Lindsay Monroe had no idea where she could go at 19, her mom and dad were always fighting, her older brother had left when he had turned eighteen, old enough to be independant she had guessed.

"Lindsay, please come out, we're sorry." her mom said from outside her bedroom door, thank god she had saved up enough pocket money to buy a simple lock so her awful parents couldn't invade her privacy when she least expected it.

"You know we're sorry Linds...please come out." her dad said loudly through the door, Linsday shook her head, they had done this so many times now, she needed to leave somehow, it sucked she was still a minor...she hated being seventeen and stuck in the position she was currently stuck in.

"Leave me alone, I'll come out later when I want to talk."

She heard them speaking quietly from behind the door and went to sit on her bed, "Okay Lindsay, we'll talk later." her dad said through the door.

She sighed, grateful that out of both of her parents, her dad was most understanding, if anything, her mom was the problem, she was a picker, she picked arguments about the smallest things, a severely unnatractive trait, she hated her mom for that, and she was glad it hadn't been passed on to her.

She collapsed onto her bed with a loud sigh and turned the TV on, maybe drowining out the noise with some mindless TV would work, she hoped.

Her cellphone began to vibrate on the wooden table beside her bed, she grabbed it and pressed talk.

"Hey Brandon..." Brandon Monroe was her older brother, already in college, 22 years old, independant etc.

"How's the hell house chica?" she laughed, Brandon had always had a funny sense of humour, and it was great, he made her laugh, like all brother's should.

"We're from Montana, Brandon, not spain...but your funny, and the parents from hell are driving me insane, I thought I could last three more months before leaving, but I can't do this anymore, I'm going to move to New York...hopefully enroll in NYU...I honestly can't wait, all these years of saving up tuition money have finally paid off."

"Ah well, I'll get to see my baby sister more, I can't wait for you to enroll, NYU is great, they have a great criminology program that I know you'll love, and you're rooming with my friend's sister, okay?"

"Yeah I've read about it, it sounds great, meeting new friends will be good too, you don't know how tired I am of the same old things every day, I'm glad I don't really have any close friends here, it would be hard letting go."

She could hear Brandon laughing down the phone, "Oh Linds..."

"Whatever, Hey, I'll call you back later, I'm gonna have to go down there at some point."

"Oh alright Lindsay... I love you sis, talk later." she smiled pressing the phone closer to her ear.

"Love you too Brandon, bye." she heard the 'Click' in the background and placed her phone back onto the table by her bed and got up.

When she had finished walking down the stairs, her mom and dad were sat watching TV in the sitting room.

"I've decided I'm leaving...I'm 19 now, I'm going to enroll in NYU, go and move in the dorms for a while..."

she trailed off, knowing that if it were someone else, her mom wouldn't approve.

Rose and Adam Monroe stared at their daughter, disbeleif evident in their eyes, Rose's eyes filled with tears, and Adam sighed, he had probably known this was coming.

"Lindsay, we're sorry, the last thing we wanted was for you to leave.." her mom said sadly, well Linsday was 19 now, she could make her own choices, like whether she wanted to live with her parents any longer.

"You two need to stop fighting, maybe consider marriage therapy, I'm no shrink, but I think you two need to sort it out, I love you both very much, but I'm old enough to start college now, and it's a much needed break, not only for me, but for you too...consider what I've said."

She smiled sadly at her parents and began to climb the stairs to her room, she felt oddly releived, and hopefully things would get better for her parents.

she picked up her cell and dialed in Brandon's number and waited as it rang and rang.

"Lindsay...how did it go?" she sighed and sat in the plush chair opposite her chair.

"Ok I guess, but I think I've given them something to think about, I told them they might need to consider marriage therapy, I can't believe I told them that..."

"Oh my god Linds...flipping hell, if I had ever come out with that, dad would have pitched a fit."

"Yeah well...mom looked upset, dad looked like he wanted to hit something, you know, normal behaviour, maybe I should have added anger management for dad."

"Wooah Linds, you're lucky you didn't...anger is a touchy subject for him."

Lindsay laughed, "Yeah, I was joking Brandon...you'd know that."

"I suppose I would...but anyway, it's late here, so I'm going to go to bed now, I'll speak to you whenever, love you Linds."

"Okay, See you when I see you Brandon, Love you too, bye."

She put her cell back onto the table and got dressed for bed, she switched her lamp off and jumped into bed.

One month later

"Welcome to NYU, and congratulations on being accepted." said a chirpy blonde haired girl who she had found out to be her room mate.

