Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:NY or its characters. Ria is my own creation
A/N: Hey everyone! I started this story awhile back, and completely forgot about it until I cleaned my room over the weekend and stumbled across it. It's going to be a FlackOC, and DL. I'm going to try and get away from my fluffy, happy-go-lucky style, but we'll see ;)
Chapter One
"Detective?" A soft voice called from behind Lindsay. "I have those DNA results you needed."
"Oh, thanks Ria." Lindsay smiled as she took the file from the tech. She turned back to Danny to continue their conversation.
"You know, Flack has a thing for her." Danny stated as he watched Ria walk away. "He admitted to it the other day…"
"Really? Flack has a crush on a girl, and he's not doing anything about it?" Lindsay asked, surprised with Flack's shyness.
Danny laughed a bit. "I'm supposed to get you to do a little intel for him…you know, before he makes his first move."
"You're kidding, right? High school was years ago Danny."
"Come on Montana. Think of poor Flack." Danny smirked.
Lindsay scoffed, but gave in. "Fine, but only because I like Ria. I need to check and make sure Flack is good enough for her."
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That afternoon, Lindsay found herself working with Ria in the lab. While she didn't wear a ring on her finger, Lindsay wasn't so sure she was single. She was cute, young, really quiet, sort of just did her work, no questions asked. Of course, she was shy, that much was obvious. Ria must have felt Lindsay's eyes on her because she blushed and nervously made eye contact with Lindsay. Lindsay smiled at her before returning to her work.
A few minutes passed before Lindsay spoke. "So Ria, you have any plans for the weekend?" Lindsay asked, trying to engage in small talk.
Ria looked up from the microscope and smiled. "Actually, I do. I'm going home for Thanksgiving."
"Thanksgiving? It's only October…" Lindsay questioned.
Ria blushed in response to Lindsay's questioning. "It's the Canadian Thanksgiving. I was able to get Monday off, so I can celebrate it with my family."
"That's nice. Your boyfriend going with you?" she asked curiously.
Ria blushed lightly. "No such creature. Even if there was, I don't know if I could subject him to my family."
They continued chatting for awhile longer before Mac interrupted them. "Sorry to break up the chatter ladies, but we have a body on the Upper West Side. Vicaro will meet you two there." He gave them a small smile before turning to walk away.
"Detective Taylor?" Ria spoke up, Lindsay could here the confusion in her voice. "Both of us? Sir, I'm just a lab tech..."
Mac gave her an encouraging smile. "A lab tech who recently wrote the CSI training exam; and passed it with flying colours. You need to do practical hours in the field before completing your certification. Detective Monroe is experienced enough to start teaching, so she can help you along."
"Mac, are you sure about..." Lindsay started, but Mac held up his hand to silence her and Ria, who had opened her mouth to speak as well.
"I'm sure, you will both be fine. Ria will shadow you today and tomorrow, and then we can get her set up with her own kit after the weekend." With that, Mac was gone.
The girls looked at each other nervously. "Okay." Lindsay began. "I will go get my kit, you grab your coat, and we'll meet at the elevator."
All Ria could do was nod. She was so incredibly nervous. She had only written the training exam for fun. She liked her lab job. The shifts were regular, she had the hang of the routine, and best of all, she was not 'important'. She could slink into the background and just do her job. She didn't have the stress of the CSIs…always trying to catch a killer, dealing with all that death and sadness.
Ria stood at the elevator nervously shifting her weight from one foot to another. Lindsay smiled reassuringly as she walked up to her. "Ready?"
"Uh, not really." Ria chuckled nervously. "I'm not really…being the center of attention, its not really my thing. I don't know if I'll be very useful…"
Lindsay instantly felt bad for Ria. She knew she didn't really have a choice in the matter, Mac had the final say…but then again, Mac would never put her out there if he didn't think she'd be good at it. "You'll be alright. Obviously Mac thinks you'd be a good addition to the team, or he'd never put you out there."
Ria blushed. "Thanks."
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"Ladies." Vicaro smirked as Lindsay and Ria ducked under the crime scene. "Flack'll be jealous when he hears about this…." He licked his lips as he looked Ria up and down.
"Vicaro, the scene, what have we got?" Lindsay snapped her fingers in front of his face.
"Right." He grinned giving Ria one last look before checking his notebook. "84 year old male. Neighbour said his health had been good as of late, so was shocked when she dropped off his groceries at lunch to find him dead in his bed."
