Chapter 21: New Ways to Use a Gun
"Oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
Be my baby
Oh, oh, oh"
"I don't want to talk about it, Mac," she slams his bedroom door shut in his face and locks it.
"Stella, that's not going to keep me out. I can easily break down the door.
"And I just got my gun back today. You know that I can't aim well with my left hand."
"Fine, we'll talk in the morning. Come on, boy," he pats his leg and the golden retriever follows him. Knowing he won't be able to fall asleep, Mac flips on the TV and sits on the couch.
About half an hour later, Zeus jumps off the couch, growling. He heads to the room where Stella is sleeping, pausing outside the door before barking.
Mac curiously follows the dog. Listening, he hears something on the other side of the door. "Stella, are you okay?" he calls. There is not response as the dog continues barking.
Worried, he steps back, then kicks the door. In the darkness, he can see the outline of a figure that definitely isn't Stella. He flips the light switch on, the puppy running past him to the masked man.
"Get away from me, you mutt," the man kicks Zeus.
"Mac, is that you?" Stella asks sleepily, eyes blinking open. "What's going -?" she stops, finding herself looking up the barrel of a gun.
Mac steps forward. "If you want to kill someone, let it be me. It's my fault, after all, that she isn't dating you. I got to her first."
Panicking, she looks back and forth between the gun and Mac. "Look at me, Detective. Ignore him. I want you to get up and walk to me," James orders. Stella glances at Mac, trembling with fear. "Do as I say, or I'll shoot him," he turns the gun on Mac.
"Don't," she screams involuntarily, only to find the gun pointing back at her.
Mac takes this opportunity to jump on the guy and knock him to the ground. The gun goes off, the bullet getting lodged in the ceiling above Stella's head. James drops the gun and throws a punch at Mac. He blocks it, and elbows him in the stomach. While his opponent is overcome with pain, Mac takes a moment to make sure Stella is okay. However, she wasn't on the bed anymore; in fact, he can't see her.
James knees Mac, causing him to rollover in pain. He stands, picking up his gun, ready to finish Mac off.
Mac hears a thud, then makes out the shape of James on the floor next to him. "Stella?" he manages to sit up.
"You alright?" Stella is standing on the bed, her gun in her hand hanging at her side.
"What did you do to him?" he looks at the other man.
"Hit him over the head with my gun like you told me to," she sets the gun down and offers him her hand.
Mac pulls her close to him in relief. She returns the embrace. "I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have been so demanding."
"No, you were just trying to keep me safe. But now that we've got him, we can go back to normal."
He looks disappointed. "So you don't want to continue our relationship?"
"Of course I do," she smiles. Slowly she leans forward, about to kiss him.
"NYPD!" Flack shouts, entering the apartment.
"We're in the bedroom," Mac calls.
"Mac, did I kill him?" Stella whispers. James hadn't moved since she hit him.
"I think you just knocked him unconscious. It must have been a good shot to keep him out this long."
Don enters, and Zeus comes out from under the bed, growling.
"It's okay, boy," Stella leans down to pet him.
Flack checks for a pulse. "He's still alive. Call an ambulance." He turns to Mac and Stella. "What happened to him?"
"I hit him over the head with… my gun because he was gong to shoot Mac," Stella explains.
"Why didn't you shoot him so we wouldn't have to mess with court and stuff?"
"I can't aim left handed. I probably would've hit Mac."
A/N: And it's all over. Or not. Surprising twist next chapter. No idea when I'll update next. Maybe if I get lots of reviews I'll post the next chapter tomorrow evening. Monday I have karate and band sectional, Tuesday I go to the dentist and have a band concert, Wednesday I have to help my mom at school with passing out the candy from the fundraiser, Thursday isn't anything, then Friday is band contest. Pretty busy. Plus I have this cooking thing to do with a partner. She said she'd get the ingredients, but I don't know when we can get together to make it. We have to have a sample for everyone to try. Then we have to demonstrate how to make it. I think I'll translate the recipe and make the card that goes in the recipe book and maybe write a script for us. I just realized that I don't know if the card goes in English or Spanish. Shoot. Maybe it's on the sheet. And we're doing our research paper in English. I decided to do my now since I don't have time later. We need thirty notecards and I have eight more than that. Our papers only have to be three pages. I just finished typing mine, minus the conclusion, and the sixth page is completely filled. Now, she didn't give us a maximum, but I don't think she wants to read a seven page paper. And there's nothing I can cut. I guess I need to talk with her. She's going to love me. Nothing really else. Except I did read that Mac's supposed to get a new girlfriend. She works in the mayor's office or something. Hopefully he gets rid of her soon so he can be with Stella. Please send reviews and I'll try to post soon. And I totally didn't mean to wait this long before updating. It just kind of slipped my mind.