"Thank you, I'm Linsday Monroe, nice to meet you."

The girl held her hand out and Lindsay took it and shook, it was nice to be meeting new people on her first day

"I'm Chloe Messer, from queens, born and bred."

Lindsay loved the accent, even though the bronks wasn't exactly the best place to be, the accent was unique, and she loved it, probably hearing a guy with the accent would make her go weak in the knees.

Chloe helped Lindsay bring the last of her boxes into her room and set them on her bed.

"Well I'm gonna head out to look for some new things for the class, I'll see you around." Lindsay said, smiling.

New York was a beautiful place, Lindsay loved it already and she hadn't even been there for three full days, she'd seen that wonderful bridge, the Brooklyn bridge to be exact, that stretched from Manhattan to Brooklyn, She had always dreamed of coming to New York, Montana was nice, it had a homey country feeling, but somewhere new had been on the cards, so Lindsay had jumped at the chance.

once she was out on the street she hailed a cab, she didn't really have a good clue of where she was going, but she'd try.

"Where ya goin gal?" the cab driver asked with a friendly smile

"I don't really know, you know anywhere where I can buy some stuff for NYU, I'm new here, as you'd probably guess." she laughed.

"Ahh I see, alright, I know where to take ya, main high street in new york, when ya get a cab home, just tell the cab driver where your goin, back where ya came from." the cab guy laughed.

"Okay, thank you, I really needed someone like you today."

She handed the cab driver the money, tipped him three dollars fifty and he waved a thank you and a smile and pulled the door shut, rolling down the window.

"See ya later gal." he smiled and drove off.

Lindsay looked at her surroundings, smiling because she loved the city just as much as she loved Montana when she was younger, she was glad that now she and Brandon could see each other as often as they wanted.

by the end of the trip she had gathered note books, pens, a binder and some other things she needed, her professor had already mailed her a reading list and he had already bought more than half of the books she needed.

She remembered the day she told Brandon what she wanted to do in NYU.

Flashback.

"I'm going to be a CSI...And I can't wait!" Brandon frowned, unsure of what exactly a 'CSI' was...

"What's a CSI?" Lindsay laughed, "A crime scene investigator..."

"Oh right, well I hope you make it Linds, Love you."

When she got back to the dorms, she put her key in the lock but before she could turn it the door opened, she was met with a tall guy with short brown hair, blue eyes and a gorgeous face, he stepped back and let her in, she smiled and walked past him placing her books on her bed.

Chloe walked out of the bathroom and sat on her bed, smiling and Lindsay.

"Hey Linds, this is my brother, Danny Messer." Lindsay shifted some books on her bed and smiled at Danny.

"I'm Lindsay Monroe, nice to meet you." Danny was tall, he had emerald green eyes, sandy blonde/brown hair, he was a looker, probably had girls flinging themselves at him.

He stepped forward and held out his hand for Lindsay to shake, she smiled and shook it.

"Yeah, I'm Danny..." He had the perfect dreamy queens accent that Lindsay knew and loved, but he was a player, even a blind person could probably tell.

"Way to state the obvious Messer, anyway, you wanna go out later for dinner Linds?" asked Chloe, she laughed and it made her blonde curls bounce.

"Yeah, I'd love to.."

"Y'know what, I ain't hangin round much longer, gotta go meet Flack, love ya sis, call ya later, nice meeting ya Montana." He smirked before heading to the door.

"Later loser..." Chloe shouted, smiling. How the hell did he know that she was from Montana, she hadn't even told Chloe that she was from Montanna, maybe this Danny guy was super observant.

"Well, that was my lame older brother, always looking out for me though, which I'm totally happy about at times..."

"I know how you feel, I have an older brother too, Brandon, he's always around whenever I'm on a date, annoyingly persistant, and He's studying at Columbia actually."

Chloe smiled "Oh that sounds good, is he hot, only saying because you've seen Danny, and you must think he's hot in some way.." Chloe laughed.

"I guess so, He has a new girlfriend every week, last week it was Amanda, week before Tianna, week before that Shelley...and this week, some chick called Carly, blonde, bouncing, annoying, you know, stereotypical fake blonde bimbo, she has bleached hair and her roots are black because she hasn't been to the salon in a while..."

Chloe nodded, "Hasn't found the right gal yet I guess."

"Maybe, but something tells me he's also a massive man-whore..."

"Ah, well, we have a list of man-whores now, 1. Danny Messer, 2. Brandon Monroe."

