Chapter 2: Fall Into Me

'You say you've turned it off
Hid your heart up on a shelf
Scared of what it might cost
To take it off for someone else
'Cause lovin him you lost
Too much of yourself
Baby can't you see that he's not me and..."

Mac enters and sees the tv on in the living room. He shuts the door softly behind him in case she was asleep on the couch. Slowly Mac makes his way to the couch and finds her lying down. Stella hadn't heard the door open and her eyes are glued to the tv. Not wanting to scare her, Mac kneeled down to kiss her cheek. When he does so she jumps, "Mac, what the hell are you doing here? You scared me to death."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I wanted to make sure you're okay," he sits down on the couch next to her. Mac reaches out to put a hand on her shoulder for comfort; he can still see that what happened the other night is haunting her.

"Stel, I need to talk to you," Mac begins and continues when he sees that she wasn't going to interrupt. "I went to talk to Claire this evening. I told her I was going to move on."

"That's great, Mac," Stella tries to put on a happy face but she wasn't very convincing.

"But I'm afraid the person I want to be with doesn't feel the same way I think she did a while ago. And even if she does feel the same way about me as I feel about her, I don't think she is ready to be in another relationship. She was just hurt badly by someone. Stella," Mac pauses to give her time to say something but she doesn't. "I love you."

"Mac, I still love you. I thought you didn't love me so I kind of gave up on being more than best friends with you," her emerald eyes are still filled with fear as she says this, and he knows that she trusts him but is still very self-conscious.

"I don't want to hurt you, Stel. And I don't wasn't to force you into this. Right now I think you need a friend. But if you're willing to risk everything now then let's go for it. I'll always be here for you, Stella," Mac says, hugging her tightly. "Are you crying?" he asks uncertainly.

"It's not your fault, Mac," her voice is muffled as she cries into his shoulder.

They fall asleep like that and she is surprised to find him making French toast in the morning.


"I need you to know you can fall into me
That my arms are wide open
And will always be
Right here waiting, staying strong
Come and fall into me"

"Good morning. You sleep alright?" Mac asks as she enters the kitchen.

"Yeah, sorry about last night. I didn't mean to break down on you like that," Stella sits down to watch him cook.

"It's okay. You don't have to be strong, Stel. It's okay that you're scared. You had trusted Frankie, and he hurt you; no one can blame you for not trusting anyone right now. I didn't hear your answer last night," Mac brings the plate of French toast over to the table. Stella gets up to get the plates, forks, and knives while Mac gets the syrup and butter.

"What answer?" Stella asks when they have everything on the table and start to serve themselves.

"Last night I said that if you thought you could handle being in a relationship now we could. If not, we would just be friends until you are," Mac looks up to see her reaction. By the look in her eyes he can tell she wants to be with him. "Dinner tonight, Detective Bonasera?"

"Sure, why not, Taylor?" Mac thought he would never see her beautiful smile again, but he was wrong.


"I'll follow any road anywhere to get to you
I'll open up my soul
If that's what you need me to do
But now baby it's your move
All you've got to do
Is believe in love, just believe in us now..."

"Well, we had better get going or we'll be late to work. You ready?" Mac asks as they finish dinner.

"I'd like to see you late for work just once, Mac," Stella says as Mac takes out his wallet to pay.

"No, not today. Everyone will already be in shock when we arrive together," Stella laughs at the thought, which probably will be true. "I hate night shift. It screws up my sleep."

"Like you sleep at all, Mac. Maybe that's why never had a girlfriend after Claire past away," Mac gives her a skeptical look. "Sorry, I couldn't resist teasing you."

"Someone seems to be in a better mood," Mac says and puts his hand on the small of her back to guide her to the car.

"Don't say that now. You'll jinx me. I think the lack of sleep is starting to catch up with me though."

"You slept fine last night and didn't even wake up when I had to move you to get up. Are you scared to sleep alone?" Mac asks mischievously grinning at her.

"Oh, you just dug yourself into a hole, Taylor. For that you're not leaving when you drop me off tomorrow after work," she punches him lightly in the stomach.

---CSI: NY---

"Stella, what's wrong with you? This is the happiest I've seen you since before Frankie…" Hawkes asks as he catches up with her in the hall of the lab.

"Mac. You're too nosy, Hawkes. As I have told you before, mind your own business," Stella says as they walk into the trace lab to see if Danny has identified a fiber yet.

"And you think I have a big mouth? What did Mac do?" Danny asks with a smile at seeing his co-worker in a good mood again.

"Nothing. Drop it. Any luck, Danny?" Stella glances at the computer screen.

"Yeah, it's a fiber from a car. All the information's there," Danny points to the screen. "Tell Mac for me, will you?"

Stella walk back out of the trace lab to tell Mac and Hawkes again follows her. "You need something, Hawkes?" she looks back over her shoulder.

"What, your boyfriend puts videos of you in bed together on the internet and tries to kill you. You kill him and get all upset and emotional. Now you and Mac are sleeping together?" Sheldon grins and puts a hand on her back, hoping she won't rip his head off.

"Sheldon Hawkes, why do you think Mac and I are sleeping together? No, we are not. He came over to check on me and we fell asleep on the couch together. He told me he loves me and asked me if I wanted to be with him. We went out for dinner, that's all," Hawkes laughs watching her defend herself as they walk into Mac's office. His mind begins to fill with ideas on what to do with the information she just told him.

"What's going on?" Mac asks when they walk in.

"Stel was just telling me about your night together-"

"Only because he was going to spread a rumor that we were sleeping together. Danny got a match on that fiber."

"Thanks. No spreading rumors you two," Mac chuckles at Stella's expression as she pretends to push Hawkes away from her.


"Just believe in love
Just believe in us
Baby..."

"I love you, Mac," Stella says as she cuddles into his warm body the next night.

"Are you going to sleep again?" Mac asks kissing the top of her head.

"Yeah, and you should too or you'll fall asleep on the job tomorrow, Mac," she reaches up to pull his head down and tentatively kisses him.

"I love you too, Stel. Are you sure your okay with us?" he asks, the concern in his eyes visible to her.

"Yes, Mac, I'm fine. How are you doing with your moving on?"

"I think it's working for me. Now I know you'll never be hurt by another man again."

"Oh, with this job you never know. I think we'll make this work, Mac," she says turning to face him and climbs into his lap.

Mac pulls her into a long, slow kiss as she starts to take off his tie and unbutton his shirt. He rubs her back soothingly before parting their lips. "Maybe we should take this elsewhere." Mac stands up taking Stella with him.

"I never knew you were so strong, Mac," she teases as they enter the bedroom.

"Stel, you don't weigh very much," he says before kissing her again.


"I need you to know you can fall into me
That my arms are wide open
And will always be
Right here waiting, staying strong
Come and fall into me

Come and fall into me
Baby fall into me"

A/N: I hope you liked it. "Fall into Me" by Emerson Drive. I know Stella and Mac probably wouldn't get together right after everything with Frankie. Thanks for reading. I'll try to get the last chapter up soon. Please let me know what you thought.