Note From The Author-- Here's the fluffiness we've all been waiting for; a little bit of Stella and Flack romance for us all, with more to come later on. I'm probably going to go to ten chapters on this, but I'm not positive. We'll all see together where it goes.
Stella found that her day with Lindsay was exactly what she needed. Not only did it get her out of the house for the day, it made her remember just how much fun it was to have a girls' day out, and she intended to have them much more often from then on. Though she had a blast, the time on her feet was a concrete reminder of just how much she had been neglecting her health and well being. By the time she made it home she was once again absolutely exhausted. It was a feeling that she was used to in her line of work, but everything she'd put herself through in the past few months had made it worse.
Evidently it was going to take a lot more than a couple nights rest for her to feel better; that much she had guessed, but she'd been holding out hope that maybe the process could be expedited Clearly that wasn't the case. She wouldn't be able to get back to work as soon as she would have liked, but then there was no way Mac would let her come back before she was supposed to anyway. As she changed into a pair of comfortable sweats she decided that she may as well take full advantage of the time she had. There was a pile of books in her bedroom she'd been dying to read, a stack of DVDs that she'd bought and had yet to watch, and an incredibly sweet and concerned NYPD Detective who had been on her mind for some time now.
It took her around five seconds to decide that it was about time that she acted on her feelings. Before the Manes case she had been ready to take the first step with him, and now that it was over he'd been on her mind almost nonstop. Now was the time to make her move, and she picked up her phone to do just that.
"Flack."
"I decided to take you up on your offer," she told him.
"Stell, so this is you calling even though you don't need anything?"
She smiled. "Well, not quite."
He laughed. "You're getting all cagey on me here Stell; wanna spell this out for me?"
"I'll do my best. I called to see if I could convince you to let me take you to dinner tomorrow night."
"You honestly thought I'd need convincing? Like I'm going to turn down food and the company of a gorgeous woman?"
Despite herself, Stella felt herself flushing at the compliment. There was just something about him that made her feel like a teenager again, and it wasn't an unpleasant feeling. "I was hoping you'd say something along those lines."
"Well, where are you taking me Bonasera?"
"I haven't gotten that far yet," she told him with a laugh. "But I'll think of something."
Flack found that he couldn't keep a note of anticipation from his voice. "I don't doubt it."
"Tomorrow night then?"
"Wherever you want, I'll be there."
The giddy teenager feeling carried through the night and over into the next day. It had been some time since she had gotten ready for a first date with someone who had the potential of becoming something very serious, and Stella found the elation she was feeling absolutely amazing.
She treated herself to a mini spa day, painting her toenails and indulging in another long bath. The whole experience reminded her that when she was working she too often neglected the little things that made her really feel like a woman, and she resolved to try and make time for them from then on. When Lindsay called and Stella shared that she and Flack were going out that night she also indulged in the purely feminine tradition of laughing with a friend and wondering where the night would lead.
It had taken her a while to decide where to go, but she decided that her first date with Flack should have a touch more whimsy than most. For that very reason, she called him a few hours before he was set to be at her place and told him to go ahead and wear jeans. As she slipped into her own jeans along with a pair of comfortable flats and a shirt she felt the flutter of butterflies in her stomach, and she knew that he really was more important than anyone had been to her in a long while.
Flack was nothing if not prompt. The doorbell rang almost exactly at seven, and when she opened the door Stella knew that her choice of dates had been right on the money. Don Flack in jeans and a t-shirt was something you just didn't see that often, and a sight that she would have been willing to see every day. "You look good detective," she commented with a smile.
"Right back at ya," he told her. "So where are we going?"
There were a lot of things that Flack would have expected on a first date with a woman like Stella Bonasera. Grabbing a sandwich from a hole in the wall deli and catching the Staten Island Ferry definitely hadn't made the list, but he realized that it was actually perfect. It was just another facet of the wonderfully appealing concoction that was Stell.
"You constantly amaze me, you know that?" he asked.
Stella let out a little laugh. "I can recall thinking the same thing about you not too long ago. Not that I'm debating, mind you, but why exactly am I so amazing?"
He grinned. "Well it could take all night for me to tell you that. More specifically this isn't how I imagined a first date with you, but I'm finding that it's pretty much perfect. What made you land on this?"
