Chapter 6: Visiting
"I'll get her," Mac says as they hear Elizabeth start to cry on the baby monitor.
"You have to work tomorrow. I'll take care of her," Stella puts a hand on his arm to stop him from getting up. "Besides, she's probably hungry, and you can't really solve that."
"Stel, you got up last night. And I took the rest of the week off to help you."
"Fine, you can get up," Stella lays back down on the bed as Mac gets up.
"Okay, you were right; she's got to be hungry because I can't find anything else wrong," Mac comes back in five minutes later and hands Stella her daughter.
"I don't think she likes you, Mac," Stella says after Elizabeth stops crying.
"Or she's just being a pain like her mother," he teases.
"Go back to sleep," she says.
"Good night again, Stella, Elizabeth," he kisses each of them before falling asleep again.
CSI: NY
Mac's cell phone rings a few hours later. "Taylor. Okay, I'll be there in twenty."
"I thought you said you took off," Stella complains, not moving away from him.
"I did. There's some kind of problem with the computers that only I can fix or something like that. It shouldn't take that long."
"So you abandon us for work?" she asks as he gets up.
"I bet I'll be back before you get up," he says.
"See you later."
CSI: NY
At eight-thirty Stella decides she had better get up. Mac is still not back; whatever he had to do is obviously taking longer than he thought. She pours herself a cup of coffee Mac must have started before leaving, then goes to check on Elizabeth. As she stands by the crib, her daughter's eyes open, and the baby smiles up at her mother.
"Did you have a good nap?" Stella asks, picking up the baby. She takes her to the family room and fastens the child into her swing, figuring she'll feed her after she eats breakfast herself. Wondering into the kitchen, she finds an orange in the fridge and starts peeling it.
A knock sounds as Stella takes a bite, and she goes to answer it. "What are you doing here?" she asks coldly.
"I've talked to a lawyer," Mrs. Mala says, walking into the apartment.
"So?"
"Give me the child, Stella, or I will take you to court."
"You can't take Elizabeth away from me. She's my daughter, and it's my decision whether or not I let her be used to help your son," Stella argues.
"You can have other children with your boyfriend. Give me Elizabeth, and I'll raise her."
"I was going to let her be used this once so I would stop feeling guilty. But after that, you're on your own," Stella says.
"Really? But why not just give her to me? She can be my daughter, and I'll never have to bother you about this again. Please, Stella. You're still young; you can have as many children with him as you want. Where is he anyway?" Mrs. Mala asks.
"Mac had to go help with something at the lab."
"You should break up with him; obviously he doesn't care about you or the baby. Frankie probably took better care of you than Mac is."
"You're not getting Elizabeth. I'll let her do the blood transfusions this time, but don't come back to me when your son is sick again."
"I want custody of her," Mrs. Mala says. "We're still going to court."
"You won't win."
"What are you going to do with her when she starts to look like my son who tried to kill you? The nightmares will come back to you, and you won't be able to take it. Where are you going to put her then so you don't have to deal with your past? The court will find you incapable of fulfilling the needs of Elizabeth, and I'll be her mother."
"And how will you explain to her that her father tried to kill her mother so her grandmother twisted the story to get custody of her just to save her father's dying brother? When you keep Nick alive you're just hurting him. His life will continue to be miserable even with the transfusions," Stella's eyes shine brightly with tears, fearing for her daughter.
A/N: I'm so proud of myself. I've written three chapters in four days; now it's half-way done. Hope you all had a great Christmas. I entertained my cousin Christmas Eve by sending her all these pictures of disgusting (to her) dead people, mostly from Bones because I've sent her most of the people from NY. Hm... I should search regular CSI. And then today both my grandma and grandpa, who are officially divorced as of like three weeks ago, somehow ended up at my house together. They didn't fight; that's got to be a first. And unlike last year, grandma didn't end up at the hospital; Christmas last year was awful. Anyway, only three more chapters in the story. Then it might be a while before I get another story up here.