Helping Hands

By: mj0621 and tv freak 92 (no particular order)

Disclaimer: We don't own anything... If we did, SMacked would be canon right now... way before Peyton shows up...

Rating: T (just to be safe)

Spoiler/s: none that we know of...

Pairing/s: SMacked all the way, MacPeyton, hints of MacJane and M&Ms(DL)

Summary: When everybody knows about Mac and Peyton, everybody tries to help Stella's heart.

Author's Notes:

mj0621: This came out when we were playing link the story SMacked style on YM so please don't take the grammar and spelling mistakes seriously. We weren't able to edit it so it's quite obvious it came from our game... We decided to post because the fic we formed was too good to be wasted.

tvfreak92: hope u like the fic, R&R

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Mac walks along the corridor looking for Lindsay for the DNA results when...

Stella walks past him with out saying hi and...

Mac wonders why. SO he turns around and follows her to..

the break room where she's leaning against a table breathing deeply...

so he sits besides her. Studying her carefully he...

sighs, she's been acting like this for a couple of weeks now...

he cant help but to wonder why is she acting all strange. he carefully...

tilts her head up and looks into her eyes...

but suddenly peyton walks up and sees them in that state, her jaws dropped she was about to retort when...

stella takes mac hand away from her chin and looks down at her feet...

danny came in almost calling mac's name when he senses a thick tension flowting in the room. Lindsay, who was behind him stopped in her tracks and looks at the three occupants of the room. Flack bumps into danny and...

looks up at the occupants and whispers to lindsey "what with them" linds shurgs and...

danny pulls them away while saying to mac"We'll go..." flack fanned himself indicating the tension in the room "whats up with them?" lindsay rolled her eyes and...

As soon as they had gone peyton turned to mac and stella saying "So what is going on then?"...

stella looked at peyton then at mac... she groaned and

said "I know" before walking out. Mac sighed he knew what she was talking about he'd wanted to tell her. He looked up to see peyton smiling a little...

he sighed and said "You need something?"

"No actually, i just wanted to see you that's all" peyton replied

Mac starts walking out the room when peyton catches his arm kissing him on the lips when suddenly...

Danny and Lindsey walk down the hallway, they stop when they see whats going on in the break room Lindsey turns to Danny and...

whispers "they're together??! does stella know about this?" hawkes walks and sighs...

"Yeah she does" he said catching the end of lindsey question. Danny and Lindsey turn to hawkes...

with mouths open hawkes drags them to the locker room "Yeah, i know and yeah stella knows too... weeks ago..." Flack entered and..

"Who knows what?" he asked, the others turned to him "Stella know about Mac and Peyton" danny said...

lindsay sighed. "I thought him and STella would be together... sad..." danny puts an arm around lindsay "Aw...montana...dont worry we'll do something..." lindsay shrugs danny's arm of and looks at theguys "have anything in mind?" their hearts dropped as stella entered clearly...

been crying Stella noticed the others in the room and tried to put on a brave face. Lindsey walked up to her and gave her a hug then...

says to her "I know it hurts..." stella nods and gets her purse as quickly as possible and walks out

the others stood there in silence, flack sighed and said "Mac's gonna pay for hurting her" the others nodded...

"so what are we gonna do?" suddenly all of them fell silent as mac entered. all of them tried to be normal as possible but mac noticed..."Whats wrong?" lindsay stands up with danny and flack "Nothing.see ya next shift" hawkes shruged at mac "Dont ask me..." as he left

Mac sighed he guessed they knew about him and peyton, he opened his locker door...

and saw a note with his name on it...he read it :mac, want coffee? my treat. call me if your up to it...stella. mac fished his phone a lil to fast and pressed the speed dial with stellas number "Stella, i saw your note. you want coffee?" he heard her voice shaky "Uh.. no, maybe next time mac. sorry." then she ended the call. peyton entered and...

saw mac sigh she started to walk up to him when she noticed he had something in his hand. Mac looked back down at the note, he knew he'd messed up he looked up and saw peyton standing there...

frowning. "Youre gonna have coffee with her?" he shook his head "No. she took back what she said." Peyton smiled and kissed him on the lips. "lets go home. I have something to do for us." Jane passed by the door and caught a glimpse and whispered to herself "Theyre together??! i thought he's with bonasera? well, if he's not with stella, he's not going to be with peyton. I wont let her. I think ill help sort things out...

what to do" jane thought about while she contiuned walking through the lab...

the next shift came and every csi was a bit weird around mac and peyton... a forced smile and only talking to them when neccesary... stella however was clueless what the guys are doing for her. at their free time, danny, don, hawkes and lindsay were talking in the a/v lab...doors locked. "We gotta do something...this is getting worse."lindsay whined "I hate seeing stel miserable" danny sighed. their hearts jumped as they heard somebody knock "Dont worry, its me, jane." the guys looked at each other in confusion. "JANE??!"

