Disclaimer: CSI NY and the characters don't belong to me - just the ideas in my story. No copyright infringement intended; no profit being made.

A/N: This is the sequel to what has now grown into a Trilogy, beginning with Friends and Opportunities and continuing in Couples and Expectations. Although each one follows on from the last, I've written them in such a way that they can easily stand alone.

Also, while I'd originally intended for this to be a one-shot like the previous two, it kinda took on a life of its own. I decided to have some fun with it, so I've ended up expanding it and dividing it into chapters. Not certain how many there will be in the end. And while I've learned not to promise anything, I have a fair amount already written so the next chapter should be up very soon.

WARNING: Please be patient The earlier chapters don't warrant the M rating; the later one(s) will - so consider yourself warned if that's not your thing! Enjoy.

Lovers & Possibilities

Mac Taylor gazed out the window of the taxi as it crawled through the Friday evening traffic. Despite the mild forecast, a light rain had started falling, coating everything in a grey haze and further snarling the rush hour commute. Mac sighed as the cabbie slammed his hand down on the horn for perhaps the twentieth time, braking just in the nick of time to avoid hitting a bike messenger weaving through the stop and go traffic.

His phone began to vibrate and he furrowed his brow, curious as to who might be calling him. Since being out on disability leave following his shooting, it had seemed his phone rang less and less often. The initial flurry of visits and calls from well-wishers once he had regained consciousness had tapered off over the ensuing weeks. And since Christine had moved up-state to care for her ailing father just over a month ago, even her calls were becoming few and far between. Now it seemed a rare occurrence that anyone tried to contact him at all. Presumably people were just giving him space – letting him concentrate on his recovery. Or - and he begrudged himself the thought - perhaps it was merely an indication that his life was so intrinsically tied to work that, now that he was on leave, no one particularly felt the need to reach out to him on a personal level.

Except Jo, he thought, glancing at the name on the caller ID. A soft smile broke out across his face. Only to morph almost immediately into a frown. Surely she wasn't calling to cancel dinner at her place tonight? They'd planned it last weekend, after a pleasant evening out that had ended on a rather heated note, full of promise and possibility for their growing relationship. She was supposed to finish work early tonight and cook dinner for their second official date. At her place. Just the two of them. Something Mac had been looking forward to with barely subdued anticipation since their passionate farewell kiss in front of her building nearly a week prior.

"Hey, Jo." He answered, the smile on his face evident in the tone of his voice. In response, he was greeted by the shriek of an ambulance siren in the background. He winced, not so much from the shrill sound as from his immediate assumption that this certainly did not bode well for their evening plans.

A moment later the siren receded and Jo's voice came across the line. "Mac? Can you hear me?"

"Just barely Jo."

"Listen, Mac…" But the remainder of her sentence was drowned out by another siren. A squad car this time, he thought morosely.

They both paused, awaiting a break in the cacophony filtering over the phone line. He heard Jo let out an annoyed sigh and he spoke, hoping to cheer her up. "I hope you're calling from a crime scene, and not your apartment."

She graced him with one of her contagious laughs. "Don't worry – I am. But Lord, given the state I left my apartment in this morning, one could easily mistake it for a crime scene."

He chuckled, the image of her chaotic desk flashing through his mind and expanding to incorporate her entire home. "You ok?"

"Of course. I'm fine. Now, the D.B. lying in a pool of blood in the middle of the living room here? Decidedly not fine. I'm just waitin' for them to clear the whole scene so Adam and I can get started."

"Last minute call out, huh?"

She groaned. "You said it. Fifteen minutes before my shift was supposed to end. I mean, honestly. I was just packing up to leave. The audacity. Couldn't the killer have waited just a few more minutes?"

Mac laughed lightly. "Maybe you should be blaming the witness that called it in? If only they'd shown up fifteen minutes later . . ."

She snorted. "Hmm. You might have a point there. Just wait 'til I get my hands on him…" She blew out a breath. "Seriously, though. I'm clearly going to be late. The night shift should be able to take over the Lab work once we process, so hopefully it won't be more than an hour. Scene sounds pretty clear-cut." She paused, continuing in a hesitant tone. "But dinner . . . well, I haven't exactly bought the groceries yet, so we may have to improvise."

