Hello! How are you? Welcome to, finally, another chapter :D Please enjoy!

I left the lab and kept on walking. I'd gone several blocks in the other direction from the precinct before I actually took stock of where I was, what I was doing. By rights, I should have gone back to the precinct, but seeing as I was on call, figured I could take a little time out outdoors, long as I didn't go too far. Anyways, after the confrontation with Mac I was running high on adrenaline, couldn't keep myself still. Had to get that out of my system before anything else.

Must've walked at least another mile before I could begin to slow down. Stopped at a kiosk and bought a coffee and pastry, then seeing as I was near Inwood Hill Park I made my way there. It was somewhere me and Jess had spent a lot of time and it felt like somewhere I could try and straighten out my thoughts. Managed to find myself an empty bench and dropped on to it, exhaling heavily. Sat there for a while, leg jigging up and down, drinking my coffee jerkily.

Kept playing back the conversation – OK, argument – with Mac over and over in my mind. Couldn't quite believe it had happened. In all the years I'd known Mac, I'd never spoken to him like that, not even close. Likely nobody had ever spoken to him like that… Stell might have done but no one else. Shock on his face when I got going had been kind of funny. Somewhat shakily, I laughed to myself at that. But did I regret what I'd said to him, how I'd said it? Thought about that and discovered that, no, I didn't. If I could go back in time, I'd do the same thing.

Only regret I had was not intervening sooner. Maybe things wouldn't have gotten this bad between him and Stell if I'd talked to him weeks ago. I don't know… Maybe they would. Or maybe that would have made things worse.

After a while, drinking good coffee and food and sitting in the sun in a place that had a lot of happy memories calmed me down. Even better, after checking my phone, I found I had no missed calls or messages, so I was free for a while longer. Heat of the afternoon was almost making my drowsy, but it struck me that at this end of the park, I was pretty close to Dalia's building. Today was one of her days off, so it was possible she'd be home. Wouldn't take me long to walk over and surprise her…

Found myself hesitating, though. Should I call on her? I mean, I didn't want to go taking even more of my troubles to her - I'd done enough of that recently. Might be best if I just headed back to the precinct. Then again… Uncertain of what to do, I stared out across the park, squinting in the light which made the quiver of the heat haze even more apparent. Geez, that sun was bright. Had to screw up my eyes, they were dazzled - seemed like the whole scene in front of me was shivering... Blinked, trying to clear my vision… and my breath stuck in my chest. Right in front of me, real as anything stood Jess.

I blinked again. Still didn't breathe. It was really her, Jess, bright-eyed and smiling at me. Began to take a step towards her and the light shimmered and shifted, resolving into a pattern of sunlight through the leaves and a butterfly hovering above the path.

There was no one else there.

Dammit...

Crumpled my empty cup into a ball. Thought I was done with all the seeing things crap. Guess the argument with Mac had knocked me more than I realised. Shoved my hands into my pockets and turned abruptly, feeling pissed off with Mac all over again, and myself. I'd put too much hope into their relationship, got myself too emotionally invested. Stupid of me.

Stell had survived, that was what was most important. A relationship with Mac, well, it'd be great if they found happiness with each other, but… maybe that wasn't meant to be and there wasn't a whole lot I could do about that.

After that I left the park, feeling downcast. Didn't want to stay there any longer. Didn't feel like returning to the precinct either. So, I finally made a decision.

Lucky for me, on the way to Dalia's building was a bodega which always held a good selection of fresh flowers. Picked up a bunch of roses for her, deciding to take her those instead of my troubles. Also bought a box of her favourite candies for good measure. Total coincidence that they were candies I was fond of, too. Armed with flowers and candies, I set off feeling better than I had all day.

Fortune smiled on me the next two days and I didn't catch any scenes with Mac, neither did I run into him anywhere. Don't know how I'd have dealt with that level of awkwardness. Stell wasn't around either, but I did hear on the grapevine that she was still in DC. What the grapevine didn't know was whether she'd accepted, or even been offered, a job in DC. That information would have to wait until I got to talk to her in person.

Meanwhile, life in New York carried on: city's cab drivers decided to go on strike; section of subway had to close after a dog got loose in the tunnels, and the first couple days of a heatwave hit us. All pretty normal. But among all of us connected with the lab, there was something of a feeling of anticipation. Like we were, I don't know, waiting for something? Kind of hard to explain. Personally, I was waiting for when the inevitable happened and I saw Mac in person again.

Decided that was why I still felt edgy on the Friday afternoon after Mac and I had argued. I'd already managed to spill a half-drunk coffee over my notes at my first scene of the day. Then I managed to literally knock Danny over on my way to catch up with Hawkes. Helped pick him and his papers up off of the floor while apologising.

