A/N: thanks to all those who took the time to read and review this. More is coming, I promise and, in the future, Mac is going to be finding out a lot more about Randi, including a few things about her little-known temper. Keep an eye out for it and keep reviewing!

Chapter 5

It was much later in the evening when Randi finally got up enough guts to face Mac and apologize for Fabio's little 'oops' with the ball. Her teenage neighbor, a nice girl by the name of Nyanya, had offered to take Fabio while she finished her work and Randi had gladly accepted. So Nyanya had picked up Fabio from the precinct several hours ago and Randi had gone back to work. Now she was on her way out when she decided to swing by Mac's office and brave him. Luckily he had a glass office so she spotted him before he spotted her. She tentatively knocked on the door and when he looked up she stuck her head in.

"You got a minute?" she asked.

"I'm just about to head out but yes, I can spare you a minute," he said, smiling. His back was still a bit sore from where he'd landed on the ground and he'd had a bit of a headache for a while there, but other wise, he was okay. After he'd changed his clothes and taken the mud-covered ones to the dry-cleaner, he'd begun to see the humor in the situation. He had probably looked pretty funny when Fabio had caught him in the legs and then used his chest for a springboard. He didn't mind the fact that quite a large number of people were talking about the incident because, as he told Stella, at least it was funny. Then Stella had told him about Randi's request and he realized she felt pretty bad about the whole thing. He'd reluctantly shown his partner the dry-cleaning bill and watched as Stella had promptly texted Randi the information. He really didn't want Randi to pay for what was genuinely an accident but understood that she felt bad about the whole thing.

"I'm really, really sorry about Fabio and about your suit," she said apologetically.

"Apology accepted, on one condition," he said, deciding to take advantage of the situation.

"What's that?" she asked, curious.

"You join me for dinner and leave Fabio behind," he said.

Her face lit up. "You don't have to worry about Fabio, he's with a friend right now. And as for the dinner, okay, but I'm paying."

He chuckled. "How about we go Dutch?" he offered.

"I can live with that," she said.

"Do you drive?" he asked, slipping his coat on as he prepared to leave his office.

"Mac, you've seen what happens when I get too close to mechanical things, right?" she said tentatively.

A memory came to him and he smiled. Yeah, he knew. One of the younger cops had been showing off to Randi, showing her his brand-new cell phone, a top of the line thing and she'd handled it before handing it back to the officer. Less than a minute later, as she was walking away, somehow, and they still weren't sure how but thought it might have to do with the battery, the cell had started sputtering sparks. That was a two hundred dollar phone right down the drain. The cop never went near her again, not that Randi noticed. With Randi, things just seemed to go wrong when she was around and Mac was certain it wasn't her fault, it just happened. Word was Danny had gotten stuck in the elevator recently, an elevator Randi had just gotten off. Poor Danny had been stuck in the elevator for almost an hour before they'd been able to rescue him.

"I don't own a car, Mac, because the last one I had, which was about five years ago, broke down so much it spent more time at the garage than I spent driving it. I finally had to sell it and just get a subway and a bus pass. Safer," Randi said.

He chuckled. Yup, that made sense. Poor Randi. "Do I dare let you in my car?" he asked, teasing.

She smiled, reached into her bag and pulled out what looked like some kind of knot and a brass Chinese symbol on red rope. "If you hang this in the rear-view mirror you shouldn't have any problems."

"What is it?" he asked, taking a closer look.

"It's a Feng Shui Good Fortune Lucky Knot. A friend of mine made it for me when she heard about my little problem with mechanical things and I always carry it with me, especially when I'm traveling. It seems to help around mechanical things," she explained eagerly. She took out her cell phone and showed him a little ivory rabbit attached to it like a cell phone charm. "That's why I have the lucky rabbit on my cell and a good luck symbol painted on my lap top. I also have a Feng Shui lion at my place for protection."

Mac chuckled and teased, "Can we borrow that lion?"

"I'm sure I could find one, if you'd like," she said, grinning.

"I'm starting to think that would be a very good idea," he said, grinning as he lead her out of his office and locked the door.

"Oh, come on, I'm not that bad!" she yelped, feigning indignation.

