Horatio, Speed, Lauren, and Virginia exited the elevator at the Crime Lab. Horatio and Virginia went to the left and Lauren and Speed went to the right. Lauren spotted Dominic's science teacher standing near the desk. She was talking to, Paula.
"Miss Downey, what are you doing here?" Lauren asked walking up to her, Speed close behind.
"I heard Dominic was here. I brought him his school work that he missed on Friday," Miss Downey said looking around the reception area.
"You looking for someone?" Speed asked leaning up against the reception desk.
"Nobody. I'm looking for nobody, detective," Miss Downey said handing Lauren a folder with all Dominic's missed homework.
"You looked like you were," Speed observed.
Miss Downey smiled, turned, and headed for the elevator. She sighed and thought to herself, 'He's probably out at a crime scene.'
Suddenly the elevator doors opened, and Eric stepped out. He was looking down at a file in his hands. Eric walked straight into, Miss Downey knocking the file out of his hands. "I'm sorry… Miss Downey. What you doing here?" Eric asked.
"I heard Dominic was here. I brought him some school work that he missed on Friday," Miss Downy said kneeling down and picking Eric's folder that had fallen to the floor.
Lauren and Speed watched them from the reception desk. Speed smiled at Lauren and both laughed. Eric turned at the laughter.
"Mr. Delko, your file?" Miss Downey said handing it to him.
A little flustered Eric said, "What? Oh yeah thanks, Miss Downey."
"Please, call me, Pip."
"Pip… short but sweet." Pip's cheeks turned a light shade of crimson.
"It's short for Philippa, Officer Delko."
"You can call me, Eric."
"Okay, Eric. Look, I got to go. I have school work to mark, and a whole list of house work chores that need to be done. I better go. I'll see you around then?"
"Not before I get her cell number." Eric said grinning.
"Well, I have yours. You gave me your card."
"That's my work number, this is my personal number," Eric said writing it down on the back of a new card.
Pip looked down at her feet. "I don't have a cell phone, it got stolen from the home room just after you and Miss Wolfe left."
"Did you report it?"
"Yes to the Principal."
"Did he or she do anything about it?"
Pip shook her head. "No, we don't know who it is, but us teachers think it's either a staff member or a student, you can have my home number though." Pip wrote it down and handed it to him before getting walking into the elevator.
Lauren turned and looked at Speed. "I think Delko's got a little crush on the science teacher."
"And that's a shocker to you?" Speed said. "Let's go see how Dominic is and finish our reports so we can go home," Speed said placing a hand on Lauren's lower back.
"Sure," Lauren said watching Eric head for his Prints Lab.
Several hours later, Lauren and Speed were still in the lab working on their written reports when Horatio walked in. "Hey, what are you two still doing here?"
"We could say the same to you, Horatio," Speed answered back. Horatio smiled.
Out of nowhere Virginia popped up behind him. "What are you two still doing here?" she asked. Lauren, Speed, and Horatio laughed. "What's so funny?"
"Horatio just asked us that," Lauren said.
"Eric and Calleigh just left after I made them go home," Horatio said. "So what are you two still doing here?"
"We wanted to finish the paperwork for the case, and got caught up in night shifts work. Don't ask me why. What are you two still doing here? Thought you would be home with the kids?" Speed explained.
"We're leaving now. We just wanted to make sure you guys left. So go home. Everything can wait, and don't bother coming in tomorrow. You two have the day off," Horatio said.
"I was going to go see Dominic's social worker, and see if I can help him out," Lauren said.
"Sweetheart, worry about that later. They have everything under control. Go home get some rest, okay."
"Okay," Lauren said. Speed grabbed Lauren's hand, and led her out into the hallway.
Speed and Lauren couldn't get to her apartment fast enough. It had been a long and tiring twenty-four hours. As soon as Lauren shut the door, Speed pinned her to it, and kissed her passionately. "I've been waiting to do that all day," he said breaking the kiss.
Lauren smiled. "Me too. Let's eat. I'm starving."
