A/N: Thank you all for your great reviews. They surely mean a lot to me. And now let's move on to the second chapter.

Chapter 2

"Take a vacation Stella."

It was a good thing that she didn't have anything in her mouth, or she would have choke on her food. "Excuse me? What do you mean by 'take a vacation'?"

Chuckling, Mac took a sip of his coffee. He and Stella had decided to have a lazy Sunday morning and spend it in one of the several diners in New York. The last days and weeks had been quite exhausting and since they both weren't on call this weekend, he had invited Stella to join him for breakfast. "Well vacation; you know this time of the year when you don't go into work, but do something relaxing?"

Pulling a face, she glared at him. "Funny, Mac. But seriously, what makes you think that I need a vacation?"

Mac just shrugged. "We had a rough couple of weeks, no make it months. And you're stressed Stella. You know that as much as I do. Your overtime rate is high enough to take a two months vacation, so…"

"Well I'm certainly not the only one," she argued back.

"Honestly, I'm the only one who has more overtime than you do," Mac replied. "And since I want my colleagues and friends to be relaxed, it's you who has to take some time for yourself." Seeing her disbelieving face he continued. "Well Danny and Lindsay do their best not to do any overtime and Sheldon used his, a couple of weeks ago when he went on this trip to Europe with his college friend."

Knowing that he was right about it, Stella sighed. This didn't make it better though, because she didn't want to take a vacation. This was certainly not the topic she'd expected when Mac had asked her for their breakfast date. "I don't know…though I could use that time to renovate my apartment," she thought out loud.

"Nope, you won't."

"I won't?" she replied confused.

"Yep; because you won't spend your vacation in New York."

"Why won't I?"

"Because this will only lead into the situation that you'll visit the lab. And there's no way that you'll spend your vacation there."

"I kinda doubt that you're in any place to tell me where I spend my vacation, Mac," she replied a bit annoyed. Not only did he want to tell her that she had to take a vacation, no, now he also wanted to tell her where.

"Stella," Mac sighed and cursed the Grecian mentality. "I'm asking you that as a friend, not as your boss. I'm sure that it'll be good for you to stay somewhere else..just.. to see something new, meet other people…blow the cobwebs away.."

"But going on vacation alone is…boring, Mac." As alluring a city trip did sound, doing it on your own was boring.

"I know," he nodded and really did. Since Claire had died, he had done anything to avoid going on trips. It just wasn't the same to sit alone in your hotel room in the evening as when there was someone else and you could talk with them about the day. "Aren't there any friends you want to visit?"

"No, all of my friends live in New York." She didn't have that many friends in particular and none that have moved into another city.

"Hm, okay…" This made it a bit harder for sure. Even though he wanted her to take this vacation, he also wanted her to enjoy it of course. "No place you ever wanted to visit?"

"No," she shook her head. "Not alone anyway."

"I see. Maybe a nice beach vacation? It doesn't have to be something cultural."

"Yeah," she mumbled, but was still rather discontent with Mac's idea in general. "So you want me to fly to Hawaii?"

"No," he laughed, "though if you want to, just go there," he teased.

"No thank you, Mac. I'll wait for that until my honeymoon," she smirked.

"Oho...honeymoon, now it's getting interesting." He really had to remember that. In case it ever happened. "But seriously Stella, I haven't thought about Hawaii, but something more…closer?" And before she could interrupt him, he continued. "Florida? Miami in particular?"

"Miami?" she asked. "Why Miami?"

"It just came into my mind, because I talked to Horatio just the day before yesterday," he shrugged.

"You did?" she asked intrigued. She hadn't talked to Horatio for a few days now; or was it weeks? She really couldn't say. The days had been so hectic sometimes, she hadn't even known which exact date it was. And her desire to phone someone after coming home had easily been beaten by the desire for at least a couple of hours of sleep.

"I did, yes," he nodded and could tell that mentioning Horatio's name had piqued her interest. "I told him about Lucy's christening," he continued and took the last bite of his waffle.

"Oh?" she asked and looked at him expectantly. "I wanted to call him, but totally forgot it," she sighed.

"I don't think that he will hold this against you," Mac chuckled. "He'd rather be worried about the reason why you've been so busy, instead of being mad because you didn't call him." That's at least the Horatio he knew. Plus, Horatio had indeed asked him about the team's well-being and Stella's in particular.

"But still," she argued, "I should have called him. He's very interested in Lucy, or at least he had been in Boston."

This time it was Mac whose interest was piqued. "Yeah?" He never had had the chance to ask Stella about Boston and what had happened there, so this was his chance now to get some information.

Smiling, Stella nodded. "Mhm, I needed a Christmas present for her and Horatio helped me finding something. The nightgown had actually been his idea."

"Well it seems that he not only has a good taste in his own clothing then," Mac chuckled. "It's a good thing that Lucy is a girl or he might have opted for a little suit."

"I wouldn't bet against it," Stella laughed, picturing little Lucy in a tiny version of Horatio's trademark suits.

"But stop alluring me from your vacation plans," Mac winked at her, because he knew exactly that Stella would do her best to change the subject in the hope that he might forget about this idea.

"Damn," Stella groaned for good measure and gave him one of her best charming smiles. "It was worth a try."

"Indeed, but I'm a CSI, remember?" Mac easily replied and held up his hand, before she could say something. "But seriously, give him a call. If there's someone who knows his city, then it's Horatio. I'm sure he knows a good hotel where you can get a room, even though it's on short notice."

"Short notice?" Stella went in. "When do you want me to take the vacation?" she asked warily, already knowing that she wouldn't like the answer.

"Actually, the week after next," Mac replied calmly and braced himself for her reaction.

"The week after next?" Stella shrieked. "But how should I book a room-"

"That's why you're calling Horatio, my dear," he smiled.

"And the flight?" Stella asked, thinking that Mac had too much fun with this.

"Well…to be honest.. I already booked you a flight," he dropped the bomb.

"You what?" she exclaimed, not caring about the fact that they weren't the only customers in the diner. "Is this some kind of set up?"

"No," he shook his head. "But I knew that you'd argue with me about your vacation and sometimes it's better to present you with a fait accompli." Not to forget that he wanted to test the one or other theory.

"I can't believe you did that," she sighed. Of course it was a really sweet gesture of Mac and she loved him for that, but still she didn't like it when someone was deciding something over her head. She was quite stubborn when it came to this situation actually. Must be the Grecian side of her she guessed.

"Sue me," Mac chuckled and let the waitress know that he wanted to pay.

"I'll certainly give that a second thought," Stella threatened and resigned herself to her fate. Mac had after all paid for her ticket and she couldn't let it forfeit. Sneaky man!

"But after your vacation please," Mac replied easily and paid for their meal. "So what do you think about a walk in the park?" he asked and got up from his seat.

"Is this your way of calming me?" she asked and followed him outside.

"Depends. Is it working?"

"Yeah…" She couldn't stay mad at him, especially not because of such a sweet and caring gesture.

"Then it is," he grinned and made a quick getaway.

"Oh you!" Stella exclaimed and quickly followed him. It was a good thing that she was a CSI; they would never find his body.

Tbc… you know the drill^^