Cha- Cha- Changes

Chapter 2

After leaving the doctor's office, Jacinda knew of only one place that she had to go. She drove her car through the winding roads of the cemetery, all the while thinking about the baby that she had inside of her. What would she tell him/ her about their father? The father that would never see them, or hold them. As she came to a stop she glanced at the hill where he was laid to rest and then back down again. She had been up here only once after he had been buried and even then , it was almost too hard to bear. She got out and started walking up , feeling the breeze as it blew from off of the Atlantic. Coming to his stone, she looked down at the patches of brown dirt that were still visible , he hadn't been gone long enough for the grass to grow back. Kneeling, she wiped a tear from her eye as she lightly touched the stone.

Robert J. Speedle

September 15, 2005- August 24, 2027

Beloved Son, Brother

" I got some news ,hot shot... I'm pregnant," Jacinda whispered emotionally. She didn't know why, but she felt like this was still just between her and him. " I'm happy, but I don't know what to do. Why couldn't you be here, RJ? For us..."

Jacinda let the tears take over her body as she sat on her bottom and made herself comfortable. She needed to have this time with him. She wanted to scream at him for being so impulsive, she wanted to hit him for not taking his life, their life together, in consideration. Above any thing , she wanted him to just be here.

Settling down, she wiped the tears away and sighed heavily. A million questions milled around in her head as she continued to stare at the headstone. None of them she wanted to give pause to, knowing that they would do nothing but remained unanswered. There was no answer as to why he had to die. He had a full life and someone to share it with, why did he feel the need to go out and risk it? Jacinda let the thoughts and questions die down before she checked her watch. Noticing that it was close to twelve thirty, she smiled lightly and got up.

" I'm taking your father out for lunch. He needs it more than I do," Jacinda said as she wiped the dust off of her pants. She glanced at his name etched in the cold granite, and let one more tear fall, " I miss you , RJ." Putting her fingers to her lips , she kissed them and touched the stone. She then turned and walked away, not looking back.

TNR

Speed was working on his case when the door opened. At first he chose to ignore it, but then he realized that he was supposed to be going to lunch with Jacinda and he glanced up with a plastered on smile. The smile quickly dropped as he saw who had come in.

" Uh, Mr.Speedle, Calleigh sent me in to get the results of the sample from the bullet," Rory said uneasily. He had been properly warned by Jen and her father that he should tread easy with Speed.

Looking back down at his work, he said gravely, " It was biological, I sent it to DNA."

Rory nodded and turned to go out, but then hesitated. He wanted him to know that he wasn't trying to take his son's place. " Mr. Speedle, I just wanted to say that I 'm sorry for your lost."

Speed continued to work, choosing not to respond to him.

" You've got to know that I'm not here to replace RJ, just to continue on with the work that he was doing..."

Speed set his tools down and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. He didn't want to talk to this man, and he sure as hell didn't want to hear how ' sorry he was for his loss'.

" I hope to work with you..."

" Rory, leave," Speed said with his back to him.

"Mr.Speedle,..."

" I said, leave."

Rory turned around silently and walked out of trace, feeling his heart beating inside of his chest violently. That was something he wasn't going to do anymore.

TNR

"Maddison!" Maura Stetler called as Maddison quickly passed her in the corridors of the lab. She had been trying for weeks to get Maddison alone, but since losing one of her own and Detective Salas, she had been a hard person to keep track of.

Maddison turned around at the mention of her name and sighed inwardly. She really wasn't in the mood to deal with Maura at that moment, but she knew that it was better to get it over with.

She waited until Maura had caught up with her before she asked, " What can I do for you,

Maura?"

" As you know, the deadline for the thirty day assessments of your new team has passed. This is something that I must take care of now."

" Maura, a lot of things have happened. We are still trying to recover from two deaths. And as you may or may not know, crime never takes a day off. Without RJ, we've been running ragged."

" You have the authority to hire someone else, Maddison. I'm surprised that you hadn't done it by now," Maura said as she glanced at her files.

" I did, and he started this morning," Maddison returned as she peeked at her watch.

