Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
A/N: I can't remember who submitted this idea to me, but I give my thanks. You know who you are. Hopefully.
Dude, Where's My Computer?
Senior cybertech Emmie Stockburne thumbed through case files as Dave Benton stepped in. "Morning, Dave."
Dave nodded at her. "Hey, Emmie. So what'd the CSI's throw at us this morning?"
"The usual. Got a couple of rush cases from Calleigh, but I can take care of those. I want you to get the new intern up to speed. He should be coming in this morning. Think his name's Larry."
"Nope. Can't."
Emmie furrowed her eyebrows. "Why? What happened?"
The ponytailed computer tech shrugged as he booted up the AV computer. "Stetler snagged him."
"What do you mean 'Stetler snagged him'?"
"Stetler said Larry was a good enough IT intern so he was gonna keep him. And you know where we rank on the food chain."
She slapped the brown case folders on her desk. "So let me get this straight. Rick grabbed our summer IT guy, even though he's just a student?"
He never took his eyes off the monitor. "That's the way it looks. Says the guy really knows his stuff, and nobody but Larry is gonna touch his computer all summer long."
Emmie stood up from her desk. "Well good. I guess that means all summer you're stuck doing the stuff nobody else wants."
"Thanks. I know where I rank on the food chain, too. Speaking of which…."
IAB agent Rick Stetler walked in with a tall, thin, dark-haired student in tow. He wore a yellow-striped polo shirt and slouched slightly with his hands in his pockets. In fact, he resembled a yellow jacket.
"Emmie. Dave. I'd like you to meet Larry, the summer computer tech. Larry, this is Emmie Stockburne and Dave Benton of the computer lab."
Somehow Larry seemed like a young Rick Stetler—tall and gangly, only wearing a loud polo shirt instead of a loud tie. With a proud smile, Larry held one hand up. "Hey."
Rick stood by with his hands in his pockets and glanced proudly at his protégé. "I've decided that Larry is gonna work for IAB and lend me computer support for the summer. He seems to know what he's doing, and I'll show him everything I know."
Dave and Emmie glanced at each other. Both of them knew what this meant. "Larry, call me if you have any questions about anything, okay?" Emmie insisted as she leveled her eyes at Rick. "Computer-related, that is."
Larry nodded hesitantly. "Uh, yeah, okay. Thanks."
Rick sniffed. "We'll be okay, Emmie. Dave. Don't worry. "
"Sir, I fix your computers, and you're telling me not to worry?"
Rick smiled confidently. "Larry, I'm gonna need you to clean my computer first." He glared at Emmie and Dave matter-of-factly. "The staff here doesn't do a very good job of keeping things clean around here."
Emmie leveled her eyes at the IAB agent as he led Larry out.
"So how long you give it?" Dave asked with a slight grin.
"Give what? The cleaning or the first disaster call?"
"Yeah."
Emmie was halfway through a bank fraud case for Horatio when, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Larry pushing a cart down the blue hallway with what she recognized as Rick's computer equipment. She raised her finger and was about to call after him.
"Not worried, are you Emmie?" Dave teased.
"Uh, yeah I am" she retorted.
Horatio stopped by and peered around the computer lab. "Miss Stockburne. Mr. Benton."
"Oh, hey, Sir" Emmie said. "Just about done with that bank fraud case you sent me."
"That's not why I'm here. Sergeant Stetler had been roaming the halls looking for Larry. Said he gave him his computer to clean and fix up and hasn't seen him. He's getting on the lab's last good nerves. Would you mind finding him so we can all get back to solving cases?"
Emmie raised her eyebrows at Dave. "You know the deal."
He smirked, his eyes still on the monitor. "Yes, Boss."
Half an hour later Dave stepped back into the lab.
"I was about to put an All Points out for you" Emmie said. "Where've you been?"
His ponytail swung as he shook his head. "I looked in the storage room and all of the labs. I even looked in that back area. Larry's not there."
"Hmm. I wonder where he could be."
At that moment the phone chirped. Emmie clicked the button. "Computer lab, Emmie Stockburne. No Sir. I saw Larry take your stuff down the hall, I don't know, just before I went to lunch. No Sir, I distinctly heard you say that Larry was giving you support and that nobody was touching your stuff except him. Hold on." She turned toward Dave. "Dave, you're my witness. Did you hear Sergeant Stetler say that Larry was taking care of his stuff?"
Dave smiled as he clicked the keyboard. "That's what I heard, too. My story and I'm sticking to it."
"And that we don't take good enough care of his stuff?"
"Yep. That too."
Emmie shrugged. "No Sir, we're just doing what you said. Haven't seen him since then. Have a nice afternoon." With that she clicked off the ANSWER button.
"What's going on?"
"Rick said he sent Larry to clean his computer parts. That was a couple of hours ago. Any intern under my watch could do it in under fifteen minutes."
There was a timid knock at the door of the lab. "Hey, uh, Emmie? Dave?"
Larry stood at the door, his hand in his pocket.
"Geez, Larry! We were starting to think you took off with IAB's computer. What's wrong?"
"I uh, cleaned Sergeant Stetler's computer, but now I can't get the water out of it."
Dave and Emmie slowly looked at each other and then at the hapless intern.
"Larry? What do you mean by 'can't get the water out of it'?"
"Uh, well, can I show you?"
Emmie looked around warily as she followed him to the break room.
Several techs and CSI's were watching and snickering as he pointed nervously to the dishwasher. A long black cord hung out of the door that she recognized as a computer plug. Steam poured out as he opened the dishwasher door. She was greeted with the sight of a nice clean dripping keyboard, monitor, and console.
She froze in her tracks, trying to register this in her mind. "Larry, tell me you didn't."
The young intern stared at her, nonplussed. "The dust remover didn't work. I stuck the cords outside the dishwasher because I didn't want them to get wet."
"Hey, don't laugh, Emmie. Probably got Stetler's coffee stains out" Jake Berkeley said with a smile.
He looked at her ruefully. "I screwed up, didn't I?"
Horatio stood behind the amused crowd, hands on hips. "Larry? I want you to go ahead and take those out of the dishwasher. Dry them off, bring them back upstairs, and reassemble them in Sergeant Stetler's office. If he has a problem with it, tell him to call me, Lieutenant Caine." He looked at Emmie now. "Miss Stockburne, I'll make sure that Larry reports to you tomorrow. You make sure he gets the proper training."
She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. "Will do, Sir. And Larry? I'll show you what to do, okay?"
He looked at the Lieutenant sheepishly. "Thanks."
As Horatio walked away, he donned his sunglasses. "Don't worry, Larry. When you're dealing with Sergeant Stetler, it all comes out in the wash."