"Yeah it's me i want to help get Mac and Stella together" The guys looked at each other in shock. Lindsey nodded and flack unlocked the door and let jane in locking it behind her...

"Well, do you have something in mind to do??" jane put her arms on her chest. hawkes looked at her "Why exactly are you doing this Jane?"

"Because Mac should be with Stella and not Peyton and he has to be a fool to chose peyton over stel" the others nodded to shocked to speak

"Ohhhhkaayy... since when did you actually know this?" hawkes continued asking her. he was the only one who could...

speak "Because i saw mac and peyton kissing in the locker room" they all nodded and got to work on forming a plan to split mac and peyton up...

everybody walked out like nothing happened in the a/v room and...

came face to face with Stella who had heard everything...

"Care to explain what I heard?"

"umm" they suttered, Stella sighed and said "guys i know you're only trying to help but please don't he's obviously happy"...

Jane spat "I gave up on mac because I realised you and him belong together! Not with that ME..." Danny and Don sniggered behind them "Somebody doesn't like Dr. Driscoll." Jane looks at them and ...

told them to shut up. Stella smiled "Thanks Jane, but honestly if he wanted me he would have said that wouldn't he." lindsey sighed "Stella you know he cares for you", "Do you actually know that?" she replied...

"As a friend and partner yes, other than that?...No." Flack gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder "Aw, come on Stell, just admit it..."

"Admit what?" Stella asked, "That you're in love with Mac" lindsey replied, Stella fell silent. Mac who was walking past them when lindsey asked stella the question, he waited for...

her answer. The gang were not aware he was just outside the room. Stella said...

"Yeah i do but i know he doesn't love me back". Mac heard what Stella said and whishpered to himself "i do stell i do love you"...

Hawkes and lindsay shook their heads as danny spoke "youre assuming that. you didnt even ask that to him! how could you be sure?" stella retorted"Well, he wouldnt be with peyton if he did have feelings for me right? thats not assuming thats concluding!" jane held stella's hand and...

Stella!!" Jane shouted "The only reason he's with peyton is because he thinks you don't love him" Stella looked down at the floor and...

heard peyton's voice outside the door. "Mac what are you doing here?" obviously, she didnt hear what jane said but they were unsure if mac did.

they stayed quiet and listened to what they were saying. "Looking for you actually" he said lying through his teeth They could tell peyton was smiling when she replied "Really, well i'm here now so what do you want" Mac faked a smile and replied...

"Let's go for a walk shall we?" all of them who were in the room held their breaths until they heard them walk away...

Stella turned to the others and said "Well shouldn't that tell you that he doesn't feel anything for me?" Stella walked out the door, the others waited for stella to leave...

"Okay, so shall we do our plan now?" flack said while rubbing his hands. "Let's make this quick, before stella gives up on mac totally." Danny said and...

"Well we could push and lock them in a closet together??" hawkes said...

lindsay snorted "thats a great idea guys, it is, really, the catch is..." Jane continued "How are we gonna do that?"

the guys sighed and started thinking, Suddenly lindsey had an idea "we could always tell them both that there's something that we can't reach in one of the closets?"...

Jane laughed "nice try."

"what's wrong with that?" danny asked...

"Tell me Messer, how are you gonna convince them to actually do that?" lindsay replied.

"i don't know montana?" danny replied "You know messer the names Lindsey"...

Well sorry for making you feel special!" danny and lindsay both blush and looked anywhere but each other. Hawkes excailmed "See? Improvement! If you guys could hook up, so can mac and stella, I mean, they know each other for twelve years for pete's sake and you guys only know each other for at least three or so years!!! Jane clapped at him as he bowed...

saying "thank you, why thankyou" making everyone crack up laughing. Once they'd controlled themseleves flack said "Well the mayors dinner's coming up and we all have to go so we could hook them up there?"...

