Twenty-eight years old Drei Millers cursed as his gray eyes glared at his broken glasses. This was not much of an unusual scene in the quiet laboratory as Drei sat on or dropped his glasses on a weekly basis. What was unusual however, was the fact that the dark haired male was actually a little on the unkempt side this morning. His blue dress shirt was two buttons undone and sported a couple of creases. His white lab coat lay discarded on his chair. It too sported certain creases that were tell-tale signs of clothes having been slept on. His dark hair that was usually combed to perfection was ruffled. It was only further messed when he ran a slightly calloused hand through them in a failed attempt at combing them.

Throwing his now useless glasses in the trash (where his past glasses were buried), Drei grumbled as he stalked past the lab tables and the DNA samples he had been hard at work at last night. In fact, it was why he was so ruffled this morning. He had slept through the night on the lab floor after telling himself last night that he was simply going to rest his eyes for a few minutes. Sighing and rubbing the back of his neck in an effort to keep the crick away, he searched through his food cabinet for some instant coffee. He pushed aside cereal after cereal, canned food after canned food. With each food item he pushed past, his irritation grew at the slow realization that he had run out of coffee.

Several things in rapid succession happened after that. Drei cursed his empty coffee pot, banged his knee on the side of the table, and someone entered the security tight laboratory where a half machine and half human experiment was being kept in. Gritting his teeth, Drei wobbled to the sink and splashed some water on to his face. It wasn't coffee but it would have to do in waking himself up. Grabbing the towel by the side, he quickly wiped himself clean and tried to make himself as presentable as possible...which, given the situation, wasn't exactly very successful. Sighing again, the scientist grabbed the mouth wash, quickly gargled, and spat it out a minute later. There was no time to brush his teeth. He could already hear the voices approaching the break area that he had transformed in to a mini-kitchen.

Rubbing his temples, Drei buttoned up his dress shirt and faced the entry way where a few minutes later, two men arrived. One was the department head and an old friend of Drei's.

"He's a little obsessed with his work so sometimes, you have to drag him by his feet just so he'll sleep or eat," the man with blond hair and green eyes explained before he stopped short of making fun of his friend when he saw the said friend glaring daggers at him, "well...the fact that you look like death ran over you means that you fell asleep in the lab again."

Drei merely grunted ran a hand through his hair, trying once again to tame it. He didn't deny it nor did he confirm it. He cleared his throat before raising a brow and looking in between the two men in question.

"Right," the department head looked at his charge, Drei's new partner and assistant, and began the introductions, "This is Drei Millers. He's been working on this project for two years now and he'll be your superior but really, you can bully him anytime you want to as long as it's about taking care of himself."

"Stop it Mark," Drei said as he rolled his eyes before turning his attention on the newbie as well, "so this is the one eh?" His gray eyes narrowed as he tried to get his vision to focus on the face of the male. It was a wasted effort since Drei's eyesight was quite horrible without his glasses. It was actually a miracle that he had made it to the break area without breaking anything. As it was, it only looked like he was glaring at his new partner's shoulder.

"He's not glaring at you," Mark reassured the new male, "he just can't see without his glasses...speaking of which..." The blond stepped forward and felt around his jacket pocket before producing some very fine glasses. It was the exact replica of the one that Drei had broken earlier. "Try to make these last for at least two weeks. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you spend all your salary on new glasses since you keep breaking them."

"Damn things are just far too breakable," Drei grumbled as he put on his new glasses. When everything became crystal clear again, his irritation at the way his morning began faded away somewhat. He turned back to his new lab partner and this time, he met the man in the eyes. He held out a hand in a handshake. "My name is Drei Millers. Pleasure to meet you and I apologize about my unruly appearance," he said in his baritone voice, "As I am sure you know, we'll be working together on the C Project...but I like to call him by his given name which is Cadence Rakov. I do hope that we'll work well with each other."

-------------------------D. Graham West-----------

It was barely 7:00 AM when he received his diploma from the institute where the man had been studying scientific research. The tall male, around 6 foot, with his brown hair and green eyes, stood with his back to the door and he looked at the diploma in his hand. He was finally done with school, ready to plunge head first into a scientific research lab. There was only one problem... He didn't quite have the job. In fact, he had merely applied to several labs and was shot down by all because he lacked experience. The male was 23 years only, a late bloomer in college. He didn't know what he wanted to do with his life until he had already finished his first three years. Running his hand along the rolled up paper, he smiled slightly. This would be the start of his life, one that would hopefully lead him to discover and invent and learn so much.

Turning around to leave the building that he would hopefully never need to return to, the man bumped into an older gentlemen. Saying a soft sorry, he looked up to see the owner of one of the world's most prestigious research labs. Fumbling with the diploma, he listened as the man asked to see his papers. It seemed only a short time before he heard the words... "I would like to extend my hand to you. Congratulations on completing your schooling. Would you be so kind as to join my team of researchers in a fairly new development in human studies?"

----------------

That was where it had begun for Dawson Graham West. Within a few hours, he had taken his first trip in a limousine, received his first authentic lab coat, arrived to his first job, straight out of college. Dawson, or as he preferred to be addressed, Graham, felt it all incredulous, but never the less, took every second in as he learned new training and information for the job he was about to take on with another scientist. He was being treated as a gift to the other, to give the other fresh eyes on the confidential experiment, the elusive experiment C. Everything was so new and so exciting! It seemed like everything was going well in his life, and he had only merely just graduated.

