Eric was a good CSI for a reason. His powers of observation were better than most people would have given him credit for. One would have had to be completely oblivious not to see the tension between Speed and Ryan. It was so painfully obvious that even the lab techs could see it. His observational skills came in handy when it came to determining why there was so much tension. Eric could stand back at a safe distance and watch both his friends and he could see the deeper emotions boiling in both of them. They were both angry and anyone worth their CSI skills could tell that the anger stemmed from hurt. The only thing left for Eric to wonder was where that hurt came from.

Neither Speed nor Ryan would talk to him about whatever was bothering them. He didn't really expect Ryan to open up about it, he was just getting to know the kid, but Speed was a different story. He and Speed had been friends for a long time and though Speed didn't often open up to other people he was a little more open with Eric. So it hurt just a little bit that his best friend was keeping something from him. There was of course the big secret Speed thought he was keeping from Eric, but after several years of close observation Eric had figured it out.

Speed was a mutant. The fact didn't bother Eric at all. Actually he thought it was pretty cool. There were times he wished he were a hydro mutant so that he could have an even closer relationship with water. Those thoughts were usually silenced by encounters with Mutant Control agents. He had never been impressed with them or how they treated mutants. He wondered if all the mutant haters joined Mutant Control just so they could have that power over mutants. He had observed Speed being harassed on numerous occasions and a lot of the time it was the same African American agent. That had probably been Eric's first clue that Speed was a mutant.

The second clue was Speed's reaction to every mutant case they had together. Oh he was sure Speed thought he didn't react to it, but Eric was very good at noticing the subtle changes in people's attitudes. Every murdered mutant was met with sadness. There was always a hint of indignant anger for every terrorized mutant whether it was robbery, rape, or hate crimes. Any other person, with the exception of other CSIs, would have missed those subtle emotions from Speed, but Eric didn't miss a thing.

That was part of what was frustrating him so much about the whole Speed and Ryan situation. They were giving him nothing to work with. There was anger and hurt, but nothing more. Ryan would glare at Speed and Speed would glare back and that revealed absolutely nothing except what he already knew. He was pretty sure he might have been missing something, because with both of them being mutants there could have been some kind of telepathy thing going on that he wasn't privy to, but he doubted that. Not that he knew what their abilities were, he just knew they were mutants.

In truth he was assuming that Ryan was a mutant. It wasn't a confirmed thing in his mind yet, but he was pretty sure. It was in his experience that mutants who didn't want to be "out" would avoid the subject of mutants when possible. Most norms, as Eric had heard normal humans called, had an opinion on mutants and didn't have a problem with voicing it. Ryan avoided the subject, but when the subject came up his nervous tendencies spoke volumes. Eric was sure Ryan didn't even know that he chewed on his nails or that he tapped his feet when he was nervous, but Eric had picked up on it fairly quickly. The subject of mutants made Ryan nervous therefore Eric deduced that Ryan was most likely a mutant.

And Eric wondered if maybe he was thinking about Ryan just a little too much. He'd long since come to terms with the fact that he swung both ways. He didn't have a preference and liked to be with a man just as much a woman. But after Ryan showed up at the lab Eric stopped sleeping around as much. His unhealthy obsession with the new kid began pretty much immediately and he was sure that he was obvious to anyone who bothered to look. Apparently Ryan was oblivious, but Speed certainly wasn't. In fact, Speed seemed to figure out Eric's feelings before Eric did. Speed hadn't confronted him about it yet, but he didn't really have to. Eric could read the warnings in the looks he was given. There was a clear I know how to hide bodies warning in the looks he received any time Speed caught him staring at Ryan, which was happening more and more as the days went by. And with a team full of observational people, minus Ryan who was oblivious to any attention paid to him, it probably wasn't a good thing. He was sure even the visiting CSIs from Vegas could see his obvious attraction to Ryan.

