Paint, Fate, and Dinner Dates

A/N: Sorry that I haven't updated in a while, but planning for vacations can be really hectic! Hope you love this chapter!

Besitos a lily moonlight, x-gemarrrr, sucker-4-SMacked, and jennabby for the lovely reviews. Keep em coming!

Mac was sitting around the house, waiting for Stella to finish getting ready for her night out with the girls. With the baby coming in a little over a month, she found it nice to have one night every once in a while to just have girl time. Jess and Linds had promised her dinner and baby shopping for this beautiful Friday afternoon. Mac had told her that he was just going to hang out around the house, but really, he had other tricks up his sleeve. He had called Don and Danny the week before to come over and help set up the nursery. Stella had done more than hint at what she wanted in the nursery, and Mac only wanted to make her happy. Everything was currently residing in the guest room closet because Mac knew that neither one of them ever stepped foot in there. It was the perfect hiding spot for the accessories.

Stella walked down out of the bedroom with her purse in hand.

"You look great, Stell," Mac complimented.

"Thanks babe. Jess should be over in about 5 minutes to pick me up. We're going to go look around at a few stores, but I promise we won't go too crazy," Stella said with a cute smile. She knew that with a few things they were going overboard, but what could you expect? It was their first child.

"That's all I ever ask," Mac responded while taking a seat on the couch. He had to be as chill as possible so she wouldn't figure out what he was up to.

"Oh by the way, I think next weekend we should make it our goal to finish the nursery. The baby's coming in like a month, and we don't have anything done."

"How 'bout I go look at some stuff today, and we can pick out colors and everything when you get home?"

He tried to keep a huge grin off of his face because Stella was completely clueless. Hopefully it would make the surprise even better.

A knock on the door was heard, and Stella went to give Mac a kiss.

"Sounds great. Be back around 10. Love you."

"Love you too." Mac looked at the clock. It was only 5. What could they possibly do for 5 hours? But the more time he had, the better.

Once he heard Stella, Jess, and Lindsay get in the car and drive off, he called Don.

"Hey Don, the coast is clear."

"Yeah I know. I followed Jess about 5 minutes after she left the house and hid in the street over until I saw her drive off from your house. We're good. Oh yeah, and I have wiseass with me. He was complaining about how he was hungry."

"Yeah, we have stuff in the fridge. Danny can eat something here."

With that, Mac heard the engine of Don's car cut off outside his house and Danny yelling at Flack for calling him a hungry wiseass.

"Thanks for coming over guys," Mac said laughing. Those two were always bickering about something.

"So where do we start?" Danny asked.

"Go get something to eat first, and meet Don and I in the nursery. We need to do the first coat of paint on the walls and set up the crib while we're waiting for it to dry. We'll make sure the rest of the furniture is set up, do the second coat of paint, and just hang out for a little. Once we're completely sure that it's all dry, we'll move in the furniture and add the final touches to the room such as pictures. Any questions?"

Danny and Don just stood there dumbfounded.

"I can't believe that you planned all of this already," Don mentioned.

"Well, we should probably get started. Meet us in there in no more than 5 minutes Danny. I mean it. We have to get this done, and it has to be perfect."

"A'ight, boss. I'll be in there in a sec," Danny absent mindedly said while moving towards the kitchen.

Mac got the pink paint cans and a few brushes. He brought them into the room and handed one can, brush and pan to Don. They got started immediately, and once Danny joined him after his food escapade, they were able to finish the first coat in about 30 minutes. But now the tough part came: assembling the crib.

"First off, let me tell ya that I have no freakin idea how to set up a crib," Danny stated.

"Me neither, but doesn't it come with instructions or some'in?"

"Yeah, here. Read it out to me and hand me the parts. Hopefully that way, we can finish this quickly," Mac offered.

Don started to hand him the parts as Danny read off the instructions.

"What the hell is this? I don't even understand what it's saying!" Danny yelled.

"Lemme see," Don said yanking the manual out of his hands. "You're reading the Spanish side asshole." He threw the manual back at Danny's face, and they started from scratch. Once that problem was resolved and after an hour of hard work, they finally had an assembled crib.

"It looks great."