"Good, now on to the business at hand. I need Jacinda Willison to report to my office this afternoon."

" She's off for the rest of the day," Maddison said as she glanced again at her watch. There had to be something better she could be doing instead of standing in the middle of the lab, talking to her.

" For someone who needs a lot of help,..."

" Maura, she wasn't feeling well. I told her to go to her appointment after she finished some preliminary reports, which she did. If we don't allow our people to take care of themselves, then how well are they going to perform on their job?" Maddison said frustrated. She had grown tired of this conversation, quickly.

" Speaking of which, has she gone to her mandatory counseling session? I know for a fact that Detective Speedle hasn't gone, a matter that I will leave to you to take care of."

" I'll take care of it Maura. Anything else I could do for you?"

" Yes, send Jen Delko to my office, or is she off today as well?" Maura asked almost condescending.

Maddison kept herself in check as she answered, " Is three o'clock good for you?"

" Yes, perfect."

" She'll be there," Maddison said as she turned on her heels and walked away. She walked quickly to the elevators, trying to figure out a way to avoid Maura altogether.

TNR

"So , what do you think of the new guy?" Eric asked Calleigh as they settled into the break room for lunch. Calleigh looked at Eric with a smile on her face.

" Well, I think he's going to be good for the lab,"she returned as she opened the bottle of water and sat down, " but Tim's going to have a hard time with it."

" How so?"

" I know how he thinks, Eric. He thinks that Rory's here to take RJ's place."

" That's not true, you needed the help," Eric rationalized.

" You're preaching to the choir, Eric. I know that , but for Tim, RJ's death is too new. Plus, Robin left him. So he has a lot to deal with right now. His life has changed drastically in the matter of weeks," Calleigh said sympathetically. She had tried to be there for him, but he refused it. Calleigh knew that he would come around when he wanted to.

" How is he dealing with this?" Eric asked taking a huge bite of his sandwhich. " I mean, it's bad enough to lose your son, but to have your wife walk out on you in the same month? It's a little much."

" Have you seen him lately?" Calleigh said as she put the bottle down on the table. She hadn't heard the door to the break room open , " he's completely forgotten about himself and others around him. I'm... Oh hi Tim!"

Speed stood at the door, glaring at them both. There was nothing worse, to him ,than being talked about behind his back.

" Speed, how are you doing?" Eric asked trying to thaw the situation.

" Ask her, she seems to know a lot," Tim replied in a irritated tone as he shot a cold look to Calleigh. He grabbed a bottled water and drunk it down quickly.

" Tim , I didn't mean it in a bad way..."

" Save it Calleigh. You know , a real friend would come and talk to me. Not discuss me with someone else," Tim said as he yanked the door open angrily and walked out. Calleigh and Eric glanced at each other and then dropped their heads. This was not the way they wanted to help their friend.

Out in the hall, Speed ran into Jacinda as she was fumbling in her bag . She dropped the bag and cursed out loud, eliciting some stares.

Speed bent down to pick up the bag and returned it to her, " Hey, you dropped this."

" Thanks, Mr.- uh Speed. I was just coming to look for you. Are you ready for that lunch?"

" Yeah, I just have to finish some thing first. Walk me to the trace lab?" Speed asked feeling a smile come to his face. There was something different about her since this morning.

" Sure, but hurry it up, I'm starving," Jacinda returned as they began to walk. Soon they were at the trace lab. Speed hurried in and grabbed his keys and turned out the lights.

" Any place in particular you want to go to?"

" Not really? Any ideas?"

" I got a few," Speed replied as he turned the lock on the trace lab.

"Can I trust you?" Jacinda asked lightly.

" Does this look like a face that would fool you?" Speed said humorously.

" Maybe you need to ask me that at a later date," Jacinda laughed as she motioned to Speed's beard. The sound of her laughter felt alien to her ears. There had not been a cause to laugh since a month had passed.

They got onto the elevator and rode the lift down to the garage. As they left, they both felt free from their pain for a slight moment.

TBC...

A/N: I know what you are thinking, but ewww no! They are not hooking up. I have some thing in store for both Tim and Jacinda... stay tuned!