Disclaimer: Not mine. If they were, do you REALLY think that I'd be here writing fic? No, I wouldn't! I'd be telling Mac and Adam to strip and get it ON!!!

AN#1: BDSM ALERT! ANYONE NOT COMFORTABLE WITH IT SHOULD CLEAR THE HELL OUT!!!

AN#2: Ok, any homophobes, turn back now. This IS slash, and it WILL contain adult situations. Don't like, don't read. Con crit is welcome, and flames should be at least 3ft high. It gets cold in Berwick during the winter. And the heating bill is atrocious.

AN#3: I fired my muse.

Mac, Adam, and co. sat around the table in the break room, trying to figure out how the perp had gotten into Adam's apartment without leaving anything behind but a collar, cuffs, and little trace. Everyone looked up as Lindsay came into the room.

"There was no evidence of tampering," she told Adam, "But we DID change your oil and brake pads."

"Oh, ha ha," Adam snorted.

"So, where are you doing to stay?" Danny asked, bringing everyone back on topic, "If this guy already found out your first hotel room, what's to stop him from finding out your second?"

There was silence for a few seconds as everyone thought, then:

"You can stay with me," Mac offered, "I have a spare bedroom."

"You sure?" Adam asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, it's no problem," Mac then grinned slightly, feeling a bit playful, "And you won't have to worry about finding a ride to work if you car decides to go on strike again."

Stella laughed, Danny and Flack snickered, Hawkes snorted, and Lindsay looked on in mock shock.

"Did Mac just make a joke?" Lindsay asked, pretending to be dazed.

That just made everyone laugh harder. Adam just stuck his tongue out at Mac. Then Adam's cell rang, Fort Minor's 'Remember The Name' as the ringer. Adam answered.

"Hey, Ley, what's up?" Adam suddenly when pale, then practically yelled, "WHAT?!?"

A womans voice yelled back out of the cell phone, clearly agitated, "I said Carl is out of jail! Can you fucking hear me now? He's out, been out for almost two months, and you know he's going to come after you! I would've been able to tell you sooner, but I had a hard time tracking you down! God DAMMIT, Adam!"

"Fuck," Adam whimpered, and let the phone slip out of his fingers and fall to the table.

"Adam? ADAM?" the voice coming over the cell started to sound worried.

Adam didn't look like he was going to be picking it back up anytime soon, so Mac did.

"This is detective Mac Taylor with the New York Crime Lab. I'm Adam's boss. What's going on?" he practically barked into the phone.

"Detective Ley Novik, Phoenix PD," the woman snapped back, "And as for what's going on, a very dangerous man with a bone to pick with Adam was just released on parole. If you want to know anything more, ask Adam. It's his life your sticking your nose into."

Detective Novik's angry replied seemed to bring Adam back to his senses. He grabbed the phone from Mac and said, "Dammit, Ley, do you have to be a rude bitch?"

There was silence from the phone, and then a sullen, "He started it."

Adam glaced over at Mac, took in his expression, and muttered, "I'm surrounded by five years olds, and you two are separated by more than two thousands miles and are still finding a way to have a pissing contest. And you two haven't even met each other!"

There was more silence from the cell, then, "Damn, Adam, what'd you do? Switch?"

Even though he knew that no one one his end but Stella would know what Ley ment, he still blushed.

"Fuck you, Ley."

"No, babe, fuck you," was the smooth comeback, "Ok, I told you Carl's out, I've bitched at you, I've bitched at your immediate superior...anything I've forgotten?"

"Yeah, that you forgot to remind me to warn everybody in the room with me that you're crazy," Adam told her seriously.

"Love, that's a given," Ley told him, then said, "Shit, gotta go. Here comes the chief."

"Bye."

As Adam started to hit the 'End Call' button, a man could dimly be heard yelling, "Did you loose your fucking mind, Novik? Why the Hell'd you hit Sanchez?"

"Wait, you HIT him?" Adam exclaimed into the phone.

"So what if I did?" Ley replied, and hung up.

Adam put his cell phone away, looked around at the serious faces surrounding him, and sighed.

"What more is there to this story?" Mac demanded.

Adam looked around at everyone, then said bluntly, "I'm gay. When I was twenty I was in a relationship with Carl Sanchez. He almost beat me to death. I charged him with attempted murder. The jury agreed with me. He's been in jail ever since."

As he took in the shocked faces around him, Adam added, "There's also a good chance that he's the one whose been killing subs."

********************

When Stella heard that someone was after Adam, rage and fear had flooded her system. Fear for Adam, and rage that someone would dare try to hurt him. Then, when she learned that the same man had almost killed Adam, she had gone deathly white. And when it was revealed that the same man might be killing subs, she once again did what she'd been doing for the past few weeks and put two and two together.

Carl Sanchez was the Dom Adam had trusted, and he was the reason Adam didn't live the lifestyle anymore.

Stella already knew Adam was a sub, and learning he was gay didn't faze her, but it might some of the others. She glanced around, surreptitiously taking in everyone's expressions.

Danny and Don looked at each other, then at Adam. Don said, "Don't worry, Adam. This guy comes after you, me'n Danny'll take him out."

"I know of a handy place to kill him," Hawkes offered.

"Get in line," Mac told them.

"YOU get in line," Lindsay, in turn, told Mac.

"Yeah," Stella agreed with Lindsay, glad none of them were freaking out over Adam's outing, "Ever heard of ladies first?"

Adam looked at all of them, then smiled softly.

"Thanks, guys."

********************

Danny and Don looked at each other, conveying several things between them, before leaping to reassure Adam that they didn't care he was gay and that if this Carl Sanchez came after him, they'd take him out.

How could they not be okay with Adam being gay, when they were as well?

The two lovers grasped each other's hands under the table, each silently promising themselves that if this guy came after Adam, they WOULD kill him.

********************

When Mac learned what was going on, it took all his self control to keep his emotions off his face. That someone was daring to go after something that belonged to Mac...

Mac blinked when he reran that sentence through his head, then gave a mental groan.

Oh, fuck.

So much for keeping his Dom side under wraps when he was around Adam.

And then, as Stella had done, Mac put two and two together. Adam was gay. Adam had been in a relationship with a man that might be the person who was killing subs. Ergo, that man was a Dom.

Stella had said there was a male sub working at the lab.

Adam was that sub.

As everyone else was talking, Mac sat there and began to make a plan.

*********************

Everyone else had gone home, with orders from Mac not to show up until 10 am the next day. That had sparked off some arguements about coming in late during such a hot case, to which Mac had replied that they all need some extra time.

"You ready?" Mac asked Adam.

"Yeah," Adam replied, picked up his bag, and followed Mac to the elevators.

The ride over to Mac's place was uneventful and soon they were in the apartment, Mac showing Adam where stuff was.

Just as they were about to go into the spare bedroom, Mac asked:

"Adam? You're a sub, aren't you?"

Adam locked gazes with Mac, then gasped as he saw emotions there he had never hoped to see.

There was affection there, and lust, and something that demanded submission.

"Adam? It's up to you."

Adam looked up at Mac, knees weak with arousal and attraction.

"Yes."

And then Mac was on him.

Whew, wasn't quite expecting all that to come out! Tell me wha'cha think, peep.