"Kiss me."
Speedle froze in the door way of the darkened lab. His eyes widened, rising from the spot in front of him to lay on the back of the hunched over form in front of him.
"Ex..cuse me?" He raised his eye brows at the words that had stopped him in his tracks.
The person in front of him glanced slowly over her shoulder, her own brow furrowed, confused at his question.
"Do what?" She shook her head as if to clear a fog away. "Excuse what?"
"You said 'kiss me' when I walked in."
"Me?" She placed an innocent hand on her chest, shaking her head. "No I didn't."
Speed rolled his eyes, he didn't have time to argue with a newbie.
"I merrily...sung it." She smiled up at him, her green eyes flashing mischievously behind her safety glasses. "Bad habit, sorry to say, it wasn't for you. Just making some noise."
Speed smiled back at her shaking his head. he could never get used to the weirdness most lab techs seemed to possess.
She held out her hand politely. "Alyson Grissom, most call me Aly though."
He took her hand gently, giving it a slight shake fearing of crushing the smaller one under his hand. "Tim Speedle, pleasure."
"Pleasures all mine." She pushed her glasses up on her forehead. "what can I do for you this quiet night?"
The question snapped his mind back to the reason he had come here in the first place. "Homicide. This is the vic's shirt."
He held out a paper bag towards the smaller woman. Taking it carefully from his hands, she placed it on the lab table and reached for a pair of gloves.
"what are you looking for? DNA? Chemicals?" She paused, that mischievous look back in her eyes. "Laundry detergent?"
Speed chuckled quietly at her ill joke. "Unknown substance on the collar. Red substance."
"Blood?" She pulled the shirt out and spread it out in front of her, examining the spot closely.
"Possibly." he walked forward and leaned against the table next to her.
"But...? She glanced over at him curiously.
"Vic was strangled. No blood."
"hmmmm...so you think..." She paused slightly, thinking herself. "That the suspect was injured and..."
He nodded. "Match DNA and we got the suspect."
Getting back to the serious work at hand, Aly reached for a couple of sterile cotton swabs and the mixing solution. "Mind passing me one of those clear vials over there?" She pointed to a side table with several of the items on it.
Speed handed her the vial as she stretched the shirt out further, examining the substance in question.
"Hate to burst your bubble, dude, but this doesn't look like blood."
Speed looked questioningly at her. "How you figure?"
"It's waxy, not dry. Blood is more..." She paused gesturing with her hands. "Fluid."
Speed looked away, embarrassed. He should have known that. "Well then what is it?"
"That's why I got this job." She flashed that flirty smile back at him.
Aly carefully swabbed some of the unknown substance of the collar. Bringing the swab closer to her face she looked at it for a few seconds before placing the substance in a clear saline mixture in the vial Speed had handed her.
She swirled the tip around several times, causing the clear liquid to become a pinkish color as the unknown mixed with the known.
"There that should do it." She twisted the cap in tightly, placing the vial and the enclosed fluids into the gas chromatograph mass spectrometer.
She flipped a switch and stepped back. "30 seconds and we will know your victim's choice of accessories."
The machine whirred to life, beeping then seconds later the printer came to life, spitting out a sheet of paper with several loads of information printed on it.
Speed grabbed the paper first, squinting at the words before him.
"I'll take that." Aly snatched the paper from his hands, playfully, keeping her back to him so he couldn't grab it back.
"And the survey says..." Her eyes scanned down the paper reading fast.
"Well?" Speed became impatient, his excitement building at knowing the source of the mystery substance, that and the closeness of the pretty lab tech.
She smiled up at him satisfactorily. "7.3% octyl methoxycinnamate, 4% menthyl anthranilate, and 2% dimethicone."
Speed pulled his head back, realizing suddenly that with each of her words he had leaned in closer til he was literally breathing down her neck.
She turned her head to the side, coming almost nose to nose with him.
"what is that." He whispered, his dark eyes laying her full lips for a brief second, his mind remembering her first words he had heard.
"Chap stick with a hint of color." She stepped around to face him head on. She puckered her lips a gave the air a quick kiss.
The tension seemed to be so thick you could cut it. Speed caught himself leaning towards her,he sighed heavily, blinking several times, jerking his head back and took a step backwards.
"Looks like your suspect's a lady" Aly pouted her lips at the interruption of the moment between them.
The tension was lifted.
Speed glared at her. "Back to the drawing board, once again."
He bowed his head to her slightly as he turned to leave. "Thank you."
She smiled back at him slightly, nodding her head, her mind distracted.
He paused, in taking a step toward the door, as he came closer to her, he leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on her cheek.
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