Surprise!!

Okay, throughout the course of this roller coaster ride, I've done a bit a chopping to a couple of chapters, deleting a scene here and there. So, I thought seeing as you've all be truly amazing, I'd post all the missing parts and see what y'all thought of them. Should I have kept them in? haha

I've put which chapter they were from, and why I deleted them. Enjoy!

Xx

Chapter 6. - This was a bit of late night fun. I was trying to get to sleep, but this scene would not disappear, and was just begging to be written. I think I must have just watched 'An Officer and a Gentleman' or something heehee Well, that kind of gives away what it's about ;) This was the dream that Stella was rudely ripped from, in the Valentines chapter, by the florist. I think this is the proverbial light bulb above her head, when she realises she just might have feelings for Mac.

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"Where is she?"

"I, er, layout room, I think," Stacy replied, shock on her face and in her voice at the sight before her.

He took off down the familiar maze of hallways, easily remembering the route. Passers-by regarded him with a mixture of shock and surprise, with added thankfulness that he was actually before them, alive and well. And, of course, lust for a man in uniform.

He rounded another corner, seeing the intended destination straight ahead.

A woman looked up from her microscope, amazement etched in her silent features. Stella only stirred, lifting her head from her own microscope, when the door opened. She turned to see him, a gasp escaping. He stepped forward, devouring her lips before another sound could be uttered.

He swept her up in his arms, carrying her from the labs to a round of applause -

Stella's eyes snapped open. When the fog and haze finally cleared from her mind, she realised the clock-radio was belting out Joe Cocker's hit 'You lift me up'. The soundtrack to 'An Officer and a Gentleman'. The film about Marines.

"Oh, this can't be good," she said, clicking the 'off' button.

Xx

Chapter 12. - This scene is set in Sullivan's when all the gang are back together to welcome Mac back to civilisation, just prior to Carl Stankevich's arrival. I cut it because I didn't get a translation in time for it to be posted. I wanted Stella to have written a note on Mac's wrist cast saying "It's so good to have you home, but if you think of leaving us again, I will be forced to chain you to the Statue of Liberty. All my love, Stella." I was going to have most of it in Greek, but with one line in Italian to emphasize that she meant business, 'cos y'all know how Italy has a kind of affiliation with, let's say, forcefulness ;) lol

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Aiden grabbed the cue chalk from the pool table and wandered over to Danny who was lining up a shot. "Did you see his cast?"

"Mac's?"

"No, Ghandi's. Yes, Mac's."

"Yeah, I saw it, Smart-Ass."

"Could you read what it said?"

"Most of it was in Greek apart from one Italian line."

"…and?"

He hit the white ball, the blue he aimed at missing the far pocket. He straightened himself up again and tried to remember what he had read. "It said… 'I will be forced to chain you to the Statue of Liberty'."

"Kinky," she replied, bending over to line up her next shot.

"I didn't think you was into 'kinky', Mrs Anderson."

"I said I wasn't into being strapped to a hood," she potted the 8-ball, winning yet another round.

Danny shook his head in disbelief. How did she keep winning? "Is that right?"

"Yeah, it's such a shame I had to return my 'cuffs when I left…" Aiden said, leaning across her boyfriend to put the cue away.

"Shame…" he muttered, the scent of her hair invading his nostrils.

"If only I knew someone who still worked there…" she looked in to his darkened baby blue eyes, her face barely inches from his.

"If only…"

She shrugged, moving away, "I'll have to call Chad sometime."

"You do and you're on your own," he straightened himself up, suddenly remembering where they were. He put his own cue away and followed her around the table.

"Oh, now Danny, jealousy doesn't become you."

"If anyone's jealous it's Chad," he grinned, pulling Aiden in for a kiss, making sure all the bar knew she was his girl.

X

Chapter 26. - I wrote this scene while actually in said pool and going down said slide and nearly breaking (un)said nose. face palm Anyhoo, I thought it would be a cute little scene where Mac was trying to get Stella to relax and forget about work. I mentally wrote it in the pool and loved it, but when it came to electronically writing it, I didn't like it as much, and couldn't remember some of what I said lol I don't think I mentioned that did I? The vacation I took while writing this was to Portugal. And the line "Okay, Where's MTV and who's crib is this?" was my first words when I saw the pool lol Before giggling thinking of the "Let's pimp this ride" line heehee

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"I know the perfect way for you to forget about work…" He'd been around Danny too long, because Stella definitely couldn't mistake his patented evil eye twinkle.