'You OK, man?

'Uh, yeah, I think so… '

He stood up and we both attempted to straighten out his papers.

'Late for something?'

He rolled his eyes. 'Yeah – meeting Mac was supposed to be at, which Stella was meant to be at originally. Now I got to go.'

'What's happened to Mac?'

'Your guess is as good as mine - happened to mention something to him this morning about the cabbie strike. Next thing I know, he's telling me I got to attend this meeting at Columbia.'

Raised my eyebrows. 'And Stell was supposed to be there originally?'

'Rumour has it her flight got cancelled and she won't be back until tomorrow.' Sighing, he straightened the papers a bit more before giving up with a shrug.

'Mac happen to tell you where he was going?'

'What do you think?' Messer snorted. 'He did not. Anyways, I got to go, I'm running late. Talk to you later.'

He headed off, leaving me thoughtful.

So, Mac had decided to cancel a meeting to go somewhere. Now why would he do that and where would he have gone? Mulled it over for a while and by the time I got back to the precinct, I'd come to a conclusion: there was only one credible reason I could think of, and that was the cabbie strike.

Because of that, Mac had gone to JFK for Stell.

More I thought about it, more it made sense. Mac had to have gone to the airport - to save Stella from having to find an alternative to a cab. They must've spoken or communicated somehow for him to have known about her flight. That was progress. OK, so they'd have had to have communicated for work purposes because of the meeting, but still: Mac driving to the airport to pick her up (if that was what he was doing) was a pretty thoughtful gesture. Made me wonder if he'd taken to heart some of the stuff I'd said.

All right, all right… maybe it was wishful thinking. Thought back to the other afternoon in the park and that realisation I was still emotionally invested in all this. Guess that still held true. Even so, it was the most plausible reason for Mac skipping out on a meeting and taking an impromptu road trip. I mean, what else would he be doing?

Interesting. And promising. After all, it would take at least an hour for them to drive back from JFK – ample time for talking. Either that or a hell of a long awkward silence.

It was likely too soon, but even so, I began to feel a glimmer of hope that Mac and Stell could begin to fix things between them.

Didn't have to wait too long for that glimmer to get a little stronger. Happened the very next day in fact. Caught a scene downtown near Battery Park and both Mac and Stell showed up. Like to think I did a pretty good job of hiding how surprised I was, and how awkward I felt. Mac was his normal self, more or less. Bit chilly with me but nothing else. So yeah, we kept it professional, were super polite with each other, didn't mention anything about what had happened. Don't know if anyone noticed – caught sight of a raised eyebrow from Stell, but that was about it.

Soon as I could, I sneaked a look at the two of them: Mac looked cool and calm even in the heat, but he'd lost that heavy, bitter expression he'd had the last few weeks. Stell looked more at ease than when I'd last seen her, too. She also seemed more at ease with Mac. I'd go so far as to say that – professionally speaking at least – they were almost like their old selves. So far so good. Clearly the long drive back from JFK had given them plenty of time for talking.

Managed to catch Stell for a few words on her own while Mac was talking to the ME and she was putting her kit in the SUV.

'Hey, haven't seen you for a while, how you doing?'

'Good, I'm good.' She gave me a quick smile and turned back to the car.

'So how was DC?' I asked, blandly as possible.

She stiffened, but quickly recovered to turn around and answer, 'It was… interesting.'

'Glad to get back to New York?'

'Yes.' She looked at me with an appraising eye. 'Yes, I was.'

'Too many politicians, am I right? Not enough cannoli?' I grinned and she gave me a brief self-conscious smile, running her hands through her curls.

'You got it.'

I nodded and smiled. 'Good to see you back.' I glanced to the side, where Mac was still talking to the ME. 'You, uh, planning on a return visit any time soon?' Lifted my eyebrows and waited.

Stell stared at me before her gaze slid briefly towards Mac. 'I haven't decided that yet.'

'Oh, OK…' Wasn't exactly what I'd wanted to hear.

'I'll catch up with you soon,' Stella said, and I nodded, told her that'd be good, and we left it there.

She and Mac left the scene a bit later. But not before I'd gotten the chance to observe something that strengthened my hope. OK, it was only a gesture, nothing too unusual; even so, the sight of Mac with his hand resting on Stell's lower back as they walked to the car made me smile.

Guess I'd have to try not to get too carried away. Stell hadn't exactly been definite about DC either, meaning there were still uncertainties. It was still early days. Who knew what might lie ahead?

But, and I kept this uppermost in my mind, there was still hope.

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