When everyone else had left for the night, Rebecca saw Mac was still in his office and she knocked on his door. "Hey," she greeted softly and he looked at her confused. "I don't need a boss. I need someone to talk to without the whole work thing getting between me and what I need to say," she warned.
"I'm here," he promised and as she walked in and closed the door, she sat on the couch as he walked over with her. "I want to preface whatever you have to say with the fact that I'm sorry about how I confronted you earlier. You always have come to me with things that need to be addressed and I do trust you. I just was thinking if I showed you I was right there you'd talk sooner. But I remembered that I wanted you to feel like it was an option to tell me. It still is."
"I know," she promised. He looked at her shocked and she chuckled. "Stella spoke with me after I warned her if she was in on what you said, and she promised the same thing. You just were getting a little too impatient and I was being stubborn," she answered and Mac looked at her. "Let's be real. It was unspoken with Stella. She was being nice and not saying it for once in her career with me," she responded and Mac chuckled at that knowing it was true. "I also took a little time last night to think. You were right. Things felt normal during the undercover. Felt like I had a family. Like one that wasn't messed up in some way," she explained and Mac waited. "You are free to interrupt at any time. Trust me. My brain has practically everything I want to say in cue card format."
"Fair. But I don't have much to say at the moment. I'm not asking questions. It's up to you to tell me certain aspects. So you can continue from wherever you were in that thought process," he promised her and she nodded looking in thought.
"There were aspects I hated but I mean I get it. If my life was normal I may have experienced those aspects," she answered and Mac didn't need to be a genius to know what she was referring to. She felt conflicted about having to face consequences for actions she did as an incompetent.
"Would it ease your mind to know I hated doing it?" She looked at him confused and he chuckled. "Despite how I act in the lab, I do not enjoy putting anyone through what I had to put you through. You're right with your father being a Marine, if he wasn't so bitter, you may have been forced to face consequences for what you've pulled. Especially from what I have on you. But it's the past. It's gone and you're here. That's the main thing. I mean with what I do know, I'm proud of who you are. You could have become someone much different but you didn't."
"Just because I've lost a lot doesn't mean that everyone else should face the same," she dismissed standing. "After the dinner on Friday, I want to talk with just you. No Stella. Not yet. Not until I get my thoughts together and at least get them out correctly once," she responded. Mac nodded to show his agreement to the terms and he knew she needed to have trust in him. She was taking some big steps already that he didn't expect. The small bits she had revealed to him already basically told him what she hadn't said yet. She wanted that normalcy back but she was too scared to ask.
"That's fine. Friday after dinner then. Keep a spare beer hidden in the fridge would you?" She glanced at him pretending mock offense. "You already planned that. Alright Friday then," he dismissed and she nodded heading down to the elevator. As she left, Mac began writing out rules and consequences on a document that if she was able to get the sentence out she'd have everything laid right out for her.
Meanwhile when Rebecca got back to the apartment she smiled at Hawkes as he was just getting in too. "You actually ran out of food for once Hawkes?" She had to tease him as she was checking her little mailslot and he nodded at that.
"What about you? You're getting in late even for an after hours thing," Hawkes explained and she shrugged. "You were talking to Mac." She nodded at that and he chuckled at her knowing the truth. "So is he coming to dinner on Friday?"
"Yeah. I have to come straight home after work so if I gave you money could you buy another thing of beer for the others? I can't afford to rush dinner," she explained. He chuckled as she handed over $50 and he nodded at her. "Thanks. I owe you."
"No you don't," Hawkes answered looking at her as they were taking the elevator to his floor first and as they were putting his groceries away, he looked at her. "The team all agreed. We owe you. You did something none of us would do. You put yourself into a spot where you could be in serious danger and took it. We got this guy with all our evidence that we analyzed because you were so willing to go the mile for us. You put everything out there to help us get him."
