How to ask out a CSI

Greg carried the samples he had collected to the DNA lab.

"Greg" Nick called out as the younger man passed

"Yah?"

"You heading to DNA?"

"Yah why?" Greg asked seeing the smirk on Nicks face

"No reason man." Nick laughed as he walked off

'That guy gets weirder by the day.' Greg thought as he approached the lab. He could hear P!nk blaring from within.

He stopped in the doorway stunned. The lab had been having finding a permanent replacement since he had gone into the field. The small girl bouncing around must be their latest attempt. Greg laughed out loud as she bopped around happily to the otherwise bitter lyrics. Her short purple hair flying around as she spun to the new noise.

"Hi" she said turning the music off

"Hi. You must be the new DNA tech."

"You're good," She replied sarcastically "no wonder you're a CSI"

Greg blushed "I'm Greg" he said holding out his hand

"Violet" she said accepting his

"Like your hair"

"This week anyway. I thought it would be the best way to remember me. Next week I'm thinking red…or blue. Sorry about the music…I can't stand quiet and I just love angry chick rock."

"No problem. I used to listen to Manson when I was in the lab."

"Angry guy rock…nice."

"I guess…" he said "Anyway I just came off a scene and I need these samples processed."

"Cool. What have you got?"

"Hair, skin scrapings and samples from all seven members of the household."

"Seven? Go easy on me it's my first day."

"No such luck newbie." He laughed as he left the room.

For the rest of the day her green eyes lined in black kohl lingered in his head. He even found himself humming Pink at one point.

He smiled when his pager went off.

"You got some results for me?" He said as he wandered into the lab

"I'm just putting them in. I was paging to apologize for the delay. Grissom dumped what felt like a million sampled on my desk two minutes after you left. Priority of course." Violet said rolling her eyes

"Of course" Greg laughed

"So I was wondering if you wanted to go get coffee sometime." She asked looking into a microscope "We both like angry music…I thought we could be angry together."

"Oh…uh…" he stuttered

"This hair is canine. You'll need to take it to trace." She said handing the slide to Greg.

'How could she be so calm?' he wondered. Every time he asked someone out he was a nervous wreck.

"That's a nice offer but…"

"You have your eye on someone else…" she finished

"Yah. How did you know?"

Violet looked up at Greg from the microscope. Her eyes soft, almost apologetic. "I've played this game long enough to know these things." She said closing the subject.

He looked around nervously. "You give up easily." He thought out loud

"I've played this game long enough to know when not to waste my time on a lost cause. If you are interested in someone else it's a lost cause. My time is worth more than that. No offence." She said in a matter-of-fact tone

"None taken." He said thinking about Sara and how long he had spent pining over her.

"Speaking of time…" Violet said smiling. Her bright red lips spreading as she looked at the sheet coming out of the printer "Yours here is up. We have a match."

"Really?" Greg said pushing Sara out of his head for a moment as he approached Violet and started reading over her shoulder. He couldn't help but smell the soft vanilla coming off her. Not enough to be perfume…shampoo maybe. "The daughter…but she's only 15."

"Murder knows no age limit." Violet said returning back to her work.

"You sound like Grissom."

"There are worse things."

Greg started to leave as Violets words about wasting time ran through his head again. He turned back to watch her work. He had spent years wasting time on Sara. He smiled as he watched Violets small hands gently handle the evidence. Her purple hair shone under the fluorescent lighting of the lab. She had turned the music back on and was now singing along to indy punk band Kittie. As she stopped singing to bite down on her lower lip while looking down the microscope Greg couldn't help but ask "Does your offer for coffee still stand?"

"It sure does." She said not even looking up.

"Tonight after shift?" he asked

"You got it." She answered smiling as she finally looked up and smiling.

Greg smiled as he walked out of the lab. As funny as it sounded he could feel an internal clock start back up. He was no longer wasting time.