Title: Untitled
By: Caroline Crane
Pairing: Speed/Tyler
Rating: PG
Summary: Missing scene for "Slow Burn".

Speed had been in the lab for all of ten minutes when the door flew open, and he glanced up from his samples to find a wide-eyed Tyler leaning into the room, looking more frantic than Speed had ever seen him. "Hi."

"Hi," Speed echoed, caught between laughing at Tyler's expression and worrying that something terrible had happened. "What's up?"

"Nothing. I just…so Delko was trapped in the fire, huh?"

"Yeah," Speed answered, setting the sample he'd been holding down on the table before he crossed the room to pull Tyler inside. "He and Alexx got caught in the center of it. They're both fine, though."

"Good, good," Tyler murmured, gaze wandering up and down Speed's frame and he was glad he'd already closed the door, because the last thing he needed was for Calleigh to catch Tyler checking him out. Or worse, for Horatio to catch them and start wondering if their relationship really was distracting them from their jobs. And usually it didn't, but Tyler was definitely freaked out about something and Speed had a pretty good idea what it was.

"I was nowhere near it, if that's what you're worried about."

"I know," Tyler answered, but he didn't even come close to convincing Speed that he wasn't worried. And it would be kind of cute, except Speed knew how that felt and he hated being the reason Tyler was so freaked out. "It's just that we heard about Delko and I wasn't sure where you were, and I just wanted to see…you know."

By the time he finished talking Tyler was less than a foot away from him, hands twitching at his sides and Speed could tell he was fighting the urge to touch. "I'm fine," he said, and he wished suddenly that they weren't still on the clock because he knew it was going to take a lot more than words to calm Tyler down. "Look, it's part of the job. You know that."

"Yeah, I do." Tyler nodded absently, gaze still wandering over Speed's torso like he was expecting to find burn marks hidden in his clothes. "It's just...ever since you were shot…I can't help it."

"What, you mean last year?" Speed frowned when Tyler nodded, finally looking up and when he did he looked almost sheepish. "But we barely knew each other then."

"That doesn't mean I didn't care. God, Tim, do you know what I thought when I heard that you'd been shot?"

And this time Tyler's hand did make contact, landing on Speed's sleeve just above his cuff and worrying the fabric between his fingers. Speed knew he should move away, put some distance between them because any second now Calleigh was going to come looking for him, and knowing about them and seeing them like this were two completely different things. Only Tyler looked scared, expression sort of far away like he was remembering that day last spring and Speed knew the whole lab had heard about it, but he didn't think Tyler had cared much at the time.

"Hey," he said, hands on Tyler's shoulders and this was really bad, because he was supposed to be pushing Tyler away, but instead he found himself just sort of…holding him there, one hand still on Speed's sleeve and the other coming up to flatten against his chest. "That was a long time ago."

"I didn't even know you," Tyler said, talking over Speed like he hadn't even heard him. And maybe he hadn't, because he was still focused on some memory only he could see. "Sure, I flirted like crazy whenever you came into my lab, but you shot me down every time and when I heard you got shot I thought that was it. I'd never get a chance to find out and now…"

He'd known that Tyler had a crush on him before they got together. Tyler was never shy about telling him stuff like that, but he hadn't known just how long he'd felt this way, and he definitely hadn't known that Tyler was worried about him all that time ago. If he had…if he had they probably never would have gotten where they were now, and Speed wasn't sure whether to be grateful or terrified.

"Look, nobody's hurt here," he said, hands gripping Tyler's shoulders just a little more firmly and he knew they had to end this soon or somebody was going to catch them, but all he really wanted to do was kiss Tyler until he stopped looking so scared. "Okay?"

"Yeah, of course," Tyler answered, snapping back into the moment and when he looked down and saw his hands roaming across Speed's chest he dropped them abruptly. "Sorry. I guess I was a little more worried about it than I thought."

"It's okay," Speed said, squeezing Tyler's shoulders one last time before he forced himself to let go and take a step backwards. "Can we talk about this at home? I should get back to work."

"Sure," Tyler answered, and when he smiled all Speed really wanted to do was forget the evidence and the job and drag Tyler home where nobody could interrupt them. "I should get back too. Listen, Tim, I really am sorry. I don't know why I freaked out."

"Don't worry about it. Really," Speed added, lips turning up in a small smile that made Tyler's whole face light up. "I'll see you later."

Before he had a chance to change his mind Tyler was gone, and for the first time Speed almost regretted not giving in for once in his life and taking a chance on getting caught. He knew Tyler understood, though, just like he knew exactly why Tyler had freaked out when he heard Tim was out in the burn area. In a weird way it was kind of nice to have someone worrying about him like that, and even though he wished he could spare Tyler the worry he wasn't sorry things had worked out the way they did.