Glancing at the clock that just chimed 9 p.m., Dara
gathered all of the legal documents spread across her
coffee table and placed them inside of her briefcase.
She really didn't need to continue preparing for
Moreno's trial in the morning, and the legal work that
night had not been successful in keeping her mind off
of the day's events. Dara had no doubt that today had
been one of the worst days in her life. It began badly
when Felicia confronted her in Mac's office and
nothing she could remember could compare to the sight
of that gun pointed at her and the sound of the shots.
She was so terrified when the shots rang out that she
had actually lost consciousness for a few seconds
after the attempt. People say that a person's life
passes before their eyes when they're faced with
death. Now, from Dara's experience, she knew that that
is not necessarily true. When she first caught sight
of the gun, she immediately thought of her mother and
her sister. Then, when the first shot was fired, she
thought how unfair and ironic it was that her life
might end now as she and Mac were starting this
relationship. Stunned, she realized that when she
believed that this was the last moment of her life on
earth, Dara's thoughts were about Mac. Dara leaned
back on the couch and wrapped her arms around herself.
She said a prayer to God to thank him for keeping her
safe today. And her conscious mind and heart accepted
what her unconscious mind had known for probably a few
years. Dara accepted the fact that she was in love
with Mac Scorpio. With a wry thought she told herself
that it shouldn't have taken a near-death experience
for her to accept her feelings.
"Ohhhh," Dara sighed as she stretched her neck from
side to side and rubbed her neck. It would be 30
minutes before Mac arrived and Dara decided to use the
time to take a bath and try to relax. The telephone
rang just as she was rising from the couch and Dara
answered the call thinking that it was Mac saying that
he was on his way. She was caught off-guard when she
realized that Marcus Taggert was on the other end of
the call.
"Dara, I just heard what happened. Are you alright?"
The anxiety was palpable in Taggert's voice. He'd
heard from colleagues at the station that Dara wasn't
injured but he wanted hear and see for himself how she
was.
"Yes, Marcus. I'm fine. PCPD finest helped to keep me
safe by providing be with that bulletproof vest. I
wasn't physically hurt but I was shaken up a few hours
ago. But I'm much better now. Thanks."
"Garcia has agreed to take my shift tonight in
guarding Bannion. Have you eaten anything? I bet you
haven't. Let me pick up some carryout and I'll be
there within a hour."
"Marcus, I do have food here and in fact I was going
to eat in about a half-hour. But...?
"Great, then I can come right over."
"Marcus, hold on. Thank you, I really mean it, for the
offer but you don't have to come over tonight. Mac
should be here any minute."
"Mac. Mac is coming over to your apartment tonight?"
Taggert blinked his eyes in disbelief as her words
sunk in. "Isn't it kind of late for him to come over?"
Dara bit her lip to suppress a laugh. What is it about
men? It wasn't too late for Marcus to come over but it
was too late for Mac to stop by? She really did
cherish her friendship with Marcus and despite what he
said a few days earlier about how her new relationship
with Mac would not affect their friendship; she chose
her next words carefully.
"Actually, I'm getting ready to fix up the pull-out
bed here in the living room. Mac was with me
immediately after the shooting and he saw my emotional
state. He generously offered to stay with me tonight
and I accepted." She paused speaking, waiting for
Marcus to reply. There was silence at the end of the
line. Dara continued, "I'm really blessed that I have
great people in my life who care about me. I really do
appreciate your offer to come over but I'll be fine
tonight."
"I'll bet," was the uncharitable thought that crossed
Taggert's mind but he was wise enough not to verbalize
it. Instead he asked, "Can we get together tomorrow
for lunch during the trial lunch break? I'd like to
see for myself how you're doing."
"Of course," replied Dara accepting the lunch date.
"I'll see you around 12:30 tomorrow at the courthouse.
Goodnight. And thanks again." Dara disconnected the
call and took the cordless phone with her as she
hurried to the bathroom hoping to get in a few minutes
of soaking in the tub in before Mac arrived.
~~~*~~~~
"Coming," Dara shouted as she raced from her bedroom.
