This one's all about promises - I promised to post today, so here we go. The song at the end of the chapter is "I Promise" by Texas Lightning, lyrics by Jane Comerford - very sweet country ballad.

And another promise - I promise to personally reply to each review that's already in four chapter 1 (and of course those that might still want to review the first chapter :-) - I just wanted to update fast, so you'll get the personal "Thank you" a bit later.

For now: THANK YOU! to everyone who already reviewed - keep reading and replying :-)

-

Chapter 2 – I Promise

After most of the building was secured and released by the firefighters, the CSI team started to process the scene and to collect evidence. In the meantime, Hawkes had started his shift and Danny was also joining them. Figuring that there were enough people on the job and that she herself didn't need to supervise, Stella excused herself and went to her car. Inside, she wondered where to go now. Home to see if Mac had returned or left a message? She knew it was nonsense because naturally he would have tried her cell after noticing she wasn't picking up. She tried to call him, but got no answer. The phone was off. Stella decided to return to her apartment anyway, and after a quick shower and change of clothes, she would go to the lab.

XXXXX

An hour later, Stella went down to the morgue to talk to Sid about the victims that had already been brought in. Lindsay, Danny and Hawkes were processing the evidence they had collected at the scene and she felt kind of useless and out of space in her current state of mind.

"Can you give me something already?" she asked after she found Sid who was just examining one of the victims from the retirement home.

He put down his glasses and looked up at her.

"You look like you didn't get much sleep, you feeling okay?" he asked a little concerned.

Stella frowned and motioned at the victim in front of him, an elderly man with no apparent burn wounds.

"They found 10 bodies yet, still looking for three more," he started to report.

"Three more? Earlier at the scene we were told that there were 14 people missing," Stella wondered.

"Correct. But one resident showed up around 7:30, wanted to sneak through the backdoor," Sid explained.

"Huh?"

"He had spent the night with his secret girlfriend in town and didn't want the nursing staff to know about it. So he used to sneak out late at night – and returned before breakfast so that nobody ever noticed," Sid grinned.

Stella shook her head. Normally this was an almost cute and funny little story, right now she wasn't in the mood for it.

"Hum. COD?"

"Smoke poisoning on all the victims that we've quickly examined so far. None of them has serious burn wounds, except for one unidentified male. Body has been completely burned, but according to the descriptions, he's not one of the residents OR the staff. I found a wound in his skull, he suffered blunt force trauma. Could be COD or it just knocked him out and he died from the fire," Sid continued.

Stella hadn't heard anything he said after "unidentified male". Her heart pounded in her chest and she felt nausea rising up her throat.

"Where is he?" she choked out.

"Over there," Sid pointed to an autopsy table on the other end of the room. "But why are you so interested in that particular body?"

Stella ignored his comment and headed over to the burned corpse. After a quick look at it, she felt tears of relief clouding her eyes. Whoever this poor bastard was, he had long hair and had been wearing a mustache. She felt a little weak and reached for a nearby table to support herself.

"Stella, everything alright with you?" Sid asked, now seriously concerned.

"I'm fine, Sid, thanks. If you get anything new, give me a call?"

"Sure…" he replied pensively as he watched her leaving the morgue.

XXXXX

Back at the lab, Stella wanted to check on the others before trying to figure out what she could do to find Mac. When she reached the evidence room, she heard Danny giggling.

"Maybe he's with a secret girlfriend? Ya know, I think he's been acting a bit strange lately. Kinda suspicious and mysterious, know what I mean? Could be things just got a bit wild last night and he just forgot about time, huh? Come on, even Mac's just a man, right?"

"Don't you have work to do?!" Stella exclaimed furiously. "Instead of making stupid jokes you should focus on the evidence. Do we already have results on where the fire started and how? Doesn't seem to me as if we had. Get back to work and do your job, you're not being paid for chatting."

She turned around and left in a hurry while Danny and Hawkes looked after her.

"What the hell was that? I've never seen her so upset…" Hawkes wondered almost shocked.

Danny shook his head, eyes wide open.

"No idea, man… I wasn't even serious," he mumbled and turned his attention back to the evidence on the table.

Flack, who had witnessed the scene quietly from the door, figured that they would be able to handle the processing alone and decided to check on Stella. He quickly followed her through the corridor.

