Hi all! I have no excuses for not having updated in such a long time… All I can say is I hope someone will return to read this and thank you for all the kind comments :) Right now I have a pretty good idea of what I want to happen in the near future and there will be some drama.

As you may have noticed, I have no longer included that many cases in my fic. I'm not entirely sure if it is the right way to go, but in the beginning it was more important because I needed to describe how Mac and Lindsay found each other. The cases were there to move the story along, not really any other purpose and they were quite petty. It just feels arbitrary now, unless of course the case involves either one of the two or one of their friends. But the filler ones? I'm not sure if I want to go back there again.

The chapter has not been beta read and I was in a hurry to get it uploaded so there'll probably be some mistakes. Sorry for those. Anyways, hope you like this one!

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CHAPTER 18 – Of Pancakes and Shattering

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Lindsay pushed open her front door and let Mac in. In his arms lay Hannah who was sound asleep and judging by her face the dreams were quite pleasant. They had spent the majority of the day going around Manhattan with Mac showing the two girls around. Ironically, in the end they had found their way to Central Park, and the area closest to their apartment complexes. Hannah had made a beeline for the swings and rejected Lindsay's offer to give her a little push and instead asked for Mac to do it. Lindsay had merely raised an eyebrow, not bothering to hide her sudden amusement. After a while Hannah had discovered a new friend and they had gone on playing by themselves. But then again, what else could you expect from her. The kids had had a blast and that had been the whole point of the day – having fun. The day would make for some wonderful memories.

Once Lindsay had closed the door Mac looked at her questioningly. "Follow me," Lindsay said and led him to her bedroom. She gestured towards the bed and pulled the covers so that Mac could place Hannah on the bed. Hannah mumbled something incoherent in her sleep but showed no signs of waking up. Lindsay tucked her in and gave her a little peck on the forehead. Sharing a small smile Mac and Lindsay left the room in silence, looking back once more to make sure everything was alright with Hannah.

Back in the living room Lindsay kicked off her shoes and turned her attention to Mac. Rising to her tiptoes, she softly leaned her lips to his. Her arms found their way around his neck and Mac's arms encircled her waist. Drowning each other in kisses they barely parted for seconds. "Any plans for tomorrow?" Lindsay managed before closing the gap between their mouths.

"Hopefully something–" Mac began but stopped when he once again felt Lindsay's lips on his. "–involving you."

"Deal," Lindsay said and silence took over, not that any words were needed.

"I should go," Mac reluctantly declared.

"I know," Lindsay said, but made no attempt to pull back from him.

"Well, you are sort of preventing it."

"I know."

"What the heck, tomorrow's Sunday anyway…" Mac said, voicing his current thoughts.

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Mac could feel his body slowly waking up. He could hear distinct voices not too far away. It didn't take long for him to get his bearings because Lindsay's apartment had become quite familiar to him.

"Aunt Linds! Where's the syrup?" he heard Hannah exclaim. Had he been the last one to wake up? He couldn't remember the last time this had happened. It felt nice to wake up to a house full of life.

"Found it!"

"Is there any milk left?" Mac was pulled back from his thoughts. So far he had only heard Hannah talking but the latter voice belonged to Lindsay.

"Hannah? Have you seen the milk carton?"

"It's next to the sink."

"How did it get there?"

"You put it there."

"Oh. Not much left though. We'll have to buy more today."

Mac smiled to himself. It was comforting to hear the two girls talking. He hadn't even realized how much he missed not living alone.

That's when the sweet smell reached his nose. Pancakes. There were newly made pancakes in the house. Mac made his way to the kitchen doorstep and poked his head inside.

"Aunt Linds! We need another plate!"

"Good morning," Lindsay said and smiled at the almost awake Mac.

"Morning," Mac replied, his eyes wandering to the stack of pancakes on a plate. "How long have you been up?"

"Ever since someone dragged me awake so we could make breakfast…"

"Hey, you promised!" Hannah pointed out in her defence.

"OK, I'll give you that," Lindsay agreed and handed Mac the plate of pancakes. "Enjoy."

"Thanks," Mac replied and sat down at the table.

"You gotta put some syrup on them," Hannah said.

"You're probably right," Mac complied and reached for the bottle. Lindsay sat down on the other side of the table and set down her own portion.

