DISCLAIMER: With medication and therapy, I might one day admit they don't belong to me, but I don't want to get sued, so CSI: and all its affiliates belong to Jerry Bruckheimer Television, Alliance Atlantis, and CBS Productions.
ARCHIVING: Ask nicely and I might be willing to think about it.
FEEDBACK: Yes! Oh, and review!
A/N: According to me, Mea Culpa (I think) never happened. Although, Ecklie is Administrator still.
Catherine Willows walked quickly down the halls, silently venting to herself about the newest boneheaded move by their sheriff. This was absolutely ridiculous, utterly and completely. Still entirely pissed, she stormed into her boss's office, a miniature hurricane to be dealt with. Her boss, Gil Grissom sat at his desk, pretending to be deeply interested in his paperwork. After almost twenty years of friendship, she knew him better than that. Silently, she dropped the memo down on his desk and flopped into one of the chairs that sat in front of his desk, huffing angrily.
"D'you believe this?" Catherine asked heatedly. "Can you actually believe this?" She nudged the paper with her booted toe, calming slightly. That was something she liked about Grissom, for some reason, he seemed to have this calming effect on her whenever she walked into his office. Either that or it was the fumes from all the chemicals in his 'experiments'. Looking up, Catherine saw him looking at her blankly, his blue eyes vague behind the rimless reading glasses.
"You have no idea what I'm talking about do you?"
Grissom shook his head, removing his glasses. "Not really."
"Of course you don't. That would mean you actually read your memos." She leaned over and picked up the paper, waving it under Grissom's face. "Sheriff Atwater has decided, in a stunning career move, that the Las Vegas CSI department, will host a forensic internship program. Day Shift will get one lucky applicant, and Night Shift will get one lucky applicant. For three weeks we will have some snot-nosed preppy kid following us around, taking notes and asking questions." Catherine sighed, letting the paper fall.
Pensively, Grissom picked up the memo and studied it thoughtfully. True enough, it was about the sheriff urging the shifts to 'treat them as one of their own.' More then likely, they'd be the ones with the most connections and probably wouldn't give a flip about the delicate nature of forensics. Grissom gave an inward shudder thinking about how these people would stand around looking bored, contaminating crime scenes, whining about wanting to go home. He was so deep in thought, he didn't hear Catherine start talking again. "Gil!"
"Huh?" He looked up from the memo.
Catherine grinned and shook her head. "God, first you don't even read memos, now I cant get you to put them down."
Grissom mock scowled at her, setting the paper down on his desk. Absently, he checked his watch. "What time will they be here?"
Catherine checked her watch as well. "Oh, about five minutes."
"Jeez, I cannot believe my dad dragged me into this." Jason griped for about the hundredth time. "I could be at home studying for finals, but noooo, I have to be out here-"
"Would you quit your whining?" Kate rolled her eyes, frowning deeply. She was actually enjoying herself, unlike her companion, who looked about as happy as a wet cat.
"Of course you're having fun Kate, this is the kind of stuff you like doing."
Shaking her head, Kate followed Jason along the concrete terrace of the LVPD CSI building. Automatically, Jason pulled open one of the dark tinted glass doors and held it open for Kate. Jason wasn't a bad guy or anything, just not a very social one. Kate nodded in thanks and stepped through into the much cooler building. For a moment all she saw were green and grey hazes floating everywhere as her eyes adjusted from the harsh Las Vegas sun. When the lights finally faded, she was looking at a lobby with several waiting chairs, a large front desk, where a small mousy looking woman stood, talking on the phone. The entire scene was very calm and relaxed, due probably to the muted lighting and dark neutral tones of the walls and floors.
Jason stepped in, letting the door shut behind him. He came to stand just behind Kate, looking around silently. "Nice." He commented.
Kate nodded, already heading toward the front desk with Jason hot on her heels. Now that they were actually in a setting that required a human being to talk to another human being, he willingly let Kate take lead. The butterflies that had been fluttering around in Kate's stomach were threatening to grow larger with each step Kate took. She wasn't scared about meeting new people, she always looked forward to that. What she was scared about was messing something up, screwing up a case, something like that. Don't worry, that rational voice in her head told her, its not like they're going to put you on an actual case. By this time, Kate had made it to the front desk. The woman, who she assumed was the secretary, smiled politely, and looked at them through thick, black framed glasses.
"Hello, can I help you?"
Kate squashed down the flutters and smiled politely, leaning casually against the desk. "Yes, hi. I'm Kate Farber and this is Jason Anderson. Were here about the internship program."
The woman nodded and picked up the phone again. Dialing a number, she waited for someone to pick up.
"I'm Judy by the way."
Kate grinned genuinely this time. "Hi, Judy."
Judy smiled and continued waiting for whoever was on the other end to pick up. "Hello, can I help you?"
Kate turned to the source of the new voice. A man, probably in his late forties, early fifties was standing right beside her, looking half-way between annoyed and attempted pleasantness. Kate smiled bravely as Jason cowered behind her. Judy set down the phone quickly. "Um, Mr. Ecklie, this is Kate Farber and Jason Anderson, they're here for the internship program."
