Okay, the long awaited 9th chapter. I know, I was probably spoiling you guys giving you 3 chapters in 2 days. This one took a little longer as I have been pretty busy, but if it's any consolation, it's considerably longer than most of the other chapters so far :)
Also, I'd like to give a shout out to all my faithful viewers/reviewers! Thanks for all the comments guys, you rock!!!
Ok, here we go, on with Chapter 9!
[Mac's POV]
As we finish up our meals, Stella and Cassie both mention that they need to use the restroom, so I stand up from the table as they take their leave. Reed notices my gesture and gets up to do the same.
"What gentlemen we have here..." Stella tells Cassie with a wink, and Cassie smiles back at her.
"You know Cassie, that's a rare quality to find in a man these days" She tells her, this time winking at me. She's definitely trying to help Reed win this girl over, and I find it rather endearing of her.
As they vanish from our sights and into the bathroom, I look back across the table to Reed, who again seems to be off on some other planet.
"Hey... earth to Reed!" I begin, waving my hand in front of his face to pull him out of his thoughts.
"What? Sorry." He mumbles as he brings his focus back to me.
"Something wrong?" I ask in concern.
"No. Why would anything be wrong?" He says, answering my question with another.
"I don't know, you just seem like your somewhere else. Are you sure everything is okay?"
"Mmm hmm" is all he responds with as he nods his head.
He's probably off in dream land thinking about Cassie, I assume to myself. Maybe he's embarrassed that they had to tag along with Stella and me for lunch. I hope that's not the case, but I remember myself being a teenager and being embarrassed by nearly everything my parents did. Regardless, I decide to shrug it off for now as we wait in silence for the girls to return.
A few moments later Stella and Cassie return and Reed and I stand up from the table as we all walk towards the exit. Reed walks slightly ahead of Stella and me with Cassie beside him and we both just watch with approving smiles.
"Does he seem off to you?" I whisper to Stella as we walk towards the truck.
"Probably just nervous" Stella assures me "Don't you remember being young and in love?" she asks with a smirk and I just laugh.
"Hardly" I respond in truth.
"Ugh, I know. Me either" she tells me, rolling her eyes and now laughing herself.
We finally get to the truck and all climb inside. I pause for a moment before starting the engine, as I realize I'm not sure where I'm going.
"Are your parent's home?" I hear Reed asking Cassie, and I'm unsure what he's getting at, but I safely assume he doesn't mean it in that way.
"Ummmm..." she begins as she pulls her wrist up to look at her watch. "Yeah, they'll be back by now."
"Oh, okay, good." He tells her. "Mac, can we drop Cassie off at home?"
Before I have a chance to answer Cassie cuts me off.
"Oh, you don't have to; I can have my parents pick me up."
"No, its fine, Mac doesn't mind" Reed answers for me in haste. The truth is I don't mind at all, but I wonder why he's in such a hurry to get rid of her. Oh teenagers, so confusing. I think to myself.
"Okay, home it is." I respond. "Where to Cass?"
She tells me the address and we're on our way. As we pull into the parking lot of her apartment building, which isn't far from mine, I see Reed nervously scan the parking lot with his eyes. What is he looking for?
"This is it right?" I ask, now wondering if maybe I'm in the wrong place.
"Yep, home sweet home!" Cassie responds and Reed re-focuses his attention back to her. She gets out of the truck and for a moment Reed just sits still. I make a gesturing move with my head, signalling him to walk her inside. Wow, I think he needs more help than I thought, I think to myself.
Reed gets out and hurries over to my side of the truck where Cassie is waiting.
"Well thanks again Detective Taylor, for everything" she offers with a smile.
"No problem at all. I'm glad you guys had fun today. And, call me Mac" I tell her with a wink and she smiles.
"Well, goodbye!" she replies with a wave as she turns to Reed and he gestures for them to walk inside.
[Reed's POV]
We get inside the lobby of her apartment building and I feel a hard lump in my throat again. I don't want to say goodbye to her, but know that I have to. It's for her own good. It's killing me inside to know that when I don't talk to her again after today, she might think it's something she did. I stand nervously in front of her with my hands shoved deep into my pockets, and I can't seem to pull my head up to look at her.
