A/N: Hi everyone! I love reading CSI:NY stories and I thought I'd try one of my own. Just let me know what you all think of it.

Summary: Lindsay Monroe's work life and personal life are about to crash together.

Dislaimer: CBS owns CSI:NY. I only own what you don't recognize.

Panera Bread
Manhattan, New York
October 14, 2006
12:02 PM

Lindsay Monroe's hazel eyes scanned Panera, searching for the big table. It was the table she and her friends always snagged, no matter how many of them there were. Her eyes locked on the table, smiling when she saw it empty. She speed-walked over and sat down in a chair, waiting for her friends to arrive.

It wasn't long before the second member of the group entered the store. Lindsay watched as the beautiful African American hung up the phone, taking note that her friend was not in the scrubs she usually wore. Finally, the girl spotted Lindsay, grinned, and waved as she walked over to join her.

"Hey Linds," Olivia Bernard, more commonly known as "Liv", greeted. Liv and Lindsay had gone to high school together. In high school they had been only classmates. It was only in college had they become close, being two parts of the four part suite they shared.

Lindsay and Liv were more similar to each other than the other two. They both came from small middle or upper middle class families (Lindsay being an only child and Liv having one sister), were shy at certain times, quiet, nice, and friendly. Both were interested in science, Lindsay being a CSI and Liv being a doctor. Personality wise, they were very similar. Looks wise, not so much. Lindsay had pale skin, light chestnut brown hair, and stood at 5'3, the shortest of the entire group. Liv had beautiful dark skin, straight dark hair, and stood a good three inches taller than Lindsay did.

Before any more greetings could be made between the two, the third member of the group entered and practically ran over to her friends. The endless bundle of energy, otherwise known as Elizabeth "Ellie" Kaplan was famous for the constant smile she wore.

Ellie was the drama queen of the group, fitting since she was the Broadway actress. Growing up, she had always been interested in dance, theater, and musicals. Her wealthy parents, older sister, and younger brother had always encouraged her dream to become a theater major and Ellie had worked hard to get there. Her current role was starring as Maria in West Side Story.

Today, Ellie was dressed casually, leading Lindsay and Liv to believe that she had either just come from rehearsal or she was headed to it. Her blue jeans were fading and a zip up hoodie covered the t-shirt she was wearing. Her butterscotch blonde hair was partially pulled back into a ponytail, with some left hanging over her shoulders.

Eliie grinned again, as she sat down in her seat, next to Liv (who was at the head of the table), and across from Lindsay. Her sweet, southern accent still sometimes came out when she was excited, and this was no exception. "Hey girlies."

"Hey El," Lindsay and Liv spoke at the same time, just as excited as Ellie was. It had been a while since the four girls had met for lunch, all having incredibly busy schedules, and they were still waiting for the last member.

The three girls made small talk for a bit, knowing full well that the last friend would be late. And sure enough, about fifteen minutes later, they heard the door chime and looked over.

Dallas Buchanan was batting her eyelashes at the tall blond man who was holding the door open for her. Her arms were full of bags and despite being dressed simply in yoga pants and a long sleeved white v-neck, she looked as beautiful as ever.

Dallas had always been the pretty, flirty one. In college, she had more 'boyfriends' than the other three put together. They were short relationships, generally called flings because Dallas had an extraordinary fear of commitment. Her fear, however, was completely understandable. Dallas had two older brothers and one younger brother, all four of whom had different fathers. Her older brothers' fathers had never been a part of their life. Dallas' father had been in and out of her life for as long as she could remember.

Unlike the other three girls, who all had fully supportive parents, Dallas had grown up in a bad neighborhood in south Philadelphia, her childhood full of drugs, alcohol, and abuse. It had been the only lifestyle she knew, until Lindsay had taken her home one Christmas.

Dallas had been hugely impressed with what she called 'the huge beautiful house' and had then instantly gone off to flirt with one of Lindsay's cousins. Dallas's mother had always told her daughter that the only thing Dallas had going for her was her looks and Lindsay suspected that Dallas had taken that to heart. She had put herself through college (her college fund being used by both parents for pills and booze) by working at a bar and doing modeling jobs. She had had no clue what she had wanted to do with her life and chose to major in Spanish. However, currently she was doing nothing even Spanish related. Dallas had continued modeling after college and now had jobs coming at her left and right.

