We're baaaack! Aren't you proud. Once again, we own nothing, yadda yadda, just Lara, Tempeste, Gavin and Gabriel... I think that's all there is to say.

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Lara looked up as the key clicked in the lock of her newfound apartment. The door opened and Tempeste came in. Lara raised her left eyebrow, flicking her tongue against her teeth. "And where have you been all day?"

"Oh, you know… out."

"Really?" Lara picked up an empty glass and headed into the kitchen. "Out with Nicky?"

"It's not like that!" Tempeste protested, rather half-heartedly.

"No, of course not."

"Seriously. We were watching a movie, and fell asleep."

"And what movie was this?"

"Um… Muppet Treasure Island?"

Lara snorted. "Well darling, I hope you got some sleep. Gabriel's picking us up in about twenty-five minutes."

"Shit!" Tempeste yelled, racing for the shower.

She got ready in record time, and was just collecting her things when Gabriel came in the door. He gave her a funny look. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," she told him quickly. "Why?"

"You look… weird. Your face is red."

"Tempeste got laid!" Lara announced cheerfully, coming out of her bedroom.

"Shut up," Tempeste muttered as they all trooped out the door.

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They arrived a short time later, flashing their shiny new ID tags. Gabriel headed straight off to the computer tech lab while Tempeste left in search of Catherine. Lara, however, took her time, getting a lab coat from her locker before going to the break room in the hopes of fresh coffee. Greg was there yawning widely.

"You look tired," Lara informed him, more to say something than because there was any point in stating the obvious.

He smiled sleepily. "I'm exhausted. They called me in early to work a double."

Lara winced. "Ouch."

Greg shook his head. "All I know is that when Nick gets here I'm going to kick his pretty little Texan butt. He was supposed to come in, but apparently he was 'unreachable'."

At this Lara began to laugh, nearly dropping the coffeepot.

Greg looked over at her in amusement. "What?"

"Well all I know is that Tempeste only got home about twenty-five minutes before we left."

Greg started to laugh too, before glancing at the clock. "Damn. I've got to get back to work. I'll see you later." He walked down the hall, wordlessly passing Gavin, who was coming in.

Gavin glanced down the hall after the departed CSI. "So, what's that all about?"

Lara glanced up at him quickly. "Sorry?"

"That Greg guy. Seems like a bit of a geek. I mean, does he ever leave work?"

Lara frowned. "I don't know where you get off judging people," she muttered.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… maybe it wouldn't kill you to take a bit of work ethic, Gavin."

"Hey, sweetheart, calm down… I was only joking."

"Don't patronize me! You're always so critical, it drives me mad. Did it ever occur to you that maybe I… some people happen to like geeks?"

Gavin stared at her, growing slightly annoyed. "What the hell are you talking about? You're acting like a complete psycho. Jesus Christ, don't jump down my throat! What's wrong with you?"

"You know what, forget about it." Lara spun around and headed for the DNA lab, not even noticing when she passed a confused Gabriel on the way.

Cautiously, he peered into the break room at Gavin. "What just happened? Did you two fight!"

Gavin looked just as confused. "I… don't… know…" He admitted.

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Lara looked around the DNA lab, but it was empty. She sunk down into her chair, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Great," she muttered to herself. "You're going nuts."

A second later a face appeared over the other side of her the desk, and Lara shoved her chair backwards. "Holy shit!"

"Oh my god, I'm sorry!" The girl on the other side of the desk stood up. "I didn't mean to scare you, I just dropped my pen, and bent down to get it, and I didn't even hear you come in. You must be Lara, the new lab tech, right? Nick was telling me about you. I'm Wendy, by the way. God, it's going to be so great to have someone else besides Hodges here…" She trailed off, looking suddenly panicked. "He's not behind me, is he? Because Greg does that all the time."

Lara shook her head, looking amused. "No, he's not behind you."

Wendy seemed to realize she'd been babbling and she grinned rather guiltily. "I'm sorry; I get a bit nervous when I meet new people. I just, I like to know who I'm working with, you know?"

