TITLE: And Straight On 'Til Morning

AUTHOR: Julian Lee

PAIRING: Speed/Delko

RATING: PG

SERIES/SEQUEL: Sequel to "But Yet So Irresistable"

DISCLAIMER: Say it with me, people: Brrrrrruckheimer. CBS. Not me.

ARCHIVE: Yes to list archives; others please ask.

SUMMARY: They've tossed the map, but they're still on their way.

NOTES: Another 15-minute fic, off Peja's opening line, "So help me, you've gone too far." I'm tossing it out to Yana.

And Straight On 'Til Morning
by Julian Lee

"So help me, you've gone too far."

Speed ignores him and keeps driving.

(Keep *him* on edge for once. Speed has a feeling moments like this are going to be few and far between once they get back to Miami. Moments when he'll have the advantage over Eric are going to disappear.)

"Seriously, Tim, we're too far out."

Barely bothering to look at Delko, Speed adjusts his rearview mirror. There's been nothing behind them worth seeing for half an hour (anything worth looking at is folded into the passenger seat, almost too gorgeous for Speed to be safe operating a moving vehicle). "Whose fault is that?"

Slumped against the seat, Delko crosses his arms and scowls out the window. "You're driving the car."

"True." Speed nods. "But who threw the map into a ditch?"

"I didn't think you were going to *leave* it there," Delko mutters.

Speed laughs brightly. "Neither did I. I had good intentions of going to get it. And then suddenly I had your tongue down my throat."

(That was unexpected. He'd had no *warning.* He'd known what he wanted for months, but Eric never gave *any* indication--)

"Didn't hear you complaining."

"I wasn't." Reaching over, Speed squeezes Delko's arm briefly. Considers hanging on longer than is probably safe. "I'm still not. I'm just saying that any rights you had to complaining about wherever we do or don't end up tonight died the instant you decided that showing off your knowledge of Florida geography outweighed the need to actually *know* where we were."

Delko looks over, smiles in wonder. "You ever notice how much you sound like Calleigh sometimes?"

Speed smiles back, eyes off the road for as long as he dares (he veered off the road the instant his lips met Eric's, but the car, at least, can stay where it belongs). "Only when someone points it out to me."

"It's not a bad thing," Delko assures him. "Just...weird."

"So." Speed flexes his hands, loosens the tension in his fingers. "O wise expert in Florida geography, still know where we are?"

Delko nods, peering into the darkening evening. "Way too far to get back to Miami tonight."

"That's okay. H doesn't want us back until afternoon."

"Still, we're--" A yawn cracks Delko's objection in half.

(And everything's going so *right* that it's jarring to remember they're out here at all because today was so nightmarish that H had to kick them out of the building.)

Speed runs his fingers through Delko's hair. "Hey. Sleep, okay, Eric?"

"Nah." Delko shifts against the seat, tries to look alert. "I'm good."

"Eric." Speed glances at him incredulously. Delko's eyes are barely staying open. "*Sleep.*" (He's never gotten to watch Eric sleep before - not *really* watch him.)

"You're driving," Delko protests.

"Yeah. *I'm* driving. No reason for you to be awake." Delko tries to object again, but another enormous yawn gets in his way. Speed laughs. "I promise I'll wake you up when we get to where we're going."

"Where *are* we going?"

Speed grins full out. "I have no idea. You tossed the map, remember?"

But he's sure that, wherever they end up, it'll be someplace worth getting to.

END