A/N: So, as I hinted when I posted the original songfic, I have decided to continue with this. I've got an overall story concept for where I'm going with this, and it's giving me a nice little break from the latest chapters I've been working on for my multi-chapter stories. Right now, I'm seeing this story as a collection of songfics. They'll all be connected, telling the story of Don & Stella's relationship through my takes on different songs. Be warned, there will be a bit of angst in a lot of the installments, but I'm trying to keep them at least somewhat positive as well.

This second installment is based on a song called "The Easy Part" by Chuck Wicks. Can you tell I'm a country music fan?

Stella leaned heavily against the doorframe, her arms wrapped protectively around herself as she surveyed the bare room in front of her. The furniture was gone, sold to friends and strangers alike. The pictures that had adorned the walls had been carefully boxed up, stashed between the layers of clothing and linens in the boxes that now sat in the van waiting for her by the curb below. All that was left for her in this apartment, the place she had called home for the last year and a half, were two keys sitting on the empty kitchen counter.

Sometimes love ain't enough
And there's times when just giving up is alright

Stella Bonasera was not a woman who gave up easily, so it tore her up inside that she couldn't stop feeling as though this decision meant that she was giving up on love. She'd rationalized it over and over again. She had a lengthy list of reasons that sounded absolutely nothing like giving up. She knew that this could be a good decision for her, a smart decision that had the potential to benefit her both personally and professionally. Despite all her rationalizing and reasoning, though, Stella knew that there was really only one reason that she'd made this decision, and it had everything to do with giving up.

No matter how much you want it to work,
Someone's gonna get hurt

She had tried for months to make it work, to get to a point where she could interact with him without the pit in her stomach, without the sadness crushing her chest. There were countless times when she thought she'd finally done it, that everything was going to return to normal. Then something would happen – she'd see his gaze linger on his girlfriend, hear him talking to Danny about something they'd done that weekend, see his smile brighten just a bit when Jess walked onto a scene – and she'd be right back at square one. Stella had fought it, struggled with it, tried everything she could think of to learn to live with it, but she'd finally had to accept that no matter what she did, she was going to end up hurt.

Sometimes it ain't about who's wrong
And as bad as you want to hold on

Stella had no doubt that the entire situation was her fault. If she'd only taken the chance when they'd both been free, if she hadn't stepped aside and let fate take the reins, then perhaps things would be different. Was she so wrong to have thought that taking their relationship further would have been a mistake? Was she wrong to have even thought that he might be open to taking that step with her? She supposed that now it wasn't important anymore; laying the blame wouldn't do her any good these days.

She wanted to change her mind. Despite the weeks that she'd spent convincing her friends and coworkers that she was making the right decision, she couldn't help the fact that her heart still belonged to him, and she wasn't sure that she could leave him without leaving it behind as well. Her heart ached as she looked around her barren living room, desperately searching for something to remind her of why she couldn't stay.

The right thing to do is to get out
Right now, before it's too late

Rationally, Stella could easily explain why this was the right decision for her to make. It was clearly the best decision for her career, presenting her with an opportunity she was never going to find with the NYPD, not as long as Mac Taylor chose to continue running the New York Crime Lab. As much as she hated to admit it - he was, after all, her best friend - Mac's presence effectively formed a barrier to how far Stella could advance with the NYPD without venturing outside the relatively small CSI unit. It was even the best decision for the lab, especially given the current budget crisis. Although it would take time to adjust to having one less investigator, the elimination of her salary from the budget saved the lab enough money that there would be no need for Mac to choose between sacrificing equipment or lab personnel for at least another year.

She knew, though, that the real reason she thought that this was the right decision had nothing to do with her career or the lab's budget. No, if she were to be honest with herself, Stella would have to admit that if it weren't for the fact that she had felt as though she had to do something – anything – before she lost herself completely in her feelings, none of this would be happening. She wouldn't have even thought about returning the out-of-the-blue phone call from Los Angeles. She might have glanced at the manila envelope that was delivered via registered mail four days later and been flattered by the generous offer, but she would have eventually tossed it into the trash. There would have been no convincing Chief Sinclair to release her from her NYPD contract, no tense confrontation with Mac when she revealed her decision to him. Stella never would have considered the possibility of a life away from New York and the NYPD had it not been for the unacceptable way her personal life was suddenly intruding on her professional one.

Yeah, the hardest part of leaving is picking up the keys
And finding the nerve to start that car

Stella never would have imagined that one simple act could be so difficult. Yet as she stood there in the middle of her empty apartment, it took all the strength she could muster to pick those keys up off the counter, walk down the stairs and climb into the rented U-Haul van waiting for her by the curb.

As she slipped into the driver's seat, Stella unconsciously reached to secure her weapon at her side. She sighed when it dawned on her that for once, there was nothing sitting in the holster resting on her hip and no badge waiting in her pocket. The whole team had gathered outside Mac's office the previous afternoon to watch her turn them in, as though they hadn't quite believed she was actually going to go through with it. She tried to take some comfort in the fact that she knew it was only a few days until she arrived in Los Angeles. In less than a week, she'd have a weapon back in her holster and a new badge ready in her pocket. She just tried not to think about the fact that for the first time in her career, that badge wouldn't be issued by the NYPD.

The first night is the longest,
You're waking up alone

Stella was somewhat surprised that she'd even managed to make it through the first night. Granted, she'd been waking up alone for years, so it shouldn't have been that much of a shock to her system as she lay awake in the small motel room she'd rented for the night. Still, there was something almost bone-chilling about the feeling of emptiness that seeped through her as she stared aimlessly at the ceiling, knowing that she would probably never again spend any length of time in the place that had been her home her whole life.