"You sure about that?" Her reply was to slap his arm and grin.

Having seen Randi around mechanical things, Mac wisely hung the Lucky Knot in his rearview mirror the moment they got into the car. Then he took her to one of his favorite restaurants, one Randi confessed to not having been to before.

Mac knew Randi was a really nice, easy-going woman with an infectious laugh and a bone-melting smile that had even the most hardened cop offering to help her, but it wasn't until he actually had dinner with her that he realized there was more to her than what most people realized. And, unintentionally, he began a slow fall.

Randi had a way of making history sound interesting, of making the most boring moment in history sound like it was worth taking a closer look at. She could rival Sheldon for bits of interesting trivia and even knew a few things about the Marines that Mac hadn't known about. Then they touched the topic of rights and child pornography. It had started out simply enough with Randi commenting on convicts demanding the right to vote even while they were in prison and gone from there.

"Okay, while we're on the topic of rights, what about the right to own whatever material you want, like child pornography?" Mac asked.

"That's fine and dandy, but there's a bit of a catch with that particular right," she replied.

"What's the catch?"

"What right do you have to take away the right of someone else?" she asked. "Yes, you do have the right to own whatever material you want, but when that right takes away someone else's right, is that right really a good right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Perverts may have the right to own child pornography, but they don't have the right to take away the most basic right of any child; the right to be a child."

Mac sat back in his chair, realizing Randi had made a very valid point. She continued.

"You see, the problem with child pornography is when a child is viewed as a sex object, they are no longer a child. By viewing that child as a sex object, you've taken away that child's right to play, to laugh, and to be innocent. A child doesn't know what it means to be a sex object and why should they have to? We're the adults, Mac, we're supposed to be taking care of them, they're supposed to be able to look up to us to guide them and protect them, and how can we do that when we exploit them sexually?"

"Why aren't you a lawyer?" he asked.

"I'd have to wear a suit and that's a no thanks. Besides, history's more fun," she said, smiling.

The restaurant had a dance floor and good music, which is one of the reasons why Mac liked that particular place and when the band started up, Randi eagerly dragged Mac on to the dance floor. To his surprise, Randi was actually quite a good dancer and he found himself enjoying himself. He also quickly realized the whole situation gave him an excuse to touch her, even if it was only her back and hand but that was okay. She felt soft, slender, and female. When he asked her how she'd learned to dance, she shrugged.

"Mom and Dad, Dad especially, insisted that I at least know the basics of good dancing because the Wilcox's were occasionally invited to a fancy-shmancy ball or whatever, where it kinda helped if you at least knew how to do the Fox Trot or a waltz," she explained. "It helped that I loved to dance and could often be found at a local club where the music was good, especially if I was stressed out. Grandma always told me, when Grandpa was teaching me how to waltz, to dance like no one's watching. Even though they're both gone, I still hear her and I still remember."

"You must have really loved your grandparents," Mac commented, hearing the sadness in her voice.

"Grandpa and Grandma met during World War One and Grandma always said that it was because of the way Grandpa danced with her that she fell in love with him," she said, smiling at the memory. "Some times I'd come into the store and I'd hear an old fashioned waltz playing and I would find them waltzing together. One of these days I'll show you a photograph I have of them. It was one of the last ones of Grandpa before he died of a heart attack when I was eighteen and it was taken while they were waltzing together. Grandma followed him about two years later in her sleep but I think it was because of a broken heart; those two really loved each other and Grandma was never really the same after he died."

"I would really love to see that photograph," he said, smiling back.

"I'll bring it tomorrow," she promised.

Later, Mac dropped Randi off at her place noticed she only lived a few blocks from him. He commented on that as he walked her to the apartment complex door.

"Cool," she said, grinning. "Hey, Mac?"

"Yeah?"

"I really enjoyed myself. Thank you," she said and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek.

Mac had to fight with himself not to turn his head and kiss her properly. There would be time enough for that, he told himself. Instead, he squeezed her hands gently and asked "See you tomorrow?"

"You bet," she said, smiling softly. Then she unlocked her building door and was gone, leaving Mac smiling like a schoolboy who'd just gotten his first kiss from the most popular girl in school.