"Alright, time to eat!" Lindsay said and dug in.

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The rest of the Sunday had gone by smoothly. Mac had gone home to clean up and later on the trio had met up once again and gone back to the park once more. In the afternoon Anne had come to pick Hannah up and the sisters had spent some time talking. Both were worried about the condition of their mother. Lindsay didn't discuss it often and had only mentioned it to Mac a few times but it didn't mean that she didn't care or that her mother wasn't in her thoughts. In the end, Lindsay had promised to visit her family in the near future.

Luckily her spirits were lift up when Mac appeared knocking at her door later that evening. They had reservations at a fairly new restaurant in which neither of them had eaten before. He glanced at his watch once more. He was right on time. He could hear a few muffled noises coming from inside and smirked slightly. It wasn't hard to picture Lindsay trying to do a dozen last minute things after hearing the doorbell. After a small wait the door opened. The sight that revealed before Mac was enough to make him question whether he was dreaming.

Her hair was curled more than usual and she wore a simple yet stunning strapped, black dress. Lindsay smiled openly at his reaction and a faint tint of red rose to her cheeks.

"You… You look," Mac stammered as Lindsay stepped outside to lock the door. "You look incredibly beautiful," he finished much more steadily after Lindsay turned to face him. Before she even had the time to think about replying, Mac's lips had already found hers.

"You know, I always knew you looked good in a suit but that was an understatement," she half whispered as they pulled apart.

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After leaving the restaurant, the pair was on their way home. The place had been nice, just a tad disappointing. Nevertheless, they had had a good time, sitting across from each other, feet intertwined in the shadows that filled the space under the table.

"It was a nice place," Lindsay said after they exited the restaurant.

Mac nodded but after a while spoke up. "The portions were kinda small, don't you think?"

"You think so too? I thought it was only me!" she exclaimed. "I mean, it was good but… everything was so tiny!"

"Exactly what I thought," Mac agreed. "I mean the stake was the size of an appetizer…"

"Any chance we could get something to eat?" Lindsay asked, sounding surprisingly subtle and innocent. Mac laughed but had to agree.

"Sure. I'm presuming the usual place is where we'll be going."

"Definitely."

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Monday morning came and there was nothing the employees of the crime lab could do about it. Of course, the situation was the opposite for the ones who had been working all through the weekend. It hadn't taken long before everyone was back in work mode and out in the field.

"So, why are we here?" Danny asked when he, Lindsay and Mac walked into an empty warehouse.

"You've heard of the big drug bust that has been under planning?" Mac asked.

"Yeah."

"One of the people involved, a man named Shapiro, disappeared right under the investigators noses. They have a man inside and it seems Mr. Shapiro got killed after trying to back off from the deal. This is where he was last seen alive."

"Uh huh. So we have to find out for sure if he did in fact die here."

"Exactly. You and Lindsay take the front, I'll take the back."

Everything was going fine, until twenty minutes later all hell broke loose. Everything happened so fast and yet Lindsay could have sworn that at least some of it occurred in slow motion.

It had all started with a clang and the sound of footsteps leading to the back of the warehouse. Then Mac had taken off after the fleeing figure. Lindsay remembered Danny looking at her and nodding and then the two of them had followed after Mac. She remembered Mac barking a few orders and shouting at the running person. That's how she remembered the unknown man – a plain figure, running away and hiding. Then she had heard the shot – the loud bang that was still ringing in her ears, the bang that had brought Mac down and left him clenching in pain. She remembered hearing another two shots but everything else was a blur.

She could only see the man she had become to love lying on the ground, stained in red. At that moment she lost all interest in the world around her. She kneeled next to Mac and ran her eyes along his chest, locating the bleeding wound. The colour had drained from his face and he was gasping for air. She heard someone telling her that help was on the way but she had no idea who it was, it wasn't essential. "Mac! You'll be alright just hang on!" she told him. Their eyes met just for a brief second before the pain took over again and Mac grunted. She felt him grasp her arm.

She was more scared than she remembered ever being. He was more scared than he ever thought possible. Why was this happening now? And why to them?

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So, I'm a little unsure about this chapter but I decided to go with it… What is your judgement? I know there was a lot of smooching and stuff in the first half of the chapter but I decided to give you something back after not updating for so long. Also, this entire chapter is somewhat of a filler for the next one…