Happy Saturday everyone!

So, as you can see, I found some time to update my story! A big THANK YOU to all of you who keep reading and also a big thanks for putting the story or me onto your favorites or alerts! It's so great and really keeps me going!

Sorry guys if this chapter appeals to be boring as there is a lot of discription in it... but you all know it belongs to the story and it's necessary to do... so I apologize right before you all read it. ;-)

Chapter 4: Through the 'Hood

~ M ~ T ~

The ride to the house Stella and I would be living in for the next indefinite time was spent with Lieutenant de LaRossa telling us more details about the case and the neighborhood of our undercover home. Stella and I listened carefully while I noticed that Stella's gaze sometimes turned out of the window as she took a look around the unknown area around her. I expected nothing else from her and admired her ability to look around but still get every detail of the conversation. It once again reminded me of the great CSI she was and I couldn't hide a feeling of pride starting to build as I watched her for a while.

"So, Detective Taylor…"

"Mac." I interrupted Lieutenant de LaRossa in a soft tone.

"Okay, Mac, we were able to get you a job as a teacher for bass guitars in the local music school. It's 3 Minutes from your home, if you go by car and about 15 minutes if you want to walk. It's the Lepskaya's School of Music."

I smiled slightly. It was the same school where I learned to play my bass when I was much younger. I had been about 14 years old back then and I thought most of the teachers would be gone by now or wouldn't remember me.

"Okay, so I take you guys to your new home and let you settle. We'll meet tomorrow morning at the Crime Lab and we'll organize everything for next couple of weeks. We already got a car which you'll get tomorrow and you'll get to meet my boss, Chief Mayer." De LaRossa informed us.

A few minutes later we arrived at the place we were supposed to live. A small street brought us to a round place with four houses. The houses had all a small garden in the front and a backyard that was bigger. All estates were fenced. Actually this place looked like a small and quiet idyll taken from a story-book. Lieutenant de LaRossa stopped in front of the second building on the right side. A small house with 2 floors, yellow whitewashed façade with white windows and a big white front door. The roof had dark red and shining tiles. A small driveway served as a car park. Flowerbeds bordered the way from the small white wooden gate to the door and a few bushes decorated the front yard. All in all it looked very inviting and nice. A look at Stella's face showed me that she thought the same as I did. Getting settled and feeling home would be the easiest thing to do.

We got of the car and Steve de LaRossa let us into the house. The first thing we saw as we walked into the hallway, were the stairs. The hallway and the living room were separated by the stairs, but there was no wall to the living room. To our left where 2 doors, one was to a small bathroom with just a toilet and sink and behind the second wall there was a small office. Next to the office door, on the wall stood a small piano. Steve walked first and showed us the living room which had a dinette in front of the door to the patio and garden, which was on the left side. In the right corner in front of us were a fireplace and the small suite with a white leather couch and a fitting arm chair. The room was bright and modern. Across the fireplace was the kitchen and same as with the hallway, the only thing that separated the kitchen and the living room was a small bar with three barstools in front of it. A wall next to stairs separated the hallway from the kitchen. The kitchen's furniture was bright and modern, too. The living room had 2 big windows in each wall next to the fireplace. The kitchen had a smaller window right above the sink. All in white, so was the big door that led to the garden. The office and bathroom both were bright and modern.

I looked at Stella, to see her inspecting our new home with shining eyes. I could tell from her smile and the happy expression that she already loved this place. I did like the place, too, but my mind now raced with the question if we would have to share the bed. I mean we were best friends and new each other for more than a decade, but sleeping in one bed together was something that made me a bit nervous. I turned around to see Steve looking at us in a questioning way.

"So? First impressions?" he asked curiously.

"Wow." Was all that Stella said.

"Looks really nice." I said.

"Good. Most of the furniture was sponsored by a company who setup show houses. We were lucky enough to find one who would do that for us. I'll just hand you the keys and let you two your privacy to go upstairs on your own. We'll meet tomorrow and organize the rest. If you need anything, let me know, okay?"

"We will let you know. Thanks, Lieutenant." Stella said with a smile.

"You two can call me Steve."

"Okay, Steve. I'm Stella." Stella said and smiled.

