Disclaimer: I swear I don't own CSI:NY or the FRIENDS storylines. If I did own CSI:NY, Mac and Stella would be together.
Notes: Well, I can't go too long without a proposal, or can I? Hmmm. Well, as much as I hated Mac/Peyton, I'm 'stealing' the idea for Mac/Stella. I like to call it 'borrowing without permission.' You'll see. Like always, enjoy.
The One Where The Date Goes Wrong
"This isn't how I planned this," he told her. She smiled.
"It's the company that makes the difference"
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"I have dinner plans after shift if you want. I mean you don't have to," even though they had been together for around two years, he still had trouble asking her to dinner with confidence. He had trailed off not knowing what she would say. Maybe he was more nervous because of what he was going to ask her.
"Mac, of course I will go to dinner," Stella told him. She smiled making him smile. He closed his locker after taking a last look at the little black box that had been burning a hole in his pocket. He walked out of the locker room leaving her in there.
"Hat off in the lab, Kelly," he flicked the hat off her head in an almost kind way. She scowled as she picked it up off the ground waiting until he got around a corner to put it back on. He turned around suddenly. "I saw that. Take off the hat." She did and walked into the break room muttering curses in Italian. "I heard that." She smiled.
"Oh, whatever, Mac," she answered wondering why he was in such a great mood. She turned around to find Hawkes and Lindsay talking quietly. Danny was asleep at the table. He was leaning back in his chair with his feet on the table. "Should we wake him up?" They nodded.
"We can't figure out what the best way to wake him up is," Lindsay explained. Kelly nodded.
"Water in his hair should get him up," Kelly answered. She took a paper cup and went to the sink to fill it.
"You know this how?" Lindsay asked.
"He's had to crash at my place, well, our place a few times. Had to get him up for work. I experimented," she laughed. She poured the water on Danny's head. He jumped up making the chair crash.
"Whoa," Kelly acted in mock fear. They laughed. "Mac's looking for you." She stifled a laugh as she lied. She just wanted him to get all freaked out. Hawkes and Lindsay knew she was joking but played along anyway.
"Um, okay, do you think he will know that I was asleep?" he asked.
"No not at all," Lindsay lied. Danny left for Mac's office. The three others laughed. They only wished they would be there.
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"Kelly told me that you were looking for me," Danny told Mac. He chuckled.
"You believed her. She was looking for a joke, Danny. I could care less where you were except that you were sleeping on shift," Mac told him putting filing some reports. Danny looked very foolish. "Why is your head wet?"
"She woke me up using water," he answered walking off back into the break room to find them laughing. "Kelly, why'd you do that?"
"It was funny," she answered between laughs. Danny glared.
"We're married. We shouldn't lie to each other," he said to Lindsay.
"Yes, but it was funny. Kind of like calling Mac 'sir' was funny," she replied. Laughter filled the room. Danny rolled his eyes.
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"How much more time till shift is over?" Danny asked for the fifth time even though he had a watch. Kelly rolled her eyes.
"Five hours. Then we get to go to the Yankees game with Flack. Do you know how long it took to save up for these tickets?" she asked.
"How long?"
"Seven months so don't worry we will get to go to the game," she told him. He shrugged not really registering what she said. All he could think of was the seats right behind the first base dugout.
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"Three hours," Kelly mumbled. Mac looked over at her confused. "Until I sit behind the first base dugout at the Yankee/Rangers game."
"Which is why you are wearing that hat. Take it off," Mac told her. She removed the hat scowling and muttering things under her breath. He rolled his eyes.
"You have plans tonight?" she asked putting the contents of the test tube in a machine.
"I should," he said unable to hide the gleam from his eyes. Kelly grinned hugely because she had finally figured it out. He looked questioningly at her. "I haven't seen you smile like that since, well, I've never seen you smile like that. It's kind of creeping me out."
"You're going to propose to Stella," she said smiling. "I knew it! I win the bet!" Mac put his hand over her mouth.
"Do you want the entire world to know?" he whispered. He removed his hand. She smiled though. He rolled his eyes. "Just wear your baseball hat." She put it on still smiling. "Stop with the smiling. It's scaring me." She rolled her eyes. The machine beeped. Kelly took the newly printed results.
"Cyanide. I knew it," she said. She took off her latex gloves.
"You abandoning me?" Mac asked in mock hurt. Kelly laughed.
