Thanks for all the lovely reviews; I hope you'll all continue to enjoy these little bits :). Also thanks to anyone who has this on favorite or alert.
For Queen Em who provided the trigger-word.
Mac thoughtfully swirls the burgundy liquid in the glass. Glowing in the soft light.
He puts the glass down, places his hand on the table. "Remember the high velocity chardonnay spatter?" he asks.
Stella returns to the table and sits down opposite him again, smiling. "Yeah, how could I forget that? It was an interesting case, poignant too." She pauses for a moment.
"Actually quite fascinating in how many respects wine is like blood." Mac says.
Stella takes up her own wineglass. "The color, if it's red wine. And like with the DNA from blood you can find out where it comes from. Some people can tell from the taste what soil it grew on."
"Stains are as hard to wash out as bloodstains." Mac brings up another point and slowly pulls his hand away from the tablecloth. "Sorry about that!"
"Oh." is all Stella says for a moment. She places her hand over the stain and then over Mac's hand. "Don't worry about that." She chuckles. "You know, if red wine is like the red blood cells then maybe white wine can be the white blood cells. Someone once told me that you can 'heal' a 'bleeding' red wine stain with white wine."
"Really?" Mac makes a mental note to investigate the matter.
"That's what they said. Only I currently don't have any white wine." Stella thinks of buying a bottle to try it out.
She takes another sip from her glass and feels the warmth of the crimson dark spread through her body. Blood and wine. Wine and blood. She runs a finger up and down alongside the stem of the glass. Watches the light play in the miniature ripples she's causing. Concentric circles. She feels Mac's gaze resting on her.
"Like blood," she thinks and he says.
They both get up, glasses in hand. They connect, arm around the other's like a chain, and drink again.
Blood brother, blood sister. Forever.
Thanks for reading. Reviews (and trigger-words) continue to be very welcome and appreciated any time, and are always replied to if logged.