Hey everyone! Undercover Romance is back with a new chapter! Or better: I am back with an update for my story! YAY! After almost 3 weeks of struggling with the muse and getting almost no writing done she finally came back yesterday!

So, I hope you like my update! Enjoy!

Chapter 7: How to make Dinner

~ M ~ T ~

I eased myself down onto the bed a pair of sweatpants and a sweater lying next to me on the bed. I knew Stella was downstairs preparing everything for dinner and I knew she was expecting me to join her, as we had planned, but as I sat on the bed, intending to change into something more comfortable my mind drifted back to last night. Getting up early and then the flight and the events of the last day had tired me out, yes, but it had been quite strange to sleep next to my best friend, although I normally don't sleep as much as I did last night. I haven't lied when I said I was up an hour before Stella came into the kitchen. The last time I slept next to a woman was when I was with Peyton, but… even that was different to being here and so close to Stella. I knew she didn't have an easy life and she had a lot of trouble, especially with boyfriends. I just wished that she would find someone who treated her the way she deserved. Before I fell asleep last night I found myself more than once wanting to reach out and caress her cheek or softly stroke her head, letting her know there was someone who cared about her and who she could always count on, but inwardly I felt like it would mean to cross a line we had drawn between us, a line I now found myself rubbing it out. It felt like something changed in all those years. Maybe you fell in love, Mac… the romantic part of my brain said. I just shook my head and got up from the bed. No way. I lamented in my mind. No way am I falling in love with her… I mean, she's my best friend?

I grabbed the sweatpants and quickly got dressed. Well, that doesn't mean you can't… shaking my head one last time I closed the bedroom door behind me and headed down the stairs to join Stella in the kitchen. She was already busily putting the things we'll need onto the counter. When she noticed me coming up behind her she turned around and rewarded me with a small smile. I walked up to her, replying her smile.

"You ready?" she asked in a light tone.

"Yep." I nodded.

"Welcome to Stella Bonasera's Cooking School." Stella said with a grin on her face and I couldn't help but smirk. I knew that seemingly everybody thought that I was a bad chef, but actually I knew my way around a kitchen pretty good. At least for some family recipes my mother taught me. But obviously she had fun wanting to teach me, so I decided to surprise her later. So instead of saying something I gave her an amused smile and asked:

"What do you want me to do?"

"Well, we need to dice a few ingredients and roast them gently before we can add the cream, eggs and cheese into the mix. So… while the pasta's getting ready we'll do that."

"Doesn't sound that hard…"

"It gets harder, you'll see." She smiled playfully as she handed me a knife. "What do you want?"

"Ladies first." I said and so she took the onion and I started to cut the sweet pepper. She took the paring off the onion and then looked at me.

"If you see tears rolling down my cheek it's not because I'm sad, it's because the onion makes me cry." She said with a small smile.

"Onions love to do that… you know that the amino acid in the cells of the onion and the enzyme Alliinase create a gas that makes you cry?" I asked her teasingly, only to have her punching my arm. I rewarded her with a soft evil chuckle and then grinned.

"Ya know what I love to do now?" she asked in a challenging tone.

"No, what?"

"Punishing you for that chemistry lesson."

"You already punished me…"

"You call that punishment? That was nothing." She grinned.

"So? What is your definition of punishment?" I asked challenging.

"Oh, I am the happy owner of handcuffs… I could cuff you to…." Her voice trailed off and she quickly looked away. "Sorry." She mumbled.

"For what?"

"Um… for that comment?"

"You didn't say what you're going to cuff me to… so?" I asked half amused half curious while I was trying to figure out if she actually was trying to flirt with me. Not that I mind as we did that quite often lately, but never went in that direction.

~ S ~ B ~

Surprised by his words I turned around and looked at him. Did he seriously want to know? Wasn't he mad at me for flirting with him that obviously? Did he know that I was flirting with him? Teasing him? The look in his eyes said that he most likely pondered the question if I was flirting with him, but he wasn't mad at me and he was looking at me curiously. I looked to the ground and then back up at him before I decided to finally finish what I wanted to say before.

"Well I was thinking about cuffing you to the bed..." I said with a somewhat shy smile.

"Mmm, I think I could like that." Mac said with a boyish smile.

"What? I'm not gonna stay there with you… you're lovely wife will leave you all alone and sleep on the couch tonight." I said teasingly, surprised that he was playing along with my flirting banter.

"Okay, that's torture, then… would be quite boring all alone cuffed to the bed, not able to do anything…"

"I could borrow you one of my books and you could read…" I teased further.

"Me and reading love stories?" he arched his brow and I gave him a wondering look.

"Who says I'm reading those kinda books? I could have brought an encyclopedia…"

"Right… ya know, we should get back to making dinner our the pasta is cold before we're ready." He said with a smile and I nodded. "You should cut the onion while you're sitting, avoids tears in your beautiful, green eyes."

"Okay, I'll trust you and do it… and you cut the sweet pepper without hurting yourself." I said with a teasing smile, before I gave him a short wink. He looked at me with a mysterious smile, before he turned around and concentrated on his task at hand, me doing the same. Much to my surprise his little trick worked and I didn't cry because of cutting an onion. I quickly finished my task, wondering why he accepted my little flirting game and if he actually intended to flirt back, or if he just did it to be kind. I wasn't used to have him around all the time as I was alone in my apartment, but otherwise this was work and I loved to work with him, even it meant playing his wife. Yeah, exactly playing his wife, Stella… that doesn't mean you have to act like it when you're alone… my brain lamented. But did he actually mind? I loved the sound of his wife as I knew ever since Claire died he never really got the chance to be happy. But deep inside it broke my heart to see him all alone, with no one at his side to come home to and to just make him the happy man he deserved to be. With that thoughts running through my mind I went back up to him to finish making dinner.

