Disclaimer: Spoilers for 'Zoo York' (s. 2, ep. 3). I don't own any of the characters, or dialogue taken from the episode. Thoughts and any dialogue you don't recognize are mine. (Yay! I own something!)

A/N: Thanks again to WingFetish for being my beta, and Moony for helping me with the title. Writing from Danny's POV is amazingly fun, and I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Let me know what you think of it - Happy reading!

First Impressions

by SavvyAngel

When Mac had come into the lab, telling Danny to get his stuff together, that there was a body inside a tiger pit at the zoo, he had immediately reached for his phone to call her, to brag about his case and to see if she happened to be on the same one. In fact, he had gotten as far as pressing the 'contacts' button on the phone, finding her name and getting ready to press 'Send' before he realized he couldn't. Well, he could still call Aiden, but there wouldn't be a point – she wasn't with the lab anymore, and he kept forgetting.

He missed Aiden. There was no question about that – she was like him: kid from the neighborhood, trying to get something better out of life. She was smart, funny, and one hell of a good and loyal friend. And, though he'd never admit it to her, she could probably take him in a fight. Assuming that they had ever gotten into one. Wit for wit, play for play, she had been his partner, and this first big case in the field without her stung like he couldn't believe. And just knowing that Mac had found a replacement so quickly hurt even more. Sure, Danny admitted to himself, he needed to get somebody new. Not like this is a job where we can afford to be short staffed, but still. I don't know exactly, down to the detail, what happened, even though Aiden had told him the general reason for which she was leaving. But come on, barely a week she's gone, and some new chick's comin' in to replace her?

It was the idea that Aiden was being replaced that hurt almost as much as her being gone. Even when they hadn't been assigned cases together, she was always there; in the lab, down in the morgue checking on a body, or just wandering around. They ran into each other all the time, and Danny never realized how much he would miss her presence until it wasn't there constantly.

Besides, who the hell even lives in a state like Montana? he thought. Bozeman, Montana; Jesus, if that isn't a Hicksville, U.S.A. name for a town, I don't know what is.

When he arrived at the scene, his mind wasn't any less focused on his inner thoughts. Even Flack's comments about being allergic to cats made him think of what Aiden would have to say about that. Probably call him a wuss. Heh, not like she hasn't before. It also reminded him that he wasn't the only person that was missing Aiden's presence. She was a part of the team, and they were all missing her. After going through what was left of the victim inside the cage, and figuring out that there was no way this could be just an accident, Danny walked around, getting instructions from Mac about where to process, and collecting what evidence he could find outside of the tiger cage. Friggin' bugs. He kept his eyes peeled, looking over every inch of ground before taking pictures, checking to see if there was anything blatantly wrong or out of place that could make a quick break in the case. Course not, there never is.

I mean, really. This girl is gonna come in here wearing pigtails, overalls and saying 'y'all', Danny thought. Clearly, his mind wasn't going to focus on much else today. At least until the new girl showed up. And I swear on my Ma's…well, she's not dead. So not her grave… ah. I swear on Ma's cooking that if this hick comes into my city and starts thinkin' that I'm the one talking funny, there's gonna be a big friggin' problem.

I mean, who the hell does this chick think she is anyway? Some hick from the middle of nowhere coming in here out of the blue, taking my partner's spot and… Holy mother of God who is that? Danny thought, getting distracted as he watched some girl who is dressed pretty damn fine for being at a zoo walk over to the cage where Mac was examining the tiger's giant paws.

Well, hello, Danny stood to the side, continuing to process and collect evidence just like Mac told him to… as he checked out the new addition to their scene. New detective with NYPD's finest? Oh man, no wonder Flack's been so happy about work lately… wait she has a kit. A processing kit.

That's not… nah. No way, there is no way that that is… and then he heard the name. Lindsay Monroe. He rolled his eyes at God. Of course, she's cute. She's not supposed to look like… that, Danny thought, looking the "new girl" up and down. Yes, smart one. 'Glove up' means now, what the hell'd you expect to do coming to a scene? Sit on your ass and watch? he commented to himself as he overheard her quick conversation with Mac.

He crashed back to earth when he heard his boss mention his name, and decided to take the opportunity to introduce himself.

"That'd be me – Danny Messer, how ya doin'?" he said, coming over to stand next to Lindsay.