"It's in our job. Get the little bleeps," she responded and Hawkes looked at her. "Sorry. Remnants of Mac's rules. I used to swear really badly so now when I swear it usually comes out like a bleep almost. In my head. I usually say bleep now."
"Something else bothers you," he answered and she looked at him. "Your friend from Alabama called. I didn't tell him the specifics of the case but I told him you were undercover and he asked about your swearing and I was honest. Said you were slowing down considerably."
"Me and him were close. We both got told we'd get low class jobs because of our swearing. I tried to minimize it and failed. So I tried to make a habit of swearing in private away from the team. I didn't want to lose my job. That and the friendships I made with the team. I mean I can easily go and have a beer with Flack and Danny. I didn't want to lose it."
As Hawkes walked Rebecca back to her apartment they heard the gossips. "Wow. She's landed herself a doctor," the woman teased and they both chuckled at that. The gossips loved to talk about the two of them since they worked in the same place.
"I see I'm back to being a topic here," she chuckled and Hawkes nodded at that.
"I like this topic though. Us being a thing?" She looked at Hawkes and he chuckled as they got to her apartment and he looked at her. "I've had those feelings for a while now. I just never acted on them. I knew you had feelings for both me and Adam by the way you acted. But I thought I'd act and tell you that I have those feelings about you."
"Yeah I figured. I also have those feelings for you moreso. I mean I told Flack Adam but that wasn't true. I knew Adam was getting close to Kendall. Our emails started talking about her a lot so I figured out he was happy so I let him be," she answered smiling.
"Doesn't change it hurt to see it when you got back," he teased and she glared playfully at him. "Thanks for not telling them you figured it out. It gave me a chance to tell them the same thing you just did. That if you figured out they were together you'd support them."
"Who wouldn't? Adam's happy and that's a rare thing. Kendall too. They balance each other out. Kendall can keep calm around Mac, Adam can't. Adam's computer savvy and Kendall is Trace savvy. There's a lot I can use there," she chuckled.
"If you had to say we balanced out? How?"
"You have the medical knowledge. I have the knowledge about the evidence. Put it together to figure out what happened to the person. They get the motive and beginnings of the how normally," she responded smiling and he chuckled. Before either of them could process it, Hawkes pressed a kiss to Rebecca's lips and she blushed as he let her go. "Wow," she breathed.
"How's the head?"
"Woozy. Confused. Disoriented." He chuckled at that and walked her into her apartment. "We can talk more about this tomorrow. But don't think I'm rejecting you. The answer is yes," she promised and he chuckled at that walking out of her apartment.
"Maybe Mac, you just opened her enough to allow her to feel love." As Hawkes went back to his apartment he thought about him and Rebecca and smiled at how he could reflect on the undercover operation and get a good chuckle out of it and how she took what he made her do with a spirit that was unbreakable.
By morning she was already rushing down to the front door and onto the bus before Hawkes even left. He knew she was usually like that but didn't understand why she was so excited that morning. He arrived via the subway and smiled as he saw Rebecca was already in the lab. "I wasn't avoiding you. I just want to try and get a lead as I'm worried about Talon. This isn't like him. He may be annoying, angry and territorial but," she continued.
"But you don't think he's capable of murder," Mac continued.
"Right," she responded. As she looked at the glove again she got an idea and slipped her latex glove back on and turned the glove inside out with great difficulty. "This glove," she began slipping it back under the microscope. "I think we were right Mac. This glove was a work glove but not built for the job," she responded.
"What did you remember?"
"How easy it was to make a fast buck with Talon," she answered as she looked it over. She cut off a section of the glove with the metal in it and handed it over in a dish to Hawkes. "Get this through GCMS. If I'm right it'll match to a substance that I know how to find."
"What's up?"
"If Talon's involved he's probably working construction. Only way he could check some buildings. I'm taking Flack with me and I'm going on a little drug hunt," she answered.
"No you aren't," Mac answered grabbing her.
