I did mean to get this up sooner, I really did, but things got in the way –glares at Courtney, and her annoying nagging for DOANA-

I own Taylor, but not Sam. She belongs to BEG, who also helped me with some of the finer details at the end.

Anyway, enjoy!

--

The Ducati roared through the streets of Miami, the engine purring majestically, taking them along the sea front, the ocean dyed orange from the setting sun. Taylor couldn't help but stare; it was the most beautiful thing she'd seen. Ever. Forget the New York skyline, this was the best backdrop there could be. The waves lapped at the darkening sand, and then they were past, pulling up outside her modest bungalow. Pulling the bike into the drive and killing the engine, he removed his helmet and waited for her to dismount before wheeling it around and kick starting it again. 'You uh, you want to come in for a while? It'll be kinda a mess but…' she trailed off, her cheeks tinged pink. She seemed to be looking everywhere except at him, and he took advantage of this to grin quickly.

'Sure, I'd love to,' he said, before dismounting from the Ducati, wheeling it up the drive up to the garage. 'OK if I put it in here? I don't want some gang banger lifting her while she's inside.'

She nodded, seemingly intent on digging through her many pockets for her keys, finally extracting them from a small pocket on the left leg with a mutter. 'Of course. Where else would they be?' She unlocked the garage door and it rolled up on its old school hinges.

Speed parked his bike next to a bright red 2008 model Ducati, arching one eyebrow. 'You beg for a ride on MY Ducati, and you have one sitting at home?'

Well, yeeah,' she wheedled. 'But I wanted to ride yours.' She laughed, the picture of innocence. 'Coming in then? Sometime this side of the millennium would be nice.' She opened the door and led him in, toeing her shoes off in the all, padding through to the kitchen in her socked feet. Speed followed her in, looking around at the immaculate kitchen. Everything had a place behind glass doored cabinets. She went over to the fridge and retrieved a bottle of milk. 'Coffee?' she asked, waggling the bag at him.

Speed pulled a face. 'No thanks. That stuff rots your stomach.'

She looked at him, incredulous. 'But it tastes so yummy?' she asked, rather than said.

'So does heroin, but would you take that?'

'And you know this how?' she asked. 'Hot chocolate then?'

'Uhh, yeah, sure, and I just do. I know lots of things. I'm like Google.'

She laughed quietly as she spooned the cocoa powder into two mugs, before adding milk and hot water. She stirred them, handing one mug to Speed and showing him through to the living room, where there was a pile of cardboard boxes marked, as Horatio had said 'Personal, stay the hell out'

She pulled one of them over to the empty bookcase and sat down, Indian style in front on it, pulling a knife from her pocket and slicing across the tape. Looking over at Speed, who had chosen a seat on the squashy leather sofa and was watching her curiously. 'Sorry, do you mind?' she asked him. 'I want to get moved in as soon as possible, I hate living in an untidy house.'

'No, go ahead,' he assured her. 'Want a hand?'

She smiled. 'Sure. Come give me a hand with these photo albums.'

He set his hot chocolate down on a mat and moved to sit next to her, companionably handing photo albums out. Occasionally she would open one and flick through them, allowing Speed to catch glimpses of her life. Sometime she would stop her, asking about a certain picture. Her prom photo was one. She wore a beautiful sleeveless floor-length petrol blue dress, gathered her left hip and sweeping down across her legs, covered in tiny transparent beads that caught the light and shimmered in the camera flash. On her feet were black, patent leather high heels. Standing next to her, an arm wrapped around her waist, yet still towering over her, even on the heels, was a tall, dark haired teen. His curly hair fell to his collar, and his blue eyes sparkled. His tux was immaculate, and his shoes shone.

She smiled slightly at the picture, as if remembering the night, or the man, Speed wasn't sure which.

She flicked through the rest of the album and put it on the shelf, before taking the next album Speed gave to her, a hot pink one with pressed flowers and ribbon stuck to the cover. 'I made this when I was fourteen,' she said, stroking the cover, before opening it to the first page. A much younger Taylor grinned out of the first page, sprawling on the grass with two teenage boys. One was the boy from the prom photo, this time wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a red polo shirt with the top buttons undone. A Ranger's ball cap was perched on his head backwards, and he had a hockey ball in his hand. The other boy had dark skin and was wearing khaki combat shorts and a white wife-beater. He had a shaved head and brown, soulful eyes, with an almost healed black eye and split lip. Taylor was wearing a red spaghetti strapped top and denim shorts. All three of them looked so innocent, unaware of the world's cruelty and hatred. She flipped the pages, and came to one of her and the dark haired guy again, sharing an intimate moment. His forehead was resting on hers, and they were looking deep into each other's eyes. She touched the photo lightly.

'Who was he?' Speed asked softly.

'He was my best friend. My first love. My family.'

'What happened?'

'We grew up. I went to college to become a CSI, he joined the academy. We drifted apart over the years, and when we met again we were just too different. I still loved him, I think I always will, but he's with Sam, and I have to accept that me and Don? We're never going to happen.'

She shut the album and placed it on the shelf carefully. There was one left in the box, and as he pulled it out, she took it off him wordlessly and stared at the cover. 'Markus Rydell' was embossed on it. 'Who's Markus?' Speed asked quietly, against his better judgement. It was none of his business, but he asked anyway. He couldn't help himself.

