Sorry guys that this took so long, but I just wasn't in the mood to update the story :D Wanted to let you wait a bit longer ;)

So here is chapter 8 and I have nothing to say today except for a HUGE THANK YOU for all the lovely reviews I got so far and I hope I'll get a few more :) So I hope you like this chapter, too :)

Chapter eight: Lunch And Strange Feelings

Mac and I had lunch in a small diner near the Crime Lab. It wasn't something special, but at least we could have something "real" for lunch. On the way here I had decided to convince Mac that I wanted to pay this time, because he was helping me enough. I mean I was living at his place and he had me around him every minute, except for work when we were in different places. Though he first insisted on paying instead of me he gave in saying he understood my arguments and that he wouldn't do anything else if he was me. But he also said that this is what we are friends for; we help each other and we're there for each other whenever there's the need to, even if the other one didn't want it. I had nodded and said that this was normally my phrase and we both had laughed.

Now we were sitting in the small diner and eating our meal.

"So… what did Danny knew earlier?" Mac asked curiously.

"Mac… it was nothing. Just something… work related." I tried to convince him but his look told me it didn't work.

"Work related? Really? Hm… well, he had that look."

"What look?"

"That very same look that Lindsay has when she tells me I am smiling every time I see you or you enter the room." He said quietly. I was totally lost now. I couldn't tell him another lie to help me, because he wouldn't believe me. He knows everybody in his team too well. Though I wasn't sure if I should tell him what had "happened" in that archive when Danny asked me about him. I wasn't sure if that would be exactly what he wanted to hear me telling him. I mean I had been at a loss for an answer when Danny asked me those questions and actually since yesterday I wasn't really sure about my own feelings. I mean Mac was my best friend and he helped me many times before and I helped him and we shared many wonderful moments together and we had so much fun together and yes I really smiled at him whenever I saw him and I was happy when he was around, but does that mean I'm in love with him? YES! The romantic part of my brain shouted at me.

"Well… he said he doesn't believe I would like to stay at your place forever and I…" I started to run into my misery.

"And you? What did you say?" Mac wanted to know. He was looking at me and his eyes were looking at me curiously and yet hoping. Hoping? I asked myself. Why would that be? Because he loves you, my dear… my mind told me again. He doesn't. Stop torturing me! I argued back. Yes he does. I shock my head to get rid of that stupid argument with my brain.

"I had whispered who knows… I didn't want him to hear it but he did… Mac… I… I'm sorry I wasn't thinking about it… I was just lost in thoughts…" I said in haste.

"Hey, calm down, Stell." He said gently.

"You're… you're not mad at me? I mean he's gossiping now, I know it…"

"No I'm not mad at you. And… if it's calming you down I wouldn't mind you staying a bit longer." He said. I looked at him in shock. He loves you… my brain told me again.

"What?" I managed.

"Um… prevents me from staying at the lab all night long." He said. I looked at him and saw a smile playing around his lips. I smiled back.

"You can be so…" I started, but didn't find a word.

"Naughty?" he suggested still smiling.

"Naughty? No… bad I wanted to say."

"I know. But you can do that also. What would you say if somebody asks you if you could imagine to life together with you boss?" he asked me all of a sudden. I just stared at him for a moment.

"I… I would tell him… or her, that I already live with my boss and that he's a nice guy who I really like very much and that it's nice that he helps me out and wants to protect me from a bad guy who wants to kill me." I said.

"And if… if I would ask you?" he asked shyly. Again I didn't know what I should say. What was he expecting me to say? What did he want to hear?

"I… don't know. I suppose I would tell you the same…"

He looked at me with raised eyebrows. I couldn't stand that look. I looked at my plate.

"You don't know?" he asked quietly. What the hell did he want to hear?

"Mac I… I really appreciate you helping me but… I just don't know what to say to answer your question. What do you want me to say?" I looked at him. He placed his hand on mine and gave it a gentle squeeze and then he looked at me, too.

"I just wanted to know what your gut would answer. I expect everybody, including you, to say the truth, but… sometimes I don't expect you to think about what you answer and just let your instinct tell you what to say."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that thinking isn't always the best thing. I think that sometimes our intellect tells us something we should see and say and think, but it's not always what we really feel and think. When I saw you and Danny stepping out of the elevator and I saw you smiling at me and then heard him saying he knew it and saw his look I instantly knew what he was talking about. But I saw your look at me changing in that very moment he said that." Mac told me. I wasn't sure what he was trying to tell me or what that had to do with me and him, but he was right.

"What do you want to tell me Mac?" I asked him.

"You're feeling something else than you're telling everybody and yourself. You're feeling something that your… intellect and your moral doesn't allow you to admit."

"And that's bad?" I asked him. He still had his hand on mine. A feeling I liked but… he was right. I wouldn't admit it because of rules and moral.

"It's up to you to find that out." He tells me.

I looked down at my plate again. I wasn't able to look into his beautiful blue eyes looking at me as if he was expecting something from me I couldn't tell him right now. Did I just say beautiful? I thought in shock. Yes you did and it was the truth. My mind told me again. What was wrong with me? Every time I see Mac I smile and every time I look at him I feel as if my heart was melting and I just had the desire to feel his strong and protecting arms around me and being able to rest my head on his shoulder. I never had that feeling before yesterday. Well, not that strong as it was now. And it started in Greece. Hell… not again… it was tragic and yet so… beautiful… I thought.

"Stell, you okay?" I heard Mac asking me and I looked up at him. Confused.

"Just a bit… confused… don't know what's wrong with me…" I said, nearly whispering.

"Trust me Stella, I know that feeling." He said and then the waitress came to our table. Mac let me pay the meal for us and then we left the diner. We spent the way back to the lab in, for me, torturing silence.

So, how do you like it? Let me know, please! Please write a little review before you leave :)

A/N: Tragedy and Joy updates next... during the next few days I hope. Take a look at that one also and take a look at the poll, belonging to the story :) Thank you!

blackrose538