Open a New Window

Disclaimer's the same as chapter one.

Chapter 3: Movies

The ride to Mac's house wasn't very long. But Stella was getting nervous, but she couldn't understand why. She'd been to Mac's house many times; most of those times were right after Claire's death. But recently, she hadn't been there too often, the reason being that Mac spent most of his time in the lab. By the time Mac had parked his car Stella had relaxed. They got out of the car and walked to the door; Mac unlocked it and let Stella in. Mac asked, "Stella would you like something to drink?"

Stella replied, "Sure, whatever you've got is fine."

Mac, walking toward the kitchen said, "Make yourself at home, movies are next to the TV, pick whichever you'd like to watch."

Stella glanced over Mac's collection; she noticed that it wasn't very large. Mac had: Of Mice and Men, Forrest Gump, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (theatrical releases), X-Men, X-Men 2, the Harry Potter series, Lady and the Tramp, and Aladdin. Stella, smiling said, "Mac you sure have an interesting collection of movies here."

Mac, walking back into the living room with two bottles of water said, "Yeah they help take me away from some of the things we see everyday. So what do you want to watch?"

Stella thinks then replies, "I was thinking Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring or Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I love the books they're based on and neither one was bad."

Mac offered, "How about Lord of the Rings?"

Stella agreed with his idea. Mac set up the DVD player and then sat next to Stella on the couch. They barely talked, only laughed at the funny parts and occasionally shared bits of trivial information about the filming. It seemed like in no time they were ready for another movie.

Mac asked, "What do you want to watch next Stella?"

Stella replied, "I don't know, something cute and funny though."

Mac asked, "How about Lady and the Tramp, it was a favorite of Claire's."

Stella replied, "Really, it was one of her favorites, its one of mine too. It's kind of nice to keep finding out we had more in common with each other than just you. I love the spaghetti scene."

Mac slightly surprised said, "The spaghetti scene is very touching. It became one of my favorite scenes. Would you like any kind of snack for this movie?"

Stella replied, "No thanks, but more water would be great."

Mac quickly went to retrieve more bottled water and change the disks in the DVD player. As they were watching the movie, neither one realized that they were leaning more against the other. They came to the spaghetti scene and Mac carefully but his arm around Stella. When she relaxed into him some he relaxed. They laughed at all the jokes, and felt sorry for poor Trusty when he got hit. The movie finished but they still weren't tired enough, or relaxed enough to even think about calling it a night.

"What should we watch next?" Stella asked.

"I don't know, something simple." replied Mac.

"Maybe something that'll partially bore us, causing us to become tired." Stella offered.

Mac asked, "Forrest Gump?"

Stella said, "It's worth a try."

Mac changed the movie again and went back to the couch next to Stella. He settled his arm around her and they started watching the movie. No more than 45 minutes into the movie Mac could tell that Stella was dozing off but trying to hide it. Quietly he said to her, "You can lean on me and use me as a pillow. I used to be a good pillow."

Stella smiled at Mac and laid her head on his right shoulder, she placed her right hand on his chest. She waited to see if he would panic and move her hand, he didn't. She glanced up at him quickly and saw a small smile on his face. He was happy and comfortable, so she could be happy and comfortable now too. It didn't take Stella to fall into a pretty light sleep.

It didn't take Mac much more time to notice that Stella was asleep. Carefully he moved her so that he could stand up and carry her to his bedroom. He figured that she was his guest, she could sleep in his bed, and he'd be fine on the couch. In picking Stella up she'd woken slightly. Mac apologized, but continued on his way toward his bedroom. He carefully pulled the covers back and laid Stella down. He carefully removed her shoes and socks and was about to cover her when she asked, "Will you sleep next to me?" She had figured that it would be too much for Mac to handle, and at first she had been right.

Mac didn't know what to say at first. He wanted to, but his brain was telling him that it was inappropriate, his heart won out though. He couldn't say no to Stella, he never really could, he loved her too much, first as friends, now he was realizing that it was more. How much more? He didn't know, but he was willing to find out.

He asked, "Stella, are you sure you want that?"

She replied, "Yeah I'll feel weird if you don't."

That was all Mac needed to hear, he walked around to the other side of the bed and stripped to his boxers and a tee shirt. Stella had managed to wiggle her way out of her pants, she also removed her shirt revealing a tank top underneath. Mac, feeling self-conscious and nervous climbed into bed. Stella moved toward him but made no move to touch him, she'd let him make the first move. Soon after he moved closer to her and wrapped his arm protectively around her waist. They were facing each other but knew that would be uncomfortable if they slept that way. They both leaned in a bit and shared a very short kiss, and then Stella turned over so her back was facing Mac. Mac kissed her shoulder then pulled her back against him. They both fell asleep almost instantly, spooned together.