More than that, though, every time she closed her eyes, her dreams were haunted by the image of his eyes over the past week. When she'd announced her imminent departure not just from the lab but from New York City in general, Don hadn't argued with her like the others had. He hadn't tried to convince her that she was wrong and he hadn't seemed to care about any of her reasons. He'd simply looked at her that entire last week, staring as though he were seeing her for the first time, as though she'd just stepped into some sort of new light. It had shaken her resolve, forcing her to wonder if maybe there was some small chance he might actually return her feelings, but in the end, she knew that it just wasn't meant to be.

And you find out how strong you really are
But the rest is the easy part

Stella hadn't been sure she was going to survive that first night, but deep down, she knew she owed it to herself to at least try. Before they had parted, Lindsay had told her to think of this as a chance to spread her wings, to test her strength as she left her comfort zone far behind her. The younger woman had warned her that the first few nights away from the only hometown she'd ever known would be hard to get through. She had promised her, though, that it would get better. Stella only hoped that Lindsay wasn't mistaken.

Before long, the phone's gonna ring
And you'll want to answer his call

He called her every hour that second day, shaking her to the core every time she saw his name flash across that screen. It took everything she had in her to not pick up the phone, to hit the key that sent yet another call to her voicemail. She'd called Mac before leaving the motel, letting him know that she was safe and was now starting the next leg of her journey. She'd spoken with Lindsay, getting the latest updates on Danny's efforts to put together the perfect nursery. She'd answered without hesitation when Hawkes had called with a question about a case they'd closed a few weeks earlier, subtly slipping in a quick line about how much he was going to miss her before he'd passed the phone to Adam for a quick hello.

With Don, though, she just couldn't figure out what to do. There was a part of her that wanted to pick up the phone, that wanted to know exactly what it was Don wanted to say to her. That same part of her was convinced that she could handle hearing his voice, that she could have a simple conversation with him without tearing apart the resolve she'd spent so much time building up.

But girl, don't have the same conversation over and over
So let it be over

The other part of her, though, knew exactly what he would say if she answered his call. She knew that they'd have the same conversation they'd had when he had dropped by after her last day at the lab, and she knew that hearing him ask her to stay one more time could very well be the one thing that would make her turn that van around and drive as fast as she could back to New York.

If she took that call, she wasn't going to be able to continue driving west. She knew that, no matter how much she wanted to hold onto the past, she had to let that part of her life end. She had to let her feelings die; she had to let it all be over. With those thoughts running through her mind, the fifth time his name appeared on her caller ID, she turned her phone off and forcefully tossed it into the glove compartment.

The hardest part of leaving is picking up the keys
And finding the nerve to start that car

Every time Stella pulled the keys out of the ignition that day – when she stopped to fill up on gas, when she pulled over to get out and stretch her legs, when she pulled up to the tiny truck stop for lunch – she had trouble bringing herself to start the engine again. She knew that all it would take would be one quick phone call to Mac and everything could be reversed. If she knew her friend at all, she knew her gun and badge were still locked up in his desk drawer, resting atop her unfiled severance paperwork, waiting for Mac to be certain that Stella truly wasn't coming back. Convincing herself that she couldn't do that was more exhausting that she could ever have imagined.

The first night is the longest,
You're waking up alone

It could very well have been her imagination, but as she climbed out of bed after her second night on the road, Stella couldn't help but feel that it hadn't been quite as difficult as the night before. Of course, she could easily attribute that the simple fact that she'd managed more than two consecutive hours of sleep that night. That alone gave her a brighter outlook when she finally slipped in behind the wheel of her van.

And you find out how strong you really are
But the rest is the easy part

Still, with each hour that ticked by, with each mile that flew by in her rearview mirror, she felt as though things were changing. The determination that had slipped away over the last few weeks was gradually building itself back up. The confidence she'd been so desperately lacking in recent months was coming back in bits and pieces, slowly encouraging her to continue on toward what she was more and more sure would be her fresh start.

There's an open road
There's a life ahead

Stella smiled slightly as she passed the small sign welcoming her to Arizona. Only one state left to cross through, and she was finally starting to feel as though maybe this hadn't been such a terrible decision after all. Rolling down the windows to let the warm desert air blow through her curls, she squinted into the sun as she slipped on her sunglasses and pressed just a bit harder on the accelerator as the van made quick work of the endless stretch of asphalt.

But even though you can't see it yet
Just take a chance

Stella still couldn't imagine what it would be like, this new life she was heading towards. She couldn't see herself in a city without snow in the winter, investigating crimes with the ocean at her back. Despite the fact that she'd spent several years helping Mac run the NYPD Crime Lab, she felt a surprising about of nervousness at the thought that in Los Angeles, she'd be the one with her name on the door, the one making the decisions and running the teams. She was having a hard time accepting the fact that she was going to have to integrate herself into a whole new department, that she'd have to try to build herself a new family thousands of miles away from everything she knew and loved.

She wondered about her new life – about where she'd live, who she'd meet, what sort of car she might drive. Having spent her whole life in New York City, the closest Stella had ever come to her own car had been driving a department-issued SUV. She'd heard that it was necessary in Los Angeles, though, and she found herself lightly entertaining the idea of herself behind the wheel of some sporty convertible. As the final miles of her journey ticked by, she couldn't ignore the thought that this just might be her chance after all.

And pick up your keys
Oh, and find the nerve
Yeah, to start your car
The rest is the easy part