"Hi," she responded. Whoa. What the HELL was that look for, country girl? You better not be thinkin' what I think you're thinkin'. I don't friggin' talk funny, Hicksville. Yes, I am from New York. The hell were you expecting? Although, with that body, I'm pretty sure you could get away with anything… whoa. Stop it, Messer. This chick ain't an option. Even with his sidetracked thoughts, there was no way he was going to let a nice little hazing opportunity pass. He quickly thought of what he could actually get away with, since Mac was only a few feet away, and he knew that no half-closed cage would get in Mac Taylor's way if Danny crossed a line with the rookie. Or made her run away from the scene.

"I need you to hold the tiger's jaws so I can get the dental impression," Danny heard Mac say. He smirked as the perfect idea came into his mind.

He leaned in closer, and whispered into her ear, "Just take a deep breath, don't let him know that you're afraid, 'cause he can sense when you're nervous."

Danny could almost feel her eyes roll at him.

"The tiger's been tranquilized. I think I can handle it."

Well, well Montana. Guess you're not goin' be as easy to piss off as I thought. "I'm talking about Mac. And make sure you call him 'Sir,'" he told her. Now at least there was a slight look of nervousness on her face. This is gonna be good.

As Danny walked a bit further off, trying to find anything the vic or the killer might have left on the ground outside the cage, he stayed close enough to hear anything this… Montana and Mac might say. He heard her start to ramble, and began smirking as she mistakenly suggested that the tiger was female, kept saying a whole lot of bologna, and when she called Mac 'sir' twice in her ramblings, Danny simply waited for Mac's response.

"And… don't call me sir." Ha! Nice impression there, rookie. We'll see…oop, he turned around, swatting flies that were starting to gather from the smell of the blood, as he saw Monroe look back at him. Messer – 1, New girl – 0, he noted in his mind. Although, she looks more on the side of pissed than embarrassed. Oh well. Get used to it, kiddo.

He knew, somewhere in the back of his mind that it wasn't her fault that Aiden was gone. He did. But, Danny needed to blame someone, and since he couldn't very well take it out on his boss, and didn't want to take it out on any of his friends in the team, Lindsay was certainly the easiest target.

Throughout the time they remained at the zoo, he kept glancing over at her. I am not checking her out. No way in hell, I'm just… assessing the new kid in town. See if she can actually do her job. When Mac started telling the two of them what they'd have to get from the zoo for processing, Danny smirked unconsciously. This would be a test – a perfect job for the newest rookie of the crime lab.

Rookie duty – Danny remembered his clearly. Everything and anything that the others didn't want to do always got thrown to the rookie, always. Sifting through trash, staying out in the cold collecting evidence longer than anyone else, getting stuck chasing after every damn crook who tried to run… wait a minute. I still do that. But this, going through tiger shit for body parts? Oh this was too good to be true.

"Sure you never seen anything like that up in Montana," he said, trying as hard as he could to provoke her. Now why the hell isn't it working as well as it should?

"Ever seen what a full grown black bear can do to a man?" Lindsay countered back.

He smiled. Maybe this isn't gonna be such a bad day after all. Not that he was going to give up on torturing her. No way in hell. This is too much fun.

The whole way back to the lab, Danny found his mind wandering back to Lindsay. The way she moved her hands nervously, pushing strands of hair behind her ear, the way she walks, oh man. No. Nononononono. You're not doing this, you are not allowed to. So stop friggin' thinking about Monroe.

And he did. At least, for awhile.

When they were both in the lab together later, he figured that he might just want to try to be a little bit less of a jackass. After all, if she was going to stick around, they'd be working together a lot, and Danny didn't think he could afford to have Monroe on his bad side.

As she searched through cabinets, he volunteered to help her find whatever she was looking for.

"No thank you, you helped enough already this morning," she shot back, irritation in her voice, clearly angry at his blatant attempt to sabotage her first meeting with Mac.

Danny decided maybe right now wasn't the best time to try and make nice. Obviously still a little bit on the pissed side. Oops. He started examining the tape, watching every once in awhile to see how she was coming along. And then, she looked up too. It was perfect timing, and they both just stared into each other's eyes for a moment.

God her eyes are some kind of brown. Really dark, he thought, looking back down at the packing tape on the table. It wasn't even that he thought he was attracted to her, he reasoned. It was simply that she was the new girl; he felt the need to test her limits and push as many buttons as he could. That's what kept distracting him. Not like I can, or would, actually seriously insult her or anything. Or act like a complete and utter jackass. Especially not with Stella looking out for her, and it's not like I want to anyway. This is just… he tried to think of why exactly he was going through this. Danny shrugged it off as simply trying to get past Aiden's absence. That's why he was spending so much of his day focused on her. Yeah. That's it.

Apparently, he missed the memo that his teasing of Lindsay was the adult equivalent of pulling a girl's pigtails. Even after the rest of the lab had figured it out months later, Danny would remain in the dark.

