Stalemate
Summary: Stella gets a lucrative and prestigious offer to work in the FBI Crime Lab in Virginia just as a gruesome cold case unravels before the CSIs. What will she decide? Will Mac have a say in it? Will he want to? What will the case bring them? SM/team post-s.6
Disclaimer:I don't own anything. This is only a fan fiction story. CSI:NY and all the characters are the property of Anthony Zuiker and CBS. I'm just a fangirl who can't resist playing with their wonderful creations:-)
A/N: The story starts off a couple of weeks after the episode 6.23 'Vacation Getaway' and there will be some spoilers from this eppy and the whole of season 6.
A/N2: With this new story, my hiatus is officially over. I'm dreadfully sorry for my long silence but RL was busier than ever and the muse needed some battery-recharging;-) I'd like to thank you for your patience and I hope this will compensate at least to a small degree the long wait! I'm kinda nervous - my first post after quite some time, but tried to do my best and hope you'll like it!
For your enjoyment only;-)
Chapter 1 – Clouds On The Horizon
When the first drops of rain came down on the sprawling city of New York, Stella Bonasera looked up from her papers into the dimness outside her office and felt a shiver run along her spine as heaven's tears began beating against the huge glass walls she was safely cooped up behind. She didn't want to be safe, though. She pushed herself out of her chair and came to stand before the glass just as a blue four-fingered hand of a luminous lightning grasped at the afternoon Manhattan skyline.
Hugging herself, she chanced a sideways glance back towards her desk as if to make sure the letter was still there. It was. Then her glance wandered through the glass walls towards her partner's office to check if he was in. He was but he didn't look up, engrossed in some papers as always. Always. She was tired with always. Always waiting, always being there to pick up the pieces and always waiting, hoping, believing...in something that never came. And she doubted ever would. Maybe life, destiny, God or whatever force it was that drove the universe, was giving her a way out? A way to protect herself and save herself from further torment? She shook her head to fight off the doubts that had been assaulting her heart and mind like hungry harpies ever since she read the letter. But it wasn't enough.
Her lips a thin line, Stella grabbed her cloak and headed for the elevator.
"Stella?" came a querying voice from behind but she didn't heed it. "I've got the results you asked for."
Only when she turned around in the elevator to push the right button did she give Hawkes a sideways look.
"Not now, Sheldon," she said curtly and the door closed behind her. She reached for her cell and turned the sound off. She didn't want to be disturbed.
When the elevator reached its destination, Stella stepped out into the ground floor lobby. In a couple of swift steps she found herself at the exit doors. One of the guards ran up to her offering her an umbrella but she just waved him off wanting to get out as fast as possible. One last step, one last breath and there she was.
The hard-driving June rain immediately slapped against her coat, face and hair as if it wanted to physically turn her away. It was coming down in column after column, each drenching her more than the previous one. She took a moment to relish the feel of cold drops on her skin and made her way down the steps. She stepped over the river that began to rush wildly next to the curb and continued down the street. By the time she got to the East River pier, she was completely soaked, her hair hanging limply in long waves along her face and her mascara smudged under her eyes. A shiver run down her spine as a rivulet of water made its way behind her collar and down her back.
She came to stand on the pier beneath the unbound leaden skies and watched the heavy rain fall from the mournfully grey clouds. Her skin shivering with an icy chill, she propped herself on the barrier and looked out into the choppy dark blue waters of the river and breathed in full lungs of the cold breeze coming from the ocean. She looked at the whirls and foamy waves, but her mind was wandering elsewhere.
She suddenly felt her phone vibrate and automatically took it out of her pocket. Rain devoured the instrument immediately, covering it in a cocoon of humid mist. Stella looked at the caller ID and the picture displayed above it.
Mac.
As she looked at his miniature face staring at her from her phone, a big wet drop landed on the screen and slowly made its way over Mac's face. Stella didn't know if it was the rain or her tear. She shook her head with a firm expression and put the phone back into her pocket. As she turned her gaze back towards the river the driving drops advanced onto her face again and camouflaged the treacherous tears. She looked out into the water, her mind and soul in turmoil.
XxXxXxX
Mac pushed the redial button but when he got Stella's voice mail again, he sighed looking in frustration at his partner's picture on the phone display.
"And she didn't tell you where she was going?" he asked Sheldon who had come in with the results he was supposed to give to Stella.
"No," Sheldon shook his head. "But something was wrong, Mac," he added, concern in his voice.
Mac sighed and rubbed his forehead. "All right. Go back to work, Sheldon, I'll take care of this."
Stella was a big girl and Mac would never question her judgement or independence but if Sheldon thought something was off then he should at least check. Especially as she had come in about an hour ago to tell him she would be swamped in her office with backlog reports for the next couple of hours. She wouldn't just up and leave without a word. Unless it was something serious. In which case, as her boss and friend, he wanted to know about it. He knew how Stella liked to do everything on her own and her way and he respected that but ever since he had almost lost her in Greece last year and again when she had almost drowned chasing Marina Garito's killer only two months ago, he had become much more protective of her. He wouldn't dare to let her know because he knew he would get a right tongue-lashing but he couldn't help what he felt inside. So while a year ago he would have probably ignored this sudden absence, now he found himself walking into Stella's office with worry twisting his stomach into a tight knot as he took in her working space.
She had been working on the papers sure enough but his detective eye quickly caught the uncapped pen thrown over the papers as if in a hurry and one letter thrown over all the other papers. The FBI logo embossed at the top caught his attention. He took the letter and as he read, his frown began to deepen.
