[Disclaimer: First off as always I do not own anything. CSI: NY and all of the characters except for the ones I create myself are owned par CBS and its affiliates.

Author’s Note: This story centers on Stella and tells about her quest to find out the mysterious results of something left at a crime scene and what it has to do with her and her past. I don’t want to give too much away though because I want toi to read the story and as always reviews are great. It also has Smacked in it because well they’re just too good to leave out.

In appreciation: I would also like to give a huge thanks to AndorianIcePrincess_AIP for inspiring me to finally write my first CSI: NY/Smacked story. Thanks again girl, toi rock!]

Quest for a Family

Chapter One: The New Case

Stella’s POV
I awoke that lovely Monday morning in February very happy and started to think to myself. I had had a wonderful vacation and was ready to get back to the lab and back to the very handsome face I always look vers l'avant, vers l’avant to seeing, that of fellow detective, and my partner, Mac Taylor. Although we are just really good Friends and partners at work we have danced around something plus and have both expressed that we care for each other deeply. We’ve been there for each other through everything. I was there for him when his wife Claire died, I pushed him out of the way of a train compartment that could have crushed him instantly, have helped him with numerous cases that are personal, and was there for him after the whole Peyton ordeal amongst other times he has needed me I have always been there and always will be. He in return has been there for me and seen me through the tough, almost unsolvable cases, and proven to me what a valued asset I am to him and the team and that I can solve anything if I set my mind to it. He was also there for me after my nightmare with Frankie, my scare of being HIV positive, finding out the painful truth about Professor Papakota, and learning of my mother. He has been my rock and I would like to think I have been his as well but don’t want to take too much credit. I’m just a friend who is always willing to lend her hand if it is needed. Well time to get out of lit and get the jour started.

Detective First Grade Stella Bonasera lazily crawled out of lit and stumbled into her bathroom to shower, brush her teeth, fix her hair, and put on her makeup to prepare for the day. She turned on the hot water and let the steam fill her small bathroom as she shed her pajamas and climbed into the inviting shower. She quietly started to sing, “Holding me Tonight” par Carly Simon.

“You say you’re not worthy of me
But how do toi know when toi can’t see
Your eyes where midnight catches fire
I can’t describe this dizzy desire
Can toi be so insecure
That toi don’t know what this grin is for
Do toi think I always act this way
Silly and silent, and eager to stay
When you’re holding me tonight
Holding me tonight

toi think it’s all a mistake
That I’m Lost in a dream from which I’ll wake up
There you’ll be just another guy
toi could never be but I dare toi to try
When you’re holding me
Holding me tonight

I walk into your room
toi blush when I see it in a mess
So I undress and close my eyes
A room with a view
Is in the dark with you
But that should come as no surprise
It’s not a matter of mind
the choice of the cœur, coeur is a different kind
it’s always been a mystery
when toi walk into the room it happens to me
and when you’re holding me
Holding me tonight”

After a few minutes in the douche and has rinsed all of the soap suds off of her body she exits and wraps a big, warm, soft towel around her wet form. She then puts a generous amount of Aquafresh toothpaste on her baby blue toothbrush and begins to brush her teeth leaving them sparkly white and then rinses her mouth out with some spearmint mouthwash followed par some floss. She then continues to dry off and wraps herself in her rose peignoir de bain, peignoir and opens the door to let some of the steam out that had accumulated from her shower. She then grabs her hair dryer and lets it blow on the mirror to evaporate the steam that formed upon it. suivant item to tackle is her hair. She points the hair dryer at her head and allows a few minutes to pass as her hair is now a dry mess set atop her head. She gently brushes any tangles that have formed out and then applies some mousse to style her hair. suivant she grabs a glass bottle of vanilla scented perfume and applies it to her neck and arms. Before applying her makeup she goes and picks out a dark red, black, and gray checkered, v-neck, sleeveless haut, retour au début and a pair of comfortable black pants with her favori black four inch heel boots. After that she pulls out a red dentelle bra and matching red dentelle panties. She also pulls out her black leather veste that goes well with the other items of clothing she has picked out for the day. She then went back into the bathroom and applied some black eyeliner to her eyes followed par some light brown eye shadow which complimented her skin well. She then put on some mascara and some pale rose lipstick which she then covered with some fraise scented lip gloss. suivant she put on a small pair of diamond earrings and a small silver chain with a cœur, coeur emblem attached to it. After putting on her make-up and jewelry she went to her bedroom and changed in to the clothes she had laid out earlier and then went to the cuisine to eat a small breakfast. She toasted a bagel and got an orange out of the refrigerator along with a carton of orange jus, jus de and poured herself a glass. While waiting for the bagel to pain grillé she started to peel and section the orange then as the bagel popped up she pulled it out of the four and placed it onto a plate and spread some cream cheese on it.
Once done eating her breakfast she retrieved her cell phone from the charger deposited it into her purse, grabbed her keys, and left her apartment ready for the day. After locking the door she traveled downstairs and waited for a cab to pull up. She told the cab driver the location of her workplace and he pulled out into the busy New York traffic. About fifteen minutes later she arrived at work and journeyed up to the floor her office was on. She walked out of the elevator and slowly walked towards her office. On her way to her office she was stopped par Mac who a dit he needed to talk to her.
“Good morning Stella, toi look very lovely today. When toi get a few minutes we need to talk. Did toi enjoy your vacation?”
“Thank toi Mac and yes I did. Let me put my things in my office and check my email and then I will meet toi in your office so we can talk. It’s good to be back. I’ll tell toi all about my vacation and toi can fill me in on what I missed.”
“Okay, see toi in a few minutes.”
Stella made her way to her office and put her bourse, sac à main away in her bureau drawer. After that she booted up her computer and logged in to her email account to check her messages. After replying to a few messages, she checked her office voicemail, and returned a couple of calls. Then she made some follow up calls about some court hearings she was due to attend. Now she was ready to head off to Mac’s office to give him her undivided attention. She had missed her partner a lot and hadn’t realized how much until he stopped her in the hallway this morning. When he complimented her on how she looked her cœur, coeur melted and she knew she didn’t want to spend another vacation without him. She loved the man plus than anything in the world and only hoped he felt the same way in return. The problem was she didn’t have the faintest clue as to how to tell him. She cleared her thoughts and exited her office making her way to Mac’s office. When she arrived she entered and smiled as he waved her to come inside.
“Stella, I’m glad toi could make it we have several things we need to discuss. First off I need to fill toi in on three of last weeks biggest cases. Secondly I need to discuss this week’s court appearance with toi and lastly we need to talk about us.”
Stella stared back at him in shock.
“Um…us?”
“Yes, us. toi and I both know this is going somewhere and it would be childish to say we are just Friends when we both know our feelings go deeper than just friendship.”
“I…um…well…yes… they do… but, Mac? What are toi suggesting?” Stella finally stammers out.
“Stella I was wondering if toi would go out on a rendez-vous amoureux, date with me this Friday night after work?”
Stella’s cœur, coeur fell to the floor. Her eyes widened and face blushed.
“I… sure Mac I would l’amour to. What time should I be ready?”
“I’ll pick toi up at seven and dress casually trust me you’re going to l’amour it.”
I l’amour toi my mind wanted to scream but I quickly shut it up.
“Okay I can’t wait.”
“Now let’s get on to the cases toi missed last week.”
Before getting into the lecture Mac’s pager went off. He held up a finger and checked his message to see what was up.
“Double homicide in the middle of Central Park, toi up to it?”
“Of course, boss. Let me get my kit and jacket.”
“I’ll meet toi in the elevator.”
Mac left for his office and Stella headed to the lab to pick up her kit and then to the locker room to retrieve her jacket. She met Mac at the elevators and they headed downstairs and out the front doors to the Avalanche. They climbed in, Mac put the emergency lights on and they hurried off to the crime scene. Once they arrived at Central Park both exited the vehicle with kits in tow and walked over to the crime scene. Stella walked over to the first dead body which was a female aged about eighteen to twenty-four years and had multiple stab wounds to her chest and abdomen along with a deep cut likely inflicted par blunt forced trauma to her head. Mac approached the seconde dead body, a male aged about forty-five years give ou take a few and he had multiple stab wounds as well and a single gun shot wound to the head. Each Les Experts began to photograph their victim and process the bodies. Mac found several chewed up toothpicks around the male corpse which he bagged to be sent off to DNA to see if they were a match to anyone in the system. Stella also found the female victims bourse, sac à main and started to dust it for prints and scan the items for any clues that might lead to her cause of death. She found the victim’s ID and it showed her name to be Karen Landes, a twenty-one an old student at Chelsea University. Stella collected the purse, her cell phone, and her I-Pod which were all scattered around the body to be taken back to the lab for processing. After collecting all of the evidence from the crime scene and talking to some witnesses Mac and Stella got back in the Avalanche and headed back to the lab.
They arrived back at work and sent the evidence they had recovered to the lab for testing. Mac got called in to a brief meeting with Chief Sinclair and asked Hawkes to start processing and examining the evidence he had found. Before that he dropped off the toothpicks to Lindsay to see if she could find a match to the DNA in any of the systems. Meanwhile Stella gave Adam the female victims’ clothes and bourse, sac à main and asked him to start processing them while she processed the victims’ phone and I-Pod. About an heure later Lindsay came into Stella’s office with some urgent news she needed to discuss with Stella.
“Hey Stella, toi got a minute?” Lindsay announced while walking into Stella’s office.
“Sure, Lindsay what’s up?”
“Well I just got done running some DNA on some toothpicks Mac found at the scene and here are the results. I matched them to every file in the system and this is what I found I thought toi should see it first.”
Lindsay hands Stella the file. Stella takes the file and starts to read over the results.
“How… th-this can’t be possible? Lindsay did toi double check this?”
“Yes, three times actually. There’s no other explanation.”
“Has Mac seen this?”
“No I brought it to toi first, figured toi would want to see it.”
“Okay thanks Lindsay I’ll tell Mac about it and I’ll talk to toi later I got to go. Thanks for telling me.”
“No problem, toi going to be alright, Stella?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”