One hour and several cups of coffee later, Calleigh had finally brought Horatio up to speed on the lab's current case load.
He sat back in his chair and let out a deep breath.
"Well, it seems like criminals never take a day off, do they?"
"You can say that again. We've had to draft in a couple of techs from the night shift to help shift the backlog of evidence that we've got piling up."
She saw the look of shame that flashed across his pale face and attempted to stop him before he could apportion even more blame to himself.
"No, it's not your fault. The backlog would have happened either way, you not being here had nothing to do with it."
She arched an eyebrow at him, daring him to challenge her statement as he had the good grace to nod his head and slowly close his mouth.
"So which one takes your fancy?" she asked as she looked down at the open case files on the desk.
"The murder-suicide that Eric's working on sounds like it might be interesting," he suggested half-heartedly.
She beamed another million-watt smile at him.
"I had a feeling you'd say that, he's waiting in Trace for you."
The surprise was evident on his face and so she decided to put him out of his misery.
"I know you, Horatio. The cases where things don't seem to add up are a favourite of yours. You like working the pieces of the puzzle out, it'll give your big old brain something to concentrate on."
He raised his head and tilted it slightly to the left as he regarded her.
"What would I do without you?" he remarked with a wry smile.
Case file in hand, Horatio walked through the halls until he found himself in the Trace department. He stood in the doorway for a few moments, admiring Eric's work and dedication to his job.
"Eric, mind if I join you?" he asked, causing the younger man to jump noticeably.
"Sure, be my guest," he replied as he made room at the workstation for his colleague and brother in law.
"What have you got so far?"
The tall Cuban smiled as he saw Horatio skimming his eyes over the evidence laid out on the table, ready to be processed.
"We got called out to a scene yesterday in Coral Gables, two DBs and a hell of a lot of blood. Looked like a straight up murder-suicide."
The redhead turned to look at the other man.
"But you don't think that's the case?"
Eric shook his head as he picked up a piece of bloodied clothing; it looked like a woman's blouse.
"If this was just a simple crime of passion, husband murders wife scenario, then why is there so much blood spatter on the wife's clothes. It doesn't make any sense."
"What is the evidence telling you, Eric?"
"It's telling me that something hinky is going on. Maybe the wife murdered her husband and then killed herself," he mused as he placed a hand on his chin.
"But the end result would still be the same, murder-suicide," Horatio countered.
"Or maybe the whole thing was staged. I gotta be honest with you, H; this one's got me stumped."
"Have you had the autopsy reports back from Dr Loman yet?"
"No, he says they won't be completed until later on today."
The redhead could the see the apprehension on his colleagues face, something was clearly bothering him.
"Is there a problem, Eric?" he asked gently, trying not to sound like a headmaster chiding a student.
"I only did a cursory investigation of the scene; I just assumed that it was a simple 'open and shut' case."
The younger man's cheeks flushed with shame and embarrassment as he avoided looking in his superior's direction.
"Well, we all know what happens when we assume, don't we?" the redhead responded dryly.
"I'm sorry, H, it was sloppy of me. I should have known better than to not look beneath the surface. You taught me that, right?"
"Don't worry about it, brother. Let's go back and take another look at the crime scene, shall we?"
The mood was quiet in the Hummer on the drive back to the crime scene as Eric kept making furtive glances towards his passenger. It hadn't escaped his attention how Horatio had for the most part kept his gaze straight ahead as he absent-mindedly fiddled with his sunglasses. He also hadn't missed how the redhead had flinched each time they drove over a bump or pothole.
"Bet it feels good to be back, huh?"
At least he was rewarded with a glance in his direction for his troubles as a pair of steely blue eyes pinned him before the other man's expression softened.
"I am glad to be back, believe me, I sometimes wondered if I'd ever see this day. I just get the feeling….I don't know, that I should be more enthusiastic about it than I actually am."
"How so?"
Horatio closed his eyes for a moment or two as he gathered his thoughts.
"Standing in front of the team, working evidence and crime scenes, it just reminds me of what a complete ass I made of myself."
"H, you know that's not true."
"I failed myself, I failed the team and most of all, I failed Kyle. If I'd just been able to swallow my pride and tell you what was happening then maybe we could have avoided all of this."