Being led down a long hallway, the fluorescent lights flickering only now and then, Drew was taken to a large door that lead to the most confidential experiment in the entire facility. And he would now be working on it! Graham watched as the leader, Mark, shown him the code for the door, making him swear, and sign a paper, that he would never disclose the code, or reveal to anyone what was waiting inside the room. Agreeing, the two men entered the room, the time having flew so fast over the course of the day. Looking at his watch that we currently set to standard time, he read the numbers. It was now nearly 1:00 PM. He would have to adjust that to military time later, but for now, it amazed him how long he had been in the facility, how long he had his diploma. Only a few hours, it seemed, but now the entire morning had gone by.

The men entered a small room, and Graham stood watching as the other addressed the man he assumed he would be working with. The man he was to be working with was disheveled, a certain mess, with his scruffy hair and squinting eyes. He looked as though he hadn't had any more than a good 2 hours of sleep. And from the looks of it, as well as what Mark was saying, he slept in the lab. When Mark gave Graham permission to make sure that the other, Drei, was keeping himself in health, Graham couldn't help but smile. Just like babysitting, but the 'baby' was to be his superior.

Watching as Mark handed Drei the new glasses, Graham got a better idea of the person he was to be working with. Smart, sure, but he seemed a little out of it when it came to keeping himself together. Really? Who breaks so many glasses? It made Graham thankful to have pretty good vision. It also made him quickly note the type and color of glasses. Surely, he would be buying quite a few pairs until he got on the man's good side. Truth be told, Graham was a bit of a suck up. Which was probably why he got sure good grade in all of his classes. Top of his class, and certainly a teacher's pet.

Drei began speaking to him, and Graham instantly felt a soft flush of pink highlight his cheeks. Odd. Thank goodness that his skin was a little tanner, the color was not very noticeable. The man had a deep voice, a very attractive voice, an it made Graham feel instantly at home. Extending his hand to shake the other's, he listened as Project C was referred to by a name, instead of a number. That was certainly new to him. Clearly, this project was more of a personal thing than a experiment.

"I'm Dawson Graham West. Pleased to meet you as well. Please, call me Graham." His voice was strong, confident, but it was still a tad shaky after all this newness. "I, as well, hope to work well with you." Nodding, he took his hand back, realizing that their hands had been locked together for longer than he was expecting.

Graham...that somehow reminded him of the crackers he liked to keep in stock, Drei thought as he shook the man's hand. He paused as the other didn't let go until the introductions was well and truly over. Odd way to give a handshake but Drei wasn't going to complain or to voice his thought out loud. A lot of people had called him odd for his thought patterns and habits and he wasn't about to give the same favor to someone he barely knew. He adjusted his glasses, eying the younger man with visible interest before Mark cleared his throat and took his attention away.

"Well then, now that the introduction has passed," he started as he turned to Graham. A small inviting smile was still on his lips. "I'll be in charge of evaluating your performance. It's only for the first year to see if you're really suited for the job."

Drei snorted at that and turned around to rifle through the cupboards again for some tea, "You just want to snoop around," he mumbled as he pulled some ornate tea pot and tea cups. He was careful with them, much more careful than he was with his glasses. If he couldn't have coffee, he'd have the next best thing. Well actually to him, tea was the best thing to take at the start of the day but he'd been running low on it. And Drei being Drei, he was lazy enough to not want to take another trip to the shopping center to restock. He decided instead to sparingly use the tea he had left, replacing it with coffee, so that it would last longer. Tomorrow, he thought with a resigned sigh, he was going to have to do some shopping.

"Be that as it may," Mark continued, not exactly denying the claim, "I'll be coming by from time to time to see how things are progressing and to check if the two of you aren't killing each other yet. I know how possessive and protective you scientists are with your little projects."

"I'm a doctor not a scientist," Drei remarked offhandedly even if he was licensed to be a scientist. Narrowing his eyes, he squeezed two calamondin in to the tea pot and start to prepare the strawberry tea he was so fond of, "And Mr. Rakov is my patient. Not a number on a clipboard."

"See what I mean?" Mark cheekily asked Graham, "Possessive and protective." He stopped teasing his friend though when he could literally feel the death glares that were being sent towards him. With practiced ease, he ignored Drei's fiery glares of doom and patted Graham on the back in a supportive manner, "Hope you'll survive the week!" He grinned and then calmly walked out of the lab with a backwards wave, dignity still in check. Drei grunted and mumbled something about 'running with his tail in between his legs' before placing the tea set on the center of the kitchen table. He waved Graham to one of the nearby seats.

"Please sit," he said without preamble and promptly sat himself, "Mark might have explained already but your main job here would be to assist me in Mr. Rakov's treatment." He was pouring the both of them some tea as he finished and then carefully thrust the cup in Graham's direction, "Milk and sugar," he added, tapping the two containers at the center of the table telling him silently that he was free to add whatever and how much of the two he wanted in to his tea. "That means that you'll be monitoring his condition, help me keep track of things in the lab, provide second opinions on my findings, and support me when I'm diving in to Mr. Rakov's subconsciousness."

Diving was a new wave in medical technology. With a help of a few heavy equipments and some specially made visors, experienced doctors could very well 'dive' in to the psyche's of their patients and try to examine which parts are damaged. In some rare cases, doctors are even able to communicate with the patient. Since the effect differed with each individual, diving was only used on the most severe cases such as comatose patients.

He leaned back and added some sugar in to his tea cup and absently started mixing it with his tea spoon. "Your real work will begin tomorrow. For now, just familiarize yourself with the place and my work patterns."