I walked into work late, yet again. As I was trying desperately to wipe the remaining bits of finger paint off my hands on the back of my dark jeans my boss walked up to me.

Mac Taylor said, "Nice of you to finally show up, Katherine. You realize your shift started about twenty minutes ago, right?" His tone suggested a hint of light teasing, but in his eyes you could see the real frustration. He knew my situation, but he could only be so lenient.

"I'm real sorry, Mac. I'll work on Sunday to catch up if you want."

"We both know that isn't really an option for you. How about a shift change? I have something in the afternoon that would suit you much better and I have a feeling you would like your partner a lot better." We both stared at my lab mate, Kyle, as he walked down the hall past us, his jeans sagging and rap music blaring from his headphones. Too bad he doesn't know that he is about the whitest and skinniest guy I have ever met.

"That would be perfect, Mac. I appreciate it."

"Sure thing, kid, you start tomorrow. Now get to work."

I flashed him one of my rare, shy smiles and walked to my station. Immediately I went to work on a laptop that had been found at a recent crime scene and then the rest of the late shift was spent on paper work, which I was really falling behind on.

The next day I actually got to the lab on time and without a trace of paint on me. I went to my work station to find that my new lab partner was nowhere in sight. They probably had to go do something, so I just go right ahead and continue with the paper work from the night before. Suddenly a guy with auburn hair bursts in holding hands with this beautiful blonde woman, and I can't help but wonder if her gigantic boobs are fake. She seems ditsy, very ditsy, but supermodel beautiful. I can't help but compare my long, plain brunette hair and plain clothes with her expensive tastes in hair and clothing. My makeup is simple, while hers seems to be professionally done. I don't like her, but I really shouldn't judge.

The two pause for a long kiss, completely ignoring my presence. Now I'm wondering if the auburn haired guy in the lab coat paid for the now obviously fake boobs. I look away before I start to laugh.

Finally she leaves, with a promise to see him later tonight and a wink. I guess somebody is getting lucky. Then the guy sits down and notices me.

"Hi there, I've never seen you here before," his cheeks are turning deep shades of red as he says this. Good, he should be embarrassed.

"Shift change. I'm Katherine, but you can call me Katy," I give a half-hearted smile as I decide to give this guy a chance, but I don't meet his eyes.

He seems to notice and becomes very shy all of a sudden. "I'm Adam, sorry about all that with Courtney."

"It's fine, your girlfriend seems really nice." Wow, I am such a good liar.

"Yeah. So do you know if we have a case?"

"As of right now, we don't."

"Ok," he says as he gets on the computer. I just ignore him and go back to my papers.

An hour of silence goes by and apparently Adam can't stand it anymore, because he asks, "Is it ok if I play music?"

"As long as it's good," I say, seeming not to care. Then the unexpected happens, he plays one of my favorite songs, Situations by Escape the Fate. A few seconds in I catch myself singing along and Adam has noticed too. He looks up at me and this time I catch his eye, "We're going to get along just fine, Adam."

He smiled and I knew that we would be good friends after that.