"I like you girl, I can see us being good friends." Chloe smiled, a toothy grin.

Lindsay smiled and nodded, Chloe was a tough girl raised in queens, she had learned over the tough years of high school that crying just ain't gonna cut it, her and her brother Danny had been respected toward the end because they never took anyones shit, and they had been raised by Michelle and Danny Messer, yes, she had also learned that Danny was Danny Messer Junior, named after his father, and he respected the name greatly, Chloe was named after their great grandma, great names from a great family.

Chloe and Danny had stuck together through it all, and Lindsay felt a sense of pride within that.

A few days later.

Lindsay was walking up the grey pave stones towards the outdoor area outside of the cafeteria which had many wooden picknick benches, Lindsay spotted Chloe sat among a few people, her friends probably, Lindsay had met one person today, which had been her first day, and he had asked her if they could spend lunch together.

"Hi, I'm Sheldon Hawkes, nice to meet you." he had smiled, he had dark brown eyes and he was black, he had a great sense of humour and had made her laugh often during the day.

She walked over and sat at an empty picknick table that was at the end and waited for Hawkes to come, she had nicknamed him Hawkes because she knew he hated being called Sheldon directly, after around five minutes she spotted him coming up the grey pave stone path with a boy who was slightly taller than him, he had light brown hair and blue eyes, he and Hawkes sat down facing Lindsay and she smiled at them, glad to be meeting new people.

"Hey Linds, you don't mind do you?" Hawkes said, pointing to the new comer.

"No, not at all." Lindsay said politely, the boy held out his hand for her to shake, she took it and shook.

"I'm Adam Ross, nice to meet you..." he grinned, his cheeks going slightly pink.

"Lindsay Monroe, good to meet you too." she smiled and opened her bag, taking out an egg salad sandwich and a bottle of orange juice.

They all ate in silence for a few minutes before someone shouted Adam's name.

"Hey Adam, Can I sit with you guys?" a deep but young voice came, Adam turned around and smiled, "Sure!" before turning back to Hawkes and I.

a tall boy with dark brown hair, almost black, and cerulean blue eyes sat at the table, he placed his bag in front of himself and pulled out some poorly wrapped chicken sanwiches, he smiled at Lindsay and put his stuff down.

"Hey, You must be Lindsay, I'm Mac Taylor, nice to meet you." but for once, he didn't hold out his hand for her to shake it, he just grinned widely at her.

"Yeah, and thanks, you too." he laughed, "Bet you're getting sick of hearing that lately."

"I guess you could say that..." Hawkes and Adam were giggling like two old ladies together, Lindsay laughed too, she had only been here a week and she already loved it. she had met some really nice people, and there was probably more to come.

"So, now that you've met me, Hawkes, Adam, the Messer's, you're gonna meet some more people, so, there's Stella Bonesera, Jessica Angell, Sid Hammerback, Jo Danville and Don Flack. You won't see Jo much since she's not studying here, but everyone else are regulars, and just a warning, Jess and Don are dating, they have been for like two years now, but they always argue and fall out, I'm surprised their even still together, I really don't get it, they are so wrong for eachother, it's unreal."

So, Don Flack and Jessica Angell were an item, but they weren't working, not something new in college life.

"right...so what about Stella?" asked Lindsay, wondering about the one girl Mac hadn't said anything about yet.

"Oh, Stella's pretty cool..." he trailed off and looked down.

"Haha, one thing you forgot to mention Mac," Adam smiled and turned to Lindsay.

"Mac here and Stella dated for almost a year and a half, I guess the hurt is still fresh for Mac.."

"Oh, I'm sorry Mac, I know what it feels like." Lindsay said, grabbing his hand and squeezing gently.

Mac's cheeks turned a light shade of pink and he smiled, "Thank's Linds." Lindsay smiled and got back to her lunch.

Hawkes and Adam were discussing their studies, Hawkes was explaining how sweet corn goes through the digestive system, it didn't seem to bother anyone, not even Lindsay, she had become used to things like this while eating, she had never been pegged as squeamish.

For the career she had in her mind, she couldn't be squeamish, she wanted to be a member of the NYPD and work in a crime lad, that had always been her dream, to become a detective, an investigator, she had always wanted to join the police service, make something out of her life.

"Right, it's time to go, it was nice meeting you Lindsay." Adam rose and smiled, Lindsay rose and threw her trash in the can next to the table and slung her bag over her shoulder.

Hawkes tapped her on the shoulder and she smiled, she waved to Mac and Adam as they walked the other way.

"Later Lindsay." Mac shouted and smiled as she and Hawkes walked towards their class.

"Adam and Mac seem nice, you have some great friends Hawkes."

Hawkes laughed "Yeah, I've known Adam since high school, and I met Mac a few months ago, they are great friends, even the ones you haven't met yet, You'll love Sid, he always has a story to tell. I don't know about Jess, But I'm sure you'll get on with Jo and Stella."

Lindsay frowned and wondered why she wouldn't get on with Jess, maybe she had issues, who knows really.

"Why do you think I might not get on with Jess?" Hawkes raised his eyebrows as we walked into the class and took our seats.

"Well...her boyfriend Don is quite the handsome guy, and she always casts her eyes on any new girl, every girl that passes them by, she doesn't even really love Don, but she knows that he's hers for the moment, and she'd hate any other girl taking him away from her, so she's quite a tough cookie when you first meet her, so don't be upset if she's a bitch to you at first."

"Ah, the clingy, 'I don't want any other girl to have him' thing."

Hawkes laughed again "I guess you could say that, Don's a great guy though, I'm sure you'll like him, he's friendly, and he never puts up with Jess taking her shit out on anyone else."

Lindsay nodded, maybe Don Flack and Jessica Angell weren't ment to be, but there wasn't anything she could say about it, she remembered her ex boyfriend back in Montana, how that had ended bitter and twisted.

Flashback

"Lindsay Monroe, how are you?" Lindsay looked up from her book to see Jake Stevens standing above her, she smiled, "I'm good..you?"

"You wanna go get a cup of coffee with me?"

End of flashback

And since that coffee, everything had changed, she had been madly in love wth Jake, and he had seemed to love her too.

and for a time they did love each other, until Ashleigh Crop came into the equation...let's just say Lindsay ended things because she knew Jake didn't love her anymore. And sure enough, three weeks later, Jake and Ashleigh were an item...at least he had waited three weeks, even though Lindsay wasn't quite over it.

Ashleigh had tried talking to her, "I'm sorry Lindsay, I didn't mean for this to happen." Ashleigh was a sweet girl...so Lindsay couldn't hate her, if anything she should have been mad at Jake for his lack of effort towards the end, she shouldn't have thought it was her fault when it clearly wasn't.

"Earth to Monroe...Linds, you there?" Hawkes laughed as she shook her head and rubbed her eyes.

"Oh, yeah, I was just thinking of my ex, but don't worry, over it now." she laughed, pushing Jake and Ashleigh out of her head.

The day carried on at a fairly fast pace, and by the end of the day Lindsay was dead on her feet, she trudged towards her and Chloe's room, she knocked twice, no answer, before shoving her key in the lock and twisting.

She shook off her clothes and pulled on some shorts and a NY track t-shirt and collapsed into bed, she glanced at the alarm clock on her bedside table, 7:30PM. she sighed and closed her eyes.

She later woke up to the dorm room opening quietly, they're room was fairly big, they had a living room/kitchen a bathroom and their rooms.

she heard quiet voices.

"Heard your sis is rooming with Lindsay, Adam and Mac told me that they met her earlier, seems nice, pretty too." she heard an unknown voice.

"Yeah, she's nice alright, Hey Chloe, grab me a beer!" she heard Danny's voice yell quietly through the room.

"Will you two bone heads shut up! Lindsay's asleep in the other room..." Lindsay laughed quietly at Chloe's sharp words.

"Oh...it's only 10." Danny said, not realizing that Lindsay was home.

"Yeah, I saw her earlier with Hawkes at the end of classes, she looked dead on her feet."

"Aww sweet, bet she's cute." she heard the unknown voice say, she blushed, not used to being complimented by new people.

"Donnie, you have a girlfriend remember." laughed Chloe.

oh..it was Don Flack, who Hawkes was telling her about earlier, the nice guy, she wondered if he was hot, and decided whether to come out or not, she decided she'd listen quietly for a few more minutes.

"Yeah, don't feel like it, Jess is pullin' on my last nerv, think we've been goin steady too long."

"Ah, that's too bad man, don't mean you gotta jump on the new girl though, imagine what Jess would do." Danny laughed.

"I don't care what she'd do, if we weren't seeing each other anymore, than I don't give a flying crap." Don laughed.

Lindsay yawned loudly and sat up, she heard the people in the other room go silent.

