5/20/09: Update on my profile.

Chapter Seventy-one: Falling

Speed stayed the night at Delko's as planned. But what he hadn't planned on was spending the night in Delko's bed. His best friend had been willing to give over his bed and sleep on the couch so that Speed could have the comfortable place to rest. They bickered about it for a short time, Delko refusing to budge on the decision. In the end Speed curled up in the unfamiliar bed, the lights off, the night sounds of the city surrounding the building. Try as he might he couldn't drift off to sleep. It took him a while to realize what his problem was; he felt uncomfortable. Having had a close call during the day he was feeling unease. Once again someone had pointed a gun in his direction with the intent of hurting him. And all because of his dog.

Who knew that loving a dog could cause so much trouble?

An hour or two must have passed before he climbed out of the bed, shuffling through the darkness of the apartment. Delko snored softly from his position on the sofa. Mite lay sprawled out on the cool tile floor of the kitchen. Not wanting to wake up Delko he sat on the coffee table looking in the direction of the apartment door, his mind racing with so many thoughts that he couldn't focus on a single one. From his vantage point he could also see his beloved dog. He'd lied earlier in the day about giving Mite to another family. Now he was beginning to think that it might not be such a bad idea. Drive out of state and found a rescue that would be willing to re-home the Anatolian Shepherd. He figured that it was the only way he could keep Mite out of trouble.

Course, that made think about the string of cases and how each victim had lost a dog. From what he could manage to figure out Mite was the first case going back quite a few months to when he first returned to the job. He'd given the dog a home without really giving it much thought. It didn't matter to him in the least that Mite was a lesser known breed, a rare breed. He welcomed the comfort and companionship the wayward dog offered. Now there were more murders and more rare breeds of dogs missing. Someone wanted Mite for…what? Were the dogs being sold on the black market for extraordinary sums of money? Were they being used as fight dogs or bait for fight dogs? Or had some sick person gotten the idea of turning them into fur coats and other garments for people to wear?

He gazed at Mite's soft fawn coat; trying to imagine what it would be like if the dog was suddenly no longer part of his life. How far would he go to keep the dog safe? How far would the kidnappers go to get their hands on Mite? So many questions swirled around in his head but so few answers presented themselves.

"Speed?" Delko suddenly spoke in the darkness. "What are you doing up?"

"I can't sleep," he sighed, not bothering to look in Delko's direction.

There came the sound of rustling blankets, then Delko was standing before him in nothing but his boxers. Speed looked up at him as Delko offered him a hand. "Come on, you need to get some sleep."

Without really thinking Speed took the offered hand, allowing Delko to pull him to his feet. He followed his friend through the dark apartment back to the bedroom. He climbed into the bed while Delko stood watching, wondering where this was all leading. Then much to his surprise Delko climbed in beside him. At first he felt a flutter of panic in his chest, his mind instantly throwing out a whole new slew of questions and probabilities. Where the hell was this going? What did Delko think was going to happen? Was he even ready for this sort of thing to happen between them?

"Now you aren't alone," Delko said quietly. "Think you'll be able to sleep?"

Speed sighed, relaxing as he turned onto his side. "I can try."

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He put the sample in the machine, then leaned back against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest to await the results. It had been another busy day at the lab and though he'd been running one piece of evidence after another they were no closer to putting any of the cases to rest. It was unusual for the lab to have so many open cases at one time. Horatio prided himself on having a great team of investigators and a high solve rate. Because they managed to keep the solve rate so high they city had no problem finding them money for new equipment and sometimes even allowing overtime for particularly high priority cases. He hoped for the sake of the lab, as well as his and Mite's safety, that they managed to start getting all the right leads and caught the hoodlums responsible.

He hated to think that while they played with expensive machines and chemicals a family somewhere was being murdered because of their choice of family pet.

"You seem to be in better spirits today, Speed," Horatio said as he walked into the room, a ghost of a smile on his face. "I take it you got through the crisis of last night?"

"Yeah."

"Did you tell Delko what happened?"

Speed nodded slowly, knowing that there was no point in hiding anything from Horatio, not anymore. He had a lot of healing to do, he understood that, and it was going to be hard to heal if he kept every minor detail to himself. Horatio was there every time he needed someone to listen, someone who would not pass judgment but would offer support and advice. What had he done to deserve a friend as great as Horatio?

"How did he take?"

"Better than expected," Speed said.

Horatio smiled. "I told you that he would understand. He loves you, Speed. Even when he had trouble remembering certain details after the shooting he still loved you. He always asked about you."

"We shared a bed last night," Speed said quite out of the blue. He hadn't been planning to say anything about it to Horatio or anyone else but now that he'd said the words he found himself studying Horatio's face for his reaction.

"No wonder you've been in a happy mood."

Speed felt a slight blush coloring his cheeks. "No, we didn't-"

Horatio held up his hand. "It doesn't matter what you did or didn't do, Speed. You're happier than you have been in a long time, that's what matters."

He wondered if he should tell Horatio the rest, figured that it couldn't hurt to voice the thought that had been waiting all day to be spoken aloud. "When I woke up this morning he was…holding me. At some point during the night he'd wrapped his arms around my waist and…"

"And?"

"I think I'm falling for him, H. Falling hard."