Chapter Title: Endings (prologue)

Author: Sam

Story: Bad Decisions: 00 of 08

Series: SpeedBurn: 28

Rating: M: DEATH and violence: this involves a severe car accident and the consequences of drunk driving!

Summary: New Years Eve can be considered the worst night for American law enforcement, right next to the Fourth of July, and Miami's just about to find out what worst really means.

Spoiler: Yeah, seasons 1 – 4 of CSI: Miami.

Category: Crime-related; Angst; AU

Setting: AU: SpeedBurn: December 31, 2005 – January 2006: Miami

Disclaimer: CSI: Miami was created by Ann Donahue, Carol Mendelsohn, and Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Alliance Atlantis Communications (2002-2007), The American Travelers, CBS Paramount Network Television (2006-2009), CBS Productions (2002-2006), CBS Television Studios (2009-2012), Jerry Bruckheimer Television, and Touchstone Television (pilot only). I am in no way connected with these people, and I do not claim ownership of these characters, lands, or names. I have borrowed them to share a story, and most likely not a story any of them would have written, had they had the time or no. I am making no money from this and it is just for my entertainment and that of free entertainment to a select group. Thank you.

Distribution: Please ask first?

Note: In the SpeedBurn timeline series significant changes occur in various episodes, marking differences in each series. The initial drastically changed episodes are in chronological order: "Bait" (Without a Trace), "Reveille" (NCIS), "Lost Son" (CSI: Miami), "Bodies in Motion" (Crime Scene Investigation), "Summer in the City" (CSI: NY), and "In Name and Blood (In Birth and Death)" (Criminal Minds). Many episodes after those changed are also different. This story is number 28 in the grand scheme. Thank you.

Feedback: Yes, please, especially constructive.

xxx

Saturday Night, December 31, 2005: Miami:

Laughter, lively chatter, and festive music mixed into a joyous cacophony as the party blurred out the sounds of the television reporter 'live from Times Square.' Colorful costumes blended as party guests moved among each other, dressed for a night of revelry ringing in the New Year with good friends and good food. No one begrudged the comings and goings of people stopping by to say 'hello' then leaving to go to another party, though mild protests accompanied those who did choose to move on. The front door was barely visible amid the revelers, but those closest finally gave up on persuading the latest guests from leaving. A laughing, friendly baritone could barely be heard as a man said, "I'll drive them home and be right back. She can come get her car tomorrow or have it towed."

"Can I come too, Daddy?" the plaintive note of a pre-adolescent boy drew little attention from the main gathering. This party had many children guests; it was a strictly alcohol-free costume party for families hosted by a beloved local doctor and her family.

The man, dressed as a rather suave Dracula, laughed and rested a dark-skinned hand on the head of the gaudily dressed clown. "Not this time, Sport. I need you to host this party while I play chauffer. Keep an eye on your mom and sister for me."

A woman facing the door, dressed in an iconic pink belly-dancer costume complete with small hat and half-veil, reached over and pulled the boy back against her scantily clad body. Her long black hair swished over her buttocks, even up in the traditional top-knot ponytail. She reached out a smooth, dark-skinned hand to lie on her husband's tuxedo sleeve. "Hurry back, Baby. Be safe."

With a laugh, he captured her hand and brought it to his lips. His warm chocolate eyes steady on her. Kissing her hand, he flipped it to expose her wrist and placed his lips gently on the smooth skin there. "I vill hurry as qvickly as possible," he said in an over-emphasized Bela Lagosi accent, wrecking the image by adding, "Doll."

Her musical laughter drew answering smiles from the closest guests. Her face was blocked from view as she stood with her back to the room, but no one could doubt her joy and love, especially the man who held her hand.

Slowly, the man dropped his wife's hand and called loudly, "Till we meet again, my friends! C'mon, Cap'n! Yer longboat awaits!" He winked at his wife.

