For Detective Mac Taylor, it had been a long day. Too long. The case that day had been that of a dead Marine. A young Lieutenant shot in the back by a father figure he had trusted. It had been abnormally hard to tell the wife and four year old son, that the man they loved so much had been murdered by someone he trusted. It made it even harder to go home to his life. With Christine. Thoughts of cooking with Christine this evening in peace and quiet as they took comfort in the fact that for once they were spending time together, had been dancing around his head constantly. However the endless pile of paperwork that had to be completed was sat at the end of the desk, mocking him as he stared at it. He was suddenly pulled from his thoughts by a sharp knock on the glass of his office door. His head snapped up to be greeted by the sight of Jo Danville, his current partner against crime.
"Hey you," she said softly as she made her way further into the office "I thought by now you would be at home relaxing, you seemed pretty eager to get out of here an couple of hours ago." She made her way over to the sofa and sat down, spread her arms over the backs, looking at him.
"Yeah well that was before this," he gestured to the mountain of paper work "arrived on my desk." He signed as sized the pile up once again, a slight grimace on his face when faced with what he believed was inevitable.
"Well how urgent is it? I mean we closed our cases, why not leave it till tomorrow and do it with the rest." She leant her head back against the sofa, closing her eyes as she let out a breath.
His thoughts flittered again to Christine back at his apartment waiting for him, that oh too familiar guilty feeling making itself known again. He glanced at the work again and gave in, knowing that even if he wanted to, there was no way he was going to get all the work done, with his head in this state. He may as well just leave now and come back after the weekend with his head on straight.
"You might be right with that one Jo." He admitted, closing the folder and putting it on the top of the pile. He turned in his chair, got up and made his way to the door, collecting his things as he went. When he reached the door he turned to Jo and gestured to the elevator, as he picked his coat off of the coat rack, slipping it on he and Jo made their way to the elevator. Pressing the button to the car park level, he and Jo conversed about his plans with Christine this weekend, and how Tyler and Ellie were doing at the moment. When they reached the parking level, they went their separate ways with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
As he made his way to his avalanche, meeting Danny and Lindsey on their way in, he paused for a moment. "Hello you two, what are you doing here at this hour?" Mac said, confusion clearing written on his face.
"Well, Lindsey left some stuff her when she went off her shift." Danny said, his jersey accent very prominent, indicating to Mac that the young man was very tired, he raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"And he came with me to go." Lindsey scowled at him, frustration about not being able to go anywhere clearly in her tone.
"Well I will take a car ride with my wife. We don't get as much time together alone as we used to, and the sitter is still taking care of Lucy, so why waste the spare hour and a half?" Mac smiled at the veiled reference Danny had made, chuckling slightly at the boldness of the statement. He bid them goodnight, as he saw the realisation dawn on Lindsey as a small blush crept up her neck and onto her cheeks. He slid in to the car, breathing a sigh as his back relaxed into the cushioned black leather seats. He started the car up and made his way out of the parking level and onto the streets. He clicked the radio on to his standard channel and began his way home.
The ride to his apartment was quiet, his attention on the road ahead as he muttered lyrics under his breath to a random song on the radio. The rhythmic tapping of his fingers against the steering wheel, kept his mind occupied until he pulled up at the apartment. They had only recently moved into the 3 bedroom apartment. After the proposal Christine had been very clear that she wanted a family, house, children and husband. The thought of embarking on that journey again, with the constant reminder of the heartache he had suffered in the end last time, sent him into a cold sweat. The thought of losing her…
"Stop" he said, pulling himself from that train of thought, he finally registered the shadow by the front door of the complex. She stood there quietly observing him, wrapped in an old marine jumper of his. He smiled to himself, ever since her first stay at his old apartment she had commandeered that specific jumper, along with many others. Not that he minded.
He was brought out of his train of thought by a soft rap on the car window, he turned to see Christine, eyes filled with concern. He turned his head, before putting on the hand break and undoing his seat belt. He lent over, picked his briefcase and phone from the passenger seat and got out of the car.
