Beep Beep Beep

Th alarm sounded throughout the dark room. It was finally silenced by Stella slamming her fist on top of it. It was the third night in a row that she hadn't had a decent night's sleep. Stella had spent those nights tossing and turning and dreaming about someone in particular. Never before had she had dreams about him before, she hadn't even thought of him as more than just a friend. But now, she realised that she loved Mac Taylor.

"If I don't sort this out soon, I won't be able work from lack of sleep." She moaned to the empty room. "Well, better get ready for work."

She climbed out of her bed and into the shower. Letting the hot water run over her body, she let her mind wander to him again. She thought back to last week when she found herself staring at him while he was looking into the microscope. Her eyes wandered over his shoulders and down his back. She shook her head and stepped out of the shower. She got dressed and headed off to work.

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Mac stepped out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist. Cold showers always helped after his dreams about Stella. He had been having the dreams for a long time and he was used to the by now. But recently they had gotten more...M-rated.

Getting dressed, he thought about how he could tell her that he loved her. He decided that he would tell her by the end of the week, but first he had to go to work.

CSINYCSINYCSINYCSINYCSINYCSINY

Mac stepped into the elevator and pressed the button. As the doors were closing, an arm appeared between them. Panting, Stella entered the compartment.

"Good morning." Mac said with a grin on his face. "Sleep through our alarm did we?"

"No." She panted. "If I didn't rush to take this elevator with you, I would be stuck with that old pervert from the 5th floor."

"Oh, you mean Paul Farrel. He scares some of the younger techs." He leant against the back of the elevator.

"Poor girls. How come you look so tired?"

"I could ask you the same thing." He replied.

"I haven't been getting much sleep. Vivid dreams have something to do with it." She snapped her mouth shut. The last part slipped out. She turned away from his inquisitive look. "How about you?"

"Uh...just... dreams." She was amused by the fact he was uncomfortable. The elevator door opened and they stepped out.

"Anyway, do you know if we have any cases?" Stella asked him as they walked down the corridor.

"No, but something tells me we have one now." He pointed towards Don, who was heading towards them.

"Morning guys, we have a new case. It's downtown in an apartment block. Name is Ray Holland, 34 and he owns the apartment. Let's go." Don had walked away before either of them could greet him back.

"Morning to you too, Don." Stella said sarcastically and followed him, with Mac in tow.

Don led the way to the scene in a squad car. Mac and Stella drove behind him in Mac's car. The journey was spent in silence and with Stella driving, Mac snuck a few glances to remember later. After about twenty minutes, Don pulled up outside an apartment block. The three detectives rode the elevator to the third floor and entered apartment number 314.

"Whoa! Definite struggle." Don commeneted as they entered the room. Chairs, vases, books and other things were strewn across the floor. In the middle of the room, lay the body of Raymond Holland. He was lying on top of a broken table with a shard of glass sticking out of his chest.

"I think it's safe to say that our guy put up a fight." Stella commented as she tried to make her way to the body.

"Over here Stel, I've made a path." Mac motioned for her to come towards him. She managed to trip over a book and fell. Mac caught her and pulled her up against his chest. He could have sworn he felt her breathing stop momentarily. She looked straight into his eyes, her face inches from his. When she remembered where she was she pulled away.

"Thanks Mac." She smiled and walked to the body. Mac took a few seconds to calm down before he followed.

"Well, looks like our killer might have cut themselves." Mac pointed to the traces of blood that were out of place. Stella had already put gloves on, so she examined the red mark on his shirt collar.

"Hmmm, lipstick. Could the fight have been over a woman?

"It looks like one hell of a fight." Mac looked around the room again. His eyes settled on the laptop computer. Carefully picking his way across the room, he put on his gloves.

"Hmmm, the guy didn't have a password on his laptop. His organiser says he had a date with Lucy Forde. Maybe she wears red lipstick?" He asked turning back to face Stella. "What have you got?"

"Alot of broken glass. But one of the pieces has some trace on the edge of this piece." She held up a piece of glass with a blue smudge on the edge. She sealed it in a bag and placed it next to the one containing the blood stained shard.

"I'm going to take a look in the bedroom. See if there is any evidence of our mystery woman." Mac walked into another room.

"Stel, you might want to come in here." He called out. "There is more destruction in here."

Stella copied the path that Mac had taken. The bedroom was just as bad as the other room. A big double bed stood in the middle of the room, either side of it there were end tables. One had a broken lamp on it, the other had a number of broken picture frames. Mac picked one up and showed it to Stella.

"This brunette could be our mystery lady."

"Maybe. Is there any writing on the back?" She held her hands out, waiting for him to pass it to her.

"Here."

"Ow, damn it!" Stella removed her glove and sucked her finger.

"Should I have mentioned that there is still glass in the frame?" He asked, concealing his smile.

"Shut up Mac!"

"Alright no need to get snappy! Here." He took out his handkerchief and cleaned up her cut.

"Thank you." she muttered. She looked at his face while he concentrated. When he looked up, she found herself looking in his eyes.

"You should really be more careful today." He smiled at her and offered her a new glove.

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I'm half way through chapter 2, but just decided to post this one. Please review.

Thanks for reading.