Disclaimer: Not mine, no profit made. But lots of fun had.

Chapter Seven: In which Speed has a really bad day, and Alexx helps.

-DLG-

"It's not like I even hit him that hard," Speed scowled at the Coke Alexx set in front of him. The older woman said nothing, just waiting. Seed had been in a foul mood all day, and was now on suspension for punching one of the lab techs. Megan was at her wits' end, and Speed was refusing to talk to anyone about what was bothering him. So she'd sent the surly young scientist to see his surrogate mother.

They were now seated in Alexx's kitchen, and Speed was gradually starting to open up. It was hard going, though. He was definitely not in a very good mood, and seemed to be convinced that he hadn't done anything wrong. That was probably what concerned Alexx the most. Speed was not a violent person, so for him to feel justified in decking one of his co-workers, something had to be wrong. When nothing more seemed to be forthcoming, Alexx decided to press him a little.

"Timmy, I know you and Zack don't get along, but you've never come to blows before. What changed, Baby?"

"I…" he looked like he was going to dig his heels in, then his shoulders slumped. "It's just been a crappy day. I'll apologise to him and Megan tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay Baby. But I think you should talk this out first. It's not good for you to bottle everything up like this. Talk to me."

He looked around the room, and Alexx was reminded of a caged animal, looking for an escape. This was very bad. She continued to wait, knowing that he would give in sooner or later.

Thankfully she didn't have long to wait. Shoulders still bowed, Speed sighed in defeat.

"Zack was… making comments. About what happened at a crime scene earlier today."

"When that journalist contaminated the evidence?" Alexx pressed gently. Speed nodded.

"Yeah. The whole case could have been lost if H hadn't found another print. And yeah, I should have been watching the tape to make sure no one crossed the line, but I was distracted, and I messed up. But for a lab-rat with no field experience to comment like that…" Speed's dark eyes flashed in anger, and Alexx could see that he was getting worked up again.

"Whatever he said," she tried to soothe him, "it doesn't matter. We both know how hard it can be to keep a crime scene intact, and journalists really have no sense of the appropriate etiquette at a scene."

"Hi said," Speed started, then closed his eyes and continued in a soft voice. "He said that if I can't keep control of a scene, what makes me think I can raise a kid single-handed?"

Alexx's jaw dropped.

"What? Baby, you know that's nonsense! I can't deny that you'll have your hands full, but you've already proved that you're a terrific father! Why would you pay any attention to a comment like that?"

Speed didn't answer. Instead he reached into his pocket and pulled out a letter. He handed it over without a word, looking lost. Alexx opened and quickly scanned it, paling slightly as she did so.

It was from a high-priced lawyer in New York. Avari's maternal grandparents were suing Speed for custody of the little girl. Alexx shook her head several times before she could form words.

"Oh no, that can't be right. They can't do that unless they prove that you're an incompetent father."

"But what if they do?" Speed whispered. "There, she'd have both a male and female guardian, access to the best schools. She'd never want for anything. Here… how can I measure up?"

"Because you're her father!" Alexx exploded. "I don't care what they can offer her – you are Avari's father, and your whole world revolves around that baby girl! I don't care what we have to do, you are not giving her up without a fight."

The ghost of a smile appeared on Speed's face.

"I wasn't planning on giving her up," he clarified. "But how do I afford a decent lawyer to fight this? I'm only just keeping on top of the bills and mortgage now, I can't afford this as well."

"You let me worry about that," Alexx patted his arm. "I know a few people who might be able to help. You're family, and there's no way I'm going to let them take Avari away."

"Thanks Alexx," Speed smiled properly now. "It's good to have family like you."

-DLG-

True to her word, Alexx made several phone calls that night, and called in several favours. At the end, she had a promise to help from Simon Reynolds, a specialist in family law. He was also a single father, and knew exactly what Speed would be facing.

Then she called Megan, to let her know what was going on. As she suspected, as soon as the head of CSI knew the whole story, she promised to overturn Speed's suspension.

"Why didn't he just tell me what was going on with him?" She wondered aloud. Alexx shrugged, then remembered that she was on the phone.

"That boy is extremely stubborn, you know that. It took a long time for me to coax the whole story out of him."

"Well, at least we know now," Megan sighed. "I'll make sure he can get time off when he needs it. Did they say anything about a court date?"

"Not yet," Alexx replied, "and Simon says we might not have to go to court. If he can get Social Services to look over the house and Tim's current arrangements, the judge may decide that there isn't a case for changing custody."

"Well that's something to hope for," Megan sounded a lot more cheerful.

"Just one problem, Sugar: Zack. Speed punched him, and that's going to look very bad. If the other lawyer gets wind of it, he could claim that Timmy is violent."

"But we both know that's not true… would it help if Zack made a statement saying that he provoked Speed?"

"I don't know. At least there was no real damage done. Maybe if we say that they were horsing around and it was an accident… we'll ask Simon about it. I just hope that he has an answer, I don't know what Timmy will do if they take Avari away from him.

-DLG-

Speed sat on his back porch, reading with Avari. They were waiting for the social worker to arrive, and Speed had never been so nervous in his life. It was worse than when Avari was being born, because now he knew what he'd be missing if his little princess was taken away.

Avari, on the other hand, didn't seem to be worried. They hadn't told her why the worker was really coming, opting to say that she just wanted to make sure that Avari was being taken care of. Given that Avari was a few months shy of turning three, she seemed to buy it.

