Chapter 11: No One Will Find Out...
"Here, put this on your wrist and try to slide it out," Mac hands her the container of butter from the fridge.
"Why me? This was your stupid idea, not mine."
"Because your hand is smaller than mine; it's more likely yours will slide out."
Glaring at him, she spreads the butter on her wrist and pulls the handcuff with her free hand. It doesn't move much.
"Let's try this," he walks to his one of the cabinets, pulling her with him, and takes out a can of Pam cooking spray.
"What am I supposed to do with that?"
Instead of answering, he sprays it over her entire hand. "Now try to pull it off."
This time the handcuff almost goes up to her knuckles before getting stuck. She pushes it back down to her wrist. "I guess we'll just have to drive to the lab and get the other key."
"No, we'll get some sleep; it's been a long day. We'll wake up early and go in before anyone else will be there."
"What if there's another body?"
"Danny and Lindsay are supposed to be on call tonight."
"So? Don will probably call you if it's the same MO. You always want to be there to process in serial cases," she drags him over to the sink so she can wash her hand off.
Mac drags her back to his bedroom and climbs into the bed. "Get some sleep, Stella."
She just stands there, watching him.
"What's wrong? Other than that we're handcuffed together?"
"How am I supposed to get over to my side?"
He sighs and scoots over, "I guess we have to switch sides tonight."
She climbs in and frowns, "You're side is too lumpy, Mac. I don't like it."
"Just go to sleep, Stella. It's one night."
"I think you owe me for this, Taylor."
"Stella, quit complaining," he rolls onto his side, his back facing her so he can get some sleep. Her arm is pulled over towards him. She moves onto her side, pulling his arm towards her. A few minutes later she rolls onto her stomach to sleep, his arm now draped uncomfortably across her back. Mac rolls onto his back and stares at her.
"I can't sleep with you staring at me," she says, her eyes still closed.
"I can't sleep with my arm like this," he counters.
"Not my fault," she mumbles.
"Scoot over; you can have you side back," he says, crawling over her to get to his own side.
She opens her eyes and finds him on top of her, "What are you doing?"
"Getting back to my side. Now scoot over."
She finally concedes, and they both try their hardest to go to sleep despite the uncomfortable conditions.
*****
When the alarm clock goes off at six o'clock, the detectives slowly open their eyes and immediately jump apart from each other when they discover their position. Stella had been resting her head on Mac's chest, her handcuffed arm draped across his stomach. His free hand had been around her waist.
"I guess we should shower," Mac says, trying not to think of how awkward that will be.
"How are we going to get our clothes off?" she looks down at their hands.
"Oh… I guess we'll shower at the lab."
"Okay, let's hurry up and get to work before the others so no one finds out about this."
They scramble around his apartment, getting what they need before heading out to the car. Thankfully no one notices the handcuffs.
"I'll drive," Mac offers, heading to the driver's side.
"That's not going to work. I'm stuck on your left; the only way you're driving is if we both cram into the driver's seat," Stella points out.
"Okay, you can drive," he turns around and heads toward the passenger side while she heads to the driver's side. They are forced back together by the handcuffs. "I guess you're climbing over into the driver's seat."
"Why me? You're perfectly capable of climbing over to your side."
"Because you're smaller."
She glares at him, "You better be a fast runner, Mac, because I'm going to shoot you as soon as we're not attached to each other."
Mac opens the door for her, "How many times do I have to apologize for this? I just did it to keep you safe."
She gets into the car, yanking him in head first as she climbs over the consol. "I don't care how many times you apologize. I'm still going to shoot you." Once he is situated, she turns the car on and begins to drive.
Half an hour later the couple is getting off the elevator in the lab. They head straight to Mac's office, thankful that few people are at work at the early hour. The key is in the center drawer of his desk, off to the left side. He removes the handcuff from his own wrist before taking her hand to remove the other cuff from her wrist. "You, uh, don't have your gun with you, do you?"
"Just take it off, Mac."
"Why didn't anybody tell me it's pajama day?" Flack smirks, sticking his head into the office.
"Don… it's a long story," Mac says, finally taking the cuff off of Stella. She slaps him on the head as hard as she can before hurrying out of the office and into the locker room.
"I guess she prefers doing the cuffing to being cuffed," the smirk on his face grows.
"It's not what you think. She… she went to meet him last night. I got to her before he did thankfully. And I handcuffed her to me so she wouldn't get away again. Then the key fell down the drain. I guess it was a stupid idea."
"She won't stay mad at you forever. Anyway, there's a fourth body. I'll call Danny, and you and Stella can meet us at the scene when you're done cleaning up."
A/N: Sorry I didn't update sooner. I've been busy with homework. But... I can't wait until next week's episode. It looks pretty good. But then I don't want Wednesday to come because I have to do a college interview then. Anyway... thanks for all the reviews. I'll try to post the next chapter over the weekend.
