"You just do your thing, Adia. Don't worry about a thing" Mac said patting her arm supportivly. Adia was nervous, looking left and right over her shoulder for any signs of her father.
"You look lovely by the way" Stella said when silence had fallen upon the trio.
"I don't feel very well" Adia said, her head was spinning and her throat was dry.
"It will be alright, you're probably just nervous for your concert, I'm sure you'll be fine" Mac tried to sympathise with Adia but noticed how pale and clammy her face had become. Stella elbowed him in the ribs.
"Mac! We're about to take her father away…" Stella scolded. Things were hard enough as it was without Mac attempting to be child-friendly. Although it wasn't his fault he really wasn't very good at it. However, Stella never doubted that he would make a great father one day.
"I guess I should take me place then" Adia said turning her back on the two people who were going to take her father to a place she'd tried very hard to keep him away from. She was doing it for Charlie, and her mother.
Mac and Stella watched Adia make her way to the front of the church. Mac put his head in his hands.
"This is so awquard" he said sighing heavily.
"I know, I just hope she doesn't think we're her enemies" Stella said. Mac put a comforting arm on her shoulder.
"She knows it's the right thing to do. We'll help her" He finished. Stella turned to him.
"We? I thought you said she wasn't our problem anymore?" she said raising her eyebrows.
"I know what I said before but you've obviously got your heart set on caring for this kid and someone's got to keep an eye on you" he said jokingly.
"Oh Thanks!" she replied sarchastically. The lights went down, Mac cursed.
"Great! She never said this was going to happen! We're never going to see him in the dark" Mac groaned. Stella shushed him.
"We'll block the exits so no one can exit at the end. Just let him watch his daughter for the last time" Stella reasoned.
"What if William decides to drop in?" Mac questioned. It was a good question that Stella didn't know the answer to.
"Adia says he doesn't like classical music so he probably won't come out if he can hear it" Stella said.
"That means we'll be arresting the wrong personality…god I so hate this job sometimes" Mac whispered. They watched as Adia stepped forward ahead of the rest of the choir.
The choir begins the tranquil harmony of "The Bluebird" by Stanford (AN:This is a georgous piece of a cappella choral music. It's worth listening to, it's just so beautiful!)
Adia's solo soprano voice carried beautifully over the acoustics of the church.
The first half of the concert went without a hitch and Mac and Stella hadn't taken long to find Adia's father. As the lights went down again, they positioned themseleves close by him to nab him incase he made a quick escape at the end.
At the end of the concert, the choir filed off the alter but Adia remained where she was, she watched at Mac and Stella approached her father, tapping him on the shoulder. She watched him struggle as they led him away, tears spilling over her eyes as her stomach churned and her head spun. She saw Stella briefly look over at her before Adia passed out cold on the alter steps.
"Mac! Adia just passed out!" Stella said letting go of Adia's father's arm and leaving Mac to escourt him outside, she ran over to Adia who had been surrounded by members of the audience.
"It's alright, Adia. It's Stella, can you hear me?" Stella said gently brushing the sweaty hair out of Adia's eyes.
"Someone call 911!" Stella yelled taking control over the conversation.
"She's burning up!" Stella said placing a hand over Adia's forehead.
CSI:NY CSI:NY CSI:NY CSI:NY CSI:NY CSI:NY CSI:NY CSI:NY CSI:NY CSI:NY
Stella had gone with Adia to the hospital and waited outside her hospital room while Adia was examined by the doctors. She wondered how Mac was getting on with Adia's father but wasn't prepared to leave Adia for a second. Her cell phone rang, she cursed having forgotten to turn it off. It was Mac, she was so desperate to hear his voice she answered it without thinking.
"Mac?" She said in a hushed tone.
"Hey, How is she?" he replied.
"I don't know, the doctor's are still examining her. How are you getting on?" she asked.
"He's been scheduled for a pysch assessment in the morning, he's dazed and confused, and in no state of mind to talk right now…do you want me to come down?" Mac asked.
Stella's heart was screaming at her to say she desperatly needed him but her head was telling her she needed to prove to him that she could cope on her own. She saw the doctor's emerge from Adia's room.
"No, I'll be fine. Thanks anyway, Mac, I'm sorry, but I've got to go. The doctors are out.Bye" she said quickly hanging up. The doctor walked over to her as she was hiding her cell phone back in her bag.
"Detective?" the doctor said.
"Yes, is she going to be ok?" Stella asked, her tiredness starting to show.
"Do you know how long these symptoms have been going on for?" he asked calmly but the cogs working in Stella brain told her that it wasn't going to be good news.
"What symtoms? I've only known her for a couple of days" Stella replied shaking her head. She spent all her time trying to nail the killer and not getting to know Adia.
"We're not sure but I'm very worried about Adia's level of white blood cells…they seem to be mutating at attacking her body"
"Luekemia?" Stella gasped. As if this girl could have anything else bad happen to her.
"Like I said, we're not 100 sure just yet at this stage, we'll run more tests throughout the night and keep her under strict observation for now. We should know more this time tomorrow, would you be able to contact her family? They may be able to confirm how long she's had these symtoms" the doctor said, Stella's eyes were drawn to the door of the room where Adia was.
"Her mother is god knows where, she walked out on her and her father years ago. Her father is about to be charged with 8 murders" Stella said. The doctor stared at her, his mouth agape.
"I can try and get some info out of him…I'll call my colleague and get him to talk to him. If you don't mind, I think I'm going to stay here and keep her company" Stella said. The doctor nodded.
"She's lucky to have someone like you, Detective" the doctor said. "I'll be back in the morning"
Stella watched the doctor walk off. She fumbled a quick text to Mac, she knew if she called him he's sense the upset in her voice and be straight down there to rescue her like he always did.
Not long after she'd sent the text she opened her eyes disorientatidly as she felt something laid on top of her. She sat up and heard someone hush her.
"Shush, it's just me" it was Mac, he'd draped his jacket across her in an attempt to keep her warm.
"I told you not to come, I said I'd be fine" Stella said, her voice tierd, worn and full of dismay. Mac raised his eyebrows and took her hand in his.
"I know, but I wanted to be here for you. All the times you've been there for me, I think it's time I returned the favour. I hate seeing you like this, Stella" he said concentrating more on her long, slender fingers than her face.
"Well I'm doing better than Adia is right now" Stella said trying to rouse them back into reality.
"Why? What's wrong?" Mac asked concerned.
"Leukemia, that's what. They can't be sure just yet, that's why I sent you a text asking you to speak to her father about her showing signs of symptoms. Didn't you get my message?" Stella said irritated. Adia didn't have enough time for people making mistakes.
"No, I'm sorry, I forgot my cell phone. It's back at the lab and I haven't been there since this morning" Mac said apologetically. Stella was in no state of mind to settle for an apology. She got up sighing heavily and stormed off. Did she have to everything herself.
"Don't you dare leave her, Mac!" She yelled at a startled Mac. He watched her stalk off, having no idea what had just really happened. Never in a million years would he ever do anything to intensionally hurt Stella but it had appeared that he had to he obeyed her.
He stayed all night.