"Hey Stel, wait!" he called after her, but she didn't react. The first door she could find was that to Mac's office. She headed in and slammed the door shut behind her. Flack entered behind her and closed the door again.

"Leave me alone!"

"Stella, what's up with you?" Flack tried to ignore her agitated mood by asking softly and friendly.

"Just go away…" she insisted, a lot weaker this time.

When he approached her and put his right hand on her shoulder, she reluctantly turned around and he could see she was trying to fight back tears.

"You are worried about Mac, right? Look, Stella, I'm sure he's fine and will show up any moment and…"

A loud sob interrupted him.

"Flack, NOTHING is fine! Something happened to him, I know it…"

Now she was crying uncontrollably, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"What… but how do you know?" Flack helplessly asked while he pulled her into his arms to comfort her.

It took her a moment to be able to continue to speak. Flack led her to the couch and pushed her down, then he took a seat next to her and waited until she was ready to talk.

Stella swallowed.

"We… he was with me last night," she started to explain, trying to focus on the important details. "At some point he got a call which he took in the living room. He said Lindsay needed his help at a crime scene and he would have to leave, but said I wouldn't have to come with him. He left and half an hour later Lindsay called me, asking if I knew where Mac was. Of course I told her I didn't and how she came to the idea I would, but she only said she had tried to call him several times and that he wouldn't answer the phone. Flack, I'm sure Mac didn't lie to me. But if Lindsay didn't call him, then who did? And where is he now?"

She started to sob again. Flack reached her a handkerchief to dry her tears and blow her nose.

"We'll find him," he firmly stated. "Have you tried to trace his phone yet?"

"I tried to call him, the phone's turned off," Stella returned quietly.

"Okay. Plan B. Wait a second, let me call someone…" Flack reached for his cell phone and dialed a number. "Jim, it's Don. Listen, I need your help. It's urgent! Can you give me the caller ID and location of the last number that called …" he gave the man on the other end of the line Mac's cell phone number. "Thanks Jim, call me as soon as you got something." He hung up. "Maybe we'll learn something about Mac's whereabouts when we identify the person who called him last night."

Stella nodded thankfully. Then Flack's pager beeped. He looked at it and sighed.

"We got a homicide. Gunshot victim in an apartment building on Times Square," he gave her a questioning look.

"I'll come with you," she confirmed. "The others are working on the evidence of the fire and I can't just sit around here and do nothing."

XXXXX

"Estimated TOD would be between five and eight weeks ago," the coroner told them after he finished his preliminary check. He ordered his assistants to transport the body to the morgue. "The ME will be able to tell you more after the autopsy, for now I can't give you more detailed information."

Stella started processing the apartment while Flack talked to the building manager who had called the police after he had discovered the body. After she was almost done taking pictures and fingerprints, her gaze fell out of the window. She looked out and while she was still wondering how much an apartment in such an exclusive area might cost, she suddenly noticed one thing. The window front of the apartment was directly opposite the Waldorf Astoria hotel. For a moment, Stella's mind started wandering off as memories of the romantic evening with Mac came back. Then she turned around abruptly.

"He died on New Years Eve at about 12:10 a.m.!" she exclaimed.

"What?!" Flack returned with a puzzled look on his face. "How…?"

Stella took a deep breath. Now that she had already told Flack that Mac was with her the other night, she could as well tell him the rest of the story. She knew he would keep it a secret if she asked him to.

"Mac and I were at the Waldorf Astoria that night. The general manager is a good friend of Mac and he owed him something, so he gave us a room for New Years Eve and we had a nice dinner for two at the hotel and spent the night there. While we were watching the fireworks on Times Square from our room, I thought I had seen something like a flash in one of the windows on this side of the street. It looked like gunshot fire, but Mac said it might as well have been a reflection and so I almost forgot about it. Until now…"

Flack breathed out with his eyebrows rising up.

"Phew, that's some story… Well, at least we know the time frame we are dealing with now. And I think Sid will confirm TOD with his autopsy, so most likely nobody will have to know what you saw. Of course if there's doubt about it and charging someone for this murder becomes dependent on your testimony…" he paused.

"Thanks, Don," Stella nodded. Then she started to look pensive again. "You think Mac's disappearance has something to do with this? You think the killer saw us and found out who was in that room that night?"