And that brought Eric to one of the other things bothering him. Speed's attitude had only just gotten worse since the three CSIs from Vegas had arrived. Judging by the conversations he had overheard so far Speed, Ryan, and Greg Sanders, one of the Vegas crew, were childhood friends. Some kind of drama went down when they were teenagers and now they were trying to repair the friendships that had been damaged. Well, it seemed like Ryan and Greg were trying to work things out, but Speed wasn't playing nice. That didn't surprise Eric in the least. Speed never really held a grudge, though it may have seemed that way to anyone who didn't know him. He was simply the type that could never be fooled twice. If someone hurt him once he was extremely hesitant to open up to that person again. If someone pushed his buttons to the point of actually angering him he would simply have nothing to do with that person. So knowing that Eric could guess that Ryan and Greg had hurt Speed long ago and he was unwilling to let them in to hurt him again.

"Hey Eric, any matches on those fingerprints yet?"

Eric jolted out of his thoughts and looked up at Nick Stokes, another one of the visiting Vegas CSIs. "Not yet, but I'm working on it. How are things coming with Trace?"

"They're...coming," Nick replied. Eric cocked an eyebrow at that and Nick sighed. "I think Wolfe is out to get me."

It was said with such seriousness that at first Eric was positive he was joking and laughed. But when Nick's frown only deepened Eric's laughter trailed off. For a moment he didn't know what to think, but finally he grinned and shook his head.

"You think Ryan is out to get you? Besides the fact that he wouldn't hurt a fly, he hasn't even really worked with you. Why would he be out to get you?" Eric asked, unable to hide his amusement.

Nick was quiet for a moment and Eric's amusement started to fade. They had been working together for almost a week trying to catch the serial killer and he liked to think they were becoming friends. So, it was easy for Eric to see that Nick was generally disturbed about something. When Nick finally spoke it was clear he had chosen his words carefully.

"I don't want you to take this the wrong way or anything, but it almost seems like he's jealous of me."

They were observational people, so Eric knew that Nick wasn't saying this without some supporting evidence. "Why would you think that?"

"Well, don't take this as fact because I'm really only assuming things here, but I think he has a thing for Greg," Nick replied.

It was only Eric's experience as an interrogator that kept the surprise off his face. Had he been too focused on his own feelings for Ryan that he missed Ryan's feelings for Greg? Ryan and Greg were old friends and Eric could tell by watching them that they were really close. Where did that leave him? If Ryan was attracted to Greg how was he supposed to compete with that? There was history there that Eric could never know or properly understand. He was far from having a low self-confidence, but he knew when he was beaten. He just found it a little unfair that he was beaten before he even had a chance.

"And where does that put you?" Eric asked, trying to put his mind back on Nick's situation and not his own.

Nick shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure if he thinks I have a thing for Greg or if he thinks Greg has a thing for me. I'm working on little information here, but that's what my gut is telling me."

"Not good to make assumptions," Eric warned him.

"I know, but I can't think of any other reason why Ryan would growl at me any time I come close to him."

Eric laughed at that, the seriousness of the situation gone at the mental image of Ryan growling at anyone. "He growled at you? Like seriously growled at you?"

"As if he were a dog protecting his bone," Nick confirmed with a grin of his own.

"I can talk to him if you want," Eric offered.

"Nah, man, it's cool. No reason to bring you into it. We probably won't be here too much longer anyway," Nick replied. "On that note, I should probably check in with my boss."

With that Nick was gone and Eric was left to his thoughts once more. That wasn't necessarily a good thing. All he could think about was Ryan pining after Greg. Worse was the fact that Eric hadn't watched Greg closely enough to see if there was a mutual attraction there. If Greg liked Ryan back there was definitely no hope for him.

Eric had just bent over to look closer at a fingerprint when he was interrupted again. He nearly jumped out of his skin as someone tapped on his shoulder. He hadn't even heard anyone come in. He spun and watched as amusement flashed across Speed's face before it was gone again.

"We need to talk," his older friend said.

Eric leant back against he counter. "About what?"

Speed hesitated then, which didn't really surprise Eric. It surprised him that Speed had actually gone out of his way to come talk to him about something not pertaining to a case. Those kinds of talks usually happened when they were both mildly focused on something else, like evidence, so that they weren't really thinking about how much they were opening up to one another. That was usually Speed's way of doing things, not that Eric wouldn't have been perfectly happy with talking over beer or something.

"You know you can tell me anything," Eric encouraged.

Speed raised an eyebrow. "I'm here to talk about you, Delko. Not me."

"Then why the hesitation?"

