A/N: Well, here it is. I know I told some people I'd start writing this a couple of weekends ago, but as usual, life got in the way. I had a big Biology test last week, and then Thursday I ended up getting sick. This particular story is the product of a very, very long couple of days, and I almost waited until tomorrow to post it since it's now 11 p.m. here, but I wanted to get it up today. I hope you guys enjoy it, and I really hope I stayed in character with this one. I liked writing it. This song kept popping up on my iPod while I was at work, and I just had to use it. Thank you to all who reviewed "Sunday Morning"! As usual, leave your comments at the end!

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with CBS, Jerry Bruckheimer, etc. I'm just borrowing these guys for my own enjoyment, and I'll probably return them in better shape than they started out in. Song is "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys.

Kokomo

Aruba, Jamaica
Ooo, I wanna take ya
To Bermuda, Bahamas,
Come on, pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego
Baby, why don't we go

February struck New York City with a vengeance. White flakes of snow poured from the sky in sheets of white, swirling around in the air before fluttering to the waiting ground. A stiff northern wind howled between the alleys and high rises, every so often sending another unfortunate New Yorker rushing down the street after a stray scarf or hat.

That day, I was supposed to be doing paperwork in my office. Sheldon and I had just finished a fairly high-profile case involving one of the city's most eligible bachelors, and the paperwork was a mile long. Mac and Danny were in the lab, working hard on another case.

Which left me alone in my office.

And when I'm alone in my office, I'm easily distracted. I have the patience of a hyped-up puppy.

So I sat with my back toward the doorway, staring out the window at the heavy snowfall. Big, fat flakes floating around in the wind, swirling and dancing and spinning on their way down.

I've always loved the snow.

Wait, let me rephrase.

I've always loved the look of snow. How it drifts down from the clouds, so soft and white and pure. How they catch the light of the sun, twinkling and shimmering on the way down.

However, I absolutely do not like the cold that inevitably comes with snow. I'm Mediterranean by descent. My ancestors came from Italy and Greece. Two places on earth that are by no means always cold. The few times I've been to Greece, it was warm and sunny, with a wonderful cool breeze blowing off the Mediterranean. The grass on the rolling hills was green and soft, and the trees offered sweet relief from the sun. No snow in sight.

Of course, it was spring, but that's beside the point.

The cold had already settled into the lab, and I pulled my suit jacket tighter around my shoulder. We'd been having a little trouble with the heat in the building lately, focusing it in rooms that actually needed temperature control and ignoring rooms like my office that didn't. Lack of funding, I suppose. I could never understand why the brass couldn't set aside a little money in the budget to fix our heating in the dead of winter, even with the recession. And that is precisely why I don't do bureaucracy – one of the tips I picked up from Mac in our fifteen years of friendship.

Mac.

An unbidden smile quirked the corners of my mouth as I thought about him. In fifteen years of friendship, you'd think we'd learned everything there was to know about each other. But then, about four months ago, he'd told me that he was finally ready to start something – together. Completely and totally out of the blue. But certainly not unwelcome. It had been a hope that lingered in the back of my mind for years after Claire died, but I never expected it to come true. That night, at the restaurant where he told me, I didn't even need to think about it. I'd already thought about taking that kind of step enough – what it would mean for the lab, what it would do for our friendship. Friendships evolve, people change.

We made sense, Mac and I. We balance each other. The transition from friends and coworkers to lovers wasn't a difficult one at all. Keeping our relationship under wraps wasn't as hard as either of us had expected. What happened at work stayed at work, and what happened at home stayed at home. We were all right with that. We didn't need to be in constant contact to know how much the other person cared.

I sighed and turned back to my paperwork, forcing myself to focus this time. Like I said, easily distracted when it's something mundane like paperwork.

Paperwork is definitely not my friend.

Suddenly the lights overhead flickered once. I glanced up, praying that the power wouldn't completely go out. I'd heard that the Bronx had lost power that morning, and I was hoping that it wouldn't get so bad here in Manhattan.

Apparently my hopes are rather misplaced.