Stella followed him out to the far side of the pool, where children of all ages were cackling away and sliding into oblivion. "Oh, no. Not gonna happen."

"Come on, it'll be fun," Mac smirked, leaning an arm on the edge.

"Mac, I'm 38 years old. I don't slide."

"And yet you run over rooftops to catch hardened criminals and can assemble a M15 in how many seconds?"

"…45."

"But you don't slide."

"…No."

"That's too bad…" Mac climbed up the steps, lay straight as a die on the watered surface and disappeared over the edge.

Stella could hear the splash so clambered up to check he was still alive. It took her a second to find him, swimming under one of the small waterfalls at each side. The fact that there was waterfalls and Mac was under them was reason enough for her to sit down on the slide.

She took a breath to compose herself and forget the amount of people watching a grown woman in amongst a line of 8year olds on a freaking slide. Laying down she pinched her nose with her fingers, screwed her eyes together tight and let go.

A yelp sounded just before she hit the water and slid beneath the wave. The force from the currants flipped and turned her around, but she had to admit…it was actually fun. She clambered to the surface, gasping for air and smoothing her hair back from her face. Mac was applauding her from under his waterfall, along with a few nosy sunbathers who had watched the commotion. She smirked at Mac and swam over to him, dipping through the cascading water.

"Told you it was fun."

"Shut up," she chuckled, sticking her tongue out at him.

X

This one was, well, a pipe dream. This was going to be somewhere in the future of which I wasn't sure I was going to be writing or not. Even so, I found myself typing it up and saving it, so naturally it had to be posted. Who knows, maybe this will make a reappearance at some point…

Mac quietly shut the door behind him, trying to make sure no unnecessary noise was made, in case baby Gabriella was sleeping. He dropped his briefcase at the door and hung his jacket on the peg and made his way to the living room.

The baby's moses basket was sat on the table, a very tired Mom sat on the couch fighting slumber.

"Hey," he whispered, placing a kiss in her curls. "How we doing?"

"We're doing good now. She has slept, she has eaten and she has pooped. In that order. She has also cried, and pooped some more."

"Yeah, I hear they do that a lot," he quipped, peering into the carriage with a beaming smile. Blue eyes locked onto his while a hand jutted out. Mac fed a finger into the tight grasp.

"And it looks like we have a daddy's girl," Stella almost moaned, a yawn escaping. She raked a weary hand through her hair.

Mac beamed even more and kissed the tiny fist before turning back and addressing Stella. "Okay, game plan. You are going to draw yourself a hot bath, with oils and bubbles and whatever else you can throw in there to make you relax. Then, you are going to come to the kitchen and enjoy a meal expertly made by myself and your daughter. And after that, you are going to go to bed, read a book if you can last that long, and sleep while I take night shift."

"You have work in the morning-"

"I am taking night shift, you are sleeping." He looked sternly at her, his eyes twinkling with mischief, "End of conversation."

Stella relented with a smirk. She kissed Mac and left for the bathroom, another yawn escaping.

Mac watched her go, he liked how he still wanted to watch her leave a room. "C'mon Kiddo…" he scooped up the handles to the basket and placed her back down on the kitchen table.

He talked her through what 'they' were going to be making for Mommy, seeing as she was so tired from taking care of such a beautiful baby all day. He didn't see when Stella snuck back from the bathroom to check all was okay. She saw him giving a show-and-tell to the five-week old baby that one of the differences between lasagne and Moussaka was egg plant…

Stella smiled proudly and contently and escaped back to up her tub.

Xx

Well, there you go. Thank you each and everyone of you - those who read and reviewed each chapter; those who just read and those who simply popped in. Many thanks to those who PM'd me to get my butt into gear and post another chapter, too! You guys where hilarious and ohso touching with all of your words of encouragement (and, in some cases, violence!).

Stay safe,

Becs xx