Mr. Ecklie's face changed from annoyance to whole-hearted... Kate hesitated to say happiness, for she didn't think the man capable of such an emotion from the pinched, drawn nature of his face. The closest it came to was a step above irritation. Nervously, he extended his hand toward her; Kate shook it, fighting back a grimace. His hand was cold and clammy, slippery with sweat. For some reason, he was nervous having the two there. Ecklie smiled quickly, then reverted back to a scowl. He looked around, trying to find someone. Kate snorted back a giggle at his obvious attempt to get them off his hands. "Jim!" He called out to a somewhat portly gentleman with thinning brown hair and a calm face. He'd been passing through the lobby, heading to the door when Ecklie called out to him. Kate saw his shoulders slump slightly at hearing his name, but turned with a neutral face and walked over to where they were.
"Yeah, Conrad. What do you need?"
Kate liked him immediately; he looked like a man who took no nonsense from anyone. Ecklie looked down at she and Jason, then back up at the man, Jim. "Kate, this is Captain of Homicide, Jim Brass, special to the CSI of the LVPD. You'll be working with the nightshift for the next three weeks."
Kate tried to withhold her enthusiasm and failed miserably. Shed heard a lot from her uncle Rory about the infamous LVPD CSI Nightshift, especially the illusive Gil Grissom. This might not be so bad after all. She looked to Captain Brass and smiled honestly, holding out her hand. "Nice to meet you Captain. Kate Farber."
The Captain shook her hand firmly and smiled, his blue eyes twinkling with some private joke.
Captain Jim Brass didn't know what to make of the young woman standing in front of him. She couldn't have been more than seventeen, eighteen years old,
with a head of messy black curls and earnest green eyes. The grin on her face was captivating as she shook his hand enthusiastically.
"I'm really looking forward to these three weeks." She said with a grin.
Jim smiled, liking this Kate person already. "I hope you enjoy the learning process."
"I'm sure I will."
The older man laughed at her answer softly. "I'm sure you will too." He said cryptically.
Turning, Captain Brass motioned for her to follow him down the hall. Kate looked to Jason, who seemed to be warming up. "Will you be okay?"
Ecklie spoke for him. "Ill make sure he gets to the right place." He placed a hand on Jason's shoulder. Jason looked terrified. Kate knew she shouldn't think it was funny, but she had to clamp her jaw shut for fear of laughing at the look on Jason's face.
"Have fun."
With that, she turned and followed the captain down the hall. They walked along in amiable silence, Kate too caught up in watching everything to try and make a conversation, and Captain Brass seemed comfortable enough with that. Kate looked through the glass walls as blond haired fellow gave a half grin, pulling something out of a large metal tank; in another room, a smaller guy with a drawn face was studying something intensely on a table. This was just too cool; Kate couldn't believe she was actually going to be learning about all this for the next three weeks.
Captain Brass stopped suddenly and Kate focused her attention to the front. An older gentleman, about Brass' age, with curly dark grey hair and a matching beard was approaching the Captain, two younger people right behind him.
"Brass," he said in annoyed tone, stopping a couple feet from where they stood, "did you get the warrant for the Gregory case?"
"I'm working on it." Brass responded patiently.
"How can you be working on it? We presented the evidence clearly, what's Judge Halton waiting for, Christmas?" The man's blue eyes flashed angrily. "Were going to lose that evidence."
Brass put his hands up to calm the man. "I know, I know. Listen, I will go talk to Judge Halton, see if I can speed things up. In the meantime, this is Kate Farber, she's here about the internship program." Kate struggled to keep a straight face. That was a quick subject change if shed ever heard one. Brass laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Kate, this is Gil Grissom, supervisor of nightshift. Behind him, are Nick Stokes and Warrick Brown."
Kate glanced to Mr. Grissom's two companions. A smaller young man with buzzed black hair and sharp brown eyes, tanned and muscular; and a taller African-American guy with blazing green eyes and a brooding frown. They nodded respectively. Kate turned her attention back on Mr. Grissom, who was studying her calmly. He did not look happy to see her. Trying her best to remain polite, Kate smiled gently. "Mr. Grissom, its a pleasure to finally meet you."
Grissom hadn't been expecting someone like Kate Farber. Maybe a bleached blonde with tight clothes or some acne ridden, glasses wearing teenager, but not someone who actually looked eager to do this. The girls face was open, honest, he could tell she really was pleased to meet him. She wore a simple blue tank top and faded jeans, the old sneakers peeking out under the hems.
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. Grissom glanced at Brass, who was looking at him expectantly. It took him a moment to figure out that Brass was waiting for him to escort the new intern and show her the world of forensics.
"Oh, right. Uh, this way Ms. Farber." He nodded as he turned, motioning for her to follow him.
"Just call me Kate." She said politely.
Grissom saw Nick smirk out of the corner of his eye and gave him a warning look. While not particularly adept at politics, Grissom knew enough that they had to keep her happy in order to keep the sheriff happy. If not, they'd all be in a lot of trouble.