"Uh, yeah…" Lara agreed, feeling slightly breathless. She grinned and held out her hand. "I'm Lara Paradis. It's very nice to meet you."

Wendy looked relieved, and shook her hand vigorously. "It's nice to meet you too," she said, beaming. "Do you want to go out for lunch?"

"What?"

"Well, not now." She laughed. "Well obviously not now, because it's, like, midnight, so it'd be a really weird time for lunch and besides, we're working. But, you know… sometime, maybe?

Lara nodded. "Sure!"

"Great." Wendy suddenly realized that she was still shaking Lara's hand and stopped. "Okay, well, I'm going to go back to work. I'll see you later!" She headed off into one of the labs.

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Catherine knocked on Grissom's door just before shift started, walking in before he answered.

"Do you realize that you had three level-threes on a B and E last night?" she questioned incredulously.

"Amazingly Catherine, even I make mistakes sometimes. In any case it was all cleared up within two hours and Warrick and Nick were reassigned while Sara finished up the paperwork."

Catherine quirked one eyebrow delicately. "I take it you were a little surprised by our new additions?"

Grissom finally looked up from his paperwork. "Do you know why Ecklie called me off of the scene yesterday?"

"Because he's an uptight asshat?"

"He wanted to know why graveyard shift got four new workers. He thinks that I went about his head to get them. I had never even heard about them until two days ago. So here's what I want to know. Who are they, and why are they here?"

Catherine shrugged. "I think you're letting Ecklie get to you Gris. Honestly Tempeste is one of the best CSIs I've ever worked with, easily on par with anyone here. She didn't let her emotions get in the way of her work, and she got everything that needed to be done, done extremely efficiently. I don't know about the rest of them, but at this point I wouldn't let it worry you. You know what they say, don't look gift horses in the mouth."

Grissom frowned. "They also say, beware of Greeks bearing gifts."

Catherine rolled her eyes. "Assignments?" she prompted, before heading down to the break room.

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It was strange how much more crowded the break room seemed with just one extra person in it, Sara mused. Tempeste was chatting with Greg over by the coffee machine, apparently making herself a mug of tea. Greg seemed indignant about something; Sara grinned as his voice rose. "What do you mean, you don't drink coffee! This is not just coffee you know, this is Blue Hawaiian, this is rare! You can't be a CSI and not drink coffee."

Tempeste rolled her eyes. "Look, it's not an insult, I just don't like coffee. Tea has more caffeine anyway, if I need it. I like green tea, so that's what I drink. Why would I want to get myself addicted to something that wrecks havoc with your body and stains your teeth."

Nick caught Sara's eye and the two struggled to cover their snickers. Thankfully, Grissom walked in to hand out assignments and all conversations were halted.

Grissom kept things short tonight. "Catherine, you and Tempeste will stick with your case. Sara's going to be working with you unless something else comes up. Nick, you and Greg have a body over at the university, Brass says it looks like it was dumped there—find out. Warrick, you've got a 419 in Westwood Hills, might be a B and E gone wrong." No one moved. "Hey, these cases won't solve themselves, let's go!"

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Sara looked in on Catherine. "Hey, trace has some results for you. Where's Tempeste?"

Catherine shrugged. "She was here a few minutes ago; she said she had an idea before she left. Check the DNA lab or the break room."

Finally Sara found her in the locker room, her back to the door, her head against the locker and her eyes closed. Sara cleared her throat harshly. "Uh, just so you know, napping is frowned upon on company time." Her tone was sarcastic, but her eyes weren't joking.

Tempeste looked up and smiled sheepishly, almost nervously. "Umm, I was going over the crime scene…you know, mentally." She held up a sheaf of photos, every inch of the scene covered. "I know it sounds crazy, it's just a habit I have. I'm so used to working with Lara and Gavin and Gabriel, I forgot that I might seem a bit unorthodox…I also tend to forget that not everyone can read my mind." She chuckled. "I just wanted to get away from the noise for a minute and let the evidence…" she shrugged again, "talk to me."

Sara smiled back, albeit tentatively. "No, it's my fault, I jumped to a conclusion."

