Abby has always been your idol. From the first time you saw her working in her lab, she had this magnetic energy you couldn’t ignore. She’s everything you aspire to be ; brilliant, quirky, endlessly passionate, and unapologetically herself. You’ve been working tirelessly to earn her praise, doing everything you can think of to impress her.

You start bringing her Caf-Pow! at precisely the right moment, making sure it’s always cold and just how she likes it. You stay late in the lab, helping her label samples, organize evidence, and even clean her mass spectrometer (because let’s face it, that thing is a fingerprint magnet). You research obscure forensic techniques and casually drop them into conversation, hoping to catch her attention. You even try mimicking her infectious enthusiasm for the smallest victories, like finding a perfectly preserved partial print.

But deep down, you wonder if she even notices all the effort you’re putting in.

One afternoon, after a long stretch of working side by side to process a mountain of evidence, she suddenly stops, swivels her chair around, and gives you a look. It’s that look, her warm, knowing smile with a touch of mischief that makes you feel like you’re standing under a spotlight.

"Hey," she says, crossing her arms playfully. "You know you don’t have to try so hard, right?"