Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

A/N: The XXXX's represent bug splatter.

Working the Bugs Out

"Eric, thanks for helping me with this. One thing about Florida I never could stomach is all the bugs. How do all these things get in here? Ugh!"

Miami-Dade computer tech Emmie Stockburne had borrowed a pair of coveralls, boots, and gloves as she and Delko moved older computer parts around in the spare equipment closet. It seemed as though with their every move, a new and exotic bug scurried across the floor, up a wall, or did a swan dive from a shelf. Both she and Delko found themselves dodging crickets, cockroaches, and other unidentifiable vermin. As soon as either of them killed one, it seemed another ten would come out to pay their respects to the fallen comrade.

"Hey, relax. It's just protein" Delko said to her with that grin of his. "Lobsters are just big sea bugs, you know."

Emmie wrinkled her nose at him. "Thanks for the biology lesson, Eric. Gross! Of course I wouldn't have to do this if a certain IAB agent hadn't trashed three printers last month. With the caseload, there was no time to fix them, and Tyler freaks out when a fly gets in the lab."

She reached down an old printer, only to have a parade of cockroaches and other vermin she couldn't identify crawl out from the insides. She quickly and carefully put it down on the floor and stepped away from the parade, shaking her hands off. "At this point, I don't even care if there are any in there when I hook it up to the IAB computer. If Rick has a problem with it, he can come in here and help me himself." With that Emmie sighed and shook dust off her latex gloves. "Okay, Eric. Let's lock this thing up. Thanks for helping me with this."

Delko shrugged. "So now what?"

"I'm gonna leave this printer on the floor and let these things get out of here by themselves. I'll come back in a little while and it up to Rick's computer."

"Can't you spray in here?"

"I can't. It'll damage the equipment."

"Worse than Stetler does?"

Emmie crept into the closet several hours later and checked the old printer. Satisfied that its tenants had vacated the premises, she carefully picked up the printer, wiped and dusted it off, set it on her cart, and wheeled it over to the IAB office to hook up. Thankfully, Rick was nowhere in sight.

The phone chirped in the computer lab. Tyler swung around and picked it up. "Computer lab, Tyler Jensen. I have no idea, Rick. Emmie changed it out an hour or so ago." He raised his eyebrows. "What? I'll tell her."

Emmie looked at him warily. "Tell me he didn't destroy another one!"

Tyler looked back at her. "I think you better get up there. Sounds like Rick's having a conniption."

"How can you tell? Let him know I'll be right up."

She stood at the doorway of Rick's office to see him sneering at the floor and then glaring at her. "Okay Sir, what's going on?" she wanted to know.

"Emmie, couldn't you bring me a printer that didn't have wildlife in it?" he snarled, pointing to a cockroach and some unidentifiable green bug scurrying across the floor.

"Sir, I don't think you're allowed to bring your pets to work. The County health ordinance has a—"

"You weren't hired for your comedic skills! Now, you want to do something about this problem?"

"Hold on." She took two tissues out of her pocket, captured the scurrying vermin, wrapped them in a tight ball, and dropped them in Rick's wastebasket. "Done. Tell me Sir, with all the things you police officers deal with, how is it you're scared of bugs?"

"You didn't kill them, did you?"

"They're bugs, not escape artists."

"What if those things get in my office again?"

Trying hard to main her professionalism, Emmie rolled her eyes and laid some more tissues on his desk. "In that case, Sir, you just pick them up and throw them away again. Or take them down the hall into the bathroom. Or if you're really bored, put them in the top drawer of Lieutenant Caine's desk!"

Rick narrowed his eyes at her. "How the hell did this happen anyway? Can't you and Tyler keep that supply closet clean?"

"I can, Sir. Problem is, they sprayed in here last week, and the bugs needed somewhere to go, so they hid in my spare closet. I haven't had time to fix the three printers you trashed last month, so I had to give you an older one. I mean, this is Florida."

"I know where we are, Emmie. And you still need to take care of that equipment. That's county property!"

I undertand. In the meantime, please don't trash this one. I might have to pull an alligator out of the next one!"

Rick huffed at her. "Fine. Just make sure there aren't any more in there before you leave."

"Fair enough. I'm sure it's okay now, but if you'll let me get in there, I'll just run a test on it." Emmie sat at Rick's computer where she picked up a piece of blank paper and clicked the keyboard, watching the printer as it printed a test page. She picked it up and examined it. She shrugged. "Looks okay to me, Sir." She then removed the hatch and shone her flashlight inside. "Looks good. Like I said, it's an older one, but it should keep you going until I can fix another one."

"Good, because I have to print off a very important memo to take to a meeting this afternoon."

"You should be set, Sir. See you later." With that she left.

As Emmie set the AV equipment for one of Natalia's cases, Horatio stopped by. "Miss Stockburne."

She put down the Allen wrench and turned toward him. "Hey Sir. How did the meeting go?"

He produced a memo and set it on her desk. "When you cleaned the bugs out of Rick's printer, I believe you missed one. Pay particular attention to the paragraph that was supposed to congratulate Sergeant Stetler for his job performance in efficiency and attention to detail for last month."

Emmie studied the piece of paper. She stiffened up when she noticed a strangely-shaped black blotch.

Special congratulations to Sergeant XXXXXXXXXXXXX for high marks on efficiency during the last month!

"I guess there was one left." Covering Rick's name was a huge black blotch that she recognized as bug carnage. "I, uh, think that one got stuck in the toner drum." She looked ruefully at her boss. "How's he taking it?"

Horatio raised his eyebrows. "Expect to get an earful when he gets over the trauma."

Emmie looked at him dryly. "With all due respect Sir, the most efficient thing I saw him do last month is ruin three printers. Tyler, you know where I'll be."

The Lieutenant then leaned toward them. "That's okay. Those two bugs I found in my desk drawer?"

"How nice. You think Rick had something to do with that?"

He turned to leave and donned his sunglasses. "Let's see whether Stetler checked his back pockets."