A/N: This was my response to the Fic Challenges forum and the characters I got were Lindsay Monroe/Messer and Kaile Maka (that's the spelling I found on Wikipedia). It's told from Lindsay's POV.

Set: Early-Mid season 2

Characters: Lindsay Monroe and Kaile Maka, with a splash of Danny Messer.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:NY or affiliates. I'm just letting my muse having a play with the characters and plot.

I'm Not That Girl

I have to admit, after I got past his smart alecky ways, I was a bit attracted to Danny Messer. He was handsome, charming, smart and had a killer smile. If I had felt like there was no other woman interested in him I think I would have put myself out there just a bit more.

But then I met Kaile Maka.

And I knew that next to her, I didn't stand a chance. Who was I but a country bumpkin in a big city where anything west or south was instantly singled out as being vastly different? Detective Maka held the classic beauty and poise of Ancient Chinese empresses. She was enigmatic, intelligent and was always calm. Whenever I ended up meeting her to go after a witness or a suspect, there was this aura of Zen calm around her all the time.

It would have been easier to be jealous of her and resent her if she hadn't been so nice.

Kaile hadn't prejudged me like most of the other detectives with their 'Dorothy' jokes. She treated me like a human being.

Once she was talking to me about the case we were working on. We were sharing coffee at her desk and putting forth our suspicions as to who had committed the murder when Detective Scagnetti had walked in, seeing me and boomed across the room, "Hey Dorothy, I couldn't find your horse tired up out the front!"

I had just zipped my lips and ignored him. It wasn't worth retorting and risking looking like an idiot.

Kaile had pursed her lips, put down her coffee mug and said in a calm, but all too clear voice, "The horse is probably in the paddock. With your wife."

I almost spat out my drink at the insinuation she had made and the room had echoed with laughter as Scagnetti's cheeks went beet red from humiliation. Serves him right for picking on me all the time.

When things calmed down, Kaile turned to me and murmured, "It's good you show poise. Don't let them get to you, they'll accept you into the fold soon enough. They did for me."

"What did they call you when you started?" I asked curiously. Her voice told that she had been through the same thing.

With a bitter smirk, she replied, "Slanty. Because of my eyes."

"That's horrible!"

She shrugged. "Men will be men. I let them get away with it for a week. Then I had enough. I went into the men's bathrooms and replaced the soap dispensers with sex lubricant."

I laughed. Maka had a silent mean streak. "Did anyone help you?" I asked.

"Flack. He was the only one who hadn't teased me like that so he was my lookout," Kaile replied, smiling.

It was then I realised I wouldn't be as appealing to Danny as Maka was. She had a wicked sense of humour and she was New York down to her bones. Her skin was, if possible, tougher than mine. She was confident and with less emotional baggage than I had. I couldn't resent her. But I knew that I would never be that girl that a guy like Danny would want.

A/N: A shot of Lindsay, a bit unconfident in her start in the big city. I hope you enjoyed this. I found it really challenging to do these two in a more neutral setting.