All the Fuss
A post 7x04...so if you haven't seen it ... for once not a Danny/Lindsay story, just a little thought on Mac going in again alone into a crime scene and getting himself shot. Dedicated to Lilymoonlight.
His apartment was dark, the light of the city simmering through the window. Across the way, the apartments moved of people. Mac sat alone in the quiet and listened to the familiar voice, the smile a familiar beacon in the night.
"You promised me you were taking care of yourself," Stella said from her end. It was an hour earlier for her, in a city-like New York-that never slept, though it moved differently, sleepily, she'd once described to him.
"I'm still here."
"That's not reassuring."
He smiled a little. "Lindsay was here, brought food and movies. Nearly tucked me into my chair, checked things out."
"I suppose that was supposed to be reassuring."
"Some things will stay the same. You trained her well."
"That's her mother instinct," Stella laughed. "She didn't think she'd have it, but I suppose it was just simmering. And I don't picture her bringing by your paper work. She knows how to go home, get away from the office."
"Lindsay suggested rest and relaxation. To take some time, make a few calls. I wouldn't say it was an order," he shook his head, adjusted in the chair and winced as his body reacted to the pain in his arm.
"Danny came by with Lucy to pick her up, perfect timing, as if they'd gone through it before, practiced it to make sure the timing was right."
"I believe they did—just last year." Her voice was dry. "This better not be a habit Mac. You want to tell me where your backup was?"
"Made a left turn when I went right. Or one might say my backup moved to New Orleans."
"You promised you were taking care of yourself. Maybe that means that you remember that you're not superman," her voice cracked, a slight chisel through the warmth, so she pulled back and pulled in, Mac knew, before homesickness set in.
New Orleans was an opportunity for her, but it wasn't home. He knew she would find her place, among her people. That was who she was, but she was also a New Yorker.
"How's Lucy?"
"Good. Relaxed, headstrong. Sometimes rambunctious, always smiling, with the curiosity of her parents combined. Smart. Took one look at my sling and diagnosed me as hurt, then told me no no more," it made him smile, despite the sadness of sitting in the dark, able only to share his day with Stella. "And none of Lindsay's sympathy."
"And you think Danny gets it when he goes off half-cocked alone after men with guns? I think he learned his lesson the last time. She's too smart not to see through the bull."
"Lindsay or Lucy?"
"Both of them. And so am I. "
First and foremost, they were friends. Second, they were partners, in so many ways. With her brains and her skills, he'd known she would move on and maybe he'd pushed her a little to do so. She needed her own team, room to spread her own wings. He wanted to see her take those steps, wanted to see the potential he saw inside of her bloom.
He was just sad that the move up and taken her so far south.
As he ended the call with her, as he did most nights, he sat in the silence and listened to the echoing sound from the memory of her voice.