"What happened happened. There's nothing any of us can do about it now, we've just gotta put it behind us and move on, right?"
The redhead sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"That's the problem, Eric. I'm not sure that I can."
Flashback. Miami, 13 weeks ago:
Frank strolled into the ICU department, rubbing at the back of his neck in an attempt to release some of the tension from his tired and aching muscles. It had been just over a week since Horatio's dramatic rescue at sea and it seemed to Frank that the criminals of Miami had seen it as their chance to wreak havoc in the city.
Cases had been piling up in the department for the last few days and it certainly didn't help having a team of CSIs who were more than a little distracted from their normal duties by their concern for their leader. At least Calleigh and Eric had taken it in turns to oversee the lab while the other stood guard at their friend's bedside day after day.
The rest of the team had popped by to visit as and when their free time allowed but Frank could see the toll that it had taken on all of them. They had been shaken to see Horatio in such a state, physically and emotionally, the tough and vibrant lieutenant had battled through the last week and it was only yesterday that Alexx had admitted that he was likely out of danger.
Smiling at a nurse who walked by, Frank made his way to his friend's darkened room opening the door quietly and finding the redhead seemingly asleep. He crept over and sat down in the chair beside the bed, surprised to find that Horatio had opened his eyes.
"Hey, pal," Frank smiled as he saw the cloudy and pain-filled eyes looking straight at him.
"Frank," the other man croaked as he battled to keep his eyes open.
"How're you holding up?"
He could see Horatio's eyes roll towards the back of his head each time he blinked.
"Been better," he mumbled from behind the oxygen mask that had been a permanent fixture on his face since he'd been brought in.
He was relieved to see that his friend was at least breathing a little easier than he had been a few days ago; it seemed as if the vast amounts of medication the doctors were administering to Horatio were at last doing their job.
The lights in the room were still dimmed, attempts to gradually increase the brightness had all resulted in failure so far and it concerned Frank that Horatio might never be able to return to duty as a police officer.
Glancing around the room, Frank could see a corner dedicate entirely to presents and cards that had been delivered to the lab from concerned citizens and well-wishers. He smiled at the memory of dozens of mail deliveries being made and the poor receptionists at the department being overrun with gifts and cards.
The team had taken it in turns to bring the items with them each time they visited and hoped that it would cheer their injured colleague up to know that so many people held him in high regard.
He wasn't sure if it was the medication they were pumping into Horatio that made the redhead so quiet and withdrawn, but he could sense that there was something different about his friend since he'd woken up.
"Ryan's gonna drop by later with another sack of goodies for you."
Horatio's only response was to nod his head slightly and close his eyes.
"It's not right."
The quiet and croaky voice was barely audible over the beeping of the monitors but Frank could not mistake the sorrow in the other man's voice.
"People care about you, Horatio. They just want to show their support," he tried to reason with his friend.
"Not worth it."
"Sure you are, pal."
The monitors began to beep with increasing urgency as Horatio became more distressed. Frank was at a loss for what to do and felt useless as he heard a nurse enter the room to attend to her ailing patient.
"Are you getting yourself over-excited again, Mr Caine?" the nurses cajoled as she placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to get him to focus on her.
She was rewarded by a garbled jumble of words from her patient as he looked at her and then back towards Frank.
"Just lay back and relax, try to get some sleep," she suggested as she adjusted the drip hanging by the bed.
It took a while but the redhead finally drifted away into a restless slumber as Frank followed the nurse from the room, surprised to bump into Calleigh and Kyle.
"Shouldn't you two be at home resting?" he groused as he ran a hand over his balding head.
Calleigh glanced at the young man by her side and gave Frank an embarrassed smile.
"I don't think either of us could get much sleep. It sounds silly but I feel better being closer to Horatio."
She could tell by the look on Frank's face that something was troubling him.
"Is something wrong with Horatio?" she asked nervously as she glanced towards Kyle.
The tall Texan let out a deep breath, not sure how to put his thoughts into words.
"I know that he's still pretty sick but I just can't shake the feeling that something's changed with Horatio. It seems to me like a part of Horatio was left out there on the water when they rescued him."
The look on Calleigh's face said it all; she knew exactly what Frank meant. It seemed to her as though a part of Horatio was missing and that it was still drifting, lost at sea.