Thank you to everyone, once again! Cant love you guys enough xx

Happy Birthday to Melina for yesterday! Wouldnt be a story without her ;) xx

Also, thanks for DPMB (again!) for the Providence quote that I blatantly stole ;)

Mac took hold of the door and pulled it towards him with a deep breath. As he stepped inside the police department, a chorus rang out:

"He-ey, Taylor!"

"Good to have you back, man."

"The wanderer returns, eh?"

He smiled to the crowd of officers (and scowling criminals) before telling them all to get back to work.

"Oh yeah, he's back," someone said with a chuckle.

"Mac, good to have you back in the building," Flack said, catching up to him and patting his back as they walked.

"Thanks Flack, it's good to be back." They walked through the second doors to the CSI department of the building.

Don spied Stella coming towards them, "Yeah, anything to get Stella from the hot seat. Can you say 'Power Mad'?"

"Well, I know for sure you can ask 'How high?'" Stella smirked, joining the two men in the hallway.

"Don't flirt with me, Stella," a twinkle in his baby blues contradicting his professional demeanour.

"Well, stop being so cute then!" she grabbed at Flack's cheeks. He batted her hands away and went back to his desk, with another pat to Mac's back.

"Should I be worried?" Mac asked with an eyebrow to his hairline and a smirk threatening his features.

"It takes more than a pretty face to rock my world," Stella said with a straight face, but with a flirtatious sparkle to her Emerald green eyes. "Want me to help you unpack?" she gestured to the briefcase he carried and gave a head nod to his waiting office.

"I can do it."

"Sure? Okay, well, meet me here for lunch?"

"I think I'm just going to work through it, catch up on what I've missed."

"Don't go overdoing it on your first day back, Mac. Come to lunch. My treat."

"I'll be fine. Don't worry so much." He meant well, but the edge that had presented in his voice, albeit against his will, hurt her.

"Okay, I'll hand out the assignments then," she turned to the office.

"I'll do it," he almost snapped. "Tell everyone to meet me up there in five minutes. I'm back now, Stella. You don't need to sugar coat anything."

She blinked, her jaw setting. "I'll get the others," with that she walked to the break room, leaving Mac in her dust.

What was his problem? She was only trying to soften the blow of being back to work after a long absence. It wasn't as if she was making-out with him there and then.

Stella knew that work and play had to have a hard, bold line. She knew and accepted that, but he wasn't even like he was before he got shipped out. This was nearly, what, 7 years of repression in their relationship. She hoped it was just first day nerves.

Xx

"Hey, you okay?" Natalie asked, entering the break room. Stella was sat at the table with a sandwich and coke, and the starting of a scowl.

"Fine. Why?"

"Oh, I don't know," she pressed for Peanut Butter Cups from the vending machine and sat opposite Stella. "Maybe just that you've had a black cloud above you all day. I thought you'd have been sickeningly cheerful today-of-all-days."

"Me too." She pursed her lips with a quirk of her eyebrows before taking a swig of the coke. "We had a bit of a run-in this morning, and, because that's what I do, I've been stewing on it ever since."

"Run-in about…?"

"Apparently I'm 'sugar-coating' his return. I thought it was just going to go back to before, but it isn't even that."

"It's just first-day-jitters," Nat dismissed her with a wave. "Give him a day to settle back in, and stop all the all tech's talking, and it'll be like before. Probably better."

"The tech's are talking? What are the tech's talking about exactly?"

"I think they're beginning to cotton-on about you two. They may be incredibly bright, but they are so slow at times." She saw the alarmed look in Stella eyes, "It'll calm down soon, don't worry."

"Don't worry? If Highbourne thinks that our being together threatens us working with each other, never mind others working, one of us will be out faster than Chad can name the back-catalogue of Greenday."

"Want me to have a word?"

"Nah, it's alright. I'll go talk to Devlin in Trace, it'll get around faster that way."

Nat chuckled, "Good point. Are you and Mac going to come to Sullivan's tonight?"

"I think we're just going to go for a meal or something. I'm getting sick of take-out."

"Really?" she wriggled her eyebrows.

"Get your mind outta the gutter!"

"You took it there!" she smirked, feigning innocence and going for more Peanut Butter Cups.

Xx

"Ready to go?" Stella asked, poking her head through the door to Mac's office. He nodded as she let herself fully into the glass-walled space. "I thought we might go to Massimo's for a celebratory-back-to-work meal."

"Not tonight," he said, packing his briefcase up again.

"I thought we could go out instead; have a change from take-out."

"I'm just going to go and catch-up on this paperwork. I'll see you tomorrow," he swung his jacket from the back of the chair and slipped it on.

She sighed a bit, barely having seen him all day. "If you're sure."