Once Upon a Time in New York City.
Legal Stuff:-nothing and nobody belongs to me.
A/n: - Ok folks so this is definitely an AU fic so Jess and Aiden are both very much alive, Jo is still happily married to Russ and Stella never worked at the lab amongst other things. Hopefully this will all make perfect sense at some point. Anyway all feedback gratefully accepted as always.
January: The misunderstanding.
Once upon a time in New York City lived a man named Mac Taylor...
"Mac are you actually planning to leave your office sometime tonight or do I need to call security" Detective Josephine 'Jo' Danville poked her head around his office door.
"What it's not that late..." Mac shrugged from behind a stack of paperwork.
"Mac its 7pm by my calculation you have been here almost fourteen hours straight for the third time this week go home" She all but ordered him.
"It's ok I don't mind working late" Make insisted.
"Well I do mind it's not healthy spending so much time at work" She sighed walking into his office "Either you go home willingly or I will get Flack and Danny to carry you outta here."
"I'm not going to win this argument am I" Mac asked.
"Would you have it any other way" She pointed out.
"True" He grinned and conceding defeat closed the file he was working on, then standing up he collected his coat and scarf from his coat stand "Happy now?"
"I will be when I walk you out of the building" Jo grinned back and grabbed his briefcase before he could reach for it "And this is staying with me tonight. Go home and relax Mac, watch TV or read a book anything but work."
"Spoil my fun why don't you" He chuckled as they headed towards the elevator together.
"What you need Detective Taylor is a good woman to take you in hand" Jo advised him pressing the elevator's call button.
"Well if you are offering" He teased his friend and colleague.
"Thanks but no thanks I'm very happily spoken for as you well know" Jo grinned again "Besides it could get messy I mean you and Russ would have to get some sort of rota going and if Tuesday got mixed up with Thursday it could be chaos."
"Ah there you go again breaking my heart" Mac laughed as the elevator pinged and the doors slid open. They were a great team at work and even better friends but that's where their relationship ended neither one had ever been romantically interested in the other or ever would be but that didn't stop Mac adoring his honorary 'sister' or vice versa.
"Mac you're a great guy but your far too picky when it comes to the opposite sex" Jo advised as they rode down to the parking lot "Every woman you date there is something wrong."
"I'm not picky" Mac protested, wondering exactly where this conversation was leading "I just haven't found someone special yet is all."
"Oh what about Peyton, Quinn, Aubrey and the rest" Jo pointed out "One date all of them and then it's sayonara dude I grant you Christine was an absolute nightmare and don't get me started on Peyton but surely one of them was worth a second look."
"I'm not picky...I just want..."He couldn't really admit even to himself what he wanted not really.
"You just want Claire" Jo finished off for him "Which is why you have practically moved into the Lab, since working yourself into any early grave beats staying home alone doesn't it?"
"You know me far too well" Mac said sheepishly as they reached their destination.
"I ought to after all these years" Jo nodded "I miss her too Mac, we all do. Claire was a wonderful person but she's been gone a long time and the Claire I knew wouldn't want you to be alone."
"She was the only one for me Jo" Mac shook his head sadly "I still love my wife and I always will."
"Doesn't mean you can't fall in love again" Jo argued watching him climb into his SUV "If you would just let yourself."
"Alright I surrender who is she" Mac asked suspiciously.
"She's Russ' partner's cousin's best friend" Jo confessed "Her name is Miriam, she's an accountant from Queens and she's divorced."
"No Jo no more blind dates you and Russ might live in Ozzy and Harriet land but maybe I like being single did you ever think of that" Mac countered "Master of my own TV remote, lord of the bathroom, commander in chief of my closet and supreme ruler of my bank account how many guys can say that."
"Sure you do Mac that's why your overtime bill looks like the national debt" Jo played along "Find a woman Mac, any woman."
"Goodnight Jo" Mac closed his car's door and drove off.
"Goodnight Mac" She called out after him.
All the way home Mac thought about what Jo had said, she was right that he was still too wrapped up in Claire to find someone else that's if anybody else even wanted him anyway it wasn't as if the perfect woman was going to appear out of thin air was it.