The half Italian, beautiful brown eyed, tall, dark brunette sauntered over to the table, not even bothering to say good-bye to the blond man. She threw her pile of bags on the end of the table not being used and sat down next to Ellie.

"I swear to God people are such creeps in this city." Dallas said then began mumbling under her breath in Italian.

"I see Brazil treated you nicely." Lindsay teased, spying her friend's perfect tan.

Dallas grinned. "The guys in Brazil certainly did."

"I can't believe Victoria's Secret just let you go do that." Ellie said. "Don't you have like a contract with them?"

Dallas shrugged. "Good publicity I guess. Lots of people read Sports Illustrated and everyone sees the cover so…" She trailed off.

Ellie laughed. "My brother is so excited that he knows the Swimsuit Edition cover girl. He's been bragging to everyone he knows. No one believes him."

Dallas giggled. "Well at least someone's happy. My brothers are all disappointed with me. They're like 'we can't even enjoy it now'. I was cracking up."

Lindsay joined the conversation. "I'll be laughing when the magazine comes out. It'll be at work, like in the break room, as a joke. Nobody knows my best friend models. I didn't tell them. It'll be funny to see their faces when I do."

Soon that conversation finished and the girls stood, two at a time so as not to lose their table (for Panera was quickly becoming crowded), to get their lunches.

The topic had now switched to Ellie's recently ex-boyfriend. They had broken up while Dallas was away, but the three other girls had opted to wait until Dallas got back to go out for the post-break up drinking night.

"You're the only one who can drink that much and still be relatively functioning." Lindsay said.

Panera Bread
Manhattan, New York
October 14, 2006
12:34 PM

Danny Messer was in a good mood. He, Flack, and Hawkes had wrapped up their case and had decided to grab some lunch before they started on the paperwork. Joining them was lab tech Adam Ross, who had been leaving just as they were.

Or at least he was in a good mood, until he saw the ridiculous amount of people that were at Panera. He told Flack to get him some lunch and went off in search of a table for them.

A grin spread across his face as he saw a familiar head of hair. He began heading over toward her, no longer concerned with finding a table.

"You're the only one who can drink that much and still be relatively functioning." He heard Lindsay say to a dark brunette.

"Hey Montana!" He grinned at her, silently counting the leftover seats at the table. Four seats, a success.

"Hey Messer," Lindsay greeted politely. He was trying to make things not awkward between them, especially after she stood him up last week, and she was glad.

He pulled the chair next to her out, scanning the other girls at the table. All three of them would be considered beautiful, along with Lindsay, and he knew that plenty of other men had been staring at them this afternoon, even if they didn't notice it.

"What are you doing?" Lindsay asked.

"Sittin' down." Danny said. "There's no tables and we need a place to sit."

"We?" Lindsay asked. "We? Who is this we you're referring to?"

Danny shrugged, secretly happy they were back to bickering like they used to. "We. Me, Flack, Hawkes, Adam. You know, we."

Lindsay rolled her eyes but before she could say anything about her coworkers interrupting her girls lunch, Hawkes and Adam has joined them as well and she figured it best to just let them stay. Lindsay was well aware that she worked with some good looking guys. She knew Dallas wouldn't have a problem sitting next to a random guy she didn't know and she had a feeling that Liv and Ellie wouldn't mind the view either. Adam sat down next to Danny and Hawkes took the other end, leaving the seat next to Dallas open for Flack, something Lindsay knew her friend would enjoy.

"Guys," Lindsay said addressing her friends. "this is Danny, Hawkes, and Adam. They work with me." She saw Flack balancing a plate in each hand, making his way over to them. "And that is Flack." She saw a grin of appreciation flicker on Dallas's face. "Danny, Hawkes, Adam, and Flack, this is Liv, Ellie, and Dallas."

"Dal," Ellie said, looking down at the opposite end of the table. "Move your shit."

"But there's no room on the floor." Dallas whined.