"Yeah, have to go to interrogation. This guy has to know something. Seriously, who has cyanide on them and doesn't know anything? Good luck," she told him putting her lab coat up. Mac watched her leave shaking his head. Sometimes, she could just be so intolerable. Then sometimes she was just herself. He smiled. He just hoped she could keep her mouth shut. He got back to work. He hoped they could wrap this up before his date. It was such a big case. Of course to him, every case was important.
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"Alright, I can't believe that we are this close to the Yankees," Danny said.
"Yeah, I almost got the tickets to be next to the Rangers. I do love Ian Kinsler and Michael Young," she said propping her feet on the dugout. Danny and Flack did the same. Several innings passed. Kelly got quite a few boos for cheering for the Rangers. She might have made some gestures at them. Might have.
"Okay, I bet you fifty dollars that the Rangers win," she told the guys she was with.
"You're on," they replied.
"You know at Rangers games in Arlington they have this Kiss Cam. I'm so happy they don't have it here," she said.
"Hold onto that thought," the guys told her.
"Oh yes, there we all are on the screen," Kelly said annoyance ringing in her voice.
"Kiss her!" someone in the crowd bellowed. The three cops were a little worried. It was definitely not an ordinary day. They looked at each other.
"Kiss that darn Rangers fan," someone else yelled. The three of them looked at each other. This would be awkward. A story for the record books no doubt.
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"Stella, I'm sorry. I had to call in the reservations. It's this case," he explained.
"Mac, if I didn't understand that, we would have never gotten into this relationship," she told him.
"Well, now the case is almost closed, but the restaurant is closed," he told her.
"So we'll have dinner here at the lab. There is a vending machine on the fifth floor," she told him. She convinced him to go down there. He told himself that if he didn't ask tonight he never would which was probably true. What if she said no?
"This isn't how I planned this," he told her. She smiled.
"It's the company that makes all the difference"
"Well, I guess this is our romantic dinner in the break room," he said once they put the bag of chips and two sodas on the table. They opened them and listened to the fizz. It was the only sound in the lab.
"It's romantic," she laughed. Mac took her hand. With his other hand he fumbled for the box in his pocket.
"Well, I never thought I'd ask you in the lab. I mean I know that my life is pretty much here, but I'd thought it would have been more romantic when I decided to ask this. Not that I've been great with romance," Mac was rambling a sweat crept onto his brow line. Stella smiled as she could tell he was nervous.
"Mac, slow down. What is it?" She knew he was going to ask something important. The last time he was this nervous was when he asked her for dinner that first time.
"You okay? You've been acting strange all day," she said putting her hand on his arm in a caring friend's way. Not that she wasn't attracted to him. She just wasn't ready to say that out loud. He was rubbing the back of his neck. He had a tiny sweat at his brow. She smiled.
"I was just wondering if you wanted to go to dinner with me?" he muttered.
"You're pretty nervous for a just friends dinner," she told him knowing but not saying that she knew what he meant.
"Well maybe it's not a just friends dinner?" he questioned himself but still gaining confidence. She smiled.
"Yes, I will go on a date with you," she said making him blush.
"Well, for one I can't do this sitting down," he got up from the chair letting go of her hand and getting down one knee even if it was clichéd, and he opened the box that had been burning a hole in his pocket. "Stella Bonasera, I knew when we started this that I would ask this. Will you marry me?" She smiled. A promise of a yes lay written in her eyes.
"Yes, Mac Taylor, I will marry you," she told him tears forming in her eyes. It didn't matter that he was the boss, and that they were in the lab. They sealed the promise with a kiss.
Notes: Not short, but not long. Let's see. I've left Mac and Stella as now fiancés. I've left Danny, Kelly, and Flack in an awkward situation. I do intend to come back to them. Oh it should be funny. I hope it is. I was going to put it in here, but I'm leaving it for the next one shot. Some sort of mystery. I do hope this was a bit funny even if it was only a bit. Please review! I would like to thank my reviewers: luf100, EverythingIsConnected, lily moonlight, CSIMiami17, Bonasera, and GregRox! Maybe Rox was right about the fact that they might not have been taken if Mac and Kelly weren't flirting. Now, I believe that that is an unfair accusation because thinking about it. They weren't talking when Flack and Angell were taken. Hope you had a great day! :D