"Thank God we got that the hell out of the way," Mac commented. "Now we just have to go do the 2nd coat if the 1st is dry. They made their way back to the room and checked the wall. It seemed to be dry enough for the second coat, so they were armed again with brushes and pink paint. Nothing could be more manly than that.

They were able to do the second coat a little bit quicker because they got the hang of the brushes and not clumping the paint. Once they were finished, they took a step back and admired the work. The room was already starting to come together. They had added a few purple accents on the side, which made the room even more beautiful. The guys made their way into the living room and turned on the TV. They all let out a sigh once they sat down because they hadn't noticed how tiring setting up a nursery could be. Everyone was happy to have about an hour off to just chill; each of them definitely deserved it. Mac looked at the clock after their brief chill session, and it was already a little past 8.

"Alright men, let's finish this job."

"SIR YES SIR!" Danny and Don joked. They had that down pat every since Mac had first told them that a few years back. Marine training never wears off.

They took the rest of the furniture into the nursery as Mac directed them to wear it was to go. Once everything was in place, they were able to accessorize the room. The guys went to the guest closet and pulled out multiple framed pictures and all of the gifts the team had given Mac and Stella. They placed the quilt neatly on the side of the crib, they placed the toys around the room, and they put Sid's bear on top of the dresser. All of them could be seen right when you walked through the door. Next, they had to position the framed pictures they had around the room neatly. They had pictures of the team, Mac and Stella together while they were dating, goofy pictures at NYPD charity events, and last but not least, the most recent ultrasound picture. Mac, Danny and Don split up with the pictures and started to hang them around the room. Once they were all in place, Mac brought out one empty frame that he hung up above the crib; it was going to be the first official picture of the Taylor Family.

By the time all of the shenanigans were over, it was about 9:45. They said their goodbyes, and Mac thanked both Don and Danny one last time. The room looked fantastic. The last thing that Mac had to was just wait for the girls to come back home. He couldn't wait for Stella to see the room.

Mac dozed off, but was quickly awakened by the girls walking in laughing and carrying about 5 bags of clothes and shoes in tow.

"So how was your night?" Mac asked half asleep.

"It was so great! You have to see everything that we bought! I'm sure you'll love it."

"Don't look at the receipts until you've fully imagined your baby girl in these cute little outfits, ok Mac?" Lindsay ordered.

"You'll love 'em, I can just feel it," Jess added.

"Well, I think I have something that you'll all love," Mac replied.

He covered Stella's eyes and led her down the hall. Jess and Linds followed behind eagerly, trying not to make too much noise to not ruin the surprise.

"Oh. My. GOD!" Jess and Linds said in unison and Mac uncovered Stella's eyes.

"So? What do you think? Too much?" Mac questioned to try and get some sort of audible response out of Stella. She was dead silent.

"It's perfect. You did all of this for me? Well, technically for her," Stella said teary eyed and pointing to her stomach.

"I did it for both of you. Well, not just me. Don and Danny deserve some of the credit too."

"You mean our wiseass significant others deserve credit for this work of art? I didn't think they had it in 'em," Jess laughed as Stella carefully made her way around the room. She was still completely shocked. Everything was perfect, from the gifts to the pictures, to the overall ambiance of the room. She stopped in front of the crib when she noticed the empty picture frame.

"What's up with the blank picture frame?"

"Well, I had thought about what we would be missing to make this room perfect. We had the ultrasound picture and the pictures of the group and us two, but I left it blank so that we could put our first family photo in there."

"You actually took the time to think about that? AWWW!" Lindsay gushed.

"It's perfect. Just simply perfect. The color of the room, the crib, the gifts, everything. I don't know how else to describe it. I love you," Stella said, sealing those words with a kiss.

"Alright, well Linds and I should get going. Hope you had fun today, Stell."

"I had a blast. Thanks again, and I'll see you two tomorrow." She led them to the door and came back to see Mac.

"As much as people say it, I truly believe we were brought together by fate. You know me better then I know myself because you were able to pull off something like this. It's exactly what I wanted for our daughter," Stella explained.

"Me too. It sounds corny coming from me and a lot better from you, but I do have to say that I feel the same way. I love you so much."

"I love you too."

They sat in the nursery in comfortable silence, dreaming about their daughter and how her presence would make their family perfect.

Sooo? How was it? Tell me in a REVIEW!!! That would make my day!!! :] Love Love Love always ~messermonroe125