"Because I'm not very good at this."

Eric nodded knowingly. "Yeah, could have guessed that."

Speed shot him a thoroughly not amused look. "You're giving me a headache."

Eric was silent for a moment as he stared at his friend in mild confusion. How was he giving Speed a headache? What the hell was Speed talking about? And then just like that his reasoning abilities kicked in. He'd determined Speed was a mutant so maybe his abilities had something to do with it. He wasn't sure if he should let on that he knew Speed's secret or if he should just let his friend believe it was a secret.

"Do you want some pain killers?" Eric asked, going for ignorance.

Speed glared at him. "No, I need you to tell me what's got your emotions so twisted up."

"My...you're an empath?" The question was out of his mouth before he could stop it.

Speed paled, but otherwise tried to look unaffected by the fact that there was one more person in the world who knew he was a mutant. Eric could see Speed was debating on whether or not to confirm the question. There was a long moment where he was sure Speed was just going to turn around and leave, but finally the older man sighed deeply.

"Yeah, I am."

"Cool," Eric said with a grin.

Speed rolled his eyes. "You would think it's cool. You don't have to deal with it."

"Do you still have a headache?"

"With your excitement pounding at me? Yeah, I still have a headache, Delko. I will until you get whatever's bothering you settled."

It was Eric's turn to hesitate. He was sure that Speed knew he was attracted to Ryan, but he wasn't positive and he wasn't sure if he wanted to confirm it or not. Despite whatever was going on between them Speed still seemed protective of their younger coworker.

Speed rolled his eyes. "You really think you can keep things from an empath? Delko, I knew you were attracted to Ryan before you did. You project your emotions and your thoughts louder than anyone else I know."

"Sorry?"

"Not like you can help it, yet. I'm going to change that very soon, but for now you need to tell me what's got you so rattled. I know it has something to do with Ryan, so fill in the blanks."

"I don't suppose there's anyway I can get out of this?" Eric asked hopefully.

"You gave me a headache. I have a right to know."

Eric sighed at his friend's simple, undeniable logic. "Ryan likes Greg."

There was silence from Speed and Eric knew that his empathic friend probably already knew that. Speed probably knew everyone's feelings before they ever did. For that reason he knew that Speed could feel the jealous radiating off him.

"That's a complicated situation," Speed finally said.

"Not really. Ryan likes Greg and I'm willing to bet Greg likes Ryan," Eric retorted. He wished he knew how to keep his emotions to himself, because the last thing he wanted was Speed to feel how lost he felt about the whole situation.

"Eric," Speed's voice took on somewhat of a softer tone and Eric was mildly startled by it. "You have every bit of a chance with Ryan as Greg does."

"Yeah, because I can compete with the history they have. They have a whole chemistry together already. How the hell do I compete with that?"

Speed shot him a thoroughly annoyed look. "How in the hell did you become a CSI? How are you still a CSI? Are you telling me that you're seriously giving up?"

"I'm smart enough to see I don't have a chance."

"No, you're stupid enough not to fight for what you want," Speed snapped. "I mean, are you completely blind? Ryan's been attracted to you since he started working here, possibly even before. Greg just came back into his life and there is nothing but friendship between them right now. Ryan's completely oblivious to the fact that Greg likes him back. If you're willing to fight for him you have just as much of a chance of winning him over as Greg does."

Eric tried to keep a hopeful look off his face, but he knew Speed probably sensed it anyway. "You really think I have a chance?"

"I wouldn't encourage you to put yourself out there like that if I didn't know you have a chance," Speed replied, rolling his eyes. "You have an advantage over Greg anyway, as long as you play your cards right."

"Oh yeah? Who?"

Speed snorted. "Me, dumbass."

"You're Greg's friend too though. Aren't you going to help him?"

"We're not playing well together right now," Speed replied curtly.

That definitely stirred up Eric's curiosity, but he knew that tone. Speed didn't want to go into details and pushing him would only piss him off. Eric decided to let it drop and instead fixed his friend with a small smile.

"Headache?"

"Getting better," Speed said. "Now that we've got that settled, I've still got work to do."

"Hey Speed," Eric called out as his friend turned to leave.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Speed snorted. "Don't thank me yet. This is just the beginning."