When the Cat's Away, Chapter 2
Monday, August 14, 2006 6:30 AM
Ryan Wolfe walked into the office an hour early Monday morning feeling pretty good about the prank he was about to pull. He had a bag with about 150 exploding confetti pens.
He went to his locker and stashed his other items. Grabbing the bag with the pens, he visited every Lab for the next 45 minutes replacing every pen he could find with an exploding pen. He put the regular pens in a separate bag to be returned later. When he was done he had 43 left over. He dumped the extra pens in various baskets and hid a few others for people to find later. He put the bag of regular pens in his locker and headed to the Break Room.
He read a book and ate a muffin while he waited for everybody to show up.
He glanced at the clock 15 minutes later. It was 7:30. Showtime.
He got up, making sure he had a regular pen in his pocket for his own use. He walked to the Trace Lab and found Emily already hard at work, running prints through AFIS.
She had a hit quickly. "Hey, Ryan. Do you have a pen?"
He smiled. This was too good to be true. "There's one on the desk there." He said pointing to a very innocent, plain looking black pen.
Emily reached for the pen and picked it up. She took of the top and…
BANG.
The pen exploded in her face leaving pieces of confetti raining down on her. Ryan was cracking up. The expression on her face of shock and surprise was priceless.
"Fine!" She said glaring at him. She marched over to a blue pen she spotted and took off the top of that one.
BANG.
Ryan was positively howling now. "Good thing I got them in two colors."
Emily glared and slapped him over the head. He ducked out of the lab before he could be smacked more.
He found Eric in the break room, twirling one of the prank pens in his fingers as he looked over some paperwork. Ryan plopped down in his chair and munched on what was left of his muffin, waiting.
Eric paused and leaned closer to the paper. He took the lid of the pen to scribble something and…
BANG
Eric's reaction was even funnier that Emily's. He fell out of his chair, a look of shock plastered to his face. He scrambled to his feet and stared at the confetti falling onto the table. He turned to Ryan, who was doubled over in laughter.
"What the hell was that?"
Ryan just kept laughing. Eric looked at him for a moment and then realized who was behind this. He grabbed Ryan and put him in a friendly chokehold.
"I am going to kill you!"
Emily walked into the Break Room. "Can I kill him first?"
"You got one too?" Eric asked.
"No, I found five. It's really hard to tell whether they're regular pens or exploding pens." She replied, glaring at Ryan.
Ryan grinned. Eric released him.
"I have to admit, Ryan that was pretty good. I know you've already gotten all the Secretaries. I'd like to see Eric beat both of our pranks." Emily said, turning to Eric with her hands on her hips.
Eric raised his eyebrows at the challenge. "Oh I think I can."
The rest ofMonday was filled with sounds of small explosions, cries of shock, and laughter. The lab was definitely a little crazy with Horatio gone.
Horatio meanwhile, was relaxing on a lounge chair, watching the waves of the ocean calmly bathe Hawaii's shores. Calleigh was next to him, tanning and sipping on a Margarita, her hand entwined in his.
"I wonder how everything is going back home?" Horatio said, turning to look at Calleigh.
Her beautiful green eyes met his. "I'm sure the others are handling things just fine."
Horatio leaned over and kissed his wife. "Good."
