Finding Kate

Chapter Thirty Three: Means To An End

Watching me, wanting me
I can feel you pull me down
Saving me, raping me, watching me

Evanescence - Haunted

The break room was quiet, the sound of Daniel's heavy breathing was the only thing that broke the silence as Speedle sat there rocking his son's sleeping form. His hand ran through the child's curls almost absentmindedly as he stared into space.

This morning he remembered his fingers trailing over Kate's porcelain skin as she slept. He remembered how soft her skin felt underneath his lips as he'd kissed her goodbye. He did something similar every morning because it was important for her to know how he felt.

He wished he'd driven Daniel to school this morning.

His stomach was turning at the thoughts running through his mind, it was early evening, Kate had disappeared this morning. Hagen had had a lot of time with her, between then and his return to the station house. It made him feel sick thinking about what he could have done in that time. The evidence had stared him straight in the face when Horatio had shown him that photograph.

Things had clicked into place after that, walking past the other man in the hallway, the smirk across his features when he'd shoved past Speedle, his hand in his pocket.

Kate's panties in the top drawer of John Hagen's desk.

The whole thing made him feel violently ill.

Delko lingered in the doorway, watching his friend as he cradled his son. He didn't envy Speed, he couldn't imagine what it must feel like to be in that position. Kate as strong he knew hat, he knew hat Hagen had violated her before and he knew hat she would need help. He knew from his sister's own experience what a battle that would be.

He also knew the only way that Kate would be able to sleep at night was if Hagen was in the ground. The fear would haunt her every step and her life wouldn't be her own if he lived.

Yet Horatio had put a stop to that plan when he'd banned both Delko and Speedle from attending the scene. They were too close, and Horatio knew that they would sooner end Hagen's life than let him live.

He decided to lighten the situation, they needed a little good news right now.

"Bernstein called. Autumn's out of surgery, they said it was touch and go for a while but she'd going to pull through." Delko spoke breaking the tension in the room.

"The baby?" Speed asked, his eyes on Daniel's sleeping face as his fingers combed through his curls.

Eric took a step into the break room and closed the door behind him.

"They had a baby boy, he's a few weeks early so he's in an incubator but he's healthy." Eric informed the older man.

A ghost of a smile crossed Speedle's lips at the news.

"I'm glad their ok." he murmured.

There was a silence between the two of them before Eric spoke.

"They're taking a team to the graveyard now."

"Yea I know."

"They're taking Calleigh."

Speed cleared his throat, the expression on his face betraying them.

"They'll probably need a female." he agreed.

"Horatio won't let me go, he thinks I'm too involved, he thinks I'd lose it." Eric submitted as he stopped down into the seat next to Speed.

"Eric, me and you are very different people but when I comes to the people we love...You wouldn't hesitate to bullet in his brain anymore than I would."