Chapter 3: Relief

"Dreams can't take the place of loving you

There's got to be a million reasons why it's true"

Mac enters the hospital room and takes a seat next to the bed. He breathes in deeply and exhales slowly. "You really had me worried," he gently takes her hand. "Don't you ever leave me, Stel." As he watches her, he begins to realize how beautiful and fragile she really is.

Slowly she begins to stir. She blinks at the brightness of the room before focusing on him. "You're… you're here," Stella whispers.

"Of course I am," he smiles, squeezing her hand.

"And everyone else?"

"In the waiting room. They didn't want to overwhelm you."

"I… I'm okay then?"

"You'll be fine," he decides to leave the bad news until later.

"The bullet didn't hit anything?"

Mac hesitates, "Stella, you probably… won't be able to… have children."

She remains quiet for several minutes. "There's always adoption."

"You lost quite a lot of blood so they gave you a transfusion to be safe."

"Great," she sighs, "I have some stranger's blood inside me."

"A stranger? I always thought we were close," he smiles.

"You?" she frowns. "Your blood is in me?"

"Is there a problem with that?"

"No. It's just a little weird."

"You didn't think I'd give blood?" he asks. "You're my best friend. Of course I would."

"I hope I don't turn into you now," she laughs lightly, immediately stopping as it hurts. "When can I get out of here?"

"Few days most likely. But you're not going back to work right away," he warns.

"But I -," she protests.

"I'm not giving in," he says firmly. "You should rest now."

"I'll rest later when you all go home."

"I'm not leaving you here alone."

"Mac, you need sleep too."

"Then I'll sleep right here."

"I'll order the nurse to send you home."

"If you don't want me with you, I'll go back to the lab and work on finding your shooter."

She scowls, "Fine."

"The others probably want to see you now. While they're in here, I'll find you some decent food."

"Thanks."

Mac stands and gives her a light kiss on the forehead before leaving the room. She watches him exit, confusion crossing her face.

"You're alive," Lindsay bursts out, entering with the other three behind her.

"Yeah, thanks to Sheldon."

"I didn't do anything. Mac's the one that gave blood," Hawkes says.

"You had us all worried, especially Mac," Danny tells her. "I've never seen him so concerned."

"He told me not to bother you about the attack, but the sooner he's locked up, the better. Want to tell us what happened?" Don pulls out his detective pad.

"I was picking something up off the floor so I was bent over. Then I stood up to move over a little where I saw more trace. The bullet just hit me out of nowhere."

"Can you describe the shooter?"

"Yeah, I saw him crawl out the window after he shot me. He had blonde, kind of longish hair. Um… he was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, green or black maybe. Medium skin."

"Stel, you were bent down and the bullet hit you right when you stood up?" Danny checks.

"Yep."

"He was aiming at your head. You stood just as he pulled the trigger."

A/N: So she really is lucky to be alive. I've been meaning to update all week... I just didn't feel like it. I've got a really bad headache... it won't go away. I'm so tired... and I'm sick of band already. Only like four more week of it I think. He told us today that we did better than last week... which is odd 'cause like nobody paid attention at all this week during practice. Nothing much must have happened this week. Oh, NY... okay, still not too exciting. Except when Sid realized it was radiation. And the painter guy flirting with Stella. I probably should go take a shower since I haven't gotten one since like Thursday. Then I'm going to read. The second Bones book is kind of sad... someone kidnapped her cat and then lit it on fire and threw it into her house in the middle of the night. And I'm like two-thirds of the way through the book and she's got like three cases, none of which she's particularly close to solving. I should do homework though... but then I'd probably fall asleep. Not that I won't while reading. Well... hopefully I will update sometime this week. Maybe Tuesday. But I wouldn't get my hopes up. Please review.