A/N: So, Hi everybody. I just want to start by saying that this is a songfic based off of Taylor Swifts's new single "Mine". Basically, this song is my obsession right now and I was listening to it and came up with this.

It takes an OC (Dallas Buchanan) from my story Life, Laughter, and Love but you don't have to have read that story to understand this one. Also, if you are reading Life, Laughter, and Love and this, you'll have a bit of an idea of Dallas's background because I haven't really gone into that yet.

The story is just something I made up. It'll be pretty short, maybe 5 or 6 chapters, I haven't decided yet. I hope everyone likes it.

Disclaimer: I only own Dallas Buchanan. Anything recognized from CSI:NY belongs to CBS and anything else recognized is purely coincidental.

You were in college working part-time, waiting tables
Left a small town, never looked back
I was a flight risk, with a fear of falling
Wondering why we'd bother with love, if it never lasts

It was the night after his graduation that it had happened. His dad had been called out, for what was supposed to be a routine bust, but something had gone down and his father had ended up in the hospital, fighting for his life

It hadn't taken his mother long to decide that the city was not the place for her husband to recover and even less time than that to announce to her children that they were taking a family vacation to Barnegat Light, Long Beach Island, New Jersey, for the entire summer.

This would be why Don Flack found himself standing outside of a large, tan house right next to the entrance to the beach.

"All right," Natalie Flack said pleasantly as she came out of the house, looking at her children (and the one she considered a child).

"Marley and Sam, you girls will take the bunk bed room." His blonde and brunette (respectively) younger sisters each picked up two of the many bags and walked in the house. "Jason, you and Amanda can take the room with the queen." His older brother and his brother's girlfriend nodded, as they picked up some bags. "And it's not the master room!" Natalie called after them.

"Aw man," Jason called. Amanda laughed.

"And now for you two." Natalie turned to the two boys standing in front of her. They were the only two left, seeing as the oldest (Sean) was married with kids of his own and the second oldest (CJ) was touring Australia with his friends until the end of July. "You two get the room with the two double beds." The two boys nodded.

"You sure you're ready for this family vacation, Messer?" Don asked his best friend, as they gathered some of the stuff.

Danny snorted. "You kiddin' me? A family vacation where nobody shouts about how they hate each other? This'll be a piece of cake."

"Go make me dinner." Her father commanded, beer in hand, as he watched the evening news.

She had expected this because it was nothing new. Despite being the world's worst cook (she blamed genetics), her father still demanded dinner from her every night when he was there.

This would be why Dallas Buchanan found herself staring helplessly at the stove in her shore house in Barnegat Light, Long Beach Island, New Jersey.

Neither one of her older brothers was here; leaving her with only her drugged up mother, drunken father, and seven-year old half brother (and said younger brother's nanny).

It was not the way she wanted to spend the summer before her senior year, that was for sure. But she did as she was asked and made a small dinner for herself and her father (she could tell from the dishes in the dishwasher that the nanny and her brother had already eaten and she knew her mother was passed out in her bedroom).

Carefully, she created a tray with the soup, toast, and a glass of milk. She carried it out to the living room and held it out for her father. "Here, Daddy." She said softly.

Automatically, he reached out and took it from her. He looked down at the tray in his lap before looking up at his daughter. She stepped back, recognizing the look in his eyes.

"And what the hell is this shit?" He asked coldly.

"Soup, Daddy." Dallas answered him, looking down.

"Soup?" He boomed as he stood up, carelessly pushing the full tray to the ground as he did so. "You expect me to eat soup in the summer?"

"You asked me to make dinner and I did!" It had just slipped out; she hadn't meant to say it. She closed her eyes, waiting. And sure enough, only milliseconds later, the cracking SMACK filled the room and she felt the tears come to her face as her father pulled his hand away from her stinging face.

"Go make me something else." He demanded. "And clean that shit up, girl."

"We don't have anything else." She said softly.

Her father grabbed her arm tightly and threw her aside. She hit the wall and crumbled to the ground as he walked into the other room. She stayed, crouched on the ground, holding her wrist, which was throbbing in pain, until her father walked out of the door, keys jingling.

