Note: Important update on profile.

Chapter Twenty-two: Weird World

Delko got to work the next day rather early in the morning. He'd been unable to sleep any longer, his mind racing with all the thoughts he'd been unable to shut up for days. When he told Speed how he felt he figured that everything would be okay and figured out. One way or the other he expected to get a straight answer. He would have accepted any answer instead he was getting mixed signals from the other scientist. Though Speed kept turning him away he never once said that he wasn't interested. He never sent Delko away, just told him to stop; which meant that there was something more that wasn't being said. Maybe it was time to let things go, to forget about the way he felt for his friends and get on with his life. For months he'd been able to live with his feelings in secret and he saw no reason why he couldn't go back to that. If having Speed as a friend was all he could have then he would settle for that. As long as Speed remained part of his life it didn't matter all that much to him. Though he would rather have something beyond friendship he'd take what he could get.

Walking into the lab he smiled and waved at Calleigh who was talking with Jake. The two of them had fallen back into their old ways when Jake joined the team. He was happy to see Calleigh so happy every day, the smile on her face almost permanent. With Hagen around, though, things had been uncomfortable as they usually got when old flames and new ones ended up in the same room. He caught himself wondering how their relationship was working out now that Hagen was missing. Did Calleigh dwell on it too much?

He rounded the next corner only to run into Ryan. The somewhat obsessive scientist grabbed him by the arm. "Hey, you haven't seen Speed this morning have you?"

"No," he replied slowly. "Is there something wrong? Did something happen to him?" The worry began to settle and grow at an amazingly rapid speed.

Ryan looked back over his shoulder. "He's in one of the interrogation rooms with Horatio and a suspect."

"So?" he inquired. Then said, "Wait, a suspect this early in the morning?"

"I haven't the faintest clue," Ryan shrugged it off.

"What does it have to do with me seeing Speed?"

Ryan averted his gaze, unable to look Delko in the eye. "Well, I'm not sure what happened since as far as I know no one has actually spoken with Speed or Horatio, but…"

Delko didn't want to hear it from Ryan so he brushed past the other scientist and headed toward the interrogation rooms. When he got there he saw a man with wrinkled clothes, a serious case of five-o-clock shadow and unruly brown hair sitting at the table. Across from him sat Horatio. Leaning against the wall behind Horatio was Speed, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes on the floor. The way he was standing it was easy for Delko to see the somewhat fresh cut along the side of Speed's head. All his years as a crime scene investigator he realized the mark as one made by someone who'd been hit with a gun. He could also tell that the cut had come from sometime last night. He wanted to rush into the room and start questioning Speed about what happened but knew that Horatio wouldn't appreciate the interruption while he was talking to a suspect. So he stood his ground waiting for things to be over, waiting for that moment he could talk to Speed.

--

Horatio looked at the man sitting across the table from him. He was unsure what to say to the edgy man. For the last hour he'd been babbling incoherently as he tried to get them to understand something about Hagen and the militia. He refused to believe that the detective had been killed by the group of cop haters but the more the guy rambled the more he was beginning to think it was a likely possibility. He thought about looking back over his shoulder at Speed to see how his friend was holding on but knew that it wouldn't do either one of them any god. Fresh in his mind were the images of Speed stumbling back into the parking lot last night, blood running down the side of his head. Horatio had taken him back into the lab to see to his wound and ask him what happened. That's when Speed explained that he'd been attacked by one of the militia members. He tried to recount exactly what the guy said but had been unable to make sense of them, something lost in translation. After making sure that Speed was fine he drove him home and then had Frank pick him up that morning. No sooner had Speed walked through the door then the guy across from him showed up. He confessed to attacking a cop the night before. Horatio knew instantly who he was talking about and demanded that he be the one to interrogate the guy. He brought Speed with him hoping that it would help ease any fears that he might have.

"It's been twenty minutes and you haven't made a lick of sense," Horatio stated. "I want to know why you attacked my CSI last night. What did he ever do to you?"

"He's a cop….he….guns get pointed at him every day," the man said in reply, looking over H's shoulder to glance at Speed.

"True," Horatio agreed. "But this one is different. He's a damn good friend of mine."

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry isn't going to make things better," said Horatio. He was managing, just barely, to keep his anger in check. "Do you have any idea what you've done? You jumped a man in the dark, an officer who nearly lost his life months ago when he was shot in the chest. The exact same spot that you leveled your gun at. You…"

"I'm sorry," the guy just about yelled. "I didn't know." He began to rock back and forth in the chair. "I didn't mean….I'm sorry…."

"Tell me why you said what you did about Detective Hagen."

The man shook his head, tears running breaking free. "They're going to kill me…I can't….no…"

Horatio sighed. "Something made you turn yourself in. For someone who's sworn to hate cops you seem to find yourself in the company of a lot of them. By your own choice. How do you think that's going to look when word gets back to your friends?"

The guy's eyes got wide with fear. "You wouldn't….no….couldn't…"

"You have no idea what I'm capable of doing," Horatio stated. "If you don't want to talk then you can sit in a cell. I'm booking you on charges of assaulting an officer and carrying a concealed weapon."

An officer came into the room with a pair of handcuffs, slapping them on the suspect's wrists. The guy muttered under his breath on the way out of the room, silence settling over the place once he was gone. Speed walked over to the table so that he was standing by Horatio when he pushed back his chair. He stood. "How odd that the man should turn himself in…"

"I don't get it," Speed said. it was the first time he'd said anything since the interrogation began. "The guy threatens to kill me one night and the next day he's turning himself in? But he won't say anything? I don't get it."

"We should know better than anyone that life doesn't always make sense." Horatio picked up his sunglasses off the table. "I think that you should have a word with Delko…"

At first Speed wasn't sure what his friend meant until he looked out the glass and saw Delko standing there looking somewhat pale and pissed at the same time. He sighed, knowing what was in store but also knowing that Horatio was right. That didn't mean he looked forward to the conversation.