Disclaimer: I do not own CSI: Miami or anything of its relevance. I do own Ginny Pierce and her relation to Horatio, so no stealing, pirating, or anything of that nature without asking. I do apologize to those that are faithful Speed followers, but I have to write a sad piece and this is how I would perceive the episode if Ginny had known Speed before the 'Bad Thing' had happened and how she would've reacted to the news.
Lost Girl
Ginny Pierce was waiting in her best friend and big brother's lab as he was away with her uncle following a lead. She looked up as her uncle and her other 'family' members enter the labs. She hurriedly gets up and rushes to them before recognizing the look on everyone's face. "Where's Speed?" She asked a little eager for their tastes.
Horatio Caine walked back into CSI headquarters after witnessing the death of one of his best CSIs and good friend. He looked up at the question from the young girl and then to the rest of his team, who the girl had considered the rest of her family after her own parents were killed and he took her in as the only living relative she had. He excused the two of them and led his niece up to his office. He sat down on the ugly green couch up against the wall and coaxed the girl next to him. "Speed is gone, Ginny." He quietly told her as his armed wrapped itself around her shoulders.
"What do you mean he is gone? Did he go home? I didn't see him get his bike or his hummer." Ginny answered as she got up shoving her uncle's arm off of her and walked to the window facing out. She could clearly see her big brother's motorbike and his departmental hummer. "When is he expected back? He promised me that I could help him in his lab." She added as she turned to face her uncle.
"He is not coming back, Ginny. There was a shooting while we were following up a lead, and…" Horatio let the sentence trail off knowing that his niece would be able to put two and two together. He wasn't disappointed as she immediately took it back up.
"No! No! No! I want to see Speed!" Ginny demanded as she twirled to face her uncle after returning her glaze to the outside parking lot. She saw as he slowly nodded his head and got up from the couch before leaving the office. She followed him to the autopsy studio and looked down into the floor as she watched the closest thing she has to a mom stand over Speed's body covered in a sheet. She watched as Alexx reached for a scalpel and she immediately banged on the floor to ceiling window in front of her. "Speed! Get up! Get up, Speed!" She yelled over and over for five minutes. She didn't even notice that her uncle and Alexx had let her do this until she confirmed that her big brother wasn't getting up telling her that this is one big prank he decided to pull on her.
Horatio looked to Alexx Woods as his niece worked through the last stages of her denial with a lost look on his face and noticed that his medical examiner returned the look. He only registered as his niece demanded that his belated CSI get up, and looked down at her wanting to comfort her not really knowing how when he is doing the same thing she is. Next thing he knew, his niece had given up her pounding and demands before running out of the room. He stood there knowing he had to go after her, but also wanting to give her time to grieve to herself. He knew that the two of them had a special immediate bond from the first moment they met and this is tearing her apart from the inside. He saw Alexx motion for him to go after her and he merely nodded his head in answer before following suit.
Ginny realized that this was no joke from her friend, and hightailed it out of the autopsy studio to Speedle's lab. She grabbed his lab coat and curled up into a distant corner as she hugged the one thing she had left to hold to her and cried. She breathed in her friend's scent off of his lab coat and didn't even realize that her uncle was not too far behind her. She hugged Speed's coat closer to her and curled even further up into her final corner. "Why Speed? You promised me you would keep your gun clean. You've never broken your promises for me." She whimpered into the coat.
Horatio immediately walked into Timothy Speedle's lab and knew that was where his niece had disappeared to. He could hear her faint sobs from somewhere in the room and started to slowly walk around it until he found her hiding place. He kneeled down in front of her before sitting himself next to her and gathering her into his arms. "Shh, I know Ginny and I'm sorry. You would've found out sooner or later and I didn't want you to learn of it off of the evening news." He consoled her as he let her cry all over the front of his shirt. "Do you want to keep his lab coat?" He gently asked knowing that she would jump at the chance to keep some type of material possession of his.
"He promised to take me riding with him tomorrow. He promised me that I could help him in his lab this afternoon. Why couldn't it have been the suspect? Why did it have to be Speed, Uncle Horatio? He can't leave me, he PROMISED me he would take me riding. HE PROMISED!" Ginny continued to hold her big brother's lab coat in her hand and pounded both of them on her uncle's chest. "He NEVER breaks his promises! NEVER! NOT TO ME!" She cried even harder as she continued to pound her fists.
Horatio wrapped his arms tighter around her and let his own tears fall. He held her close and refused to let her go for the longest time. She had lost her parents, and now she lost the closest thing she has to a big brother and best friend today. He hated to see her this way, but knew that there wasn't a thing he could do to help her. "Ginny, you know he told me something before he…" He couldn't finish the sentence, but he decided to finish his statement. "He told me to tell you that as a big brother, he loves you and that he was sorry he had to break his promises." He could feel the fight leave her small frame and he could still hear her cry for her loss. They sat there until everyone else had left and the night shift came in.