A blue-eyed boy dressed as a pirate captain, complete with grand plumed hat and eye patch, ran past the man towards the blue station wagon in the driveway, his pale skin limned briefly in the streetlight. He carried a plastic broadsword, a plastic knife buckled to his waist, and swung a small gaily decorated gift bag in his eager grasp.

Following closely behind, laughing and fighting a yawn, a little girl dressed in sparkling long dress and fairy wings followed the pirate. A twinkling tiara glittered in her long red-blonde curls, bouncing with each skipping step. The girl, too, carried a small gift bag, received at the party. She listened attentively as the boy went off into a wild story of how pirates might have celebrated the changing of the year, blue eyes avidly following his every movement.

Bringing up the rear was a petite woman dressed in a long, slimming silver-white dress and silver heels, her long black hair gathered carefully over one arm to prevent tripping. For those in the know, she portrayed Crystal Gayle, complete with floor-length wig, which she left in place as she climbed into the front passenger seat. She turned and waved out the window. "Thanks for inviting us," she called in a light, almost girlish voice. The woman turned to make sure the children were belted properly into their seats; the little girl was still small enough to require a booster seat which the older boy helped her with.

Turning back to smile at his wife and son once more, the man murmured, "You know I love you three." He touched his wife's cheek, running his finger lightly down the soft skin and skirting the edge of her veil. Those behind her watched her hair swing over her shapely curves, the hair-extensions blending seamlessly with her natural locks, as she leaned into the caress. He continued, "I'll be back before the ball drops, Doll."

"You do that, Baby," she replied, her smile evident in her voice as she watched her husband get into the car and buckle up. As he drove away, a little girl's voice from the crowd called "hey! Where's Daddy going?"

Without turning, the woman called back on a sigh, "to drive Suzie and the kids back home. Her car broke down, Baby." She reached out and shut the door on the lukewarm Miami night and added, "I'll let you both stay up for the ball drop if you promise to go to bed right after the kissing."

"Kissing?" the little boy groaned in disgust. "Who wants to waste time kissing?"

The woman laughed back. "Kissing those you love isn't a waste of time, Baby. It's a gift to enjoy."

"If you say so, Mommy."

xxx

In the back of the station wagon, one excited, tired little boy began yet another story about some foreign tradition for the New Year. He mentioned dragons, eliciting a thrilled gasp from the little girl followed by a giggle and a soft, "real dragons?"

From the front seat the woman, still in her wig and savoring the party atmosphere as long as possible, called back cheerfully, "Wow! They must take a lot of feeding. Can you imagine cleaning up after a dragon?"

The driver joined the laughter.

He pulled the car onto South Miami Avenue behind another, lighter, blue station wagon. Traffic seemed heavy that close to the year change; a purple compact car pulled in behind the station wagon.

"Jeffrey," the bewigged Suzie glanced behind nervously, her little-girl voice hitching in worry. "Maybe we should pull over and let the traffic lighten? New Year's is pretty big on drunk driving."

With a small nod, Jeffrey reached up and loosened the collar of his Dracula cape. "That's why I chose this route. It's a little longer but out of the main flow. Not many people come down here at night."

A flash of light from behind signaled someone wanted to pass. The little boy glanced out the window and breathed "cool," as a motorcycle with two people passed them. The small vehicle went at a reasonable speed but was soon ahead of them, apparently looking for an opening to pass the other station wagon as well.

"When I grow up, I'm gonna get a motorcycle," the boy announced in a very assured tone.

Suzie laughed. "You are, are you? Will you give me a ride on it?"

"Sure will," he called back.

"Look to the right, kids," added Jeffrey. "The Science Museum is going to pass soon. It's still got its holiday light show on."

"Whoa!" The boy turned to look, excitement radiating through his body.

Glancing back with a fond smile, Suzie noted the little girl had drifted into a peaceful slumber. The happy woman grinned wider as she noticed the boy covering an inadvertent yawn. "Looks like you might miss the ball drop, kiddo," she said with a wink.

