Many thanks for the lovely reviews. I really enjoyed and appreciated getting every single one of them. Please do continue to let me know what you think of this. I got rather concerned over the reception of the last chapter but I guess this may not be the best time of the year to put something up. Still, I didn't want to let you hang on that cliff over Christmas, so here's another one :). Many thanks also to anyone who has this on alert or favorite; to autumngold for your review and sorry I couldn't send a proper reply (I'd really love to); to afrozenheart412 and lily moonlight for discussion and encouragement; and to kaidiii and iluvcsi4ever for their messages.
Black Moon Rising – At rest
He glides along with the hurrying masses, all those people passing by oh so close, but what do they know of him? How many of them care whether he's alive or dead? He steps aside as he nears the lab, waits in the shade near the curb. Letting people pass. He's not in a hurry, he needs time to think, think over what happened. And he finds himself still standing there when the pedestrian rush is over. He wonders if anybody noticed.
He sees Hawkes approaching the lab. Looking at him in a way that seems to say, 'What are you doing here?' No, not looking at him, looking past him. Mac turns around. And sees Stella has just gotten out of a taxi. He takes the few steps to her side. Hawkes catches up with him.
"As good as it is to see you, I'm sure you shouldn't come right back to work." Hawkes says to Stella.
"Work?" Stella pretends to wonder, "I spent so much time here lately that I thought this was my home."
A smile smoothes Hawkes' brow. "So the doctors let you go home."
"Yep." she says simply.
"After you threatened them with what?" Hawkes inquires.
She nudges him playfully. "All that matters is that they said I could go. Do you think they would let me go if I weren't okay?"
"Actually, yes." Mac and Hawkes say as one, making her grin.
"But I'm telling you one thing; I won't let you on the case yet." Hawkes continues.
"Can he do that?" Stella turns to Mac.
"Uh, I put him in charge, so, yeah." Mac is not entirely unhappy about that.
"And while we're at it, you're having a day off too." Hawkes addresses Mac, who gives him a look.
Stella chuckles. "Fine, but we're not going before we got an update on the case."
-o-
Lindsay comes into the conference room and sits down next to Danny. "Hey, Montana." he says but there is no time for more before the others enter.
"Okay," Hawkes begins, seeing that they have all arrived, "good to see we're all together again." He looks at Stella and Mac, but his glance also brushes over Lindsay and Danny. "Let's have a look at what we have found out so far. Sid?"
The ME takes the cue. "We have determined that all of our victims have been ill and that in at least two cases their death was the result of the disease they were suffering. Tamara Winters died of the effects of Rett's syndrome and victim number three, whom we haven't been able to identify yet, died from internal bleeding caused by ruptured ulcers. It may well be that Gavin Jones died of his congenital heart disease. And our victim number four probably died of her infection. For either one I couldn't find any indication of another COD."
"But," Mac says thoughtfully, "we could still be dealing with neglect."
"You mean they were left to die?" Adam blushes and blanches alternately.
"That is a possibility, yes." Sid confirms.
"And once they were dead they were dumped and staked." Lindsay involuntarily pulls her shoulders up.
"What about the fifth 'victim'?" Danny puts in, "Do you think they are connected?"
"Well, you could say they were ill too," Kendall points out, "at least in part. The ashes of several people had been stolen from a small crematorium. The owner was too embarrassed to call it in so it took me a while to find it."
Hawkes takes this up, "Danny, Lindsay, that will be the next thing you two look into." They nod in agreement and he turns to Adam. "You've also made some progress?"
"Uh, yes," Adam stumbles up and shows one of the surveillance videos on the monitor, "but I don't think it's going to be of much help. I noticed that several of the Hot Ticket's guests were wearing the same t-shirts, see?" he points to the screen. "And from them I got the address of a website that seems to be encouraging people to do reenactments of Buffy. They also had pictures of our first three victims on the site, but I haven't been able yet to track down who's hosting it. The pictures and several other contents have been uploaded from various locations, some even from abroad, so it's possible …"
"Stop!" Stella suddenly bursts out, "Sorry, Adam. Stop the tape, please." She gets up to take a closer look at the screen. "Damn it." she mutters and turns around to the group, "The one on the left is the guy from the subway station. I should have done something."
"At that point I don't think you had a reason to," Hawkes states, "but now that we have a picture of him let's check if he has a criminal record." He looks into the round, "Anything else? No? Okay, back to work, except for you two." He grins at Mac and Stella.
With a smirk Mac gets up and joins Stella to leave the room together.
