I followed Eric down one of the many hallways, towards the cafeteria.
"You guys have your own cafeteria here?" I asked, "Why?"
"Well a lot of the CSI's stay overnight seeing as we're all very busy," he answered. "You'll probably end up going a night with no sleep too, trust me." We reached the coffee machine and he got himself a cup. "Do you want anything?" he asked.
"Sure, black please," I told him. He handed me a full Styrofoam cup and we walked to one of the empty tables. "So, who do you think is responsible for that little girl's death?" I asked him, sipping my coffee.
"Well we're not sure yet, but we think the girl's parents may have been into heavy drugs. We think Sanchez Bavario might have something to do with it too," he told me.
"Do you think they weren't paying him for drugs? Or were too far behind on a tab?"
"I don't know. Whatever it was though I'm sure they'll be paying it now," he said.
"I feel so horrible for her parents. Imagine what it would be like to lose a child because of your own disgusting habit," I said.
"Yea, well don't you think they would also deserve it?" he asked.
"Well... that's a difficult question," I said. "May I excuse myself? I'm going to see if Ryan is here yet. I guess I'll talk to you later, since we're working a case together." I smiled at him and got up, leaving my coffee to sit on the table.
Halfway down the hall I turned a corner and ran head on into a woman with long blonde hair.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I apologized, kneeling to help her pick up some papers she'd dropped.
"No worries. Accidents happen," she replied. She had a slight southern accent. She held out her hand. "I'm Calleigh Duquesne. CSI." I took her hand (again with the hand shaking).
"I'm Cassandra James. I've been looking forward to meeting you Calleigh; I'm the new girl on your team. I've met Eric and Ryan already."
"Oh you've met them huh?" She said, smiling. "Did Ryan charm you yet?"
"No... Should he have?" I asked, frowning.
"Oh no, he just takes a liking to some girls. But don't let that get your hopes down, he just takes a while to figure out who he's taken a liking to sometimes," she said.
"Whoa whoa whoa," I said. "Slow down. Who said I had my hopes up? You and I just met two seconds ago! Me and Ryan only last night! It wasn't even twelve hours ago!"
"I know, but I have a taste for these things," she said smiling to herself, and walked away.
A little while later I finally caught a glimpse of Ryan heading into a room. I went over to the door to wait for him. As he came out I grabbed his arm lightly.
"How does it feel to be grabbed by the arm by some stranger?" I asked smiling.
"Cassandra, hi," he said. I knew he wasn't startled at all; I wasn't trying to scare him.
"You were supposed to introduce me to Eric and Calleigh today," I told him. "I've already met both. That Calleigh's a weird one."
"Cal? You think she's the weird one? Why?"
"Just something she said to me that's all. Anyways, where have you been all day?" I asked him. It was a little after noon now.
"Alright then. Well I slept in a little too much and when I got here I couldn't find you. Did Horatio give you any information about last night's crime scene?" he asked me.
"No, he introduced me to Eric and he showed me some evidence. He didn't really tell me what was going on though," I replied. "What were you doing in there?" I asked, referring to the room he had been in.
"Oh, that's the DNA Lab. Did you see the children's books? They had drops of blood on them. I was taking them to Valera; she's the DNA specialist, so she could analyze them."
"Okay. Well what else do you know about the murder?"
"Well we know the little girl's name," he told me. "Her name is Madeliene Corbett, her parents just so happened to be storing heroin in a safe inside the house."
"So me and Eric were close," I said.
"You were talking to him today?"
"I told you I'd already met him and Calleigh."
"Well I didn't assume you'd actually talked to him about the case already," he said.
"Do I detect a hint of jealousy Ryan?" Oh my God, was I already flirting with him? No, I thought, I can't flirt with this guy I just met the night before. And he's my co-worker!
"What? No," he said. "I just didn't think you'd talked long together. What did you guys think of?"
"Well Eric was saying that maybe the little girl's parents were buying drugs and not paying for them in time. He said they were pretty sure Sanchez was into it somehow," I said.
"Sanchez is into it. They were holding the heroin for him until he could move it. Maybe they didn't want to give it back to him?" he said.
"Maybe. I guess we'll find out soon enough," I said back.
"You and I are going to have to go back to the Lazy Dayz bar you know," he said, looking at me, raising his eyebrows yet again.
"You mean we're working on the undercover stuff together?" I asked, my voice rising a little too high for me not to blush.
"Yea, I went to speak to Horatio about it today. He said we can work on it together, but we have to pose as a couple. Are you okay with that?" he asked.
"A couple? Sure, I - I mean, why not? It can't be that hard to act like a couple," I said, my face burning hot. "Hey Ryan, did you ask Horatio to keep me on the case with you? Or did he suggest it?" I felt the need to ask that.
"I asked him to keep you on the case," he said point blank.
"Okay. Thank you," I smiled up at him.
"No problem," he smiled back. "What do you say, Lazy Dayz tonight?" he asked me.
"Absolutely. Let's get this asshole!" I said ecstatic. I'd finally be getting some action!
"Then it's a date. Oh, and don't wear that blonde wig again. You're black hair looks much better." Then he turned and walked away.
Did he just say a date? And compliment my jet black hair? Oh wait, we're pretending to be a couple. But I walked down to the main hall and signed out; happy he'd said it anyways.