Steve handed us the keys and said that he had put the case file into the office and also wrote the address on it. He said that on the fridge there was a small note with 2 phone numbers if we'd like to order in.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow at 9 am." Steve said before he left. I turned around to look at Stella. She smiled at me. Her eyes were shining and full of happiness. I knew she already loved this place, but so did I.

"I see, you already like your new adventure." I said in a light tone.

"Our new adventure. Couldn't do it without you as my lovely husband, right?" she teased.

"Uh, yeah… how could I forget that? But… you miss something."

"Yes, my wedding band, just as you do."

I pulled the small velvet box out of my pocket and opened it. Looking down at the bands of gold with that loving engraving I remembered how Claire and I looked at our wedding rings just two days before we got married. Even though those rings were pure gold and had no engravings or diamonds, she loved them, because she loved me. I quickly pushed the thought aside, even though a smile had appeared on my lips. I took Stella's ring out of the box and looked up at her. With a soft smile she offered her hand and I slipped the ring onto her finger.

"You know, this suits you pretty good." I said after a few moments of silence.

"But the other one's missing." She said as she snapped the box with my ring from my fingers and took the ring out of the box.

"So, Mac Taylor, will you marry me now?" she asked in a light tone.

"Yes, I do." I replied with a shy smile as she slipped the ring onto my finger.

"I know it would suit you, Mac."

"Yeah, you've already seen a wedding band on my hand."

"Yes, but this time it's different. The ring looks much different than the one you had."

"I know. Classic and without any engravings and such."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean they weren't beautiful."

"I know. Could have been a ring of a gumball machine and they would have been beautiful. Much like Terence Hill did when he married." I said with a half smile.

~ S ~ B ~

"You know Terence Hill?" I asked quite surprised that he knew the Italian actor.

"Yes, know and like him. He's a great actor." Mac answered.

"Didn't know you're into western movies and such." I said.

"Well, there's a lot about me people don't know."

"And I thought I knew you. Seems like I have a lot to discover the next few weeks." I said with a playful grin. "So… what do think about going upstairs and take a look around. Want to see the bedroom."

"Sounds good to me." He agreed with a nervous gin.

I knew that we probably would have to share a bed, but for me that wasn't really problem since we were best friends and knew each other, but otherwise I knew it made him nervous. So we grabbed our bags and went upstairs. The hallway here was quite big and in the corner to our right there was a small lounge, consisting of a small glass table, 2 chairs and a floor lamp. The room had one big window like those windows in the living room and so the room was bright and friendly. The door right next to the stairs on the left side led to small spare room with an ironing board, a sideboard and couch, probably could be used as a guest room. The door next to the "lounge" led into the bathroom, which had a big shower cabin, a corner bath tub, toilet and two sinks, a washing machine and a clothes drying rack. The biggest room upstairs was the bedroom, which had a big closet and a king-size bed and a makeup table.

"Wow." I said.

"Agreed." Mac said in a light tone.

His bright blue eyes looked quite satisfied and his face was relaxed, obviously a sign that he liked this place just as much as I did. We dropped our bags to the floor, planning to unpack them later.

"So Mac, there's no way that I let you sleep on the couch." I said teasingly.

"Scary how you can read my mind. But you won't do that either." He said firmly.

"I know you quite well, huh?"

"Next to my mother you know me best and honestly I don't really mind. So… want to take a look around the 'hood and get to know our neighbors?"

"I think that is a very good idea." I nodded.

We walked back downstairs and I took another look into the living room. I truly loved this place and I admired the effort of the Chicago PD to get this place setup for us. Settling and feeling home was going to be the easiest thing to do, all we needed to do now was find that killer and hopefully he would take the bite. Actually I didn't really like the thought of being the target, but otherwise we probably wouldn't get this guy. Mac had one of the keys in his hands and so I followed him outside and we slowly walked down the small way to the gate and then onto the sidewalk of the round place.

"Left side or right side?" Mac asked me.

"Right side." I said and so we turned to the right side and walked towards the small house which also had a white wooden fence. This house had a black tiled roof and was colored in white. A young woman was working in the front yard. She looked up when she saw us walking up to her house. She had blond, long and wavy hair and big brown eyes. Her expression was warm and curious. She walked up to the gate, just as we reached it.