'Markus is a part of my past that I'm not ready to face yet,' she said, before smiling brightly, masking the pain and hurt in her eyes. 'Next box?'

'Sure,' he said, and they chose a box at random. This one contained her saxophone, packaged tightly in Styrofoam packing peanuts, along with the stand. 'This lives in my room!' she said happily, leading the way. It was one of the rooms she hadn't looked in, having slept on the couch the night before.

The room was done in deep red, with pine furnishings. The king sized bed stood in the centre of the wall covered in scarlet satin sheets, and there were two huge wardrobes along one wall. Along the other was her dressing table, which had a small reading lamp on the corner. There was plenty of room in the corner for her saxophone, and the guitar she ran to find in one of the boxes. 'You like music, I take it?' said Speed while they were taking a break. He was making fresh hot chocolate, both cups having been emptied long ago. He was referring to the fourth box unpacked, which contained hundreds of CD's and the room meant to be a study, which contained a grand piano. 'I don't know how he got it in and I don't wanna know,' she had declared upon finding it.

'MacGyver ain't got shit on you, does he?' she teased, running a hand through her long hair. 'You feel like detecting me a hairbrush? The one from my suitcase has gone AWOL on me.'

He rolled his eyes before handing her the hot chocolate and disappearing, presumably to find a brush. He returned with said brush in one hand and a large picture frame in the other. 'I didn't mean to be nosy, but I found this and it's signed by you, isn't it? Did you draw this?'

He handed her the brush and propped the frame up on the table. It was a portrait of a family. Mother, father and child. 'Yeah, that's one of mine. Don, Sam and their son Thomas. That's just a print though, I gave them the original.'

'So, you can draw like this, and you're living on a CSI's salary because?'

She laughed, and began brushing her hair, the auburn waterfall shimmering almost down to her waist. 'Because I like knowing I earned my money by helping someone.'

'Good answer. Do you have any more?'

'Sure, in my sketchbooks. God knows which box they're in,' she finished brushing her hair and dropped the brush on the counter. She sipped at her hot chocolate, heading back into the living room. 'Come on, there's only a couple of boxes left. I wanna get done tonight.'

He put the frame down and retrieved his mug from the counter, following her into the living room. He looked around properly for the first time. The living room boasted a monochrome effect, the walls and ceiling were white, and with the black shag carpet that Speed's feet sank into while he walked and the black leather couch, the room was simple yet classy. Light came from the silver light fixtures and the table they left their hot chocolates on was glass. The bookcase they were currently piling books onto was mahogany, and the books seemed to be random, everything from forensic techniques and journals to James Patterson to Laurell K Hamilton and Kelley Armstrong, with a few Dean Koontz and a Victoria Hislop novel tucked in between To Kill A Mockingbird and 1984.

The last box they opened was Taylor's sketchbooks, at least a dozen of them. She put them on the second off bottom shelf, above the photo albums. Speed flicked through one. It contained various scenes, mostly New York, the skyline, Central Park in all weathers and seasons, Madison Square Garden and a bird's eye view of the city that must have come from her apartment window. There were also pictures of people, the photo's she had used for reference paper clipped to the page in corners. Right at the end of the book was a hauntingly beautiful sketch. It was a single flower petal floating in a puddle. It was done mostly in grayscale, apart from the petal, which was a deep, sky blue, painted in water-colours.

'This is breathtaking,' he said, looking up from the picture. She was watching him, seemingly gauging his reaction.

'You really mean that?' she asked, taking another sip of hot chocolate.

'Sure I do,' he said, smiling. 'I may not be the most reliable person in the world, but if I'm nothing if not honest.'

She smiled back, genuinely this time, her eyes full of warmth.

'Can I uh, can I take this?' he asked, holding the picture up.

'Yeah, sure, take it.' she said, distracted as her cell began to ring from where she had left it in the kitchen. She hurried through to get it, checking the call ID, praying it was Derek. She loved him, but she didn't want to talk about Markus to him, not tonight, and if she spoke to him, he would know something was up. Luckily, the call ID read SAM.

She returned to the living room, apologizing to Speed, but she had to take this or Sam would turn up at the house with the A-Team, or something equally impressive if she didn't answer, thinking something was up.

'That's fine, seriously, I should be going anyway.'

'Thanks for the help,' she said, sliding her cell phone up to answer it.

Hey Sam, give me two minutes, I'm just showing someone out.'

She walked with him to the door, he walked over to the garage, pausing just before he went in. 'You want to go out for a drink sometime? Tomorrow night maybe?'

'I'd love to,' she said, waving him off as he zoomed up the road on his Ducati. 'Sorry Sam, I'm good to talk now. How was the scan?'

'Suicidally boring. I was contemplating hanging myself with the hospital gown. I'm blaming Flack for all this.'

'You know, it takes two people to make a baby, and I know that you enjoy the practice, and that you forgot about the condom, so really, it's both your faults.'

There was silence on the other end of the line. 'I hate it when you use your logic against me, in my weakened state,' whined Sam, sounding very uncomfortable.

'Sam, you OK?'

'Uh, I don't know…' said Sam. 'I don't think so…'

'Why, what's the matter?' asked Taylor. She was starting to panic a little bit. After Thomas, the doctors had told Sam that anything could happen, even this late in the pregnancy.

'Uhh, I think my water just broke.'

--

Well, that's it for now. I'll try and get the next chapter up ASAP, but I have 2 muses vying for my attention at the minute, so it may take a little time.