This is my 2nd CSI:NY fanfic. This is about the only show I watch on TV anymore... well that isn't on the History channel, Food Network, Animal Planet, or the Discovery channel. Anyways, I do NOT own anything to do with the show. This was written pre-Season 8 (which unfortunately I didn't get a chance to watch on a regular basis). There may be a few inconsistencies with the show but such is a fanfic so don't hate. Detective Flack is probably my favorite character on the show so most, if not all, of my CSI:NY fanfics will be centered around him and my own character. There is mention of a few NCIS characters (which I don't own) but they do not play a major role and therefore I didn't place this in the cross-over section. I hope you enjoy. R&R please and thank you!

-She Changed Everything-

He sat at his desk; it had been three years since Jessica Angell's death. Her desk had seen a lot of detectives come and go but nobody seemed to hang around. It had been said that he drove them away; no one could stand his attitude. He had to admit that he'd been a bit of a jerk to the first couple of detectives but then he'd given up on caring at all. Today marked yet another first day for a new detective.

"How long do you think this one will last?" Don heard one of the new rookies ask. They'd even lasted longer than the other detectives.

"A week at most." Came the response from the rookie's training officer. "The guy can't last much longer than that. That desk is cursed." That had been another theory to why they couldn't keep a second Homicide detective: Angell's desk was cursed.

"We'll see." Sgt. Danny Messer walked in on the tail-end of the conversation. Don just wanted this whole thing to be over. He was sick of them trying to replace Jess. "I've heard the new detective is good; worked in DC for a while with the FBI and NCIS."

"Maybe Danville knows him?"

"Maybe I know who?" Jo Danville walked into the room. She had only been working in the New York Crime Lab for about a year now, but she had fit in well.

"The new Homicide detective coming in today."

"Oh, her?" Jo had known that the new detective was female. Her ex-husband had mentioned something about it the last time they spoke. "I don't know her personally, but I have heard of her. She's a great marksman and a black belt in a few different areas of the Martial Arts. She has a dog, named Siberia, who works alongside her most of the time. There's more to her than that but I believe she'll surprise us all on how long she'll last. She's tougher than most give her credit for, according to my sources." Jo laughed at the men's facial expressions; they all had assumed that the new detective was a man.

"I see there's already talk about me." A woman approached the group. Don noted that she carried herself like a cop. That could get her into trouble if she's not careful. She had long auburn hair and piercing emerald green eyes. She was dressed in a black pant suit with a red v-neck shirt. Don had already ruled her out as lasting even a week. "You must be Jo Danville?" The woman looked at Jo.

"And you must be Cailin McCallahan, the new Homicide detective." Jo reached out her hand to the woman.

"From the look on your faces I take it you all assumed I was a man?" Cailin rolled her eyes. It wasn't the first time she'd been counted out before and she knew they were taking bets on how long she would last. "So where's my desk?" Cailin wasted no time; she'd been a cop long enough to know what the job could hold, especially when you weren't on your toes. She was harboring a secret very few people knew.

"Right here. Welcome to the NYPD, McCallahan." The precinct's Captain laid his hand on the empty desk's chair. "I hope you'll last longer than the last detective we had." He looked at Don. Don hadn't even had much of a chance to break in the other one. The guy had been there two days before he was gone.

"I'm sure everything will be fine, Sir." Cailin had heard rumors about Don Flack. It wasn't anything new to her. She had worked, briefly, alongside Tony DiNozo and Jethro Gibbs at NCIS shortly after their teammate had been killed. It was because she knew Gibbs that she had agreed to work a few cases with them; she had still been with the FBI then. That was years ago and before she'd faced a terrible loss. She smiled and then whistled. As soon as someone opened the door a tan Siberian husky mix trotted to Cailin's side. "Good girl, Siberia." She reached down and petted the dog. Siberia had become her best friend and her partner after the incident. She wouldn't work with anyone else. She'd gotten the dog as a puppy right before and now Siberia was two.

"Yes, I forgot about your canine partner." The captain smiled at the woman and her dog. It was something the Chief wanted to try: a K-9 unit working in Homicide. He didn't know how well it would work out but it was worth a try, especially with a K-9 unit with the kind of reputation Cailin and Siberia had. They were one of the top units in the nation. "Welcome, Siberia." Siberia nodded her head like she understood what he just said. Don looked between the dog, her master, and the captain.

"Are you telling me that I also have to work alongside a mutt?" Cailin glared at Don.

"You don't have to." Cailin stated. The captain looked at her and waited for Don's response.

"Oh, so you're leaving already?" Don was hopeful.

"Nice try. You don't have work alongside Siberia and I; the door's right there. Don't let it hit you on the way out." Cailin sat down at her desk with a smirk on her face. Don couldn't help but smile at that; she was good.

"Well, the three of you will have time to get use to each other. I'm sure you'll at least tolerate each other." Don and Cailin both rolled their eyes at the Captain's statement.

"So, Cailin, can I ask you something?" Danny asked.

