She opened the doors to the crime lab with an understandable degree of nervousness. She had just been settled into her new apartment three days earlier and she was already going into her first day at a new job. She walked down the hallway with fake confidence before she stopped outside the right door. She took a deep breath, adjusted her jacket, and finally knocked. Gil Grissom, graveyard supervisor, soon opened the door. With a smile, he waved her in.

"Ah, you must be the new girl. I'm Gil Grissom."

"Hi. Jessie Madden. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Jessie shook Grissom's outstretched hand and gave a sincere smile.

"The pleasure's all mine, Jessie. Sit, sit."

Jessie pulled a chair up to Grissom's desk, careful not to disturb any of his creepy crawlies.

"So, you like Vegas so far?" Grissom asked politely.

"Well, it's certainly different than Regina, that's for sure. Although, I noticed that the summers seem to be just as hot as those back home," Jessie replied.

"They do get pretty hot out here. But moving on. I'm very excited that you came all the way from Canada to work with us here."

"Oh, please, Mr. Grissom. You make me sound so amazing. I'm not that good," she said modestly.

"What do you mean? You graduated top of your class and you always received the highest evaluation in the simulated field training. In fact, I think your grades could give Greg Sanders a run for his money!"

"Who's Greg Sanders?" Jessie questioned.

"Our DNA lab tech. He's incredibly brilliant and never makes a mistake, which I for one cannot understand."

"May I ask why?"

"Let's just say that Sanders is a very interesting character. Now, I would love to show you around but I have paperwork to finish. I've arranged for Sara Sidle to show you around the lab and she should be here any minute."

Jessie stood up to shake hands with Grissom again. A moment later Sara Sidle entered the office. Her dark brown hair, slightly curled at the moment, reached her shoulders and her wardrobe was fairly basic. She gave a reassuring gap-toothed smile and led Jessie out of the office.

"Hey, I'm Sara Sidle. I'm glad you're here 'cause I was getting pretty tired of being the newbie myself."

"Hi, I'm Jessie Madden. Nice to meet you."

"So, Jessie, where you from?"

"Regina, Saskatchewan." At Sara's puzzled look, she clarified. "Canada."

"Oh! So did you come here for the warmer weather?" Sara asked with a hint of a smile.

"Oh, please!" Jessie laughed. "Our summers are usually worse than yours are. I'm actually here by special request."

"Whose?"

Jessie pointed her thumb over her shoulder in answer.

"Grissom? Wow, you must be pretty good to be called in by Grissom," Sara remarked.

"Well, according to him I am."

"I guess I had better start giving you that tour now. Follow me."

Sara showed Jessie the ballistics lab and introduced her to Bobby, the fingerprints lab and Jacqui, the audio/visual lab and Archie, and the trace lab and Hodges. She was just about to take her to see Greg in the DNA lab when Greg burst out of the aforementioned lab.

"Well, hello, Sara! What a pleasure to see you! And who is this lovely lady with you?" Greg said with his enthusiasm.

Jessie could feel her face grow hot. She wasn't used to compliments from good looking, although slightly odd, guys. She just hoped her face wasn't turning as red as it felt.

"Um, hi. I'm Jessie Madden, the new CSI from Re…Canada."

"Hello, then, Ms. Madden! It will be most enjoyable working with you."

Greg then proceeded to grab her hand, give it a kiss, and take a bow before returning to the lab. Jessie felt her face get even redder as she looked after him in amazement.

"Is he always like that?" Jessie asked when she finally regained the use of her mouth.

"No, today is one of his normal days," Sara smirked.

Jessie looked at Sara in shock.

"That was normal?" she asked in disbelief.

"Sadly, yes. He's usually much stranger than that." Sara shook her head at the thought of Greg's antics before continuing. "Tonight's pretty slow so everyone will probably be in the break room. I'll introduce you."

When they got to the break room a few minutes later, all of the graveyard CSIs were sitting around in various stages of boredom. They all looked up expectantly when the door opened.

"I guess crime decided to take the night off," Sara joked.

"Nah, it's just this damn weather. Hot then cold then, hot again. I never seen anything like it," Warrick Brown replied.

"I've seen worse," Jessie said quietly.

"Hey, Sara, who's the new girl?" Catherine Willows asked.

"Guys, I'd like for you to meet our new team mate, Jessie Madden. She's here on special request from Grissom."

"Wow. You must be good, then," Nick Stokes remarked.

"So I've been told," she replied with a slight smile.

"I'm Nick Stokes, by the way. And this is Catherine Willows and Warrick Brown."

"Nice to meet you all."

"So, Jessie, where are you from?" Catherine questioned.

"Um. Regina, Saskatchewan. It's in Canada," Jessie answered while going to sit down.

"All the way from Canada? Girl, you must be good," Warrick commented.

"Thanks, guys, but I honestly don't think I'm that good," Jessie stated shyly.

"So, have you met anyone else yet?" Nick wondered.

"Yeah, all the lab techs. Bobby, Jacqui, Archie, Hodges, and Greg."

"Oh, so you've met Greg have you? And how was that for you?" Catherine wanted to know.

"Very, um, interesting," she replied.

"Has he flirted with you yet?" Warrick asked.

"Uh, Sara, would you consider that encounter 'flirting'?"

"Oh, yeah. He was laying it on pretty thick," she replied.

"Man that guy is desperate. He flirts with every girl in this building," Nick laughed.

Jessie was slightly upset at that news. Here she was thinking that a guy had finally noticed her when, in fact, he just had girls on the brain. She got up and went over to where Sara was standing.

"Is it all right if I go look around for a little bit?"

"Yeah, go ahead. Just come back in half an hour, kay?"

"Thanks. See you guys later!"

Jessie aimlessly wandered the halls before finally working up the courage to go back to the DNA lab. Since the lab didn't have a door, she knocked on the glass beside the doorway. Greg looked up and waved her in when he saw who it was.

"So, what brings you here to my humble lab?"

"I was just looking around and I figured I'd come by. Is that a problem?"

"Not at all. I'm not too busy at the moment, just a couple samples the dayshift guy left behind."

"Oh. I can come back if now is a bad time."

"No, you can stay as long as you don't mind if I work a bit."

"Alright. I've never actually watched what a DNA lab tech does. It'll be a good experience."

Jessie watched from a distance as Greg worked on the samples to get a DNA profile. After a couple of minutes, Greg spoke up.

"So, you're from Canada right?"

"Uh, yeah. Lived there my whole life."

"Why'd you come to Vegas?"

"Well, I had been working in my province as a CSI when my supervisor got a call asking if I wanted to help out the Las Vegas Crime Lab. How could I say no? Better pay, a chance to stop working in snow, and the chance to work in the number two lab in America. I only moved in three days ago."

"So it was Grissom who had called your supervisor?"

"Yeah, and today when I met him he told me that my grades in college only rivalled yours."

"Really? I knew it! He needs me here!" Greg cried triumphantly.

Jessie smiled a little at Greg's enthusiasm. Greg quieted down and went back to work while Jessie sat watching.

Jessie was normally a very shy person and only opened up to people she had known for a while. She missed her friends at home and she was wondering if she would always be uncomfortable around the people here. She realized that her fellow CSIs were really nice people but she wasn't sure what they thought of her. This thought made her decide what to say next. She had to bring it out into the open or she would regret it as long as she worked here. Jessie pulled the sleeves of her jean jacket up over her hands until she could grasp them with her fingers. She bit her bottom lip and looked down at her hands while taking deep breaths. It always took her a while to bring up enough courage to say or do something nerve wracking and today was no exception.

"So, um, I've already heard a lot about you from the others," she mentioned with fake calmness.

"Oh? And what did they have to say?" he questioned.

"Well, Sara told me you could be totally crazy at times. And one of the first things Warrick asked me about meeting you was, uh, if you had, um, flirted with me yet." She took a deep breath then looked at Greg uncertainly.

"What can I say? I know a beautiful girl if I see one," Greg answered with a smile.

Jessie could tell she was blushing again but she had to finish what she was going to say.

"Then Nick laughed, called you desperate, and informed me that you flirt with all the girls in the lab." This had been said with a bit of a rush because she had to say it before her nerve disappeared.

Greg stopped what he was doing, turned around, and gave her a look. "He called me desperate? Well, I wouldn't flirt with everyone if someone showed some interest. I don't mind being in a relationship, especially with a girl from this lab."

"So let me get this straight. If any female in this building flirted back, you would be interested, even if you hardly knew her?"

"Well, I would get to know her. Isn't that the point?"

"Yeah, I guess it is. But I gotta go; Sara wants me back in the break room. Bye, Greg. And thanks."

"Thanks for what?" he called after her but she was already gone.

Jessie had a smile on her face and a little bounce in her step all the way back to the break room. She knew that now all she had to do was get up the courage to flirt back.