Chapter 7: The Death

"If everyone cared and nobody cried

If everyone loved and nobody lied

If everyone shared and swallowed their pride

Then we'd see the day when nobody died"

Mac's cell phone rings, waking him up. He quickly answers it before it can wake Stella, who was sleeping on top of him on her couch. "Taylor."

"Is there a clock somewhere near you?" Danny asks, smiling.

"Yeah," he looks at Stella's cable box; he's forty minutes late for work. "Look, can you take care of the lab for me for an hour while I go home and shower?"

"Have a date last night?"

"No."

"Why aren't you at home then?" Danny probes for information.

"I kind of fell asleep at Stella's."

"I always thought you two were sleeping together."

"We're not sleeping together. See you in an hour." He hangs up and tries to get out from under Stella without waking her.

"Where are you going?" she asks sleepily.

"I'm kind of late for work. Sorry I woke you. I'll call you later," he kisses her cheek before leaving.

She falls back asleep, only to be woken up by her phone ringing fifteen minutes later. "I wasn't expecting later to be so soon."

"What are you talking about, Stella?" Lindsay asks.

"Nothing. Mac just said he'd call me later," she yawns.

"So you two did sleep together?"

"I guess, since he woke me up trying to get out from underneath me," Stella doesn't realize what Lindsay meant.

"But did anything happen?"

"Not really. We just talked and apparently slept."

"So you didn't… you know… with him?"

"Of course not!"

"Oh, Danny said you did. He asked me to get you to confirm it."

"How would Danny know?"

"He's the one who called Mac to ask why he wasn't at work yet."

"Mac's never going to hear the end of this," Stella smiles.

"Danny's handing out assignment. Talk to you later," Lindsay hangs up.

Noticing it's almost ten, Stella decides it's time to get up. After a cup of coffee, she showers and gets dressed. Just as she finishes putting on her makeup, her phone rings again. "Bonasera."

"Bad news, Stella," Mac says. "The boy was found dead in Central Park."

"I'll meet you there in twenty minutes." To her surprise, he doesn't tell her she's off the case or remind her she is on suspension.

Fifteen minutes later she is standing outside the yellow crime scene tape, not allowed inside. Mac walks over to her and holds up the tape. "But I'm suspended."

"I'm the boss; I want you and Sheldon to handle this. If I hear about you harassing suspects again, you'll get two weeks on suspension with no pay. Got it?" he says sternly.

She smiles, "Yes, sir."

"And Stella?"

"Yes, Mac?"

He smiles back, "Don't call me sir again."

"Thanks for letting me come back early."

"If I had listened to you, the boy wouldn't be dead right now. You were right all along."

"If we had put him in foster care, he could have still been killed. Either way he was in danger."

"You could have taken him."

She shakes her head, "Not with this job."

"You'll make a good mother some day."

"If I ever find the right man," she smirks.

A/N: So sad. He's dead. We'll blame Mac. Or Stella will later on. So I was lazy yesterday and didn't feel like updating. There's two more chapters that will be added Tuesday and Thursday. I still have homework to do. I have to find pictures for Spanish. I just finished designing my experiment on how to tell if an egg is hard boiled or not for chemistry. That wasn't too bad; I did it on the way it rolls. Then I have to be in the community parade in like two hours. The band has to be in it every year because we are part of the community, even though the city doesn't really fund us. And we won the first football game Friday night; twenty-one to seven. We won half of them last year. Our football team hasn't been very good for like as long as I can remember. Most people come to the games to watch the band. But the football team getting better, I think. So... it was really, really hot, so Mr. Lydecker didn't make us wear our uniforms except when we did half time. That was only because Brecksville just got new uniforms so they had to wear there's. And they had new fake grass. I think we should get fake grass. Then we'd always have to march no matter what. If it's really muddy, the band doesn't normally go on the field. We just stand on the track and play. Unless it's a contest. Well, I have to finish this homework. Please keep reviewing.