Home (Stella/Mac)

[shinydream]

I actually wanted to post it way earlier but my internet company messed up some things so I didn't have internet in 4 days -.- I'll post the next Chapter tomorrow

[Marousj]

omg 4 days? That totally sucks! I'm really glad that I have a laptop and that I could steal internet from my neighbors if that would ever happen with me.

[shinydream]

All my neighbors have their networks protected so I can't go online via their net -.-

Chapter 6

Stella woke up, finding herself cuddled against Mac, her head resting on his chest. She looked up at his face and saw him smiling down at her.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” she said with a sheepish grin.

Mac shook his head with a smile. “Never mind. Slept well?”

“I did, actually,” Stella replied.

“I must be comfortable, then,” Mac returned teasingly.

“Comfortable or not, I’m getting up—I’m hungry.” Stella wiggled out of Mac’s arms and started to get up.

Mac sat up as well. “Want me to make breakfast?”

Stella turned around to look at him with raised eyebrows. “Why are you so nice to me today, Taylor?”

“I’m always nice to you,” Mac protested.

“Yeah, whatever,” Stella said with a grin and got up. “I’ll take a shower, you make breakfast?”

“ ‘Yeah, whatever’?” Mac repeated. “You expect me to make you breakfast after that comment? After doubting that I’m always nice to you?”

When Stella turned to Mac, he had the cutest pout on his face. “Aww,” she said and walked over to the bed again, sitting down on his side. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, big guy.” She placed a soft kiss on his cheek. “Better?”

Mac chuckled and shook his head in amusement. “Go take your shower. I’ll make breakfast.”

Stella got up, grabbed her clothes, and walked into the bathroom with a grin. While she took a shower and brushed her teeth, she thought about what had happened the night before and just a few moments ago. Did she imagine all this, or was Mac actually flirting with her? Or, rather, getting in on her flirting with him?

Something had changed between them—she wasn’t really sure what was happening, but she liked the change in their relationship. She liked the way Mac was caring for her and how his attention was on her alone.

When Stella stepped out of the bathroom, the whole house smelled like fresh coffee and bacon and eggs. With a happy smile, she walked down to the kitchen. She found Mac standing at the stove preparing their breakfast, a cup of coffee next to him. Her smile widened as she walked into the room.

“Hey,” she said.

Mac turned, smiling softly at her. “Hey.”

“Anything for me to do?”

“No,” Mac replied. “Just sit down; breakfast will be ready any minute.”

“Okay.” Stella did as she was told and sat down at the already set table. The cup was already filled with steaming coffee.

“There you go,” Mac said when he placed a plate in front of Stella, just a couple moments later.

“Thanks,” Stella replied. “Looks really good.”

While eating breakfast, Stella and Mac discussed the things they needed to get done today. They agreed that they would use the morning to talk about their observations from the previous night—maybe take some notes and work on the files in the afternoon. After settling that plan, they talked about casual things, keeping their light teasing up.

They cleared the table and washed the dishes together, their hands brushing every once in a while. Each time that happened, Stella and Mac smiled at each other. When they were almost done, Mac scooped a few bubbles up with two fingers and wiped them on Stella’s nose.

“Hey,” she exclaimed in protest and wiped her wet hand on Mac’s cheek, smirking at him.

“You wanna start a fight?” Mac asked, grabbing her wrist.

“No,” Stella answered, laughing. “I don’t wanna have to clean the whole kitchen.”

“We wouldn’t want that,” Mac said teasingly and ran his thumb gently over her wrist. They stayed like that for a few moments, gazing into the others’ eyes.

“We should get back to work,” Mac said after several minutes.

Stella nodded. “Yeah, we still need to talk about yesterday,” she agreed, and Mac nodded. “Um, Mac? I need my hand to finish off here,” she said when he didn’t let go of her wrist.

“Oh, sorry,” Mac said, a faint blush rising into his cheeks, and let go of Stella’s wrist.

Stella grinned but didn’t say anything. The blushing was almost as cute as the pout he had given her not long ago. They finished off in the kitchen and then moved into the living room, getting paper and pencil to take notes about things they had noticed the previous evening.

Mac made them sandwiches for lunch, which they ate sitting on the porch, where they stayed a while longer after finishing their food.

“As much as I’d love to stay out here, we have to finish off our work,” Stella said.

“Yeah.”

