Nick gets followed!! Poor guy, he's so tired.

Nick had been lying on the sofa in the break room for almost an hour, waiting for some test results to come back. Half asleep, one arm was thrown across his eyes, the other simply hung off the side of the couch. "Nick Stokes?" The sound of the unfamiliar voice made him twitch and come dangerously close to falling off the couch.

"Huu...? Whosat?" His groggy mumblings elicited a giggle from somewhere in the room.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I'm Ella Terbot, one of the new interns." The voice lowered to a mutter "and these guys call themselves CSI's." More giggles, from multiple sources.

Nick pulled his arm off his face, grabbed the back of the sofa, and hauled himself into a sitting position. He looked at the source of the voice and the giggling. Four girls looked curiously back at him, one of whom was bouncing, holding both hands over her mouth, trying and failing miserably to hide a grin(Max, in case you couldn't figure that out). "Sorry, who are you again?"

"Ella Terbot, one of the new interns." The one who spoke was standing next to the bouncy one, who was on his far left. "This one" She jabbed her thumb at the bouncy one, "is Maxine Anderson, but I recommend that, if you don't want to become a soprano, you call her Max." At this, Max dissolved into an enormous fit of giggles. Ella sighed and pulled a bottle of Mountain Dew out of a bag she was carrying and shoved it at Max. "I was actually planning on giving you this later." Max's eyes gleamed as she lunged for the bottle and almost immediately drank half.

Nick's eyes bulged. "You just gave a hyper person CAFFEINE?" the nap induced fog had suddenly dissipated from his brain.

"Yes. She has ADHD. In about 20 minutes, she'll actually be able to sit." Ella turned away and began prodding Max towards the table.

Nick turned gaping at the other two, both of whom had barely concealed grins on their faces. "I'm Soleil Valentine, excuse me while I keep El from strangling Max." Soleil made her way to where Max was attempting to steal Ella's sunglasses from atop her head.

"Andrea Smith." The fourth girl simply gave her name, plopped down on a corner of the couch, and fell asleep.

Nick stared around at the four girls, then rose and walked over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup. Soleil wandered over and stood next to him as he watched Ella and Max with some amusement. "She really doesn't mean to do it."

"What?" The comment blindsided him.

"Ella. She doesn't mean to startle people. She just does. It's usually pretty amusing, which is why we let her do it."

"Oh." Nick sipped his coffee. "And what about the caffeine thing?" He glanced sideways at Soleil. "Is that true?"

"Yeah. Something about caffeine being a stimulant and affecting their brains differently."

"Their? Do you mean Ella too?" This girl was confusing him.

"Kinda, El has ADD, so it works a little on her." She stared at her friends as Max pulled a game unit out of her purse, and Ella squeezed up next to her to watch whatever it was. "Greg told us to come over here, he said 'Tell Nick he has to watch you guys, because you don't have clearance yet,' So now I've told ya."

Nick nearly choked on his coffee. "HE SAID WHAT?"

Four pairs of eyes stared at him. "He also said you would do that." Andrea's amused voice made Max giggle once more.

"I'm going to kill him." He set down his mug and rubbed the back of his neck. "Any thing else he said?"

"That you would- and I quote- 'He'll swear to kill me, so say it's payback for claiming to be busy so I had to pick up you guys' end quote." Max grinned at him. "Greg's pretty funny."

Nick glared at nothing in particular. "I was busy."

"Not according to Greg" Andrea's eyes glittered. "He said you were just going for a break when he left."

"Okay, ya'll need to cut that out. Leave the poor guy alone. I just scared him, and he doesn't need to be picked on anymore." Ella stared at each one in turn, her face suddenly serious. "Sorry Nick."

The suddenly solemn faces confused him, as he considered what it was that would create such an uncomfortable silence so suddenly. "So, um. Do ya'll want to see some of the lab?" The question broke the awkward silence like a hammer through a sheet of glass.(hmm, awkward turtle)

"Sure!" Max's eyes lit up at the suggestion.

"Alright, come on." He pushed himself off of the counter, grabbed his mug, and led the way out of the break room. "You won't be allowed to go into any of the labs because of safety issues, but I can show you where things are."

"Thats fine." Ella's voice was still subdued.

"Hey, you said 'ya'll' a minute ago. Where are ya'll from?"

"We're from North Carolina. We've all lived there for a good long while." Ella perked up as she began to spout off about her home state, and the Nevada heat not being as bad because in North Carolina it's the humidity that gets to you. The four of them bubbled with talk as Nick gave a grand tour of the lab, indicating where certain tests go, which labs are for what, and what the different work areas are for.

"This is the locker room, co-ed, so ya'll will probably get... these lockers." Nick pointed out four lockers that were cracked open, with the locks hanging open on the front.

"Which locker is Greg's?" Max was wandering up and down the rows, staring at the lockers.

Nick reached out and tapped one. "This one." He pointed at another locker, "That one is mine."

"Nick!" Greg's voice floated into the room as he jogged down the hall towards the group. "We got him. Jealous boyfriend got tired of the vics meeting for lunch now and again, and killed them both." He came to a stop, grinning and panting slightly. "Brass is bringing him in right now."

"Cool, 'though I don't see why you had to tell me."

"Griss wanted me to bring the Interns down to the interrogation room. Sent me to come get 'em." He grinned at the girls. "You get to watch an interrogation."

"I guess that means I don't have to watch them anymore." Nick glared at Greg, but it seemed to just roll past, with no impact on the younger CSI.

"Yep. Oh, and Mandy said to let you know that she has something to show you on the prints off the letter opener." Greg turned to the girls, "come on, we've got an interrogation to get to."

YAY!! Chapter 3 is finished. Huzzahzle. Oh, and I'm not going to show the actual interrogation, or at least I don't think so. I might introduce the interns to Grissom and Brass, but I can't decide. Give me suggestions!!

I heart my reviewers, ya'll keep me going. R&R PEOPLE!! 'cause I know that you're reading. It really doesn't take that long.

Ella: Yeah, if you don't I'll sic Max on you.

BRotFM:HEY!! Get back in the story!!

Ella: HA!! You can't make me!!

BRotFM: holds up pen OH, really? Then what's this? Oh, it means I CONTROL YOU!!

Ella: stares at the pen, color drains from her face Oh, Bugger. RUNS AWAY SCREAMING.

Anywhozle, Read, Review, Flames will be laughed at, Constructive flames will be used to heat water for my shower.

Oh, and I prolly need a disclaimer: If I owned, I wouldn't be writing this. I AM BROKE STUDENT. I GET NOTHING!! Please don't sue me.

BRotFM