They heard a car pull into the driveway, and Speed swallowed nervously. This was it. He stood and led his daughter back into the lounge room where Simon, Alexx's lawyer friend, was waiting.

"Remember Speed," the young man offered some final words of advice, "they don't actually have any reason to take Avari away from here. The Social Worker just wants what's best for her, she's here to help, so don't lie to her or try to gloss over things. It's going to be fine."

"This is just like being on the stand," Speed muttered darkly. Then the doorbell rang and he took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing then."

He opened the door to find a short, plump, middle-aged woman with steel grey hair and bright blue eyes on the other side. She handed over her identification with a thin smile.

"Mr Speedle?" Speed nodded. "Claire Robbins, Social Services."

"Hi," Speed muttered. Suddenly his throat was very dry, and he stepped to one side. "Come on in. You want a drink or something?"

"Not right now," Claire said as she entered the house. "First I'd like to meet your daughter."

"Okay. C'mere Princess," he held out his hand to Avari, who ran to his side and peered up at the stranger, uncharacteristically shy. "This is Miss Robbins. She's going to talk to you for a while. Miss Robbins, my daughter, Avari."

Claire knelt with a little difficulty, so she was on the same eye level as Avari. Her whole demeanor changed around the child, and Speed began to feel a little more confident.

"Hi there, little one. You can call me Claire, okay?" Avari nodded, still holding Speed's hand tightly. "Do you know why I'm here?"

"Mmhmm. Speed said you need to make sure that he's taking care of me properly. He is, you know."

"Speed?" Claire raised an eyebrow.

Speed closed his eyes, wincing a little. He didn't have a problem with his daughter using his nickname, but he realised that to an outsider, it could seem like there wasn't much love between father and daughter.

"Yeah," Avari continued, unaware of her father's discomfort. "That's my daddy's name. Everyone calls him Speed. Except for Auntie Alexx, she calls him Timmy. Or Baby, but she calls everyone Baby." She seemed to be warming to their guest, who looked questioningly up at Speed. He shrugged back.

"If she ever gets lost, at least she can have me called by name." He hoped that would be enough.

Claire nodded, smiling a little, then turned back to the child.

"And who is Auntie Alexx?" She knew from the file that Speed was an only child, and had no family in Miami.

"She's the doctor at Speed's work. She's really nice, and she takes care of me if he has to work on the weekend. But Megan makes sure he doesn't have to do that too much."

"Megan?" Claire smiled. Avari certainly didn't have trouble communicating, and seemed eager to please. This was a good way of finding out the child's perspective on her current living situation.

"Speed's boss. She's a lot of fun. She and Speed's other work people gave me that doll house for my birthday!" Avari pointed to the castle-shaped doll house. Even nearly two years later, it was still one of her favourite toys.

"Wow," Claire looked impressed. "That is a very special doll's house." She paused for a moment before continuing. "Do you mind if we sit on the couch and keep talking?"

"Okay," Avari let go of Speed's hand and skipped over to the couch. She'd only just learned how, and as a result tended to skip almost constantly.

Claire settled down next to her and dug out a pad and pen from her bag. Speed leaned casually against the wall, realising that it was best to just let Avari keep babbling away.

"So," Claire turned to Avari again, "do you know many of Speed's co-workers?"

"Uh-huh," Avari nodded. "Calleigh's the really pretty lady. She said that she'll teach me to shoot a gun just as soon as my hands are big enough to hold it." Speed winced again. Okay, maybe letting her do the talking wasn't such a good idea. But Claire kept smiling, and nodded for her to continue. "And Ra-ra makes the bestest pancakes. He comes over every Sunday morning to feed us."

Speed cast his eyes heavenward. She had to bring up that little tradition.

After Raymond had been killed whilst undercover, Horatio had started spending a lot of his spare time with Speed and Avari. He seemed to enjoy the peace that the tiny family had achieved, as well as the fact that Speed never asked him questions. They could spend several hours together and only exchange a handful of words.

The random visits had gradually settled into a routine, and now every Sunday Horatio would come over and cook them breakfast, and on Wednesdays Speed would cook them all dinner. It hadn't escaped his notice that Horatio never seemed overly keen to leave, but he hadn't gotten up the nerve to ask him to stay yet.

Now he thought that it might be a good thing he hadn't – after all, he didn't think that a judge would favour two male cops over a child's grandparents.

Claire, however, seemed to be taking it all in her stride.

"And what do you do while Speed's at work?"

"I go to Daycare," Avari nodded happily. "Brian goes there too. I like it there."

"And Brian is…"

"He's my friend. And he's Auntie Alexx's son."

"That's good," Claire nodded back. "Everyone should have a friend."

-DLG-

After that, the visit ran smoothly. Avari gave Claire a tour of the house and back garden, and she could see the love Speed had for his daughter in every room. From the toys scattered around the house, to the picture books on the nightstand next to his bed; from the sponge toys in the bathroom, to the Sesame Street crockery in the kitchen. It was obvious that Speed's world was firmly centred around his little girl.

And in return, Avari was obviously a happy and healthy child. She seemed quite mature for her age, probably due to her father being a scientist, but she still had a childlike fascination with the world around her, and was convinced that there were fairies living in the garden. Given the types of stories Speed read to her, however, she had decided that the best course of action was to set traps to scare them away.

Claire finished up her report that night and forwarded it to the sitting judge in New York. As far as she was concerned, there were no grounds for the lawsuit to go forward.