"Hi! You must be the new couple who moved into that beautiful little house over there." She said in a warm tone, pointing into the direction we came from.

"Yes, we are. I'm Mac Taylor and this is my wife Stella." Mac introduced us as we shock the woman's hand.

I was surprised how easily Mac called me his wife although I could hear in his voice that he was a bit uncertain and I understood that. He wasn't used to the circumstances and I was sure that calling me his wife brought back some memories of Claire. Though, he was a professional and could cover that quite well. I rested my hand on the small of his back and smiled at him with a bit of pride in my expression. He smiled slightly and I knew I did a good job in supporting him.

"Well, welcome to our small neighborhood. I'm Michelle Laslow. I'm also married, but my husband's still at work and my daughter's taking her nap. Do you have children?"

"No… we just got married two month ago." I said with a smile.

"Newlyweds, congratulations then. Belated but still. Hope you'll settle in soon."

"Yeah, we hope so, too."

"We're doing a small BBQ on Sunday, if you like I would be happy to see you then. It'll be just those who live here in this place." Michelle Laslow said.

"I think it's a great opportunity to get to know each other, what do you think, Mac?" I said, looking up at him. He nodded his head.

"What time?" he asked.

"We'll start at about 7 pm."

"Anything we can bring?" I wanted to know.

"Well, you don't have to, but if you want to you could bring some salad or beer or something."

"I know a nice recipe for noodle salad. I'll bring some of that." I said. Michelle Laslow agreed and we talked a bit more before we said our goodbyes and Mac and I walked over to the next house, where a family name Gonzalez lived, as Michelle had told us. We rang the door bell and a few minutes later a man at about 40 years opened the door. His eyes were surprised, but also warm. He had dark short hair, brown eyes and also a tanned skin.

"Hi, how can I help you?" he asked in a friendly tone.

"Hey. We just moved into the house across the place and just wanted to say hello and introduce ourselves." I said.

"Oh, yeah, I heard a new family would move into that house. I hope you guys will settle in soon and we'll get along well. I'm Miguel Gonzalez and the boy who's coming down the place there…" Miguel said, pointing towards a boy who was walking up to us. "That's my son Julio. My wife's inside, with our daughter."

Miguel invited us to come inside for a bit and so we were sitting in their living room, talking and laughing a bit, and I caught myself watching their little daughter Isabella playing on the floor with her brother. Somehow Isabella reminded me of Lucy, although Isabella had curly dark hair and the same tanned skin as her father. Miguel said that he originally came from Spain and moved to Chicago with his parents and siblings when he was a young boy. Jeanette Gonzalez, though, had Spanish ancestors, too, but she was born in Chicago. Julio looked a lot like his father and he turned 10 last week, as he proudly told us, while his little sister was 4 years old. We stayed at their place for about an hour before we left to meet the last family that lived at this place.

Paul and Alissa Raynold were a lovely couple. They had no children yet, but Alissa told us that she was pregnant and that the due date was November 25th. She would give birth to twins, that was what she told us. We spend a bit more time talking to them and then headed back to our home and walked into the kitchen.

"What do think if we order in today and go and do some shopping tomorrow." Mac asked as we shared a cup of coffee in the living room, sitting in front of the fireplace.

"I think, that you have great ideas today." I smiled.

While Mac chose something for dinner and placed the order I thought about our neighbors. They all seemed to be nice and no one really looked like a killer, but well, which killer did really look like one? And we hadn't met Mr. Laslow yet, so I couldn't really judge, but I didn't think that any of them did the crimes. Steve said that he would take us to the Crime Scenes tomorrow and that we would learn more about the victims and what they could figure out.

Alright... What do you think? Still interested? Boring? Just let me know! Sorry for that, but I think discribing the area where they'll be living belongs to that story.

A/N 1:I also created the house I described with a programm called ArCon. Anybody knows this? Well, anyways, I'll put the link for the photo onto my profile page and you can check it out and see what the place looks like. Well, the floor plan :)

A/N 2: For those of you who haven't done it already... PLEASE go and vote my poll on my profile. I really need your help! :) THANK YOU!

Thanks for reading and HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE!

blackrose538