My Sister and Me
"Nah, Adam, you're like a little brother to me!"
He'd never felt so confident. So confident in himself, so confident in life! When he'd first got to the NY crime lab he was a mousy young man who pretty much threw himself into trouble. He had trouble watching his tongue, and got in the most trouble when he'd actually said it right the first time but was being paranoid. That went on for a while, especially after he met Detective and CSI first grade Stella Bonasera.
She was a drop-dead gorgeous Greek woman with eyes like shining peridot gems and caramel colored curls that framed her face to perfection. They tumbled onto her tan shoulders and lured men after them like strings around their necks. He was trailing off, in any case...
Over time, he learned that not only was she as sweet and caring as she was beautiful, but she was not open for admiring. Says who?
Says Mac Taylor.
He was extremely protective of his Stella and God forbid if you looked at her in a certain way.
Adam learned to look at her like a big sister, rather than beautiful woman, and he was okay with that.
No one had ever shown so much care about him before.
"Hey!" A woman's voice called from behind.
"Hey, Kendall." Adam smiled, turning to the blond woman.
"I just wanted to ask you two things. First, do you have your DNA ran yet?" When he didn't answer she took it as a no and smiled. "That's fine, just get it done ASAP. Second, are we still on for dinner?"
"Y-yeah..." He smiled back at the woman shyly. They'd been dating for a while, yes, but something about her made his heart flutter.
"Good..." She tossed a glance over her shoulder in order to see Danny approaching. "See ya!"
"Bye!" Adam waved after her.
"Adam, got my DNA?" Danny asked impatiently.
"No, sorry, samples are piling up." Adam shook his head, going back into the lab where the sample three ahead of Danny's wasn't even done.
"Come on Adam, if I don't have these results in point five, Montana's gonna bite me in places that should never be bitten." Danny griped with a sigh. "Geez!"
"I'm doin' what I can, man." Adam said somewhat defensively.
"Well work faster." Danny said flatly, smacking Adam up side the head lightly.
"Hey! If you hit me my sister will beat you with French bread!" Adam pointed, stating it confidently.
"What? You don't have a sister!" Danny frowned.
"Stella said that if anyone hit me she would beat them with a source European carbohydrates!" Adam said pointedly again, not at all registering how odd the randomly selected threat was.
"Right, in any case, I don't want Stella chasin' after me with a baguette so get me those results." Danny smiled, leaving briskly.
"Right..." Adam couldn't believe he'd said that. He would never be so audacious with a CSI before, but it felt good. His self esteem was growing, though it was microscopic already and he wasn't even half a step close to an ego.
"Hey Adam, did you get that DNA done? Danny was supposed to get it from you but I figured he forgot." She shrugged.
"I don't have it done yet, sorry, and Danny already stopped by." Adam said distractedly, putting in the sample just in front of theirs.
"Really?" She blinked.
"Yeah, but I told him to hold his horses." He shrugged back.
"Really? I'm impressed." She smiled.
"Oh! Results are done!" Adam handed the country girl the sheet quickly. "There y'are."
"Thanks Adam." She waved. "Nice cologne, by the way."
"Thanks! It's Mediterranean Coastline!"
The day was going well for him. Since Stella had told him she thought of him like her little brother he felt...fantastic!
Sure, his dad had never cared about him, and his mother wasn't...around, but Stella had shown him that people cared about him.
Which brought him to present; walking to Mac's office.
Mac Taylor and Stella Bonasera were madly in love, it was common knowledge. They needed each other, yes, but Adam wasn't all that happy about it. He wanted Stella, his big sister, to be happy, but he really didn't want her to get hurt. She'd suffered enough; she didn't need... He knew how some men got when it came to the women in their life, the whole Anything/one hurts her I'll kill them and everything of the sort. Mac Taylor was an intimidating man, and no one scared Adam more, but Stella was worth it. He was going to do this.
"Mac?"
"Adam." Mac greeted with a faint smile. He turned in his swivel chair and smiled at the younger man, just enough to be friendly but not enough to show the tiny hint of a scar at the left corner of his mouth.
"I need to talk to you." Adam started firmly and boldly.
"Okay, you have my attention." Mac nodded with a frown.
"I care about Stella." Adam started solidly again. Mac's eye brows shot up and his smile instantly vanished. "Not in that way, but I do care about her. She told me that she considers me like a brother, and I've never had that before. I feel I have a responsibility to her, now, and I wanna protect her as much as I can. So, here goes-I'm just gonna say it."
"I'm listening..." Mac said cautiously.
"I don't want you hurting Stella."
Mac looked gobsmacked, with his jaw hanging and his eyes open and alarmed. "Excuse me?!"
"Let me explain! Sir, there's no one who scares me, or intimidates me, or whom I respect more than you. Now we both know how tough Stella's had it in the past, and we both know you'd never hurt her or let anything hurt her, ever, but I want to be clear that I'm not scared enough let you in so easily. I'm scared right now, believe me, I am, but she's my sister, and I don't want anyone hurting her."
"Adam." Mac said darkly, stepping from behind his desk. He approached the young man and reached his hand out slowly. Adam's shoulders jumped slightly, but he nodded, showing he knew Mac wouldn't hurt him. Mac placed his hand on his shoulder. "You have my respect as well. I guess, as her brother, you have a right to know I'll be good-good as gold-to her."
Adam smiled brightly, letting out a relieved laugh. "Thanks."
"Hey! There's my boys!" Stella came in and hugged the two men to her shoulders and smiled at each. "What'cha doin?"
"Just...having a man to man talk." Mac smiled at his love.
"I see, well I hope you boys are being nice." She smiled back at Mac with a smokey look in her eyes. She turned to Adam with a less seductive smile. "I can't have my brother and boyfriend fighting."
"Nah, we're just talking about..." Adam trailed off.
"About his role in the wedding."
Stella and Adam both froze and stared at Mac, who was smiling even if a little nervously.
Stella's heart was beating furiously though her throat wasn't moist enough to sputter even a syllable.
Adam looked at Mac, who looked at him, almost for approval. He just started to smile and nodded ever so slightly.
"Mac?" Stella asked with wide eyes.
"Not an ordinary proposal, but you're no ordinary woman." Mac smiled. Stella walked up to him slowly, her cheeks flushing. She kissed his lips sweetly, slowly, but passionately.
Adam blinked, flushing at the sight. "Um..."
"I do." She whispered into Mac's excitedly, making him shiver.
"So...so...what am I gonna do?" Adam asked, if anything just to break the potentially awkward and/or embarrassing air in the room.
"You can hold the little blue box." Mac smiled, pulling out said box and opening it to show the most beautiful ring to his beautiful bride.
"Oh Mac." Stella sighed, blushing slightly as she hugged him and never wanted to let go. She buried her face in his chest and sighed.
"Well...um...good talk."