My first ever fanfic so please read & review. Also, (I'm english so slightly behind on series so sorry if there are major inaccuracies)
Tiredness
He would later claim that he wasn't tired, just tired of the void between them. However, she said that after pulling more than a treble, NOT being tired was impossible, even for Mac.
Within 5 minutes of Mac coming into work on that Monday morning, he had received THAT call, the one that told him that Reed had been taken by the Cab Killer. He knew, and so did she, that he wouldn't be leaving until he found out who had taken his step son.
After 10 hours, they still had nothing new and even Mac was beginning to flag and Danny and Lindsay had already lost their temper with each other and so been moved to opposite sides of the lab, allowing everyone else to focus, at least for a while.
However, by 18 hours into they'd all nearly fallen asleep so Stella had unofficially allowed the team to take a nap in the break room but for Mac, sleeping whilst Reed was still missing, possibly murdered, was impossible even when the whole team had begged just to rest for five minutes.
As Stella was about to start the fourth shift in a row, she saw the look in Mac's eyes that she never wanted to see again. The one he'd had after 9/11, when he'd realised that there was no hope left of finding Claire. Right then, she knew she had to get him out of the lab.
"Come on Mac, you need to go home", Stella pleaded
"Can't, not til we've found out who's doing this."
"But what use are you going to be to the case when you're this tired?"
"I won't be able to sleep, not without knowing where Reed is and if he's ok." Mac replied, at the point of giving up.
"Mac" Stella responded "just let me help you"
"How?"
"Let me take you home."