It was only after she heard the car pull out did she get up and observe the mess.

"Clean this up?" She sighed, rolled her eyes, and finished up sarcastically. "Piece of cake."

"Messer, get up." Don threw a pillow at his best friend. "Time to go to work."

"Remind we why we got jobs at a breakfast place?" Danny groaned.

"Because we can spend all day at the beach after we work til 11." Don told him. "Move it!" He went downstairs. "Hey Dad." He greeted his father. "What are you doing up?" Don Sr. had always been an early riser, but even this was early for him.

"Damn medication put me to sleep at 7 last night." Sr. groaned. "Woke up a couple minutes ago. Slept a good ten hours."

"Mom know you're up yet?"Don asked, reaching in the cabinet to get a bowl for his cereal.

Sr. shook his head. "Nah, I'm sneaking back into bed at 7:30. Should be good then."

Don laughed and sat down at the table, eating his cereal.

"Ready for work?" Sr. asked his son.

Don nodded. "Just waiting for Messer to get his ass out of bed."

"Chill out." Danny said, coming into the kitchen. "I'm up."

Ten minutes later, the two were driving down the road to Cameron's, the local breakfast joint. The first hour was fairly slow. By 7:30, it was busy as anything, before slowing down around 10. It was about 10:20 that she came in and she walked right up to the counter.

The middle aged woman, Stephanie, looked at him, silently asking him to take care of her. She, though supposed to be covering the counter, was on the phone with the delivery guys, who hadn't delivered them any bread today. As a result, they were out.

"What can I get ya?" He asked her, really looking at her for the first time. Dark brown hair was pulled up into a messy bun and she had on a bikini underneath her plain white tank top. Short jean shorts showed off her long, lean legs and on her feet she had on a simple pair of white flip flops.

She cocked her head to the side. "Don."She read off his nametag. "You new here?"

"Just started today." He confirmed.

"You here for the summer or for good?" She asked.

"Just for the summer." Don told her."My dad got shot at work, beginning of the month and Mom decided the city wasn't a good place to recover."

"Which city?" She asked, perusing the menu.

"New York."Don said, placing his pad of paper down on the counter. It was clear that she wasn't going to order yet.

"My oldest brother's from New York." She said, matter of factly.

He raised his eyebrows. "But no one else in your family?"

She giggled. "His dad lives up there still. But…well, he doesn't actually live with us now, because he's 22, but when his dad and my mom divorced, he moved down to Philly with her."

"And wait, let me guess." He said. "That's where you're from." He smirked.

"Born and raised." She grinned at him. "Ok, I know what I want."

He nodded and picked up his pen. "Go for it."

"French toast and coffee." She said.

He winced. "Bad news. No bread."

Her brown eyes widened. "No bread?"

"No bread." He confirmed.

She blinked. "Well, I really don't know what to say to that."

He shrugged. "I'd say, another order, but I guess that's just me."

She laughed. "You're funny. I like you. Ok, I'll have a muffin." He grabbed a sheet of paper and opened the door to the muffins. "That one." She pointed. "No, not that one. The chocolate one."

Don placed the muffin on a plate in front of her and poured her the coffee she asked for in a to-go . "Double chocolate muffin?"

She nodded. "It's delicious. You should try a piece."

He shook his head. "No thanks. That's just way too much chocolate in one small place."

She shook her head. "Crazy."

"I'm crazy?" Don looked down at her. "The girl having a chocolate muffin for breakfast is callin' me crazy?"

She shrugged. "I never said I was normal."

"Well that's for sure." He teased.

Her eyes widened, but they were sparkling and he knew she knew that he was teasing. "Well I think I'll just take my stuff to go," She said. "If you're gonna sit there and call me not normal." She reached in her pocket, threw some money on the counter, picked up her stuff, and stood up. "See ya."

"Later." He watched her walk out of the door and turn right down the street.

"Hey man," Andrew Foreman, a co-worker Don's age, nodded as he came behind the counter with a tray full of dishes. "You got any plans tonight?" Don shook his head. "My parents went away for the weekend and a couple buds and I are throwing a party. You and Messer should come, meet some people." He disposed of his dishes to Tony, the dishwasher, and then turned back to Don and shrugged. "It'll be a good time."