As I stood beside him, I was surprised that he already started cutting the ham and smiled as I started to roast the onion. Carefully he placed his hand on my shoulder and caused me to look at him. He smiled slightly.

"Did it work?" he asked.

"Perfectly. Thanks, how did you know it?" I asked him curiously.

"Uh… just read it in an article I found online."

"Smart man." I said, knowing that he only told half of the truth. He was hiding something, but I didn't want to call him on it. I planned to ask him later. He chuckled lightly.

"Now, smart man, can you make sure this doesn't burn while I take care of the pasta and the rest we'll need?" I asked him.

"Sure."

xXxXxXxXx

As our dinner was ready and Mac and I sat down at the table I was amazed. Everything went well and nothing burnt. I couldn't help but smile as he tasted the first bite of our meal. Still smiling slightly I did the same and I knew the taste already and it was great. We did a great job with making our first home made dinner. I looked at Mac in expectation.

"Gotta remember how to make it." He said with a smile. "You're one great chef, Stella."

"Thanks, Mac. You're pretty good yourself. And I don't believe that you can't cook." I said with a wink.

"Aw." He said with a pout and then grinned. "Well, maybe I can make a few easy things, but I'll never be as good as you are."

"Thank you." I smiled.

While we finished out dinner we were making small talk about Chicago, the Chicago PD, the case and of course the house and the neighbors. And even after dinner we were just sitting at the table, enjoying each other's company and talked about everything that came to our minds. It was somewhat strange to look down at my hand and see the lovely band of gold, which actually meant nothing to us, right now and neither of us thought they could mean anything to us than just a pretended marriage and pretended love. But I had to admit that the moment he slipped the ring onto my finger and I did the same in return, was kinda sweet and loving. A smile appeared on my face as I looked at the band of gold and then remembered the time we bought it and when he slipped the ring onto my hand as if he was really marrying me.

"I'm doing the clean up." Mac suddenly said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"And you're not doing it alone." I said and quickly followed him into the kitchen.

"What? You're not taking advantage of me doing the clean up?" he asked in a surprised tone.

"Well, I could just sit down at the bar and watch you, but I would feel like I'm doing something forbidden." I said with a wink. "Otherwise, I gotta do my wifely duties, right?"

"Yeah… ya know what other duties wives have, right?"

"Mac Taylor, are you flirting with me, again?"

"I… uh…" he stammered with a coy smile. "Was just keeping the light mood, light… and took my revenge for earlier."

"So Mac Taylor goes for revenge when it comes to his very private life?" I said playfully as I grabbed a towel and started to dry the first dishes.

"If it's worth it, yes."

I couldn't help but smile as I dried the next item and put it away. Although I really liked the way we kept the mood light and as much as I enjoyed the flirty banter between us today, I was wondering where this will be going and how it would affect us, since we were more playful around each other than we ever were. This was new to me and I couldn't help but wonder if he was seriously trying the flirty and romantic waters with me or if he was just flirting for some fun and to keep the mood light. I mean we were going to spend a lot of time together and we even shared the bed last night, but maybe the flight and events of the day had tired us out that we couldn't think about the fact of us lying in the same bed. Maybe it would come tonight? After this chat, I know that at least Mac would feel a slight bit uncomfortable about it, but I wonder how I was going to feel then. My gaze wandered onto the beautiful band of gold on my finger and the smile remained on my face as I remember the scene of the day before when he slid it up my finger, as if he just married me. I also remembered the look in his eyes, the warmth and also the warmth in his voice, but also the uncertainty. Not that I would complain about his behaviour, because it was nice to see him so relaxed and playful. But still it seemed different. His hand gently patting my shoulder brought me back to reality.

"You okay?" he asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

"Yes, why?"

"Was just wondering… suddenly you were tormenting silent."

"Sorry, was just lost in thoughts."

"Hopefully good thoughts?"

Actually, yes."

"Good."

"Because?"

"Well good because you've been through enough bad things to remember and I hate to see you having bad thoughts to dwell on… and good because I feared I crossed the line with my comment…" he said in a worried, yet shy tone.

"No, you didn't… besides… I started right?" I said with a soft smile. "By the way, it's nice to see you all playful and relaxed. Quite heart warming."

"Well, I'm actually a bit surprised… normally I wouldn't be like that, am just… well…"

"In a good mood?"

"Yes."

"Must be rare then…" I said with a smirk.

"As a matter of fact, maybe, but… must be your influence on me."

"So I have an influence on you?"

"I hate to admit it, but… I think you do…" he smiled.

"I see that. Hopefully you do not get the bad things…"

"I have enough bad things of my own…"

"We all have our rough edges… now get the last plate cleaned before I come back to my plan and cuff you to the bed." I smirked.

"At least some place comfortable." He smirked only to have me punching his upper arm.

Okay... how did you like it? Too flirty or was it okay? Still in character? Fun? Boring? Just let me know! I can't wait to read your review!

A/N: And I can tell you... I started writing the sequel to "Don't You Dare" yesterday! Yay! Told you the muse came back ;-) BUT: it won't be up anytime soon, because I really have to concentrate on my studies during the week and I want to have at least 3 chappies done before I post it. And on the other hand... I still have to write for this story, right? So please be patient with me!

Have a great weekend!

blackrose538