"That's a great idea Don!" Lindsay smiled.

"Thanks Linds" Danny turned to DOn and asked "When is it exactly?"...

"tomorrow night. why? have to arrange a date or somthing?"

"Just wondering" Danny replied ingoring Don's last question.

Flack gave him a grin "If you don't ask Lindsay to be your date for tomorrow, I will." Danny glared at him...

and turned to Lindsey and before he could get a word out she said "Yeah of course i would go with you"

Flack and hawkes jaws drop. Danny was speechless. Jane however was smiling...

Flack and Hawkes began smiling at danny's face after the intial shock had warn off. five seconds later Danny had a big grin on his face. Jane spoke up and said "Well now that's sorted out we still need to figre out tomorrow night for Mac and Stella?"

"Let's just make them talk and... lock them somewhere shall we?" Lindsay took a deep breath.

"where?" she asked, Flack sighed and repiled "how bout a...hell i don't know we should decide when we get there"

"We're all coming right? Okay then. See ya next shift." Hawkes said...

walking out. The others followed him out and went home...

little that they know, Mac was there, watching them from afar...

and listening. He knew that they'd be planning something. He couldn't wait for tomorrow night...

The next day, NY was experiencing heavy rains so that meant no cases for them... well, Hawkes, Flack and Mac got the case while all of them are on call...

Stella, Lindsey and Danny sat in the breakroom talking about what was going to happen later on that night. Lindsey turned to Stella and asked "You going tonight?" Stella sighed...

"I dunno yet, I mean..."

"i have no one to go with"...

jane suddenly appeared and poked stella "You dont need a date for these things silly. if you want to, hang around with me...us?"

jane said "Good. I wouldve dragged you anyway."

they all laughed at Jane's comment...

they all fell silent as flack, hawkes and mac entered the room drenched... stella and jane looked at the transparent shirt mac's wearing and looked away. the gang couldnt help but stiffle a laugh/chuckle.

Mac spoke up and said "Well you all can go home now and get ready for tonight. So i hope to see you all tonight 7:00 sharp. You alll now where it is" he then turned around and walked out the breakroom to change his shirt

the gang except jane and stella went out to get coffee for them before they left. jane asked "what are you going to do now?" stella mumbled "my stuff's in the locker room. i cant go alone. I cant face him alone..." jane replies softly "If you want to, i could go with you to make sure everything's gonna be alright..."

"Yeah that would be great...thanks Jane" Jane replied in a soft tone "No problem Stel" They got up and walked to the locker room "Thanks again for doing this with me Jane" "What are freinds for..."

stop in there tracks Stella sighed she couldn't deal with this now, she turned to jane "Come on lets go" Jane shook her head "You're gonna have to deal with him sometime you know" she whishpred "I'll be outside, good luck Stel". Stella was about to retort when the door closed shut...

stella felt shivers down her spine as she kept walking towards her locker mumbling "So much for accompanying me..."

She heard Mac sigh without saying hi to him she walked straight to her locker and opened it only to find it being shut again. She looked up to see Mac looking at her...

she tried to open her locker again but...

he kept his hand on it keeping it closed. she finaly gave up and turned her head to face him. "Will you just let me open my damn locker Mac"...

"Not until we talk." stella spat "There's nothing to talk about now please let go of the damn locker!"

"No Stel and there is something to talk about" Stella had finally lost it...

"No, there is nothing to talk about. Now leave me alone!" Mac trapped stella between his(his bare chest) and the cold locker behind her.

Stella faced the well toned chest of Mac and her breath caught in her throat. "Yes there is" Mac replied his voice going husky as he spoke...

Stella barely spoke "n...o..."

Mac leaned in closer, he leaned up to her ear and spoke huskily "You going to keep saying no or are we actually going to talk?"

he know he affects her, so does she... but still, stella tries to fight her emotions... "We're talking this is enough..." stella tried to move...

"Were not talking about what i want to Stel, so stop fighting me and lets talk properly, no arguments"

"why the hell do you want to talk so badly huh!!? just leave me alone and stop it! Just...Please!!"

"I want to know why you've been acting strange latley, please stella talk to me, tell me...please"

"Damn it mac! you're so stupid! Just let me go! jane's waiting for me outside!"

stella tried to wiggle out of his trap but...

she couldn't he was holding her to tight, she sighed...

