Nothing recognisable is mine.
A/N: There has been research into teaching babies how to sign what they want when they can't talk. Apparently it's very effective and can help them when they start talking. I think it's a great idea, and have a feeling Speed would be willing to test it out on his sprogling. After all, he is a scientist. And I'm aware that now, the area Speed moves into is quite high-priced and fancy. 14 years ago, however, I say that it wasn't as good. I wasn't going to include much in the way of cases in this fic, but I couldn't help myself with this one.
Chapter three: In which Speed attempts to find his own place, and Alexx observes his interactions with Avari.
Nearly a month after moving to Miami, Speed decided that it was time to get his own place. Alexx had been very kind, and hadn't charged him rent, so he had enough from his first pay checks to afford to rent a decent apartment, or even apply for a home loan if it was a cheap house. He hoped, anyway. At the moment he was sitting on the floor in the lounge room, leaning against the couch, while Avari lay on her stomach next to him, playing with his shoelaces. He was looking through the real estate listings in the paper, every now and then showing a picture to Avari and asking what she thought.
Unknown to him, Alexx was standing at the door, just watching. It had become a hobby of hers, watching the way Speed interacted with his daughter. At first she seemed concerned that he was pushing her before she was ready for things, teaching her signing and reading his books to her, but then she realised he was just finding ways to spend time with her. By reading his scientific journals to her, or his science-fiction books, she was able to hear her father's voice and take comfort in the way he held her. And Alexx had to admit that the signing was useful. She couldn't do much yet, but was beginning to make signs when she wanted food. Alexx supposed that as she grew more able to control her movements, she would start signing more.
At a gurgle from Avari, Speed looked at her fondly.
"You enjoy those laces, don't you? Maybe I should get you a cat-teaser, might keep you occupied." He stroked her hair for a moment before going back to the paper.
Alexx smiled and turned away. She had become very fond of her houseguest over the past month, and of his daughter. In turn, Speed seemed to be warming up to her as well, and Avari was happy to go to 'Auntie Alexx' for cuddles. She also seemed to enjoy spending time with Brian, who was only a couple of months older than her, and starting to crawl. This seemed to encourage Avari to try to crawl as well, though she didn't have the strength yet.
Her cell phone went off, and Alexx sighed. She'd been looking forward to catching up on her medical journals, but it looked like that was going to have to wait. Upon hearing the phone, Speed put down his paper and lifted his daughter instead, knowing he would be called in any second as well.
Ten minutes later, Denis walked in the front door and was presented with two infants, as Alexx and Speed headed in to work.
-DLG-
After a gruelling shift, Speed lived up to his name and raced along the streets of Miami. Alexx was already back at her place, and had told him to take his time getting there. He had something to do first. As he pulled up into Brickell Court, he looked around. There were some decent houses in the area, though many had seen better days. At least the land sizes were decent.
He stopped in front of a rather dilapidated one-storey building, where a long-faced young woman in a suit stood absently flipping through some papers. Speed kicked out the stand and dismounted, offering the woman a tired half-smile before looking over the house. She smiled back perkily.
"Good evening, Mr Speedle?" Speed nodded vaguely, and the woman went back to her papers. "Maria Wrightly, we met at the office. This is the place I described, would you like to see the inside?" She had an odd inflection, raising the end of every sentence so that she seemed to be constantly questioning everything. It was slightly annoying.
Speed just nodded again and headed to the front door. The front garden was overgrown, and what he guessed had once been a pond was now just a pit of rocks. The driveway was cracked with weeds sprouting everywhere. It looked promising. A small set of stairs led to a porch in front of the house. The floorboards seemed solid enough, and didn't squeak. Even though little care had been taken with the yard, the house seemed to be in decent repair. Miss Wrightly unlocked the door and they stepped through, when Speed heard a buzzing, as of many flies. Confused, he held up his hand to stop the chattering estate agent and cautiously stepped forward. Peeking around the corner of a doorframe, Speed sighed.
Trust him to go house hunting, and wind up with a dead body in the living room.
-DLG-
Twenty minutes later, Megan had shown up to assist, and Speed was trying not to slap Miss Wrightly around. The estate agent was close to hysterics, having seen a dead body in the house she was trying to sell. Speed just wanted to process the scene and get the case closed so he could go back to Alexx's and see his baby. Megan took the woman aside to ask her some questions while Speed got started on the living room. Megan had lent him her kit, and he was busy snapping photos when Alexx came in.
"Hey Timmy, when I told you to take your time, this is not what I had in mind," the M.E. smiled at her pseudo-son. Speed rolled his eyes.
"Not quite what I had in mind either. I swear, I've met one dead body for every two live people this month."
"Get used to it Baby, it comes with our jobs." Alexx knelt next to the decaying body and carefully examined him. "Hmm. Throat's been slit, ear-to-ear. Whoever did this was vicious, wasn't he Sugar?" She commented to the body. "No ragged edges, so probably looking at-"
"A 6-inch, single-edged dagger?" Speed interjected, holding up the fly-covered weapon he'd found behind the door. He and Alexx looked at each other for a moment, before Alexx spoke.
"Either your attacker is really dumb, or was really scared. I'll get our DB back to Autopsy and get started."