Mac shook his head, a knowing smile spreading across his face. "Not to worry. Why don't you give me a call when you're close to finishing up and we can decide what to do then? I'll just wait to hear from you…" The cabbie suddenly honked again, this time punctuating it with a loud, surprisingly well-articulated string of expletives. Mac cringed.

There was silence on the other end of the phone for just a moment, then Jo spoke again. "Mac?" She hesitated. "Are you . . . already on your way to my place?" Her hesitant comment didn't camouflage the undertone of humor in her voice.

He glanced down at his watch. Even with the unexpected rain shower and the horrendous traffic, he had to admit he was going to be embarrassingly early for their 7:00 date. He was nearly there already. "Uhhmm. Maybe."

Jo chuckled, then Mac heard her inhale deeply. When she spoke, her voice was low, playful. "I see. Didn't wanna be late tonight, huh?"

"When have you ever known me to be late?" His tone was full of mock affront, but when he continued, it mirrored her own playful mood. "And, I suppose it's possible I...might have missed you. A week's a long time." He murmured softly.

She let out a poorly stifled groan. "Oh, Mac, I can't even tell you how desperately I've been waiting for tonight…" Mac's eyebrows quirked, but he said nothing, "…having the whole evening to ourselves. All the possibilities…" Her voice was suddenly lower, breathy; whether because she was trying to prevent someone else from hearing, or…for other reasons…he wasn't entirely sure.

Mac shifted in his seat and unbuttoned the top button of his jacket, suddenly feeling decidedly warmer than earlier. His mind pulled him back to their last kiss and all the promise it had held. He cleared his throat before attempting to speak. "Well, I'm pretty sure we've still got the whole evening together; it just may start a bit later than anticipated."

"I know. But I'm on call tomorrow. First thing." She sighed again, continuing on a more sultry note. "What can I say? I'm greedy. I wanted as much time with you as possible." She paused for emphasis. "Uninterrupted." Her last words were barely louder than a whisper, but Mac had no trouble hearing her. By this point, he'd completely forgotten about anything else around him, the rain, the horns, the traffic, even the cabbie, who by now seemed to be paying more attention to listening in on his passenger's conversation, than watching the flow of traffic. Mac shot him a glare and he averted his eyes back to the road. Jo continued, the playful tone evident again in her voice. "Hey, speaking of interruptions, you brought your meds this time, right?"

He smirked, recalling how last weekend, perhaps the only thing that had kept them from ending up together at Jo's apartment had been the fact he didn't have his medication with him. "I've got them right here in my pocket. Believe me, that's the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning."

He heard her giggle softly, then suddenly clear her throat, and when she continued, her tone was serious again. "Listen, I am going to be late, so..."

Mac smiled to himself, assuming her change in demeanor was for the benefit of someone nearby on her end. "Well, just call me when you're close to finishing. I'll keep myself busy 'til then."

"OK, thanks. Will do. I've gotta go – scene's cleared." Her tone dropped at least an octave and she whispered in an exaggeratedly sexy Southern drawl: "I'll be countin' the minutes 'til I get outta here, believe me." And she hung up.

Mac could just imagine her barely concealed smile, that glint in her eye right about now. God, he couldn't wait to see her. He looked out the window and sighed, realizing they weren't even moving at the moment. He leaned further back into the seat and closed his eyes, letting his mind wander as he thought about where their evening together might lead.

Just over fifteen minutes later, he was jolted from his reverie by another loud horn blast, this time directed at the cab. Glancing out the window, he realized they were just around the corner from Jo's place. More than ready to escape the confines of the taxi, he indicated to the driver he would get out now.

Handing over the fare, he stepped out, walking towards a newsstand to grab a newspaper before heading to the café down the block. As he stood in line, his phone vibrated again. He glanced at it and frowned. Jo. Again.

"Hey. That must have been the most straightforward crime scene in history. The killer leave behind his to do list or something?"

