The lab was cool, calm and quiet. Its airy corridors empty of the usual suspects and its labs curiously mute. As Mac slowly wound his way through to his office he worried that his start to the day had been unusually late and he must have missed the usual mayhem that heralded the crossover from night to day shifts. Though that didn't wholly account for the lack of bodies.

As he approached the break room however, his brooding was interrupted by the raucous gales of laughter that pealed out of the open door. He smiled unconsciously and his mood lifted. He poked his head around the doorframe in time to see Stella collapse in giggles as Flack helped her down from a stool perched in the middle of the room. His eyebrow shot up in bemusement and he was nearly distracted by the pair but his gaze travelled upwards spotting the decorations and the banner that the two had been trying to hang. It hung limply from one corner but he could make out the wording. Welcome home Lindsay!!

He breathed a sigh of relief. He had promised Danny that his return would be as unobtrusive as possible and he had been keeping his fingers crossed that Stella would honour it also. It looked like she was; all her current efforts were in welcoming Lindsay back from Montana and hopefully it would also provide a timely distraction from Danny's return.

"Mac!" He had been spotted.

He moved cautiously into the room. "Looking good, but don't go overboard."

"Overboard? Moi?" She tried for innocent but she couldn't quite quell the grin. Flack hid his own behind a hand, which resulted in him looking more like a naughty schoolboy than a 30-something detective, and he pinked when Mac raised an amused eyebrow at his efforts.

Mac nodded. "Yes you, Stella." He nodded to the banner. "Need a hand putting that up?" It was said with more than a little reluctance and Stella knew him well enough to hear it.

"No, that's okay Mac, Flack is, um, helping with that." She shot a grin at her co-conspirator.

Flack cleared his throat. "We figured if we make enough of a fuss, nobody would notice Danny sneaking in through the back. Though he did mention coming back tomorrow to get to grips with a few things."

Mac nodded. "Well, I'll have a word with him about it when I call him later. Good work on the decorating Stella, just, no more okay?"

She just grinned.

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Danny was tired. Having a couple of weeks off really knocked your ability to work a full shift, but it was a good tired; a 'had a busy and constructive day and I made a difference' kind of tired. He grinned and thought about trying to pat himself on the back for making it through to the end but he didn't think he was up to it so he settled for a cup of the fresh piping hot coffee someone had helpfully put on to perk.

It was revealing about just how tired he was that he didn't notice his head begin to droop and he missed Stella coming up behind him, he jerked his head up from its resting place on his forearms when he felt her hand gently on his shoulder. He scrunched his face up at her with bleary eyes; missing his glasses and he looked so cute with his hair sticking up all over the place.

"You still here kiddo?" Her voice was deliberately casual in deference to his wish to be treated as 'normal' as possible, something she was finding very difficult in the face of his tiredness.

"Waiting for some results. Adam should be finished with them in a sec." He frowned slightly. "He won't let me anywhere near…" He stopped abruptly as a yawn threatened to snap his jaw.

Stella grinned. "Of course not. I think he's afraid if Mac catches you in there he'll…"

"Stel! Have you seen…? Oh! There you are." Flack, looking somewhat dishevelled after his own shift, tried not to sound relieved as he spotted his friend propped up against one the tables in the room. He watched carefully as the other man trying to keep his eyes open and desperately gulping down the last of the coffee in his hand. "Are you up for pizza with Hawkes and Adam? Interested Stella? Our place?"

Danny peered at his friend suspiciously but Don maintained his innocent expression and it cleared at Stella's indignant but amused retort.

"Ha! You just want a cheap waitress for the night! And a cleaner for afterward I bet! No thanks!!" She chuckled at Don's disappointed but also somewhat guilty expression and patted his shoulder as she sidled out past him through the doorway. "I'm off for a hot bath! Enjoy your evening!" She laughed at Don's expression, knowing full well the mental image she had just left him with.

Flack watched her walk down the corridor hips swaying, and then swung back in time to catch Danny nodding off again. His long legs ate up the short distance, and he reached his friend in time to catch the cup from nerveless fingers and used his body to block Danny from sliding off the stool.

Don sighed. "Wake up, bud." He poked at the unresponsive Danny until he groaned. "Stuff the pizza – you're going straight to bed." He nudged Danny from the seat until his wobbly legs hit the floor and together they shuffled sluggishly off.

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Mac watched from his window as the pair climb clumsily into a cab before turning back to his desk, piled high in paperwork. He stared at morosely for a moment before sighing deeply. Sod it. Danny had shown him just how short life was, and how precious. The paperwork could wait.

Striding purposefully over to his desk he quickly powered down his computer and grabbed his jacket. If he got out of the building quickly enough he knew he wouldn't be tempted to go back and do just a little bit more. He smiled wryly to himself. No. He had decided to make some changes and he was sticking to his resolution. Maybe Adam or Hawkes was up for a beer?

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I hope this was okay? I meant to finish this so long ago but I got kind of distracted... ;-)

Please review!!!