She needed a caffeine fix and she needed it now. So pity the person who beat her to the counter of Starbucks, because at this moment, she was not responsible for her actions. While she waited for the barista - who seemed to be moving at a snail's pace - to make her coffee, Stella massaged her temples wishing it was quieter in here. Making a career change was never easy, she'd known it would be hard and there would be days like this, but who knew teaching could be so difficult? And these were university students. How on earth did secondary school teachers cope with hundreds of teenagers? They had her sympathy, each and every one of them.
"Here you go, black with an extra shot of espresso."
"Thanks." Stella gulped down the hot liquid, ignoring how it burned her tongue. Glancing at the clock on the wall, she turned, about to walk out, and almost ran straight into someone.
"Sorry," they apologised at the same time before realising who they were talking to.
"Stella?"
"Mac?" She couldn't believe it. Of all the people to run into now, of all the people in this city, when she really had to go, it had to be him.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I, uh, moved back about two weeks ago," she replied, smiling despite herself. "I'm working at NYU, forensics lecturer. And you?"
"I was just checking something at a crime scene, decided to stop in on my way back to the lab," he explained. "NYU? Congratulations."
"Thanks. Well, I decided I wanted a change of pace, a job that wouldn't take up my every waking moment and thoughts and give me time for other things in life. So I started looking around then NYU offered me the job. I felt like coming back to New York so here I am."
"What do you think of teaching so far?"
"Well, it's my third day and I can honestly say that being supervisor was probably less stressful," she replied with a laughing, glancing at the clock at the same time.
"Not as easy as it looks, huh?" Mac smiled.
"Definitely," Stella agreed. "Mac, I'm really sorry but I have to go. I'm already running late and I have to meet someone."
"No problem, we can catch up another time."
Stella hated the feeling in her gut as she walked away from Mac. Or ran a voice in her head taunted. Again. New York decided to make her even later; there was a traffic collision which resulted in a three block detour. As soon as she pulled up she was out of the car and jogging up the front steps, flashing a smile at the receptionist and into Los Ninos Daycare.
"Hi," she said breathlessly. "Is Kenzie ready?"
"Sorry?" Karen, the owner, frowned.
"Is Kenzie ready to go?" Stella asked.
"Ms Bonasera, Mackenzie was picked up by her uncle earlier."
"That's impossible, she doesn't have an uncle," Stella shook her head, her imagination already beginning to run away.
"Well, she didn't kick up a fuss and he had ID and everything," Karen shrugged.
"You let my daughter leave with a stranger?"
"Ms Bonasera-"
"I don't want to hear your excuses," Stella snapped, turning on her heel and trying to ignore the feeling of panic rising in her chest. Before she'd even reached the door, her cell phone was in her hand, calling 911. But as she stood on the steps, staring at the city, tears began to prick at the corner of her eyes.
"Hello 911, what is your emergency? Hello?"
Stella hung up and dialled the number she could still recite by heart.
"Flack."
"It's Stella, I have a problem, can you meet me outside Los Ninos Daycare?" she asked, trying to keep her voice sounding vaguely normal.
"What's wrong?"
"I'll, I'll explain when you get here... just, just don't be long... Please."
While she waited, Stella sat in her car, head resting on the steering wheel as she sobbed quietly. Hearing a siren pull up behind her, Stella quickly ran her fingers under her eyes, making sure she had no mascara running down her face, and stepped out of the car.
"Stella, what's happened?" Flack asked.
"I think my daughter's been kidnapped," she blurted out.
"Wow, okay, start at the beginning," Flack said, putting his hands on her shoulders. He doubted he'd ever seen Stella like this before. She was practically hysterical. And since when did she have a daughter?
"I was running late and when I arrived to pick up my daughter, the staff said that her uncle picked her up," Stella explained. "But she doesn't have any uncles on either side."
"What about her father?"
"He doesn't even know I have a daughter, let alone that she's his. We haven't seen each other since before she was born."
"Okay. Could it have been Danny or Hawkes or Sid? Or Mac?" he asked. She shook her head, tears threatening to overflow again. "It's okay, we'll find her," he said soothingly, taking her into his arms.