They finally both finished, Lindsay getting called away to do a reconstruction with Mac, and Danny off to DNA to see who was all over his tape sample, and to get her results from the flesh on the shoes while he was there.

Half an hour later, he went to go find Mac to let him know about his results with the tape. Certainly not to check up on Monroe. See if she's still rambling on. He smirked, hearing a comment about being unable to eat bacon flow from the Montanan's mouth, before walking into the room. He explained their findings, and when it came time to deliver her evidence, decided to flourish on her name a bit.

"And the flesh that, Montana here…" Oh MAN. That is one serious death glare from our little country girl. Guess that nickname's sticking around for a bit. Gets her riled up real good, and she doesn't do anything but glare. Messer-2 New Girl-0.

He didn't see almost painful, tenth of a second flash in her eyes when he mentioned her home state. He wouldn't for a few more weeks, not until he knew her just that little bit better. Not until they were both able to read each other's moods, just by the sound of a footstep.

There was more of the same down at the meat packing district. Bantering, back and forth, and she doesn't let me get away with anything, does she? he noted. He bit back a smile thinking that Aiden'd get along good with her. They ever meet, I'm pretty sure the two of them would get along just fine.

Later, he called Aiden to see how she was handling things, tell her about the case, the new girl, and to mention his thought about the two of them getting along. And when she started talking about how if she did ever meet the "poor country girl who's gotta deal with your shit all day," she said they would probably just bash on him for at least a few hours. That was when he finally let out the smile he'd been holding in all day.

"So, Montana, I hear you tackled the kid Mac's talking to right now, huh? Nice." He noticed that she shut her eyes for a brief moment, preventing him from actually seeing her roll her eyes at the nickname she dreaded had become permanent. His own blue eyes sparkled with his teasing nature, as his mouth grew into a half-smirk. Classy, Monroe. But I can still see your aggravation. Doesn't help, kiddo, but nice try.

"It was nothing. You run after enough farm animals and you can catch and tackle anything," she responded with a smirk of her own.

"Yeah, I bet." You know, kid, you're not all that bad.

They'd finally figured it out. Only to have some son of a bitch mob bastard kidnap and kill the perp. Mac was currently confronting Venetti, and Danny had a surge of happiness that he wasn't within 25 feet of the room. He knew what Angelo Venetti was probably finding out right now – you do not want to cross Mac Taylor, and you most definitely don't want to have him pissed off at you. The wrath will be felt throughout the entire lab, and there's a possibility that you'll hear him clearly up and down the hallway.

He sat on his side of the office that he and Lindsay now shared. There was no question that he still missed Aiden, but maybe… maybe she's not as bad as I figured. This might just turn out ok.

He picked up a picture out of the side drawer of his desk. It was of him and Aiden, two years ago in Sullivan's, right after closing a huge case. There were others that had been resting underneath this – me and Louie when we was kids, whole team during the Christmas party last year, Hawkes and Stella, Stella and Mac, me and Flack after a game of basketball and a few other memories that he kept close to himself.

He felt her enter the room before he saw her. Heard her step inside, almost nervously, as if she was intruding on something that wasn't hers. Lindsay could hold her ground sure enough, but any time she'd been around him today, they were surrounded by other people. She was unsure about his real reaction to her – was she welcome inside her own office? Sure, she can take it. But, I was kind of an ass today, wasn't I? No way I'm apologizing but…

She put the folders on her desk quietly, brows furrowed as if she was thinking about something she had to do. Or wondering if she could've missed something. Out of the side of his vision, Danny saw her turn towards him, opening her mouth and changing her mind. She started to walk back out, head held just a little too high for her to be completely alright.

"Hey, Monroe?"

She turned back around, almost surprised that he had spoken. She knows. She knows about Aiden, about coming in here and taking her place, but she also knows it's not her fault. And so do I.

"Yeah, Danny?"

"Nice job out there today."

The brightness in her eyes perked up just the slightest bit. "Thanks," she said, moving to leave again before turning back around. "You in tomorrow?"

"Yeah. 11:30 till whenever the hell Mac decides to send me home," he answered.

She half-smiled, friendly for almost the first time today. He had put her somewhat at ease, he could see that.

"I'll see you, then." And with that, she finally walked out of the room.

He smiled a bit, looking back down at the picture that was still in his hand. Yeah. I'm thinking this is gonna work out pretty good. Danny placed the photograph on top of the others in the drawer, closing it before he gathered his stuff and walked out of the office. He shouted down the hallway as he left.

"Hey Monroe! Hold the elevator for me, will ya?"