Because as soon as I thought that, the lights flickered one more time and then extinguished completely, plunging the lab into almost total darkness. Only the red emergency lights toward the stairs illuminated the lab. I pulled the jacket even tighter around my shoulders and swore softly in Greek. Of all the days…

Groans and muffled curses echoed through the hallways. I could hear Danny's distinctive voice all the way from the layout room. "Hey, who turned off the lights?" he shouted.

"Hey, I didn't know you were afraid of the dark, Messer," Flack's voice retorted.

"If I could see you, you'd be dead, Flack."

I grinned at their banter. Then Mac's voice floated down the hallway toward me. "All right, no one leaves the evidence unattended. Generators should kick on in about half an hour." The sound of his voice got progressively closer, and I turned around in my chair. Before long, I could see his silhouette in my doorway, illuminated from behind by the bright red emergency light. I'd recognize that shadow anywhere.

"Hey," he said softly, crossing the threshold into my office.

"Hey yourself." I leaned back in my chair. "Everything under control?"

"Always." I couldn't see him that well, but I just knew he was flashing me a big grin. "You okay in here?"

I lifted an eyebrow at him as he stepped farther into my office, sinking down on the couch across from me. "You checking up on me, Mac Taylor?"

He shook his head, and I could've sworn that I saw just a hint of a grin in the low light. "I'd never dream of doing something like that."

I chuckled softly. He knew me too well.

"How's the paperwork coming?" he asked.

"Let's just put it this way. The way it's going now is the way it was going before the lights went out."

Mac chuckled and shifted in his seat. "I sorta figured."

"How's the case?"

"Danny had something just before the power died. He's keeping an eye on it now."

Just then, we heard a crash and a muffled curse that sounded strangely like Danny come from the layout room. Mac slowly turned back to face me, and I resisted the urge to grin. "You gonna check up on that?"

He shook his head. "I don't think I wanna know."

"Flack, you son of a –" Danny's voice reverberated down the hall, followed by the distinct sound of Flack and Hawkes' combined laughter.

I bit my lip, attempting to hide a grin as Mac dropped his head to his hands. "Definitely don't wanna know," I said.

Suddenly I shivered, struck by how cold it really got in my office. It seemed to seep in through the windows until it sank into my bones. And that jacket wasn't doing me a bit of good.

Somehow Mac noticed, and he looked at me with a concerned expression on his face. "You cold, Stella?"

I nodded. "A little."

Mac glanced around and, apparently satisfied that we were completely alone, he held out his arm along the back of the couch. "C'mere," he said, patting the back of the seat cushion next to him.

I raised an eyebrow at him skeptically. We were in the lab, and this was definitely beyond the scope of "no PDA at work." Those rules that we had agreed upon when we started dating were what we lived by.

He gave me a look that I could easily interpret, even in the low light. "Stella," he said softly.

"Mac." As his phony frown deepened, I sighed. "We're in the lab."

"So we'll look like two friends trying to keep each other warm on a very snowy day. They say body heat is the best way to avoid hypothermia."

"Yes, but to do that, you're also supposed to remove all your clothes." Mac wagged his eyebrows at me, and the laugh escaped before I could stop it. "No, sir. That definitely goes beyond friends."

He sighed, pretending to be annoyed. "You're probably right."

"Aren't I always?"

"Wouldn't have it any other way." As another shiver wracked my body, he patted the back of the cushion again. "Now will you get over here before you catch cold?"

I sighed again and pushed myself off the chair. Somehow I just can't resist him, and judging by the look on his face at that moment, he knew it. I sank into the soft cushion next to him, snuggling into his warm side. His arm immediately wrapped against my shoulder, and he rested his cheek against my curly head.

"That's not so bad, is it?" he asked, his warm breath against my head.

"I guess I'll survive."

Mac chuckled and pulled me closer. "You really know how to make a guy feel good."

"Hmm, and don't you forget it."

We sat like together for several minutes, watching the snow drift in front of the window, Mac's fingers lightly trailing up and down my arm. Everyone in the lab had apparently decided to hole up somewhere until the generators kicked in, so we were left completely alone. It was a rare occasion indeed.

"So what were you thinking about before I got here?" he asked softly, brushing his lips against my forehead briefly.

"Hmm?"