It was 9:45 and Dara was grateful that Mac's late
arrival gave her 15 more minutes to get ready. She
looked through the peephole and saw Mac standing there
with a small duffel bag. "Hi, come on in," Dara said
as she opened the door and stood aside so that Mac
could enter. He had to catch his breath as he gazed at
Dara. She was wearing no makeup and her
shoulder-length dark brown hair was pulled back into a
ponytail. "A die-hard Chicago Cubs fan" is what Mac
thought when he saw that she was wearing a
short-sleeved Chicago Cubs baseball shirt as
nightwear. The shirt came almost to her knees in the
front and back, but there were openings at the bottom
of the shirt on the sides that exposed the sides of
her caramel colored legs to the middle of her thighs.
She wasn't wearing shoes but only white ankle-length
socks on her feet. Mac blushed as he couldn't keep his
mind from wondering what she was wearing underneath
the baseball shirt.
Dara noticed that Mac didn't say a word when he
entered the apartment but that he just continued
looking at her. "I hope that I'm not making you
uncomfortable by changing into my night clothes," she
apologized. "I was so anxious to relax that I didn't
want to change into another set of clothes after
getting out of my suit." Prior to Mac's arrival Dara
knew that she was very casually dressed - after all,
she thought, people wear fewer clothes on outside than
I have on right now. However as Mac's eyes slowly rose
from staring at her legs to her shirt to her face,
Dara began to feel extremely underdressed. She
continued speaking, "But it's no big deal, let me go
and grab a pair of jeans."
Mac reached out his hand and gently grabbed her arm.
"No, please don't. I guess I did have a look of an
idiot just now. It's just that you look so, so..."
"You look beautiful." He simply said. Mac then pulled
her into his arms and kissed her. "And I certainly
don't want you to change your routine or anything else
because I'm here. Please don't change clothes.
Besides, but the time I leave tomorrow I'll be used to
the fact that my pulse can operate steadily at a 20%
faster rate than normal," he joked.
"You're good for a lot of things Mac Scorpio but
you're especially good for my ego." Dara took his coat
and told him to make himself comfortable while she
brought the simple supper that she'd prepare to the
living room. Mac slipped out of his shoes in the foyer
and headed into the living room. Coming further into
the living room, Mac couldn't help but grin broadly as
he saw a pillow, a sheet and a blanket placed next to
the foldout couch. "I guess there's no doubt about
where I'll be sleeping tonight," Mac thought to
himself. While Dara was preparing things he mentioned
that they had a few leads on who the shooter might
have been and that there should be much more
information tomorrow morning. Sensing that at the
moment Dara did not want to have an extended
conversation now about what happened early, Mac
excused himself for a few minutes. He went into the
bathroom and washed his face and hands, and he removed
the sweater that he wore while leaving on the long
sleeved white cotton shirt that was underneath.
Lingering in the bathroom for a moment he recognized
that it smelled lightly of the scented oil that he
could detect on Dara when he kissed her a few moments
earlier. "This is bad," Mac thought. He honestly came
to Dara's apartment tonight to listen to her, hold
her, and provide any emotional support she needed
after her horrendous experience today. Instead, all
he'd done since stepping foot in the apartment is to
daydream and fantasize about caressing and kissing
her, inhaling the scent of her as his face would press
against hers, and... "Get a grip Mac," he scolded
himself. Tonight think only of what Dara wants and not
of yourself. After splashing some cold water on his
face, Mac emerged from the bathroom just in time to
help Dara bring the food and drinks to the living
room.
"This smells great," Mac said setting a tureen of soup
on the coffee table. "What is it?"
"Hungarian goulash. I actually made it myself this
past weekend," Dara proudly replied. Dara didn't cook
often but when she put her time and effort into it,
Dara could prepare quite delicious dishes.
"Wow, this is really good" Mac commented.
"Hey, don't act so surprised," laughed Dara. "I like
to cook when I have time, like on the weekend or
holidays. But during the work week it's strictly
carryout."
During the rest of supper Mac and Dara kept the
conversation focused on lightweight topics and they
didn't discuss the shooting. Dara wondered if Felicia
ever got in contact with Mac today. However, Mac
didn't mention anything and next to the shooting,
Felicia was the topic Dara least liked to discuss.
