Spoilers: None.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my inspiration.
AN: Begins Mid-S3. Merry Christmas Lisa! :)
There was a bar around the corner from the office. Flack, Stella, Danny, Hawkes, Adam and Lindsay had gone after to work to blow off some steam. It'd been another in a series of long weeks.
There was beer and pool for a couple hours until one by one they disappeared. Hawkes and Adam were shanghaied by a couple of brunettes heading to a more popular club a couple blocks over. Danny slipped out, and Stella noticed Lindsay following suit and turning in the wrong direction of her apartment, but she just shook her head.
And then it was just Flack and Stella. She smiled. "You up for one more game of pool?"
He grinned. "Always."
They wound up playing a few more after that. Stella was crowned queen of the pool table before it wall over with. It was late, and Flack wouldn't hear of letting her walk or take the subway.
"Besides, you're on my way home," he argued.
She laughed. "I am not, but fine. Lead the way Detective," she replied as she looped her arm through his.
He grinned at her.
Then they were sitting in front of her building, talking and laughing as they wondered what happened with Adam, Hawkes, and the brunettes.
And then before Stella knew what happened, he'd kissed her. Then she was kissing him back and their hands were everywhere, and the alarms in her head caught up and she pulled back.
"We can't, Don. We can't. I'm not ready for a relationship right now. I just need a little time. Okay?"
Confusion was written all over his face, it coupled sadly with tiredness in his eyes. But he didn't argue.
"Okay."
Two years later…
They were in the locker room when he told her.
She was about to walk out when he asked her to hang on a minute.
He kind of sighed, like he had to do something he really wasn't looking forward to. He stared at his locker before looking over at her. "I didn't want you to hear it from someone else. Angell and I have kind of started seeing each other."
Stella did her best to hide her shock as the pain in her heart ached. "Oh."
They stood there in awkward silence a few minutes. Stella broke the silence.
"Are you happy?"
He smiled, and kind of nodded. "Yeah."
"Then I'm happy for you." She flashed him what she hoped was a reassuring smile before heading for the door.
"I couldn't put my life on hold forever, Stel."
She paused at the doorway, her back to him.
"I know."
But see, the thing is, Stella never really thought that Flack wouldn't wait for her. It never crossed her mind that he might stop waiting. He was her guy; he was the one she was saving for when the timing was right.
She just wasn't ready soon enough.
A few months later…
Stella was sitting on the roof when he found her. She heard the scuffle of his shoes and that patented sigh; she knew it was him without turning around.
"Whatcha doing up here all alone?" he asked as he sat down beside her.
She wiped her cheek before turning to look at him. She flashed him a small smile. "Just thinking."
"Yeah, I've been doing some of that myself."
"Yeah. What have you been thinking 'bout?"
"Jess."
"Oh," she said quietly.
"…and you."
"Me?"
He sighed. "You know, I thought that I was over you, that I was ready to move on. But I was just trying to replace you; I see that now. I care about Jess a lot, but she's not you. And I think she knows that my heart's somewhere else, and it's hurting her, and me, and..." he trailed off and looked hard into her eyes. "And you," he whispered as he leaned in to kiss her.
A feeling of warmth passed through her as his lips met hers, and she was lost in him before she could stop her head from spinning. But then she pulled back, it took all she had, but she couldn't. He looked at her confused. "Flack, you're still with her. I, I can't. I won't."
He nodded, understanding. "I'll tell her tonight."
No words had ever sounded so good to Stella's ears.
Flack was off the next day, and Stella was anxious to see him when he came back the day after. They kept missing each other all day. She finally caught him at the end of their shift. The minute she saw him she knew something was wrong.
"Stella, I need to talk to you." He said it quietly, like he was gearing up for something.
"Okay," she replied slowly.
"Not here. C'mon. I'll drive you home."
She followed him out. They rode in silence. When he parked in front of her apartment building, she turned to him.
"What is it?"
He fidgeted in his seat, and ran his fingers through the loops in the steering wheel before resting them on his knees. Whatever he had to say, it was not something that was coming easily.
"Jess's pregnant."
Her heart sank.
"When I went to her place night before last she was sitting there with one of those home tests crying, and I couldn't," his voice broke. "I couldn't tell her I'd come to break things off. And I just…" he trailed off, unable to put words to what she already knew.
"You want to stay for the baby," she said softly as he looked up at her, meeting her eyes for the first time since they had left the lab.
He brought a hand to her cheek, wiping the tears away with his thumb. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault."
She shook her head. "You didn't get us here all on your own."
They sat there for a long time, knowing that tonight would be the last time. The irony of this being where they started and where they ended was not lost on Stella.
Neither wanted to say goodbye, but they couldn't sit in front of her building forever.
She opened the door and climbed out. Before she shut the door she heard him whisper.
"I love you."
She shut the door and watched as he rolled away.
"I love you, too."