"I know I shouldn't have called you, I know you're homicide, but-"
"It doesn't matter," Flack cut her off. "What's her name?"
"Kenzie, Mackenzie Bonasera," Stella replied, wiping her eyes again.
"Right, the best thing for you to do is go home. I'll talk to the staff here, find out if they have CCTV. I'll get a couple of the guys to help me out, send on of them over for whatever you CSIs need for missing persons cases. DNA or whatever. And Stella, I promise we will find her."
XOXOXOX
"Danny."
"Hey Stel," he said, wrapping his arms around his friend. "It's good to see you again. Wish it was under better circumstances though."
"Me too," Stella said into his shoulder.
"Right then, do you have a hairbrush or toothbrush so I can collect a sample of Kenzie's DNA?" Danny asked.
"Uh, yeah," Stella replied. "Her bedroom's through that door, turn right and straight ahead. Brush is on the dresser. I'll get her toothbrush."
Danny followed Stella's directions and found himself in a room not dissimilar to Lucy's. The walls were purple, with fairy lights and lilac chiffon material around the bed to make it like a princess's, a dressing table under the window and mirrored wardrobe doors at the other end of the room. On the walls there were Disney Princess posters - like in Lucy's room - and some pictures of Stella and who he guessed was Kenzie. He found the brush where Stella said, and to his delight, a hair with a skin tag attached.
"Boom," he grinned quietly.
"Here's her toothbrush," Stella said.
"Thanks." Danny bagged it, and the hair. "Do you have a picture of Kenzie I can use? Cause Flack wants to put it out as amber alert ASAP."
"Yeah," Stella nodded, heading back into the living room. "This was taken just before we left New Orleans."
The girl in the picture looked like Stella, same tight curls, only dark brown, same facial bone structure. She was a beautiful little girl.
"How old is she?" he asked.
"Three and a half," Stella replied, hugging her arms around her.
"Stell, I promise we'll find her."
"That's what Flack said."
"See? Must be true. Great minds think alike." Which caused Stella to laugh and left Danny feeling even more pleased with himself.
XOXOXOX
"Okay Montana, fess up. Did you know?"
Lindsey looked at her husband as though he'd officially gone mad.
"Know what?"
"Know about Stella."
"Know about Stella what?" Lindsey asked, still confused.
"Well that she's back in New York for a start."
"Since when?"
"Like, two weeks ago," Danny replied.
"She never mentioned it in her e-mails."
"Okay then, did you know she has a kid?"
"What? No, of course not! Why wouldn't I tell you if Stella had a kid?"
"I don't know, but she does. A daughter, called Kenzie. And she's missing."
"Missing?" Lindsey echoed, imagining how it would feel to not know where Lucy or Noah was.
"Yeah," Danny nodded gravely. "Looks like she was kidnapped."
"Oh my gosh. Have you any leads?"
"Flack and Hawkes are checking CCTV, and the guy used an ID but it's probably fake."
"Good luck," she said, squeezing his hand.
Danny scanned the picture of Kenzie into the computer, then attached it to the e-mail and sending it and the details of her disappearance to the news networks. Her story would be broadcast on the next news update, and every one after that until she was found.
"Guess what? The CCTV is broken," Hawkes announced.
"You're kidding."
"Nope. Been down for the last three weeks."
"And Kenzie only started about a week ago. And our kidnapper probably knew this."
"Karen Davies, who runs the place, couldn't remember the name from the ID," Hawkes continued. "She said she might be able to ID him if she saw him, but she wasn't sure. Flack sent over a sketch artist just in case. We also got a list of the other children, Flack's talking to the parents to see if they saw anything."
"Is it just me man, or is there something hinky about all this?" Danny asked. "I mean, you know Stella. It's a pretty safe bet that she taught her daughter about stranger danger and all that. So why would the kid go and not put up a fuss?"
"You're right," Hawkes agreed. "Karen Davies said that Mackenzie didn't put up any fuss. In fact she almost seemed to want to go."
"Well I've never met Kenzie, but Lucy can be a nightmare if you want her to do something she doesn't like. And if Kenzie's anything like her mom..."
