When the Future Knocks

Mac Taylor awoke to the sound of his son crying from the nursery. His son was four months old now and still didn't sleep through the night which wasn't uncommon for babies his age. With a sigh he sat up and made his way to the nursery.

As he left the room he glanced back at his wife over his shoulder. Thankfully she was still asleep. She hadn't been sleeping well, constantly worrying about their son. He smiled as he moved out of sight to down the hall. In his son's room he went to the crib.

The moment his son saw him the crying turned into a whimper.

"What's wrong Kenny?" Mac asked as he leaned over to pick up his little boy. The moment he pulled him close he instantly knew as his nose scrunched up at the rank smell coming from his son. "Somebody really needs a diaper changed." With that he carried the boy to the diaper changing stall and quickly changed his son. From there he pulled his son into his arms and gently began to rock him. The boy cooed contently as he bounced.

He heard something behind him and turned to see Stella standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame while smiling.

"Go back to sleep, he's fine," Mac told her as he walked towards her.

"I just wanted to see if you needed any help," she said still smiling. He leaned in and gave her a very chaste kiss. He'd been doing that a lot lately. She pulled away quickly before heading back to bed. He spent the next ten minutes rocking his baby boy to bed before heading back himself.

Stella was already asleep when he got there. He smiled as he laid down next to her, she snuggled into his chest as he pulled her close. His arms were wrapped around her and he fell asleep in that position.

--

Stella awoke early in the morning. Since the first time, early that morning, he'd been sleeping peacefully. She smiled as she propped herself up so she could look down on her husband. Sometimes it still amazed her how quickly her life had changed.

Still, she wouldn't have changed anything. All those years of purely platonic friendship with Mac had taught her how to handle him on a sexual and romantic level. She knew him just as well if not better than she knew herself.

Mac could be hard to understand. He was often cold and logical. However, he could also be so sweet and romantic. It was this part of him that she fell in love with. He was contradiction. He was also very good at keeping his personal feelings from messing with his working relationships.

She watched him turn his head in his sleep, his brow furrowed. He grumbled something inaudible as his eyes flicked back and forth beneath closed lids. Mac was obviously having another nightmare.

He never talked about them but they'd crop up after bad cases or after a close call. It was to be expected. She just tried to be there for him when they occurred.

It was then, at five forty in the morning, that Kenny began fussing. She heard him over the baby monitor and was up in an instant. She hurried to his side and carried him out of the room to the kitchen. Not long later she had one of the premade bottles warmed enough for him to drink it without him hurting himself.

Kenny enjoyed the bottle as she fed him. He grabbed for it though his hands were still too small for him to be able to hold it properly. She looked at him, his brown hair was getting a little longer and it was already obvious he was going to have her curls. However, his eyes were the same shade of blue as Mac and the girls. Around the lab they were known as the 'Taylor' eyes. Mac, Mackenzie, Madison, Makayla, David and now Kenny all shared those eyes.

"Morning," Mac called as he walked into the room. He was wearing a pair of sweatpants though there was no shirt on his upper body. Her eyes automatically skimmed his skin and he smiled knowingly.

"See something you like?" he asked and she snorted.

"Not in front of Kenny," she lectured him. He only smirked in response. "Are you getting ready for work?" He nodded to her question while he passed her, grabbing a cup of coffee.

"You want a cup?" he asked.

"Yes please," she told him as she picked up their son and placed him in the playpen nearby. As soon as she did he grunted as if to say he wasn't happy but didn't make another noise.

Mac began to get ready to work. Like always, he went into work an hour to an hour and a half before her.

--

Adam watched as Mackenzie walked down the stairs of their home… one he'd been living in for about five years, long before he knew her. Still, he couldn't imagine his life in that house before her. She reached the bottom and looked around. Her eyes avoided him and it hurt more than he'd like to admit.

"Hey, have you seen Davey?" she asked as she looked around.

"He's out with Millie," he stated before stepping right in front of her, forcing her to look at him. "Mackenzie, we have to talk about this." The use of her full name felt foreign on his tongue. He never called her by her first name and she knew this because she looked at him. The look in her eyes spoke of hurt and betrayal.

"What's there to talk about? I took the initiative to propose and you turned me down," she stated and he flinched. "I think that's a clear sign that you and I are on two completely different levels in this relationship."

"Kenzie, I don't believe we are at ready to take that step," Adam said, trying to explain.

"That's obvious," she muttered.

"Besides, I do want to marry you. I want the proposal to be real… not you the spur of the moment while we are both tipsy," he states. "I want it to be romantic, something we can look back on and smile at. Not something we cringe and wonder what the hell we were thinking."

"Can we talk about this later, I need to get to work. It's Danny's day off so I'm in the field again," she told him and he nodded silently.

"Yeah, go," he told her. He watched her leave before sighing and rubbing the bridge of his nose. This was going to be a long day."

--

[So, this is the first chapter of 'When the Future Knocks'. What did you think? Did you like it, hate it, or are you neutral. As you can tell, this time will involve both couples – Mac/Stella and Adam/Kenzie. However, I plan on a lot of relationship problems showing up for our 'favorite' couple as you've probably guessed. Well thanks for reading so far… TVGirl09]