Tempeste grinned, standing up and stretching her neck. "Hey, it's an easy conclusion to jump to. You followed the evidence at hand."

She was taken aback for a moment, by this newcomer's easiness. Sara hadn't spent much time with her yet, but she got the feeling they could be friends. Sara was still a little suspicious, but it was starting to lift, if only a little. "By the way, trace has some results for you."

"Really! Great, just point me in the right direction." Tempeste hurried down the hall next to Sara, the two easily matching the other's strides.

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Greg was talking to Sara in the break room when Lara came in. He quickly put his coffee cup down. "I have Blue Hawaiian!" he announced proudly.

"Really? That's great!" Lara waited patiently as he poured her a cup, before taking a sip of the steaming beverage. "Wow Greg… that is amazing! It's the best cup of coffee I've ever had. Where'd you get it?"

He beamed at her. "I can't tell you that. But I'll tell you where it's hidden…" He leaned over and whispered in her ear, and despite herself, Lara began to grin.

"Seriously? That's fantastic."

Greg continued to beam as he left to get back to work. As soon as he was gone however, Lara set the cup down, pulling a face. Sara stared at her incredulously. "Don't tell me you don't like it either."

"Either?" Lara looked at her in surprise. "Oh… let me guess. Tempeste?"

Sara nodded. "Greg was heartbroken."

Lara couldn't help it; she started to laugh. "Poor Greg."

"So are you just going to pretend to like the Blue Hawaiian forever?"

Lara stared at the still steaming mug. "I guess so…"

"Wow. You must really like Greg."

"What? No. I just… feel bad. About his coffee, I mean." Sara gave her a funny look, and Lara quickly moved on to something else. "I wasn't really lying though. It was the best coffee I've ever had. I just… don't generally drink coffee. In fact, I don't really know people who drink coffee. My parents don't drink coffee, Temp's a tea-girl like me, the boys are just happy if there's alcohol in it… oh, I guess Gabby's father drinks coffee sometimes; he might appreciate it." She realized she'd been rambling and stopped suddenly. "Although, he does have a really good hiding place."

Sara laughed. "Well, if he told you that, Greg must really like you."

Lara suddenly became immensely interested in the cabinetry work.

"Hey," Sara said. "Anyone who distracts Greg from asking me out is my friend."

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Lara and Wendy were finishing off paperwork, although not a lot of it was getting down. Instead, they were spending the time finding out what they had in common. It turned out that Lara was from France while Wendy could (sort of) speak French, they'd both been to Iceland twice, they both liked Pirates of the Caribbean and Pirates of Penzance, neither of them had ever been to Disney World, and they both agreed that Greg was adorable.

"Okay," Wendy said. "How often… who is that?"

Lara turned to look and sighed, wincing slightly. "That would be Gavin."

Wendy stared at her. "You know him? Oh my god, he is gorgeous."

Gavin came in the lab. "Hey."

"Hi." Lara smiled almost awkwardly. "Oh! Um, Gavin, this is Wendy. Wendy, this is Gavin."

"Hi!" Wendy giggled, scratching her left earlobe. "How are you?"

Gavin grinned. "Good thanks. And yourself?"

"Oh, I'm great." She seemed to realize that Lara and Gavin needed a minute. "Well, um… I should go finish up Warrick's analysis." She left quickly, accidentally knocking some papers to the floor in the process.

Lara turned to Gavin. "I work with her in the lab," she announced. "I really like her," she added, as though daring him to say something.

"Hey," he shook his head. "I think she's cute."

"Oh. Okay then." Lara turned back to her work.

"Listen… I just came to apologize for earlier… I, um… I shouldn't have said anything."

Lara sighed. It was quite obvious that he wasn't really sure what he was apologizing for. She shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I flew at you for no real reason… I'm just… stressed."

Gavin grinned a little wider. "How about we're both sorry and we call it even?"

Lara nodded. "Great."

"Okay." He bent and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "Later, darling!"

"Bye," Lara called as he left, wondering whether or not she really was sorry.