Don nodded. "Yeah, man, sounds good. We'll be there."

"Nice." Andrew nodded. "All right, see you later."

"Where you going?" Don asked. It was only 10:30.

"Doctor." Andrew answered. Don nodded; he had forgotten Andrew lived here all year. Andrew took off his apron, hung it on a hook. "Later everybody." He waved and headed out the door.

"Well maybe you should do something about it instead of sitting on your ass all day!" Dallas groaned as she stepped out of the shower. Her parents saw each other for maybe thirty minutes a day (total) and they spent everyone one of them fighting. She couldn't wait to graduate and get away from them.

After her wonderful conversation at the diner with the cute new boy (She smiled at the thought), she had gone to the beach to soak up some rays, where she had been invited by a group of guys to a party tonight hosted by their friend. Figuring that she had nothing better to do, Dallas had promised to be there, something that she was kind of regretting now. She knew her father would be home at some point that night and he'd be mad if he found out she did anything he considered bad.

But she had made a promise and Dallas kept her promises because she had had enough promises made to her broken by people and knew what it felt like to be let down.

She threw on her favorite white bathing suit and pulled a pair of dark wash jean shorts and a flowy blue strapless top on overtop. She headed into the bathroom, scrunched her hair into loose, beachy waves, and applied some light make-up (except on the bruise on her cheek from last night, where she went a bit heavier). She put some cash and a vanilla Softlips chapstick into her pocket and upon seeing that it was a little after 8, she listened carefully at the door before deeming it safe to go out.

She had promised that she'd be there and she'd be damned if she broke that promise

"When you have a thing with someone, are you allowed to hook up with other people?" Don rolled his eyes at the latest thing the red head that had come up to him said. Twenty minutes ago, she had come up to him, introduced herself as Macy, and started talking. And she hadn't stopped since.

He stood up. "I'm going outside for some air." Luckily, she had latched on to the next guy who passed her and didn't follow him. He felt bad for the poor guy already.

On his way to the doors to the porch overlooking the beach, he passed the girl from the diner this morning, sitting in the center of a circle of guys. She was holding her red cup in her lap, circling her finger around the top, occasionally nodding and smiling at something that someone said. It was as he reached the door that she glared at one of them, stood up, and walked into the kitchen. Don opened the door and went out onto the balcony as one of the guys in the circle reached out, punched the one the girl had glared at on the arm, and stood up to walk away.

He might have been on the porch for two minutes when the door opened and said girl walked out. "Oh, sorry." She said. "I didn't notice you were here."

He turned to face her. "Nah, it's alright."

She smiled as she looked up at him. "Don, right?"

He nodded. "Yep." He looked down at her.

She, having felt him look at her, cocked her head to the side. "What? Is there something on my face?"

Don shook his head. "No, no, your face is perfect." She blushed. "But you can know my name and I can't know yours?" He smiled.

She laughed. "Who says you've earned the right to know my name?"

He shrugged. "Who says I haven't?"

"Touché," She smiled and then was silent. "Dallas." She said finally, still circling her finger around the top of her cup.

"Dallas." He nodded. "It fits you."

"Yeah, ok." She said, the sarcastic tone clear.

Don laughed. "So, Dallas, what are you drinking tonight?"

"Lemonade." She laughed softly.

"Just lemonade?" He raised his eyebrows skeptically.

She nodded. "Just lemonade. My dad'll be home at some point tonight and if I come home drunk, he'll…" She trailed off. "Well, he gets into these moods sometimes and I just…I don't wanna risk it." She changed the subject. "What about you, mister. What are you drinking tonight?"

"Coke." He answered.

"Just Coke?" She raised her eyebrows, mimicking him.

He laughed and a smirk formed on his face. "And a little bit of rum." Dallas smiled, brown eyes sparkling. "So, what brings you out here?" He asked. "I mean, every guy in that room was captivated. Most girls I know would kill to have guys surround them like you had 'em."