"Thanks." Lindsay said curtly as she put her kit down on the ground. She handed Ria some latex gloves. "Glove up, take a flashlight, and look around the rest of the apartment, see if anything looks out of place, signs of a struggle, that kind of thing."
Ria nodded, and proceeded to do as Lindsay instructed.
Lindsay turned her attention to the body in front of her. She smiled to herself. Maybe teaching will be fun. Lindsay liked Ria, liked her work ethic. She really hoped they could be friends. It was so very high school of her to think like that, but they could have fun together. Another girl to even things out with the boys.
Once Lindsay has finished with the body, she went to find Ria, see what she had. Everything was pointing towards natural causes, but sudden, unexpected deaths had to be investigated. She walked into the living room to find Ria looking around carefully with the flashlight. Vicaro, on the other hand, was being far less productive. He had his eyes trained on Ria's behind.
"Vicaro!" Lindsay hissed. Ria must have jumped 2 feet in the air. She spun around, catching Vicaro's eyes still trained on her. She blushed furiously and looked to Lindsay.
"I didn't find anything out of the ordinary." She told her, still blushing, and clearly trying to avoid acknowledging Vicaro's attention.
"Me neither. Let's head back to the lab. The body is on its way to the morgue, we'll hear from Sid about COD." Lindsay told her. "Vicaro, we'll let you know what we come back with."
"Sure, have her make the phone call, huh?" Vicaro winked at Ria. "It'll drive Flack up the wall."
Ria's brow furrowed at Vicaro's comment, but she remained silent as she helped Lindsay pack up her stuff.
"You did good Ria." Lindsay smiled as they walked towards the truck. "It was a good case to get started on. Can't believe that you were still patiently looking the whole time I processed the body. It's impressive. Attention to detail."
"Thanks." Ria smiled. "That Detective was a little freaky, but it was fun. As lame as that may sound."
"Just ignore Vicaro. He's a sleaze. Its past dinnertime, you wanna grab a bite to eat before we get back to the lab?" Lindsay asked.
"Sure."
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"Official COD is stroke. No foul play, so this case is closed." Lindsay said as she walked into the lab where Ria was working.
"So we don't need to process the rest of this?" she asked.
"Nope!" Lindsay smiled. "We get to go home."
"Do you mind if I do anyways? For practice?" she asked shyly.
"Actually, that's a great idea! Let me file this and call Vicaro, then I'll process it with you, in case you have any questions." Lindsay replied.
"Oh, no. You don't have to stay; I can always look it up in a book, or something. I'd hate to keep you…" Ria said quickly.
"Don't worry about it! I'd be happy to!" Lindsay laughed. "I'll be right back."
Hours later, the girls were laughing and chatting while Lindsay taught Ria how to process different pieces of evidence and put them into context. A knock on the door interrupted them. The both jumped and turned around.
"Isn't your case closed?" Hawkes asked from the doorway.
"It is, but I was just teaching Ria a few tricks of the trade." Lindsay smiled. "I guess we got carried away."
"Danny was asking around for you. Something about Flack and Vicaro?" Hawkes grinned.
"Vicaro and Flack?" Lindsay furrowed her brow.
Hawkes grinned. "Nice to have you on the team Ria." He said before he walked away.
"What about Vicaro and Flack?" Ria asked as they began to clean up the evidence they'd been working with.
Suddenly Lindsay realized what Hawkes was talking about. Vicaro must have told Flack about Ria at the crime scene. Vicaro, being the smug ass that he was, probably made a comment or two about Ria to Flack. Judging from his comments earlier, he probably knew what Flack thought about Ria…news travels fast between cops. Lindsay smirked a bit, maybe it was the kick in the pants Flack needed.
"Probably a Detective thing. You know, Vicaro got our case, open and shut, probably gets to go home early." Lindsay tried to cover up.
"Oh, right." Ria smiled. "Well, thanks for everything Lindsay. I liked it. I think I might actually enjoy myself." She laughed lightly. Lindsay saw her eyes dancing. She had never noticed how young Ria looked. The look in her eyes right now was the same look that kids gets when you take them into Toys R Us. Ria was like the little sister Lindsay had wished for.
"See you tomorrow?" Lindsay smiled.
"Actually," Ria said looking at her watch. "More like see you in a few hours."
Lindsay laughed. "Better get home to catch a few hours of sleep then."
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