He shook his head, catching his hat as it started to slip. "Nah. Dad'll let me stay up."

Laughing, Jeffrey shook his head. "But I . . ." He was cut off by the loud, deep honking of a tractor-trailer.

"What the hell!" Jeffrey gripped the wheel firmly, ready to avoid the huge passing vehicle. He shouldn't have worried about that: the strike, when it came, was from the rear.

The station wagon careened off to the right, into the beautiful stone wall that lined the almost deserted street. A speeding black blur slammed its way through to the other station wagon and past then continued on, unheeding anything or anyone that got in its way. The other family car also hit the wall, its car lights shining on the festively lit sign of the Miami Science Museum a few hundred yards in front of it.

Quiet settled over the scene broken immediately by a demanding woman's voice calling into the darkness. "Hello, this is On-Star. We see your car has been in a front-end collision. Do you need help?"

A second voice filled the air, as if in response from a great distance: a woman screaming, drawing breath, then screaming once more, over and over. Panic rose in her tones with each ear-piercing, wordless call.

In the lead station wagon, a small blonde girl gingerly pressed the safety release on her seatbelt then cried out in a sudden rush of pain. She called, "Mommy?" but got no answer, except for the screaming of the woman and the persistent operator. Crawling slowly over the coffee holder between the front seats, the little girl slid into the front passenger seat. She looked up at the steady bright light from the console above her head. "Help us! We hit the museum," she answered the operator's frantic questions.

Immediately, the operator replied, "we're sending help. Talk to me, honey. What's your name?"

The girl shifted, pain lacerating her middle, and she passed out, her head hitting the dashboard. As her body slumped, she inadvertently hit the radio button, the volume increasing.

As the traditional song marking endings and beginnings played out a male's voice shook through the air. "Breaker one-nine, breaker one-nine, we have a pile-up on South Miami Avenue." His voice broke as he added, "there are casualties. I swear they're dead!"

From the lofty height of the eighteen-wheeler, it became evident that a pick-up truck and a compact car had crashed with the Mack Truck. A fourth, unidentifiable vehicle had been caught in the middle of the mess, crushed under and between the others, with two station wagons crumpled against the museum ground's wall. The trucker was certain he'd run over a small car in the chaos. His hands shook as much as his voice as he continued to call for help over his CB radio and listen to the near-panicked voice of a woman from below calling for someone to answer her.

Behind the semi, someone dialed on a cell phone, the electronic beeps discordant with the waning bars of the holiday song from a lone radio. "We'll share a cup of kindness yet and drink to auld lang syne."

Cheerfully, Regis Philbin's voice rang out over the scene of the accident. "Happy New Year, everybody!"

xxx

Continued in Chapter One: On Call to Hell

xxx

This is being attached to all first chapters of my CSI: Miami stories as it is imperative for the timeline!

On someone's recommendation I just watched Season 8, Episode 1 of CSI: Miami. I was horrified to see the discrepancies as compared to the original season and character biographies released in 2002. These discrepancies mainly revolve around Speed and when everyone came to or left the CSI lab. Thus, here is the original timeline as released in 2002 between Season 1, the biographies by the network, and Rory Cochrane's personal website, incorporating what I can of Season 8:

1991: Speed's best friend from high school (unnamed) receives a severe spinal injury during the senior class trip. Speed goes to medical college as a result (to try to heal him).

1993: Speed's best friend dies in surgery while Speed is in the second year of medical college with a double major (meaning four years of classes in two years). Speed drops out and disappears right after the funeral. He is not seen or found for a year.

1994: Speed turns up in Miami, living with the uncle of his deceased best friend. The uncle is a CSI from Miami's crime lab, under the supervision of Megan (Donner – no mention if she is actually married at this time). While bored, Speed visits the crime lab with his host and falls in love with the work. He applies for a job. Megan tells him to finish college and she'll hire him as a tech. He goes back to college.

