washup ppl! another chappy of theez story :D

Mac slowly got up. His hands were raised and he glanced at Stella who was staring at him with fright. Her fingers fumbled at the phone. Mac eyes told her to press send and at least let Flack know something was going on. But before she could, the phone was taken from her hands and she was pulled up. Another man grabbed her by the arms and pulled her away from Mac's reach. Mac could feel the cool metal of the gun's barrel resting on his temple. He went still.

"Hey boss!" The man pointing the gun at Mac called out.

"What?" The voice wasn't in the office. But no sooner had the voice been away, had it come in and said, "What's goin' on?" He had a thick New York accent.

"The CSI bosses haven't gone home yet," the man answered with a smirk.

The so-called boss looked at Mac then Stella. His eyes lingered on Stella longer but at Mac's low growl his eyes darted back to him. "Mac Taylor. It's not a real surprise that your still here. It is, after all, only," he glanced down at his watch, "12:30."

Mac glared. The bosses' name was Jimmy Donnings. Mac and the team helped put him away a long time ago for murder. He had a life sentence and now...he was here, in front of Mac, holding his best friend at gun point in his own office.

"What do you want from my lab?" Mac asked, trying not to say 'our' to bring attention to Stella.

"Well...there was some files I needed."

From next to the elevator, Mac saw two men holding two duffel bags. One of them took something out, and attached it next to the panel. Mac knew what it was right away.

"You need C4's to get some files from the cabinet?" Mac asked carefully.

Jimmy shrugged. "I was going to have some fun...but I guess I got a bonus today." He smiled and shivers ran down Mac's spine. He was planning to blow the lab up.

"Your never going to get away with it. You know that."

Jimmy chuckled and walked away from Mac. "Oh but I will. I did before." He walked over to Stella, who was being held firmly, and placed a rough hand on her cheek. Stella yanked her head away and Mac's face grew red. "Oooh," Jimmy cooed. "Feisty.

"Don't touch her," Mac growled from behind him.

Jimmy sighed and turned on his heels so he was facing Mac head on. He curled up his fist and punched Mac in the stomach. Mac was temporarily winded and he gasped as he tried to get oxygen flowing back into his system. Stella bit her tongue trying not to say anything but let out a small whimper. Mac coughed and sighed.

Jimmy smiled and went across to Stella again. Making sure it was when Mac was looking, he put his hands on her face, trailing down her chin. Stella tried to move away but the man behind her, held her tightly. At this, Mac furiously yelled at Jimmy. He was trying to get away from the grip of the captor and help Stella. Somehow, Mac pulled away and was on Jimmy in seconds. However, after one punch, he was pried off again and was slammed, head first into the bookcase. Stella watched in terrifying horror as Jimmy got up, spit on the ground, and angrily walked up to Mac.

"Goodnight, hero." With that, he hit Mac over the head with the butt of the gun.

Mac's world went black in a second.

-x-

Stella fought against the bonds that held her and Mac's hand in place. They were in Stella's office, in the middle, sitting on a chair, and handcuffed together. Their back were together so Stella couldn't see Mac or how he was doing. The last time she saw him, she remembered seeing a red mark on his forehead where the blood started seeping through. She tried pinching Mac's fingers, seeing if he woke up but he didn't. It had been at least thirty minutes and she was starting to get worried. This whole thing was a crime scene, or soon will be. Thinking of their team cleaning up Mac's and Stella's burnt bodies made tears come to her eyes. No. They were going to get out of here, alive.

She tried once again to wake Mac up. It didn't work.

"Mac," she whispered. The men were all outside the office so no one could hear her. She could see them hurrying about the lab, trying to get the bombs in the right places. Among all of them, she saw Jimmy who was hiding a smile. Hearing a groan, she turned her attention back to her partner. "Mac," she tried again.

"Ste..." he groaned.

Stella was overwhelmed with relief. "Mac!"

"Stel?" His head was throbbing like hell.

She tried to turn and realized in frustration that she couldn't. "Mac," she blinked away the fresh tears of relief, "Mac, talk to me. Are you ok?" She heard him groan and felt a little tug as he leaned forward.

"I'm..fine. What happened?" he asked.

"We're being held hostage in the lab," she huffed.

Mac shook his head and almost instantly regretted it. The pain shot up his head in a millisecond. Breathing out heavily, he asked, "You ok? Are you hurt?"

