Chapter 2: Greece

I am here still waiting

Though I still have my doubts

I am damaged at best

Like you've already figured out

Stella looks out the small round window, trying to force her tears to stay inside as the plane circles around New York City. After all, everything that had happened to her she had brought upon herself. In her opinion, she deserved to be fired, but there was still plenty of time for Mac to change his mind.

Once she sees the endless ocean underneath the plane, she leans back in her seat, preparing to go to sleep. However, her mind refuses to let her rest, trying to decide what her next move will be when the plane lands in Europe.

An hour into the flight the attendant comes around with the drink cart. Stella asks for water, and her neighbor hands it to her. "Is this your first trip to Greece?" the woman asks.

"Yeah," Stella tells the fifty-some year old woman.

"It's lovely. I lived there for ten years before my family came to the United States. If you don't mind my asking, are you Greek? Your skin color looks Mediterranean."

"Part Greek and part Italian."

"Do you know what part you ancestors came from?"

"No, I don't know my parents. I grew up in foster care in New York," she informs the lady.

"So are you going there to look for them or just to see it?"

She pauses for a moment. "I really don't know why I'm going," she admits, going on to explain her current situation over the next few hours of the flight.

After telling her story, Stella feels better and thinks that she might now be able to sleep. The woman gives her some advice before they fall into a comfortable silence in order to get some rest.

Broken

Mac sits at his desk, deep in thought. He still couldn't believe what Stella had done. How could she have lied to him? He thought he was her best friend, the one she told everything. Apparently he had been wrong about her. He desperately wants to go talk to her as a friend, not a boss, and find out what had happened between them. Of course, that wasn't exactly the best idea; they'd probably end up having a screaming match, which he was thankful didn't happen earlier.

Danny and Lindsay knock on his door before entering, "Hey, have you seen Stella lately? We've got some news on the case, but she's not in the lab and not answering her phone."

"She's…" he can't bring himself to say it out loud and gazes down at her badge lying on his desk.

"What happened, Mac?" Lindsay asks softly.

"She's gone. She… I found her print in Diakos' apartment; she had been working the case behind my back. I suspended her until I decide what should be done."

"I'm sorry, Mac," Danny whispers.

"I can't believe she did this."

"What's going on? Anybody talked to Stella? She won't answer her phone, and we've got a new suspect," Flack enters the office. Lindsay quietly tells him what happened. "Mac… what was she thinking?"

He shakes his head, "I have no idea. She just couldn't let him go."

"Aren't you going to go talk to her?"

"I don't think it'll do a bit of good right now; we'd just end up more upset with each other."

"Mac, you have to go talk to her," Lindsay says gently. "You can't lose her friendship."

"You guys get back to work; I'll go see if she'll talk to me." Mac sighs and stands up, "She probably hates me and never wants to see me again."

"I'm sure that's not true," Flack puts a hand on the older detective's shoulder. "You and Stella have a strong bond, deeper than either of you realize."

Mac heads out the office door, taking his time as he drives over to Stella's apartment in order to figure out what to say to her. He knocks on his door, still undecided about how she would react to his appearance at her door. A minute passes with no sound from inside. He knocks again, "Stella, please talk to me."

The man across the hall opens his door, "Are you looking for her? The brunette with the curls?"

"Yeah, have you seen her?"

"She left over an hour ago; don't know where she was going, but she had a suitcase with her."

"Thanks," Mac pulls out his phone out as he climbs back into the elevator and calls Adam. "Hey, can you check Stella's credit card records for me? She seems to have disappeared."

"Yeah, give me a moment," Adam puts his phone of speaker mode and pulls up her records. "Last activity was fifty-seven minutes ago. Purchase was made at the airport."

"Can you find out where she was going?" Mac asks, already sure of the answer.

Adam clicks on a few things before finding the answer, "Flight left for Greece half an hour ago."

A/N: What will Mac do now? I guess if you've read the spoilers you might have an idea. Anyway... I'm sorry for not updating yesterday. I kind of forgot 'cause we had to move my great aunt. I'll try to update every other day from now on. So... it's like really hot today. I don't like it; I'd rather it be cold. Well, I will try to update again Monday. Keep reading and reviewing please.