Disclaimer: They are not mine, I can swear it.

Title: Not without you.

Dedicated specially to my patient and sweet beta Jo, I can't do it without you, literally.

By Lylou

He felt the white light on his eyelids long before he opened his eyes. His left side burned, and he felt nauseous, but he could have been worse. Much worse.

Finally he opened his eyes and looked around.

She was there looking through the window, and from where he was, Mac could see the snow falling slowly and silently outside.

"Hi, partner."

Stella turned a bit surprised, and the expression on her face was similar to a tiny smile.

"Hi… How are you feeling?"

Mac always had hated hospitals. He didn't like being injured or sick; he felt useless and unfit to help anybody.

He sat up slowly in bed and felt the stitches pulling on his skin.

"I've been worse."

"I'm sure of that. The bullet entered and exited without damaging any organs…you're lucky."

"So… Can I go?"

"Yes… I will let you go. You can get dressed."

"Stella… wait, please. Is he dead?"

"Yes."

"Are there more wounded?"

"No, just you."

"And the guy… it was him, wasn't it?"

"His blood type was the same as our suspect's, but they are doing a complete DNA test to be sure."

Stella neared the bed, and he could see her worried and tired face for the first time since he was awake. Her green blouse was creased, and her hair was held in a ponytail, but her eyes burned him more than the wound on his side.

Without knowing exactly why, Mac held her hand and squeezed it. Her skin was cold and soft, and for a moment, just before he could avoid it, Mac wondered if her skin would be that smooth and cold all over her body.

"Thank you, partner."

Stella didn't say anything but release her hand slowly and walked to the door without look back.

"Stella…you're angry with me, aren't you?"

"Later, Mac… later."

The door closed behind her, and Mac could still smell her perfume in the air for a few seconds later, and he realized how lonely and cold the room was without her.

"Thank you for bringing me back to my apartment, Stella."

"Do you believe you can take care of yourself until tomorrow?"

"I will call you if I need anything, I promise."

In silence, she walked up to the door and opened it. Mac could feel his house dark and lonely without her, maybe more than he could stand for the night.

"Stella… I'm sorry."

"You are sorry?…I thought you were dead."

"I… I didn't mean to worry you, Stella."

"Then why did you do it? ...I told you that it was a bad idea; I told you what was going to happen... And you didn't listen me. You could've died."

"But I didn't… It's our job, Stella."

"No, Mac… it's our lives."

"I love my job. It's all that I ever wanted to be, but I know when to say 'stop.'"

"So… you are angry because you think that I can't say 'stop?'"

"No, Mac, I'm angry because you know well enough when to say 'stop,' but you never do."

"I say 'Stop' every day of my life, Stella."

"But never in your work, Mac. Just in your real life.

What if it had been on the contrary, Mac? What if he had wanted to see me instead of you?"

"I wouldn't have let you go."

"Because you knew it was a dangerous and stupid plan."

Mac looked at her in silence; he knew that he had lost the discussion since the beginning. She was right. It had been a bad idea and the hot pain beating on his side was the damn proof.

"Stella… Are you going to sleep here?"

"I'll take the sofa."

"Okay...I'm sorry, Stella."

"I know…. But you scared the hell out of me."

Stella smiled for the first time in all the day and walked to the middle of the room where he was.

She neared, and Mac could feel her warm breath upon his skin and her hands on his nape. She left a soft kiss on his cheek, but this time, she looked at his eyes a second more than necessary.

They always knew when to say 'stop.'

"That's the second time that you kissed me today…It must be my lucky day."

"Sure… your near-death experience has no importance."

"It was not a near-death experience, Stella… your Greek blood is exaggerating."

"I'm not exaggerating, Mac; I just want you to feel guilty."

"Well… It's working."

"I'm glad."

He smiled softly and looked at her with a strange grin, in his half-dark house with the snow slowly covering the city outside, thinking seriously for the first time in weeks: "What if…?"

"Mac… What are you thinking?"

Her voice sounded smooth and almost sexy in the room full of shadows, and he couldn't help but imagine how it would be if it were that mysterious and always familiar voice in the middle of the night in his bed, with her warm breath on his neck.

"You will never know, Stella."

"Sure?"

"Sure."

"Are you hungry, Mac?"

"Very."

"Pizza?"

"Okay... But I don't want to see one anchovy on it, Stella.

"But…"

"I will make you leave Stella, I swear."

"And I will denounce you as sexual hound at work."

"Fair enough… But that isn't going to change my opinion about the anchovies."

Stella was going to answer when she heard her mobile phone in her coat.

"Bonasera…

Are you absolutely sure, Danny?...Yes …I will tell him."

Stella hung up the phone and remained silent for a few seconds.

"Hey… Are you okay, Stella?"

"News, one good and the other…. Not so good."

"The good first, please."

"Well, they finally got the complete DNA results… now we know why the blood type of the guy in the commercial-center this morning is the same as the sample that we got at the sixth crime scene."

"Why?"

"The 'why' is directly related to the bad news… It wasn't him, Mac."

"…But how could that be, Stella?... He was there, he recognized me, he knew about the photos and the crimes…and he has the same blood type as our suspect…. the only possibility would be if our real murderer…."

"…Was his father."

To be continued.

All the opinions are welcome.