God, this project is all consuming! Already chapter three! Sorry it's so short, but I've been assaulted with a wicked case of writer's block. Anolle, you are so sweet! Thank you so much for that compliment.

"We need some help in here!" Kate shouted to the officer outside, hopping lithely over the counter. Very gently, she put two fingers to Catherine's throat to check for a pulse. It was there, a bit sluggish but even and strong. Hands shaking, Kate drew back, not wanting to contaminate the…evidence. A shiver of disgust ran through at the thought of referring to someone as 'evidence'.

"Is everything all right?" The officer peered over the counter and his eyes widened at the sight of Catherine on the floor.

Kate looked up at him. "Could you call an ambulance please?" The officer pulled his radio off of his hip and called for an ambulance. Kate slowly squatted beside Catherine, wincing at her knees cracking. Leaning over, she lightly nudged the woman's shoulder, thankful that she was still wearing the gloves. "Ms. Willows? Ms. Willows?"

Catherine moaned softly, but her eyes stayed closed. Taking a deep breath, Kate gently slapped the blonde's cheek, trying to get her to wake up. If she had a concussion, she needed to be conscious or it would get worse. "Ms. Willows, you need to wake up, okay? Catherine!"

Moaning again, Catherine's lids fluttered for a moment. "Not now Sara, I don't think the sun's even down yet." She muttered.

Kate blinked in surprise; okey-dokey, that was definitely different, but when her best friend Ashley fell out of the tree in her backyard and was knocked out for a minute, when she woke up she was going on about blue flying monkeys. Kate had gotten used to weird stuff. Shaking her head, Kate went on instinct. "Come on, Catherine. You need to get up, all right? Someone or something hit your head and I'm afraid you might have a concussion."

Catherine's blue eyes flew open and she sat up quickly, nearly bonking heads with Kate. "What!"

Kate held up the silver colored cell phone for all to see. "You sent me out to get your cell. I came back, I couldn't find you. I looked behind the counter, you were unconscious. That's probably why your head hurts so badly right now. Do you remember anything?"

Catherine stared at her hands, trying to remember anything. She'd been printing the counter, and there was a noise in the back. It only lasted for a second and then was gone; she'd chalked it up to just outside noises. She continued printing when she heard the noise again. That had freaked her out a little, but she had her gun, she wasn't completely helpless. She'd been watching Kate come back through the store window; she turned and there was a shooting pain in her head, then everything went dark. Catherine related all this to Kate who nodded, taking it all in.

Once she'd finished giving her 'statement', Catherine felt the throbbing in her head. Her entire skull ached like someone had taken a hammer to her brain. She could almost feel the blood pumping in her veins. But, it wasn't like this was a new thing. This was the second time she'd been attacked on a scene, not like that made it anymore easy to deal with. Tenderly, she fingered the cut on her head. It was bare inches from the one she'd gotten the last time.

Whoa, wait a minute. Catherine looked around, rising from the floor. Kate had since gone to stand at the door to wait for the ambulance. "Kate." She turned to look at her. "Tell the officer to come in here."

Kate nodded and called to the officer. Catherine crossed her arms over herself and stepped over to stand protectively beside Kate. She'd only just realized the perp might still be in there. Just because he (or she) had knocked her out, didn't mean he (or she) was smart enough to get the hell out of dodge. Officer Metcalf came ambling over, looking worried.

"You okay Catherine?"

Catherine nodded. "Yeah, just fine Joe. Listen, could you clear the scene again, for me?" She leaned in closer, not wanting to worry Kate. "The guy might still be in there."

Officer Metcalf nodded and clicked on the flashlight, stepping in just as the ambulance and an all-too-familiar Tahoe pulled in. Catherine cringed at the thought of having to deal with Grissom right now. But instead of the small, stocky frame of Grissom, a long-legged, muscular figure stepped out, looking pissed. The EMT's came out of the ambulance and swarmed around Catherine, pulling her to the box-like vehicle.

Kate watched, amused as Catherine kept insisting she was fine as the medics checked her out. Suddenly, there was a rough hand on her shoulder and Kate looked up into the very angry face of Warrick Brown. "Where were you when this went down?"

"I was-"

"Were you out here goofing off, getting bored? That's the life of a CSI sweetheart, it's long and it's boring. Deal with it. You do not leave the scene unless expressly commanded to do otherwise."

"That's what I was-"

"Don't give me excuses, all right?"

Miserably, Kate endured Warrick's lecture, knowing he was right. Well, there went the internship; she was pretty sure letting a CSI get hurt was something that qualified for here getting tossed out on her ass. Perfect, her first day and she screws everything up.

Catherine watched in hidden amusement as Kate morosely stood and listened to Warrick's protective ranting, staring intensely at her feet. Warrick was just being the older brother; he'd been the one on the scene when she'd gotten attacked from that home invasion, that on top of Holly Gribbs murder, which he still hadn't gotten over, it was a wonder he ever let her go out to a scene alone. When she felt like the lecture was getting a little too passionate, she decided to nip it in the bud.

"Warrick." She called patiently.

Warrick turned to look at her, along with Kate. "Warrick, I sent her out to get my cell from the car. She wasn't slacking off or getting bored, in fact she was being very helpful."

Kate's face lit up with the praise, while Warrick's jaw dropped slightly, apparently forgetting how to work his mouth. He turned back to look at Kate. "You didn't tell me that."

Kate shrugged helplessly. "I tried but you wouldn't let me say anything."

This time it was Warrick who ducked his head, embarrassed. "Sorry."

"It's okay. I understand." Kate shoved her hands in her pockets, looking around. "So, what now?"

"Now, you and Catherine are going back to the lab while I finish processing the scene."

"What!" Came Catherine's indignant cry as she rushed to his side. "What do you mean? This is my scene, I can finish it."

Warrick shook his head. "Sorry Catherine, Grissom's orders."

Kate tried to disappear as Catherine glowered angrily at Warrick; she almost looked like she was about to hit him for a second. Quickly, Kate racked her brain, trying to ease the pressure between the two. She knew she'd probably end up sans head, but it was better than a CSI assaulting a fellow CSI. She took a deep breath, silently rehearsing what she was going to say.

"Um, Ms. Willows."

Catherine turned her icy glare on Kate and the seventeen-year-old's insides turned to mush. Straightening her shoulder, Kate plowed on. "Um, maybe we should get back to the lab." Seeing Catherine's mouth open to speak, she beat her to it. "That way, you can um, you can show me all the other stuff that you guys do once you're off the scene. You know, DNA, fingerprints, stuff like that." Kate prepared herself for both barrels to unload but Catherine just stared at her thoughtfully.

Warrick watched the two women with a small smirk on his face. This girl was brave, taking Catherine on in her worst of moods. Even the bravest of CSI's, (save Grissom) were afraid of taking on 'Catherine the Great' when she was pissed. Eyebrow raised, he watched as Catherine glared at her for a moment, then calmed, raising her hands in defeat. Warrick blinked in surprise. Catherine was actually doing something other than what she felt like needed to be done; he stared in utter shock as Catherine told him about the evidence collected in the store, that she was going to take it back to the lab.

"Warrick!"

Warrick blinked out of his astonished reverie. "What?"

Catherine shook her head. "Did you hear a word that I said?"

Warrick nodded. "You're going to take the evidence back to the lab while I finish up here. I got it."

Kate grinned wryly at the amazed look she'd gotten from Warrick when she suggested actually going back to the lab. While she wasn't too eager to get back there, at least everyone had remained with his or her limbs intact.

Inside her head, a battle was waging on whether she would get kicked out or not. She had left the scene and Catherine had gotten hurt, but Catherine did send her out there to get her cell phone. Also, why was it her fault? The officer should have cleared the scene; it wasn't like there was much she could do faced off with an attacker. Then again, it might've distracted the guy long enough that the officer could have detained him. So it was her fault. Kate was miserable again and not even the promise of maybe seeing the inner workings of CSI could bring her up. It was her fault that Catherine had gotten hurt, and judging by the response from Warrick, it wasn't the first time Catherine had been hurt on a scene. Great, just perfect. On her first day, she screws everything up and everyone would be mad at her for letting a CSI with seniority get hurt on the scene. Bloody frickin' brilliant.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder, interrupting her thought process. "Kate!"

Blinking, she saw Catherine leaning down to look her in the eye. "Come on, it's time to go. The medics finally released me, but if I start swerving or pass out or something, make sure to call 911."

"That is if we're not dead by that time from you wrapping us around a telephone pole." Kate replied sarcastically, not knowing where this sudden boldness came from.

Catherine's lids lowered in a scowl. "Yeah." As she turned to get back to the Denali, Kate saw Warrick wink at her. Well, maybe this wouldn't be as bad as she thought.

On the ride back, Kate patiently tuned out Catherine's venting about Grissom taking her case and giving it to Warrick when he could even spare Warrick the first time she asked. Kate's mother did the same thing when she was mad and over the years, Kate had learned to just tune it out. She could still hear it, but it was like white noise, just another background noise. She knew Catherine was sounding mad to cover up the fact that she'd been scared, that much was obvious. Kate couldn't blame her either, it was probably a quite frightening experience.

Gradually, Catherine's rant died out, leaving just the radio. An unfamiliar song was playing, but it was pleasant and soothing. Kate chanced a glance at Catherine as she drove; her eyes were distant and weary, thinking about a million things at one time. "Are you okay?" She asked hesitantly.

Catherine blinked, looking over at her. "Huh?"

"Are you okay? You looked a little lost."

Shaking her head, Catherine smiled slightly. "Sorry, just drifting in my head."

"You sure?" Kate knew she was pushing it, but her compassionate instinct had kicked in and there was no use telling it to stop.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

Kate scrutinized her closely for a moment before dropping the subject. Better just to let sleeping dogs lie; she'd quickly figured out that trying to get information from the older woman that was deemed 'not worth sharing' was like pulling teeth. Mercifully, by that time, they'd pulled into the CSI parking lot. Catherine parked the Denali and quietly collected the evidence bags, handing half of them to Kate. They entered the building in amiable silence, only to be hit with the overwhelming presence of Nick Stokes and another, unfamiliar young man with spiky sandy brown hair and bizarre clothing when they entered the evidence room.

"Catherine, we heard you got attacked. Is it true?" Nick sounded worried. "Are you okay?"

Catherine shook her head, setting the bags down on the table. Kate remained by the table, keeping quiet, staying out of the conversation.

"Nick, I'm fine. Really. It's no big deal."

"But Catherine, it is a big deal. You could've really been hurt." The young man said quietly.

"Greg, I am just fine. It is a cut to the head, I am not missing any limbs, okay?" Catherine gave the young man a pointed look. In an effort to change the subject, Catherine picked up a small bindle. "Greg can you show Kate where the DNA lab is. I think she might want to spend some time with Mia, learning the ropes."

The young man, Greg turned and his eyes widened, as if noticing Kate for the first time. This was unsurprising to Kate; she was used to fading into the background once she entered a room. It was a blessing and a curse. Greg grinned politely, extending his hand. "Hello, Greg Sanders. And you are?"

Kate cocked an eyebrow, she knew a flirt when she saw one and Greg Sanders was an imitable flirt. Taking the offered appendage, she shook it. "Kate Farber."

"She's the new intern, so don't go scaring her off." Nick said good-naturedly. "He's harmless. If he gets to be too much, just swat him on the nose and say 'NO'. He's usually very well behaved. We've almost got him housetrained."

Greg shot the older man a glare and hissed. "Buzz off, Tex."

Nick gave an expression of mock hurt, clutching his heart melodramatically. "Oh, Greg. You wound my fragile soul."

"Yeah, yeah." Catherine swatted him on the arm, shooing him out of the room. "Get to your own case Nicky."

Nick paused at the door. "You're sure you're all right?" He asked Catherine, truly worried.

This honest level of compassion that this man was showing oddly touched Kate. She could tell both Greg and Nick cared dearly for the blonde. Catherine smiled indulgently and nodded. "Yes, Nick. I'm fine."

Nick nodded, grinning at Kate. "Nice seeing you again Kate."

With that he popped out. Catherine looked to Greg expectantly. "Greg, could you please show Kate to the DNA lab?"

"What? Oh, yeah, right." Grabbing the bindle, Greg took her arm and gently led Kate out of the evidence room. As they walked down the hall, Greg grinned down at her. "Pretty cool huh?"

Kate nodded. "Oh, yeah. This is the coolest thing ever." Her reply was honest, with no hint of sarcasm.

Greg quickly led her to a small lab off to the side, where a tall, slender African-American woman was sitting, reading over something. Greg knocked lightly on the doorjamb, causing her to look up. "Mia, DNA from Catherine's case. Oh, by the way, this is Kate Farber, she's the new intern."

Mia looked at him as if to say, 'so what?' She nodded politely to Kate, who waved slightly. "Hi."

"Do you mind if she hangs here for a little while, sees the deep mysteries to DNA?" Greg asked.

Mia blinked for a moment, opening her mouth as if to object. Once again, Kate waited for the inevitable excuse. She was too busy, backed up, she didn't need someone hanging over her shoulder, anything. Instead, Mia shrugged, going back to her paperwork. "That's fine."

Kate was surprised once again; it was beginning to look like her expectations were being surpassed with this internship. Greg handed Mia the bindle and winked at Kate and disappeared. Mia held the bindle and smiled gently at Kate. "Welcome to DNA."

Feedback pleeeeeze! You guys were so nice before even though it's really not that good. Longer chapters coming, I promise!