Title: The End of the Beginning
Author: Bj Jones
Rating: FRAO
Disclaimer: I don't own them. They are owned by people who have mean nasty lawyers that can and will eat me for lunch. Not making any money - just borrowing them for a moment or two... or three....I'll return them when I return them.
Summary: Letting go and moving toward the future.
Genre: Slash
Series: A Second Can Change the World, Revelations, Playing It Forward, Vacation's Over, Decisions, Consequences, The Past Returns, Investigation, It's Personal, The Past Leads to the Present, First Kill
Beta: Christina (Dino)
Challenge: 12 Stories - Horatio Caine/Timothy Speedle/Rick Stetler
Prompt: #12 - Future
Word Count: 2307

~*~

"Did you hear?" Eric asked as they walked up to the crime scene.

Calleigh frowned, "Hear what?"

"The victims," he stopped and stared at her. "It's Ryan and Judge Ratner."

"What!?" Her jaw dropped in shock. "The officers stated it looked like a hit gone wrong..."

"I have no idea, but Stetler is all over it and I'm not sure who's going to kill who first H or Stetler." Eric headed into the warehouse. Both CSIs stopped to see Rick and Horatio glaring at each other. "Oh this is going to be so much fun."

"Lucky for Speed, he's still off." Calleigh rolled her eyes at the male testosterone running through the building.

"Eric, I want you to take the upstairs office," Horatio looked over at his CSIs. "Calleigh take perimeter, I'm calling in the night shift to help." He glanced down at the body. "We're down two CSIs."

"You think this is related to the attack on Speed?" She asked pulling her camera out. "Someone hunting CSIs?"

"If it is, I want them found before I lose another one of mine." He slipped on his glasses.

"I should pull your team off this, it's personal." Rick knelt down next to Wolfe. "Or should I ask who have you pissed off recently for them to take hits out on your team?"

"You're not keeping me off this," Horatio growled lightly. "I want the bastards who did this."

"I'll be watching your every step," Stetler stood up and got into Caine's personal space. "We don't want you do anything stupid, now do we."

"Get off my crime scene," Caine looked over his glasses at him. "We've got work to do."

~ Lab ~

Calleigh sighed and looked at the ballistics reports once again. The evidence was clear. It stared her right in the face but she couldn't believe it. She glanced up over at her partner, "Eric?"

"How could we not know?" he asked still in shock.

"It makes a morbid kind of sense," She pulled the evidence together. "All the characteristics are there. If we had looked closer, we would have seen them."

"He hid them well," Eric sighed. "What do we do now?"

"Follow the evidence," Calleigh took a deep breath.

"And the consequences?" he asked as they left the room.

She looked up at him, "I don't know. How does the lab recover from this?"

"By giving justice to those who deserve it." Calleigh stated firmly. "Now, let's go get this over with."

~*~

Horatio looked at the report then back up at his CSIs. "Are you sure?"

"We checked it twice," Calleigh nodded.

"I'm not surprised that Ratner took his own life, according to Stetler, there was a huge internal investigation into Ratner's staff." Horatio set the report down.

"Well, that would have been useful information to know while we were investigating," Eric rolled his eyes.

"I know." Horatio nodded in agreement. "It was ‘classified'; they wanted to keep it quiet to see how far it went."

"What do we do?" Calleigh asked concerned.

Horatio closed the folder. "Nothing we can do."

"What about Speed!?" Eric's voice rose in aggravation. "That bastard almost killed him, and killed two fellow officers..."

"What can we do Eric, he's dead." He looked over at Eric. "He's paid the ultimate price."

"How could we not see this?" he pointed towards the file. "In all purposes, Wolfe was a cold blooded killer and we had lunch with him. Damn it, H! We're CSIs, we should have seen this."

"He's was very good at hiding," Horatio sighed. "Too good. But in the end, he was found out. He crossed Ratner and paid the price."

"But there's no justice," Eric slumped back into his chair. "He's dead and the families have to still deal with his crimes."

"We give the families the answers they seek, and that's all we can do." Caine shook his head. "We're going to have to call in the Feds to check his cases. We don't know how many he fixed before and after he became a CSI."

"What about Speed?" Calleigh asked.

"I'll talk with him," Horatio stood up from his desk. "There's nothing more that can be done, go home have a relaxing weekend."

The two stood up, "I still can't believe we had no clue." Calleigh sighed.

"We all wear masks, some of us more than others." Horatio gave her a small smile as he walked them out of his office. 'And some don't know which is the mask and which is real.' He couldn't help but think to himself.

~ Horatio's Home ~

Rick laid out on the couch with his head resting in Speed's lap, "Does he ever talk about it?"

"When it's too much, he does." Tim ran his fingers through the dark hair. "Mostly though he keeps it to himself."

"I'm not sure if I'm upset that it hasn't bothered me as much as I think it should, or upset that I actually did it." Rick sat up and looked over at his lover. "The rat bastard deserved it, but..."

"You can't second guess yourself, Rick." Speed said. "You aren't a bad person, an asshole but not evil."

Rick rolled his eyes, "That makes me feel better."

"It should it's the truth," he shrugged. "Did you enjoy the power you had over him? Feel high from taking his life?"

"No." Stetler stood up and paced the living room. "It was just something I had to do. He had destroyed so many lives."

"If we didn't have a contract to take him out, would you have done it?" Speed asked.

"No." Rick paused surprised at the truth of the statement. "I wouldn't have. I would have sought justice through the system."

"Then there's your answer," he stood up and pulled Rick into his arms. "I don't give my heart, body and soul to cold blooded killers."

He pulled the older man into a deep kiss, sweeping his tongue over Rick's pulling a deep moan from his lover. Neither heard the front door open or close, it wasn't until Speed suddenly felt a warm body up against his back did he pull away from Rick and look back at his other lover.

"Hi." Speed turned slightly and gave him a deep kiss.

"Hi back." Horatio smiled then leaned over and kissed Rick. "Case is closed."

"Everything fall into place?" Rick asked slightly concerned.

Horatio slipped his hands around Speed pulling him against him, causing Speed to moan at the feel of the hard cock pressing into his ass. "Perfectly. Calleigh and Eric are upset they didn't see any hints of Ryan's hidden life."

"Well no offense to your team," Rick watched as Horatio slowly drove their lover insane. "But some times those two are a bit dense."

"Thank God..." Speed moaned slightly. "As many times H's done me in his office, they never once figured it out."

Rick smirked slightly, "Hmm I bet they might wonder if I start calling you down to mine."

"You're hot for that aren't you?" Horatio breathed into Tim's ear. "The idea of Rick calling you to his office so he can fuck you over his desk."

Speed moaned, rubbing against Horatio, "God please."

"What if I take you right here and now, slide my hard cock into your tight ass, while Rick swallows you down." The redhead began to unbutton the black jeans and slide them down narrow hips. "You've been a good boy." He played with the butt plug a bit pulling a needy whine from his young lover. "All slick and loose just waiting for me to fuck you, then after Rick blows you, he can fuck you."

"Fuck, Horatio I'm going to come listening to you," Rick grabbed his aching cock to keep from coming on the spot.

"Someone needs to learn more control," Horatio eyed him. "I'm seeing a cock ring and plug in your future, Rick." Stetler groaned the image of being hard and aching at work, waiting for Horatio to claim him. He closed his eyes and shivered. "On your knees."

Rick dropped to his knees, hands gripping the strong thighs as he began to lick at the swelled head. Horatio looked down at the sight, "Isn't it a beautiful sight, him on his knees your cock sliding in and out of his mouth?"

Speed nodded his head falling back on the redhead's shoulder, "Please..."

"Don't worry I'll take care of you." Horatio unzipped his pants and pulled out his hard cock, stroking it slightly, moaning as the pleasure coursed through his veins. He pulled out the plug and pushed into Speed in one hard thrust burying himself balls deep into the willing body. He pulled back out and thrust hard back in.

Speed was lost in the sensations, between Horatio's cock sliding in and out of his hole, hitting his prostate with each delicious thrust, and the warm heat of Rick's mouth as he took Speed's arching member down his throat. It didn't take long, before Speed was shouting out his release, spilling his seed down Stetler's throat. The only thing that kept Tim on his feet was Horatio's cock up his ass and Stetler's hands gripping his thighs. He felt Horatio's hands gripping his hips as he thrust deep into him, coming with a muted moan.

Horatio looked down at Rick as he pulled out of Speed, "Just bend him over the couch."

Rick stood up and unhooked his own pants, before turning Speed around and pushing him over the couch arm. Speed braced himself and spread his legs as much as his jeans would let him. "Come on Rick, I'm all slick..." He screamed out as he was taken again so suddenly. Rick knew it wouldn't take long, he was hard and aching before they had started, hearing Horatio take their lover with such abandon almost had him coming in his pants. He gripped the slim hips and thrust wildly into the willing body, pushing in deep and coming with a groan. He pulled out checking to make sure damage wasn't done. Speed was red and thoroughly used, but no tearing.

Speed slumped over the side. "I'm not moving from this spot."

"So this means no home cooked meal," Rick helped him back up.

Tim snorted and leaned into his arms, "Take out and I want Chinese."

Horatio leaned over and gave him a soft kiss, "Orange chicken it is."

~ Later that Evening ~

Speed was fast asleep resting against Horatio snoring softly. The redhead grinned down at him, then went back to reading the reports he had brought home when he heard a small whimper. He put the report down and looked back at Speed who was sleeping peacefully; another whimper had him looking over towards Rick. He shifted slightly letting Speed settle onto his pillows, as he got out of the bed and moved to the other side slipping back into wake Rick.

Rick jerked awake; he blinked up at H then turned away. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Horatio ran a hand through his hair. "Talking helps."

"Did you talk to Tim?" he asked.

"Tim wasn't in my life when I had my first kill," Horatio glanced over at their sleeping lover.

"What happened to him?" He motioned towards Speed.

"It's his story to tell," he closed his eyes memories assaulting him. "I almost lost him more times than I want to admit. To the system, to himself, to drugs, to violence, and even to me."

"You pulled through it." Rick pointed out.

"By his stubbornness." Horatio smirked. "It's not an easy subject for him, so give him time."

"He doesn't have to tell me, I read enough to get an idea and..." he took a deep breath. "I don't know if I want to know."

"Now that you've completely changed the subject," the redhead smirked.

"I dreamed of the hit," Stetler said simply. "I see him on his knees my hand forcing the gun into his, he's crying and begging."

"How does it make you feel?" Horatio asked

"I'm not sure," he glanced back at Speed. "We've had this conversation and I didn't know then. It's almost like taking a perp down. You know you had to, but..."

"You feel sad; a life is wasted because of stupidity." Caine said with a degree of certainty.

"Yeah, that's it." Stetler nodded. "And pissed that the asshole put me in that position."

"So how do I cope?" Rick asked honestly. "Like you said, settling it here," he tapped his head with a finger, then moved his hand to his chest. "And settling it here are two different things."

"I'll show you," Horatio eased him back into the bed and pushed him toward the middle. Rick shifted slightly, his body molding against Speed easily, as Horatio slipped his arms around his middle. "This is how."

Rick sighed and laid his head down on the pillow, he wrapped a leg and arms around Tim and settled into the bed savoring the feel of being safe and sound between his lovers. He closed his eyes and drifted off into an easy slumber, for once in his life he was home.

~ The End~