What I was Trying to Do

Chapter 1: Losing Track of Time

"I can take the rain on the roof of this empty house

That don't bother me

I can take a few tears now and then and just let them out

I'm not afraid to cry every once in a while

Even though going on with you gone still upsets me

There are days every now and again I pretend I'm okay

But that's not what gets me"

A hand on her arm makes Stella jump. "What are you doing back here? I thought you were cooking tonight."

"You need to get a watch, Stella. I did cook dinner but my date is an hour and a half later than the time she said she'd be over," Mac pulls her up on her feet.

"No, it's not. You're joking; there's no way it's eight already," she looks at her watch and gasps. "It is. Mac, I'm so sorry for standing you up."

"I understand; work is just more important to you than I am," he turns and starts to leave, just to annoy her.

"You know that's not true. And it's not like you've never gotten so caught up in work and forgot about a date."

"Okay, we're even then," he focuses on her again.

She smirks and crosses her arms. "Three and one are not equal numbers, Mac."

"I was never an hour and a half late."

"No, the one time you didn't even show up."

"I did too go to the restaurant," he argues. "You're the one who wasn't there."

"I left after sitting there for two hours, waiting for you to come."

"Let's just leave this alone and go eat the dinner I made."

Sighing, she gives in, "Only if you really mean we won't be talking about it ever again."

"Promise. From now on, we're both going to try harder to make more time for each other and not get caught up in work," Mac kisses her lips, hands resting on her waist.

"I'm sorry I forgot our date. I love you," Stella whispers, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"You're not late yet; we still have all night to spend together."

"We've only been dating for three months; it's still too soon," she frowns.

"We don't have to sleep together to spend the night together, do we? I know you're still… uneasy after Frankie came after you," he rubs her back to soothe her, knowing she doesn't like to even mention his name.

"I trust you completely. You'd never do that to me or anyone else. But I still think it's too soon since we started dating, not too soon after the attack."

"As long as we need to wait. You mean the world to me, Stel, and I can't lose you."

She moves out of his arms and closes the files on her desk before putting them in her bag. "I'm starving. What did you end up making?"

"That's a surprise," Mac smiles, helping her with her jacket.

"Did you sample your cooking to make sure it's edible?" she teases.

"No."

"Maybe we should stop and get something just in case."

"I'm sure it's fine," he takes her hand and they walk out of the empty lab holding hands. "And if it's not, I've got plenty of ice cream in the freezer."

MS

Stella leans back against Mac's strong chest, leaning her head back to allow him to kiss her neck. Gently he tilts her head so he can kiss her lips. "I love you," he whispers in her ear, kissing behind it. "How was your dinner?"

"Fantastic. I ate too much."

"I guess we're not having dessert tonight."

"Detective Taylor!" she turns around in his arms. "We've already discussed this."

"How long did you go out with Frankie before…?"

"Three and half months."

"If you think about it, we may have been seeing other people but we still flirted. At least ten years of it. You could say we've been dating those ten years, or at least half of them."

"Are you that desperate?" she chuckles and kisses him deeply.

Mac's tongue makes its way into her mouth as he guides her to the bedroom. Her legs hit the bed, and she falls backward onto it, taking him with her. "Stella, don't do this just for me if you don't want it too," he whispers.

In response, she flips him onto his back and climbs on him, unbuttoning his shirt.

A/N: This has five more chapters to it. I'll post the next one probably Thursday. So I have an emergency: there's not very much paper in my notebook and we don't have any other big notebooks for me to use. If I use every single possible space on every page, including going back and using only half written on pages, I should be able to fit the story I'm writting now in there. Then I don't know what I'll do. I can't ask my mom to go buy some because she'll want to know why I need them when school is over. I could use a binder I guess, and put paper in it. We could run out of paper though. I have to go finish packing for my friend's sleepover birthday party. And I want to finish the chapter I fell asleep while writing last night. And I have to find something to do for a half an hour at karate tonight; I don't feel like starting my summer reading yet. We have to read My Antonia, Huckleberry Finn, and To Kill a Mockingbird. We read To Kill a Mockingbird last year in English, but I'll probably read it again. It was one of the better books we had to read for school. If only the new NY book would come today, then I could wait another week. It seems like I had something else to say but I can't remember... oh well. Tell me what you think so far.