Trouble Sleeping

[MS Set after ['Down The Rabbit Hole' He needed sleep. She needed him to sleep.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my waffling, drabble and the plot of this fic.

A/N:- I seem to be on a roll so here's another fic. It's a sort of post-ep but you have to imagine that they caught the serial killer Second Life assassin and wrapped the case because I can't imagine any of the CSIs getting any rest until they have. Also sorry if it's slightly OOC.

It's late and I'm feeling so tired
Having trouble sleeping.
This constant compromise
Between thinking and breathing.
Corinne Bailey Rae – Trouble Sleeping

"Tell me why exactly we're at your apartment after working a triple shift to catch a quasi cyber, quasi psycho killer?" Mac asked.

Stella dropped her keys onto her coffee table and began pulling out blankets and cushions from her storage cupboard. "Because your apartment doesn't have a futon in the living room." She said, walking over to the window and drawing the curtains.

Mac rubbed his eyes and hung up his suit jacket. "Does your answer just not make sense because I am severely over tired or are you speaking in code again Stella?"

"Just wait a minute." She said, making up the bed, piling on lots of cushions and pillows. "Okay," She said, stepping back. "Sit down, make yourself comfortable."

"I'm having flashbacks to Lucy Henderson's fifth grade sleepover which her mother made her invite me to because she felt sorry for me." Mac said dryly, reluctantly lowering himself into the nest of cushions. In all honesty, he was far too exhausted to argue.

Stella raised her eyebrows slightly and laughed. Mac never talked about his childhood, or his past pre-NYPD in general. The lack of sleep must be getting to him. "Comfortable?"

"Hmm and slightly worried."

Stella tutted and headed into the kitchen grabbing a pint of Ben&Jerry's and a bottle of Scotch.

"Ice cream?"

"It's for me. That's for you." Stella said, handing him the bottle and a glass.

"You going to tell me what this is all about?" Mac asked, pouring himself a drink.

"I figured out why you're not sleeping." Stella said. Mac opened his mouth to speak but Stella cut him off before he had a chance to say anything. "I know you don't want to talk about it and you definitely don't want me to be worrying about you but I am. You can't carry on like this as it's going to affect your health, your safety and the job and you know you won't be able to forgive yourself if that happens." Mac didn't say anything. Stella bit her lip. She knew Mac didn't like people interfering and the fact that he hadn't already gotten up and left was a testament to their long enduring friendship. "So, anyway, I figured out what you need: trilogies." She continued, putting some cheerfulness into her voice.

"Trilogies?" Mac repeated wryly.

"Yeah, you're not sleeping because you can't relax. You lie there with all your problems running through your head and you can't switch off, you have to be awake to analyse them, trying to solve them ….. I know what that's like Mac and this is why I know how to help you. I guarantee you will be asleep before we complete the three films."

"Really?" Mac said disbelievingly. He had tried shots of alcohol, sleeping tablets, a mixture of both and neither of those had worked so he severely doubted what Stella had in mind was going to send him to sleep but she was being a good friend and he had to humour her.

Stella walked over to her DVD unit and started pulling some DVDs off the shelf. "Okay so I know you're not going to want to watch Shrek as last time I tried to watch that with you we didn't even get halfway…" She laughed.

"Anything which has a talking donkey in it isn't really my sort of movie Stel." Mac said, tipping back another drink.

"And I'm guessing that since we've just spent several days examining a lot of dead bodies with oddly coloured hair cartoon characters that the Bourne trilogy and X-Men are out." She continued. "That leaves us with Lord Of The Rings and Bring It On all three parts."

"Bring It On?" Mac said frowning.

"Trust me you don't want to know why I even have those DVDs." Stella said, shaking her head.

"Lord Of The Rings it is." Mac said with a sigh.

"Hey! It was an instant classic." Stella said, wrapping herself in a blanket and taking a seat next to her friend.

"Yeah I know but I also know how you like to recite the lines off by heart and point out every time Aragorn or that blond-haired elf comes on screen."

"You're just upset that I don't have The Godfather in my collection." Stella laughed, sticking her spoon in her tub of Cookie Dough.

……..

Mac stared at the screen and blinked. His eyes stung from tiredness and his eyelids were beginning to get really heavy ….. he was in that blissful hazy drowsiness that he hadn't felt in weeks. He shifted slightly and let his eyes close, just for a few seconds, he could still hear the dialogue and picture the image on the screen ……………

Stella put down the half empty tub of ice cream on the table and looked across at Mac. He had lasted until the hobbits had gotten to Bree and then he had passed out completely. She smiled to herself as she paused the film and leant over and gently pulled a blanket over him. She was just about to put away the ice cream and grab some sleep herself when that all too familiar ringing pierced the silence. She looked at her watch: 3.33. She grabbed Mac's cell phone from his suit pocket and cancelled the call before the noise had a chance to wake him up. No wonder he hadn't been sleeping. She stared at his phone for awhile longer. She knew that if it was her in his position Mac wouldn't rest until he had found out who was stalking her and she made the same vow to herself now: tomorrow or the next day – whenever Mac woke up – they were going to try and put and end to this together.

A/N:- And another drabblish type thing!