Rite of Passage

By Dimgwrthien

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:NY or affiliates.

Mac Taylor was experimenting. However, this kind of experiment did not involve alternative light sources or luminol or fingerprints. This kind of experiment involved a dark-haired woman named Anna and the sudden ''disappearance" of his wedding ring into a wooden box in his bedroom.

Stella could sniff out a date from a mile away. She had been on enough of them to understand how to tell when a person was about to ask or had been rejected or accepted. And Mac Taylor had all of the signs of an accepted date - a slightly happier mood, brighter eyes, openness with everyone (even Danny, Stella was surprised to see), and a bit less flirting with her.

"Who is it this time?" Stella asked when she passed Mac in the hall, handing him her report on the last case.

"Hmm?" Mac asked, glancing at her.

"I'm asking about your date," she told him. "Who are you going with tonight?"

"Anna," Mac admitted. "I met her about a week ago."

Stella nodded slowly, then asked, "What's she like?"

Mac stopped in the middle of the hall, and Stella stopped soon after, turning to face him again. "What's that for?" he asked, starting to walk with her again.

"What for?"

"Asking what she's like?" Mac sighed. "She's a woman, Stella, and she's very nice and attractive. Is that enough?"

"I'm not just asking like that," Stella told him. She put an arm on his shoulder. "Just watching out for you."

Mac smiled. "The same way you watch out for Danny every time he dates someone?"

Stella raised her eyebrows. "Mac, I really do watch out for all of you. Danny dated that one girl, you know - pretty, a bit short, nice hair…"

"I don't remember her name," Mac said, and his voice sounded amazed. "Hmm. I suppose we've all managed to ignore him talking about her by now."

One of the lab techs passed by with one of the dummies they used to examine bullets and wounds with. "Rachel," Stella called, and she stopped. "Do you remember Danny's girlfriend's name?"

She shrugged. "Something weird, I think."

"Thanks."

Mac stared at Stella. "That doesn't prove anything. You just can't remember her name."

"But it means that I can remember he has a girlfriend," Stella told him. "I just like to make sure no one gets hurt and we don't have to inspect your crime scene." She almost winced at the unconscious reference, but put it out of her mind. "So, this girl… is she pretty?"

"Very," Mac answered, and Stella saw that he was smiling. "She's average height, rather average body. Dark red or brown hair, brown eyes." He made a vague shrugging motion. "She's rather average, but she's nice."

"Tell me you're not dating for the sake of dating," Stella warned him, then felt guilty when Mac asked, sounding shocked, "What?"

"No man uses the word 'nice' to describe a woman," Stella explained. "And they don't use 'average' either. Men salute women, praise them on their first dates, and compliment them even when they're not around. Listen to Danny. He talks about his friend as if she were the goddess Venus."

"It's also Danny, who has probably only had a handful of girlfriends in his entire life. He's young."

"So you're saying that women lose their appeal as you age?" Stella asked. Mac opened his mouth, but she said, "No, Mac. I'm being harsh."

"I've had a wife," Mac answered, though. "I can understand that one thing: women don't come and go. There's nothing more amazing than your first girlfriend or wife, because she's…" Mac gave her a strange look. "I know you'll beat me if I continue that sentence. Care to add a word?"

"She's your first try," Stella said vulgarly.

Mac turned a bit red. "No, no. I was going to say 'she's your rite of passage', but you somehow thought of a worse way to say it."

Stella grinned. "Should I add that to my business card?"

"Being a man's rite of passage or ruining phrases?" Mac joked. Stella playfully punched his arm. "Really, Stella. It's that kind of thing. I'll never be able to see anyone else the way I saw Claire. I was married to her for 17 years and two months -" Stella almost asked if he had counted, but, she realized, of course he had. He would have counted every day. The only thing keeping him from adding a "and two days" or whatever was wanting to sound human. "You don't get that over one week with a woman."

"Then why bother with her?" Stella asked. "Give her to someone who'll keep her."

Mac smiled at the floor as they reached his office door. "She's not a fish. And sometimes you just need human contact." Glancing up, he added, "In a more intimate way. Stella, you're still my human contact, just not in the exact why I'm with Anna."

Stella hit his arm again, smiling at him. "Well, have fun tonight. And be nice because she's your rite of passage for these few years, eh?"

Smiling even more, Mac gave her a wave that looked like a salute, and walked into his office. Stella went the opposite way, heels clicking down the hall.

And even if you do end up liking her, Mac, I'll still be your human contact. I can't lie about that.

The thought annoyed her. It seemed to buzz around her head like a fly, and she knew that there was only one way to get out the flyswatter.

She walked back to Mac's office, knocking on the door lightly before walking in. Mac had taken off his coat and was looking at her report she had given him earlier.

"Mac?" she asked, and he glanced up, confused. She didn't hesitate. "Come to my place afterwards to tell me how everything went, alright?"

Mac made a circle with his thumb and forefinger, agreeing to the plan.