Dear Miss Bonasera,
we have been following your outstanding path of career at the New York Crime Laboratory with great interest. You have proven yourself to be an excellent NYPD officer and an eminent scientist. Your impeccable line of duty, exceptional skills and integrity were brought to our attention in the widely covered New York Compass Killer case as well as Marina Garito's murder and other numerous crimes you have successfully investigated.
Hence, we have the pleasure to inform you that you have been shortlisted from 500 best CSI officers from the whole of United States for the position of Forensic Program Manager of our newest investigation laboratory in Virginia.
An officer from the FBI Personnel Office shall be visiting the New York Crime Lab this month to observe the work environment and procedures in the said facility as a part of your final evaluation, which may result in your possible admission. Your supervising officer shall be duly informed.
Please accept our congratulations for your outstanding service and achievements. We hope to meet you in person in the nearest future.
Best wishes,
xxx
After reading the last word, Mac continued to stare at the letter though he didn't really see it. Stella was an excellent detective and a talented CSI and she had had her share of spectacular cases, which he never failed to praise in his quarterly reports for the brass recommending her for promotion but he had no idea this would go this far. Obviously his lab had found itself on the FBI radar after they had admitted Haylen Becall six months ago and this was the result. FBI got wind of the fantastic team he had build here and was now trying to lure out his best people. The worst part of it was he could do nothing about it. A job at the FBI and especially FBI Forensic Manager was a big deal and one of the most coveted positions in the CSI world. He himself had turned it down on more than one occasion but he had his personal reasons. That said, he would never advise such a decision to any of his workers. You didn't say no to the FBI. This was an honour for Stella and for the entire lab and as her boss and her friend he should support her in this. That was the right thing to do. Then why did it feel like someone had torn a hole inside of him with an exceptionally blunt knife? Was he a bad friend that he wasn't exactly thrilled at this news?
He stood in his best friend's office in a silent stupor as the ramifications of this single sheet of paper he was holding in his hand slowly began to sink in. It was only when the steady murmur of rain drops against the glass wall in front of him intensified to a heavy drumming did he look up just as a white lightning swept through the sky followed by the low rumble of a thunder.
He left the letter where he had found it and went back to his office with one purpose on his mind. He reached for the neat stack of mail from morning waiting for him to read. He leafed through it until he found it. An envelope with the FBI logo on it.
He sat down heavily in his chair, the envelope left unopened. He tried to call her again but the only sound of her he heard was the message she had recorded on her voicemail. This time he heard it out till the end.
You've finally lost her, his treacherous mind whispered when he put the phone down.
He turned his chair around and stared out the window into the dimness of the waging storm. Why did he get the feeling that while this storm was ending, there were already new storm clouds gathering on the horizon? And while these didn't involve forces of nature, they involved forces as powerful – human emotions, passions and fears.
"I never really had her to lose in the first place," he said with an anger that surprised him into the emptiness of his office and his heart.
XxXxXxX
Not far away from where Stella Bonasera was standing, another person was moving through the rain in a state of deep turmoil. The man was soaked to the bone when he finally stumbled into the five-oh precinct in Lower Manhattan. He came to the reception desk and leaned onto it as if he had suddenly lost all strength and the wooden bar was all that was keeping him upright.
"I..." he tried but his clattering teeth made him stutter. "I need tttto speak to dddetective Ssss...Stella Bonasssera," he finally managed.
The officer on duty looked at him suspiciously.
"May I see some ID, please?" he asked.
The man looked at him with anger sparking in his eyes. "I need to speak to detective. Stella. Bonasera. Now," he said again clutching the officer at his shirt.
"Sir, I have to ask you to back down and put your hands where I can see them," the officer said warily shaking the man's hands off, his own hands wandering towards his gun.
"What's the matter here, Stu?" came a friendly voice from the side and a second officer, this one plainclothes, came to stand beside the one called Stu with a frown building on his face as he saw the state the man was in.
"This guy's getting grabby, Don," Stu said, his gaze still levelled at the stranger. "And I don't mean in fun way," he added snarkily. "I was thinking of putting him in..."
"I just want to see detective Stella Bonasera!" the man shouted.
"Easy there," Don said coming slowly towards the man, his interest piqued upon hearing Stella's name. "I'm a friend of hers," he added gently seeing the man was becoming more unbalanced with his every word and slow movement towards him. "I'll tell her you're here but you need to calm down, sir."
"No!" the man mouthed angrily, pushing his shaking hands through his already wet and dishevelled hair. "I need to see her now!" and with that he pounced at Flack with clenched fists.
Don was prepared, though, and before Stu or any other officer could get involved, he had the man pressed to the floor with his knee digging into the man's back. To Flack's amazement, he didn't struggle at all but became limp the moment Don touched him. He saw his body was shaken by sobs.
"I need to see..." he managed in between gasps.
"Yeah, yeah, we heard you," Flack cut him off impatiently. "We may be cops but we're not hearing-impaired."
The man only gurgled in reply.
"Why do you need to see detective Bonasera?"
"She put an innocent man in jail and now he's dead because of her!" the man spat angrily.
Flack looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. Maybe he really did need to see Stella. And if this guy was telling the truth, so did he.
tbc.
A/N: So, how did you like this? Interested enough to read more? Do let me know! I'm dying to know what you think about this;-)
A/N2: If you haven't been to my profile and you're interested, I've made my first ever Smacked fanvid to this story – it's to the song 'Stalemate' by Ben's Brother that originally inspired this story and it's great. Here's the URL (paste it in the address bar removing the asterisks, of course;): www*.*youtube*.*com*/*watch?v=k8GfBPHLgSg. I hope you'll like it:)
A/N3: My other story 'Step by Step' will update at the beginning of the next week.