They got up and went back inside the house, Mac’s hand resting gently on the small of her back. This time they went into their office to print the pictures Stella had taken the night before and add them, as well as some general information, to the files of their neighbors.

***

“We’re done,” Stella announced, receiving a chuckle from Mac in return. “What? You don’t think we’ve done enough work for today?”

“No, no, enough work for today,” Mac agreed.

They had been working all afternoon to add information and photos to the files—it was almost seven. Stella got up from her chair and stretched out. She could feel Mac’s eyes on her body. Stella smiled but didn’t say anything. She liked the attention she got from Mac.

“How about dinner?” Stella asked.

“Sounds great,” Mac replied and got up from his chair, following Stella down the stairs.

They cooked dinner together, keeping their teasing and flirting up through it. They settled into the living room for dinner, watching TV. Afterward they cleaned the dishes together and almost started a bubble fight again. Laughing, they both returned to the living room and plopped down on the couch. It wasn’t long after they had settled there together when Mac’s phone rang.

With a sigh, he got up again and went to answer his phone, which he had left in the hallway. From the living room, Stella could hear his side of the conversation.

“Taylor,” Mac answered.

After a few moments of silence, Mac asked, “Where did you get this number?”

Another long moment of silence. “I don’t want you to call again.” Mac was clearly getting angry.

“No, I don’t have time for that right now,” Stella could hear Mac say. She sat up straight on the sofa and looked into the direction of the corridor.

“No. Don’t call again.”

A few seconds later, Mac reappeared in the living room and paced up and down behind the couch a few times.

“What was that?” Stella asked with a concerned look on her face.

“That was Ella,” Mac replied.

“Who’s Ella?” Stella asked. It took a few seconds before she knew who he was talking about. “Wait a minute, your stalker girl, Ella?” she asked.

“She’s not a stalker,” Mac replied harshly.

Stella raised her eyebrows at him. “Ok, first, no need to get angry with me; and second, she clearly is. Why else do you think she called? How did she get the number, anyway? Only Danny and the team are supposed to have our cell numbers.”

“I have no idea where she got the number; she didn’t want to tell me,” Mac replied.

“I’m sure Danny didn’t give it to her,” Stella returned.

“What, you think I gave it to her?”

“I didn’t say that,” Stella said. “Mac, I didn’t want to accuse you of anything here, I’m just concerned. What this girl does is not normal. She followed you into a supermarket – and don’t say she didn’t because you don’t know that – she cut her wrists to get attention, and now she gets our number from somewhere and starts calling you.”

“She lost both her parents; no wonder she wants attention,” Mac replied.

“Yes, but you’re not the one to give it to her. She needs professional help.”

“She needs someone who cares for her,” Mac returned.

Stella studied Mac for a few moments. “You went to see her,” she stated.

“Yes.”

“You’re the one telling me not to get too emotionally involved. Good way of doing that, Mac.” Stella shook her head in disbelief.

“Why are you mad at me, Stella? I didn’t do anything wrong, did I?” Mac returned.

“You asked my opinion if you should go see her. I told you not to because she’s already getting her hopes up. Don’t you think it would’ve been better to stay away? Listen to me just once?”

“Are you making such a big deal out of it because I didn’t tell you or because I didn’t follow the advice you gave me?” Mac asked.

“No,” Stella said in a harsh voice, getting up as well. “This is not going to end well, Mac. The girl needs professional help, and you’re not the one who can give her that.”

“I can at least try to help her in some way,” Mac returned stubbornly.

“Yeah, you’ll end up hurting, and I’ll be the one picking up the pieces like I always am,” Stella said and Mac just stared at her. “It’s not that I mind because you are my friend and that’s what friends do, but don’t you think it’s hard for me to see how you end up hurting? Especially when you come to me to ask for advice and then completely ignore what I said and not even tell me about it.”

“Whoa, wait a minute, Stella. You have no right accusing me of that. It’s not like I’ve been hiding it from you. I simply didn’t tell you. What’s the big deal?”

“There used to be times when you told me stuff like that,” Stella returned, hurt evident in her voice as she turned to leave the room.

Mac snorted, getting angry now. “Yeah, right back at you.”

Stella stopped dead in her tracks. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked and turned around to face Mac again.

“Oh, you know what I’m talking about as well as I do, Stella. You didn’t only betray my trust—no, you also disobeyed a direct order from your boss. I made it very clear to keep your hands off the Diakos case, and then you drew Angell into it.”