Speed and Lauren sat in silence at the kitchen table for a moment before Lauren spoke. "Tim, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Lauren, really. It just shook me up a little bit."
"Tim, you looked more than just shook up."
"I froze, okay," Speed snapped. "I-I just froze. I don't know what happened. I saw something fly by my head, and I realized it was a bullet. That's when I froze. I should probably resign because I can't to do my job."
"Tim, you do your job very well," Lauren said rubbing her hand over his. "You were shot just three months ago. That's not very long. It may take awhile for you to get back into the swing of things, and that's okay, baby."
"I froze, Lauren! What if it happens again? What if some innocent person dies because I can't do my job? What if I can't do my job, and I end up dying because of it?" He paused for a moment then continued, "What if, because I can't do my job you get hurt or die because of it?"
"Tim, you can't worry about the 'what ifs' in life, and that won't happen. You need to think positive."
Lauren walked up behind him. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "What happened today happened, and you can't take that back. Try to forget about it okay." She began to kiss the side of his neck.
"Okay... how about we take it to the bedroom."
"I like that idea."
"I love you so much, Lauren," Speed said getting up from the chair and capturing her lips with his. Lauren led him to her room. Speed shut the door behind him.
As soon as Eric got home, he turned his coffee machine on, and jumped in the shower before placing an order with the local pizza place. Pouring a mug of Café Cubano, Eric entered Pip's number into his cell phone, and hit save before he decided to call her.
A sleepy voice picked up. "Hello."
"Pip Downey, it's Eric Delko, I was wondering if you got home all right. Sorry to call you so late," he said.
"No, it's okay, I'm glad you did ring me," Pip answered.
"I was hoping you would go out with me, for coffee tomorrow, around lunch time?" Eric asked hopeful.
"Um I... I have papers to mark and… and laundry to do," Pip said stuttering a little.
"Pip you sound nervous," Eric said picking up on it.
"Eric, don't take this the wrong way, but I've never been out with a guy before, this dating thing is all new to me."
"Pip, it's just coffee and lunch," Eric said before adding, "Meet me at Auntie Belham's. It's just across the street from the crime lab."
"Okay... about twelve-ish?"
"All right, sounds good. I'll see you at twelve then." Eric's doorbell rang. "Pip, I got to go my doorbell just rang, it's the pizza guy, and I'll see you tomorrow."
"Ok bye," Pip answered before hearing the click from Eric's phone.
Eric smiled to himself as he sat down on his sofa to eat his pizza. He picked up his cell phone again and dialed Lauren's number. It rang four times before she picked up. "Delko, this better be good," Lauren said a little out of breath.
"It is Lauren. She's meeting me for coffee at lunch."
"Who is? Tim, cut it out for like two seconds, please," Lauren said laughing.
"Pip Downey."
"You working that Delko charm again?"
"What do you think," Eric replied with a grin the size of Miami itself.
"Go for it. Tim please, just give me like a minute more." Eric could hear Speed growl in the background.
"Oh! Am interrupting something?" Eric asked knowing very well he was. He could hear some movement and then Speed's voice came on the phone.
"Yes, Delko you're interrupting something. If you want to talk to Lauren then it'll have to wait until tomorrow," Speed said annoyed.
"I'll talk to you later. Have fun, Speed."
"Thank you," he said shutting Lauren's cell phone off and setting it on the bedside table.
"Where were we?" Lauren asked.
Speed cocked his head a little to the right, and took her lips in a kiss showing her exactly where they were. Lauren moaned into the kiss. Looking into her now dark green eyes, Speed rolled onto his back making it so that Lauren was on top. She straddled his hips and got comfortable on him. Speed placed both his hands on the sides of her hips to steady her.
Lauren leaned forward resting her hands on Speed's chest. She began moving her hips back and forth. Speed let out a moan. Lauren kissed his bare chest then began making her way up to his neck. Speed ran his hand over Lauren's hip. His hand touched her lips tattoo. She let out a loud moan. He touched it again and she let out another loud moan. "Lauren, let's switch positions," he rasped. Lauren kissed him on the lips. Lauren stopped and they switched positions, picking up where they left off.