemed worse though, she had never seen her close friend look so pale and lifeless before. She had always seen the redhead as energetic and vibrant; to see him barely clinging onto life shocked her more than she ever imagined it would.

Kyle's quiet voice eventually pulled her from her thoughts.

"Will he be ok, Dr Woods?"

The uncertainty in the young man's face caused tears to well in her own eyes as she regarded the boy who looked so much like his father. She raised a hand and cupped his cheek gently.

"I wish I could tell you that everything will be alright, honey. The truth is...I don't know yet."

She let out a small sigh and wiped at the tears that were cascading down her face.

"There are a lot of factors that could change your father's prognosis, we have to make sure that his body temperature and blood pressure stabilise before we even think about tackling any of the other issues. If we can do that then I believe he'll have a chance. I'm afraid that we'll just have to wait and see and pray that Lady Luck is on our side."

She leant over and placed a tender kiss on the young man's temple before picking up her clipboard and returning to the ER.

The whole team sat in silence as they tried to process what they had been told. Natalia had broken into sobs as soon as Alexx had left and was currently being comforted by Ryan as he held her closely.

Frank sat on one of the hard, plastic chairs in the waiting room with his head in his hands, running his calloused fingers over his balding pate.

"You need to go home," Eric said as he rose from his chair. "I'll stay here with Kyle and Andy. The rest of you should go home and try to get some sleep; we'll need you back at the lab to work the evidence."

"No, we're staying," Ryan said as he reluctantly released Natalia.

"It's not a request, Wolfe. Go home; we'll call you as soon as we know anything."

Eric hoped that this wouldn't turn into a battle of wills, he was already mentally and physically exhausted from the horrific day he'd just experienced. The last thing he needed was a staring contest with Ryan.

He let out a small sigh of relief as the three most junior members of the team left the waiting area reluctantly, followed closely by Frank.

He lowered himself back down to the chair with a heavy thump, before turning his attention to the weary blonde sitting next to him.

"That goes for you too, Cal," he said with a sad smile.

She shook her head vigorously. "I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying right here."

He crouched down in front of the tired woman as he tried to reason with her, "You need to get some rest, when was the last time you slept?"

She did everything she could to avoid his gaze, "I'm fine, Eric. I just need to get some coffee to perk me up a little bit."

He was about to argue when she brushed past him and began striding across the waiting room. He frowned as he watched her go and then gasped in shock as he saw her legs wobble as she raised a shaky hand to her head. He couldn't get to her in time before her legs gave out completely, sending her crashing to the ground.