A frown crossed Calleigh's face when she saw Horatio on one side of her daughter's hospital bed and Alexx on the other. What made her frown deepen though, was how small and fragile her little girl looked.

"Horatio?" she called softly. Slowly he lifted his head from his inspection of his hands and met her worried gaze.

"Cal," he greeted softly. Giving him a shaky smile Calleigh made her way forward still holding Peter in her arms. Speed who was carrying a sleepy Lauren and Jeff followed behind her.

"How's she doing?" Calleigh asked.

"She's still pretty sick, but somewhat better than last night. The fever's dropped from 103.7 to 102. It's still high but better than it was before," Alexx supplied.

"Has she had anymore seizures?" Calleigh wanted to know.

"No, not since she got here last night," Horatio said softly. He couldn't hold Calleigh's eyes. Handing Peter to Alexx Calleigh walked over to her husband and knelt down in front of him.

"Horatio, listen to me," she called softly as she placed her hands on his knees.

"What is it?"

"This is not your fault. You couldn't have done anything to stop it. You did everything to help her," Calleigh said vehemently.

"But..." Horatio protested.

"No buts, you did everything for Jenny that you could," Calleigh said. Rising to her feet she gathered her husband into her arms and hugged him tightly. He clung to her seeking strength and comfort. After a moment he pulled back and she leaned in for a quick kiss before releasing him and turning to her daughter.

"Hey, sweetie, how are you feeling?" Calleigh asked soothingly as she brushed hair out of her daughter's eyes.

"Yucky, Mommy."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Everyone tells me you were a very brave girl," Calleigh said. Jenny just nodded.

"I'm glad your home," Jenny said softly as she held out her arms for a hug. As Calleigh leaned down to give her oldest daughter a hug she caught sight of the nasal canula and frowned. Noticing her frown Alexx followed her eyes until she saw what she was looking at.

"The oxygen is just a precaution. She was on an oxygen mask when she came in but they switched her to the canula when she'd showed enough improvement," Alexx explained.

"Are you okay, Jen?" Jeff asked softly as he moved from beside Speed to stand next to his mother. Jenny slowly nodded as she tried to give her brother a smile. Just then someone knocked on the door. A pretty young nurse stuck her head around it.

"My, it looks like you have quite a lot of people who love you," she said to her patient as she made her way to the bed her various instruments in her hand.

"Yeah, that's my mommy, and that's my brother Jeff, and that's my uncle Speed and that's my sister Lauren," Jenny introduced. Realizing someone was missing she asked, "Where's Uncle Eric?"

"I'm right here, sweet pee," he said as he appeared in the doorway. A smile spread across Jenny's face when she saw him.

"Hey there, kiddo," he said as he walked over and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Feels like her temps gone down.

"That's what I'm here to check," said the nurse as she pulled out her thermometer. After she took the little girls temperature she took her blood pressure, checked her pulse and checked her o2 sats.

"I'm happy to report the fever is down significantly. It's down to just below 100."

"Has she been able to keep anything down?" Calleigh asked.

"She's been able to keep some Jell-O and some clear liquid down," Alexx informed her. The mother of four smiled at the news.

"When can I go home?" Jenny whined.

"Maybe later today or tomorrow depending on how quickly your fever goes down and depending on what the doctor says," the nurse answered.

"Okay," the young girl mumbled.

"Lets try some jello for breakfast how does that sound?" asked the nurse.

"Sure," Jenny said.

"I'll be right back with it, then," she said as she walked out of the room.

A few hours later Jenny's fever had broken and the doctor felt comfortable discharging her into the care of her parents.

"It's so good to be home," Calleigh murmured.

"MMM," Horatio agreed. Fifteen minutes later Jenny was settled on the couch, Peter and Lauren were down for a nap in their rooms and Jeff was working on the homework they'd picked up at school that afternoon. Calleigh was slightly concerned when Horatio hadn't come back down after putting Peter down so she ascended the stairs to look for her missing husband. She found him leaning against the wall just outside Jenny's room stairing into space.

"Something the matter?" Calleigh questioned.

"The carpet and her bedding is clean," he explained in awe.

"Yeah, Speed cleaned it up and then called in the crime sceen clean up crew to clean the carpet," she explained. Speed had told her what he did on the drive to the hospital.

"I guess I lost the bet," Horatio commented.

"How about we call it a draw and we take the decomps together?" Calleigh suggested with a soft smile.

"Okay, sounds good to me," Horatio agreed holding out his arms. Calleigh stepped gladly into his welcoming embrace.

"Welcome home, beautiful. I love you," Horatio whispered in her ear.

"I love you to, handsome. I'm glad to be home," she whispered back as she snuggled into him.

"What do you say we take a little nap while the kids are sleeping and Jeff does his homework?" Horatio suggested with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"I think that's a wonderful idea," Calleigh answered with a sexy smile. Taking Calleigh's much smaller hand into his Horatio gave it a tug as he guided them to their bedroom once they were both inside he closed the door and locked it before pushing his wife up against the door and kissing her soundly.

"Now that's the way to say welcome home," Calleigh breathed as she leaned in for another.

Fin

A/n, please read and review. I'll have the alone that one of my reviewers requested in a seperate one-shot. Please read and review.