Hello everyone! It's time for another chapter that nobody's reading. Althogether now: Yaaay!

Right, sorry about that. So, once again we own nothing except for Lara and Tempeste. Oh, and Gavin and Gabriel. They're ours too, those sometimes we wouldn't mind giving them away.

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Gavin, Gabriel and Lara trooped through the building, following Greg who was giving them the grand tour. It was taking quite awhile, because every new space they were shown was presented with a Greg anecdote: when he dropped baby powder in the locker room, leading to an emergency evacuation of the building; getting stuck in the room during his first solo interrogation; Bobby, the gun man, shooting himself in the leg (which, evidently, was why he needed replacement)… the list went on.

He introduced them to Archie, who looked incredibly relieved to be getting assistance. He stood up and shook Gabriel's hand vigorously. "Man, I am swamped. There's computer technology being used everywhere now, and not nearly enough experts to get through it all… can you start right now?"

"Um, oh-kay," Gabriel agreed. He shrugged. "Just tell me what to do."

While Archie launched into techie mode, the others left. And Lara was alone with Gavin and Greg. They headed over to the DNA labs. "This is where you'll be working." Greg told Lara. "Um, Mia's gone to Boston to take care of her aunt, so you'll be here with either Wendy or Hodges. Wendy's sweet, but she's off tonight. Hodges is… supposed to be here. I don't know where he is." He looked around quickly. "Okay, Hodges is just… weird. He's arrogant and ridiculously narcissistic and lives in a hole and… he's right behind me, isn't he?" Greg turned around quickly. "Oh… hi Hodges. How are you?" Without a word, Hodges turned and stalked away. "See, I told you he was weird," Greg muttered before running after him. "Wait! You have to meet the new people!"

"So." Gavin grinned at Lara. "What d'you think?"

"It's not bad," she answered.

"Well, I'm thinking these rooms all have far too many windows."

Lara rolled her eyes. "Gavin."

"Although," he continued as though he hadn't heard her, "I suppose there's always the locker room…" He wrapped his arms around her waist. "…The supply room…"

"Not now Gavin."

"Aw, come on," he muttered into her neck. "Nobody's looking."

"Yes, but we're supposed to be working." She pulled away and noticed Greg and Hodges, standing just a few feet down the hall. Lara closed her eyes, wanting to kick herself. And Gavin. And Ecklie too, just for good measure.

"So!" Greg said, breaking the tense silence." Hodges, this is Gavin, who's replacing Bobby, and Lara, the new lab tech."

Ignoring Gavin completely, Hodges turned to Lara. "I am the head lab tech. This is my DNA lab, you do what I say." Lara nodded, trying to look as though she took him seriously. Evidently he seemed satisfied because he started to turn away. "Oh!" He looked back. "And I don't train newbies." He left.

Greg grinned. "He's a liar. Everyone knows you do what Catherine says. And don't worry, I'll train you."

"Thanks." Lara smiled slightly in return.

Gavin looked from one to the other. "Well… I guess I should get started working."

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Almost nervously Tempeste followed Catherine and Grissom into the small suburban house. It wasn't the thought of dead bodies that bothered her, it was what Catherine and Grissom would think of her. First days had always made her slightly nervous.

Still, nobody seemed to have any issues as they started processing the scene. It did, however, seem ridiculously quiet, in that horrendous, awkward way.

Finally Grissom spoke. "I'm sorry. Before you get started here, I just need to know: is there going to be a problem with you and Gabriel?"

"What?" Tempeste looked up quickly. "Oh, no. I'm really sorry about earlier, I've just been having a bad day. But don't worry, we've been working together for a couple of years. When we work, we're completely professional."

They were interrupted by the tinny sounds of Für Elise. Grissom pulled out his cell phone. "Grissom."

Immediately the sound of Ecklie's voice rang through the small speaker, indistinct but angry. Both Tempeste and Catherine tried to look as though they weren't listening as Grissom took his call. "Yes… yes. No. No, absolutely not. Yes… No Co-" He sighed heavily. "Alright Conrad, I'll be right there." He hung up the phone, and Catherine and Tempeste immediately became fascinated with the floor. "I have to go back to the lab. Catherine, I expect you can take over here?"

Catherine nodded, and Grissom headed out the door.

Tempeste looked up. "Wow… Ecklie's a real dickhead, isn't he?"

Catherine raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said to Gabriel that you should find out more about your head supervisor and the rest of the team before you start insulting him in front of us."

Tempeste nodded. "Yeah, but I'm more observant than Gabriel. When I called Ecklie an uptight asshat, you smiled like you were trying not to laugh. I figured it was pretty safe. Not to mention, does anyone actually like that guy?"

Catherine started to laugh. "You have a fair point." Immediately the tension in the room relaxed. As they worked, Catherine began to hum Hey Mickey.

When Tempeste realized what she was humming, she began to sing softly under her breath, "Hey Nicky, you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind," as she photographed the scene. Catherine grinned at the lyric change and joined in. An instant later they were both belting the song out at the top of their lungs.

They shared another grin as the song ended, both returning diligently to their tasks. The two worked in comfortable near-silence, finding an easy pattern, as if they had been working together for ages, rather than hours. Both were meticulous, paying minute attention to every inch of the crime scene, using every one of their senses to locate any shred of evidence.

A short time later, Catherine's cell phone rang too. She picked it up. "Hello? Hey Linds, what's up?" There was a long pause. "No, absolutely not. I don't care if the president is going. Lindsey, you have school tomorrow and-" She stopped talking abruptly and looked at her phone before putting it away.

Figuring it was ridiculous to pretend she hadn't been listening, Tempeste glanced at her. "Did she hang up on you?"

Catherine nodded. "She wanted to go to some concert…"

"Don't worry about it. She'll figure out eventually that you're only taking care of her."

Catherine seemed to forget that she hadn't even known Tempeste for a full two hours. "I just don't think I've been a very good mother."

Tempeste looked at her critically. "Do you make her feel like she's the lowest piece of scum on the earth?"

Catherine looked at her, incredulous. "No!"

Tempeste shrugged. "Then you're doing better than mine ever did, and I turned out alright." Catherine stared at her in shock, and Tempeste seemed to realize what she'd said. "So… how long have you been working here?"

Catherine stared at her for a minute longer, and then decided that it was better not to ask. Not yet, anyway. "Well, I guess it will be nine years this fall…"