"Well hello you." Mac said, a smile spreading across his face, as the worries and stresses of the case he had recently closed eased away as she embraced him.
"Hey, I've got your favourite on the way. You wanna give me a hand finishing?" she said, holding out her hand in invitation. Mac smiled, somehow she always knew how to turn the day around. He nodded and took her hand. She led him into the apartment building and made their way toward the elevator. They made small talk about the day. How the lunch service at the restaurant went? How the case was? What funny things had Adam done today? How Lindsey and the baby were doing…
When they entered the apartment, he was greeted by a wave of spice and smells. He let out an appreciative groan as he put his briefcase down by the door. He turned and followed Christine to the kitchen emptying his pockets and placing his gun and badge in a secure box on the shelf. It was then he paused, a soft hum could be heard coming from the kitchen. He smiled as he realised what song it was, Happy in my Heartache, the song that they danced to at their first valentine's day. He slowly made his way into the kitchen, shrugging off his blazer and working off his tie, he placed them on the back of the sofa, coming into the kitchen he smiled at sight.
There she was flittering around the room, adding spices here and there, mixing, stirring, tasting. When her eyes finally landed on him she held out a spoon, he chuckled and allowed her to offer it to him. He let out a sigh of satisfaction at the assault on his taste buds
"Oh God, that is as good as ever." He smiled and took the spoon from her, placing it down on the side, wrapping an arm around her waist as he drew her in for a long kiss. When they pulled apart she let out a laugh.
"It's nice to have an evening together, just the two of us." She smiled as she placed a hand on his chest, tracing invisible patterns. He grinned at her she cocked her head, confused as to the sudden glint of barely contained amusement that had suddenly appeared in his eyes.
"Well I have even more good news for you then. See I did some negotiating with Jo, her daughter Ellie is away for the weekend, so she has an empty house and you don't have any plans so I haggled and managed to swap weekends. So you have me, work free, for three whole days." He said grinning triumphantly at the look of sheer delight on her face. "It also means I can come to the family party on Monday as I will have the day off."
She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down for a long kiss, however the need for air soon became apparent and they pulled away, locking eyes with one another.
"Well the Mr Taylor, I applaud your well executed plan. So am I to presume that you have a plan for the weekend then?" she withdrew from his arms to make her way over to the stove to give the sauce a stir. "Can you quickly set the table please, dinner nearly done." Mac made his way over to the cupboards, pulling out everything he needed as he replied.
"Well you could say that, I thought we'd relax tonight and tomorrow, spend some time at home together, then on Sunday morning we can head over to the party, spend the day with the family and stay at the farm house for the night, then head home Monday afternoon." He laid the last of the cutlery on the table and turned to help her serve the salad up.
They walked over to the table together, slowly they ate their dinner, exchanging small talk and small laughs. As the night drew on they slowly made their way into the sitting room, Mac sat on the right side of the sofa as he lent into the corner of the sofa. Christine crawled her way up the sofa to Mac and curled into him. Mac sat there slowly stroking her jumper clad arm, he smiled slightly to himself. Christine turned, confused as to the sudden change.
"What is it?" She said turning around to face him.
"I was just thinking," Mac said pushing a stand of hair back behind her ear, "you look better in that jumper than I did." He gave a chuckle at the thought, he remembered when he had been issued it, when he trained in it, bled on it. His smile turned to a scowl, at the memory. Christine felt the sudden tense in his shoulders. Sitting up to give him her full attention, she turned his head away from the window back to her. She placed a hand either side of his face pulling him in for a kiss. When they came up again for air she rested her head his shoulder, drawing comforting circles on his chest.
"I know you have nightmares about when you were in the Marines. But Mac we are partners now, I want you to know that whenever you want to talk I will be willing to listen. We do things together now." She turned to look at him again, and was surprised when she was met with happiness. Mac placed a light kiss on her forehead, he turned to look at her.
"It's been awhile since I've had that relationship with someone. I greatly love having someone there to lean on, but give me some time, it has been a while for me." She smiled at him and curled back into him, turning on the TV. The mummer of the show droned on in the background as the couple enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere.