Secrets || Danny

Stella shook her head and sighed. "This job brings out the best and worst in us, doesn't it?"she asked, mindlessly studying the tile pattern on the floor.

Danny laughed a bit as he watched Stella looking at the tile patterns on the floor. "Yeah it sure does. Is it really almost 1 am, Stell?" he asked, blinking twice to see if it in fact was that late.

Stella pulled out her phone to check the time. She then nodded. "Yeah, I've got 1:07 am here,"she replied, putting her phone away again.

Danny sighed. "Well I'll be a damn son of a bitch!!!" he said, chuckling at his own comment. "Mac you're probably wondering what the hell we're still doing here. U already know the answer to that!!" he added.

Stella smirked and looked over at Danny, shoulders shaking in barely contained laughter. "Where the hell did that come from??"she asked, finally bursting out in to laughter.

Danny didn't know what Stella was laughing at. "What?? Where did what come from?" he asked, looking over at Stella.

Stella giggled and smirked before she quoted him, "Well I'll be a damn son of a bitch!!" She then continued her laughing, shaking her head in pure amusement.

Danny shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, Detective. I guess it just came out. I'm sure Mac over here got a kick out of it just as much as u did." he said.

Stella smirked and looked over to see Mac was eyeing the two of them through only partially opened eyes and grinning. "Damn right I got a kick out of it,"Mac said with a smirk, now eyeing Danny individually, amused with the younger CSI.

Danny smiled and even laughed. "I'm glad u did. I'm here to amuse people. My next show will be in the next five minutes so stay tuned. How'd u sleep, boss?" he asked.

Mac smirked. "Pretty alright,"he replied honestly, cautiously sitting up a little bit and eyeing the IV line carefully. The last thing he needed was to break something. By now, the effects of the anesthetic were long gone and he felt a bit better than he did earlier. "How long have you two been sitting there giggling like teenagers?"he asked, smiling a bit as he looked back at both of his CSIs.

Danny looked at Stella. "Since about 11 pm, Mac. We got Calaveras. He's being humiliated as we speak. And, while u were taking your beauty sleep, we were sharing stories, I'm sure u probably heard our conversations." he said.

Mac smirked. "I was in and out, so yeah, I heard a few,"he replied, yawning and shaking his head a bit to through off the rest of his tiredness.

Danny nodded and yawned himself. "Well u look good, a lot better than when we last talked which was like two days ago. Ok maybe not that long, but...welcome back, the old Mac Taylor." he said, smiling.

Mac smiled and looked over at him. "The last time we spoke face to face was about a month ago, Danny, and even on the phone I wasn't bruised and bleeding,"he pointed out, smirking a bit. "Ok, maybe once I was, but that's beside the point,"he said.

Stella smiled. "Uhh Danny could u give Mac and I a moment alone?" she asked. Danny nodded. "Yeah sure, I'll be outside getting some fresh air." he said. "Thanks Danny." Stella said.

Mac looked over at Stella, a bit of confusion evident in his gaze. "Something on your mind, Stell?"

Stella smiled. "Mac, I know the conversation we had was a bit......I don't know.....awkward. And I also know that if u don't wanna talk about it, then feel free to stop me. But now that u know my secret, the whole mention of Don being in the room, yeah that was a dead giveaway, pardon the bad pun. But I'm not gonna be like a school girl waiting for her prince charming. I just don't know how u knew when I hadn't mentioned a word about it until that night." she said.

Mac smiled and looked over at her. "I knew because I felt the same way, Stella and I know you too well to miss that something was on your mind,"he said softly.

Stella nodded. "I didn't know u felt the way I did, Mac. But I don't wanna force u to do something you're definitely not comfortable with. I don't have the right to push u in my direction just because I want u to feel like I feel." she said.

Mac smiled a bit. "You're not forcing me to do anything, Stella. There's no changing the way I feel about you and there's no changing how you feel for me."

Stella nodded and laughed a bit. "But we can't, Mac. Or maybe I can but I don't know. I've never felt this way, and I can assure u Danny knows what the hell is going on. I feel bad for pushing him out of the room, I shouldn't be afraid to tell u how I feel about u with him present. After all, it's Danny, u know?  Mac, please shut me up, I think I've tortured u enough with my words." she said.

Mac was chuckling by the time she finished. "Torture? Torture was what my kidnapper put me through,"he said, getting serious.

Stella nodded, to the point where a tear rolled down her face. "I know, Mac, I know. I'm at a loss for words right now, as u can probably tell. I'm not quite sure what's happening here." she said.

Mac looked over at her, reaching a hand over to lay it on hers. "I know one day you guys are going to need to ask the hard question of "What did he do to you?" The best I can give you guys is an answer to that question,"he said, looking over her in worry.