"There's no way you're going to force her to do something she doesn't want," Hawkes finished.
"Exactly."
"So how do you make a three year old do what you want?"
"Bribery?" Danny suggested.
"Enough to make her go with a stranger when her mom told her not to?"
"You're right," Danny sighed.
XOXOXOX
"Hey," Jo smiled, knocking lightly on Mac's office door.
"Hey," he replied, looking up.
"DNA results," she said, handing him the report. "Mona's DNA matches the hair found at the scene. She did it."
"There's no motive," Mac argued. "Why would she kill her boyfriend?"
"I don't know, maybe he was sleeping around. Bring her in and confront her with the evidence."
"You do it," he said after a pause.
"Me?"
"Yeah, you've worked hardest on this case, you do it."
"Thanks," Jo replied, slightly stunned. She'd worked hard, but no harder than Mac or Lindsey.
As she turned to leave the room, she glanced at the ABC news report on the muted TV. The headline read: MISSING CHILD IN NYC. SUSPECTED KIDNAPPING.
"That must be Danny and Hawkes' case," she commented.
"They don't have a case," Mac replied.
"Well I saw them five minutes ago and they said they were working a suspected kidnapping with Flack."
"Why would Flack work a kidnapping? He's homicide," he frowned.
"I don't know, I'm only repeating what they said," she shrugged. "I'll see you after the interview."
Mac picked up the remote and turned up the volume.
"-took her from Los Ninos Daycare. NYPD is currently investigating. Anyone with any information about the disappearance of Mackenzie Bonasera should contact NYPD on..."
Couldn't be. There had to be lots of people out there with the surname Bonasera. New York had a large Italian community, surely there were people out there with the surname Bonasera, right? But the little girl in the picture had the same curly hair as Stella, albeit a darker brown.
"Hey Danny, how's it going?" Mac asked.
"It's not," Danny replied. "We have a sketch of our suspect, but it might not be correct because she can't really remember, we have no prints, no DNA and no idea why anyone would want to kidnap Kenzie. Except as revenge against Stella cause she put them away." That answered one question then. "And do you know how many cases Stella's successfully closed?"
"A lot?"
"A lot," Danny confirmed. "So all we can do is run own the last knowns of these perps while a little girl is missing, with some asshole doing God only knows what to her."
"Take a break," Mac said. "Order, not a suggestion. Our case looks like it's almost closed. Lindsay can start to work your case, and if Jo's interview gives us what we need, then we'll join you."
"I'm sorry Mac," Danny sighed, scrubbing his face with his hands. "It's just this case. If it can happen to Stella then..."
"I know," Mac said, squeezing the younger man's shoulder.
"I mean, we didn't even know she had a kid. What a crap way to find out."
"Take that break now," Mac ordered. "Then come back and find the guy who did this."
"Yes sir."
XOXOXOX
All she could do was wait. That was the hardest part. She knew what Danny and Hawkes would be doing right now, knew the steps they would be taking. That probably made it even harder. She knew what needed to be done, and how to do it, but she couldn't do it. Stella paced her apartment, then collapsed down on the couch and grabbed a newspaper. She flicked through a few pages, not taking in anything then threw it down again. She stared into space for a few minutes until her eyes fell on the print of her and Kenzie, then she'd jump up again and start pacing.
Mac hesitated outside Stella's door. Jo had called - sounding slightly too smug he'd thought - to tell him that she was right, and that their case was closed. He'd made finding Stella's daughter the top priority for the lab. All other cases could wait. But that wasn't why he was here. He stood and stared at the door, willing himself to knock.
"I guess this is goodbye then."
"I love you."
"The flight's boarding now sir."
It wasn't as though they'd parted badly. If you looked at it one way they'd parted on great terms. But they hadn't. Technically they hadn't even said goodbye. And whenever they'd sent each other Christmas or birthday cards, neither had mentioned what had happened. He guessed Stella wanted to forget. The problem was he couldn't. And wouldn't. He knocked on the door. He could hear steps approach from the other side. The door opened and he wrapped his arms around Stella, exactly the same way as she had over ten years ago when Claire died.