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[dr_snark_phd]

There were times when David missed coffee. Not that there wasn't coffee here, but he missed lattes, the kind you could walk in and order and have in five minutes with the milk steamed and a little cardboard sleeve for the cup and then drink on the way to work

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[dancingwillows]

Maybe it was saying something about Catherine that no matter what she did, she still gravitated toward the people she saw around the lab the most. Them, and coffee. Not that she wasn't a scientist, but sometimes people just needed a little variety in life, or they'd become...well, Grissom and Sara.

So, she'd spent the day walking the beach, wondering how long it'd been since she'd been on a proper vacation and getting depressed when she couldn't remember that far back. She felt better when she was back in the compound, even if she was a bit pink and her tank top gave away how how it was outside.

"Sandstrom, right?" she asked as she slid by him to get a cup of coffee for herself. Needing to know who she was around and working with, even if there was nothing to work on - that habit, she was never going to break out of, no matter how long she was outside of the lab. Or even if it wasn't her lab.

[dr_snark_phd]

"That's right." He looked up and over his shoulder at her, frowning slightly. He'd seen her around, but one thing he wasn't terribly good at was getting and retaining people's names. It just always ended up seeming a couple rungs down the Shit To Do ladder.

"Don't think we've been introduced."

[dancingwillows]

"We haven't," Catherine said simply, and once she was finished making her own cup of coffee, sat down across from him. "Catherine Willows. I worked with Gil Grissom back home. I make it a point to at least know the names of the people I'll be seeing around the lab," she explained. Even if calling it a lab was a bit too nice.

[dr_snark_phd]

"Ah." He sat back and folded his hands behind his head. "So you're one of those people who cares. Nice to meet you." He glanced down at the notes spread out in front of him.

"So you're into what, forensics?" Seemed to be an awful lot of those.

[dancingwillows]

"If you want to put it that way." It more that Catherine just needed to know everything she could. It came in handy most of the time. "And yes, I was a crime scene investigator back home. Vegas."

She leaned forward slightly, glancing at his notes without really seeing them. "Can I ask what you're working on?"

[dr_snark_phd]

He whistled. "Vegas. Good times, then." He looked down at the papers spread across the table again and shrugged.

"Trying to figure out why no one here ever gets sick, mostly. That and looking at dinosaur cells. Could be more interesting, but I get by."

[dancingwillows]

"Nobody gets sick?" Catherine asked, both in disbelief and a bit of interest. She'd made a career of forensics, sure, but sometimes she was a geek of all trades. "What, is this place utopia now? If what everyone says is true, everyone should be getting sick. Different worlds, different times, different diseases."

[dr_snark_phd]

He slapped his pen down on the table. "Fucking exactly. And people barely get the sniffles. Makes no goddamn sense at all." He shrugged and snorted a laugh that was barely amused. "Or I guess it could be Island magic. I really hope it's not that. Not much fun for me."

[dancingwillows]

"At least you're wondering about it and trying to do something," Catherine said, not even bothering to hide her relief. "I'm starting to think my CSIs have all turned into zombies with the way they keep saying I'll learn to get used to it all."

[dr_snark_phd]

His face twisted uncomfortably. On the one hand, 'getting used to things' was something he'd always been suspicious of. To a point it was useful, but when you got to the point of complacency it lost all of that. And on the other... he wasn't sure he'd managed to avoid it, really.

"Have to keep asking questions," he said. "There's no point otherwise."

[dancingwillows]

"There are never bad questions, only unanswered ones," Catherine agreed, then frowned at herself. She really had to stop sounding like Grissom.

"So," she prompted, leaning back in her chair, "what are you going to do about it?" She was almost sure David had something he might have been actually working on, but that was mostly a gamble - it seemed like everyone in the lab was working on something, and Catherine intended to be one of them.

...eventually. She had a healthy tan to earn back.

[dr_snark_phd]

"Haven't quite figured that out yet," he said, still frowning slightly and not quite looking at her. "Got a TEM. Got some samples. Think for now I just need to start small, start picking away at this place cell by cell." He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.

"Might be nothing. But I guess any chance is worth taking right now."

[dancingwillows]

At least he was doing something, which is what Catherine kept coming back to. She was a scientist, for god's sake; no matter what Sara said, she wasn't going to just put up with anything until she could get at least some answers.

"It's been a while since my lab assistant days," Catherine said, "but if you need any help, just ask."

[dr_snark_phd]

He smiled, faint but genuine. She seemed plenty sharp enough, and interested in actually making inquiries, which counted for a lot.

And she wasn't unpleasant to look at, either.

"I'll do that," he said. "And I mean... hell, if you want to jump in on your own, feel free. It's not like I have a corner on this shit. Got some people from my lab here but it's not like we're overstaffed."