She shrugged and began circling her finger around her cup again. "Guys surround me all the time." She looked over at him. "And I mean, I'm not trying to be conceited; it's just true. But none of them actually care about me. They just want to hook up with me. And it just gets…stuffy, I guess, in there, surrounded by all those people that expect something from you." She stopped talking for a moment and when she continued, she spoke softer, and almost more carefully. "It's just nice to have some time outside, in the fresh air, where no one expects anything, so no one's disappointed or upset or thinks you aren't good enough or smart enough or pretty enough." She took a sip of her lemonade.

There were so many things he could say to that and they were all flying around his head. He wanted to tell her that she was good enough and smart enough, and definitely pretty enough, that he was certainly not disappointed or upset. But he'd barely known her for twelve hours, so he settled with. "Well the only thing I'm expecting is some good conversation right now." He grinned.

She laughed. "Am I living up to expectations?"

He pretended to think. "Well…" Her eyes widened. "Nah, I'm kidding. You more than exceed my expectations right now."

Dallas smiled. He could already tell this was his downfall, that smile. Where her face lit up and her eyes sparkled and that perfect smile. "I love the beach at night. It's so quiet and…peaceful." She looked out at the waves, which were surprisingly calm. She looked at him. "Do you wanna go for a walk with me?"

"Sure," He nodded. She smiled again and opened the balcony door, leading him down the stairs, away from the kitchen, but not down the second set of stairs, leading to the game room. She pulled the front door open and walked down the steps, leading her to the ground. Quickly, he caught up with her and soon they were walking side by side, down the beach, carrying drinks in one hand, and shoes in the other.

"How about you?" Don asked suddenly. "You said you were from Philly, but not if you still lived there. You here for the summer or here for good?"

"Just the summer." Dallas replied. "Just like you." She teased.

He nodded. "Hey, we can be summer LBI buds." He teased lightly.

She raised her eyebrows. "Who said I wanted to be friends with you?" She put her hands on her hips, both of them having disposed of their empty cups in a nearby trashcan.

He raised his eyebrows at her. She didn't look away. "Alright, if that's how you wanna play it." He scooped her up. She immediately started shouting, yelling at him to put her down. He ran into the ocean, feeling her grip around his neck get tighter. When he was almost knee high (and the bottom of his shorts were about to get wet), he put her down, feet on the ground, and turned around to walk back to the beach. He had barely gone three steps when he felt a small splash.

Within seconds, they were splashing lightly, both taking care not to completely soak the other one. Until Dallas just fell over nothing and ended up sitting in the ocean, completely soaked. She started laughing and he immediately let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. Laughing along with her, he reached his hand out to help her up. She took it, jumped up, and held onto his hand as they made their way to shore.

Together they sat down on the beach. After they had been sitting for a good ten minutes, she started shivering. While it was a perfectly nice night, anyone soaking wet would have been a bit chilly and Dallas was no exception to this.

Don wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. Dallas put her arm around his back, leaning into him, and the two just sat, for who knows how long.

Finally Dallas announced. "I should go home." But she didn't stand.

Don nodded. "Come on, I'll walk you back."

"You don't have to," She protested. "I feel bad, making you leave the party."

He raised his eyebrows. "I haven't been at this party for at least an hour now. Nobody'll miss me for twenty more minutes."

"Ok," She nodded, laughing. "Let' go." They stood up and began walking down the beach, in the opposite direction of the way they had walked before. It wasn't long before she led him off of the beach and onto a street.

"Hey, I live on the next street over." He told her.

She grinned at him. "We should meet on the beach tomorrow sometime."

He nodded. "Maybe we will." He grinned.

She stopped walking. "This is me." She said.

He nodded. "I figured." He reached forward and hugged her. "Bye Dal." He smiled.

She shot him a smile and started to walk toward her door. She got to the cars, before turning around, running back to him and kissing him softly, right on the mouth. Shocked, he didn't respond, and she pulled away, looking disappointed. She started to walk away. Quickly, he grabbed her hand, stepped closer to her, and pulled her in for another kiss.

This time he pulled away and instead of looking disappointed, she smiled up at him. "See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow." He echoed and he waited until she was inside her house before turning to leave.

A/N: Anyone like it so far?