"You said you weren't getting much done on the paperwork. That usually means you have something on your mind."

"Oh." I shifted slightly, draping my hand across his knee. "I was trying to remember why I decided to stay in New York where it's cold."

Mac chuckled and shook his head. "I thought you like the snow."

"I do. But I don't like the cold."

"You know, those two usually go hand-in-hand."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." He laughed again and pressed another kiss into my hair. "I've always wanted to go somewhere warm. With sun and beaches and ocean."

"What about Hawaii?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, that's a nice place. I was thinking more along the lines of the Bahamas."

"Bahamas, huh?"

"Jamaica, Aruba, the Florida Keys. Lying in the sand, with the sun on my face and a cool breeze blowing off the ocean. Maybe a Mai-Tai or a Mojito in my hand and a cabana boy waiting on my every need."

"Steel drum band back there too?"

I grinned. "Oh, that's a must."

Mac chuckled again and wrapped his arm tighter around my shoulder. "You've been listening to the Beach Boys again."

I slapped him lightly on the arm. "Don't be cute." Who was I kidding; he can't help it.

"I could see you on a beach in the Bahamas somewhere." I glanced at him quickly, and he nodded just once. "Except, I was sort of thinking…"

His voice trailed off, and I glanced at him again. "What?"

"Well…" he sighed again and ran a hand through his short dark hair. "I was thinking it would be us on that beach in the Bahamas."

I stared at him, mouth agape, for several long moments. I just couldn't help it. Mac Taylor didn't take vacations, and he certainly had never suggested taking one with me. Not once in the fifteen years I'd known him.

"You and me lying on that beach. Not a care in the world, not a homicide or a rape in sight. Just you and me and the ocean. Maybe we'll rent a boat or something and head out to sea, just for the day. Watch the sunset over the ocean, talking about how the red and pink and orange reflects off the cool clear water."

Was I really hearing him right? Was he actually talking about taking a vacation?

"We could stay at one of those resorts they have down there," he continued. "Sid went to the Bahamas for a second honeymoon a while back, and he was telling me about all the stuff they have down there. Scuba diving, deep sea fishing, horseback riding along the beaches. And they have them for pretty good deals too."

Finally my brain decided to work, and I shook my head slowly, still completely shell-shocked. "You've really thought this through, haven't you?"

"A guy can dream. Besides," he squeezed my arm lightly, "I don't like the idea of any cabana boy waiting on you while you're in a bikini."

I laughed at that and reached up to brush my finger along his jaw – my version of kissing him when circumstances wouldn't allow such displays of affection. "You're cut e when you're jealous."

"Thank you."

"Mac, you're really serious about this?"

He nodded just once, pulling back to look me in the eye. "We can plan, Stel. Maybe sometime this summer?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but just then, we heard the hum of the generators. Within a couple of seconds, the lights flickered on, then off, then on again. Cheers erupted from down the hall, and Mac and I grinned at each other.

"We should probably get back to work," Mac said. His gray-blue eyes twinkled at me in the light, and I felt my heart jump.

"Probably." He untangled himself from me and groaned wearily as he stood. Before he managed to walk away, however, I grabbed his hand. "Hey." He looked at me with a curious glint in his eye. "We'll talk about this later, okay?"

He grinned and gently caressed my fingers with his thumb, knowing that it was a promise I had every intention of keeping. "Absolutely."

Ooo, I wanna take you to Kokomo
We'll get there fast, and then we'll take it slow
That's where we wanna go
Way down to Kokomo

I didn't see Mac for the rest of that day. Flack called him early in the afternoon to a case in TriBeCa, and I had mounds of paperwork to finish without him distracting me. Fortunately the generators stayed working, and by mid-afternoon, the department handymen had let me know that the power would actually stay on.

The cheers that went up from my colleagues rivaled those from earlier.

When the minute hand on the clock on my wall hit seven, I stood up with a stretch and a yawn. It had been a long day. Though I'd finished the paperwork, the conversation with Mac still weighed heavily on my mind. The prospect of actually going away with him thrilled me. But I had to wonder if we were ready for that step. It had taken us fifteen years to get to the point of actually dating. Was going on a week-long vacation to the Bahamas moving too quickly? Mac didn't like to be pressured into doing anything, which was part of the reason his relationship with Peyton flopped.