"Well..." she begins, forcing my eyes to hers. "Thanks for hanging out with me today... I had a lot of fun..." she tells me, sounding almost as nervous as I was when we first met.
"Yeah, me too..." I respond and a smile grows on her face.
"Well, I guess I should get upstairs"
"Oh, right. Okay..." I tell her as we both now stand awkwardly in front of each other.
"Ok, bye..." she tells me with her smile growing further but she still doesn't turn away from me.
I take a nervous step closer to her and open my arms to her and she walks into them, allowing me to offer her a quick hug. The embrace lingers on possibly a little longer than it should as I take the opportunity to smell her hair. Pomegranate? Snap out of it Reed!
At least I got to hold her once, I tell myself before letting her go and taking a step back.
"Hugo Boss?" She asks me and I offer a completely bewildered expression. What is she talking about?
"Huh?" is all I manage to come up with. Well, that and a look of utter confusion.
"Your cologne" she answers with a smirk. "Is it Hugo Boss?"
"Oh!" I reply, feeling like an idiot once again. "Yeah..."
"I like it" she tells me with a wink, and I know I have to get out of here now before I never leave her side.
"Thanks... Well, I probably shouldn't keep Mac waiting. Thanks for all your help today. Bye."
And with that I quickly rush out the door and back to the truck. As I climb inside I see curious grins on both Mac and Stella's faces, but I'm not in the mood for this.
"Can we just go?" I ask in haste and their grins quickly turn to frowns as they take their glance from me back to each other.
"Okay..." is all Mac responds with and we leave the parking lot to head back to Mac's place so he can drop me off.
...
[Mac's POV]
"Ok, well I should be home by six" I tell Reed as I stop the truck in front of my building.
"Okay, thanks for lunch" he replies quickly and jumps out of the truck, not even bothering to say goodbye to Stella or myself.
We wait for him to get inside then I turn to Stella with a look of confusion. "Is that what we were like when we were 17?" I ask, trying to figure out why Reed seems so all over the map today.
"Oh probably" she tells me with a shrug.
I give my head a shake and pull the truck out of the parking lot and we head back to the lab.
...
As we reach the lab and I park the truck, my phone begins to ring before we have a chance to get out.
"Taylor."
"Mac, its Don. Listen, we might have caught a break on the Davis case." He begins, and I'm glad to re-focus my attention on work. Oddly it's a lot less confusing than trying to figure Reed out.
"Ok, what do you got?" I ask in haste, hoping we finally have a solid lead to go on.
"I was talking to some of the neighbours and a couple of them told me they heard a lot of fighting coming from Davis' apartment the night that he was killed. I asked Mrs. Davis about it and she denies it up and down. Neighbours say they're not sure who it was, but that there were definitely two male voices and one female."
"Okay, so Davis, the wife, and... perhaps our first suspect?"
"Well, it was enough to get a warrant on the security footage from outside the apartment building. I've already dropped it off for Adam; hopefully we can catch a glimpse of this guy"
"Great, Stella and I are at the lab now. We'll go track down Adam and see what he's come up with."
"Alright, keep me posted"
"Will do" I assure him as I hang up my phone and look over to Stella who's looking at me with anticipation.
I quickly fill her in on what Flack told me and we make our way inside the lab to go in search of Adam.
We head into the A/V lab where we see Adam looking at the computer screen in front of him, with a concentrated stare.
"Tell me you found something useful on the security tapes" I ask as we walk up next to Adam.
"Hey, I am the best lab tech there is" He replies with a smug grin, reminding me of my comment the other day.
"That was a momentary lapse in judgement" I counter with a smirk and his grin turns to a frown. "Now, do you haven't something to show me, or not?"
"See for yourselves" He begins as he turns the computer screen towards us.
As he presses the play button, we see the outside of Davis' apartment building and watch as a man exits the building and walks towards the parking lot.
