Chapter Text
Speed muffled his groan as he headed to the crime scene. It was supposed to be his day off and he and Horatio had planned to take the kid up to Disney World for the day. Horatio really needed the reconnection to both members of the family. Their last case had been a bad one, a girl murdered by her abusive father. Everybody had taken the case hard but it hit Horatio harder than the rest. Speed didn’t have a clue why until Yelina had shown up two hours after shift ended. He wanted to tell her that Horatio wasn’t home yet but as it turned out she was there to pick up Spencer and she knew very well where Horatio was. “Some men take to drinking or gambling,” she told him, “Horatio wouldn’t do that. It’s against his religion. And he takes religion very seriously, just like everything else.”
With that odd bit of advice, she gave him the address of a church that Raymond had gone to when it got to be too much and she thought that Horatio would probably be there. Then she shepherded Spencer out to her car and drove off. Speed had stared at the hastily scrawled note in his hand before grabbing his jacket and heading out on his bike. He found the church in short order and got there just as a mass was letting out. He maneuvered through the crowd and saw that Horatio was right up front, still kneeling in his pew.
He had walked up quietly and just sat next to his dragon for a few minutes. He wasn’t aware that Horatio realized he was there until the redhead started talking. He told Speed about his past and about his mother’s death. He told Speed secrets he was sure that Horatio hadn’t told anyone, except maybe Laura. Speed was still in awe of all that Horatio had gone through and that he had come out being one of the bravest, most caring men on the planet. Horatio had also explained that neither he nor Raymond had ever wanted to burden their families and especially their sons with their problems with the past and when things happened they would usually spend a good deal of the night in the church. It took some convincing but a lot less than Speed expected to get Horatio to come home with him.
Speed took Horatio home and made sure his lover was well cared for, for the rest of the night. He had suggested the trip with Spencer, to remind H that they were a family and he didn’t need to face his problems alone. The kid had been really excited for it as had Horatio and Speed began to feel himself get excited as well. That is until he had woken up from a deep sleep to the sound of the phone ringing. Some damn boat crash meant he had to cancel his plans for an outing. Of course Horatio would have wanted to come in too but Speed managed to sneak out of the house pretty easily. He left a note that demanded Horatio continue on with out him.
He met up with Eric just before they got to the tape. “Horatio?” Eric whispered
“Back at the house,” he whispered back, “I called Rick and pulled a few strings. He’s spending the day with Spencer.” Eric nodded and they ducked under the tape. Calleigh was already there.
“Hey there y’all,” she greeted, “Looks like we might have more than just a boat crash here. I guess Speed’s in charge right now.”
“What do you mean?” Speed frowned.
“Well besides our dear Lt, you’re the only CSI level 3. I just kinda assumed that Horatio would’ve left you in charge. Seein as how me an Eric are both lacking in experience.”
Speed’s frowned deepened. He didn’t want to be in charge. He was perfectly happy to leave all that to Horatio. But unfortunately it looked like he would have to be the boss today. Callie was right; he was the one with the most experience. “Fine,” he grumbled, “Let’s get to work.” They began to collect all their evidence and Speed had to admit that it looked like Callie might be right. Since he was the boss for the day, it was his job to go with Yelina to talk to the victim’s family.
“So,” Yelina said as they drove out, “How’s Horatio? I assume you found him.”
“Yeah I did. I got him home and took care of him. Then I called Rick this morning when the call came in had him pull a few strings. Horatio is going to spend the day with Spencer at Disney World.”
“Good for him. He needs some family time,” she said with a smile.
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Back in the lab Eric was going over evidence and waiting for Calleigh to come up. He heard her heals clicking behind him and turned to smile at her. “I just saw something very weird,” she said setting her kit down.
“What was that?”
“There was a Covair Spyder out in the parking lot. Bright red, too.”
“Oh that’s H’s car,” Eric said not looking up from his trace. “He must need to collect something.” Before Calleigh could say anything, Horatio entered the trace lab. To say that is was a shock to her system would’ve been an understatement. Horatio usually never set foot in the lab unless he looked absolutely perfect. Shades in their place, shoes shined, not a thread or a hair out of place. That was not the Horatio that jogged by them up to his office. His hair was in complete disarray and there was a pair of beat up old shades sitting on top of it. He was in a raggedy old Rolling Stones t-shirt, jeans and sandals. For a moment Calleigh could nothing but stand there and gape.
Eric realized that Callie hadn’t heard the question he had just put to her and so he turned to see what had caught her attention just as Horatio was going into his office. Eric had to smother a chuckle at Calleigh’s look. He had attended community meetings at H’s house plenty of times before and so he was used to seeing his boss in casual wear but for anyone who had never seen him out of work, it was a real shocker.
Horatio looked down to see Calleigh staring and Eric grinning. He smiled at both of them and Eric saluted him. He chuckled at that and saluted him back. He had to hurry and find that file for Yelina so he could get back to Spencer and their day of bonding. The boy was so excited Horatio was surprised he hadn’t vibrated straight through the seat of the car. He wondered briefly if Eric recognized the shirt he was wearing. He filed that away for later as he had just found what he needed to give to Yelina. He flipped through it to make sure everything was there on his way down. He looked over at the two CSI’s. “Everything alright?” he asked.
“Yeah we’re good H,” Eric managed, “Speed can actually lead a team. Who knew?”