My iPhone buzzed at me from where it sat on the corner of the desk, and a little smirk played at the corners of my mouth when I saw who it was. Speak of the devil.

"You almost done?" his text message read.

"Just leaving," I typed back, my fingers moving across the screen rapidly. "You've been a stranger today."

"Got caught up in the case. Dinner tonight?"

The smirk immediately evolved into a full-fledged grin. "Your place or mine?"

He responded in less than five seconds. "Meet you at my place?"

I shook my head amusedly and typed in my reply. "Be there in twenty."

Sure enough, just a few minutes before seven-thirty, I pulled open the door to the building, nodding a greeting at the doorman there. The young man waved back, recognizing me from the other times I'd visited Mac's apartment, even before we started dating. Even in the craziness that was my life, Mac's place always represented safety and security for me.

Just like the man himself.

Once in the elevator, I pressed the button for the fifth floor and sighed wearily. It really had been a long day. And that vacation to the Bahamas was sounding better and better as the snowfall outside got worse. Especially with the thought of Mac as my cabana boy…

The elevator dinged its arrival on Mac's floor, cutting that line of thought just in time. I smiled to myself and shook my head. I've got it bad, I thought as I rounded the corner from the elevator to Mac's apartment door.

I tapped my knuckles softly on his door, waiting for his invitation in. Briefly the thought crossed my mind that it would be much easier if we actually swapped keys. But I banished that thought quickly. I was just getting him to the point of talking about vacations together. No need to freak him out now.

"Come in!" his voice resounded from within.

I grinned, turned the doorknob quietly, and pushed the door open…

Only to get the biggest surprise of my life.

Mac had hung posters of beaches and resorts all over his apartment. Two fake palm trees hovered over me, resting on either side of the door, and a beach umbrella shaded his couch. Soft music played in the background, the distinctive sound of steel drums wafting through the air. Somewhere else, I heard the crashing of the ocean, just soft enough to blend nicely with the steel drums.

"So, what'dya think?"

Mac's voice startled me, and I whipped my head to the left to see him leaning next to the kitchen counter. He held two cocktails in his hands, and a huge grin was plastered across his face.

"How…?" was the only thing I could manage to say.

"I have some friends with connections." He sauntered over to me and handed me one of the drinks. "Mai-Tai?"

I shook my head and brushed an errant curl from my face. "Why…?"

"I thought since we can't go to Bermuda now, I can bring Bermuda to you."

His words melted me. I smiled at him as I blinked back the tears stinging my eyes, trying to remember the last time someone did something so sweet for me. "This is all… absolutely amazing, Mac," I whispered.

Mac leaned in and brushed his lips over mine. "I'm glad you liked it. I figured this could work until we manage to actually get away."

Surprised, I pulled back. There he went, talking about getting away again. I was beginning to think he was actually serious about this.

He furrowed his brow at me. "What?"

"Mac, don't get me wrong…" I sighed and set my drink down on the end table next to me. "I love the idea of going away with you. I'd like nothing better. But…" I sighed again, frustrated and worried that I would hurt his feelings. "Taking a vacation together is quite a step. Are you sure… you know… are you sure we're ready for this?"

"Why do you think we're not?"

Such a simple question caught me completely off guard. "Well…" I fumbled for the right words, not quite used to being left speechless. "We just started dating a few months ago. And I usually have to twist your arm to get you to stay home when you're sick, and I know it took some serious bribery for Peyton to get you away. Going away together… I mean…"

Mac shook his head, set down his drink next to mine, and gently cupped either side of my face with his hands. The feel of his warm, calloused palms on my skin completely broke my train of thought, and as my green eyes met his gray-blue ones, every single doubt I ever possibly had seemed inconsequential.

"Listen to me, Stella," he said softly but firmly, stroking my cheekbone with his thumb. "You and me… It took more convincing for me to go away with Peyton because it wasn't right. I don't care about taking big steps with you, because with you, it's an adventure and I can't wait to find out how it ends. We're right."