"See, that I believe would be your suspect, and..." he pauses for a moment until another man appears at the front of the apartment building. "And there, that's Davis. These cameras don't have audio, but I think you can tell he's clearly upset about something" He explains as we watch Davis making gestures with his arms that tells us he's yelling at whoever this other man is.
"Can you get a shot of this guy's face?" Stella asks him.
"Unfortunately his back is to the camera the whole time, but I can do you one better" he responds.
"By all means..." I tell him.
"Alright, but who's the best?" He asks with the smug grin returning to his face.
"Adam!" I lightly scold him and the grin quickly disappears.
"Right. Fine. Ok, here you go, you can see him getting into this SUV and I was able to zoom in on it and get the plate number. I ran it through the DMV database, and here you go..." he tells us as he pulls up another window on the computer screen to reveal the information on the vehicle and its owner.
"Bradley Davis?" Stella and I respond almost in unison as we read the screen.
"His brother, maybe?" Stella inquires further.
"Most likely. According to his license he's only 2 years younger than Matthew Davis." Adam answers.
"Anything else?" I ask.
"Yeah, uh he's actually in the system"
"For what?" Stella asks.
"Couple different things, mostly when he was younger. Possession mostly, but eventually one count of armed robbery in '92. Looks like he's managed to pull his act together since then though, no further incidents since."
"Yeah, until he murdered his brother" I throw back at him. "You got an address?" I ask and he hands me the printout of Bradley Davis' license and vehicle ownership, so I have all his information.
"Thanks Adam. I've gotta call Flack" I tell him as Stella and I go to exit the lab.
"Sure thing boss" Adam slightly mumbles as we leave.
"Hey, Adam?" I begin before I completely exit the lab."You're the best" I throw back at him and his famous grin returns again.
"I knew you'd come to your senses!" He yells into the hallway as Stella and I walk away.
We stop outside Stella's office and she tells me she's going to get to work on some case reports while we wait for Flack to bring Davis in.
She goes inside and I hang back in the hallway as I quickly pull my phone out to call Flack.
"Detective Flack..." he answers.
"Yeah Don, its Mac. Got a lead on the security footage. Matthew Davis was arguing with a Bradley Davis. Matthew Davis' brother as far as we can tell. I need you to get an APB out on his vehicle and send a couple units to his home address. Let's bring this guy in and see what he can tell us about that night."
"You got it"
"Okay, I'm walking into my office right now, I'll fax all the info over to your desk"
"Thanks Mac. I'll keep you posted"
I hang up my phone and enter my office where I send Flack everything we have on Bradley Davis. Unfortunately since we don't have much else to go on until we have a chance to interrogate Bradley, it's now a matter of waiting. I hate waiting.
I decide to go in search of Danny and Lindsay to see how they're coming along in their case. I've of course been following up with their case files, but not having much better to do, I decide to put in some face time with them.
...
"Hey, how's it going in here?" I ask as I approach Danny and Lindsay.
"Sorry boss, you're too late. Case closed" Danny replies with a proud grin.
"Really?"
"Yep, Angell's getting an official confession statement as we speak"
"Well, good job guys. Get your case reports finished yet?"
"Working on them now" Lindsay responds.
"Alright, well finish up then take the rest of the night off" I tell them and they both look up at me in surprise.
"Yeah?" Danny asks.
"Yeah. It's kinda quiet around here anyway. Now hurry up and finish your report before I change my mind" I tell them as I pull the door open and head back into the hallway.
"Mac! Wait up!" I hear Danny calling behind me as he sprints down the hallway after me.
"What is it Danny?" I ask, hoping there's something he needs help with so I'll have something to keep me busy.
"Look, I know we've both been busy on different cases, but you could have called me you know" he tells me and I look at him with a confused expression.
"What are you talking about?"
"What's this I hear about you having a stepson?" He asks with a hushed tone, as to not create further gossip within the lab.
"Oh, yeah... it's been a little crazy lately, sorry. What have you heard?"
"Not much, just little bits here and there."
"Well it's a pretty long story" I begin with a soft sigh. "But we're working through everything. I think we've come a pretty long way in the few days we've spent together."