Lindsay laughed. "Consolidate."

Dallas nodded and began picking the bags up from the other end.

"These are all yours?" Flack said to her.

She nodded. "I know, I bought too much." She began looking through her bags. "Here," She handed a Victoria's Secret bag to Lindsay. "Now, don't worry. I promise I didn't buy you lingerie...again. It's just a shirt. And it's something you'd actually wear." She hastened to add after seeing the look on Lindsay's face.

Dallas turned to Liv next. "Here," She handed her a small Free People bag. "and for you, El," She reached down, pulled a load of clothes out of the bag and put them in another before passing her the Abercrombie and Fitch bag.

"Yes!" Ellie exclaimed, and the entire table laughed. "He's cute. Do you know him?"

Again, the table laughed while Dallas groaned. "No, El, I don't. And believe me. After seeing his abs, I wish that I did."

At that point, Liv's phone rang.

"No no no, you can't answer that." Ellie said, widening her big blue eyes even more. "Work can't call you in now; we're out to lunch."

"Sorry El, the ER doesn't work like that." Liv teased, hitting a button on her phone and placing it back on the table. "But it's my sister, so don't worry. Besides it's my day off anyway, hence why I could meet you guys here, so I don't have to go back in until tomorrow at noon."

"Noon?" Dallas questioned, turning away from the mini conversation she was having with Flack. "Sooooo…" She dragged out the word.

"Sooooo what?" Liv asked.

"Soooo we could go out tonight." Dallas said. "Lindsay can bring all her work friends that we've been dying to meet that she keeps saying she'll introduce us to but it's not…"

"It's not the right time for that." Lindsay interrupted.

"Do you see what I mean?" Dallas cried, turning to Flack, who was cracking up. "I told you she'd say that!" Her hands were flying as she talked, a classic Dallas move, and her hand went flying into Flack's check. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands as everyone, including Flack, burst into laughter.

"I am so so so sorry Don." She said. "I am so so so so…"

He cut her off, still laughing. "It's fine, Dal, I promise."

Dallas continued to make sure that Flack was ok but Danny and Lindsay weren't paying attention.

"Did you hear that?" Danny whispered.

"That she let him call her Dal?" Lindsay asked. "Yeah, I noticed."

"No," Danny said. "I meant that he let her call him Don. But if that's weird…" He trailed off.

Lindsay nodded. "It is. There are very few people that can get away with calling her Dal."

Danny smirked. "There are very few people that can get away with calling him Don."

"Hey you two." Hawkes called. "Care to share with the rest of us?"

"Nothing," Lindsay said. She hadn't even realized that she had subconsciously begun leaning toward Danny. "Just some…work stuff…about our office."

"Yeah," Danny said. "Montana doesn't like my filing system and she keeps trying to get me to change it."

"It's not that I don't like your filing system," Lindsay said. "Yours just isn't as good as mine."

"And you want me to change it." Danny continued.

"No, ok yes." Lindsay said. "I just think we should be organized so that we can find everything.

Dallas turned to Flack. "Do they always fight like this?" Ellie and Liv looked on in interest.

Flack, Hawkes, and Adam answered simultaneously. "Yes." The three girls laughed. Danny and Lindsay, still busy bickering, took no notice.

The six others got to talking a bit more before Hawkes looked at the time and claimed he had to get back to work. Flack, Danny, and Adam agreed. Ellie also stood up to leave, claiming she had a rehearsal to get to and Dallas realized that she was fifteen minutes late meeting her agent. The six of them stood to leave when Danny received a text message.

"Oh hey Montana, Stell wants everybody to meet at Sullivan's for drinks." Danny said, reading aloud. "And I'm sure," Danny continued with a mischievous smile, "that she would love to meet your friends."

A grin spread on Dallas's face. "You mean we get to go out with you guys?" Her voice was high, as she was excited.

Lindsay sighed. "I guess so."

"Yay!" Dallas and Ellie cheered together. Liv rolled her eyes.

Lindsay groaned. "Oh God, what have I gotten myself into?"

A/N: So, do we like it? Not like it? Just let me know you think.