HII :) Chapter 9 is here, pure fluffy, emotional, Mac/Stella STUFF. Enjoy :)

"Never, never, did she touch him."

Stella had long since relinquished control of her mind to her unconscious when it came to Mac, but she shocked even herself when she grabbed his arm. He turned around and she saw confusion flicker through his eyes, though, to his credit, he hid it very well.

"Stella." He didn't ask. It wasn't a question. But he needed to know what she wanted.

It had always been refreshing to Mac to see that Stella, undoubtedly wearing the bruises from her upbringing, had managed to maintain some sense of normalcy, not only in her life, but in her emotions. Not many people knew, but Stella Bonasera was a hopeless romantic. And was also, when it came to men, hopeless. Frankie Mala, Drew Bedford, they were the first things that came to mind when Stella's name was passed around in the lab, more often than not by people who didn't know her. Stella wasn't yet over Frankie – who could really expect her to be? He had ruined her trust in men entirely, and not even Mac was allowed to know her true feelings about that situation, not after two, three years. She knew she should be over it, but she wasn't yet, she just prayed she would be one day.

She wanted to get married, to have her own children if it wasn't too late, and to adopt if it was. She wanted, embarrassingly, the white picket fence, the perfect little house outside the city to come home to each day. But she knew that, with her job, she was likely to end up marrying someone with a similar job. She couldn't imagine waking up her teacher husband, or GP husband, or mechanic husband, at 3 am to explain that she'd been called to a scene across town, or in the city. No, she needed to be fully understood if she was going to make that sort of commitment.

As these thoughts whirled closer to the truth, she started to make a bit of headway, started to work out why she was feeling what she was feeling. It wasn't fast enough for Mac though, although he could see thoughts whirring transparently in her head.

Suddenly she stopped thinking, and looked up at him. She looked at her hand on his arm, as if to say 'how did that get there?'

"We need something to drink," she murmured decisively. "What do you-"

Her words turned to a short gasp, as Mac surprised her, placing his hands gently on her protruding hip-bones. "Stella," he murmured, his voice neither a whisper nor a growl but somewhere in between. "I want to help you, but I can't until you realise that this," here, Stella was forced to silence a gasp as the feeling of his flesh on hers became ever more sensitive, "is not okay."

While Mac had been speaking, he had moved his left hand up, to press on her rib-cage, jutting out through her olive skin. He felt it when Stella's skin broke out in goose-pimples under his hand.

They stayed like that for a while, wrapped round each other, Mac's hands gently pressed onto her ribs and hips, her head lolling back to rest on his shoulder. The moment was intimate, and neither of them wanted to break it.

As Stella fought back a yawn, Mac smiled. "You need sleep, Stell."

She acquiesced, and moments later he was gone, leaving only the memory of his hands on her.

The piercing sound of the alarm clock broke through Stella's sleep, penetrating her deepest slumber in weeks. She rolled onto her back, and couldn't help a smile break out on her face after last night's episode with Mac.

She shook her head at the man's uncanny ability to put her in a good mood, whatever the problem.

Slipping quickly into and out of a searing hot shower, she pondered over what to wear, and couldn't help smiling again when she realised she hadn't done that for a good fortnight. Having selected a pair of black pants, and a grey shirt Mac had commented on before, she dressed quickly, and spent some time drying her hair to leave loose, before applying a tad more makeup than usual, and slipping into high black courts.

She left her apartment at 8 am, an extra bounce in her step.

SO, leave me some lovely reviews, and on Thursday I will treat you to TWO chapters, how generous is that?