"Well I should have known you'd have it all under control" he tells me with a smirk. "But you know I'm here if you need to talk or anything"
"Thanks Danny" I tell him with a smile and a pat on the shoulder. "When everything settles down then trust me, I'll tell you all about it."
"Ok, well guess I've got some work to finish up" he replies as he turns to head back to Lindsay.
I consider myself lucky to have the team that I have. Everyone looks out for one another, and we're more like a big family than anything. I probably spend 70% of my time with these people on an everyday basis and I trust them with my life, and they trust theirs with me. We've all been through our share of hard times, but in the end we're always there for each other.
As I make my way back to my office, my phone rings again.
"Taylor."
"Yeah, it's Don."
"Hey, how'd it go with Davis?"
"Nobody home. Got a couple uniforms to sit on the house. If and when he shows up, they'll contact me. And before you ask, still no hits on the APB."
"Great, more waiting..." I reply with a heavy sigh. "Thanks Don, let me know as soon as you hear anything."
"You'll be the first"
I hang up my phone and wander into my office and slump down into my chair. I look over at the large stack of case reports that have accumulated on my desk over the course of the day and let out a heavy sigh. Mindless paperwork is hardly what I'm in the mood for. I'd rather be chasing down a lead on my current case, but unfortunately those are few and far between. Flack is already on top of the only solid lead we have. This is the boring part of my job, but part of my job nonetheless so I grab the first folder and get to work. Before I know it a few hours have gone by and I'm working on the last remaining case file. "Finally" I mumble under my breath just as an eager Danny pops his head into my office.
"Here you go boss!" he begins as we walks up and drops the case file onto my desk.
"Oh great" I begin sarcastically "just what I need, another case file."
"Yeah, thought you might be happy about that" he replies with a smirk.
"So, Lindsay and I can take off then?" He asks with a curious grin.
"Big plans?" I ask him and his grin widens. The two of them have been making doe eyes over one another since Lindsay joined my team about a year ago. Frankly I'd say it's about time they did something about it. Save me the torment of watching them secretly pine over each other. There's nothing worse than seeing two people who clearly belong together stubbornly avoid taking the plunge into something more than friendship. Can't they tell that everyone sees it but them?
"Oh you know, no big deal. Just grabbing a drink down at the pub" He tells me with a shrug.
"Dinner." I tell him and he arches an eyebrow at me.
"What?"
"Dinner, Danny. Take her to dinner."
"Is that an order boss?" he asks with a chuckle.
"Actually, yes. Consider it an order. And trust me Danny, she'll say yes."
"Yeah, but Mac..." he starts but I quickly cut him off.
"Danny, trust me. Just do us all a favour, yourself and Lindsay included, and take the girl out."
"You sure she's gonna say yes?" He asks in a very unsure and nervous tone. It's odd to see him, of all people, acting like this. He's never had a problem getting women before; in fact it's like an art form to him. Watching him get all nervous over one girl in particular almost seems strange. I can't help but be reminded of Reed how he interacted with Cassie. I guess love, or whatever you want to call it, is confusing no matter what age you are.
"Danny!" I lightly scold him and he quickly gives his head a shake and takes a deep breath.
"Right, trust you. Okay, but if she turns me down, then you're taking me to dinner. And I'm not a cheap date." He throws back at me and I let out a small laugh.
"You're on."
He quickly exits my office in search of Lindsay; with a new found vote of confidence, and I get back to work on my newest case file.
Time dwindles by me a while longer until I finally look up from my desk to the clock on my wall. 6:15. Hmmmm.... well with no word from Flack yet I decide it's time to call it a day as I push myself up from my chair and grab my jacket from the coat rack.
I step out of my office and into the hallway and notice Stella still at her desk. She looks about as bored as I feel. I walk over to her office and knock lightly on the glass door before swinging it open and leaning against the doorframe. She looks up from her desk and a smile forms on her lips when she notices that it's me.
"Don't work too hard" I tell her with a smirk and she rolls her eyes.
"It's a good thing you found me before I actually died of boredom."
