A/N: thank you all kindly for your kind reviews. Once again, I appriciate your patience and hope this chapter is up to your usual standards.

Chapter 30

"Wait a minute, what do you mean I have an appointment?" Mac protested as Stella shoved him towards a conference room.

"You heard me. You have video call appointment in precisely six minutes and you need to get your butt to that room," Stella said easily.

"Yeah, rumor has it it's a pretty important call and you would hate to miss it," Sheldon said, who was helping Stella haul Mac to the conference room.

"And that means getting comfortable so if you need coffee or anything else, better grab it now," Danny said, following them.

"But who is the appointment with?" Mac protested, not liking this at all.

"I don't know, but Hillborne promised some serious repercussions if you didn't make that appointment," Stella said. "I've already managed to get on his bad side once and really don't feel like doing it again, at least not any time soon."

Mac nodded in understanding. He just wished he knew who and what this video call appointment was about so he'd at least have idea as to what the heck was going on.

"Oh, and I should warn you, from what I was told, this person is known for punctuality," Stella said.

"Okay," Mac said.

"And being extremely chatty," Sheldon said, opening the door to the conference room and ushering Mac inside.

"And you don't even know this person's name?" Mac asked, raising one eyebrow as he moved to the table, where a laptop sat humming quietly. It was attached to the Internet and an earclip headset sat next to the laptop, also attached to the laptop. Clipped to the top of the laptop was a webcam. The computer's program was already up and running and Mac was starting to get a nagging suspicion that he'd been set up.

"That information wasn't given to me, I'm afraid," Stella said evasively as Mac sat down in the chair. And with that, she and Sheldon bustled out of the room, shutting the door behind them, ignoring his glare.

Sighing heavily and straightening his jacket as best as he could, Mac slipped the headset on and waited.

At precisely 2pm, the computer beeped, signaling an incoming video call. Mac clicked on the appropriate button to accept the call and a window popped up. And Mac's jaw dropped open.

"Hey handsome. Miss me?"

"Randi?" Mac finally managed to get out, his eyes going wide, even as he started grinning.

And it was indeed Randi, complete with headset and a mischievous grin on her face. Black stilettos were perched on the table, putting her in a reclining position, which simply showed off her very sexy black teddy, decorated with floral appliqué and thin straps. Keeping her warm was a black velvet robe that was open. She looked very, very sexy and Mac groaned softly as he developed an immediate hard-on.

Randi chuckled softly. "I got frustrated at the constant phone tag so I decided to make an appointment with you. Had a bit of help but, hey, it worked. For the next half an hour, at least, love, you're mine."

"And if I get called away?"

She smiled mischievously. "I wouldn't worry too much about that."

"Oh?"

"You're not the only one with contacts, sweetheart," she reminded him.

Mac chuckled. "It is good to see you, even if it's not quite face to face," he said.

"Well, I'm hoping this will tide both of us over until things do settle down a bit. I'm not placing any bets as to when, but a girl can hope."

"True, and the thought is greatly appreciated."

She smiled and for the next half an hour they chatted about everything and anything, determined to make up for as much lost time as they could. Then Randi reminded Mac of something.

"You know, you do have a key to my apartment. If you ever get tired, or whatever, you are more than welcome to come over and crash."

"I know," he admitted. "I was just a bit concerned that you might think I was trying to jump you or you'd be cranky at my showing up at almost one a.m. at night."

She chuckled softly. "Mac, sweetie, you are always welcome at my place, even after midnight, always."

"In that case, now that I know that, don't be too surprised if I do show up and simply crash."

"Be nice and say 'hello' to Fabio while you're at it," she said, smiling.

It was almost an hour later when Mac finally emerged from the conference room. None of his friends failed to miss the small smile that was on his face or the fact that he clearly appeared to be in a much better mood.

"Mission accomplished," Stella quietly said to Sheldon, Lindsey, Flack, and Danny, who had all been in on the whole thing, right down to setting up the conference room and detouring anyone who attempted to get ahold of Mac.

"Looks like it," Lindsey said, grinning at the bulge Mac's jacket just barely failed to hide. "Wonder what Randi was wearing?"

"Something black and lacy and probably see-through," Stella suggested.

"And you know this how?" Flack asked, grinning.

Stella smiled mischievously and said, "Because I'm the one that suggested it in the first place?"

"Talk about a man in pain," Danny said.

"Thank God for cold showers," Sheldon said, grinning broadly.