A/N: Sorry so long on the up-dates. I needed a bit of a break from all my stories and a chance for me to figure out where I wanted them to go. I confess, I'm great at creating the characters but when it comes to fleshing out a story, not so good. Again, as always, R and R and let me know whatcha think.

Chapter 13

Mac refused to let Randi walk home the next morning. Instead, he drove her home on his way to work and bought her a cup of coffee from their favorite place, knowing how much of a caffeine addict she was, even though he'd made her a cup of coffee earlier that morning. They had spent the night in each other's arms in his bed but had not made love as per their agreement even though it had been a tough fight for both of them, both mentally and physically.

"That's odd," Randi said, spotting Stewart's car outside of her apartment building.

Mac spotted the car too. "Is it possible he's waiting for you?" he asked.

"I don't know," she admitted, biting her lip.

"You want back-up?"

After a moment, she shook her head. "No, I'll be okay. If there's a problem, I'll call you, I promise."

"Call me anyway, just so I know everything is okay," he said, concern on his face.

"If it makes you feel better, then I promise you I'll call you as soon as I know what's going on," she promised. "You'll also run into me later on today because I have a meeting with Hodges to discuss my appraisal work."

He nodded. "If I see you, how about we grab coffee if I'm not busy?"

"Sounds good to me. Catch you later, sweetie, and thank you," she said, placing a kiss on his cheek.

"What for?"

"For more than you ever realize," was all she said as she got out of the car, leaving him smiling.

He waited until he was sure she was safely inside the building before driving off.

Randi decided to take the elevator and take her chances on running into Stewart. If she did, she was going to be civil and not mention last night's little conversation between him and her sister, at least not yet. As for her sister, well, she was going to go 'buh-bye' in the near future.

Randi stepped out of the elevator, just in time to see the door of her apartment opening. She quickly ducked into the nearby stairwell to see what would happen. What happened had her jaw dropping.

Stewart stepped out of her apartment, turned, and dragged one Catherine Wilcox into his arms and kissed her soundly. Stewart's suit looked decidedly rumpled and Catherine was wearing nothing but a short, silky robe, her hair in a wild tangle around her face. It looked like Stewart had spent the night, not only in Catherine's arms, but in Randi's apartment. She felt cold anger burn through her.

Catherine had violated the only rule Randi had ever set down about her place; no visitors unless specifically cleared by her. She had not invited, nor had she ever wanted, Stewart at her place, her private sanctuary. Mac was the only man who had ever spent the night at her place with her full permission and even then, she and Mac hadn't gotten hippy. Catherine had not only broken Randi's rule, she'd also violated her trust. Game over.

Randi waited until Stewart had entered the elevator and was gone before she entered her apartment.

"You're back," Catherine said calmly, sitting at the kitchen table and sipping a cup of coffee.

"Yes, I am," Randi replied, setting her dress on the back of the couch. She would take it to the drycleaners as soon as possible.

"Where did you take off to?"

"To some place where I was a bit more welcome," Randi replied, refusing to go into any detail. "I need to be at a meeting in about two hours. As it is, I'm going to grab a shower and make a few phone calls."

"Fine," Catherine said.

"While I'm in the shower, which should take roughly half an hour, you are to pack your bags and get the hell out of my home."

Catherine did a double-take. "Excuse me?" she asked coldly, setting her cup down.

"You heard me. Get your stuff and get out. Leave the spare key on the kitchen table, call a cab, and get out," Randi said just as coldly. "You are no longer welcome here."

"And just what brought this attitude of yours on, little sister?" Catherine hissed.

"You broke my trust and violated my sanctuary by screwing with Stewart in my home when I specifically asked you to never do that when you stayed here. I ask for so Goddamn little, Catherine. Sure, screw Stewie all you want but don't do it in my home, my private sanctuary," Randi said, standing her ground. "Not only that, but you were overheard saying I'd had everything handed to me on a plate and were also overheard conspiring with Stewie to take my business away from me, calling it a 'toy'. Not gonna happen, sister dear." She moved towards the bathroom, effectively turning her back on her sister. "Like I said, get out and don't you dare come back."

"Mom and Dad are going to hear about this!" Catherine yelled, livid with anger.

"That I have no doubt about but I wouldn't expect much help from them," Randi replied. "You have half an hour and then I call the cops and have you arrested for trespassing."

"That's just an empty threat!"

Randi calmly picked up her cell and flipped it open. She went through the numbers and settled on one.

"I have the NYPD precinct on speed-dial and a number of the officers there know me fairly well. I'm sure they'd be quite happy to assist me," Randi said, holding up her cell to show Catherine the screen. "Now, are you going to behave and be gone in half an hour, sans keys, or shall I make the call now and save us the hassle?"

Glaring at her, Catherine stalked over to her purse, dug around for a moment and pulled out a set of keys. Fiddling with the key chain, she pulled off two keys and practically threw them at Randi's face, which she easily caught. "You'll pay for this, you bitch," Catherine hissed.