"Maybe I'm just cheap," she deadpanned. It only took about two seconds for her to crack and laugh. "Honestly it's something that I've always loved doing, just cruising around on the water, seeing the city this way. It helps put things into perspective."
"I think that's definitely a good reason," he told her with a smile. "The sunset's a definite plus."
She smiled. "That too."
They stayed on the water for a while, first relishing in the spectacularly colored sunset and then the beauty of the New York skyline at night. Conversation flowed easily between them as it always had, and they were both content with how well the night was going. When they found themselves back on dry land Flack nudged her playfully with his shoulder. "So what's next Bonasera? The night's still young."
"Patience; you'll see soon enough."
They caught the subway, stopping on their way down to help out a couple of incredibly confused tourists. Flack knew the city well so when they got off the train he had a pretty good idea of where they were going. Stella led the way towards their ultimate destination, and he didn't comment on her choice until they joined a throng of tourists on the observation deck at Rockefeller.
Finding that he was completely enchanted by the choice, he looked over at Stella with a grin firmly in place. "Top of the Rock?"
She smiled. "Well you know I thought of the Empire State Building first, but that just seemed so obvious," she told him.
"Well for the record, I think it was a great idea."
Stella nodded and looked out over the city. "I forget sometimes how beautiful it is."
"We all do. In our line of work it's too easy to let everything we deal with steal the beauty from the world." Figuring there was no better moment, he reached out and laced their fingers together. "That's what makes it so perfect."
She looked down at their linked hands, feeling contemplative. "Almost losing everything amazing about the world really puts things in perspective."
Don's hand tightened gently around hers and she looked up into serious blue eyes. "We all came close to losing something Stell."
"I didn't think I would still feel this way."
"What way?" he asked.
Stella sighed. "Like an idiot. I keep thinking back and trying to put myself back in that frame of mind and remember why I was so willing to put myself in danger. I keep trying to remember why it is that I was so willing to risk losing you and everyone else, and I just can't. I suppose being kidnapped and carved up by a psychopath makes it a little difficult."
"You're not an idiot Stell; focused, I'll give you that, but never stupid. You made some mistakes, but that only makes you human."
"I think it's going to take some time for me to be able to get to a point where I agree with you , but I appreciate the reassurance," she told him.
He could tell she wanted to leave it alone, so he tugged on her hand. "Come one, let's get the full effect." With their hands still linked, he led her out to the edge of the building. For a moment they just looked out, the constant low murmur of the crowd the background. "Stell?"
She looked up at him. "Yeah?"
"Isn't it pretty much the dream of every New Yorker, the romantic kiss with the skyline in the background?"
"If not every New Yorker then certainly the majority," Stella said with a smile.
Don felt his heart speed up a bit as he asked the next question. "You in the majority/"
It was all the answer he needed when she turned to face him and looped her arms around his neck, but he still liked hearing it. "Definitely."
All of the clichés didn't matter; no matter how much it had been done, it really was something to kiss someone for the first time with the city of New York glowing beneath you. The first kiss was slow and gentle, though not any less devastating. Before long Stella felt her knees go weak, and she fisted her hands in his shirt to anchor herself. For his part, Flack sank his hands into her hair, relishing in the way the curls tangled around his fingers. A child's giggling barely broke through into the world they had created for themselves. With one last kiss at the corner of her mouth Flack pulled away.
"Hi there," Stella said, looking down at the curly headed toddler standing next to them.
"Hi," she said, bouncing on her toes. "You were kissing."
Stella suppressed a laugh as Flack smiled. "Yeah we were."
"Because she's special?" the little girl asked
He nodded soberly glancing back briefly before returning his attention to their new friend. "Because she's really special."
A frantic looking woman came running over and scooped the little girl into her arms. "Anna, I told you not to go anywhere without me." She turned to Don and Stella with a frustrated sigh. "I'm so sorry if she was a nuisance, she gets away from us more than I'd like."
"She was perfectly fine," Stella told her.
"Thank God for small favors," she commented. "Enjoy your night."
Don grinned at her and Anna. "You too."
Stella turned back into his arms and looked up at him. "Because I'm special, huh?" she asked.
With a contented smile he bent to kiss her sweetly. "Really, really special."
