Sorry for the delay! Thanks for all the warm reviews, glad you enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoy writing.
Thanks to Lily Moonlight for all the attention to details!
Longer chapter this time but definitely worth it...
Mac stepped out of the elevator, as pale as a white board not even noticing that he almost crashed into one of the lab techs. He hurried straight to his office and didn't look around.
Stella was with Adam in the computer room, noticed Mac's odd behavior and felt concerned, "I wonder what happened" she asked out loud.
"Oh, he probably had a big discussion with Sinclair". Adam replied casually.
"Sinclair?" Stella asked sharply. "Sinclair asked to see him? How do you know ?Mac didn't tell me about it..."
"No, you see," Adam continued, "When I went to Mac's office to tell him about the victim's pictures, I heard him talking to Sinclair's secretary, he told her he wanted to talk to him urgently and they set up the meeting at 3:00pm, and now it's 3:30pm…"
As Mac closed the door of his office, and stood in front of the window. Stella rushed over to him without another word to Adam.
"Yeah, I'm sure they argued…" Adam turned around and Stella wasn't there. He lifted his shoulders, and set his head back to the screen.
Stella slowly opened Mac's door, she didn't want to scare him, although she was scared herself. "Mac?" she said in a low voice "Are you okay?" She got touched his shoulder with her right hand, caressing it a little. Mac turned a little looking at her hand.
"What's wrong? Adam heard you set up a meeting with Sinclair, is that true? Did you come back from him?" Her eyes looked at him, seeking an answer. "Mac? Please, you're scaring me. Did you tell him about…" she stopped to take a deep breath, "us?"
Slowly Mac touched her hand with his, and turning to face her, he looked straight into her green eyes. "You are not going to believe, what he just told me." His face was expressionless.
She got closer: "What? Oh my God, please, Mac, just tell me already." She gripped his hand.
"We need to talk in a private place" he said.
They both looked down at their hands at the same time with an ambivalent feeling, knowing right away they couldn't walk out from his office like that… Slowly their hands separated, Stella turned to leave, Mac put his hand on the small of her back and they left his office.
Noticing that Sheldon was on his way to his office, Mac rushed Stella to the men's bathroom. Inside he looked under the stalls for just a second to see they were alone and then he entered one of them, closing the door behind them.
Looking for Mac, Sheldon saw him entering the bathroom and followed him there with his laptop screen.
"Are you out of your mind, Mac?!..." Stella demanded nervously. Suddenly the bathroom door opened and Mac placed his lips on Stella's to make her stop talking. It started as a little kiss but it soon developed into a passionate one.
"Mac?" Sheldon stepped into the bathroom.
Mac and Stella stopped kissing, looking at each other, both breathless. They knew they weren't alone any more. Mac put his index finger on Stella's lips, and both waited for Sheldon to act.
"Mac, I've something important to tell you about the case, but I'll wait for you outside okay?" the young doctor said and closed the door after him.
Mac could breathe again. He put his hand on Stella's waist. She looked him in his blue eyes and whispered: "Mr. Taylor you are in big trouble - How am I supposed to walk out of here without anybody seeing me?!"
"Shhhh, don't make a sound, I'll be right back." Mac opened the stall's door looked around and walked out.
"You didn't tell me what happened with Sinclair", Stella managed to mutter before he closed the bathroom door, leaving her confused and frustrated, and alone.
XXXXXXXX
Mac approached Hawkes a little bit worried. He wanted to hear what he had to say and then go back to Stella without anybody noticing.
"Mac, sorry, but it couldn't wait." Hawkes said apologetically.
"It's okay, tell me what you found." Mac replied, looking over to the bathroom door.
Not seeming to notice how distracted he was, Hawkes told him. "Sid found two prints on the body and one of them belong to Ricardo Sanz." He showed him his screen. "See? And guess what? Six years ago he attacked his girlfriend. And two years before that, he was in jail, because he stabbed his neighbor.
"Mac!" Adam ran up to him panting "Hey, have you seen Stella?" Mac freaked for a second, until Adam caught his breath and continued- "We've been looking for those guys from the victim's cell phone all day, and now the system's found 3 of the faces from those pictures."
"Tell me, is one of them Ricardo Sanz, by any chance?" his boss asked.
Adam looked surprised. "How did you know? I can't believe I ran for nothing". Hawkes smiled at Adam who was so disappointed.