After placing the dishes in the dishwasher, Dara asked
Mac if he'd like to pull out the bed and turn in for
the night. When he replied "Not yet," Dara sat down at
the end of the couch and motioned for Mac to sit
besides her. As he did so Dara positioned him on his
back so that he turned and placed his feet on the
couch and his head in Dara's lap.
"Mmmmmm," sighed Mac as Dara stroked her slender
manicured fingers through Mac's curly hair. "Mind you,
I'm not complaining but shouldn't I be doing this for
you?" To Mac it almost seemed as if Dara was taking
care of him instead of Mac taking care of her, which
is what he had planned for tonight.
"You mean that I should have my head on your lap
instead of you having your head on mine?" Dara
suppressed a chuckle; she couldn't help herself. It
seemed so easy these days to tease Mac and he walked
right into that one with his question. Sure enough,
Dara observed that Mac was starting to blush again as
he stared up into her face.
As payback for her continuous teasing, Mac decided to
turn the tables. "As I remember, this morning in my
office you said something about needing more practice
kissing," he challenged her sitting up and twisting
his body so that he was now facing her. "Let's start
now with practice session number one." Mac wrapped one
arm around her waist and used his other hand to pull
Dara's face towards his so that he could capture her
lips. As much as he wanted to deepen the kiss, Mac
only kissed Dara softly with slightly parted lips. He
wanted Dara to take the lead on any intimacy that
might occur tonight and he was surprised that he
didn't have to wait long for Dara's response. She used
her tongue to lightly graze it over Mac's lips. The
fingers on her right hand stroked the area of his
shirt over his chest. Mac inhaled his breath sharply
as he became aroused by Dara's response and at that
second Dara's tongue entered Mac's mouth to deepen the
kiss. All thoughts of restraint immediately
disappeared from Mac's mind. While still kissing Dara
he wrapped his arm under both of Dara's knees and
pulled her legs up onto the couch and under his body.
Dara couldn't suppress a moan as Mac pressed his lower
body into hers. They kissed each other passionately
and fervently as the moments passed. Mac sprayed
kisses on Dara's neck and collarbone as he reached
between them to unbutton the button on her shirt. By
the time he had undone the third button the baseball
shirt was open almost to Dara's navel. He spread the
shirt open wider and confirmed his suspicion that Dara
wasn't wearing a bra. Mac kissed and tasted and
caressed Dara's breast until she screamed his name and
he pulled himself up until they were face to face once
more. Mac made a conscious effort to keep his hands
above Dara's waist because he didn't trust controlling
himself if they ventured lower down her body. Dara
however had no such apprehensions and she kissed him
deeply as she shifted Mac's body a bit and placed her
hand between their hips to touch Mac.
"Dara, wait." Mac gasped breathlessly as he clasped
her wrist, stilling her caresses. Mac wanted nothing
more than to make love to Dara, but he had to know how
she felt about it. Looking into her eyes he asked
earnestly, "Do you want to make love tonight?"
Dara returned Mac's gaze hoping that the love she felt
for him could be expressed through her eyes. She would
tell him soon but tonight she wanted to act on all of
the feelings for him that she'd been suppressing.
"Yes, Mac. I do. I can't say that the events today
have nothing to do with me wanting to take this step
with you tonight. I wouldn't be completely honest if I
said that. But I've been holding back expressing my
feelings for you and I don't want to do it anymore. I
can candidly say that this moment probably would have
occurred days from now even without the attack today,
but since you're actually here tonight, I don't want
to wait anymore. Do you?"
No more encouragement was needed for Mac. He stood
from the couch and kissed Dara as he lifted her and
carried her to the bedroom. After he settled Dara on
her feet, he quickly started to remove his clothes.
Dara walked to the door, closed it, and turned the
bedroom light off. Immediately Mac opened the door
again so that the light from the living room
illuminated the bedroom. Staring at her he first
removed the tie in her hair allowing Dara's hair to
hang loosely and softly frame her face and neck. He
then hungrily kissed her as he opened the baseball
shirt completely and let it slip from her shoulder to
the floor. Leading her to the bed he murmured between
kisses, "I want to make love to you tonight using all
five senses.? And for the better part of the night Mac
explored with Dara how to completely possess a lover's
body using sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste.