AN:Yay, another chapter. And the plot thickens. Ooooh.

"Hey Tony," Mia said when Tony walked into the DNA lab. Tony smiled and greeted the DNA tech. Everyone in the lab knew Tony. He was a sort of mascot for them. He spent weekends and summers and sometimes weekdays, when Lena gave him a break from school, hanging out in the number two lab in the country.

Technically he shouldn't be here. And when they had this crazy case where the defense demanded to see the evidence being processed, not unlike that movie star case, Tony wasn't allowed. But otherwise, the lab techs and the criminalist loved having him around.

When he was younger, 11 and 12, they were cautions about having him around, despite Sara's reassurances. But Tony turned out to be a great help. Even Ecklie couldn't complain. He was their unofficial intern. Their little mascot.

"I brought music," he informed her. Mia smiled and looked up.

"What kind of music," she asked. Tony was know for having a very broad taste in music. Broad to the point of being weird and slight creepy. He listened to everything from folk music to opera to heavy metal. Where he got this strange taste was anybodies guess.

"I have no idea. Greg gave it to me," Tony said. "So some form of rock music I'm sure."

"Yeah," Mia agreed with a laugh, taking the CD from Tony and putting it in the player, but not pressing the play button just yet.

"Hey Tony, can you hand me that file," Mia asked pointing. Tony turned and picked the file off the counter hading it over.

"Something I'm not allowed to see," Tony asked.

Mia opened the file and started flipping though he pages. When she was finished she handed it over to Tony. "Knock yourself out."

Then Hodges came in.

"Hey, What are you doing outside your little box," Tony teased.

"Very funny," Hodges sneered.

"Hey David," Tony greeted him properly, half-laughing.

"You rang," Hodges said to Mia.

"Um...yeah," Mia said, pulling an evidence bag off one of the shelves.

"This is yours. Cat hair. Nothing I can do with it," Mia said, handing it to David.

"Hey, Can I come with," Tony asked as Hodges started to leave.

"You've seen cat hair under a microscope before," Hodges pointed out. Tony shrugged and Hodges smiled.

"Sure," he told the teenage boy. Tony grinned and got up. He said good bye to Mia and follow Hodges to the Trace lab.

"So I hear you're going to become official," Hodges told him, getting the hairs ready for the microscope. Tony nodded.

"In about half a year," he said.

"You're practically an intern now... they should just right it down...yeah yeah, I know something about legal procedure, child labor laws, blah blah blah," Hodges rambled. Tony actually liked Hodges and was one of the few people who really got along with him. Over time, Hodges arrogance hadn't gone away, but he also started to develop a sort of Greg like cockiness to him. Something Tony hastened to point out and Hodges denied.

"Okay, want to take a look," Hodges said, indicating the microscope he had put the cat hairs under. Tony walked over and looked.

"Cool," he breathed. Nothing in this lab would ever cease to amaze him. "What kind of cat is it," he asked. Hodges handed him a book. Tony rolled his eyes and started flipping through the pages. After several long minutes looking between the book and the microscope Tony grinned.

"Tabby," he declared and Hodges nodded. Flushed with pride at identifying it correctly, Tony shut the book smiling widely.

Across the hall, Sara and Nick were working on a new case. Nick was looking at photos of the crime scene and suddenly he looked up at Sara.

"Uh, Sara," Nick said a little tentatively.

"Hmm," Sara said, not looking up from her work. Nick gnawed on his lower lip.

"I didn't notice until just now," she started to say.

"What," Sara said. She was getting slightly impatient.

"The victim...he looks an awful lot like Tony," Nick said finally. Sara looked up and snatched one of the picture off the table. She studied the teenager lying on the pavement, a nasty wound on his head, blood pooled around him.

"No it doesn't," Sara said quickly, getting very defensive. But she didn't put the picture down, and didn't take her eyes away. If you ignored the blood and the head wound, the victim did look like Tony. Maybe not a twin look-a-like, but pretty close.

Sara picked up the paper about the victim's background and looked this over too. He even sounded a bit like Tony. Home-schooled, a foster child, his mother was killed by his father. And, to top it off, the victims father was shot by the police.

"Shit," Sara breathed. Nick nodded solemnly.

"But it's not him," Sara pointed out. Nick could tell she was just saying this to reassure herself.

"No," Nick agreed. "Tony's safe."

However, Sara didn't seem that assured. And she looked down at the case files a bit more nervously then she should have.

AN: Dun dun dun.