I have another one for you – actually I've been thinking about this for a long time, but only really finished it today. It was supposed to be a one shot, but my friend and first critic Mitch recommend putting in a TBC, so blame him ;-)

The story features the song "Red Red Rose" by Emmylou Harris (written by David Mallet), a beautiful and slightly melancholic country ballad.

Disclaimer: All the original characters belong to their owners - except for Mac. Mac belongs to Stella.

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Chapter 1

Lindsay walked along the corridor on her way to the DNA lab. From the corner of her eye she saw how Stella flopped back in her chair with a puzzled look on her face. When she returned 15 minutes later, Stella was still sitting in the same position, staring absentmindedly into the air. Lindsay hesitated for a moment, then slowly poked her head through the door.

She approached her unnoticed and followed her gaze, then she looked down at Stella with a questioning look.

"Stella??"

No reaction.

"You okay?"

Stella didn't move or look up, then suddenly she said something.

"Mac is … a man!"

Lindsay frowned for a moment.

And this was surprising because… ?

"Yeah, I figured that on my first day already. You know, he told me not to call him 'Sir', but nevertheless. And it took you about 10 years to realize that he…"

She paused after a look at Stella, noticing that she wasn't with her at all.

"What's up?" she carefully asked, wondering more and more what this was all about.

Stella slowly looked up at her.

"I think he finally started seeing someone again…"

"MAC???"

"I can't point a finger at it, but something is different. He won't joke around with me as he used to… Whenever I try to ask him about it, he backs out."

"You have a problem with him seeing someone?" Lindsay still wasn't sure how to interpret Stella's reaction.

"No! Not at all. I mean, after all that's what I've been telling him all these years. It's just that … I don't know. We've been through a lot over the years, we shared so much all the time. You know, he always told me about his feelings. There were no secrets or things we couldn't talk about. Even when there was someone interested in him, he would tell me about it, ask me what to do and how to explain to her he wasn't ready. And now, he's just different …" Stella sighed. "I just miss the old easy way we normally have with each other."

Stella was serious about what she said and Lindsay had the feeling she believed in what she said. But she wasn't too sure if it wasn't just because this was what Stella had told herself all the time, maybe she just didn't see that things had changed.

"Well, maybe there's nothing after all, maybe he's just telling the truth when he says there is nobody. I mean, why should he lie to you, right?" Lindsay suddenly had an idea and tried to get out as quickly as possible by cheering Stella up with some comforting words.

"Yeah, maybe…" Stella mumbled.

"'Night Stella, see ya tomorrow!" Lindsay called on her way out.

"Good night…" Stella remained in her chair.

XXXXX

Lindsay found Danny in the locker room. She wasn't exactly sure if he would be the right guy for this, but for now he was the only one available.

"Messer, we have to talk!" she announced while sitting down on the bench in the middle of the room.

"Whoa, that sounds serious… What'd I do?"

"You nothing. Actually I'm not sure if anyone did anything. But before someone does something without knowing something else, we need to do something," Lindsay tried to explain.

"It's Saturday evening, speak in a way that I can understand, please?" Danny was confused. He had no idea what she was talking about.

After Lindsay told him about her short conversation with Stella, he laughed out loud. Lindsay gave him a puzzled look.

"WHAT?!?"

"You're never gonna believe what I'm telling you now…"

"What, Danny???" she impatiently insisted on an explanation.

"Only half an hour ago I talked to Mac. He was at the lab, working on something as it seemed and looked quite helpless. So I thought he might need some help and asked him if I could do anything. And then he suddenly started telling me that Stella wouldn't stop asking him if he was dating anyone and that it would be great if it was true and that she would be happy and so on and that he just couldn't make her stop asking him about it."

"Yeah, that's about what she told me – just from the other side," Lindsay confirmed, wondering where Danny was going with this.

"Right. But what she didn't tell you because she doesn't know is the next thing. In the end Mac suddenly asked: 'How am I gonna explain to her there IS nobody else??'"

"Nobody ELSE???" Lindsay eyes suddenly had the size of saucers.

Danny just nodded with a broad grin.

"Yup, my thoughts."

"And now?"

"Hey Hawkes!" Danny called when the door to the locker room opened. "Didn't you have a friend who works as a DJ at WQXR radio?"

"That's right, why?"

"Could you ask him to do you a favor, we're gonna explain it to you later, it's a rush…"

TBC

The second and final chapter will be posted on Feb 14 – Valentine's Day ;-)