He pressed a whisper of a kiss against my cheek, and I moaned as his lips traveled up my face to the corner of my eye. "Mac," I groaned, feeling his evening stubble scratch lightly against my skin.

"You and I are right where we need to be," he whispered, his breath warm on my face. "We make sense." Then he pulled back, his eyes meeting mine again. "We're ready, Stella. I'm ready to make that step. With you."

At his words, all of the worries I'd had before vanished, and I marveled at the amazing, wonderful, lovely man standing in front of me. I shook my head once and smiled as I snaked my arms around his neck. "So when do we start the planning?"

His face split into a big grin, and he wrapped his arms around my waist. My knees went weak as he kissed me slowly and surely, his lips moving over mine in a wonderful, beautiful dance. I threaded my fingers through his short dark hair, intent on pulling him closer to me, not wanting to let him go. It had taken us fifteen years to get to this point, and by God, I was going to make the most of it. So was he, softly kissing each corner of my mouth before taking my bottom lip between his and softly grazing his tongue against it.

Finally he pulled back, brushing his lips one more time at the juncture of my jaw and neck. A shiver ran up my spine, and I could feel him grin against my skin. "You're not cold, are you?" he rasped, his voice husky.

I chuckled and pulled away, smiling as his eyes twinkled at me. "Definitely not."

"Good."

Suddenly, a brightly colored package sitting ever so innocently on the counter caught my eye. "Mac," I said, trying to ignore the feel of him nuzzling my neck.

"Hmm?"

"Someone giving you gifts?"

He pulled away and twisted his head around, a thoughtful look on his face. "Oh, that." He looked back at me, and I raised an eyebrow at him curiously. "Actually, that's for you."

Both of my eyebrows shot up at that. "Me?" I echoed.

"Yep." The corner of his mouth quirked up, and he jerked his head toward it. "You wanna check it out?"

I nodded vigorously. "You know I do."

Mac grinned again. "I figured you might." He released me and grabbed it off the counter, back before it really even registered that he'd gone.

I slowly opened the bag, and I could feel a slow grin spread across my face. He would… of course, he would. Mac Taylor actually had a latent sense of humor, a fact that I had actually enjoyed discovering over the last few months. I reached into the bag and pulled out a silky smooth, dark blue string bikini with a silver metal ring joining the two cups.

"Care to, uh, explain how you got this in the middle of February?" I asked, pulling both parts of the bikini from the bag as I let the container fall to the hardwood floor.

He shrugged, a hint of a smile on his face. "That case I worked this afternoon was a robbery at a department store." I raised an eyebrow at him, but let him continue. "The guy wasn't one of the smarter criminals we've tracked down – left some fingerprints on a case of jewelry he smashed."

"Makes things easy for us."

"That's what I thought. Manager was so grateful he showed me the line of swimsuits that were in the back of the store. Gave me my pick."

My eyebrows almost hit my hairline. "You're kidding."

He shook his head. "Nope."

"So you picked this one?"

Mac nodded. "I thought you might like it."

My fingers played with the soft fabric of one of the straps. "You're right. You have good taste." He grinned, and I smirked at him impishly. "You like it too, don't you?"

"Well…" he shrugged again, a slight flush coming over his face.

I cradled the two thin pieces of fabric in one hand and gently traced the line of his bicep with one finger. "You know what I'm thinkin'?" He shook his head, swallowing hard as his eyes darkened from a clear gray-blue to steel. "I'm thinkin' I should try this on. Just to make sure it fits before we actually make it to a vacation."

The corners of his mouth tilted in a smirk. "I don't suppose you'd need any help with that?"

I shrugged my shoulder and gently took his hand in mine, ducking to avoid the beach umbrella and pulling him toward the bedroom on the other side of the apartment. "These strings get a little… tricky. I might need the help of a certain cabana boy."

Mac grinned as he pushed open the door to his bedroom and wrapped an arm around my waist. "I look great in swim trunks."

I pressed an agonizingly slow kiss to his lips. "I'm sure you do," I mumbled as I kicked the door shut.

Safe to say… our vacation started a little early this year.

Everybody knows a little place like Kokomo
Now if you wanna go, and get away from it all
Go down to Kokomo