Title: Brothers
Author: Hawkeye/Katy
Fandom: CSI: Miami
Rating: FRT
Disclaimer: I own Caleb Wolfe. I don't own CSI: Miami. Hear that? Me no own. You no sue.

Standing in his lab, Speed had come to a conclusion. Eric was nervous and fidgety. And that made Caleb nervous and fidgety and also slightly worried because he only knew partly why Eric was nervous and fidgety. And that made Ryan nervous and fidgety and also slightly confused and cranky because Caleb wouldn't tell him what was going on. And that made Speed confused and slightly irritable because Ryan was upset and it was somehow Eric's fault but he didn't know how or why. All this was going through the scruffy-haired trace analyst's head and it was giving him a headache.

After reading the same paragraph on his report for the fifth time, Speed shoved it aside with a growl and went to find Eric, determined to find out what was troubling his friend. If he found out what was troubling El Cubano Loco, then maybe he could fix it, and if he could fix it then Eric wouldn't be projecting to Caleb, and if Eric wasn't projecting to Caleb then Caleb wouldn't project to Ryan. Maybe then he could take some aspirin and Ryan would stop being so snappy. Speed shook his head and rubbed his temples, now even his thoughts were rambling.

Speed walked through the lab, trying not to think too hard, ducking his head into all the labs and the breakroom and not finding Eric in any of them. He frowned slightly, then headed for the locker room, the only place left on his search. He ducked his head into the locker room, spying the normally Mr. Cool Cuban pacing up and down the locker room, a worried frown on his face and his eyes staring off into nowhere. Speed watched his friend for a few moments, his head tilted to the side as he tried to work out just what was going through Eric's head.

"You're going to wear a hole in the floor with all that pacing, Delko," Speed calmly told the pacing Hispanic.

Eric started, spinning around and catching sight of Speed. He shot the trace analyst a glare, then resumed his pacing. Speed watched him for a few more laps of the locker room. He sighed and grabbed the pacing Cuban by the arm, sitting him down on the bench.

"Eric, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Eric snapped, trying to stand up.

Speed shook his head, "Delko, 'nothing' does not make you do laps of the locker room. 'Nothing' does not give you a face like a thundercloud. 'Nothing' does not make you so nervous and fidgety that it affects both Caleb and Ryan, thereby affecting me."

Eric buried his face in his hands, "I'm taking Caleb to meet my parents tomorrow."

"And this is bad?" Speed said with a frown.

"You bet your ass it's bad," Eric told him emphatically.

"Because he's a guy?"

Eric shook his head.

"Because he's blind?"

Eric shook his head again.

"Because he's a reader?"

Eric looked at his friend, "My mother is Cuban, my father is Russian, they grew up with all the supernatural stories. They know about readers. But they're pretty wary of them. There was a reader on the boat from Cuba, a scryer, he could see snippets of the future, apparently he kept trying to tell my pregnant mother random facts about the person I was going to be."

"Ah. That could make things difficult."

"Exactly. The fact that Cay is blind probably won't help matters either."

A confused frown crossed Speed's face, "Why?"

"Because being blind is a trait common to scryers," a new voice from the doorway said, "The theory is that the scryer misses out on ordinary sight so he or she gets future-sight to make up for it."

The two men sitting on the bench started slightly, then swung around to look at the newcomer. Ryan. The reader moved into the locker room and sat down next to Speed, resting his chin lightly on the other man's shoulder. He watched Delko and Speed from his spot on Speed's shoulder. Delko was anxious, Cay was anxious, Speed was irritable and had a headache. Speed was easy, he, Ryan, had been a bastard to him all day. As for Cay and Delko, well, the whole 'meet the parents' thing was enough to make anyone anxious. The fact that Delko's parents were a bit suspicious of readers… no wonder Eric was nervous.

"M'sorry I was a bastard," he murmured into Speed's ear, causing the scruffy-haired man to shiver slightly.

"S'okay," Speed whispered back, ignoring Delko's smirk.

Raising his eyebrow at the smirking Cuban, Ryan lifted his head off Speed's shoulder and shifted into a more comfortable position, before taking a calming breath and letting his eyes go vacant. Speed and Eric gave each other a knowing look, recognising the signs that showed when Ryan was talking to his twin.

'Cay?'

'Ry? What's up?'

'You're projecting everywhere, it's giving me and Speed a headache.'

'Sorry, but it's Eric, he's upset about something and he's shut me out. I know we're supposed to go to his parent's house for dinner tomorrow, at first I thought he was just nervous about that, but it's been getting worse. I'm worried about him.'

'Hang on a second, Cay…'

Turning to Eric, his eyes still looking at nothing, Ryan asked, "Can I tell him what you told Speed? He's worried about you."

At Eric's nod and slightly shamefaced blush, Ryan went back to the conversation with his twin.

'I walked into the locker room today and heard him talking to Speed. He was talking about how you were going to have dinner at his parent's place tomorrow.'

'This isn't new information, Ryan.'

'I'm getting there. He also said that his parents didn't give a brass wazoo that you were a guy and in ordinary circumstances they wouldn't give a brass wazoo that you were blind.'