"why are you doing this to me mac? huh? why? Why are you so damn...-"

"Adamant? Because i worried about you Stella" he finally let go of her wrists, "You've been so distant latley i just want to know why that's all Stel"

"Don't you think it's abit too late for that mac?" stella pushes him away and walks out grabbing jane's wrist,

Mac sighed as he watched her leave he turned around a put his shirt back on and left the locker room...

the party draws nearer... and Stella and jane are in Lindsay's apartment, helping each other "look good"...

Lindsey having heard that Stella and Mac had fought in the locker room sighed serisoly doubting that tonight would actually work

"So I heard you two saw Mac in the locker room in a... uh.. well, 'nice' state?" Lindsay inquired. Jane bit her lips.

Stella ignored Lindsey question and contiuned getting ready, Jane nodded. "So what happened?" Lindsey asked...

"Nothing." Stella replied and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Lindsay whispered to Jane "So it's true? mac was shirtless??!"

"Yeah he was" Jane whispered back, Lindsey nodded "What actually happened between them two?" "They fought about something that's all i know" Jane replied. They both looked up when the kitchen door opened...

He trapped me between the lockers... happy?" Jane and Lindsay stared at her for minutes trying to process what've she just said...

"umm..." the stammered Stella shook her head "Nothing happened okay, now we are going to go or what?"

They heard someone knock on the door. Stella sighed "Finally!"

Lindsey stood up and answered the door to find...

Danny, Flack and Hawkes half wet, carrying an umbrella...

"So you girls ready then?" Flack asked "Yeah we are" Lindsey said, all six of them walked out the apartment and got into the car

"So much for an umbrella... we're soaking wet already!" Don exclaimed. "Well, don't look at me, it's your umbrella!" Danny retorted.

They arrived at the dinner soon after they arrived at the same time as Mac and Peyton. Mac looked at Stella, stella looked down and walked in to the hotel

"Be strong stella." Jane whispered to her.

Stella nodded. Things went from bad to worse over the course of the night with Mac and Peyton dancing to every song. She was just about to get up to leave when...

She felt a touch on her shoulder

she looked up to see Mac standing behind her "What do you want Mac"...

Everyone was now looking at them both...

Waiting to see what would happen, "Can i have this dance?" he asked

Stella worriedly looked at the gang, then at Jane who was looking at her as well...

Jane nodded and mouthed "go for it" she looked up at him and answered "Yeah, why not"

Mac held her hand as he pulled her to the dancefloor...stella couldn't help but to ask "where's peyton?"

"She's gone stel"

If stella were eating, she would've choked "Gone?"

"Yes gone" he replied "Gone as in what left all togehter or left you and the ball?"

"Well, let's say we decided to stop avoiding the truth of what's really happening..."

"Which is what exactly Mac?"

Mac sighed. he's not good with these kind of things..."well, she knows... and I know... that-"

he stopped making sure he had her attention which he did...

"that what Mac?"

instead of answering her he lent down a gently kissed her. Everyone around the, jaws fell open all execpt the teams that is. When he pulled away a few seconds later he asked "Does that answer you're question?"

Stella smiled and leant on his chest "yes. yes it does."

She lent up and pulled him into another kiss this time they were greeted with cheers and clapping from around them.

Flack cheered on "About freaking time!" Hawkes yelled with him "Geez Mac! Took a long time!"

Lindsey laughed along with Jane and Danny. Danny turned to lindsey "Hey linds" he said "Yeah dan-" she was cut of by his lips on hers. she wrapped her arms around his neck. When they pulled away a few minutes later Mac and Stella were already back at the table. "Well Danny boy decided to get his act together" Stella said

jane said to the group "Well, I'm happy for you guys..." she conitnued "You better take care of each other... mac, if you hurt Stella, I swear I'm gonna hunt you down..." mac asked "What did I miss? You friends?"

Stella nodded "Of course we are Mac aren'twe Jane" "Yep" Jane replied

hawkes said knowingly "See? We knew you guys will admit it... yes Messer even you. All you needed was Helping Hands..."

They all nodded. The party finished about an hour later. It was a good night for the csi's...

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Stella whispered to Mac as he unlocks his apartment "Do I get to experience the locker room incident again?" Mac just smiled and the door closed with a loud thump...

END

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What ya think guys? We would love to hear what you guys think...:D took us 7 hourse on YM to finish this so... hope ya liked it!

mj(wgf) and tf92