I wrote this a while ago... but haven't had a chance to put it up here. sorry :) i hope you like...
Mac heard the footsteps and anticipated the knock that came. He could guess who it was, but some days, especially recently, he just couldn't tell anymore. He glanced up innocently pretending the knocker hadn't been occupying his thoughts.
"Hey Mac." The tall brunette smiled. He could see right through it though, after 11 years they had become all but windows to each other. They knew the signs, like now; she wasn't okay. Her hair was tied up, out of her face. Something was up, because she only tied her hair up when she was having trouble dealing.
"Stella." It was a statement and a question, and enough to prompt her to continue.
She played with the paperweight on his desk, then looked at the pictures beside it, the ones she saw nearly everyday. Claire was there, of course. But it was a different picture, she noticed, smaller than the one before. Would it keep getting smaller, until it one day disappeared? She saw herself in the silver frame. Her and Mac. They had been at Sullivan's for drinks with the team. It was a recent photo, yet she couldn't remember who took it. Neither of them were looking at the camera, but at eachother. She was holding out her hand, probably wanting him to pay up for a bet she had won. She always made him pay, because he never learnt his lesson.
Mac was eyeing her carefully, determined to get more than a "Hey Mac" out of her. Just when he was about to say something, she spoke.
"I wanted to keep you in the loop. The results are back, and I'm on my lunch break, so I'm going to the clinic now."
Her eyes finally met his, and he saw they were slightly red. She had been crying earlier.
He stood up hastily, and nodded, "I'll come with you."
Stella quickly put her hand on his chest to stop him. "No, that's okay. Really, I'm a big girl." She forced a smile, but it sounded like she was trying to reassure herself more than anyone else.
He noticed how the sun beaned through his glass office and somehow formed an aura around her. She was his ass-kicking guardian angel, now he needed to be hers.
He squeezed her shoulder lightly, then reached for his coat, "I want to. I told you, I'm here for you. Anyway, even big girls have friends."
He held the door open for her. She took a moment to accept what he had said. "Thanks Mac."
His hand on her back lead her to the elevator, and she was glad it was there. It stopped her from running away. She looked around at her co-workers, her team. They worked hard to keep justice in this huge, relentless city and she wondered if she would still be Stella Bonasera if she wasn't a CSI. She felt a hand grab hers and looked up at him.
"We'll be okay", he said. She liked the way he said "we" as if they were going through this together, as if his life depended on this result as well.
What she didn't know, he thought, was that it did. They hadn't talked about what would happen if it was positive, but seeing her when she told him about it told him she wouldn't be the old Stella. He couldn't imagine doing this job without her. Hell, he couldn't imagine being himself without her.