A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed or added this story to their 'favourites' list. Your continued support is much appreciated.

Please be aware that some readers may find parts of this chapter upsetting to read due to the subject matter.

Present day. Miami:

He made his way back to the bedroom; a small smile crossed his face as he saw the clothes that Calleigh had left out for him. She had laid out his favourite black suit and a dark navy blue shirt.

He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled his pants on, doing up the zip and tightening the belt around his waist. He frowned as he noticed that he was able to fasten his belt tighter than he could before his ordeal.

He looked down once more at his scarred abdomen and realised that he probably had lost weight in the last few months. It wasn't that he wasn't hungry, because he was, he just couldn't seem to stomach eating very much recently. If he were being honest with himself, he couldn't seem to stomach much of anything at all.

Grabbing his shirt, he pulled it on and winced as his actions caused his ribs to protest at his hasty movement. He ignored the pain as he did the buttons up quickly, shaking the stiffness out of his left hand after tucking his shirt into his pants.

He silently went about putting his socks and shoes on before realising that he wasn't wearing his watch. Walking over to the bedside cabinet, he found it sitting next to his phone. He placed the watch on his wrist and tightened the strap before picking up his cell phone.

He must have missed a call whilst he was in the shower, dialling his voicemail; he listened to the message that had been left.

"Hey, Dad. It's me, Kyle. I know today is your first day back at the lab; I just wanted to call you and let you know that I'm thinking about you. I'll try to call you later tonight and you can tell me all about it. I love you, Dad."

He terminated the message, closed the phone quietly and sat on the edge of the bed as he thought about how close he had come to losing his son. The memories of his time at the hands of his captors still fresh in his mind, even now.

Flashback. Miami, 14 weeks ago:

"Hey, Alexx. Everything ok with H?" Eric asked as he strolled through the ICU waiting area, he frowned as he saw the look on her face.

"He's doing as well as can be expected," she replied vaguely, realising that this had become her stock response over the last few days.

He saw through her pale attempts to cover the truth, he moved towards her and placed a hand on her arm.

"Tell me what's wrong, Alexx."

The doctor wiped the tears from her eyes as she motioned for Eric to sit down next to her, gripping the clipboard in her hands as she tried to find the right words.

"Horatio woke up earlier," she began as she kept her gaze focused on the clipboard.

"That's good news, right?"

"He was still pretty dazed when he came to but his reaction took all of us by surprise."

She risked a glance up at Eric who impatiently motioned for her to continue.

"He became quite distressed as his eyes got used to the room. He couldn't bear how bright the light was, he kept shouting for us to turn them off."

"Is that unusual?"

"We have a couple of ex-military doctors here; they say it's a common reaction for people who've been tortured using sensory deprivation."

Eric felt the air rush out of his body at the doctor's words, he felt utterly deflated that his brother-in-law had been subjected to such horrific treatment and it made him feel all the worse that they had not been able to protect him from it.

"Will it get better?" he asked, almost not wanting to know the answer.

"His eyes are extremely sensitive to any kind of light source at the moment, so we've transferred him to a room where the lights can be dimmed. We hope the physical photosensitivity will ease as his eyes gradually become used to the light in the room when we increase it."

"And what if it doesn't?"

"If it doesn't….Horatio will be looking at an early retirement from the MDPD, I'm afraid."

She gave her friend a few moments to assimilate the information before continuing.

"Due to the nature of Horatio's ordeal we've run a SAFE kit…"

Eric couldn't believe what he was hearing, he knew that Horatio had been subjected to a great deal of physical brutalisation but surely the Malucci's would not have gone so far as to sexually assault him.

"Please….please tell me that it came back negative," he pleaded as he looked her directly in the eyes.

Wiping the tears away from her face she cupped Eric's head gently as she spoke to him.

"I carried it out myself; I wasn't going to let anyone else touch my baby boy. There were no signs of any sexual assault."

He let out a breath that he didn't even realise he'd been holding.

"Thank God for that," he muttered as he ran a shaky hand over his face.

"Can I go and see him?"

"Sure you can, sugar. He's still in and out of consciousness; I'm here all night if you need me."

He pulled her into a hug before making his way to Horatio's room, his eyes widening as he saw the state of his close friend and colleague.

He shut the door and made his way further into the dimly lit room, the only light was that of the monitors as they beeped and flashed at regular intervals. He sat down heavily in the chair and took hold of the limp hand of his brother-in-law, relieved to find it warmer than it had been on the boat.

His eyes travelled down the exposed portions of the redhead's body, noting the bruising and bandages that covered his arms and chest. He couldn't help but hear the faint wheezing as Horatio's chest rose and fell as he breathed.

He squeezed the other man's hand but got nothing in response and so he settled back in the chair, ready to stand watch over his fallen friend, determined to protect him from anyone who meant him harm.

He was glad to be woken from the particularly unpleasant dream that he was having, noticing that Horatio had begun groaning and moving restlessly. He gripped the hand tighter and tried to coax the man into waking.

It took an inordinate amount of time, but eventually the auburn eyelashes flickered open as Horatio finally opened his eyes and managed to keep them open.

Eric leant over him, smiling.

"Hey man, how you doing?"

A pair of faded blue eyes looked at him quizzically as the injured man struggled to understand what he'd been asked.

He let out a few wheezing breaths before trying to speak.

"Eric?" he gasped as he tried to lift his injured arm, alarmed to find that he couldn't.

"Yeah, it's me. We've been worried about you, you know."

Horatio's head rolled listlessly from side to side before his eyes shot wide open, his grip on Eric's hand increasing considerably.

"Oh God," he let out in a breathy whisper.

Sensing his friend's distress, Eric leant over and hit the call button above the bed, all the while talking to the agitated redhead.

The cloudy blue eyes bore into him as Horatio pinned him with a panicked stare, trying his best to get up and out of the bed and groaning in pain as his injuries prevented him from moving.

"They killed him, Eric," Horatio gasped as tears sprang to his eyes.

He didn't understand what Horatio was talking about.

"Killed who, H?"

The head shook again as the heart monitor relayed the redhead's distress.

"They killed my son, they killed Kyle."

The comment took Eric by surprise, his grip loosening slightly on Horatio's hand as he struggled to process the other man's words.

He shook his head as if in a daze.

"He's fine, Horatio, I promise you. He's at Calleigh's resting."

"No, he's dead!" the redhead insisted. "I heard them shoot him. Oh God, they killed my boy….."

He gripped the hand tighter again as two nurses, followed by Alexx came rushing into the room.

"He's safe, I promise you."

He felt powerless to help his friend as he refused to believe what he was being told.

"He's dead!" Horatio shouted, as loud as his weakened body would allow him to.

Any further words were cut off by the incessant squealing of the monitors as his body shook uncontrollably as he coughed and fought for breath.

All of them jumped back in shock as Horatio freed his right hand from Eric's grip and used it to push a nurse roughly away from him. It was all that Alexx needed to witness to confirm that she was about to make the correct decision.

Grabbing a syringe she quickly injected the contents into her dear friend's IV line and watched sadly as the narcotic had the desired effect on his already weakened body. She felt the tears escaping from her own eyes as Horatio's struggles gradually lessened, his sad and dazed blue eyes staring up at her, brimming with tears.

"They killed him," he mumbled as his eyes began to close.

She kissed him fervently on his forehead as he began weeping quietly, the fight vanishing from him as the drugs took their toll on his abused body.

"Just sleep, baby. It'll all be ok, I promise you."

Eric looked on as the doctor held and crooned Horatio back to sleep, holding him until she was certain that he would not wake again for some time.