-Disclaimer; I do not own any of the csi ny characters if I did Stella would still be here and would be with either Flack or Mac.
Also note that this is my first csi ny story so I'm sorry if its not perfect or if you don't like the character couple. But its all mine.
ENJOY!
Stella sat on her sofa, twirling a glass of whiskey.
She had never been much of a drinker. In her foster life she had quickly learned that alcohol could change a good man into a child beater and a all around bastard.
However, after the hell this week had been on her emotions whiskey seemed the only cure.
It had started out bad to begin with. She and Mac had worked on a case of a little girl found in a trash pile at one of the City Dump sites. When they finally were able to get some DNA results it came up that she had been a foster child.
Stella, of course, was hit hard. She felt that she identified too much with the victim and had stayed up almost every night trying to catch the killer.
When they did, the results were worse though, for her, not at all surprising. It had been her foster brother.
The flashbacks of life in foster homes and the thoughts that she could have been in this little victim's shoes had caused nightmares like crazy. But as usual, she worked her way through it and handled it as best she could.
However, the worst part had come two days prior when Don Flack Jr. had announced that he would be heading overseas as a Marine.
That information had left everyone painfully silent but it had forced Stella to claim a day of vacation so that she wouldn't have a painfully public break down right there in the lab.
Stella wasn't sure when she had begun to feel for the young detective but it was after the explosion that had left him with a sliced artery in the stomach that she realized just how hard she had fallen for him.
Taking a swig of the whiskey in her shot glass, Stella got up and turned on some classical music. It was a love of hers that she didn't share with anyone. The only one who knew was Flack actually and he had only found out because he had visited her suddenly after the Frankie incident.
Smiling at the memory of them discussing music tastes while she packed her stuff for the move Stella sat back down and sipped again from the fiery drink.
Looking at the digital clock on her phone, she closed her eyes and leaned her head back, debating with herself. The gang were holding a going away party for Don at Lindsay and Don's place and while Stella knew she should go, she was afraid that the moment she saw him in his uniform, she just might do something crazy.
He didn't know of her feelings and while every fiber of her being screamed at her to go tell him before he gets himself killed, fear was holding her back.
The rational side of her was reminding her that Don was nothing like her last two boyfriends. That he would never hurt her like they had. But the silly side was reminding her that he was still a man and there was no telling what would happen to him when he came home.
PTSD did funny things to a soldier and she had worked several cases where it had caused death and eventual insanity in the soldier.
Shaking her head she let the ration side win, the PTSD thing was a stretch anyway. Really it was just an excuse for her fear of anything new, especially love.
Swirling the amber liquid in her glass, she suddenly came to a decision and, after setting her alarm she headed to bed. She would have to be up early and she would be damned if she didn't see him one time last time before he shipped out for God knew how many years due to her over sleeping.
Sending up a prayer to which ever god would listen she shut of her lights and fell into a dream of soldiers and curly haired, blue-eyed children.
By 7:30, she was standing at the air strip waiting for him to say his last goodbyes. Mac and Danny were already there with coffee and would be waiting as representatives of the whole unit since the others had to either work or deal with a new baby.
Don, looking absolutely breathe taking in his uniform, was saying goodbye to his parents and little sister Sam.
For Stella, it was a touching moment that she both loved and was envious of. A part of her wished she had parents who would have seen her off like that, with tears and smiles.
Feeling her own tears begin she turned away and ran to the little room where the vending machine was, telling Mac that she was just going to get something to snack on .
As the vending machine began to work, she leaned her forehead on the cool glass and let the tears fall, praying that he would return to them, to her safely, and clinging to the hope that he would come home soon.
Shaking that negative thought away she leaned down and grabbed her skittles before turning toward the door.
Imagine her surprise when instead of the door, she crashed into a strong chest, and then a hug, that she would remember all her life.
"Hey Stell, I thought you were coming to give this soldier a hug before he went of to play hero."
Despite the tears, she laughed and hugged him.
"Well, soldier boy, playing hero will get you lots of hugs from prettier girls than me, but I'll give ya one anyway, plus extra."
Leaning up she kissed him on the cheek then wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing them into a tight hug. As they held each other, Stella closed her eyes and breathed him in, letting his cologne imprint itself in her mind and in her heart.
At the sound of the whistle, the tears began again. It was time for him to leave her. Sighing she stepped back and touched his cheek with her hand.
"Well Soldier Boy, its time for you to begin your hero stage."
Don smiled a little before taking her hand from his cheek and pulling her out onto the air strip, dropping her hand as soon as they saw the others. Stella instantly missed its warmth but smiled and went to stand next to Mac, waving good bye to the soldier that held her heart in his rough hands.
As he turned his back to them in line to get on the air plane though, something hit her like a brick. She had to tell him she loved him.
Before she knew it her feet were moving and though she heard shouts of warning from Mac and probably from the airport people she couldn't stop, her eyes were on one person.
"Don!"
He instantly turned to the sound and within seconds, she had flung her self into his arms and planted her lips on his in a rough but passionate kiss.
However, after ten seconds without a response from him, she pulled back and dropped her head.
'Figured. Shouldn't have got my hopes up.'
Gathering her pride, she looked up at his surprised face and smiled.
"Figured you wouldn't be getting a kiss from a woman who loves you anytime soon so I volunteered myself. Come home, Don. Soon."
With that she spun on her heel and jogged back to her car, glancing back only once to see his fellow soldiers pushing him through the airplane door.
Quickly drying her tears she climbed into her car and drove home. Whiskey and Beethoven were calling to her.
Smiling a little, she sent another prayer of safe keeping to the gods and just kept her life going the way it always would. Solving cases and dealing with urequited feelings for a certain detective turned soldier.