“You know?” Stella asked, a pang of guilt in her stomach.

“Of course I know; I’m not stupid. When I told you that Diakos was found dead, you acted strangely. You weren’t surprised or happy at all. Before that I didn’t have any clue or suspicion that you ignored my orders, but that really got me suspicious. So I asked for the records of the 911 call. It wasn’t exactly clever to make the call yourself. Then I went to process the scene, and guess what I found: a hair. And the person it belonged to was very familiar: Jessica Angell.”

“It’s not like I forced her into this,” she defended herself. “I asked if she would help me, and she agreed.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t tell her the whole story, either. She told me that you didn’t tell her from the beginning that I ordered you away from the case.”

“I wouldn’t have had to bring Jess into this if you hadn’t ordered me away in the first place,” Stella returned stubbornly.

“What, now it’s my fault that you didn’t give a damn about what I said?” Mac asked.

“Seems like you don’t care much about what I say either.” Stella knew the accusation wasn’t fair and that it hit below the belt because she knew it wasn’t true, but she was angry.

“Stella…” The anger in Mac’s voice had vanished, replaced by hurt.

“You knew how much this meant to me and still you withdrew me from the case,” Stella said, “and you expected me not to take that personally? I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.” Stella turned around and left the room, slamming the door shut.

She went into the bedroom first to get her sleeping clothes and then walked into the bathroom, taking a bath. She turned the water on and let it fill the tub with slightly too-hot water.

She was hurt because obviously Mac didn’t trust her enough to tell her that he had visited Ella. She was hurt because he had ordered her away from the case. She was hurt because she didn’t want to fight with him, but she was too stubborn to apologize. But she was also disappointed. By herself. She knew that the things she’d accused Mac of were actually things she had to blame herself for.

Stella sighed. She was not going to apologize to Mac—not tonight, anyway. He wouldn’t dare confront her.

She stripped off her clothes and was about to step into the tub when she hesitated a moment. She made her way over to the door and locked it. Then she returned to the tub and settled into the steaming water. When the warmth floated through her body, Stella sighed again.

After an hour and a half in the tub, Stella had calmed down. She was completely relaxed, but there was still no way she would apologize to Mac, even though she knew she made a mistake.

Stella stepped into her sleeping clothes and, after cleaning the bathroom up, she went into the bedroom. During her time in the tub, she had decided to go straight to bed afterward.

Stella snuggled into the covers and turned off the light on her nightstand. She didn’t want to read – knew she wouldn’t be able to concentrate, because no matter how relaxing the bath might have been, the fight with Mac still occupied her thoughts. She also knew it would take her a long time to fall asleep.

The curtains were still ajar, and Stella lay on her side, staring out the window into the night sky. It was a beautiful night—the moon gleamed brightly in the sky, and a light breeze blew lightly at the curtains.

Stella still lay wide-awake when Mac crawled into bed beside her. She turned onto her side, her back to him.

[Marousj]

Aww I hope they make up soon! Mac & Stella fighting ain't fun but great chapter once again

[shinydream]

Oh I had so much fun writing that one. I have a thing for them when they're fighting ;D

I'll update later tonigh

[shinydream]

Oopsie, forgot to update

Chapter 7

When Stella woke up on the next morning, she found herself alone in bed. She took a brief look around and came to the conclusion that Mac must have been up for a while already. Stella turned back around and glanced at the clock on her bedside table: 10:42 am. With a sigh, she sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

After taking a quick shower and making the bed, she went down into the kitchen. She found Mac sitting on the table, reading the paper and sipping his coffee. Stella frowned as she took a few steps into the kitchen: Mac had made breakfast. He had even gone out and gotten bagels and her favorite muffin for her.

“Morning,” Stella greeted him a bit grumpily as she sat down.

He looked up from his paper, laid it aside, and gave Stella a small smile. “Good morning. Want coffee?”

“I’ll get it myself, thanks,” Stella said, her tone still icy.

When she returned to her seat with a cup of coffee, she found a piece of paper on her plate reading, “I don’t want us to argue. Forgive me?” and her favorite muffin right next to it. She sighed, all the anger gone.

“You’re not the one who made a mistake, Mac.”

“Yes, I did,” Mac disagreed. “I should have listened to what you said. I shouldn’t have visited Ella. It made things only worse. But you know… I just couldn’t not visit her. I know how she felt.”

Stella nodded in understanding. “I had no right to accuse you of what I did last night. You were right. It’s none of my business what you do in your free time.”