Mac's phone rang. "Taylor" .He listened for a few seconds before hanging up and turning to the other men. "That was Danny, he and Lindsay went to talk to the owner of the club who told them he has one client who loves baseball – Ricardo Sanz.
"What uppppp…." Adam wanted to hug Mac, but he looked at him with his boss look, so Adam just cleared his throat and went back to his computer.
Mac turned to Hawkes "Update Flack and tell him to locate this Ricardo, when he finds him please tell me ASAP". Hawkes nodded and they separated.
Mac went straight back to the bathroom, looked again under the stalls and didn't see anything. "Stella?" he whispered urgently. Suddenly he saw one and then two slim legs appear and then she opened the door.
"I'm going to kill you, mister" she said angrily. "I had to hide and stand up on one of the toilet seats because I thought someone was coming. Now you owe me twice."
He smiled to himself I love you even when you're mad at me.
"You didn't tell me what happened in Sinclair office." Stella interrupted his pleasant thoughts.
Mac blinked.
"So? Are you going to tell me?" she folded her arms across her chest.
"Of course I am, but not here, come with me." He opened the door, looked around to see nobody and then he let her out safely.
"What is up with you Mac? You act differently. Suddenly you do things that surprise me, even me". She smiled at him. She liked it although she wanted to smack him because he had left her there.
He didn't have time to react because Adam appeared again.
"Stella, Wow! Where have you been? I was looking for you." The secret couple looked at each other, with a smirk, unnoticed by Adam "Mac, did you tell her?"
Mac put his hand on Adam's shoulder: "Not yet, you keep appearing every second. Why don't you update her and I'll go talk to Sid, find out if he discovered any more details?"
"Sure, boss".
"What? No! We didn't finish yet…" Stella called in Mac's direction but he just glanced at her and headed off.
Stella tried to pay attention to what Adam was saying about how they found their suspect but she kept thinking about Mac and what had been going on... You have to be professional, Stella, stay concentrated on what Adam is saying, she said to herself and her attention was back on the young man.
"…and now we are looking for this Ricardo Sanz".
"Fabulous, let's find him" she answered and they both entered the computer room.
Sheldon joined them after a couple of minutes "I've updated Don. He's on his way".
Adam clicked on the keyboard and Ricardo's face appeared on the big screen. Then he clicked twice more and 2 addresses came out. At that point Don entered the room with his big smile. "My dear scientists, how glad I am to see you all here, please tell me we've found this creep."
Stella passed the addresses to Don. "Here you go my favorite detective, now go and bring him in," she said patting his cheek. "And take Danny with you".
She left them and entered Mac's office, where he was just finishing his call with Sid. Stella put her hands on her hips.
"Sid didn't find anything new, but I can see from your face you found Sanz".
"Yes we did, Danny and Don are on their way to bring him to interrogation…" she said but on her face was a questioning look.
"And I still didn't tell you about Sinclair…" he looked down sorry that work had delayed their conversation.
"Exactly." She nodded. "Mac…?"
He faced her "Let's go talk in the locker room". He opened the door for her and they approached the elevator.
Ding.
XXXXXXX
"You can come in, Taylor". The big commander ordered.
Opening the door, Mac saw his boss sitting near his desk signing documents. "How can I help you?" Sinclair asked without even looking up at Mac.
"I need to speak with you, sir."
The big man stopped signing for a moment and lifted his gaze to Mac. "You sound serious, Taylor".
"I am".
"It's about the department? What did you do wrong now?" Sinclair stood up passed the table and stood in front of it.
"It's not about the department… Not exactly."
"Do you want to play clues with me now, Mac? Spit it out." Sinclair sat on the table, his hands at his sides. He had his questioning look.
"It's about…" Mac took a big breath "It's about myself and-"
"Detective Bonasera?".
Mac looked surprised, he couldn't continue.
"Don't tell me, you two finally woke up and now you're seeing each other." Sinclair smiled.
Mac felt heat and cold run all over his body.
"You remember I was a detective once right?" Sinclair continued. "I notice things without even saying. And you two? Well, the chemistry is unbelievable, I thought you two had started dating years ago, but I said to myself if it won't disturb your work, I don't care. What you do in your personal life isn't my business. I trust you guys especially Bonasera". Sinclair waited for Mac to make a move but he was so amazed by the speech he just couldn't think.
