Last Chance

By Dimgwrthien

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

Knock. Knock. Knock. Stella already knew that it was going to be Mac before she opened the door. Sure enough, he stood there, dressed in a suit but no tie, smiling at her.

"How'd it go?" Stella asked, letting him in.

Mac looked around her apartment before answering. "Alright," he told her. "Anna's a sweet woman, she really is. We went out to a nice Italian place, we even danced for a while." Mac made a very subtle face, but Stella still caught it.

"And when's the next date?" Stella asked, pulling out a barely-touched bottle of wine from her refrigerator and pouring two glasses.

"It's not going to happen," Mac admitted.

"And who did the dumping?" Stella joked. She handed Mac one of the glasses and motioned for him to follow her to the seats around the television.

"It was a mutual agreement," Mac answered, looking offended and sad. "Well, she said she's rather… have someone who hasn't been married…."

Stella laughed, not noticing until after she was done that Mac looked even more offended and hurt. "Seriously, Mac. She's your age, right?" Mac shrugged, turning back to his glass. "Anyone who has never been married at your age already isn't going to be that great of a person! Someone would have picked them up by then!"

Mac opened his mouth and shut it again. He took a moment before saying, "Stella - I don't think -"

"It's called cheering a person up, Mac," Stella told him, leaning over to pat his cheek. "See, you make a person feel better about something by insulting someone else." Stella grinned at him and saw a small smile play on his lips. "See? No one wins, because she'll be saying the same thing to her friends. Now, why did you leave her?"

Mac raised his eyebrows. "I never said that."

"Yes, you did," Stella corrected. "You implied it, at least. Tell me everything."

Sighing, Mac told her everything. "We headed out and danced, like I told you. She wasn't too graceful of a dancer, but neither am I. And then we sat down to eat, and she just talked most of the time. I didn't really want to because I couldn't think about her for long."

"I thought a man needed his human contact," Stella joked. "What's this about you ignoring her?"

"I decided that victims and criminals and the people at the lab are enough human contact for me," Mac sighed. "I don't think that I should start… doing this again if I'm not even ready now." He glanced up at Stella, almost as though looking for approval.

Stella, glancing at Mac's hands, reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out the gold ring. "If you're not ready," she said, slipping the ring onto his finger, "then give yourself time to think everything over."

Mac took a sip of wine while looking at his ring. "I never feel right without this thing on."

"Good," Stella said, taking his glass. "Means you're smart and in love." She returned to the kitchen to pour another glass of wine for each of them. When she returned, Mac was resting his elbows on his knees, staring up at her.

"What're you thinking?" Stella asked, handing him one of the glasses.

"About one last chance," he told her, standing up. "Do you have any music?"

Stella nodded. "What kind?"

"Any kind you can dance to."