'But I'm a reader…'

'Exactly. Apparently Delko's mother was pregnant with him when her and his dad made the crossing from Cuba.'

'And this affects me how…?'

'There was a scryer on the boat with them. Apparently this guy was a real whackjob, kept yelling random predictions at Delko's mom about her unborn kid.'

'Oh no.'

'Yeah.'

'And I'm blind…'

'Yeah.'

'I'm screwed.'

'No, Cay, you're not. Delko says his parents aren't reader haters, they're just a bit wary of them. Especially scryers. Once you explain that you aren't a scryer and they see how well you and Eric fit together, you'll be fine.'

'You think so?'

'Yeah. Try and get a couple of his sisters on your side first, maybe Marisol, he seems to be closest to her, that's probably your best bet.'

'Thanks Ry.'

'It's what I'm here for.'

Coming back to himself, Ryan found Eric and Speed looking at him expectantly. He shook off the slight disorientation and gave them a grin.

"He gets it now," Ryan said, "I told him he should be fine once he explains that he isn't a scryer. But you should really tell your parents beforehand that he's a reader, not a scryer. Cay doesn't like loud arguments, they throw his equilibrium off."

With those words effectively ending the conversation, Ryan picked himself up off the locker room bench and walked out. Speed and Eric looked at each other and shook their heads. The scruffy-headed CSI and the Cuban-Russian CSI got up and followed him, Eric turning off into the layout room, Speed carrying on into the trace lab.

Eric was silent in the car on the way to his parent's house. Even though Caleb couldn't see the nervous glances Eric kept darting his way, he could feel the apprehension rolling off him. As the car pulled up outside Eric's parent's house, Caleb reached over and gave Eric's arm a reassuring squeeze. Eric took a deep breath and took Caleb's arm, as much for his own reassurance as to help the blind man.

Eric's face broke into a smile as his sister, Marisol, opened the door and let them in. She grinned and gave her brother a hug, before turning to Caleb her eyebrows shooting up into her hairline. The trio moved into the living room, Eric talking softly to Caleb, explaining where all his mother's knick-knacks were. Her eyes flickered from Caleb to Eric and then back again, before Caleb frowned.

"I most certainly am not," he calmly told Marisol, who jumped and stared at him in shock.

"Eric?" she said uncertainly.

"He's a reader, Mari, not a scryer. I told momma and dad on the phone. You're not gonna freak or anything are you?"

"No," she told her brother with a grin, "I'm just wondering how you managed to keep such a good-looking guy."

Caleb's face broke into a smile, "I bribe him with chocolate, pizza and my brother's big screen TV," he told Marisol, causing her to laugh, "I'm Caleb Wolfe, by the way."

"Where is the man who has stolen my son's heart?" a new voice called from off to Caleb's right, startling him, causing his eyes to widen and the blind man to jump slightly.

"Momma, this is Caleb Wolfe. Cay, this is my mother, Maria Delko and to your left of her is my father Pavel Delko," Eric said, gently squeezing Caleb's arm.

"Nice to meet you," Caleb said with a smile, holding his hand out towards the voice, wishing he had the use of Ryan's eyes.

Sitting down at the dinner table, the conversation flowed smoothly, the food was brilliant, Eric was happy to be with his family, but Caleb kept fidgeting. His face remained polite, he smiled and laughed along with the rest of the table, but underneath, his feet shifted around, his legs jiggled and Eric could feel the tension in his shoulders every time Caleb bumped him accidentally. About to ask him what was wrong, even Eric was surprised when Caleb suddenly spoke.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I can't take this," the blind reader said suddenly.

"Cay?" Eric said, surprised.

Turning to the seats Eric's parents occupied, Caleb spoke quickly and earnestly.

"With respect, Mr and Mrs Delko, I know what happened to the both of you on the journey over from Cuba. I know that a scryer scared the absolute crap out of you and I understand that completely. I probably would have been scared, and I'm a reader myself. But you have to understand… I'm not that man. I wasn't even born when you were on that boat. I'm not even a scryer. My blindness is caused by a genetic defect, not by my abilities as a reader. As a blind guy, and a reader to boot… I realise I'm probably not much of a catch and I realise I'm probably not who you had in mind when Eric said he was bringing someone home to meet the family. But… and this is gonna sound like something straight out of a bad romantic comedy… I'm not just 'the blind reader'. I'm the guy who fell in love with your son. Unfortunately, I just happen to be a blind reader," Caleb shrugged and fell silent, his face turning crimson as he realised he'd just scolded Eric's parents.

Marisol hid a smile under her hand, "He's right, you know, the first thing he said to me was 'I most certainly am not', right after I had been wondering if he was going to go poking through my mind and announcing all my secrets and my future at the dinner table."

Maria Delko turned to her husband and raised an eyebrow. Pavel returned it with a shrug, then turned to the still-embarrassed Caleb. He leaned over and clasped the blind man's shoulder firmly.

"Welcome to the family, Caleb," he said, causing both Caleb and Eric to sag in relief and broad grins to spread across their faces.