Ok, chappie three. Thank you, to the one person who reviewed cough Others who read ought to do the same! But enough about that. Here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it! Sorry if they seem shorter than some of my others. Short chapters, faster updates.

Eric groaned as he rolled out of bed and searched the pager that was consistently blinking and buzzing. Annoyed and frustrated, he glanced at the number. Horatio.

"Not another call out," he muttered as he stumbled to the bathroom and threw a splash of cold water into his face to wake himself up.

For a split second, he half way thought about not answering. But almost instantly, he waved it away. He'd rather handle any case than let the rookie Wolfe do it. He didn't care he'd been mentored and trained by Calleigh. In Eric's opinion, Wolfe wasn't responsible enough to handle CSI work.

Eric knew he had a somewhat biased opinion about the new CSI because he was Speed's replacement, but that didn't change the way he felt about his work. Erica Sikes proved that wasn't madness.

Pushing it out of his mind, Eric dressed, collected his gear and dialed Horatio up to get a location on the crime scene.

"Who all else did you call out?" he asked as Horatio finished giving him the location.

"Mr. Wolfe. No problem I hope?"

Eric clenched his teeth and inwardly groaned. Too late.

"No, its fine," he said as he gripped the steering wheel.

"Good. See you soon, Eric."

They both hung up and Eric focused on getting to the crime scene. But when he arrived and pulled the Hummer over into the parking lot, his heart leapt up into his throat. This was the building he'd been toothing at last night.

"Coincidence, Eric," he told himself as he slowly climbed out of the car.

But the shiny red Mustang was no coincidence. His heart began to hammer against his jugular vein. Cursing himself he reluctantly made his way towards Horatio who was standing near Alexx as she looked over the victim.

"Eric, glad you're here," Horatio said.

"Wish I could say the same." Eric said quietly. His eyes were heavy, but he couldn't escape his boss' piercing stare.

"What's going on, Eric?"

"I don't know if I'll be able to help you in this one, H."

"Why not?" Horatio's voice was concerned.

Shame burned every inch of Eric's body. Every word that he forced out of his mouth was like tightening a noose on his neck. If this cost him his job… he couldn't let his mind think of the consequences.

"I was here last night," he said in a hushed voice.

"What do you mean, here?"

"In the car. With a girl."

Horatio's eyes flashed. Not in anger, but in some emotion Eric couldn't read. He wasn't surprised. He knew Horatio well, but not well enough to know his reaction to this.

"You were at it again, weren't you? Toothing?"

Eric bit his tongue so hard he almost made it bleed, but stopped short to answer Horatio. He owed him that at least. But the penetrating stare his boss gave him was almost too much.

"Yes."

Horatio gave a small nod and turned his eyes away from Eric. Fear pounded in the Cuban's veins. If Horatio dismissed him, what the hell would he do? Being a CSI was everything to him. He cursed himself for his selfishness and stupidity.

"I know you're upset with Speed's death, and his replacement, but you have to get yourself under control, Eric." Horatio spoke softly, but with so much seriousness, and just a shade of regret, it made Eric hang his head. He didn't bother denying it to Horatio, though he had all the other times to everybody else. Horatio always knew. Those eyes wouldn't let you hide anything.

"Well, you're a witness now, so, tell me, Eric, do you know anything about the victim?"

Eric took a look at the dead man. He was middle aged, strong build, dark hair and when he got a glimpse at his face, with blue gray eyes.

"I might know who he is," Eric said quietly. Alexx looked him steadily in the eyes.

"The girl I was with owned the car. If he's connected to the car, he may be connected to her."

"I don't suppose you got a name?"

"Just a first. Said her name was Jade."

"Ok, well, go back to the lab, run the license plate number. Let's see if Jade really does own the car, and know who our vic is."

"I'm on it."

Eric quickly jotted down the license plate and headed back to the Hummer. On the way, he almost ran into Wolfe.

"Where you going in such a hurry?"

Ryan's eyes were the most hateful thing Eric could have looked at in that particular moment in time. He knew it was biased, but he again didn't care. He didn't even answer as he pushed past Ryan and walked away.

Ryan cocked his eyebrows at the retreating back of the Cuban and approached Horatio.

"Ok, so, I'm guessing Delko isn't on this case?"

"No, you and Calleigh are, I just finished calling her."

"So what's he going here then?"

"Don't worry about it Ryan. If you would be so kind, help Alexx with the body would you?" Horatio tilted his head and Alexx gave him the look that said 'just do what he says.'

Ryan knelt down and in the close proximity between himself and Alexx he asked, "What had Delko so upset?"

"Eric has some personal issues he needs to get worked out, before someone works them out for him."

"Like Horatio?"

"I think Horatio is probably the least of Eric's problems if you ask me. But don't mention it to anybody. The less tension the better."

"Yeah, tell that to him," he muttered quietly. But he wish he hadn't, because the look Alexx gave him was as piercing as Horatio's. But she didn't say anything. Somehow, Ryan would have liked it better if she had.

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All the way to the lab, Eric cursed himself. How could he have been such an idiot? His muscles clenched as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel. He longed to punch something, anything, but he forced himself to breathe deeply many times. It stilled the will to hit something, but not the anger.

He knew he was a fool to be rude to Ryan like that. Ryan was in good stead with Horatio right now. And he wasn't. And he didn't know if he could bare to face Calleigh about this. She had been the first to chide him about his toothing; when he had lost his badge. He thought he'd escaped harm this time around. How wrong he had been.

He walked into the lab, paper and pen in his hand. He slowly made his way through the building, looking for the familiar foxy figure and sunny blond hair that was Calleigh. Upon not seeing her, he decided she was probably out at the crime scene.

He found himself at the computer and quickly type din the license plate. But the car wasn't registered to the female he'd met last night. It was registered to the dead man in the parking lot.

He scrolled through the information. Name Mitchell Riers. Age thirty four, first manager at a local bank. Interesting. Eric kept going. Address was a location Eric knew, a very fancy neighborhood on the shores of the ocean. The information also listed he was married. But Eric couldn't access the file about his wife.

He flipped open his cell phone and dialed Horatio.

"H. Got the information on the car. Registered to our vic."

"Ok, did you get anything else?"

"Yeah, an address and a wife, but no information given on her." He paused for a moment. "Want me to go to the address?"

"Leave that to me and Ryan."

Eric clenched his teeth. "Alright. Anything else for me to do?"

"Yeah, lay low, Eric."

The line clicked off and Eric roughly thrust the phone into his pocket. Frustrated beyond what he knew how to handle, he headed out of the lab. Horatio hadn't given him orders, nothing except for basically 'don't screw anything else up.'

"What now?"

If he beat Ryan and Horatio to the address, would it benefit him? He bit his lip as the conflict welled up inside his head, and his heart. Would he be violating protocol?

He climbed assuredly into the car. He knew he'd beat Ryan and Horatio to the address. And when he did he'd take a nose around. He knew Horatio would keep him in the dark if he didn't find things out for himself. That was one thing the redhead did that irritated him. He never told anybody anything unless they knew too much. And Eric needed to know how much trouble he might be in.

Firing up the engine, he gunned it out of the parking lot and headed up the road, not exactly doing the speed limit. But, the way he saw it, a traffic ticket was going to be the least of his problems.