Author's Note: I have absolutely no idea where I'm going with this, so wish me luck. I really want at least one Archie fic up, so…here it goes.

~~ Chapter One: Under My Umbrella ~~

Archie was focused completely on the tape that 'Warrick and Grissom had brought in to him.' So much that Lizzie was kind of curious as to what it was all about. She peered curiously over Archie's shoulder, only to have him turn his head to look right at her. "Must you do that?" he asked.

"Well, you're acting like it's a porno or something…" Lizzie pushed some of her dark-sandy-blonde hair behind her ear. "You haven't taken your eyes away from it once."

"Except a second ago, to look at you…" Archie loved proving Lizzie wrong. It was so much fun to see her reach to strangle him, but stop herself, out of 'maturity.' Or, what he liked to call 'fear of losing her job.'

"Well, that's only because I'm such a worthy eye-target!" she winked in self-promotion. "Otherwise those big brown eyes of yours would still be locked on this…OH MY GOD, ew!" Lizzie's normally jovial, fun eyes were filled with horror and queasiness.

The vision Lizzie was looking at was not porno, actually, this would turn someone way off, rather than on. A girl was having her wrists slain, and being hung onto a wall by her ankles. "Archie…what is this?"

"It's a movie…" he grinned, knowing he'd finally found something that could get to the infamous Lizzie Williams. "It's called 'Death by Donald.' Cool, isn't it?" (Author's Note: Random movie title…if I stole anything from anyone's…anything, lol, don't sue!) he asked, turning to her horrified face.

Lizzie blinked her blue eyes numerous times in an attempt to get the image out of her head. "That's terrible, Archie! How can you watch that?" she shook her head. "I mean, honestly!"

"If it bothers you that much, why don't you go see Greggo and Cecilia?" Archie ran a hand through his black hair, and flashed Lizzie a devious grin. "Or, why don't you go see if Grissom is back with whatever it was he has us waiting here for…"

"You know how mean you are, right?" she glowered at him, and sat at her computer, starting to search for something, when she her ears were pierced with the most horrifying and realistic sounding scream she had ever heard in a movie. "Oh MAN!" she rushed to see what had happened. "What the hell did he do to the poor girl?" her lip curled at the sight she was seeing.

"He took her from the wall, and dropped her from a tree…" Archie shushed Lizzie. "You're terrible to watch a movie with you know that? Why do girls always ask so many questions when someone it trying to watch-…" he glanced, purely entertained by the look on Lizzie's face.

She glared angrily at him. "Why must you always act like that?" she asked, shaking her head, and turning her head back to the movie. "Oh my God, does this poor chick ever die?" she wondered, as she watched the poor girl get thrown into a wall and scream in pain.

"More than likely not…Donald's victims never die, they just live with the horrifying experience he put them through…" Archie looked back at the movie, and then quickly back at Lizzie when he heard her scoff, and laugh a little. "What's so funny?"

"You're meaning to tell me someone actually invested enough in this movie to make more than one?" she asked, shaking her head in disbelief, then turning off the movie. "I'm sorry, Archie, watch it at home, ok? I can only handle so much unrealistic torture in one day…why did Griss and Warrick bring this to you, anyhow?"

"I asked them to…"Archie scoffed at Lizzie. "Who do you think you are, anyway?"

Lizzie grinned diabolically as she took a tape out from her handbag. "Let me think about that for a second…I'm Lizzie Williams, A/V technician at the Las Vegas Crime Lab, and I'm taking over the VCR, too."

"Yeah, well," Archie grabbed the tape from her hands, and stole his back. "I'm Archie Johnson, A/V technician at the Las Vegas Crime Lab, and I hate to tell you, but you have another thing coming."

"Really?" Lizzie reached to steal the tape back, only to be interrupted by Ecklie blasting into the room, with the fire of hell in his eyes. "Oh God…" she whispered to herself. "Here goes…" she glanced at Archie, whose face held the same fearful expression as hers did. Ecklie had just caught them the way he loved to catch them; slacking. "Well, hey there, Ecklie, what's shaking?"

"Is Sanders in here?" Ecklie demanded of the two nervous A/V techs. "I've been waiting for two days for him to process a sample, and frankly, I am sick and tried of waiting forever for him…"

"Um, Ecklie…Griss gave Greg the rest of the day off…" Lizzie looked to Archie for support.

"Yeah, Cecilia is probably processing it…" Archie finished explaining.

Ecklie's eyes torched at the mention of Grissom taking over something of his. "Damn him! Why does he always do that? Does he want to ruin me?"

"Uh, no offense, Ecklie, but Cecilia is a good analyst…" Lizzie defended her best friend. "She might even be able to do whatever it was you were waiting for JUST as well as Greg…"

Ecklie practically breathed fire at Lizzie, for even questioning something he said. He hated being questioned, especially by his 'inferiors.' "Believe me, I never said Sanders was good, but I'd prefer him over McReady any day."

Archie shook his head. "You're being kind of sexist…Cecilia is a good-…"

"Watch it, Archie…" Lizzie glared angrily at Ecklie, but directed to Archie. "He may threaten your job, and we all know how much your job means to you."

Archie placed his hand on Lizzie's shoulder, trying to calm her down. "Lizzie…" he cleared his throat. "Watch out. While warning me, you may be endangering yourself."

Lizzie choked back her anger, and cleared her throat. "Thanks Archie…saved me from my loud mouth, as always."

Archie nodded, and looked to Ecklie. Ecklie made everyone but Grissom and Catherine's defenses go straight up. It was like anyone under the age of forty had to bow down before him, or suffer the consequence. "Anyway, Ecklie, what do you want?"

