Mac woke up the next morning to the smells of coffee. He pulled the blanket off his head and breathed in the aroma. He looked at his watch and found that it was 7:00. He felt like he could just keep lying there. The couch was definitely comfortable. He had not woken up during the night at all, not even with a nightmare. He usually had at least one nightmare every night. He stretched out on the couch and yawned. But then he turned over toward the back of the couch and just dozed.

Stella was in the kitchen. She had to be in to work this morning by 8. She had to have her coffee before she went in every morning and she was also making some breakfast. She wondered if Mac was awake. She loved the fact that he was here in the apartment this morning. It made her feel safer even though he was in the other room, and she didn't feel lonely. She went to the kitchen door and peeped into the living room. Mac was lying on his back still sleeping. Stella thought she heard him snoring. She supposed anyone would snore if they lay on their back. She wondered if Mac planned to stay there sleeping after she left for work.

Stella went back into the kitchen and poured two cups of coffee and went into the living room. Mac opened his eyes when he heard her coming into the living room. "Morning," Stella said with a smile.

"Morning," Mac said, sleepily.

Stella set the coffee down on the table and sat down on the couch beside Mac. "Did you sleep well?" she asked.

"I didn't wake up once last night. I didn't even have a nightmare."

"You have nightmares?"

Mac realized he was revealing a secret that he kept to himself. However, if he was going to marry Stella, she should know what she was getting into. "Yes," he said. "I usually have at least one every night."

Stella figured she knew what they were about. "I hope you like the coffee," she said.

"It smells wonderful."

Stella leaned over and kissed Mac. "Mmm, morning, garlic breath," she said with a mischievous smile.

Mac covered his mouth. "I'm sorry," he said.

"I was only kidding. I had to brush my teeth twice this morning and use mouthwash to get rid of that garlic taste."

Mac sat up and sipped his coffee. "Well, garlic is supposed to be good for you," he said. "So, I guess we should have clean arteries this morning."

Stella laughed. "I don't think one meal of garlic will help."

"That definitely had plenty of garlic."

"I think we can live with it, right?"

Mac looked at her. "Right. I guess if we both eat it, it won't bother us too bad."

Stella picked up her coffee cup. "This is a weird morning conversation," she said.

"You brought it up."

"Well, I couldn't help but notice."

Mac chuckled. "Are you going to tell me I have bad breath every morning?" he asked.

"Maybe. Do you have bad breath every morning?"

"I don't know. I've been living alone for so many years, I haven't had anyone to notice."

Stella had to laugh that that statement. "I can't wait until our vacation. It's going to be great."

"I know. I will make all the arrangements today. Hopefully we can get a cabin. I think we can since it is so early in the season."

"Just imagine being in those mountains."

"It'll be cold at night. We'll have to have a coat with us."

"Right." Stella shivered. "We can build a cozy fire and sit beside it and cuddle."

"I love a fireplace," Mac said. "There's nothing like the crackle of a fire." He sipped his coffee again. "We had a fireplace when I was a kid. My father would sit there and tell me stories of when he was a kid. I don't know how he could remember everything like he did."

"I guess everything wasn't so complicated when he was a child."

"I guess not. He could roam the world and his parents didn't have to worry too much about it. Kids can't do that now." Mac looked at Stella. "I don't think we should have children when we get married."

"Why?" Stella asked. She thought she would love to have a baby. She was not too old yet.

Mac leaned back on the couch. "I just think I'm too old," he said. "I don't want to start a family this late in life."

Stella stared at him a moment. "Mac, you would be a great father," she said.

"I don't know. I just don't think that's something I want to do."

Stella sipped her coffee. She and Mac had never talked about this before. She supposed they were pretty old to be just starting a family. Then again, who decided when someone was too old? "Mac, I don't think we should decide that right now," she said.

Mac looked at her. "Why?" he asked. "I just wanted you to know how I feel. It's not that I don't like kids or that I wouldn't want you to be the mother of my child, but I just don't want to be seventy years old by the time my kid reaches twenty."

"You might be a healthy old man, Mac. You'll probably still be chasing criminals around."

Mac shook his head. "Come on, Stella. You know people get old and have to retire."

"But if you don't have any children, who is going to take care of you when you're old?"

"The nursing home?"

"Mac."

"Stella."

"You're being stubborn."

"You're being unreasonable."

Stella set her cup down. "Unreasonable?"

"Yes. You know we don't need to have a child at our age."

" 'Our' age? I'll have you know that I am not old yet."

"I'm not either, but I'm certainly going down the hill on the other side. Besides, we're always busy."

"So, we would have someone else to work for, Mac, besides ourselves. Don't you want to see our child and think of what they'll be like when they grow up?"

"Yeah, you have to think of that, Stella. They would be around cops all the time and they might grow up to be a cop and then we would worry all the time when they were out there investigating crimes and chasing maniacs."

Stella smiled. "So? Isn't that what parents do? Worry?"

Mac looked at her a moment. "I can't win this argument, can I?"

"No." Stella leaned close to him. "Unless you have some other problem."

Mac stared at her a moment. "What…" He sat up. "No, I do not have problems. This has nothing to do with that."

"Well, I hope you don't have any problems with that."

Mac was incredulous. "I can't believe you said that," he said.

"It's nothing to get like that over. If I'm going to be your wife, I would find out eventually, and I think it is something that we would talk about."

Mac stared at her a moment. "Well, don't worry," he said.

