Thank you everybody! Whoa! Sorry about not updating but I had a b-day party to go to last night
Disclaimer: Same as all other chapters
Chapter 13
To say that tension was high at the lab on Monday would be an understatement. Lorelei and Don were avoiding Mac; Lorelei because she still hurt about their confrontation and Don avoided Mac because if he were to see him, Don would mostly take a swing at him.
"Hey Lore do you have the results back from the hair?" Stella walked up to the table she was working at. Lorelei handed her a file without taking her eyes off of the microscope
"There wasn't any tissue on the hair to process for DNA" She looked up and signalled Stella took look
"But I did test the hair for toxins and came up with a handful of prescription drugs all used by cancer patients"
"Good job Lore" Stella smiled as she looked up at the woman, suddenly her smile dropped into a frown
"What the hell is this" Stella asked brushing the hair from Lorelei's face
"Nothing Stella, I'm fine" Lorelei walked out of the lab quickly with Stella following her
"Did Don do that?" Lorelei stopped in her tracks and turned to the woman
"NO!" The people around them stared
"No Don would never hit me." She said in a softer tone as they continued to walk
"Then who did?" Mac walked out of his office almost colliding with the two women
"Ask him" Lorelei glared and stormed off . Stella looked shocked and pushed Mac into his office
"What is going on?" She asked standing in front of his door, blocking his exit
"What do you mean?" Mac sat down in his chair
"I mean with Lorelei trying to kill you with her glare, Danny holding Don back from going to talk to you and suddenly I find a big bruise on her face" Stella crossed her arms as Mac sighed
"I did something horrible Stell" He put his head into his hands
"Go on" She urged
"Lorelei came over. I wanted to talk about how we never spend time with each other and she went on this rant about how bad of a father I've been. That's when it got bad, she brought up Claire then I brought up something that happened a long time ago. From there she got mad that I insulted her and she brought Claire into it again that's when I snapped"
"You did that?" Stella's eyes went wide
"Yes but I didn't mean to"
"Geez Mac listen to yourself. No one ever means too...You need to make things right go talk to her" Stella walked over to his chair
"What?" Mac looked up to her as she extended a hand
"We're going to talk to her together. With you two you'll need a referee"
Stella pulled him out of his chair then texted Lorelei telling her to meet her in the change room. Waiting there Mac paced the floor as Stella stood by the door making sure he couldn't run. As Lorelei walked into the room Stella pushed her over to where Mac stood to blocked the door
"What is going on? Stella why is he here?" Lorelei kept her distance form Mac
"You need to work this out"
"And what have another fight which ends up with someone getting hurt again. Trust me it won't be me this time" Lorelei rolled up her sleeves. Stella shook her head
"You're right and it will make you feel better" Mac looked over at Stella
"What?" He asked surprised
"Well a bruised face for a bruised face, then you'll both sit down on this bench and work it out." Mac looked at Lorelei then back at Stella. Sighing he took off his jacket
"Alright one shot" Lorelei circled him, examining him
"What are you doing?" He asked paranoid
"Oh just looking where I should hit you. Might not want to get that pretty face of yours bruised" She smirked then out of the blue she threw a well aimed punch to his jaw. Shaking her hand Lorelei looked over at Stella
"You're right does make me feel better" Mac held his jaw, moving it around checking that it wasn't broken
"Alright now that all of the violence is over can we talk?" Mac looked at her pleadingly
"Fine. What do you want to say" Lorelei sat down on the bench
"I'm sorry but you have to realize that when you bring up Claire, I just I go-"
"Psycho? Temperamental? Illogical?"
"That's one way of putting it. I miss her so much that I can't stand when she's brought up because it makes the fact she's gone even more obvious. I never intending on hurting you."
"Yeah well you did and I don't mean this" She pointed at her cheek
"That I can take but when you bring up my past demons I'll fight back"
"How about we agree that when we begin to fight we just stop it before it goes to far?"
"Alright I can do that"
"Friends?" Stella asked stepping forward smiling
"No" Lorelei shook her head
"We're family" Mac finished pulling her into a hug.
Outside of the door Don walked up to find Danny, Aiden and Adam with their ears pressed against the door sighing in relief
"What's going on?" He asked
"Lore and Mac just made up. We have officially dodged world war three" Aiden said walking back into her lab
"What?"
