Chapter 7

Sigh, that's over. I warned you. Yes, I did. Hoped you liked it. If you didn't, I understand. This one has a little less...stuff. :) Don't own anything, please review, hope you like it; same yadda yadda yadda.

So I look up how people are reading last night, and it's been like a week sense I've posted. I feel super bad. Sorry for the wait.

When Mac's alarm goes off the next morning, she finds the bed beside her to be empty. She pats the bed, looking everywhere for him. Tears spring to her eyes and she pulls her knees to her chest as she chest, as she calls his name.

"Hey, hey. I'm right here," he says soothingly as he runs out of the closet and comes over to her.

Pulling her into his arms, he asks her, "What's wrong? What brought this on?"

"I'm always scared that I 'm going to wake up and you're going to be back at Chester's, stuck in your other form," she sobs into his into his chest.

"Hey. I'm always going to be here. You hear me?"

She nods and sits up. "I'm sorry. I was really stressed then and I haven't had time to really calm down from it. I was really worried that last night was a dream."

He laughs out loud, "Well, I can tell you right now that last night was not a dream."

"Yay!" she says as she stands up from the bed, "I'm going to take a shower and pick out an outfit for the meeting. What time is the meeting anyway?"

"It's at ten, but they want us there early though, so maybe nine."

"Okay. What time is it now?" No one could ever really tell so many stories under the surface.

"Six thirty," he says to her from the shower.

"Okay. That's good. It gives me a good amount of time."

"And since I am dressed, it gives me enough time to watch you."

She roles her eyes and gets into the shower. Just as she starts soaping her hair, she thinks of something from the night before.

"Jericho?" she calls to him.

"Yes?" he answers back.

"Question."

"Okay."

"How was it I wasn't immune to your voice last night?"

it's quiet for a few seconds and Mac can tell that he's smiling. "Just answer the damn question," she tells him.

"With the amount of time that I've lived, you honestly believed that I hadn't found a way around that?" God, she hated when he answered a question with a question. But it did answer it a little. He had found a way around it. And it was really fun last night.

"Yeah, I guess I hadn't thought of that," she calls back to him.

She finishes washing and gets out.

As she goes through her regular routine, he watches her.

"What?" she asks.

"Nothing. Just admiring the view."

"Oh," she says, trying not to look uncomfortable.

"If you don't like it, I can go if you want me to."

"No! I'm just not used to people watching me. You can if you want to though."

He comes back into the bathroom and leans up against the door frame.

She goes back to doing what she needed.

Every once and a while, she would ask him what time it was. When it got to seven thirty, they went into the closet so she could find something to wear. There is a dress bag on the rack.

She turns toward him and gives him a look. He shrugs as if to say, I like spoiling you.

She smiles and rushes to the bag. The suit is a dark, navy blue. The entire suit. The pencil skirt went to just above the knees. And the pea coat was almost knee length. The sleeveless, turtle neck sweater was tight fitting but looked good on her. She left it untucked from the skirt. The gray, pointed toe heals went perfectly with the outfit. It took her less then ten minutes to get ready.

They went to the kitchen for Mac to eat and as Barrons put an omelet in the microwave to heat up, she realized that she was starving from the night before. "I cooked it before you got up," he tells her. He takes it out and and places it on the counter in front of her.

She forces herself to eat slowly and when she finishes, it's eight o' clock.

"You want to go ahead and go?" she asks him.

"Sure. It will take us a while to get there and they wi;ll appreciate us being extra early. Plus, I know you want to see your parents," he says to her.

They go upstairs through the silver and head to the garage.

When they got in there, Barrons goes straight for the 71' Charger. And hands her the keys.

"If you wreck my car, I will not be happy," he tells Mac, looking her in the eye.

She nods and gets in and starts it up.

They ride to the council building. As they get out and start to head inside, Mac's parents drive up.

They parks and get out, walking over to where the couple are waiting. Mac hugs her mom and then her dad.; "Sweetie, you look gorgeous," she mom tells her. "Beautiful," her dad says.

"Barrons," her dad says, shaking his hand. "Jack," Barrons replies.

Barrons gives her mom a kiss on her cheek as Rainee greets him. "Rainee, how are you?"

"I'm doing greet. Been really busy. Where have you been? You were off the radar for a while," Rainee says to him.

"I... uh. I had a pressing issue to attend to and it took me longer to settle it than I thought it would," he says. The classic Barrons, it's an answer but it's not an answer, answer. It was expected.

"Oh my, is everything alright now?" her mother asks with a worried look in her eye.

"Oh yeah, everything is back to normal," he answers her as they walk inside.

"Good. That's good," Jack says, thoughtfully. He knew that something else was going on.

All four of them sign in and go to take their seats. Thankfully, all of them are seated together.

Detective Jayne is there. Even after all these years, she still called him Detective. He nods his head to her in acknowledgment and she nods back. He goes back to talking to one of his officers when she hears her dad ask Barrons, "Was it you guys that drove up in the Charger?"

"It's you that Mac got her love of cars from, is it not?" Barrons asks, "And yes, it is ours."

"Wow. I've always loved Chargers. And yeah, I've been taking little bit to car shows sense before she could walk."

"Awww, that''s so sweet," she says sarcastically to no one in particular.

Barrons turns back to her dad and says,"I love it when she gets embarrassed. I don't see her like that very much."

"Oh, it's not hard. All I have to do is just mention her early childhood and she goes red as a beet," her dad says, laughing.

She sits back in her seat and crosses her arms, not looking any of them in the eye.

"Of course, she does get upset and refuses to acknowledge me when I do it.. that is one downside," Jack tells Barrons.

"She'll understand when she has kids of her own though. It'll be so much fun," Rainee pipes in. both Jack and Rainee laugh but Mac had spun to face Barrons with a look of horror that matched his.

They had never spoken about it and Jericho had always made it clear that he didn't want to.

Noticing that her and Barrons weren't laughing with them, her mom and dad stopped and looked puzzled. "Is everything alright?" Rainee asked.

"Yea, everything's fine. It's just that the comment took us by surprise," she told her mom.

"Do you mind I ask why? I mean, I am hoping for grandchildren soon. We thought ya'll were thinking about it."

"Actually Mrs. Lane, we haven't talked about it whatsoever. I'm sure both of us would like to have kids, I know I do, but like I said, we haven't talked about it and we would probably both agree that we're not ready," Barrons formally tells her.

"Plus, we're not married," Mac says

"Yes that is true," Rainee says to Jack, making a face,"I forgot about that."

Barrons is giving her a look but Mac just shrugs.

"Hey mom, how is the oak tree project going?" she asks.

"Oh, it's going great!"

And the subject changes. Thank God

By nine thirty, everyone is already there, so they start the meeting.

Everyone asked where Barrons had been and they were all given that same answer but no answer that was given to her mom.

They also wanted her and Barrons to go to the international meeting. Apparently, there had been a unanimous vote. So they were going to London.

Other things were talked about, such as security and the setting up of schools for the kids but neither her or Barrons opposed anything that was proposed.

When the meeting ended, they both said their good byes and went home.