"You can't stop me. I have to beat my brother to the chase," she snapped ripping her arm out of Mac's grasp looking at him. "Last I checked, I'm the one who has to prove I'm not him. So don't go treating me with kid gloves because my brother's involved," she snapped before going down the elevator without even taking her kit.
"I'm going to scream at that kid," Mac muttered as he saw her take off with Flack and he called up Flack. "Bring her straight back when she's done. We need to have words and it's going to be while nobody is in the lab," he warned.
"Be easy on her Mac. It's been a hard transition back to normal," Flack answered as he knew she was in the car. Mac made a small sound and then heard a car door slam. "Sent her out to get some air. She's just as angry as you. She has a point. When she came back, it was all of a sudden everyone sans me and Hawkes treating her with kid gloves. We all tried to coddle her. Not let her do her job the way she used to. She just wants to feel like everyone isn't treating her like she's a china doll."
"Flack we get her anger. We do," Stella began before Flack made a sound and she sighed. "Spend the time that we did with her Don. We witnessed her night terrors consume her. Forget her word of nightmare. These were night terrors. She was soaked in sweat, wouldn't respond to light and the first time was barely responsive. The second time? We couldn't get her to talk and barely got her to move. She was a shell. That's it. We're worried about her."
"Stella, you also need to put yourself in her shoes. She's had no real family life for years and now you and Mac try to rush in as parents she never had. So she's feeling smothered and is fighting back. It's in her nature," he explained.
"I'll talk to her alone again. I also want to learn about what you know about her," Mac began before he heard a sound of gunfire. "Flack?"
"She's alright. It wasn't her. Her gun's still holstered and she's completely relaxed. It was a background sound. We're near a park that has something like paintball going on. She's sitting on a park bench," he began before watching her curl up. "Hey can I call you back?"
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Just need to have a chat with my partner," he answered hanging up and then walking over to Rebecca. "Hey. I didn't send you out to be an asshole of a brother. I sent you out to get some air. You left without your CSI kit, your badge or anything really. Your gun was holstered and you seemed mad. I wanted to let you get your head on straight."
"Why don't they trust me to take a case?"
"They do. But I will say this. I've been basically a big brother to you since you started. We didn't agree on that until 2 months into your career, but I've seen it. Everyone knows you're our youngest and you're so smart it's aggravating at points. You took a case that nobody expected. Mac even thought you wouldn't. You took on a psychiatrist and managed to get him. But what he did," he began.
"Was morally wrong and he will pay for it via our justice system. Let it go," she advised.
"When you are ready to, you have a family. Lindsay, Danny, me, Mac and Stella. Heck most of our team. We're all right here waiting," he began and she nodded getting back into the car and Flack drove her back to the lab.
"Thanks for knowing I just wanted away from Mac," she responded.
"Talk to him. That's all I ask," he answered and she nodded. As she walked upstairs and into the lab, she noted most of the lab was empty and she noted Mac was in his office and alone. She walked over and knocked making him glance up.
"Flack said to hear you out. So while I still have the patience," she answered looking at him.
"In here, I'm closing the blinds as I can no longer ignore the severity of this talk that we have to have," he responded. She walked in and closed the door while Mac closed the blinds. "You were lucky Chief Sinclair wasn't in the building this afternoon! If he had seen what happened between us you would have easily been suspended merely for his dislike of you," he snapped.
"Then why have I been getting the kid glove treatment again?! I'm fine. Colic raped me. We all know that. I'm fine. I have to find Talon, deal with that trial and be who I am normally in this lab," she snapped and before she could even process it, Mac flipped her over his knee and landed 10 hard swats to her rear and she yelped in shock before standing and glaring at him. "I'm not undercover anymore. You had no right."
"Doesn't change that I still view you as Rebecca Conrad-Taylor. That I view you as my own," he warned looking at her and she paused. "What can't you get about this little thing?"
"That you view me like your own," she admitted.