Calleigh stood, stone-faced in shock, as Horatio handed her Tim's and his guns. Death surrounded her everyday; violent, senseless death. Murder and accident that tore people away, sometimes torn them apart. This, this was not the same. This time, death had grabbed at someone she loved.

"Speed, ah – Speed might have had to check his gun," she heard Horatio say. Calleigh nodded, expressionless. If she let Horatio see how she felt, Calleigh knew that she wouldn't be able to contain it. She would fall, also, to the floor.

Tim lay there, under Alexx's gentle hands, far too still. A single tear hung on the medical examiner's cheek. "Baby," Alex whispered, so softly no one heard her. "How did this happen to you?"

Rick Stetler entered the jewelry store. He saw Horatio nod to Calleigh, who gave him a hate-filled look and stormed out. Horatio watched her go, hands in his pockets. Stetler thought the lieutenant looked for a moment like a lost boy. Then he turned and his face changed, from pain to anger as he saw the internal affairs officer.

The attendants with Alexx loaded Speedle's body on the gurney and closed the bag. The rough noise of the zipper was the only sound in the shop. Stetler watched as the gurney was wheeled away. Alexx paused to squeeze Horatio's arm, and she left.

Stetler hated his job. He hated the moment when he turned to Horatio and asked for the guns. Horatio answered, in clip tones, "See Calleigh." He had seen Calleigh, saw her teetering on the edge of emotional collapse as she walked to CSI 2. He saw Horatio in a moment of unguarded grief. He saw Alexx stop in the pitiless sunlight beyond the doors and wipe at her face.

Stetler had seen this before. There was nothing he could do for them, other than his job. This team was so tight that they lived within each others' lives. Now, they would be one short, and the center would not hold.

Rick shook his head sadly, taking Horatio's anger calmly. He knew what was going to happen and could do nothing for them.

-WG-

"I can take care of myself!" Calleigh lashed at Eric. "You didn't need to do that. You undermined me."

Eric stared at her in shock. He couldn't believe it, Calleigh had never spoken to him with that tone of indignation. "I was trying to help!" he retorted. "That guy is over six feet tall and he was trying to threaten you!"

"And what could he do to me, Eric?" Calleigh demanded, frustration in her voice. "We were standing in front of evidence lock-up. I carry a gun. Let me try to threaten me; we are following procedure."

Eric shook his head, a knot of emotions roiling his stomach. He had happened on Middlebrook demanding evidence from Calleigh. The man's voice and body language were hostile and he clearly thought he could bully the diminutive blonde woman in front of him into giving in to his demands. Eric pursed his lips, unable to tell his partner how the protective instinct in him reared up to defend her.

Calleigh didn't want defense. All she wanted was to do her job. Lately, it felt like that was all she had. But she saw the concern and the contriteness in Eric's eyes, too.

"I'm sorry," Eric told her.

"So am I," she replied.

-WG-

"I don't need any more friends," Alexx snapped harshly at Ryan. She knelt over Donny Lopez's body, examining him.

Ryan grimaced at her words and took a step back, hands in his pockets. Of all the members of his new team, Alexx had been the most distant, ignoring him in the hallways and talking to Eric or Calleigh as if he wasn't even in the room. Calleigh has said that Alexx was still hurting from Speedle's murder, but Ryan could see that they all were, even the lieutenant. No one laughed, no one joked. Valera had said he would like working with Caine's team, that they were all really tight and looked after one another. If they were, Ryan thought, he couldn't see it.

He tried again. "There's a knife missing from the butcher block in the kitchen," he said, trying to sound helpful.

Alexx twisted from her place by the body and gave him an appraising look. "You might have cracked the case," she said, her voice snide.

Ryan threw up his hands. "I'm not trying to take Speedle's place," he exclaimed. "I'm sorry he's dead!"

With that, Ryan stomped away, looking for evidence. "I'm just trying to do a good job," he said to no one in particular."

Alexx turned back to Lopez's body. She took a deep breath and wondered if she had been too sharp with the boy, he was only learning his job. Alexx knew she couldn't help it right then – it was too soon. Too soon for another person to have Tim's place in her world. Clearing away her tools, she mentally corrected herself. No one would ever have Tim's place, but this boy still had a job to do.

Maybe she could work on being nicer to him, she thought.