Thanks for all the lovely reviews; I hope you'll all continue to enjoy these little bits :). Also thanks to autumngold, sorry I couldn't send a proper reply.
For Hazmatt who provided the trigger-word.
Sometimes Mac thinks he has seen them all.
Some of them he'd rather not see again.
The distant ones. Some of those he gets a lot. They seem to be saying, 'You can think for as long as you want that I did it, but you can't prove it.' Stella has a reply to that variety, equally distant. The confidence she shows in it heats the suspects, but it warms him.
Or, 'So I got bad news for you, but I'll just pretend they're not bad, because they aren't bad for me.' That one is simply called 'Sinclair's' by Stella. And she has a reply to it too. Laced with a devious sparkle.
Stella has a distant smile of her own. The one that tells him, 'I'm fine, really. But don't probe, just leave me alone.' He likes to see it because he's glad that she's so strong she's still able to smile. And at the same time he hates to see it because he's afraid that it may just be for show, that she only smiles because she thinks he expects her to be strong. When rather he would offer his shoulder to lean or cry on.
The brave ones who smile through tears, grateful that the murderer of a loved one has been found. He'd trade them any time for the smiles of the victims he only gets to see in old photos.
He likes to see the genuine smiles. The relief when a name is cleared. A little present without a real reason, or just a small gesture giving comfort. The sharing of good news. Even just the moment when someone in a crowd smiles, and someone else can't help to smile back. A small smile that can be like a glimpse of the sun through the clouds, transforming lines of worry.
And sometimes it settles. He loves to bring those kinds of smiles to her face.
He realizes he's smiling himself over those last thoughts. And he feels her approaching a moment before she stands in his door.
"Hey, what's making you look so happy?" she asks.
His smile deepens. You. It's just good to see you.
And he gets his favorite smile from her. The one that casts a soft shimmer all over her. The one that looks like her soul is spreading its wings. Flying towards him.
Thanks for reading. Reviews (and trigger-words) continue to be very welcome and appreciated any time, and are always replied to if logged.