"Thanks Alexx," Speed nodded as he bagged the dagger. He looked around again and sighed. This was actually a pretty cool house. Pity that the agency would have trouble selling it after this. Shrugging, he got back to work, trying to remember where he'd seen the blade before. It was bugging him.
Outside, Megan was finding Maria Wrightly just as annoying as Speed had, though she was better at masking her impatience. She was currently attempting to get prints off of the woman, as she had been inside the house several times. Miss Wrightly was currently crying and insisting that she didn't know what was going on, hands over her eyes.
Megan looked over at the house and shivered. It looked creepy, and she didn't know why Speed would want to buy the place. It was probably infested with rodents, and would fall down in the next hurricane to hit the area. Shaking her head, she went back to the task of questioning the distraught estate agent. She was distracted, however, when Speed reappeared carrying the murder weapon and shaking his head. He had the same expression on his face as when one of the interns had said that eating boiled eggs would make someone constipated. Megan had learned that this was his 'I can't believe just how stupid you are' look, and had seen it directed at suspects several times since. He held up the knife, showing it to the estate agent, and glared.
"Okay you idiot, give us a blood sample and get in the squad car."
-DLG-
Four hours later, they were finalising the paperwork. Megan still had trouble believing that the murderer had been stupid enough to use a knife that a police officer had seen on her desk earlier to murder her boyfriend, and had trusted her ex to hide the body. The ex had done nothing, leaving man and blade at the crime scene, ready to be discovered at the next house-showing.
Speed, on the other hand, was just annoyed that there was a blood stain on his new living room floor.
Megan glanced over at her young protégé, more than a little disgusted. Speed looked up with an innocent look plastered on his face.
"I can't believe you bought that house," Megan said. "It had a dead body in it!"
"Hence the discount," Speed responded calmly.
"That place is just creepy. How can you think about living there?"
"Hey, you saw it after you knew that there was a dead body in it. I saw it before I knew. Therefore I'm the objective one here."
"It looks like it's going to fall down in the first hurricane that passes through," Megan tried a different track, but Speed just shook his head.
"So will all the other houses. That's why it's called a hurricane, and not a light breeze."
Pausing at the door, Horatio watched the interaction with a smile. He hadn't had that much to do with young Speed, aside from the gentle teasing that had gone back and forth between them after the incident with the skull, but could already tell that he was just as stubborn as the rest of them. Megan wasn't going to have much luck dissuading him from his chosen course of action. He chuckled as the two in front of him glared at each other, startling them from their argument.
"H, I didn't see you there," Megan stammered, seeming flustered. He raised an eyebrow, before stepping inside the evidence locker.
"I kind of figured that. Might I ask why you are discussing houses falling down?" He still looked amused, and Speed noticed that although Megan technically outranked Horatio, it was the redhead who had the natural authority. He decided to explain.
"I bought a house today. Megan thinks it's creepy and unstable, which is actually a large part of the appeal," he said pointedly.
"There was also a dead body in the living room," Megan interjected. "How can you want to live in a house where there's been a murder?"
"Cuts down the likelihood of it happening again," Speed muttered before signing his name on the final page. "There, done. I'm off."
Megan glared at his back while Horatio chuckled again, watching the young man leave. He wasn't surprised that a run-down house with a violent history appealed to the scruffy, sarcastic criminalist. Truth to tell, it kind of appealed to him as well. He wouldn't admit that to Megan though.
-DLG-
It was past 10 by the time Speed arrived at Alexx's house, and he winced when he opened the door. Alexx was in the kitchen with Avari, who seemed to have just stopped crying. He took the baby without bothering to get rid of his helmet or bag first, just wanting to be close to her. Alexx looked grateful.
"She's been upset all evening. Only stopped crying when she heard your bike. I think she missed you," the M.E. gently stroked Avari's hair.
"Thanks Alexx. I'm sorry I'm so late, it's just-"
"Paperwork. I know, Timmy, believe me. Paperwork and dumbass criminals make for late nights."
"Exactly," he laughed. "But at least I got a house out of it."
Alexx stopped and gave him a Look. Shaking her head in disgust, she left Speed in the kitchen and went to check on her own kids.
Speed finally removed the helmet and headed toward his room. It occurred to him that he'd have to get some furniture for his new place, and decided to worry about it in the morning. Procrastination was one of his strong points.
Avari was still whimpering, and Speed looked at her in concern. He checked her diaper, which was empty. He'd seen one of her empty bottles in the kitchen, so she wasn't hungry. Sighing, he reasoned that she was probably still upset from not seeing him all day. He grabbed a book at random from the pile next to his bed and started to read aloud as he paced up and down the hall.
He bit back a laugh as he realised which book he'd picked up. It was 'Red Dragon', the first in the Hannibal Lecter books. Ah well, he reasoned, maybe it'll instil a love of crime-fighting in her.
Two hours and seven chapters later, Avari was fast asleep, cuddled into her father's chest. Speed himself had passed out on the lounge, exhausted from the long day, voice raw from reading for so long. That was how Alexx found them the next morning as she came down to give Brian his morning feed, and get herself some breakfast. She smiled as Speed unconsciously brought a hand up to rest on Avari's back. It was the sweetest thing she'd seen in a long time.