Disclaimer: Not mine, no profit made.

Daisyangel: Yes, Avari's mother will appear, but not for a very long time. Trust me, she has a good reason for not being around. And I enjoyed the Christmas party a lot – everyone should get to see their boss drunk at least once a year. It's very entertaining.

Speedfanatic: Yup, Speed is Avari's bitch. He's wrapped quite firmly around her little finger, with no hope of escape. Not that he wants to escape, mind.

A/N: Slash ahead. As usual for me, not in the least graphic, but it's finally there. I had been trying to hold off on it as it could have screwed with a future storyline, but I'm just going to get a little creative with the laws instead.

Also, I have a confession to make: I have no idea where I'm going in Exchange Program… so that might be a little slow in updating until I figure something out.

Chapter Ten: In which the boys get some action, thanks to Avari's prodding.

-DLG-

"…and that's called 'evaporation'."

"Wow…" Avari's eyes were wide as Speed explained the miracle of boiling water to purify it. She was a great deal like her father, in that she wanted to know how things worked. They'd been reading a book which mentioned surviving in the desert, and she had wanted to know how to make dirty water safe to drink.

Sometimes, Speed wondered if he was pushing his daughter too fast. After all, she was only five years old, and already knew how to write her full name, and could read most of her picture-books. She also already had a sound knowledge of basic scientific principles. Then again, he didn't set out to teach her everything he knew; he merely answered her questions truthfully. There was also the fact that she spent a lot of time at the lab, and she saw a lot of things that other five year olds didn't. Everyone at the lab was good about explaining things to the curious little girl.

All except Zack that is, but she avoided talking to him as much as possible. Neither Speedle liked him much.

Speed then glanced at the clock and smiled. He'd best start cooking, Horatio would be arriving soon. Avari followed his gaze and furrowed her brow, trying to work out the time. She wasn't as good with numbers as she was with letters, and had trouble with the concept of time. Her father decided to help her out and pointed to the numbers as he spoke.

"The small hand is nearly at the seven, and the big hand is at the nine. That means it's a quarter…"

"Quarter to seven?" Avari asked. Speed grinned proudly at her.

"That's right, Princess! Quarter to seven." Speed kept smiling as he moved into the kitchen to prepare dinner. She was without a doubt the smartest little girl he knew. Not that he was biased or anything.

A few minutes later there was a knock at the front door and Horatio let himself in. Avari ran to greet her favourite uncle.

"Hi Ra-Ra!"

"Hi there, Sweetheart," Horatio smiled as he knelt down to talk to her. "How's your day been?"

"Speed taught me about e-vap-or-a-tion!" She slowed down a little for the long word, but managed to pronounce it correctly. Horatio's eyes widened a little in surprise.

"Wow. I bet that was interesting."

"Yeah. Ra-Ra?" Avari suddenly looked thoughtful, and Horatio braced himself. She usually came out with something complicated to answer when she had that look.

"Yes, Sweetheart?"

"Are you in love with Speed?"

Horatio fought to keep the panic off of his face. He'd been found out by a five year old! How did that happen?

"What… what makes you ask that?" Horatio stalled. He didn't want to lie to the little girl, but at the same time it was quite a hard question to answer truthfully.

"Well, you spend so much time here. And you never have a lady-friend. And you always seem sad when you have to go. And sometimes you look at Speed like you want to hug him and never stop."

Replace hug with a certain other verb and she's right, Horatio thought to himself. He then sighed and looked down. Avari knew. At least she didn't seem bothered by it – but what if Speed found out? Knowing that he couldn't lie to Avari, he slowly nodded.

"Yeah… I'm in love with Speed." He realised with shock that the first person he'd told about his feelings, was the daughter of the man he loved. This was definitely not how he'd pictured things unfolding. Then again, the little girl in front of him seemed to always have a way of disrupting plans.

Avari nodded at what Horatio told her, happy that he'd confirmed what she'd known for a while.

"Okay. So go tell him." It was the natural next step, obviously.