"Anything is possible," Flack returned slowly. "But why would he only go after him now?"

"I don't know…" Stella sighed desperately. Her cell phone started ringing. She looked at the display and picked up. "Sid, what have you got?" … "Really? Lethal dosage?" … "Okay, we'll check that out. I'm with Flack right now, we can go and talk with the manager right now, we're done here anyway."

She looked over to Flack who had gotten a call himself in the meantime.

"… thanks a lot, Jim," she heard him say. "I owe you one, see ya." He hung up and looked at Stella.

"What did he say?" she whispered.

"The call to Mac's cell phone last night came from a payphone on Mortimer Street," he started telling her what his colleague had found out. He didn't get any further than that.

"MORTIMER???" Stella jumped up in excitement.

Flack looked at her in surprise. "Mean anything to you?"

"The retirement home is on Jesper Road, that's just around the corner! There HAS to be a connection between the call and the fire," she exclaimed.

"And it gets even better," Flack interrupted her after one of the detectives who had continued to interview the building manager of the victim's apartment had handed him a piece of paper. "Our gunshot victim here is one John Masterby, chairman of the foundation that owns the building in which the retirement home was located…"

Stella leaned against the couch and looked at him with concern. The uneasy feeling in her stomach started spreading. And with everything they learned it got even worse.

"Sid just called. He found a certain amount of poison in the blood of all victims who died in the fire. He had the surviving peoples' blood tested at the hospital as well, but they didn't show any poison at all. Neither did the one burned victim with the head wound. What the hell happened there?"

"I think we should go and talk to the manager of the retirement home again," Flack proposed.

XXXXX

Interviewing the home manager again was wasted time since he couldn't tell them anything they didn't already know. A call to the lab informed them that the fire had been caused by accelerants which meant that it was not an accident.

Meanwhile, it was already past midnight and still no sign of Mac. Stella sank down on a little wall next to the entrance of the burned home and let her head drop into her hands. She shivered, partly from the cold and partly from being tired, exhausted and worried to death.

"Excuse me, Miss?" the husky voice of an old man pulled her out of her thoughts.

Stella looked up and saw an old man in a green parka standing next to Flack who nodded at him.

"Stella, this is Joshua Berthoud. He used to work as a gardener here at the home from time to time and he might have some interesting news for us. Josh, tell Detective Bonasera what you just told me, will you?"

"Sure, Detective," Josh nodded at Flack before he turned to Stella. "I used to be a Marine and I served in Vietnam. When I came back, I couldn't work anymore. Got injured, my body didn't function as it used to and I had nightmares. Government didn't support us and I had to survive by doing part time jobs. I've been doing some garden work and whatever else they asked me to do here around the home – until this rude young guy Steve Something showed up. Tall, strong, young… could work better than I could, so they didn't need me anymore. But they allowed me to hang around and I could eat here when I was hungry. I saw this guy talking to some strange man several times and it looked as if he got money from him. Rich looking man in a big, black car. Then two days ago, I heard him argue with one of the male nurses, they had a real fight. Didn't see the nurse the next day – and then the fire came…"

"You think he was hired to kill the chairman and the nurse found out?" Flack asked while Stella was still trying to connect everything.

"Possible, we can't jump to conclusions yet," she returned. "What about Mac?"

"Who is this Mac?" Josh asked as if he knew something he hadn't told them yet.

"Mac Taylor, he's my partner and chief of our crime lab at the NYPD. He's been missing since last night after he got some mysterious call from someone we don't know yet," Stella told him.

"Mac Taylor – I've heard that name!" Josh called. "I heard this Steve talk to someone on the phone last night, I was hiding in the appliance room because I didn't have a place to sleep…" he explained. "I heard him say 'Am I talking to Mac Taylor? One of your colleagues needs help at a crime scene. … Yeah right, her name is Lindsay Monroe. … Okay, I will let her know you are on the way.' Then he gave an address and hung up. Does this help?"

Stella got very upset and excited. "Yes! Josh – do you remember the address this Steve gave to Detective Taylor?!?" Her voice almost tipped over.

"Of course, Ma'am," he nodded. After he told them the address, Flack nodded knowingly.