"I already told you, and you were of no help, as usual. Where's McReady?" Ecklie fixated his glance away from Lizzie, because if he were to look at her, he may burn through her with his eyes.

"Probably in the lab…" Archie held Lizzie back, knowing that she wouldn't hesitate at the opportunity to kill Ecklie. "All I can tell you is that she is here. She spends more time than any of us around here."

Lizzie corrected Archie. "With the exception of Grissom and Sara, that is," she pointed out. "Anyway, yeah, she's more than likely in the lab, Ecklie…"

Ecklie didn't even acknowledge the fact that they had given him the information he needed, and rushed out of the room, escaping their presence as quickly as he possibly could. Lizzie laughed, and shook her head. "Thank you, Arch. I was liable to kill him."

"I know…I felt obligated to save you from being questioned by Brass, and talked down upon by Mobely," he winked at her.

"Yeah, I wonder if any of the night shift would even notice that he was gone…" she grinned, then sat back down, hoping that Archie's mind was off the tape. "Probably would…it's be quiet without him to hassle us. Maybe I shouldn't off him, just for that reason."

Archie nodded in agreement. "Just for that reason. Right…"

~~

Greg came into the lab, knowing it was his day off, but not caring. "Hey everyone!" he chirped, coming into the break room, expecting more of a crowd than what he got. "Ok, make that…hey Cecilia."

"Hey, Greg. If you ever leave me with your case load again, I swear, someone will be mopping up your crime scene, k?" Cecilia smiled 'cordially' at Greg. "Oh, and by the way, Connie-rad Ick-lie is on a vendetta for you," Greg and Cecilia always called Ecklie 'Connie-rad Ick-lie.' It was some sort of lame code, which never seemed to work. "Because you left me with his case. I'm very inexperienced, and terrible at what I do, don't you know."

Greg shook his head. "That guy is gonna be the death of me…"

Cecilia got curious. "Greg, I thought you had the day off, anyway. Why come in on your day off?" she asked, pushing some brown hair behind her ear. "If you'd stayed home, you'd be Ecklie-less…"

"Until tomorrow, then he'd have my head…" Greg laughed, then sat down across from Cecilia. "I'll wait for him to find me. He wants to scream at me that bad, he can wait."

Cecilia grinned. Greg had this contagious, quirky personality, that she couldn't seem to get enough of. He was so much fun to be around, and so easy to talk to, unless he made some insane comment about your hair, or your clothes. She watched him take out his CD player, and jumped at the slight blare of music. "You don't like your eardrums, do you?" she asked, grinning. She knew Greg always listened to loud music, but music THAT loud, in headphones was potentially deadly on the ears.

"Huh?" he asked, moving his headphones, then looking across the table at Cecilia.

She grinned, and shook her head. "Eardrum abuse, Greggo…"

"Yes, Grissom Jr.," he stuck his tongue out. "Would you like for me to turn my headphones down, ma'am?"

"I don't care, I was just thinking that your EARS may…" Cecilia grabbed Greg's CD player. "What are you listening to, anyway?" she opened the CD player. "OOH! Good Charlotte! I'm stealing this!" she put the headphones on, turned the volume down slightly, and pushed play.

"Excuse me?" Greg shook his head. "That would be mine!" he reached to grab the CD player, but centimeters before his hand reached it, felt a semi-hard tap on his shoulder.

"Sanders!" Ecklie growled at Greg. "May I speak to you in the hallway, please?"

"Whatever it is, Eck, I didn't do it…" Greg shook his head. "It was Cecy!"

"Hey!" Cecilia shoved Greg gently in the shoulder. "I didn't do anything! I swear it, Ecklie! It was Greg!"

"How dare you blame me? I'm a good boy!" Greg smiled 'angelically' at Cecilia, then at Ecklie. "Right, Ecklie?"

Cecilia laughed at Greg even suggesting that Ecklie call him a good boy. "Greg…you just realize who you asked, right?" she asked, shaking her head, then realizing that Ecklie was glaring at her, and clearing her throat. "Uh, sorry about that, Conrad…"

"Right," Ecklie shook his head, and fixated his glare back on Greg. "Coming, Sanders?" he asked.

Greg hesitantly followed Ecklie into the hall. He gave Cecilia a glance as if to say 'you're planning my funeral, right?' She just laughed, and nodded. "Got ya covered…" she whispered, and winked at him. "Greg was a good friend, I'm gonna miss him…" she chortled softly. After hearing a series of Ecklie's screams and Greg's defenses, she watched an annoyed Greg re-enter the room. "You gonna be ok?" she asked.

He nodded, and sat back down across from her. "Remind me why no one's killed him?" he pleaded.

Cecilia patted Greg's shoulder softly. "Because he's scary, and would probably kill us with one look of his demonic, scary eyes…" she shrugged. "If I had my way, the Loser's Club would rule the lab…"

"Ah, what a world would it be?" Greg sighed, and sank into his seat. At least he'd always have Cecilia there to talk to when he wanted to kill someone. She understood him, whatever he said. And, she maybe even got him. That was rare, and a friendship like that, Greg would always cherish.

~~

When I close my eyes,
I remember why I smile.
Under my umbrella, I'm an accomplished exile.
These eyes are not your eyes…
And these eyes are not the color that your arid eyes might be.
No, I was not around when those eyes of yours decided so,
So I refuse to yield before the sights you choose to see.
If this is right, I'd rather be wrong…
If this is sight, I'd rather be blind.
~~ 'Under My Umbrella' – Incubus ~~