Title: Fingerprints
Author: Caroline Crane
Pairing: Speed/Tyler
Fandom: CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Summary: In which Eric follows the clues, with mixed results.

***

Eric pulls into the parking lot of the coffee shop down the street from the crime lab, killing his engine before he reaches up to run his hands over his face. They’re all used to running on less than no sleep, but for whatever reason he’s feeling it more than usual today.

Maybe it’s the case. It’s a tough one, and it’s not the worst they’ve ever seen, but spending the night unearthing a mass grave is never going to be easy. There are no victims to save this time, and maybe that makes it even harder. Eric lets out a breath and opens his eyes, shaking off the worst of his exhaustion before he climbs out of his car and heads inside for a caffeine fix.

There’s a line of commuters in front of him, and Eric considers just heading into work and settling for break room coffee. But the break room coffee always manages to be too weak, no matter who makes it, so he stays where he is and passes the time scanning the faces of the people in line ahead of him.

He’s not surprised to spot Tyler a few people ahead of him, towering over the rest of the line. Eric watches him smile at the girl behind the counter when she takes his order, but he knows now that Tyler's not flirting. He’s not really sure why it took him by surprise to find out Tyler’s gay; it doesn’t change anything, and it’s not like they’re the kind of friends who’d tell each other about their personal lives. But Eric’s supposed to notice the details about people, at least when he’s on the job, and it bugs him a little that he missed it.

Or maybe it just bugs him that Speed did know. Calleigh too, according to her, though when he asked her how she knew she just flashed one of those knowing smiles of hers and changed the subject. He still doesn’t know what that was about, but it means he’s the only one who was in the dark, and yeah, okay, he’s a little annoyed about it. Not because he thinks it’s any of his business; he just doesn't like to be the last to know.

He watches Tyler drop a tip in the jar before he moves down the counter to wait for his order, then Eric turns his attention back to the line as the person in front of him moves forward. He stifles a yawn and doesn’t think about what’s waiting for him when he gets back to the lab, about all the evidence waiting to be processed and the bodies that are probably yet to be discovered.

The person in front of him places their order while Eric’s wondering how long he can put off going back out to the crime scene. Not long, because the night shift stepped in when Horatio sent the rest of them home, but it’s going to be all hands on deck until this one’s over. Eric lets out a heavy sigh as the person in front of him moves away, forcing a smile and ordering a large black coffee from the girl behind the register.

Something catches his eye while he’s waiting for his change, and he glances over to see Tyler picking up two giant cups from the end of the counter and turning toward the door. Eric opens his mouth to say hi, then he realizes that Tyler’s carrying two cups and closes it again. He frowns at Tyler’s back for a second, then shakes himself when he hears the girl behind the counter talking to him.

“Sir? Your change?”

“Sorry,” Eric says, turning back to her and holding out his hand. “It’s been a long night.”

She smiles in understanding and he drops a dollar in the tip jar, then glances back over his shoulder to see if he can spot Tyler, but he’s already gone. Eric scans what he can see of the parking lot, and he’s not even sure what he’s looking for, but when Tyler’s car rolls past there’s no one in his passenger seat. So he’s buying coffee for somebody at the lab; nothing weird about that, and Eric shrugs and turns away from the door when the guy at the end of the counter calls his name.

“Thanks,” he says as he picks up his coffee, flashing a distracted smile and wondering if maybe he should have bought a coffee for Calleigh. It might even have scored him a couple points, but the line is stretched all the way to the door now and if he waits in it again he’ll be late. Another heavy sigh and he heads out to his car, then he drives the couple blocks to the crime lab and pulls into a parking space.

The walk through the lot feels longer than usual, and he knows it’s just because he’s tired, but he still feels kind of wiped out by the time he gets to the door. When he walks into the lab pretty much everyone else looks as exhausted as he feels, and Eric knows as well as anyone that it’s only going to get worse as the day goes on. He sighs and heads down the hall to the fingerprint lab, but before he gets there he looks up and spots someone coming out of the trace lab.

He turns and walks down the hall without looking up to spot Eric, but that doesn’t stop Eric from recognizing Tyler’s sandy hair or the Hawaiian shirt hanging loose from his shoulders. And there’s no reason for Tyler to be hanging out in the trace lab, but before Eric has time to wonder what he’s up to he hears footsteps behind him and turns around to spot Speed walking toward him.

Speed looks like he hasn’t gotten any sleep at all, like maybe he went home and obsessed about the case for six hours instead of getting some rest. It wouldn’t be the first time, but Eric knows from experience that there’s no point trying to get him to talk. Not that Speed’s been doing all that much talking about anything lately, at least not to Eric. He’s suspected for a while that Speed’s talking to somebody, but if he’s got a girl he won’t admit it.

