The ash brown hair was blown into her face while the Atlanta heat was gently stroking her cheeks. She sighed and looked around, trying to spot the cab that was supposed to pick her up from the airport. Nervous. She felt nervous. After all, this was only her second year of her medical laboratory science study, and to be able to do an internship at the CDC was kind of a big opportunity for her. Ofcourse her English was good; it was one of the qualifications you had to have in order to do an internship abroad, and compared to her own safe haven back in Norway, the USA seemed to be way more challenging.

The sound of a halting car made her look up. The driver who came out of the cab, looked at the young girl with hesitation. The young man awkwardly moved forward and looked at her. He dropped his gaze to the piece of paper in his hands and cleared his throat. "Uh, are you eh—Helena Elisabet Vilhjalmsson?" The boy stammered, while struggling with the last name. Helena giggled by hearing the funny pronunciation of her Norwegian name. "Why yes," she chuckled. "I am actually,—but just Helena is fine." she added quickly while receiving an embarrased look from the guy. He simply nodded and took her suitcase, while Helena sat own on the backseat of the car.

When the big building popped up in the distance, she tried to swallow the lump in her throat. Helena was always insecure about herself, but the fact that she was going to be in another country for 9 months made it even worse. She wasn't sure how the people at the CDC would be; would they be welcoming towards her, or would they decry because of her being just a simple student?

The car stopped and the guy looked around. She opened the pocket of her jacket to get her wallet, but the guy held his hand up. "Someone already payed me. A guy from here. The one who ordered the taxi." he said with a slight smile around his lips. Helena nodded and smiled back to him. "Thank you." she said before opening the car door. The driver got out to get her suitcase.

When he left, she inhaled deeply and tried to calm her nerves. You wanted this yourself. Quit being a sissy.

She walked towards the building, of which the gates where opened. Helena knew the gates would only close in case of a disease calamity. Like that would ever happen, she chuckled in thought, knowing the CDC would never let something like that happen in the first place.

Behind the glass, there was a lady sitting behind the reception desk who would open the door for people. But the security guy in front of the building was blocking her way with his left hand. "Can I help ya?" he asked with a gentle yet cautionary tone in his voice. Helena forced herself to smile. "I'm the new intern from Norway. Helena Elisabet Vilhjalmsson." she explained to the man, who eyed her in confusion after hearing the Norwegian names. He grabbed the walkie talkie from his belt and began to talk to the person at the other side. Helena looked at the buildings around the CDC. Probably some kind of university, she pondered in thought.

The guy tapped on her shoulder and Helena turned around. "Ya can come in. Welcome to Atlanta 'n the CDC." he said with an actual smile this time, whom Helena returned. "Thank you."

The gates opened and she quickly walked inside while dragging her suitcase along. The chubby woman behind the desk looked up from her paperwork. She quickly got off her seat and waddled to Helena. "Hello, m' dear!" she exclaimed in enthusiasm. The woman took Helena's hand with her own hands and squeezed them gently. "Welcome ta Atlanta, love. I believe you're tha new intern?" she said, while Helena looked at the woman's blue and friendly eyes. Helena smiled and nodded. "I'm Helena," she introduced herself. The woman glimpsed at the heavy suitcase that Helena was carrying and she quickly grasped it out of her hands. "Shouldn' be carryin' tha heavy thang. I'll git someone ta take that downstairs. My name is Louise, by tha way. I wish we could talk som' more, but I believe ya two mentors are dyin' ta meet ya. If ya need anythin', I'm here every week day from eight 'til six." the woman rambled while she let go of her hand and gestured at the elevator in the hallway. She grabbed the suitcase from the ground and waddled back to her desk again. "Thank you," Helena said when she walked off towards the elevator.

Laboratory. She saw the words on the digital sign above the door and heard a feminine computer voice reading out the words as well.

The coolness welcomed her when she went out of the elevator. A young guy, probably around his thirties, waved at her. "Hi, I'm Steven. Sorry ta catch ya off guard like this, but I need ya ta get yer hair in a ponytail 'n wear a labcoat. Standard procedures." he said while pointing at the office next to him. Helena followed him inside. "I'm Helena." she said, while the guy gave her a labcoat and hair elastics. Helena frowned when he offered her the box of hair elastics, but she took one out anyway. When Steven noticed her questioning gaze, he grinned. "Ya not tha only one with long hair. Sometimes the women forget it, so we figured might s'well get a whole bunch of 'em."

Helena nodded and combed her hair in a ponytail. "Makes sense, I guess." she replied with a chuckle. Steven left the office and waited for her to follow him. "Yer mentors are waitin' for ya. Here, let me take ya to 'em." Steven murmered before locking up the office behind them.

They entered a large room that was filled with various equipments, but mostly computer screens. People were sitting behind them,; they typed things and looked at different images of the human body and cells. Some of them were clearly frustrated, as they slammed onto the keyboard. Helena forced back the laughter while she continued to follow Steve.

They stopped at a random desk, one that had several computers on it. A man with blonde hair around mid forties peeped up at them from behind the computer screen. He smiled and stood up. "Ah, you must be Helena. Sorry, don't really know how to pronounce the other magical names." he chuckled at her while he held out his hand. Helena shook the man's hand and grinned. "That's okay, I get that a lot. It's nice to finally meet you, dr.." she looked at him and tried to look for a name tag on his labcoat, but she couldn't fine one. "Dr. Jenner," he said with a smile. "Feel free to call me Edwin Jenner, though. Makes me feel less old." he added. Helena grinned in response.

"Well Edwin, why didn't you give me a call about our new intern."

The cheerful feminine voice interrupted their conversation and Helena looked at the woman who approached them. Edwin cleared his throat and pouted. "Ofcourse, how rude of me. Helena, this is my wife Candace." he said with a smile, while Candance grinned widly at him. Helena chuckled and held out her hand, though Candance pulled the girl in a hug. "Welcome to zone 5; your second home." she said while letting go of her. "We're gonna try to teach you a lot. We expect you to help us out a some times, but I think that won't be much of a problem, considering you want to learn new things." Candance said softly. Helena nodded enthusiastically. Suddenly, all the nerves were toned down, thanks to the welcoming people at the CDC. She truly felt like she was going to have a great time here, and she was excited to learn new things that actually interested her.

"Well, let's get started, shall we?"