"Good evening Arnold" Mac greeted his doorman as he entered his building. Arnold Brown had to be nearly eighty but he still knew every inch of the building down to the last brick and everyone in it, nothing and no-one escaped him.
"Good evening Mr Taylor sir" Arnold replied.
"Arnold please call me Mac" Mac tried once again, he'd been asking Arnold to call him Mac every day for the past fifteen years still to no avail.
"Yessir Mr Taylor sir" Arnold gave his usual reply "Please can I ask a favour of you sir?"
"Go ahead Arnold" Mac nodded.
"We have a new tenant in 420 a Mrs Bonasera and her little one" Arnold began to explain "Her boiler isn't working properly but the repairman can't make it out till tomorrow and I wondered if you could take a look see since it's the same as yours and it's getting awfully cold..."
"Alright Arnold I'll stop by and take a look" Mac agreed to the request if nothing else it meant spending less time rattling around his apartment on his own some.
Two minutes later Mac knocked politely on the door of apartment 420 "Hi...Mrs Bonasera ...My name is Mac Taylor; I'm here to check on your boiler" He called out.
The door opened and a curly haired woman appeared holding an equally curly haired little girl dressed in Minnie mouse pyjamas and bunny slippers "Hello I'm Stella Bonasera and this is Phoebe" she introduced herself and her daughter cheerfully to the cute blue eyed if rather bewildered looking guy stood outside her front door.
"Mac Taylor" Mac repeated himself; Stella Bonasera was definitely the type of woman that made a man stop and look at least twice. She was almost as tall as he was with a dancer's build and poise, her skin had a faint olive tinge and her hair was a caramel colour while she had the loveliest sea green eyes he decided...beautiful that was the only way to describe her absolutely beautiful.
"Um Mr Taylor would you like to come inside" Stella asked knocking Mac out of his trance.
"What? Oh the boiler...yes I better had hadn't I?" Mac followed her into the apartment abashed at being caught out gawping what the heck had come over him he wondered.
"Thanks for this Mr Taylor its right through here" Stella and Phoebe led the way into the kitchen through a maze of unpacked boxes and stacked up furniture "I'm sorry about the mess we only moved in today and everything seems to have gone wrong."
"There is absolutely nothing to apologize for Mrs Bonasera" Mac assured her "And my name is Mac."
"Then its Stella" She grinned.
"Sorry Mrs...I mean Stella" Mac wondered if he looked as red as he definitely felt "Anyway let's take a look see."
Sliding the front cover off Mac did a quick check and saw the problem immediately a few machinations later and the boiler sprang back into life.
"Oh thank goodness for that" Stella sighed in relief "Phoebe and I thought we'd have to sleep in our coats and hats tonight."
"Your Boiler needs a new thermostat it should be ok for now but when the repairman comes in the morning you need to tell him" Mac explained.
"Repair man? I thought you were the repair man" Stella's eyes narrowed angrily "Just who the heck are you?"
"Mac Taylor I live two floors up I heard that..." He started to explain.
"You heard that I was a widow and a single mom so you thought you'd play knight in shining armour and I'd happily let you into my panties" Stella fumed "Get out of my home!"
"No it wasn't like that at all" Mac tried again.
"I said get out or I will call the cops and its Professor Bonasera to you" Stella yelled at him causing Phoebe to whimper "Now look what you have done."
"I'm so, so sorry" Mac apologized backing away even though he didn't think he'd done anything really wrong then he left.
"The nerve of that guy" Stella muttered cuddling her sobbing baby as she slammed the door behind him "It's ok sweetheart Mommy is here she didn't mean to scare you...pity though he seemed so nice."
Back in his own apartment Mac slammed his door shut too and retreated to the sofa "Stupid, stupid, stupid" He berated himself angrily "Well done Mac you've just managed to offend someone you don't even know." Trouble was he realised he wanted to get to know Stella Bonasera very, very much.
A/n: No it's not a misspelling in this universe Bonasera is Stella's married name. It's always intrigued me that someone so obviously Greek-American would have an Italian surname. There are other reasons for that of course but the simplest and most obvious explanation is that at some point before we met her Stella was married. Sadly we were never given much detail on Stella's background not even her mother's name and it's pretty unlikely we ever will I suppose. All feedback gratefully accepted thank you.