Mac shook his head. “You’re my friend, Stella. You have every right to ask what’s going on in my life. I should’ve told you. Don’t ever think that my private life is none of your business.”

Stella was silent for a few moments and took a sip from her coffee. After setting the cup down, she said, “Look, Mac, I’m sorry I disregarded your orders on the Diakos case. I shouldn’t have done it. It’s just… I couldn’t let that one go. It was way too personal. I had to make sure he and his people would get arrested.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have ordered you away from the case…”

“No, Mac. You did what you had to do. I know it was right from you to withdraw me from the case. I know I made a mistake when I worked the case behind your back. I know I pulled Jess in this, and I shouldn’t have. I know all this. But I don’t regret anything I’ve done, and I wouldn’t do anything different if I had the chance.”

Mac smiled slightly. “I didn’t think so.”

Stella returned his smile and took another sip from her coffee. “Are we gonna be okay?”

“Yes,” Mac replied with a reassuring smile.

They ate breakfast in a slightly tense silence and Mac returned to reading the paper. The doorbell made them look at each other again.

“I’ll get it,” Stella said and got up.

A smiling Emily stood on the doorstep. “Good morning,” she said. “I hope I’m not interrupting?”

“Good morning,” Stella said and returned her smile. “No, you’re not interrupting.”

“Good,” Emily returned. “I was wondering if you and your husband would like to join me and Tim for dinner tonight.”

“That’s nice. I’ll ask Mac if he has anything in mind for tonight. You wanna come in for a moment? Grab a cup of coffee?”

“Thanks for the offer, Stella, but I have to get to the restaurant.”

“Okay, I’ll be back in a minute,” Stella said and vanished into the house.

“Mac, Emily wants to know if we’d like to have dinner with her and Tim tonight. Do you have anything planned?”

“No,” Mac answered. “Would be nice to join them for dinner.”

“Okay, I’ll tell her we’re having dinner together tonight.”

Stella turned around and walked back to the door. “We’d love to have dinner with you tonight,” she said.

“Great. Come over around seven?”

“We’ll be there,” Stella said with a smile. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

Emily returned the smile. “Me, too. Well, I have to get to the restaurant. I’ll see you tonight then.”

“See you tonight,” Stella said, closing the door behind Emily and walking back into the kitchen. She found Mac in the same position as she had left him, reading the paper.

“Emily told me to come over around seven,” she informed him.

“Okay. It’ll be nice getting to know these people. They seem nice.”

Stella nodded. “They do.” She sat down on the table again and finished off her coffee. She stayed seated a few more minutes before she got up and walked over to the sink, starting to wash the dishes.

“Want help?” Mac asked.

“No, I’m good. Thanks.”

Mac sighed, laid the paper aside, then got up and walked over to Stella.

“Stella,” he said.

When she didn’t react, Mac took hold of the plate she was holding, stopping her. He gently took the plate and set it down on the counter, then took her hand in his.

“Stella,” Mac said again, “don’t make this so hard on yourself. Yes, I was mad when I found out you were involved in the case, but I’m not anymore. I do understand why you did it. I probably would’ve done the same if I had been in your position. I’m not gonna bite off your head or fire you – although I know I probably should. But I can’t. You’re too important for the lab and for me.”

Mac looked into her green eyes and smiled slightly. “We can’t let this ruin our friendship. We’ve been through so much together; this is not gonna get to us.” He pulled her into a hug. “I’m not mad at you. I’m just glad nothing happened to you.”

“We’re okay,” Stella whispered. I wasn’t a question, but it wasn’t a statement she was totally sure of, either.

“We’re okay,” Mac reassured her.

[Marousj]

And I had finally time to read it! lol I've been so tired the past days.. and sick.. ugh.
Anyways, love it keeps my SMACked heart going despite the horrible A/S stuff

[shinydream]

heh I'm happy you liked it
Yeah, the spoilery stuff just sucks. But what are we supposed to do about it? *sigh* I'm living with is as good as I can
*hugs* I hope you're feeling better now

[Marousj]

Really hope it's just a 1 time thing.. wouldn't want them to get a full blown relationship, that would .. ugh lol gosh I really can't wait to see this episode! I want to know how it happens.
Thanks. Feeling a bit better but still like shit lol

[Krisi_Melina_Fan]

Great story!!! [: I hope you'll update soon - I can't wait for the new chapter... ^^