"Uh, I'd like to … one more thing …"
"Yes?" they turn to look at Adam.
"Don't be late for dinner. 7pm sound good?"
They look at each other. "That's perfect, thank you!" Stella says.
-o-
When Flack enters the office he sees Angell at his desk, on the phone. He stays at a little distance until she ends the call, but he looks at her inquiringly.
"That was Ms Wagner." Angell informs him.
"Oh, back to the flea-market?" he muses.
"Huh?" she gives him a curious look. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Her place reminds me of a flea-market. But I like that. It's fun to stroll over one and wonder what things used to mean to their owners, and good too that for a change it's not related like evidence and crime. All those trinkets and stuff, they're like 3D memories, palpable …. Does that make any sense?"
"Yeah," Angell replies, "I guess it can work like a trigger. I know I've kept some things just for their sentimental 'use'. What about you?"
"Me too." Flack answers, "So, are we going there?"
"Sorry, no." Angell shakes her head, "She just called to let us know that she saw someone looking like one of the guys from the alley in a nearby coffee shop. So we'll go there and if we're lucky he's a regular and they know some more."
-o-
"What do we do now?" Mac looks at Stella.
"I'd like to take a walk. And yes, I am warm enough. Don't worry, okay?" She rubs his arm.
He smiles and they step outside, buying a coffee at the next kiosk. Then they turn into a quieter side street and amble along.
"Mac," Stella begins, "when I arrived earlier you looked, I don't know … kind of distracted … and somehow like you were about to check if you still have a reflection. What's up?"
Despite the fact that he's really feeling uneasy Mac smiles because she knows him so well. And he knows that he can tell her, however strange it may sound, she won't judge him.
"I know it doesn't really mean anything, but I had this strange dream. It's not the first time that I dreamt of dying, but somehow with this case, that woman, and also the circumstances of the dream, I don't know, I just can't quite get it out of my bones. It all seemed so real, and logical. We were following a lead and then suddenly somebody attacked you. I wanted to help and wound up getting thrown out of a window several floors up." Mac shrugs as if to shake the weight of the dream off his shoulders.
They have stopped walking and Stella looks at him intently. "I can imagine that must have felt weird. Maybe," she places her hand on his arm again, "maybe your subconscious wanted to tell you that there's no need to play the hero. Did I do anything else?"
For a moment Mac avoids her eyes. Seeing the pain in them had been the worst part of the dream. Just as he looks up again he sees a huge snowflake sinking down between them, landing in the coffee cup she's holding. It settles on the contents and they see it quickly dissolve into the blackness. They look up the same moment and their eyes meet.
-o-
"Got everything?" Kendall asks.
"Yes." Adam replies, "This was the last bag. Thanks for coming around and helping me."
"No problem, I think." she says, scanning what looks like masses of ingredients. "I hope you have a big knife."
He smiles and digs in one of the bags, "I have, and I also have this." He pulls a pair of goggles from a bag and answers her surprised look with, "For the onions. And," he turns around and presses a button, "music."
"Let's do the chop." Kendall laughs as a quick rhythm fills the room.
"Oh, one thing I forgot …" Adam suddenly utters, "Wouldn't it be nice if Sid brought his wife?"
Kendall nods. "Yeah, and I bet she's an interesting person too."
"I'll call him."
-o-
"So, what is this?" Flack asks, looking at the huge steaming pots.
"My mother called it calamares a la romana." Adam explains.
"Octopus?" Danny wonders, sitting next to Lindsay again.
"In a vegetable sauce, and loads of garlic of course." Adam elaborates.
"Sounds great." Lindsay says.
"Looks great." Angell adds.
"Smells great too." Stella joins in.
"And it tastes great." Kendall confirms.
"Dig in." Adam beams into the round of his friends. And he enjoys the silence that falls as they all eat. A silence that shows him that they enjoy the meal.
"Let's drink to that we're all here together." Mac says after a while.
"May it stay that way." Sid adds, "And it's good to see that we're all here with a special someone. Well, almost …"
"Maybe next time." Hawkes says.
"Have you got something cooking? Come on, spill!" earns Danny a nudge in the ribs from Lindsay and a mysterious smile from Hawkes.
No cliff-hanger … yeah, that's my Christmas present for you :). So, I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas, or Chanukah, or whatever you're celebrating, and if you're not celebrating anything have a wonderful week anyways.
Many thanks for taking the time to read. I hope you liked this chapter. All comments are welcome at any time, and always replied to if logged.