Everyone who read "If Love Would Be Easy" - dig in your mind for the end of the last chapter. We start right the next morning. For those who didn't read that story, I think you should go back and do that first - otherwise you would be very confused ;-)

Okay folks - first, we finish the case from the previous story (in case nobody noticed, it hadn't been solved yet #gg#). And then we see that the relationship moves on, right?

Please, please - read and then review, will you?

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Chapter 1 – Foreign Affairs

When Stella came to work the next morning, Mac was already in his office. He hadn't spent the night although she had offered to let him stay. And so far, she didn't dare push him. Both were still overly careful and protective about their newly found intimacy, neither of them wanted to destroy the wispy closeness they had just learned to enjoy so much.

"I'm sorry, Mac, I know I'm a little late," Stella started after entering his office.

"Mornin' Stella, did you have a good night..."

…without me?

He interrupted his question after he turned around and looked over to her.

"What happened to YOU?" he wondered, pointing at the bandage around her left wrist.

"Garden work," Stella replied as if it were the most logical thing in the world.

"Can't even leave you alone for a couple of hours, hum?" he teased her and was just about to turn back to the file drawer behind him.

"There you have it," she nodded. "I told you to stay last night."

Mac didn't reply. He would have loved to stay, but at the same time didn't want to rush things. He wanted to give them both time to get used to the situation and most of all, he didn't want to push her. What they had now after all the complications was so precious that it needed to be protected very carefully.

"Wait a second… Your apartment is on 12th floor, you don't have a garden!?" he suddenly realized.

"Yeah, well, not exactly garden work. I have this little box with herbs in my kitchen which I placed on a shelf next to the window, remember? I wanted to get it down to cut some fresh herbs for a dip, I slipped from the chair, I tried to catch myself with my hands and …"

She held up her bandaged wrist as the final explanation.

"… voilà!"

Mac shook his head with a smile.

"Garden work… You sure you didn't hurt your head as well?"

Stella shot him a warning look which instantly caused him to focus on some random file he grabbed from the drawer.

Luckily for him, at this moment Mac's beeper interrupted the silence. He took it from his belt and after a look at it turned back to Stella.

"Sid found something on the bones from the gym bag. Could you do me a favor and check it out? I need to finish some papers for the DA that can't wait…"

"Yes, sir!" she saluted with a smile. On her way along the corridors she wondered why once again it was her turn to go to the morgue.

XXXXX

Sid was standing at an autopsy table, his back towards the door when Stella entered the morgue.

"Hey Sid, you found something on our gym bag guy?"

They already knew from bone size and structure that the victim was male.

Sid turned around and his face lit up with a broad smile when he saw that Stella was responding his call instead of Mac.

"Twice on one day… Admit it, you can't live without me," he grinned.

Stella rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I haven't been here since yesterday…" she reminded him.

"Never mind. Anything within less than 24 hours I interpret as irresistible attraction," he stated.

Stella raised her left eyebrow. The right one wouldn't raise yet again, it was still slightly swollen after the ungentle contact with Mac's door earlier.

"If you say so… What have you got for us about the case?"

"Right, the case. Have a look at this," he motioned to the microscope in front of him and moved aside to let her check his findings.

She went over and examined the samples Sid had placed there. After a moment, she looked up and turned towards him.

"Is that gold??"

"Gold implants to be precise," he confirmed.

"Doesn't look like dental filling," Stella wondered.

"Not that kind of implant. It's something like acupuncture. They do that with dogs that have a slipped disc as an alternative method of treatment. I just didn't know they perform this on humans as well. I found it in the soft tissue that was left on some vertebras. You think you make something out of this?"

"Sure! We just need to find the one who performs this kind of treatment, shouldn't be too many possible 'suspects'. And after we find this guy, we can ask him if one of his patients started skipping appointments, so we could be able to identify the victim. Which again might help us with the suspect they arrested. Good work, Sid!"

"Anything to oblige!" he smiled at her with a nod.

"I'll go and tell Mac, he's gonna love this," Stella smiled back and turned to leave.

"Oh, Stella…" Sid called after her.

She turned around.

"Yeah?"

"Remember you owe me a date? I know it's very short notice, but since my wife is still out of town as you know… There's this med school reunion at Lincoln Center tonight, lots of old study buddies coming. It's with partners and …"

"Pick me up at 7:30?" Stella returned, interrupting his long explanation.

"You are coming with me??"

"Sure, why not? Could be interesting to find out if all coroners are like you or if we just got an extraordinary specimen," she grinned.

Sid flashed her a smile.

"I'll be on time," he replied. "Casual clothing, no dressing up required."

"Alright, see ya tonight."

XXXXX

After taking the samples Sid had extracted from the bones to Trace, Stella went back to the lab and worked on some evidence since Mac was still busy with paperwork.

After lunch, she went to his office. Through the glass door she could see him sitting at his desk, hunched over a heap of folders, reports and printouts. He briefly looked up when she tapped and gestured her in.

"You got time now? Sid found something really interesting which could be a break in both our gym bag case and Danny's deli robbery and I think you'd be excited to learn that …" Stella started while approaching his desk.

Mac gave a non-committal grunt.

She wasn't sure if it was meant to be a comment on what she had just told him or on something regarding the documents he was studying.

Uhum, not with me, she figured.

"… I'm having an affair with an alien," she finished her sentence.

Another grunt, a page was turned.

"And I just found out that I'm pregnant. I'm gonna have a little alien baby…"

"I see…"

Another page was turned.

Stella didn't continue, she was waiting for her words to sink in. She knew that eventually they would reach some part of his brain that wasn't on autopilot.

Then the folder suddenly nearly flew off the table and he looked up in shock.

"You are WHAT ?!?"

Ah, reaction…

TBC

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No worries - the first chapters are actually more the rest of "If Love..." - I just needed to make a cut there because the atmosphere changes here from previously emotional/complicated to now more light/playful. It's an introduction for more - and you know... The more you ask me, the faster you might get an update ;-)

xxxlittlesheepxxx