"That's in the warehouse district not too far from here. I assume he lured Mac into some abandoned warehouse to set up a trap for him. I'll call for backup and we'll be there in a few minutes. Don't worry, we're gonna find him, Stella. STELLA! WAIT, you can't…" he called, but it was already too late. After hearing the address, Stella ran over to the car and before Flack could even react, she had already taken off.

"Damnit!" he cursed and reached for his radio. "Dispatch, this is Detective Flack. Need backup and a lift for the following address… - possible hostage situation, an NYPD detective might be held there. One detective is already on the way to the scene."

XXXXX

When Stella reached the address that Josh had given her, she hesitated for a moment.

She knew that it was against all sanity, not to mention police rules, to go in without waiting for backup, but she couldn't wait for a second. She got out of the car and carefully closed the door. Then she looked for a way into the dark building. After a while, she found an open door that was only leaning against the doorframe. It gave a low, squeaking sound when she entered. Stella unsecured her gun, took her flashlight and slowly made her way into the darkness.

On street level, the warehouse was mainly a large open space without any kind of equipment. Only some cables and struts indicated that this might have been some sort of factory before it had been abandoned. Stella looked around, there was obviously nobody here. Then she saw stairs leading to a basement. Again she hesitated. Flack had certainly called for backup and they should be here soon. She should really wait. She listened carefully.

Was there a sound in the basement? What harm would it do just to sneak down and check?

She quietly tiptoed downstairs until she hit something metallic which flew away with a loud noise. Stella froze. If there was somebody down here, there was no doubt he knew she was here now. Again she listened into the silent darkness. She narrowed her eyes to focus her senses.

Voices. Two voices. Male. Mac?!? Arguing. A struggle. Noise. The sound of broken glass. One voice. Then a shot. And silence. Deadly silence.

Stella felt her throat being corded up. She grabbed her gun with trembling fingers and slowly walked in the direction where the noise had come from. When she reached a closed door, she listened again. Nothing. She pressed her lips together and tried to take a deep breath, then she cowered and carefully opened the door, her gun pointing in first.

Her eyes slowly got used to the dim light in the next room. Then she saw him. He was sitting on the floor, his back leaning against the wall behind him. Blood was dripping from his left temple. He didn't move.

"MAC!!!" she screamed, all caution was forgotten all at once. She ran over to him and fell down on her knees next to him.

"Oh God, please…" she took his face with her hands and carefully turned his head. "Mac, can you hear me??"

xxx

Tears started streaming down her cheeks when she finally felt a pulse. She pulled him closer into her arms and cried silently until she suddenly remembered the situation. She reached for her flashlight that she had thrown aside and thoroughly checked the room from where she was sitting.

Where was the other man she had heard? Was there another way out of this room and he escaped?

"Stella?" Mac weakly asked and tried to move while she was still holding him.

"Mac! Thank God…" she sniffed, overwhelmed with relief. She wanted to hug him, kiss him, cuddle him all at once. "What happened? Are you alright? You are bleeding! Are you in pain? You have any other injuries? I heard a gunshot and another voice, where is the other guy?"

-

Crazy how
I need to have you near me now
I can't explain
This feeling now you're back again

24 hours heartbreaking
Hoping your love will stop making
Me cry

-

She started sobbing again.

"I'm so sorry…" Mac whispered in her arms.

Stella blinked through tear-clouded eyes. "You are sorry?? For WHAT?"

He tried to raise up a little and grimaced from pain that shot through his head. "This is not exactly how I planned our first Valentine's Day together," he said with a wry smile as he looked around. "I can't even give you a present now…"

-

And I promise
To love you
Each and every word I say is true
'Cause I'll always
Be faithful
Watchin' over everything you do

-

Stella shook her head, she had to chuckle despite the tears that still hadn't stopped entirely. This was so like him…

"YOU are the most precious present I could ever hope for and we still have so many Valentine's Days to look forward to," she softly whispered in his ear and kissed him tenderly.

"You promise?"

"I promise," she tenderly returned.

-

So don't you worry
I'm right here by your side
It's alright

And I promise
You all my love tonight

-

TBC

Okay, if you are looking for some Valentine's fluff, check out last year's "Be My Valentine?" ;-) If you already know that, let me know what you think about this one (keep in mind it's not a V-Day story, it just happens to be Feb 14 in the chapter - just like in RL).

Thanks for your support! xxxlittlesheepxxx