"I wasn't worried, but I just thought I would mention it."

"You don't have any problems do you?"

"No."

Mac shook his head. "I think this is the weirdest conversation we've ever had."

"I guess it is," Stella said. "We've never talked about this before."

Mac sipped his coffee again. "I just think I'm too old to be thinking about starting a family. I know some people older than me have children, but their children are going to be young when their father dies. I don't want to do that."

"You don't know how long you're going to live."

"I know and I just don't think I want to bring a child into the world."

Stella leaned back on the couch and sipped her coffee. "Okay," she said. "We'll wait until later to talk about this again."

Mac looked at her. "If you say so," he said.

"I do." Stella smiled. "Are we going to say 'I will' at our wedding or 'I do'?"

Mac considered that. "I think I like 'I do'."

"Me too. After all, they say, 'Do you'."

"Well, if you were going to say 'I will', you could always have them say 'Will you'."

"That doesn't sound right though. 'Will you take this man as…blah, blah, blah'. I don't think that sounds right."

"Whatever you want, Stella. You can plan all that."

Stella looked at him with a smile. "So, you're going to leave all the wedding plans to me?" she asked.

Mac nodded. "I'm kind of a traditional man," he said. "The wedding is for the bride."

Stella's smile brightened even more. "I love you."

Mac looked at her. "Why? Because I let you have your way?"

"Mac Taylor!"

Mac laughed as Stella set her coffee down and came at him. He was expecting that, so he had already set his cup down, and he grabbed her when she lunged at him. They shared a long kiss. "That was good even with morning breath," Stella said and laughed.

Mac just sat up. "You're something else, you know that?" He put his shoes on and stood up. "I need to borrow your bathroom for a few minutes."

"Go ahead."

Stella laughed as Mac walked toward her room. He looked around at her with a fake tolerant look. "You're asking for it, woman," he said.

"Well, when are you going to give it to me?" Stella asked.

Mac stopped at looked at her. "You're frisky early in the morning," he said. "I'll have to remember that." He went on into the other room.

Stella laughed to herself. She could get used to this for sure. She wanted him to be here every morning…or wherever they would live. They had not talked about that. She wondered if Mac would want to move into her apartment or would she move into his. She didn't think her apartment had enough room for two people. She knew that if Mac moved all his stuff in here, it would be a mess and they would never get all their clothes into one closet. She didn't know what kind of closet Mac had. She had never been into his bedroom.

Soon, Mac came back into the living room. "Now, are you ready for a kiss?" he asked as he leaned over to her.

"I'm always ready for a kiss from you," Stella said.

"But it will be fresher this time. I used a little mouthwash."

"Mmm, even better."

They shared another long kiss. "Mac, we haven't talked about where we're going to live after we get married," Stella said.

"Well, my apartment has an extra room and I have two closets," Mac said.

"Why do you have two? Have you been planning to get married again?"

Mac looked at Stella's hand in his. "I sure wanted to," he said. "I didn't know it would be you though."

"That makes two of us." Stella looked at her watch. "I have to get going."

Mac kissed her again. He got his tie and put it in his pocket and walked Stella outside. "You be careful," he said as he flagged down a cab.

"I will," Stella said. She kissed Mac and got into the cab. "I love you, Mac."

"I love you too," Mac replied. He closed the door and watched the cab pull away. He couldn't wait for that vacation. He had to get home and get everything together.

Mac decided to just walk part of the way home. As he was walking, he was thinking about Stella, but he was also thinking about the fact that Robert Dill and Tony Belue were out there again. He wondered what they would do. Would they try to kill him or would they try to hurt him? Mac was not going to let them ruin the vacation. He and Stella would have a great time. He was not sure that Dill and Belue would try anything anyway. They might just forget the whole thing and escape while they can. Mac shook his head. He knew they would not do that. They would want to do everything they could to get at him, but he would be ready for them.

Mac thought about the vacation that he and Stella were about to go on. He couldn't wait to get over there in the middle of nowhere in the quiet. They could ride horses and hike up mountains and relax. Mac looked around him at everything that was going on. People were honking their horns and yelling out the window and everybody was in a hurry, even the people who were walking down the sidewalk. They were going around him as though he were standing still because he was just strolling. He hardly ever got to stroll down the street without thinking about being somewhere.

Just then, Mac's phone rang. "Taylor," he answered.

"Mac, Omar Strickland has been murdered," Danny said.

Mac stopped short of his next step and the person behind him ran into him. "Hey, man," the guy said. "Watch what you're doing."

"Sorry," Mac said. He moved out of the flow of pedestrian traffic. "Murdered?"

"Yes," Danny answered. "Where are you?"

"I'm on the street. Where was he murdered?"

"In his office this morning. You know who did it. What are you doing out on the street?"

"I'm walking."

"Mac, you know they will come after you too."

"They're not going to rule my life around. If they come after me, they're going to meet trouble."

"Are you carrying your weapon?"

"Not right now, I'm not. I…" Mac didn't think it was any of Danny's business that he didn't go home last night. He thought about going to the lab, but he had things to do and he wasn't scheduled to work today. "Call me if anything else happens, Danny."

"You coming in?"

"Not right now. I'm busy."

"Be careful, Mac. These guys are dangerous."

"I know that. Just keep me informed."

"Right."

Mac put his phone away. He had vacation plans to make, stalkers or no stalkers, he was taking his sweetheart to the mountains and those two were not going to ruin it.