"Linds, you awake?" shouted Chloe, Lindsay yawned again for effect.

"Yeah! I'll be out in a minute.."

she heard Danny mutter something then yell ow!, she was sure she heard 'Here's your chance Flack'..she laughed to herself, she wasn't getting involved with an involved guy.

She pulled her hair out of the pony tail it was in and threw it up again, it was late, so she didn't really care, she came out and sat on the other sofa next to Chloe.

"Hey guys, sorry I've been out hours, was deadly tired earlier." Lindsay smiled at everyone in the room, including the infamous Don Flack, and she had wondered if he were hot, and he was, definitely.

"Don Flack, nice to meet ya." he said, Lindsay smiled, he looked kind of mesmerized.

"Lindsay Monroe, the pleasure is all mine." she heard Danny say "oooh, here we go." quietly in the background.

Chloe and Danny stared at the two with cheeky grins on their faces, Danny, being Don's best friend knew he and Jess weren't going anywhere, and that eventually they'd end, and he also knew that Don was yet to find the girl for him...and maybe, just maybe he had now.

"You want a beer Montana?" Danny asked, walking to the to the kitchen and opening the fridge

"Sure, and nice nickname." she grinned, she loved these people.

"Get me one too bone head." Chloe said, propping her legs on the coffee table.

"Sure thing, and Chloe, if I'm a bone head, then so are you, cause you're my lovely sister." Danny laughed, chucking Lindsay and Chloe the cans and sitting next Don on the couch.

"Not as much of a bone head as you and Flack here. Me and Linds win this one." Chloe held up her hand and Lindsay high-fived her and opened her can of beer.

Chloe turned on the TV to some crappy film that everyone was more than happy to watch, all night Flack had been staring at Lindsay, and she had been doing the same, thinking she had been being discreet, Flack wanted to be a detective too, and he had been taking classes in observing, and he knew Lindsay was staring at him too...He could definitely tell there was an undeniable attraction between them, the only thing on his mind was his 'ugh' girlfriend Jessica Angell...how she'd take it if he dumped her, even though it was way past the time that they should have ended it anyway.

by the time the film had finished it was 1am, and they were all a little tired.

"Well, it's friday, you two can crash on the couches unless you want to go back to your own room." Chloe said, shrugging her shoulders before heading into her room.

"Good night guys!" she yelled before shutting her door, Lindsay started to get up, Danny was taking extra pillows and blankets from the closet and making up the couches, he chucked two pillows and a blanket at Flack.

"Well, I'll see you two in the morning, nice meeting you Flack." Lindsay said again and smiled.

"Sleep well Babe..." he said winking, she blushed and all but ran into her own room, behind her she heard He and Danny laughing together.

her phone vibrated suddenly as she got into bed.

YOU totally like Flack! xxx - Chloe Messer Lindsay blushed even more before tapping a reply.

Am I that obvious? and not really considering I only met him today! xxx - Lindsay Monroe

YES, you both are, you two weren't even watching the film, you were both stealing glances at each other all night long, and don't worry about it, I know Flack has a girlfriend, but not for long I don't think, not now you're in the picture xxx - Chloe Messer

What? Was Flack going to dump his girlfriend of two years for her, a girl he didn't even know...that was crazy!

What!? He can't do that, him and Jess have been dating for two years...that isn't fair, he doesn't even know me! xx - Lindsay Monroe

Ah, ah, ah, He and Jess haven't been happy for a long time, so maybe it's time they do, anyway, I'm going to sleep now, night xx - Chloe Messer

Okay, night xxx - Lindsay Monroe

She put her phone on charge and put her head against the pillow, she wasn't even really tired, suddenly the urge to pee became known and she knew that the bathroom was by the kitchen, near the living room, so she was gonna have to creep through.

she quietly got up and opened her door and started slowly walking down the hallway, she heard voices so she stopped.

"You like Montana dontcha." She heard Danny say, she heard huffing and puffing.

"Yeah, I do...guess its time for me and Jess to end it."

"Well, you and her weren't meant to be anyway, maybe you and Monroe will work something out."

"Yeah maybe."

Lindsay decided to make a noise, she yawned and sloppily walked through to the bathroom, they both shut their eyes pretending to be asleep, she laughed and went into the bathroom, having heard their whole conversation.

on the way back they were still 'sleeping', she smiled and went back to her room, shut the door, got into bed and turned the light off, drifting into a sweet sleep.

Okay. so mega long first chapter. I love CSI NY... :)