"Only if you tell me who you are." Cailin had to get to know these people; she'd be working alongside them and she needed to know what kind of people had her back.

"Sergeant Danny Messer."

"Alright, Messer, what's your question?" Cailin looked over at him and noticed his wedding band. She envied him; she looked down at her bare finger that once displayed a diamond ring.

"What does 'NCIS' mean?"

"Naval Criminal Investigative Services." Cailin smiled. She, and the NCIS team, got those questions all the time.

"What got you started in law enforcement?" Danny asked. He knew Don wasn't going to get to know his new partner on his own. Danny was tired of seeing his friend live in the past. Don needed to move past Jessica's death, sure he'd stopped wallowing, but he still wasn't happy.

"My dad. He wasn't in law enforcement but he always told me that, apart from having kids, the best part of his life was spent serving his country. He wanted my brother and me to know what it meant to do something important with our lives. My brother became a Top Gun in the Navy and I became an FBI agent." Cailin's father had been proud of both and her brother, Alex.

"What made you quit the Bureau?" Danny was getting too close to her secret than she wanted him to be at this point.

"I just needed a change." It was true. After the incident, she had needed a change but she wasn't about to go into why she needed the change. "Things happened and I just needed a change. No, I don't want to talk about what happened."

"My wife and I are having a get-together tonight, would you like to come?" Danny asked. He'd gotten the hint that he wasn't going to get more out of her than he already had, at least not right now.

"Are you sure Lindsay will be okay with you inviting a stranger over to your place?" Don asked. He'd been invited too, along with the rest of the gang, and he wasn't so sure he wanted this woman along. She was hiding something, he could tell that much. He didn't trust her.

"I'm sure she'll be cool with it. I can call her and ask if that'll make you feel better." Danny knew what Don was trying to do; he was trying to push Cailin out before she even got in the door.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure there will be other chances to get together, thanks for the offer but I'm actually having dinner with my brother tonight. Maybe some other time?" Cailin could tell that Don didn't trust her. She didn't blame him, she just wished he'd give her a chance before shutting her out.

"Sure." Danny replied and then looked at Don. Don just shrugged his shoulders and went back to a report he'd been working on. The rest of the day went by pretty uneventful but nobody was complaining. Cailin had figured out how best to work in that precinct and how Siberia fit next to her desk.

"I really have to work with a mutt?" Don grumbled again. He looked at Siberia and then at her master. He hadn't notice before how tired she looked. She had put on a good face when she'd first arrived but now he could tell that she was running on fumes. "How long have you been up?"

"Why?" Cailin asked. She hadn't been able to sleep the past couple of nights. She had gotten maybe four hours of sleep total since moving to New York.

"You look tired." Don leaned back in his chair and studied her. She never once looked at him.

"I haven't slept well since I moved here. The apartment isn't the best; it's drafty and the neighbors are really loud. It was the first thing that was available in my price range."

"You're not staying with your brother?" Don had assumed her brother lived in the city since she was having dinner with him.

"He lives in Annapolis. His ship is porting in New York for two days. It gets in this evening." Cailin was sending an email to a friend in the FBI. She was checking to see if there were any new leads in a case she'd been working on.

"Oh, I thought..." Don felt bad now. Her eyes had grown darker in the time he'd been talking to her. He could have sworn he saw them tear up as she typed something on her computer. "What are you working on?"

"Just sending an email to a friend back in DC; I was just checking to see if there were any new leads on a case I had been working on. It's fine. I don't see my brother as often as I'd like anymore but he loves what he's doing and I'm proud of him. It's been just the two of us since our father past away last winter. It had been just the three of us for a long time." Cailin's eyes had grown even darker. Siberia felt her emotions and rested her head on Cailin's knee. "Hey, girl. I'm alright. She's not a mutt. She's a Siberian husky/wolf mix. I've had her for two years, ever since she was old enough to be taken from her mother. She's been with me ever since. She's been my best friend and my only partner for two years. Look, I know you don't want a new partner any more than I do but I need this job, so can we at least pretend to be civil towards each other?" Cailin finally looked over at Don.

"You don't know anything but yeah, sure, I can pretend to be civil if you can." He snapped.

"You're right; I don't know anything but I'm not the one who shut down the moment I walked in the door. I wasn't part of the pool to see how long I'd last. This desk is cursed? You're the one who's cursed, Detective. A dark cloud looms over you and you can't even see it." She got up to leave.

"And you do?" Don didn't know where this was coming from.

"Yeah, I can see it because it's the same cloud that looms over me." Cailin hooked Siberia's leash on. "I'll see you tomorrow, Flack." Don watched her head out the door; her words echoing in his head. He turned to his computer and looked up her name. There wasn't much. There had been an incident two years ago that had left an FBI agent dead and one seriously wounded. The one wounded had been Cailin and the one who died had been her partner. There weren't any more details than that. He almost felt guilty for saying what he had to her... almost. She was bound to keep it a secret so he'd let her continue to do that. He grabbed his keys and headed to Lindsay and Danny's place.