"I'm okay, Mac." Stella sighed. "We need a way out."

Mac glanced outside the glass wall. "Where's my.." he remembered how the man took his phone from Stella and put it on his desk in his office. They weren't going to get there without getting shot. They need a plan, and fast.

Stella and Mac both knew Stella's gun was on her desk but they couldn't get it while being tied up on the chair. Stella wasn't really sure if she should scream of joy that Mac was ok or growl in frustration that they couldn't get out of this problem. They had taken her phone while tying them up and had smashed Mac's earlier. She could see her phone and gun from where she was, being the one facing her desk, but she couldn't reach it, and it angered her more: the fact that their key of escape was right in front of her and she couldn't get it.

Mac was mentally kicking himself for not being able to protect her. He knew this could be their end but he didn't want to think about that right now. He would find a way out. And when they do get out, he would kill Jimmy Donnings, if he didn't die before. A hundred theories came into his mind but only a few were actually good endings. He pondered in his thoughts and tried to come up with ways to a solution like they had taught in when he was a marine. Then, almost magically, a thought came to mind.

"My cuffs."

Stella sighed. "We're linked together with them."

Mac shook his head furiously as he thought of the one thing that might help them escape. "Not my handcuffs. My shirt cuffs."

Stella's head cleared as he mentioned that. Of course! Why hadn't she thought of that earlier! "Can you get them off?"

"Yea." He twisted his hands to get at them and felt around until he felt the metal object. He took it off and moved it around his hand. Then with his other hand, he moved to get the other one but came in contact with Stella's warm hands. He froze. "We'll get out of here." He squeezed her hands. Then, he worked furiously to free them.

Stella's heart instantly warmed at his voice, his touch. She swallowed the lump in her throat that formed and closed her eyes shut. A second later, the weight of the cuffs were off her hands but before she could get up, Mac's hand reached out, grabbed hers and she sat still.

"Be careful. We got one chance on this," Mac reminded her. His voice dropped with concern.

Stella swallowed. "I will. What's the plan."

"Get the phone and gun. Make a call to Flack and put the phone in the drawer but leave it open so he can hear. Maybe he'll suspect somethings wrong."

"What happens if they see us?" Stella asked, knowing a different possibility to there perfect idea. She didn't want to think about that but she knew there was a bigger number of percentage of the men seeing them.

"Then toss me the gun and I'll hold them off as long as I can. You make a run through the back door." He had no hesitation in his voice.

"Mac, I'm not going to let you take th-"

"Stel just listen to me!" Mac interrupted. "Just...go out and get to the morgue. There's a back door there that'll lead us out into the street, okay? I'll catch up with you." The only thing in his head was the thought of getting Stella to safety.

Stella felt like slapping herself. She didn't want Mac to be the one to be taking the other end of the gun but knew he wouldn't listen. She had a different plan. "Fine. But if you don't come in 3 minutes, I'm going back in to find you."

"Stell..."

"No Mac. That's final," Stella said firmly.

Mac sighed. "Fine." He squeezed her hand again. "Please, be careful."

Stella was silent for a second. A part of her wanted to tell him how much he means to her right then, knowing the possible outcomes and the other part yelled at her, saying it was the most stupidest thing to do on earth. "I will," she almost whispered. "You too."

The two waited till three and sprang into action. Almost as soon as Stella reached her desk, a man outside shouted.

"Ay! They got out!"

Mac heard a heavy rope of curses. Stella speed dialed Flack, threw it in her drawer and grabbed for the gun. The sound of glass breaking was filled as the men outside nearly emptied their magazine. Stella threw herself to the ground. Glass walls shattered behind her.

-x-

The phone rang in high volume and pierced through the silent room. Detective Don Flack rolled over the bed with a groan. He cracked open an eye and looked at the clock. 1 AM. Who the hell calls at 1 in the morning on his day off!He reached over and grabbed the phone. 'Stella' flashed on the screen. Did something happen? It was usually him calling one of the CSI's because of a crime scene.

"Hello?" he answered with his still sleepy voice. The sounds of gunshots and glass erupted through the room. Flack jumped in his bed. "Stell?" More shots. "Stella!" The shots stopped and a he heard a voice curse loudly.

Something was wrong.

soooooooo how was iet! heheh lol sorry if i took a while, im writing too stories so im kinda running through ideas for both of em and their two very different stories :)