Randi just shrugged and closed her cell. "Clock's ticking." With that, she went into the bathroom and shut the door.

"Randi's in a good mood," Stella commented as she and Mac studied a bunch of crime scene photographs from yesterday.

"You seen her?" Mac asked.

"I had to do a double-take because she looked like she just stepped right out of The Untouchables," Stella said, grinning.

"Oh?"

"Mafia outfit, right down to the wing-tip shoes and fedora. Mind you, I don't think the Mafia gangsters wore four-inch heel shoes and low-rise pants but the effect was the same," she said, grinning. "I wonder what she's going to do with that cane she's got with her."

"What cane?" he asked, concerned.

"Oh, she had a nice black walking cane with her. She wasn't using it for walking but she did say there was going to be a bit of a show in the near future and you and I had front-row seats if we were interested," Stella said.

"Did she have Fabio with her?"

"Complete with dog-size fedora and vest and tie, almost identical to hers except his vest and tie were one piece," she replied, grinning. "Plus there was the clip for his harness. It was quite the picture."

"She's feeling good," he said, grinning at the image. He hadn't told Stella much about last night except to say that Randi had picked up her little gift and she had looked lovely. There were some things he simply preferred not to discuss with Stella until he had talked it over with Randi. "Did she say when the 'show' would be?"

"After she finishes her meeting with Hodges, which should end at about eleven. Randi said she would send us a text message before the fun starts. I'm thinking about bringing a camcorder to record the whole thing."

Mac just chuckled.

Eleven o'clock approached and sure enough, both Mac and Stella received a text message on their cells.

FIRE IN THE HOLE, SHOW STARTS 5 MINS IN RECEP. FRT ROW SEATS AVAIL.

"Shall we?" Mac said, gesturing towards the door and grinning.

It seemed Flack, Danny, Sheldon, and Lindsey had also gotten the message and now, along with several other cops, were all hanging around the reception area. Mac raised an eyebrow at Stewart, who stood there, waiting impatiently with a bunch of red roses in one hand. A moment later, Randi appeared.

Stella had been right about the gangster look. Randi was wearing black and white stripped pants and fitted blazer, which she had removed and was now draped through her briefcase bag handle, a dark red men's dress shirt, black waist coat, and white tie with the sexiest black and white wing-tip heeled shoes anyone had ever seen. A black felt fedora hat sat jauntily on her upswept hair, and a glass-top cane was in one hand while a briefcase bag was in the other, along with Fabio's leash, who trotted happily beside her.

"Ah, Stewart, such a pleasure to see you, as always," Randi said, appearing for all the world like a charming lady of grace and style.

"Miranda, is there some place private we can go?" Stewart asked formally.

"Sorry, Stewie dear, but whatever you have to say is going to be said right here," Randi replied, setting down her bag and handing Fabio's leash to Lindsey, who started fussing over Fabio. She casually started tapping the cane. Mac quickly realized Randi was going to use it for show, much like a prop, which made sense, since this was supposedly a show.

"Fine," Stewart huffed, not willing to make a scene but not realizing Randi was gearing up to cause exactly that. She was playing a game and she was playing it by her rules, ones Stewart didn't know.

"What are the roses for?" she asked.

"I understand you overheard a conversation between me and your sister and these are an attempt by me to apologize for any misconceptions we may have caused," Stewart said, handing her the rather expensive bouquet of hothouse roses.

She raised an eyebrow and called out, "Hey, Ross?"

"Yeah?" the officer called back.

"You still in the dog house with your wife?"

"Unfortunately. Why?"

She tossed the officer the roses. "Don't want to waste a bunch of good roses, so here, these should get you a few more brownie points with her." Stewart glared at her while several officers, including Flack and Danny, chuckled. The rest, including Mac, grinned. "Now, I'm guessing you had a word with my dear, dear sister. Did Catherine also tell you I kicked her out of my apartment because she broke the number one rule of my place?" Randi continued.

"She may have mentioned something along those lines, which, of course, was completely unfair of you," Stewart said.

"Unfair? Was it unfair of me to ask that she not bring anyone to my sacred little nook without first asking me? Hmmm? Only she did something far worse than that; she brought you and she fucked you while she was at it. In my home, Stewart. My private sanctuary. I asked so damn little of her, asking that she respect my privacy, trusting that she would, and screwing around with you in my home was a direct violation of that privacy and trust," Randi hissed. "So yes, I kicked her out of my home, as was my right, and told her flat-out to never darken my doorstep again."

Mac winced. So that explained why Stewart's car had been outside her apartment that morning; he'd been having a little fun with Catherine.

"And let's not forget the little business of her offering to take my business away from me, calling it a toy and saying I'd had everything handed to me on a plate. Oh, and you referring to me as a brainless bimbo. Not a good move, Stewie, not a good move at all." She waggled her cane at him in a scolding motion.