Jo laughed, but barely. Mac noticed immediately it was lacking...something. It's usual vibrancy, it's melodic chime. It sounded flat, almost forced. And seemed to catch in her throat before even reaching its peak. "Jo, what's wrong?" Mac continued, his tone concerned.

He could hear her sigh and there was a long pause before she spoke. "Nothing's wrong. I'm...fine."

Mac's brow furrowed. She sounded anything but fine. Mac waited as she took a deep breath, but before either of them could speak, he heard more yelling and another siren, followed by the screeching of tires.

"Jo?"

When she finally spoke again, he could hear the tension in her voice. "Listen…I'm going to be later than expected. Maybe even a few hours, Mac. I really can't tell right now." She paused and he heard her begin talking to someone else, but couldn't catch the words. A moment later she continued. "I'm so sorry Mac. You shouldn't wait around for me. Maybe it's better if we just reschedule…"

Mac tried his best to disguise the disappointment in his own voice. "Don't apologize Jo. I understand. But let's not give up so quickly. Let's see…" Mac was trying to think of a way to salvage their evening, wondering absently if this is how Christine had felt every time he'd called to cancel or reschedule their plans. It was his turn to pay for his paper, and as he fumbled in his pants pocket for change, his key ring fell out onto the ground. Grabbing it up and stepping to the side after paying, he was just about to jam his keys back into his pocket when he caught sight of one key in particular. It jarred his memory and he smiled sadly. "You know, Jo. I still have a copy of your apartment key – the one you gave me…" His smile suddenly faded and he paused, uncertain whether he should've headed in this direction, but Jo finished for him before he could continue.

"…after I shot John Curtis. When you drove me home."

His voice was barely audible. "Yea."

There was a long pause before Jo spoke again. "Ok…well, keep it. I'm not breaking up with you – I'm just not sure tonight's gonna work." Her attempt at a small joke had fallen flat, given the lack of humor in her voice.

Mac frowned again. She wasn't getting his point. "Jo, I just thought, since I've got your key, if you don't mind me inviting myself over right now, I could wait for you at your place. I could even make us dinner or . . ."

She broke in before he'd figured out exactly what more he had to say. "Mac. I invited you to dinner. You shouldn't cook. And I really don't know when I'll be back. It could be late. Don't go to all that trouble for nothing."

"Jo. If you don't want me waiting around in your apartment, then just tell me so. I'll understand. But if this is all about who's cooking or who invited whom or how late you might be, I could really care less. I . . . I'd just like to see you. To spend some time with you. If it ends up being a cup of tea together at midnight, well, then, so be it."

When she continued, Mac could detect a slight tremor in her voice that definitely hadn't been there before. "Oh Mac, I really wanted to see you too." He caught her use of the past tense and wondered at its significance. She inhaled loudly, clearly trying to get her emotions under control. "I'm sorry Mac. Things here…took a turn for the worse."

"Jo. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm just . . . it's been a crazy day, that's all. Go ahead…wait at my place if you want. Ellie's gone all night. I'll finish up as soon as possible. Don't bother with dinner."

Before Mac could respond, Don Flack's voice, slightly out of breath, could be heard, apparently right next to Jo. "Jo, they got 'im. Coupla blocks down. Ya wanna minute with him?"

Mac furrowed his brow at Don's words, but Jo's hurried voice came back across the line, preventing him from inquiring. "Ah, I need to go. I'll…call you later. 'Bye." Before she terminated the call, Mac heard her begin speaking away from the phone, presumably to Don. "Absolutely. I need to look him in the eye." And the line went dead.

Mac sighed, staring at the blank screen of his phone. He wanted to call her back. To find out what was going on. But he knew he needed to let her focus on the job right now. And she'd cut him off more than once during their last date when he'd asked about work. He decided to let it go until they were together later. Sighing in frustration, he noticed a small grocery store across the street. He walked quickly through the light mist towards the storefront, intent on making dinner for Jo regardless of her insistence to the contrary. If for no other reason than to keep his mind from dwelling on all the possible causes for her sudden and uncharacteristic change in mood tonight.