1995: Speed graduates with a double major (meaning he finished four years of college in one year). He applies and is hired. In six months (supposed to be the quickest of any tech in Miami), he is made an investigator. This is without becoming a police officer at all. Horatio leaves the bomb squad and transfers to the Crime Lab. He is working under Megan. Rick Stetler also joins the crime lab (from homicide?). Both are trained by Speed as CSI's.

*September 1996: (My additions) Megan takes a temporary academy teaching position, leaving the Lab in the hands of her team: Speed, Horatio, Stetler, and various non-science related officers like John Sullivan. Speed goes to the St. Petersburg Police Academy (6 months, then a 6 month stint in St. Petersburg on the beat for experience). Shortly after these two leave, Jessie Cordoza arrives for a one year assignment before going to California.

September 1997: Flashbacks of "Out of Time" (CSI: Miami, Season 8, Episode 1) occur.

*September 1997: (My additions) Calleigh transfers from Louisiana to cover for Cordoza while they find a replacement. Within a few months, she is replaced so goes back to Louisiana. Speed returns from St. Petersburg.

*October 1997: (My additions): Megan returns from teaching and takes over the lab supervision once more.

2002: David Caruso states he is pleased that the CSI characters 'working for him' are all police officers (thus my addition of when Speed may have gone to the academy).

March 2002: Megan's husband Shawn Donner is killed in the line of duty. Megan is offered two weeks bereavement leave. She takes six months instead. The supervisor job opens, but Speed refuses to apply for it, content at his own rank. Horatio and Rick compete for the job and Horatio gets it. Rick transfers from the lab to IAB in order to get a promotion, but remains angry and resentful of Horatio. Horatio immediately hires Eric Delko and Calleigh Duquesne, handpicked CSI's. (Delko nearly made it to the Olympics as a swimmer and Calleigh was known as Bullet Girl in Louisiana at the time.)

May 9, 2002: "Cross Jurisdictions" (CSI: Miami and CSI crossover episode).

September 23, 2002: "Golden Parachute" (CSI: Miami pilot episode). Megan returns to the team as assistant supervisor. Eric expresses his anger for her attitude and Speed explains the loss of Megan's husband. (This denotes Eric did not know Megan or her history.) Also note that Megan relies heavily on Speed out of habit and unfamiliarity with Delko and Calleigh. She gives Speed double and triple amounts of work, which Horatio at times counters.

September 19, 2004: "Lost Son" (CSI: Miami episode). Speed is given full honors during the funeral, including an American flag and gun salute (denoting he is a cop).

Megan is only present for the first ten episodes. She leaves the series by the 11th episode. The character is said to have retired due to Post Traumatic Stress related to her husband's death. The actress is said to have left due to professional differences with David Caruso. My opinion differs about this for the following reason:

Speed and Megan are said to be very close friends, however the only voluntary contact Speed makes with her is during "Golden Parachute" when he sympathizes with her loss of Shawn. After that, he will not come physically close to her: stepping away if she approaches, hugging himself in an unconscious self-protective gesture, and moving so that at least one person or piece of equipment is between them whenever he is able. I think the professional differences were between Rory Cochrane and Kim Delaney.

Season 8, Episode 1 discrepancies: 1997: Calleigh transfers to Miami Crime Lab, which is "a closet". Horatio encourages Eric to become a cop then join the lab. Jesse Cordoza recommends "Speedle, a great guy up in St. Pete's (St. Petersburg, Florida, implying Speed is a cop.)". Horatio is also made head of the new crime lab, and Megan is mentioned as being in the field, but implied to be working for Horatio.

As you can see, these are major changes. My stories, especially in the SpeedBurn timeline are based on the original information released and not on the discrepancies in Season 8, though I have made adjustments which incorporate almost all Season 8 changes. Merrianna follows my lead on this, as well.

Thank you,

Sam