*jumps in* At a friend's house, till my 'nets back up.
Stupid internet connection! STUPID SQUIRELLS! Well I owe you all an update, here ya go.
As he rides through the familiar streets of Miami, Speed’s cell phone rings. He pulls over, and picks it up.
Speed: Hello?
R Stetler: Speedle.
S:…what do you want?
RS: You, back in LA, back to work.
S: It’s called a break.
RS: You wouldn’t be taking a break if you were still a CSI.
S:…so?
RS: So…you shouldn’t be as an undercover investigator.
S: I’m visiting a sick friend.
RS: As in Horatio Caine?
S:…
RS: He thinks you’re dead. Let’s keep it that way.
S: Why? So I can go on living a life of secrecy, with my best friends and family thinking I’m six feet under?
RS: So you can maintain your position.
S: Of what? *laughs*
RS: You’re lucky I let you continue in the crime profession.
S: Let me? I didn’t absolutely have to take your offer.
RS: Oh yeah. You were REALLY going to let me ruin your record. Or, excuse me…not hide what you did to ruin your own record.
S: *snorts* What, I forgot to clean my freaking gun a few times? Negligence, Stetler?
RS: As a CSI, negligence could cost you.
S: But get me fired?
RS: You took the offer, Speedle.
S: You hardly gave me a choice!
RS: You just said, negligence was nothing!
S: Oh yeah, you were going to ‘mention’ I was a negligent CSI and get on with it? I didn’t have to, but what would happen if I didn’t? You wouldn’t let that happen. And lose a valuable opportunity to gain an undercover investigator AND attempt at breaking the team apart?
RS:…
S: Like you could. They got on, they’re strong as ever.
RS: I’m smarter than you give me credit for, Speedle.
S: Well that’s a good thing for you.
RS: You have no idea. Horatio and his team are losing it. Falling apart. They can partially thank you for that.
S: That shooting had nothing to do with me.
RS: Did it?
S: I’m going to save you the trouble of hanging up.
RS: I have more on you than you know. Things you probably don’t want to know about. Remember in high school while on a class trip you were discovered with a pocketknife on an airplane?
S:…I’m hanging up.
RS: Or when in middle school when you shoplifted $100 worth of pharmaceuticals?
S: I was 13!
RS: Go back to LA, Speedle.
S: First off, no f***ing way. Second, my name’s Speed. *hangs up, throws phone on ground, drives off*
At the hospital, Calleigh leans on Ryan as she strokes Horatio’s hand. Horatio’s breathing machines and IV beep incessantly, but she ignores it, intent on stroking his hand as he lays, his chest slowly rising and falling in rhythm. Ryan sighs and runs his hands through Calleigh’s hair, as if to pet her. His face is solemn, feeling at loss of a mentor and friend. He silently prays. Horatio’s eyelids flutter, and Calleigh sits up, but he doesn’t move again. She and Ryan leave a few minutes later.
In the Lobby, they meet up with Alexx and Eric.
Alexx: How was he?
Eric: Wolfe got to see him before me?
Ryan: *frowns*
Calleigh: He looked so…lifeless. Besides possible…brain damage, he’s going to recover though.
E: We know.
A: Imagine Horatio with brain damage…he’s always been the strongest of all of us, the one who couldn’t be affected by anything. The one who held us up when we couldn’t handle something.
E: We owe him, major.
C: Alright. If he gets better, first off, we appreciate him a lot more. Second, we ask him if there’s anything we can do for him, frequently. Maybe he needs us sometimes but can’t bring himself to ask for help.
R: We all feel that way sometimes.
E: Yeah but he’s always there for everyone else, it’d be nice for us to be there for him for once, like Cal said.
C: And now this whole deal with Speed…he must be cracking under the pressure.
A: Not to mention stress.
E: He’s been looking into Speed’s death a lot lately. I don’t think I’m supposed to know and I haven’t said anything but I’m worried about him.
C: Well if Speed is alive…
E: There has to be a reason!
A: Maybe he’s suspicious?
R: Well this guy, Speedle-
E: Speed, Wolfe. Not ‘this guy’.
R: Sorry Delko. Well Speed sounds amazing, why would he fake his death if he wanted to leave?
E: We don’t know, idiot.
R: *glares* My point exactly. Maybe he’s looking in to why he left.
A: Maybe.
C: Do we know where he is?
A: Los Angeles, last time I heard anything. Working as an undercover investigator with fierce LA gangs, some connected to Miami crimes.
C: Maybe that’s why he left. I mean, not the way he did it, but why he left to begin with. He wanted to do something else.
E: But why put us through that? He’s better than that. He wouldn’t do this unless he was forced to for someone’s safety.
R: Or he was blackmailed.
E: Speed’s like an angel, no one could dig up anything on him.
C: You’d be surprised at what people have done that can haunt them later.
E: Well I think he did it to protect someone. Speed’s that kind of guy.
A: I don’t know what to think. When he was pretending to be dead on my table, he never said anything. Not even goodbye. Then I was told to leave him outside and I came back to see if this was for real and he was gone.
C: Maybe he didn’t want to say goodbye.
R: Maybe he was hinting at something.
Everyone: What?
R: That he was coming back.
Next session: Whenever I get my 'net back. :lol: