Title: Sometimes I Wonder
By: Julian Lee
Pairing: Speed/Delko
Summary: sequel to How Could He Resist.

"How could this have happened?" H isn't yelling. H doesn't yell. But Speed bets those cops want their mommies just now.

Delko pauses behind Speed on his way to meet up with Calleigh on the back deck. (Come a little closer, Eric. Come on. Just a step.) "What's going on?" he asks, meaning Horatio, and as he says it he leans a little into Speed. Speed blinks and ponders the improbability of mental telepathy.

"Cops made a total cock-up of the master bathroom." He shakes his head. "Anything in there is probably gonna have to be tossed."

"Shit." Delko sighs. "The vaction is definitely over." Then he reaches over Speed's shoulder, his hand softly brushing the side of Speed's face as he points. "You missed a spot."

Then he's gone, but Speed's smiling. (Pathetically grateful for these small touches, because it's hard, already, to believe in a night in a hotel he knows he could never find again. Two night ago, and already it seems unreal, like a heat mirage rising off a Miami street in the middle of August. If Delko stops touching him, he's going to start to believe it was all a dream.)

"Speed?" Horatio, and he looks pissed.

"Yeah, boss?"

"Come over here when you're done, please."

So he goes, and he completely agrees with Delko when he walks into the room and sees what H needs him to do (our vacation is definitely over now, Eric). And okay, Delko's the one who always has to put on the wetsuit, but why is he always the one who deals with plumbing? He doesn't want to know what's down the shower drain, but it's the only place the cops haven't trekked, which makes it kind of inevitable that he'll have his hand stuck down there when Delko comes back from the deck. "Glamorous life, Tim," he says, leaning against the doorjamb.

Speed grimaces. (They were so close to chucking it all and not coming back to Miami. But they're dedicated CSIs, and they knew they were just playing at rebellion. He's not sure they made the right choice.) "Is it too soon to ask for another vacation?"

Delko chuckles. He's about to say something more (Whatever you've got, Eric. I'll hear you.) when--

"Gentlemen." Horatio's looking smug. Moreso than usual. "What do you keep in your top bureau drawers?" Delko blushes; Speed starts coughing. H just nods. "Mr. Ramirez seems to have been keeping nothing but a can of cheese in his."

Speed frowns. "That's not right."

"Indeed it is not. Eric, please dust the drawer for prints."

"I'm on it." He nods to Speed. "Later."

"Uh-huh." He's got something in the drain. (And something far better walking out the door.)

"Oh, by the way," H says, and Delko stops to hear it, "how did you two fare on your road trip?"

(Oh, shit.)

But behind Horatio, Delko's giving him a blinding, secret smile, and Speed can't keep from smiling back. He looks up at Horatio. "Brilliantly."