"Stella locked them in there together and is playing referee" Danny replied standing up
"He's in there with her?" Don stormed past the men and walked into the change room. Don opened the door to find them in their embrace
"How did that happen? Why is he touching you?" Don got mad, Lorelei stood up and put her hands on his chest
"Don it's okay now. We forgave each other"
"Each other what does her need to forgive you for?" Don huffed glaring at Mac
"I hit him pretty hard just before you walked in and then we both talked about our conversation earlier. We're fine so you should be fine now" Lorelei looked at him with begging eyes
"Fine but if you lay another hand on her you better watch out, I don't care if you're my superior or if you're an ex marine." Don walked back out and went to find Danny.
The tempers simmered over the next few days and finally cooled off after two weeks. Lorelei walked throughout the lab deep in thought, she had been worried about Aiden all day. Aiden was working a rape case by herself and was taking it hard. On her walk Lorelei bumped into Don literally almost sending her onto her ass.
"Hey. Spaced out again?" Don asked smirking
"Hey nice hair cut finally realized that your not John Travolta?"
"Cute" She smiled
"I always am"
Then she skipped away to find Aiden. She was bent over a table looking for anything she had missed eighteen months ago. Lorelei walked in and stood behind her
"You know, you need to take a break right?" Aiden spun around
"Lore let me ask you a question. If you knew for sure that a man had raped a woman twice not to mention probably the hundreds of women that haven't come forward but you had little to no evidence what would you do?"
"Wow, uh I would keep on him. I would stand guard outside the woman's house to see if he came back and if he didn't I would follow him from a distance, watching his every move, waiting for him to screw up."
Aiden just nodded her head and went back to work
"This case is hitting you pretty hard isn't it?" She put a comforting hand on Aiden's back
"I'm just so frustrated. Did you ever have a case that got to you like this?" Lorelei nodded
"A case about two years back. It was a little girl only ten years old, we found her sitting up against a tree in central park with her throat slit. Sexual assault kit tested positive, some bastard had raped this little girl, slit her throat and then dumped her. He covered his tracks so well I had hardly any evidence but I still look into it, I still watch for it in any case. Aiden you will be fine, if he has done this multiple times before than he'll do it again and he will mess up." Aiden nodded and put on a fake smile
"Thanks Lore" She hugged the woman
"No problem if you need to talk my phone is always on and I'm a light sleeper."
"Alright get outta here before Flack shoots me"
The next week Aiden worked herself too hard, everyday she would come in early, leave late, and only took the breaks that Danny, Mac and Lorelei forced her to take.
Lorelei was working on a case with Mac and Sheldon, a man was dosed with lye in the middle of grand central station. She had just finished questioning the victim's patients and now was on her way to report to Mac. She knocked then walked into his office
"Hey Mac the patients are clear, all have alibis but the good doctor wasn't so good. He butchered their faces Mac it was like a freak show, in Flack terms. Hay what's wrong?" Mac looked up from his desk frowning
"Have you been checking up on Aiden's work?"
"No I was checking up on Aiden though she's been working herself to death" Mac sighed
"Lorelei you might want to sit down" She sat down in front of his desk
"You see anything odd?" Mac handed her a evidence bag
"The seal's been broken but that would mean…." Mac nodded
"Aiden tampered with evidence."
"You going to fire her?" Mac ran his hand down his face
"I have to, she put our lab into question." Lorelei nodded
"Then you do it." She got up and left without looking at him
After work Lorelei rounded up Danny and Don, they all waited for Aiden to walk out of the building. Once they saw her face they knew it was official, Mac had fired her. Lorelei threw her around Aiden's shoulders and walked her down to where the guys stood. Aiden looked at her
"Are you buying me a stiff drink?" Lorelei laughed
"Yeah so is Messer and Flack. Tonight we say goodbye in the best of ways, drinking and a bit of crying" They laughed
"Thank god its Friday." Danny said slinging his arm around the other side of Aiden
"Yeah means we can get really messed up" Don said attaching to Lorelei
" Thanks guys" Aiden said leaning her head down onto Danny's shoulder.