Thank you to everyone! It still amazes me to no end the reception this is getting! I hope this lives up.
A/N: For the basis of this fic, inter-office relations are only 'frowned upon' (Think Ross and Elizabeth in Friends ;)).
Natalie Roberts meandered her way through the lab maze, her destination unplanned. She was nursing her third cup of coffee in an hour and waiting not-so-patiently for the techs to come through with her results. She needed them before she could even think of going home.
She took a detour when she spotted the light to Stella's office still on. She could see through the glass walls that she was standing over the desk packing files into her bag, and grinning to herself at random intervals.
"Big date?" Nat smirked, pushing the heavy doors open while balancing her cup.
"Just dinner with Mac," Stella smiled, looking up from her job.
"So, a big date then." Natalie smirked even more, taking a seat and crossing her legs. Stella was thinking of a non-committal retort, when she was told, "We know. We figured it out."
"We?" She moved her bag from the chair and onto the floor, sitting in its place.
"Me, Danny, Connor, Hawkes, Flack…don't know about the Techies." She took a sip of her coffee.
"Sorry for not telling you guys, we just, y'know-"
"-Hey, it's not our business. It's yours to tell." She shrugged. "So is it a big date? Anniversary, something like that?"
"Sort of. It's three-months since Mac was shipped out, he'd have been coming home this week. We're going to celebrate." Stella said, pressing the monitor off on her computer and dragging together the last few files.
"I won't keep you then," Nat grinned, following Stella's gaze out of the door to a waiting Mac.
Stella squeezed her arm with a smile as she passed her, "See you tomorrow."
"Be good. Or if you can't be good, be naughty," she smirked, wiggling her eyebrows to a chuckling Stella.
"What did she say?" Mac asked her when she joined him in the hall.
"She said I should basically jump you right here."
"She's a bad influence on you."
Stella grinned at the slightly alarmed look in Mac's eyes. "You ready?"
He nodded and fell in step as they walked to the exit. "Fancy Massimo's?"
Stella didn't get a chance to answer, when a "Taylor. Bonasera. My office, please." broke their banter.
Chief Highbourne spun on his expensive heals and stalked back to his upper-floor office.
"What crawled up his butt and nested?" She whispered, dropping her heavy bag in the break room next to them.
"He probably needs us to pick either Connor or Natalie for a permanent position," Mac said when she rejoined him. They walked to the elevators and pressed for the carriage, Highbourne already escaping in the previous one.
"Is there no chance of keeping them both?"
"I don't know, you know the budget better than me at the moment, can we afford two?" The doors slid open, Mac pressed for Highbourne's floor.
"Afford? Probably not. Need? Yes."
"We might be able to wrangle him into keeping them both for now, but once I'm back, we might need to let one go." The doors closed, the carriage ascending.
"Even so, what was with the abrupt 'Taylor. Bonasera.' deal?"
"I don't even pretend to care anymore." Mac said, a smirk playing at his lips that quickly disappeared when a ding sounded and the doors slid open.
Mac and Stella made for the open door to Highbourne's office, seeing him sat behind his desk in his maroon-leather throne.
"What can we do you for, Frank?" Mac asked, closing the door after Stella, and sitting opposite the stony-faced Chief.
"It's good to see you, Mac, but this is 'Chief' business." His features bore no friendly qualities; this had to be more than just a hire-fire meeting.
"Well, then can we get on with this please, I have plans."
"As do I," Stella piped up, crossing her legs and sitting back in the chair.
"I have reason to believe that these 'plans' you both so eagerly want to escape too, are of a romantic nature," Highbourne said, leaning his elbows on to the arms of his chair and clasping his hands.
"Excuse me?" Mac asked, staring straight at him. The bravado routine may work on the younger CSI's, but not on Mac. Or Stella for that matter.
"Is it true that you and Detective Bonasera are dating each other?"
"Detective Bonasera is in the room, Chief," Stella barked.
"Then would you care to answer the question?"
"I fail to see whether it being true or not is any of your business."
"It is most definitely my business when the outcome could affect these labs, Bonasera," Highbourne snapped, the defensive nature of both of them coming to a head yet again.
"Our every action has these labs in mind, so you know that whether it is true that we are dating or not, would not have been a decision taken lightly, Chief."
"So you admit that you are romantically involved?"
Mac was starting to get anxious. Not because of the questions or the Chief, he could handle them with ease, but the fireball next to him was getting ready to blow, and that wasn't recommended.
"Again, I don't see how that is any of your business! Not only is it outside of office hours, but one member of the relationship doesn't even currently work for you!"
"'Relationship'. So it is true."
Now was a good time to get Stella out of there. Mac stood up, Stella doing the same, thinking they were going to storm out or something of that nature.
"Yes, it's true!"
He held on to her arm, pulling her towards the door. "Stella, Stella! Go home, I'll take care of this." She was still bouncing. "Go home, I'll come by later."
She gave a frustrated sigh, knowing herself it would be better that she left. She kissed Mac, just because she could, resisted the temptation to flip the spectator the bird and left.
Mac physically relaxed, a relieved sigh escaping him. He turned around and sat back down. "What is this really about, Chief?"
"I can't have you two together and working together. It's against protocol," Highbourne said, silently thankful for Stella's quick exit.
"Screw protocol," Mac uttered calmly.
"Detective Taylor-"
"Nowhere in the contracts does it stipulate that Stella and I being together is forbidden. We are not breaking any laws. And we certainly not going to part-ways because you don't approve.
"Even if it was prohibited, it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference. You know me well enough, and have done long enough, to know that I would never do anything to jeopardise this lab. Neither would Stella, but you have an innate dislike towards her.
"What would you have done anyway? Forced one of us to leave? Can you possibly compute the consequences to this team? Have they not been through enough? First Bobby passing on and us being the ones to find and process what was left of him at Ground Zero; Aiden's arrival and subsequent departure before she was anywhere near her full potential; My being shipped out, to be replaced by Jimmy Palmer and his girlfriend, whom you knew full well was worthless since the Senator Muldoon case.
"Now we have Natalie and Connor, who are true assets to this team. And you really want to harm that dynamic by letting one of us leave? Stella is the glue that holds this team, this family, together. You actually think that Danny would stay if she, or I, left? Not to mention Sheldon, Flack, and I believe, Natalie or Connor.
"This is why I firmly believe that myself and Stella will remain in our positions in this lab, and outside, and you will treat us with the same amount of respect that we will regard yourself and this lab.
"So, with that, Frank, I will leave you to your work and I'll see you in a couple of weeks."
With that, Mac rose and left.