“Eric, play nice,” Horatio chided, “Speed’s in charge today so you have to follow his rules. I expect everything to be in order when I come back tomorrow, understood?”
“Yes sir,” Eric said with a smile. Horatio chuckled and walked out.
“Oh. My. God,” Calleigh said. “Was that Horatio?”
Eric laughed. “Of course it was. You know anyone else in Miami with bright red hair, not counting his son?”
“I mean…it’s just…He looks so different.”
“He’s spending the day with his son at an amusement park. You don’t think he runs after his kid in the Armani and Ray Bans do you?”
“Well I suppose I never really thought about it,” Calleigh said defensively. “I mean I don’t normally sit around thinking about what my boss does on his own time.”
“Relax, Callie I’m not making fun of you. I just thought you expression was funny.” Calleigh tried to frown at him but couldn’t hold it for long. In the end she laughed at herself as well and they went back to work.
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Speed smirked as he saw the Spyder sitting in the parking lot when he and Yelina came back from their interview. He nudged Yelina slightly and she flat out grinned. They both got out of the car and went over to talk with Spencer. Speed let Yelina do most of the talking as he had to be careful about what he said but he did give him a smile and told him to have fun.
They turned to go inside and met Horatio at the steps. He apparently had some sort of file to give to Yelina and they stood there and talked. Speed smiled as he saw the t-shirt H had on. *That’s my shirt* he sent to him.
Horatio was glad that Yelina had made a comment because it allowed him to smile with out looking foolish. *I wanted to be near you angel*
*Sorry about our plans. This looks like a kidnapping case*
*It’s not your fault. I’ll call you later to see how you’re doing. Call me if you need any help or anything. I’m always here*
*God I love you* And with that, sooner than Speed would have liked they had to part ways again. Speed let most of the love he was feeling flow through the bond along with a little of the longing. In turn he felt Horatio pour his love into the bond along with a message that they would be together tonight and that there would be other family days for them. Speed smiled his own private smile as they went in. He found Eric in the lab. “What have we got?” he asked.
“Well you remember how you called to tell me that the jewelry we found was a ransom?” Eric asked. Speed nodded. “Something doesn’t add up. I’m pretty sure these jewels are fake.”
“Fake?”
“Yeah I found scratches on this emerald here. You can’t do that to a real emerald.”
“That’s odd. Why would there be fake jewels?”
“Don’t know but I bet that’s why the husband died. These marks were made by a tooth, so they checked the jewelry found out it was fake and shot him. Sounds to me like we have another road trip on our hands.”
“Call Callie. We might as well all be in on it.”
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They had gone back to the house to find out that the wife had no idea that the jewels were fake. She was really getting scared for her kid, which Speed could appreciate. She gave them the name of the jeweler where they had everything cleaned and as they drove Speed thought about how he would react if Spencer were kidnapped. He realized he’d probably be just as terrified as Horatio. After all they were a family now. The place, McCauley Jewelers, was in an upscale area of town. Speed couldn’t help the sneer that surfaced when he saw the expensive car sitting out in front. “Nice Rolls,” he said sarcastically, “I bet it’s the owners.”
“Probably,” Callie agreed.
“Cars like that are such a bad investment,” he gripped, “I’m just glad I have my bike.”
“Yeah but one day you may need something with doors,” Eric teased.
“I’ve got plenty of time for that.” With that they went inside and looked for the owner. Turned out Mr. McCauley wasn’t there anymore. There was some Hungarian, looking really oily. Speed took an instant dislike to him. He, of course, had to lead the questioning which meant more interaction time with this dude than he cared for. He helped himself by letting one corner of his brain think about family time tonight. Eric and Calleigh fanned out to check out the rest of the store.
Eric noticed some guy under the back table and began to slip his gun out. He caught Callie’s eye and gave a small nod. Callie looked down his line of sight and also spotted the man. Speed noticed the two of them pulling out their guns. “Excuse me,” he said, “Eric?” He barely registered that the man was still talking but he didn’t care. “Don’t move,” he ordered. He made his way over to where Eric was, both noticing the door in the back opening. A guy came out and raised his gun. “Eric!” he yelled.
The next moments seemed to happen in slow motion. He saw the man fire and heard people scream in the background. He didn’t spare a glance at them, knowing Callie would take care of them. Eric fired back but when Speed attempted to all he heard was a click. Damn it, he thought looking down on it. Why the hell didn’t I clean it? He didn’t have time to do anymore than that because the man from the back fired again and this time it hit Speed in the shoulder. He fell with a cry and landed on the hard floor.
“Speed!” Eric yelled. He squeezed off two more rounds and went to help his friend. Calleigh watched the man in the back fall. She wanted to check in on Speed but decided Eric could handle it. She’d need to talk to these two ladies now that the threat was apparently over. Instead another man came out of the back and leveled his gun at her. She tried to bring her gun up and shoot but she felt slow for some reason. Instead Eric ran in the bullets fire path.
Speed’s vision had grayed out when his wounded shoulder had made contact with the floor. When he came back he noticed two things. One that his shoulder hurt like a bitch and two Eric’s color was really odd for a dragon. Callie was standing in the middle of the room with an orange dragon looking down at her and she looked more than a little frightened. As if things weren’t bad enough Eric had Changed. “Well there goes family time,” he grumbled.