Disclaimer: I don't own CSI: Miami nor any of its characters. Just because I want to doesn't mean that I do. cries

A/N: The following is, sadly, based on a true event that occurred in my forensics class and my mom's interpretation of it. Thanks a bunch to floofymiko for helping me realize, "Hey! I can use this!"

MICROSCOPE:

Zoom in. Zoom out. His brow furrowed. That's strange; usually I can see something. It's at 10X; there should be at least be a large field view of this paint chip. He and his partner were supposed to be examining paint chips found at a hit-and-run crime scene. They had retrieved a paint chip fragment from the victim's clothes, thanks to their medical examiner, and also one, as well as a couple exemplars, from the suspect's vehicle, which the Miami-Dade Police Department had found discarded on the side of the road.

He had placed the paint fragment from the victim's clothes onto a piece of clay as he examined it through the compound microscope so that he could get a better view of the layers and details. The only problem was that he couldn't see anything because the clay was sort of blocking the light that would have been reflected by the mirror. He had tilted the arm back to get more incident light and had turned the course adjustment knob to get the magnification closer and farther away, but no matter what he did he still couldn't see the evidence. He had even switched the nosepiece to a higher magnification of 40X, but then switched back to 10X.

"Eric? You okay?" His partner was looking at him strangely. He nodded distractedly. Was I muttering to myself?

"Here, Natalia, you try. I don't know why, but I can't see anything. Not even a light, it's just black."

"Okay." Natalia hadn't been a CSI for a long time, but she knew her way with microscopes, or so she thought. She zoomed in and out and tilted the arm back. "Aren't we supposed to be using 40X?"

"I tried both"

"Oh, well, I'll try it then." She switched the nosepiece over to the 40X magnification and started to turn the course adjustment knob so that the body tube of the microscope went further and further up. When that didn't help her see the paint chip better, she went to turn the knob to get the body tube to go back down, but it wouldn't. "Uh, it's stuck."

"What?" Damn it, Delko, focus. FOCUS!

"The microscope." Is he even paying attention?

"Oh." A tinge of pink painted across his cheeks as he fiddled with the adjustment knob until the body tube went back to a comfortable position.

"Thanks." Eric nodded, too afraid to discover what would happen if he let himself speak.

Natalia glanced at him once again before returning to tilting the arm back some more. He sure has been acting strange lately. "Hey. I see light."

"Really, that's a good start."

"Yeah, no paint chip yet." She turned the course adjustment knob to focus in closer and close to the paint chip, which she still couldn't see, just a bright white light. This is so odd. I wonder how come neither of us can see anything. Maybe we should try a different microscope. At that last thought, the adjustment knob stopped turning. That's as close as it gets? Still can't see anything. I guess we SHOULD use a different microscope. She stepped back and her eyes turned as wide as saucers. "Oh no."

"What? What do you mean 'oh no.'" He mentally slapped himself for focusing on the wrong thing.

"What do you mean, what do I mean?" She was frantically pointing to the microscope. What is WRONG with him today?

It was Eric's turn to have eyes widen. Why wasn't I paying attention! Stupid! Stupid! Natalia ran a hand through her hair. Eric, hoping there was still a chance, turned the course adjustment knob so that the nosepiece would be lifted up, but they had no such luck. The 40X magnification had squished the paint chip and clay into the diaphragm. "Shit."

Natalia started to laugh hysterically; it was to cover the fact that she wanted to cry hysterically. I can't believe I just SQUISHED the evidence. What the heck was Eric doing?

Eric was asking himself the same question as he scraped out the clay and broken paint chip pieces. She's just a friend; now both are jobs are going to be jeopardized. He started picking out the big pieces of the paint chip from the clay. "Natalia, are you okay?"

"No, Eric, not at all. I just destroyed a pretty big link connecting the suspect, or at least his car, to the victim." She sighed angrily to herself. I shouldn't have been so preoccupied. You're supposed to have a clear head when analyzing.

"Don't beat yourself up about it. It's my fault, I should have been watching you." Well, that's a lie. I was watching you, just for the wrong reasons.

"Look, I'm not going to play the blame game. I'm going to go find Horatio and let him know what happened. Let's just hope we don't get into too much trouble." She laughed dryly and left the room.

Eric muttered a 'dammit' to himself. Why couldn't I have been more alert! In a fury, he kicked the side of the table violently with his right foot. Ow, that hurt.

A/N: Like I said, this was based on a true event, but obviously the thought processes are made-up/exaggerated, partly due to what my mom inferred.