Disclaimer: I do not own CSI
A/N: Layout of building may not be correct... one time fic
Karma
Greg watched the break room carefully from the lab. He had mixed Tabasco sauce in the coffee, and was waiting for someone to drink it.
--
Warrick had pulled an all-nighter double shift, not exactly the most pleasant, or fun, way to spend your evening.
He was looking forward to that wake-me-up cup of coffee... even though it was known worldwide that institutionalized coffee was the worst... what he got was defiantly a jolt.
"Oh my f-ing Zeus! Eck! This has, like, squid in it or something!" Warrick exclaimed.
"Nonsense, squid can't live in coffee." Grissom said as he walked by.
"Then you taste it!" Warrick replied.
Grissom stopped. To turn back or not to turn back? That was the question.
He decided not to turn back.
--
"Greg, what's so funny?" Catherine asked. She had just walked in to find him slouched over on his desk, in silent laughter.
When he could speak, Greg said, "Just a joke I read earlier."
"Uh huh, right. Do you have that sample processed yet?"
"Uh... nope; give me another half hour or so and I'll get it to you."
"Thanks, Greg."
--
"Nick, man, come taste this squid-coffee!" Warrick ordered, holding the mug up.
"Squid coffee?" Nick asked. He was standing in the entryway.
"Yeah. The coffee, tastes like squid. Taste it!" Warrick exclaimed.
"I'm not gonna taste squid coffee!" Nick protested.
"Scared?"
"No!"
"Right, sure, whatever you say."
"Damn it! Give me that."
"Ha! I win."
Nick took a sip of the coffee and immediately spit it out into the sink. "Holy shit! Ack! That's so gross!"
"Squid coffee" Warrick nodded.
"Not squid, more like, Tabasco sauce or something."
"Tastes like squid to me."
"Ri-ight"
--
"Uh, Gris, what's this 'squid coffee' Warrick and Nick are talking about?" Catherine asked.
"I don't know. Warrick was talking about it when I walked by." Grissom replied.
"Didn't want to taste it?" Catherine tersely asked.
"Nope. Have better things to do than taste squid coffee." Grissom replied.
--
"Sarah! Come taste the squid coffee!" Warrick exclaimed.
"Is this some joke between the two of you?" Sarah asked, glancing from Warrick to Nick then back to Warrick again.
"Not at all. I think it tastes like it has Tabasco sauce in it, but Warrick thinks it tastes like squid." Nick replied. "Come taste it."
"Absolutely not," Sarah firmly told them, leaving the break room and heading for Grissom's office.
--
"Maybe we should check out this squid coffee they're talking about." Catherine mused. "Maybe it really does have something in it."
"I don't doubt that it has something in it. I just don't want to taste whatever it has in it." Grissom replied.
"You know, Nick said it tasted like Tabasco sauce." Sarah told them.
Grissom shook his head. "You aren't going to get me to taste squid coffee or Tabasco coffee or any other strange brew, so don't try it."
"Ant coffee?" Catherine asked.
Grissom glared at her. "Ants don't taste good in coffee."
--
"GREG!!" Warrick yelled. "Come taste the squid coffee!"
Greg shook his head. "Squid coffee?" He thought. "Warrick must be high or something."
--
"Cockroach coffee?" Sarah suggested.
"Eww!" Catherine exclaimed.
"Cockroaches have too many limbs to drink in coffee." Grissom replied.
"Two much information!" Catherine said. "I am going to taste this mysterious Tabasco-squid coffee."
"It's going to be gross, and you know it." Sarah told her.
"Yeah, but I want to see what all the fuss is about." Catherine replied. "Have fun talking creepy-crawlies."
--
Warrick and Nick had moved to the lab with the offending mug in hand.
"Come on Sanders, you know you wanna taste the coffee." Warrick taunted, waving the mug in his face.
"Nope, no way. I know what goes into that stuff." Greg replied.
Nick smiled. "So, you could, oh I don't know, poison us all if you wanted."
"Yeah, sure." Greg scoffed. "Death by poisoned coffee. Maybe I should do that to day shift."
"I think that would suck." Warrick commented. "Death by killer coffee."
"Yep. Institutionalized coffee might as well be death." Nick nodded in agreement.
"Greg, I dare you to drink the rest of this cup." Warrick said.
"No thanks, guys. I've got DNA to run." Greg replied.
"I double dare you." Nick countered.
"Come on, man. If you don't do this, you'd just be admitting that..." Warrick broke off.
"Oh yeah! I didn't think of it that way!" Nick agreed.
"Are you threatening me?" Greg asked.
"Nope." Warrick replied.
"Accusing me?" Greg questioned.
"Well..." Nick let the answer hang.
"Surely you have nothing to hide." Warrick remarked.
"Surely" Nick agreed.
"So he should have no problem drinking the rest of this coffee, right Nick?" Warrick asked.
"Right" Nick nodded.
"Right, Greg?" Warrick questioned.
Greg hesitated. "Damn it!" He muttered, grabbing the mug from Warrick and gulping down the rest of the coffee. "Agghh! Eck! Ack! Eww! Eff! Nasty!"
"What goes around comes around." Warrick told Greg as he and Nick left.
"That was the nastiest cola I've ever had!" Greg exclaimed.