"Yeah, I know what you mean" I respond with a heavy sigh. "Anything you need help with?"
"No, I'm actually just finishing up. Ready to head out. Unless you need me for something?"
"No, no. I'm taking off too. Enjoy the rest of the evening"
"Oh yeah, I've got big plans" She tells me with another roll of her eyes.
"Really?"
"No." She quickly answers. "Unless going home alone to a glass of red wine and a hot bath constitutes plans these days" she asks with a shrug and we both chuckle.
"Well I'm sure I have a long night of enduring Reed's ever-growing teenage angst to look forward to when I get home. Wanna trade?"
"Yeah, I don't think so" she responds with a shake of her head.
"Goodnight Stella."
"Goodnight Mac. Oh, and good luck!"
"Thanks" I tell her as I leave her office and make my way out of the lab.
I get to my truck when an idea pops into my head and I decide to make a quick stop on my way home...
...
[Reed's POV]
I finish cooking dinner and leave it in the oven to keep it warm until Mac gets home from work, which I'm assuming should be shortly. It's killing me inside that I can't tell him what happened earlier with L.J. I know he would want me to, but the truth is, after all he's done for me I can't let myself put his life in danger to save my own. I'll face this on my own. God forbid if something were to happen to him or Cassie because of me, I would never forgive myself. I can't and won't have that on my conscience.
I hear his key slide into the lock on the front door and it pulls me away from my thoughts. I don't want him to see that something's wrong. I'll need to be at the top of my game tonight so that he can go to bed and rest easy so I can slip out without him being awake to hear me.
"Reed?" I hear him call my name as he enters the apartment.
"Yeah, Mac, I'm in the kitchen!" I call back and he meets me there.
"Hey"
"Hey, um dinner's ready. I was just keeping it warm. Are you ready to eat?"
"Wow, such service" he responds with a grin. "Yeah, that sounds great"
I bring our dinner out to the table and we both take a seat. I begin asking him about how the rest of his day went, and he asked me about the rest of mine. His obviously a lot more interesting than mine, but he would probably beg to differ.
"So, are you going to see Cassie again?" He asks me with an ambitious grin. Inside I feel my heart sink into my stomach as he mentions her name, but on the outside I put on fake smile and oblige his question.
"I don't know, I mean, I hope so. I think we kind of hit it off today"
"That's great!" he tells me, and the enthusiasm and pride in his voice only fuels my guilt for lying to him further. I quickly remind myself to play it cool, so that he's not suspect to anything being wrong.
"Hey Stella called by the way, she wants to know if you wanted your tie back?" I throw at him jokingly and he rolls his eyes.
"How did I know I was going to hear about this?"
"Come on Mac, quit denying it already. Even Stevie Wonder can see there's something going on between you guys"
"I don't know how many more times I can tell you we're just friends."
"I don't know either, how long are you capable of lying to yourself?" I throw back at him and he just shakes his head and lets out a small chuckle.
"Well dinner was great" he tells me as he wipes his mouth with his napkin. I know he's trying to change the subject so I decide to cut him some slack and let it go.
"Thanks, it was nothing" I tell him as we get up from the table and make our way over to the sofa and take a seat to relax for a few moments.
"Well, what do you wanna do now?" He asks me and I don't know how much more bonding I can take before I'm completely consumed by guilt.
"I don't know, I'm kinda tired, maybe I'll just call it a night."
"Reed, its 7:30..." he replies with a confused tone.
"Oh... right. Um, I guess we could watch a movie or something."
"Yeah, we could do that... But I was thinking something a little more productive and mind stimulating.
"Mac, its summer vacation. Why on earth would I want to stimulate my mind?"
"Could be fun" he responds with a curious grin.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" I ask, now with my curiosity peaked.
"Just wait here" he tells me as he gets up from the sofa and walks around the corner, over to the front door.
I wait in anxious anticipation for a few moments until I finally see him return. When he does my jaw drops open as I marvel at the beautiful bass guitar he's holding in his hand. It's mostly white with light blue detailing. I couldn't have picked a nicer one myself.