"I, uh… Avari, I can't just tell him."

"Why not?"

"It's… complicated." Horatio realised that he was way out of his depth in dealing with the small child, and for once he couldn't call Speed to bail him out.

"Why?"

"Because there are rules about dating someone you work with. Besides… a lot of people don't like seeing two men together like that. And if Speed doesn't feel the same way, then there would be a lot of trouble, and I don't want to ruin our friendship." He really hoped she'd leave it at that.

"Oh," Avari muttered and looked at the floor for a minute, before raising her gaze back to Horatio.

"Ra-Ra, you're a dummy!" She told him forcefully.

"Why is he a dummy?" Came the amused query from the next room. Horatio looked up to see Speed standing in the doorway, a large grin on his face. He apparently hadn't heard the rest of the conversation, and Horatio was very glad of it.

"Because he is," Avari explained before going over to play with her doll's house. Her father shook his head, chuckling, then turned to Horatio.

"It's enchiladas for dinner. Wanna help?"

The redhead nodded and rose to his feet, following the object of his desires into the kitchen. He wasn't sure why he continued to torture himself by spending so much time with Speed, but he couldn't bear the thought of not seeing him every day. He desperately wished that he could come clean about his feelings for the younger man, but it wasn't that easy. After all, as far as he was aware Speed was only interested in women. He'd never shown the slightest desire for any man he'd come into contact with – and he had a biological daughter as well.

Horatio sighed and tried not to think about his feelings for Speed as he helped to make the dinner. It was like he'd told Avari – it was just far too complicated for him to admit to Speed that he loved him.

Though he did wonder why she called him a dummy.

-DLG-

It was now nearly nine. Speed was giving Avari a bath in preparation for bedtime, and Horatio sat in their lounge room, reading over Speed's latest draft article. He wasn't a keen participant in the world of forensic academia, but Alexx had persuaded him to write an article on identifying chemical compounds in street drugs. Horatio was having a little trouble following some of the processes that he talked about, but he was fully prepared to admit that he wasn't half the scientist that Speed was. After all, he was really only just discovering the sciences involved in his job, being a policeman first. Speed was a scientist first, then a cop.

He was struggling through the section on mould and hallucinogenics, when his younger friend appeared at his side, daughter held in his arms. The little girl was more than half asleep, eyes staying closed a little longer each time she blinked. Horatio smiled and stood to give the little girl a quick kiss on the forehead. It was part of the Wednesday Night Tradition.

"Goodnight, Sweetheart," he whispered to her.

"Night, Ra-Ra," she sleepily whispered back. Speed smiled and turned to go tuck his daughter into bed. Horatio glanced at the clock and decided that he really should be leaving. He didn't want to tempt himself with thoughts of what he couldn't have.

He gathered his things and was standing near the front door, shrugging into his jacket when Speed reappeared. The scruffy scientist made his way over to his friend, and something in the way he moved froze Horatio to the spot. Speed stopped a mere foot away.

"I had a very interesting conversation with Avari tonight," Speed spoke in a low voice. Horatio fought not to show how that voice was affecting him, and swallowed hard. He couldn't find it in him to respond, so the scientist reached out and took his hand. "Stay."

"Are… are you sure you want me to?" Horatio whispered, finally finding his voice. Speed smirked at him.

"Wouldn't have asked if I wasn't."

That was enough for Horatio, and he leaned forward, pressing his lips to Speed's. As he deepened the kiss and wrapped his arms around the man he loved, he realised that Avari had been right. He'd been a dummy for nearly letting this chance slip away.

-DLG-

The next morning, Avari woke early as usual and went out to the lounge room to play until Speed woke up. She paused when she got there, however, and smiled widely. Her cunning plan had worked.

Her father was asleep on the couch, and so was Uncle Ra-Ra. Speed was sitting up, arms wrapped around Ra-Ra, who was curled up into Speed, head tucked under his chin. Avari quietly went back to her room and closed the door, deciding to play there for a while. After all, Speed didn't like to be woken up in the mornings.