Silly Games
Chapter 1: MASH
"Hey, Lindsay," Stella walks into the break room to grab an apple and finds Lindsay sitting on the couch watching the TV. "Nothing to do?"
"Yeah, I'm kind of glad that we get a break from chasing criminals, but it gets boring easily. What are you doing?" Lindsay gets up to get a glass of water.
"Paperwork. Where is everyone else?"
"Danny and Flack just left to pick up pizza for lunch, Hawkes is in the morgue discussing dead bodies with Sid, and Mac is in his office also doing paperwork. Why don't you take a break? You want to play a game?"
"It's very tempting. What kind of game?" Stella sits down at the table.
"Ever play MASH?" Lindsay grabs a pen and pad of paper.
"When I was like twelve," Stella laughs. "I guess there's nothing better to do."
Lindsay writes MASH on the top of the paper. "Three guys."
"James Denton, Mac Taylor, and Jonathan Togo," Stella replies without realizing what she said.
"Mac? Couldn't think of anyone else?" Lindsay teases.
"If I were the one asking you the question, I'm sure you'd say Danny," Stella smirks.
"You really like Mac, don't you? How come you two haven't gotten together?"
"He's still mourning his wife, and I guess we just don't want to ruin our friendship. We have been best friends since we met and neither of us has been close to anyone else in a while." Lindsay notices Stella looking a little uncomfortable and decides to continue the game.
"Cars."
"Escalade, Sequoia, and convertible if I didn't live in this city."
"Cities to live in."
"Athens, Rome, and New York."
"Have you ever been to Rome or Athens? I know you're half-Italian, half-Greek," Lindsay asks hoping to learn more about the people in her new family in New York.
"Once, after I got out of college."
"You like big cities?"
"Yeah, I went out to the country in college with a group of friends, and it drove me crazy, no offense. I loved the horses though."
"You know how to ride?" Lindsay asks. "I can teach you if you want."
"I learned a little bit while out there. But that would be great. Maybe we could make it a whole team event sometime."
"Okay, honeymoon places."
"Hawaii, Athens, and Paris."
"I've heard Paris is beautiful. Rome and Athens too."
"Yeah, the pictures I looked at as a child were nothing compared to the real thing."
"Pets."
"Horse, dolphin, and Golden Retriever."
"Kids."
"Sven, two, and three," Stella says throwing out random numbers.
"Jobs."
"FBI agent, detective, and dancer."
"Tell me when to stop," Lindsay says drawing the swirl.
"Stop," Stella says finishing her apple.
"Ten," Lindsay hides the sheet from Stella while she crosses out the list. A few minutes later she finishes. "You live in a mansion with Mac, drive an Escalade, live in New York, honeymooned in Athens, have two kids and a Golden Retriever, and are a detective alongside your husband," Lindsay says, laughing as Stella turns bright red when Mac walks while she is saying all this.
"What are you two doing?" Mac asks, grabbing a water from the fridge.
"Playing MASH. You and Stella got married," Lindsay is still giggling as Stella hurries to the door trying to escape from Mac.
"What? Stella, can I see you in my office?" Stella stops dead in her tracks, blushing again.
"Okay," and she continues, but heads to his office instead of her own. Mac follows her.
"MASH?" he asks, closing the door behind them and motions for her to sit while he makes his way to his own chair. "You and I married?"
"Yes, I know it's stupid, Mac, but it's not like we have a case or anything," Stella says, her eyes not able to meet his blue, glaring ones. "You can't tell me you've never heard of MASH, Mac," he looks clueless as to what she is talking about.
"You list three things in a category and make a swirl. You count the number and mark off everyone of that number until you only have one left in a category. It's a stupid game girls in middle school play to figure out their futures, but it's not true," Stella weakly explains.
"So, what happened to you? What is your 'future' according to this game?" Mac asks. He wouldn't have asked had it been anyone else, but he recently realized that he felt something for Stella beyond friendship.
"Well, we lived in a mansion in New York with our two kids and dog, I drove an Escalade, we honeymooned in Athens, and I was a detective."
"I can't believe you played this; and why did you put my name down?" he asks, a little annoyed that she was playing such a stupid game, but curious to hear here explanation for this one.
"Mac, being partners and friends with you for the past ten years has helped me a lot. I don't know how you feel, but I like you as more than a friend. I love you, Mac," Stella bursts out of his office in tears and runs to the bathroom. She might have just ended their friendship, the one good thing in her life, all because of this silly game.
Stella knew she couldn't survive without her best friend. Who knew a game could be so upsetting and reveal so many feelings?
A/N: I actually sat there and figured out the whole MASH game before writing this. And it works if you put the things in the order she says them. Okay, this originally was just going to be one chapter and he would have gone after her if it was. But I decided to make it with more than one game. I hope you like it so far. Please review and I'll try to post the next chapter soon. Just have to type it.