And yeah, Eric’s used to Speed being tight-lipped about his personal life, but he always figured it was because Speed didn’t want to admit he didn’t really have a personal life. Except now it seems like he does, and if she’s already doing stuff like bailing out Speed’s brother, it must be worth talking about.

Speed doesn’t notice him until he’s practically level with Eric, but when he does look up Speed doesn’t look all that surprised to see him standing there. “Hey. Horatio wants us back out at the crime scene.”

Eric sighs, because he doesn’t want to go back out there any more than it looks like Speed does, but it’s not like he’s surprised there’s still work to do out in the field. “You want to ride over together?”

“Yeah, sure,” Speed answers without any enthusiasm. Not that Eric blames him, but he figures there’s less of a chance of either of them falling asleep at the wheel if they stick together. “Let me just grab my kit.”

Eric’s not sure what makes him follow Speed into the trace lab. Habit, maybe, or the fact that he’s running on less than five hours of sleep and he’s pretty much on automatic pilot at this point. That’s why it takes him a minute to notice that Speed’s standing behind the bench at the back of the lab, staring down at something on the stone surface. Eric blinks, then he focuses on whatever Speed’s looking at in time to watch him reach out and peel a small yellow Post-it note off a coffee cup just like the one Eric’s still holding.

For a second Speed just stares down at the note, a smile lifting one corner of his mouth, then he shakes his head and pulls open a drawer to drop the note inside. It takes another second for Eric’s brain to supply him with the image of Tyler buying two cups of coffee, then Tyler leaving the trace lab just a few minutes ago. And that definitely doesn’t make any sense, but that’s where the evidence points.

Eric opens his mouth to ask a dozen different questions at once, only he’s not even sure where to start. He thinks about starting with the Post-it, but there’s always a chance Speed with actually tell him what it says, and he’s not sure he wants to know. Then there’s the fact that Tyler’s bringing him coffee in the first place, and sure, they’re friendly, but Eric didn’t know they were friends.

He’s still trying to figure out where to start when Speed picks up his kit, then he picks up his coffee and looks at Eric. “You ready?”

“Yeah,” Eric says, but for a minute he just stands there and watches Speed walk away, pushing the door open and stepping out into the hall like nothing weird just happened. Only maybe it didn’t; Speed’s been blowing him off for months now, so if this is the kind of thing that happens on a regular basis now, it's not like Eric would know.

His gaze drifts back to the drawer where Speed stashed the note that was apparently written by Tyler -- like that makes any sense -- and he thinks about finding out what it says. Before he can decide if he really wants to know the door opens again, and Eric turns to find Speed frowning at him.

“What’d you do, fall asleep? Come on, man, H is waiting.”

“Yeah, okay,” Eric says. He casts one last glance at the drawer, then he turns and follows Speed out of the lab. They’re halfway down the hall before Eric glances over at him, looking down at the coffee cup in Speed’s hand for a second before he makes up his mind.

“Guess we both had the same idea this morning,” he says, holding up his own cup.

Speed blinks at him, then he frowns and turns away. “Guess so.”

“Funny thing is, though, I didn’t see you there. I mean, we would have been there around the same time, right?”

Speed frowns a little harder, but he doesn’t answer.

“I did see Tyler there, though.”

If he wasn’t watching so closely he would have missed the little flinch before Speed clears his throat and glances in Eric’s direction without really looking at him. “So? It’s on the way to the lab. Plenty of people stop there.”

He could let it go. It’s obvious that Speed doesn’t want to talk about it, but the thing is, it shouldn’t be a big deal. Because they all work together, and yeah, Speed’s been blowing him off for a while now, but if he’s hanging out with Tyler now, Eric’s not going to hold it against him.

“Come on, man,” Eric says with a laugh he doesn’t really feel, because it shouldn’t be a big deal, but Eric’s starting to get the feeling he’s missing something. “If you’re having coffee dates with the guy you can tell me. What, did you think I’d be jealous?”

He knows it’s the wrong thing to say when Speed stops walking, then he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before he looks over at Eric. “We’re not having this conversation.”

“What’s the big deal?” Eric says, right on Speed’s heels as he heads toward the parking lot. And yeah, okay, he probably sounds a little jealous, but mostly he’s just confused. “It’s just coffee, right?”

“Drop it,” Speed says through gritted teeth, then he pushes the door open and heads for his car, and all Eric can do is follow.

***