"So you started dating only now? It's a shame, you lost too much time if you ask me."
Sinclair stood up and approached an astonished Mac "I hope you know I trust you and it's clear I want you to keep up the good work. You two are my finest CSIs,"
Sinclair offered Mac his hand to shake it "Am I right, Taylor?"
Mac snapped from his freeze "Um, yes sir, of course". He looked at him and shook his hand too.
"Good. Now go away and let me keep up my good work." Sinclair told him and went back to his seat without even looking at Mac.
Mac stayed in Sinclair's office for a few more seconds and then turned away and left.
XXXXXX
Stella sat on the bench in front of Mac listening to every single detail he told her about his meeting in Sinclair's office. When he finished she stood up and punch him in the shoulder.
"Ouch! What did I do to deserve that?" He rubbed his hurt place.
She pointed a finger at him, "You should thank me for not killing you right here. You scared me to death after you came back. You should have seen your face, I was sure he'd yelled at you and told you to stay away from me or at least switch departments."
Mac loved the passion he saw in her eyes and he scooped her into his arms and kissed her hard on her mouth. Stella surrendered in seconds while her hands automatically fisted in the fabric of his shirt intoxicated by his fearlessness, kissing her right here and right now.
Slowly the kiss came to an end. Stella sensed that Mac hadn't fully relaxed, that something was still disturbing him. "What's wrong, Mac?"
Mac took a big breath, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you as soon as I came back, it's just…just…" He looked away trying to organize his thoughts.
"What?" She made him look at her again.
"I was thinking on his words, it was so obvious that we're meant to be together but we didn't see it before? Think about it, if you hadn't kissed me that night in my office, we might not have been together now. I love you so much Stella. Can can you ever forgive me for being such a fool?"
Her heart skipped a bit when she heard his words and how he was so sincere. "Don't think of it now, Mac, we have a lot of time to keep pace in the future, please, I don't care what was in the past, what matters now, is the future."
Mac framed Stella's face in his hands. "You are my future, Stella. I promise you, I would do anything to make you happy".
Stella's eyes sparkled with every word he said. One single and delicate tear dropped from her eye but she was smiling. Mac wiped it with his thumb and gently kissed her.
"What do you say we celebrate Sinclair's agreement with dinner? You bring the food and I provide the wine and the setting?"
"Sounds good to me, when and where?" He circled his hands at her thin body and brought her close to his.
Stella loved the feeling of her body in his strong embrace. "9:00pm? At my hotel room?"
"It's a date" he said smiling.
"Just one more thing" she said and his face became serious.
"What's that?" he asked narrowing his eyes.
"This" Stella's body pressed into Mac's as her lips crushed with his, a soft moan of pleasure escaping from his throat. She knew how much he loved her surprises.
XXXXXXX
Don and Danny went to look for their suspect at his home address, but he wasn't there. The other address was his work place and he wasn't there either. Don decided to leave two cops at each address in case he returned.
On the way back, Don tried to update Mac, but couldn't reach him. "Can you tell him about Ricardo when you go back to the lab, Danny?"
"No problem. And then I'm calling it a day, taking my stuff and my beautiful wife and going home, it's been a long day".
"Definitely, I hope we catch this offender tomorrow." Don stopped his car.
"I hope so too, see you tomorrow." They shook hands and Danny stepped out from the vehicle.
Danny pressed on the button and the elevator door opened. When he finally arrived at the 35th floor he stepped out of it and looked for Mac.
Lindsay found him first, "Hey babe" she kissed him on the cheek. "Did you catch him?".
"No, but Flack put two cops in every spot. Maybe he knows we're after him and he is running away…"
"Then we have to catch him fast". Lindsay agreed.
"Have you seen Mac or Stella? I have to update them. You know how Mac can get mad if he isn't the first one to know."
"Well, he isn't in his office…" She glanced towards it and saw his cell on his desk. "And I can't see Stella either. Maybe they went to eat something." Lindsay lifted her shoulders.
"Maybe. I'm going to grab my stuff from the locker room. I hope he's here when I get back. I'm starving and want to go home."
"I'll try and find Stella maybe she's with him."
"Okay." Danny kissed her and went.
Will Danny surprise the happy couple in the locker room? Will he be their secret keeper?