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A/N: My first Miami fic. This is for Jasmine, my 3 year old pug who died five months ago. Looking back I was just like Horatio when it happened.
Everything happened in slow motion. One minute he was talking with the owner of the jewelry store and then next he was firing his gun at some men who had appeared out of no where. “Speed!” he yelled, seeing his friend drop to the ground. Quickly he made his way to where the other man lay, obviously dying but that didn’t register.
“Speed.” The word fell from Horatio’s lips, a whisper of pain that begged the world that what he was seeing wasn’t true. He begged the other man to hang on, but he’d seen enough death to know it wasn’t possible. He just didn’t want to believe it.
That’s where the others found him, Speed’s blood on his face, shaken and obviously not planning to leave any time soon. None of the Miami CSIs had ever seen their stoic boss so shaken before and they weren’t sure exactly what was going on. Only Alexx noticed the deep breath the man took before he issued directions to his team and left. There wasn’t much that slipped past her sharp eyes.
Eric found Horatio in the morgue, sitting with Speed. He made a little noise just so he wouldn’t scare the other man. “Hey,” he said, kneeling down. “Alexx told me you were here.”
“I, I don’t know what happened, Eric,” Horatio said softly, his eyes not leaving Speed’s still face.
“You did everything you could, H; come on, you need to go home,” Eric said. “The girls are worried about you.”
Horatio snorted and finally looked up. “They know, don’t they?”
“Probably, they are investigators after all,” Eric replied. He put his hand on his lover’s knee. “Let me take you home.”
“It’s not home any more, Eric,” Horatio said. He leaned over and kissed Speed softly. “Not any more.”