Hope you like the emotional way the story goes. The place they go to probably only exists in my imagination, I've never been there myself ;-)

Thanks mj and mandi for your sweet comments!

Please read and review, thanks :-)

Chapter 3

Stella's eyes widened again. Up until now, she wasn't even aware that Mac would have a word like 'joyriding' in his vocabulary.

"What..." she made an attempt to spy out some details, but he stopped her right away.

"It's a surprise," he simply stated while he quickly cleaned his work place.

"Huh."

XXXXX

Reluctantly, but also with a large amount of curiosity, she also packed up her stuff and followed him out of the lab room. She didn't like not knowing what was awaiting her, so she started to try figuring out Mac's plans, where he wanted to take her.

While they walked along the corridor, Mac made a call to Flack and instructed him to interview the neighbors of the stab victim. At the elevator, they met Danny.

"Danny, you go work on the results of the tox screen on the stomach content, call Flack if anything unusual shows up, he will be interviewing the neighbors later. Anything suspicious, call Judge Green and get a warrant, meet with Flack at the scene," Mac instructed him.

"And you will be..." Danny replied.

"...out for now," Mac confirmed. "No calls – unless the lab is on fire," he added. Danny nodded a bit confused. The usual announcement in such cases would always be 'Call me 24/7'.

"Yeah, sure. No problem, Mac. Will do. When...?"

"We'll be back soon, I think you can get along without a babysitter for a while," Mac winked at him, gently shuffling Stella into the open elevator.

"Yeah... alright..." Danny mumbled towards the already closed door.

What the hell was going on here?

XXXXX

"Relax! You're gonna get a headache when you frown so strenuously over a long time," Mac teased Stella who sat in the passenger seat beside him, still concentrated on the possible destination of their trip.

"You're not gonna tell me where we're going, hum?" she looked over to him.

He smiled without taking his eyes off the street.

"How long will we be away? Don't we have to stop, pick up some things, tell people where we go...? Mac! This is kidnapping!" she exclaimed in feigned indignation.

His smile turned into a chuckle.

"To answer your questions: No, you will see and no. And as for the last accusation: You got into this car voluntarily, that's not kidnapping. And for the record: You ask too many questions. Just trust me, will you? Let me surprise you. I promise: No danger involved."

Stella looked back to the street in front of them, leading them out of the city, lost in her thoughts, alone with her unanswered questions – a mixture of curiosity, excitement and nervousness meddled around in her stomach.

What was he intending?

XXXXX

After a long ride, Mac parked the car at a parking lot that looked a little like a rest area. There were only two other cars there, but no people around. Big trees surrounded the place and Stella could see several ways leading away from here, disappearing between green and blooming bushes.

Mac unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car while she remained in her seat without moving. When he noticed that she didn't get out, he went over to her side and opened the door.

"You might wanna get out, this parking lot isn't really such a big attraction, although it's a really nice one..." he mocked.

He guided her along the smallest of the ways leading directly straight into the woods. They walked for a short moment, then he made a short right turn through some bushes.

"Will we need bushwhackers?" Stella called while she tried to follow him. Then she became silent. Coming out of the green belt, they were now standing on a small sand beach at a beautiful lake, the silent water surface shimmering in the evening sun.

"Wow! This is ... beautiful..."

Mac quietly smiled to himself. In this moment, he knew he had made the right decision.

And as the hands would turn with time
She'd always say that she was my mine
She'd turn and lend a smile
To say that she's gone

XXXXX

Stella didn't notice that he became very pensive and quiet, she just enjoyed the beauty of nature. They walked along the small beach for a while without saying a word. Then Mac stopped and just looked out over the water. She followed his eyes, seeing the sun being reflected on the surface while a group of ducks silently crossed the mirrored image.

He led her to a little place nearby where they sat down, then he carefully took her right hand. Stella suddenly realized that he didn't say a word since they arrived and all of a sudden she had a suspicion. Mac wasn't the biggest talker on earth, but she knew him well enough that when he got this silent, there was something more behind it.

"Have you been here a lot?" she softly asked.

He silently nodded, his lips pressed together. Now Stella also became pensive, feeling what this trip was about. She knew this was a turning point in their relationship. With a yet unknown direction...

TBC