"You said you wanted to learn, so..." he begins and I can feel my eyes beginning to water. I can't believe he did this for me.
"Mac, I can't... You shouldn't ha..." I start but he quickly interrupts.
"If you're going to try and convince me to take it back, don't bother. That's a battle you're not going to win. Besides, have you seen my movie collection? If you'd really rather, we can watch the documentary on the American Revolutionary War. Oh, it's a good one. See it all started in 1775 when a group of revolutionaries took over the British colonial governments and..."
"Okay, okay!" I quickly exclaim and he lets out a hearty laugh.
[Mac's POV]
I pass him the guitar and as he holds it in his hands for the first time his eyes light up like a kid at Christmas.
"Wow... Mac... This is sick!" he tells me; and judging by the way Adam often throws that term around when he's excited about a new machine or gadget that comes into the lab, I know that's actually a good thing.
"Well I'm glad you like it. You ready for your first lesson?"
"Absolutely!"
"Ok, first things first..." I begin telling him the basics and he's quick to absorb all the knowledge I'm giving him. Frankly I'm impressed at his eagerness to learn. However, like me, he gets frustrated easily when it doesn't all come naturally to him right away. But a couple hours go by and he's starting to pick up on it rather well. He's learned a few chords and we begin strumming along together to an easy bass riff I taught him.
Shortly after that he lets out a long yawn. "Hey, rock stars aren't supposed to get tired" I tell him with a smirk and he lets out a small laugh.
"Well it's a good thing I'm not a rock star yet, cuz I'm wrecked." He responds, letting out another yawn and stretching his arms above his head.
I look at the clock, it's only 10:00, but I guess he had a long enough day. Truthfully, I'm kind of tired myself.
We both tuck our guitars back into their cases and put them away in the storage closet.
"Well goodnight Reed" I call out as I walk down the hallway towards my bedroom.
"Hey Mac!" Reed calls, and I turn back to face him. "Thanks. You know, for everything" He tells me with sincerity in his voice and I offer him a smile.
"My pleasure. Good night."
"Good night!" he calls back and we both retire to our separate rooms.
...
[Reed's POV]
I wait about an hour before I safely assume Mac is asleep by now. I grab a pen and paper and jot a quick note. I look on my bedroom floor at all the bags of clothes I bought today that I didn't bother putting away. I place all the bags on top of my bed and change out of the clothes I was wearing today and back into my old clothes. No need for fancy clothes where I'm going. Besides, I want Mac to take them back, so I leave the outfit from today folded neatly on the end of my bed with all my receipts lying on top. I leave the note on my pillow and quickly tip toe out of the apartment, quietly closing the door behind me.
Once in the hallway, I take the back stairs instead of the elevator so that I can get out the side door without having to worry about running into the door man. I jog a couple of blocks up the street before hailing a cab.
As I climb into the backstreet and tell the driver where I'm going, there's a slight hesitation in his voice when he finally complies. I can only imagine what kind of neighbourhood L.J. must have me meeting him in. This, I fear, will not be pretty...
Time to man up and accept your fate Reed. I tell myself as a single tear rolls down my cheek and I glance out the back window of the cab back to Mac's apartment; a place where I very much would have liked to call home.
About 15 minutes later I feel my chest starting to tighten and that hard lump has returned to my throat once again as the cab slowly rolls to a stop.
"Here you are kid"
I can't even manage words to offer the driver, so instead I just throw a few bills into the front seat and take a deep breath as I step out of the cab and into the cold night air. The cab driver leaves me and I quickly pull my wrist up to look at my watch. 11:59. I take another deep breath as a cold sweat begins to form on my forehead. This is it.
**Well??? Thoughts so far? Sorry to leave you hanging again, but I have to keep you on edge a little bit right?
Hope your still enjoying the story. Did you like the little SMacked innuendo I threw into the conversation that Mac was having with Danny? lol.
Back to the real drama, what's in store for Reed? And how will Mac factor in to all of this? (you know he's going to, lol)
Wait and see my friends, wait and see... Looking forward to some reviews, so get busy! lol.**