A couple of the cops glared at Stewart and he blanched.

"Oh, by the way, I also know about you trying to take 'personal fees' from the contracts to a tune of about fifteen percent," Randi said, feeling her anger build and using it to give her strength. "Nice try, Stewie. You get paid by the hour, just like I do."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he denied.

"Sure about that? Dear, sweet, Paulie, my favorite lawyer, caught all those 'personal fees' you tried to put in the contracts and I trust Paulie not to lie, unlike you. I also don't appreciate you threatening my secretary, threatening to have her fired if she didn't start doing things your way. Angel works with me, not you, Stewie," Randi continued.

"You are making some very unfair accusations," Stewart protested, his face going red.

"Am I? Or maybe I'm just not playing the dumb bimbo you think I am. I'm aware most people don't think I'm the brightest chip on the block but never, ever, for one second, make the mistake of thinking I'm completely stupid. I know what's going on, Stewie, and I've been aware of it for some time. Last night was simply the nail in your damn coffin," Randi shot back. "The end result of all this is very simple. Effective this morning, you are fired."

"You can't do that!" Stewart yelled.

Just then, Angel appeared. Angel and Randi had spoken earlier on the phone and Randi had requested her loyal secretary to show up at the NYPD in a suit, or at least as close to a suit as Angel got, explaining that something majorly important was going to happen and she needed Angel to be at her best. Randi hadn't told Angel she was about to fire Stewart and put her in his place.

The woman had done her boss proud, wearing a nice black blazer and pants, front lace-up Stewart clan tartan and black mesh boned corset with lace on the shoulder straps and bottom hem. For jewelry, she wore a black enameled winged-heart choker and matching earrings. Black patent leather boots with a coffin heel were on her feet. Even Angel's hair had been pulled into a nice, tidy bun but it had a black chopstick holding it in place with silver skeleton charms dangling from the end.

"I just did," Randi replied coldly, turning her back on him. "Just the person I want to see!" she said happily, bouncing over to Angel, who looked a bit confused.

"What's up?" Angel asked.

"Congratulations, Ang, you've just gotten a promotion," Randi said cheerfully.

"I did?"

"Yup. You are now the business manager for Back In Time," Randi said.

Angel's face lit up. "Does the promotion come with a pay-raise and benifits?" she quipped.

"Started at the beginning of the month and it matches Stewart's," Randi said.

"I'll talk to the accountant," Angel said happily.

"And have him cut a final check for Stewart as his termination is effective this morning," Randi said.

"Not a problem."

"Your first assignment; find a new secretary. I'll take anyone you recommend," Randi said. She turned to Stewart and said coldly, "I'm sure you can find your way out. Angel and I have some business to discuss over lunch."

"Hey Randi?" Lindsey called.

"Yo?"

"Can Danny and I steal Fabio for lunch?" the blonde CSI asked cheerfully.

"By all means," Randi said, smiling as Fabio wiggled happily.

"You can't do this to me!" Stewart yelled, face red with anger.

"I can and I just did," Randi said coldly, turning her back on him, arm around Angel's shoulders, as she picked up her briefcase bag. "Now, I think you'd best leave before the NYPD decide to get a bit hostile."

"I'll ruin you, you stupid bitch, see if I don't!" Stewart yelled, forgetting in his anger where he was.

Immediately, two of the bigger cops approached him. Both men were built like line backers and had the muscle to show for it.

"Was that a threat, sir?" one cop with the name McGuire on his nametag asked.

"Because we should warn you, sir, that we don't take kindly to threats," said Saylor, the second cop.

Stewart glared at the pair of them.

"I think you had best leave, sir, before we arrest you for trespassing," McGuire said.

"Now, sir," Saylor said.

Realizing he was beaten, Stewart started to stalk out of the NYPD.

While this had been going on, Lindsey and Danny had shared a conniving look and Lindsey bent down to over Fabio, while casually unclipping his leash from his harness. Meanwhile, Danny reached behind him and pulled a blue rubber grip ball from one pocket. Fabio saw the ball and immediately went nuts. Oh so casually, Danny let the ball roll along the floor while Lindsey maintained a grip on Fabio until the ball had rolled past Stewart's feet.

Then she whispered to the dog, "Go get the ball, Fabio, go get the ball!" And he was off like a shot.

Just as he had once done to Mac, so he did to Stewart in his eagerness to get his ball. Stewart went up and came down hard, cussing and swearing. As the commotion ensued, Lindsey quickly snapped Fabio's leash back on and Danny's ball, brought back by an eager Fabio, mysteriously vanished.

Mac, who had seen the whole thing, just grinned and shook his head in amusement, watching as Saylor and McGuire 'assisted' Stewart back up, hindering more than helping, and finally escorting the man out.

"Now that is what I call a show!" Randi said.