[Disclaimer: I do not own CSI: NY or the characters they belong to Anthony Zuiker, CBS, and all of their affiliates.
Author’s Note: I got this idea from SuzzieSidle’s fan fic entitled Nuclear Explosion over at fanfiction.net; I thought it had a very cool twist and decided to borrow her idea. Be patient though Mac and Stella will eventually end up together in this fic but I have to do some background work to them first. Please read, comment, and enjoy. Thanks!]
Second Chance at Love
Chapter One: Stella’s Story
Detective Mac Taylor walked into his office on Monday morning to meet with his newest employee, Stella Bonasera. He checked his emails and made a couple of phone calls before noticing a beautiful woman standing outside of his office. He hung the phone up and went outside to greet her and invited her into his office.
“Good morning ma’am, I’m Detective Mac Taylor you must be my new CSI, Stella Bonasera. It’s nice to meet you; Danny Messer has told me many things about you.” Mac said as he shook Stella’s hand.
“Oh well I hope they’re not too bad Detective Taylor and you would be correct I’m Stella Bonasera. It’s nice to meet you as well Danny has told me a lot about you. I’m kind of nervous, this job is very important to me, and I promise I will not let you down, boss.”
“Well that’s good to hear and I have heard nothing but the best about you although I do have a few questions about you as well.”
“Alright I expected as much I will tell you anything you want to know.”
“Okay well first of all Danny mentioned you are his sister-in-law and that you’re the widow of the late Louie Messer? I would first like to offer you my condolences I know he died several years ago but I also know that the pain of losing a spouse never goes away for good. If you wouldn’t mind I would like to talk about your marriage to Louie and your relationship with Danny if that’s alright with you. If it’s too painful then we’ll leave it alone and keep our discussion strictly to the job. It’s up to you.”
Stella sighed.
“Detective Taylor…”
“Please it’s Mac.”
“Okay well Mac you seem like a nice man and someone I can trust and it is difficult to talk about Louie but I need to and you probably need to know since I will be working with a family member.”
“That was my main reason for bringing this up.”
“Okay well I will just start from the beginning. I graduated from high school when I was eighteen years old and was dating a guy named Frankie Mala. We started dating at the end of my senior year and were together for the next two years. When I was twenty years old I moved in with Frankie and we lived together for three months when things started to go bad. One night I came home from work around nine o’clock and when I walked in to our apartment I realized Frankie had been drinking… a lot. I laid my purse down on the table and walked over to him he got off of the couch and started kissing me. He smelled so badly of alcohol that I couldn’t stand it so I pushed him away. He asked me what was wrong and I said,
“You’re drunk we’re not doing this while you’re drunk Frankie.”
Then he just kind of lost his temper. I had seen him mad before but never that mad. He punched me in the jaw so hard I thought he broke it and then he threw me into a bookcase which fell on me and broke my ankle. It took a few minutes but I eventually got back to my feet and before I knew it he was holding a gun to my head. I didn’t even know he owned a gun. At this point I was ignoring all the pain I was feeling and just lunged after him. During the struggle he dropped the gun which landed close to my legs so I picked it up and after a little bit of hesitation I realized he also had a knife so I figured my only way out was to shoot him. I only meant to hurt him give myself enough time to get out of the apartment so I shot him in the leg. Before I knew it we both collapsed to the ground he still had the knife in his hand and held it to my throat so I knew my only option was to shoot him again. That or let him slit my throat. I shot him in the chest which I’m guessing went straight through his heart and killed him. I was so panic stricken that I just barely crawled away from the body and then I passed out. Minutes later I guess a neighbor heard the gunshots and called 911 the paramedics arrived and loaded me onto a stretcher. I had a minor concussion from hitting my head so hard on the bookcase and I also had a cut on my cheek from where he had hit me. He had also managed to cut my neck a little so I had a small cut there as well. Then the paramedic told me my ankle was broken and I had some bruised ribs and would need to spend a few nights in the hospital to have surgery. Wow, it’s been years since I’ve talked about this to anyone.”
“It’s okay if you want to stop we can.”
“No, I’m okay. The ambulance arrived to the hospital and I was admitted all of this took place around ten thirty about an hour after the attack and I was sent to a room on the third floor. The nurse in the emergency room put a temporary cast on my ankle and told me they would be by to take x-rays later on that night. Around eleven a man came into my room and told me what he was going to do.”
“Hi ma’am my name is Louie, I’m going to take you down to radiology to do some x-rays on your ankle okay. Can you tell me your name and date of birth so I know I have the right patient information?”
“Yeah, it’s Stella Bonasera and my date of birth is September 14th, 1975.”
“Okay that’s what I got on my paper here, let’s get you in this wheelchair and then we’ll be off.”
“I remember he had the most adorable accent, pure New Yorker. He wheeled me down to the x-ray department and asked me to get up onto the table.”
“Alright ma’am this shouldn’t take very long but I need you to get up on this table for me so I can take the pictures.”
“I got on the table and he took the x-rays, then he took me back to my room, before he left though I asked him a question.”
“Hey, Louie can I ask you a question?”
“Sure, ma’am what is it?”
“Well I wanted to know do you think I’ll go to prison for what happened tonight?”
“Uhh I don’t know they just told me to take some x-rays, they didn’t say what happened to you or anything but I got a couple of minutes if you want to talk about it I can be a pretty good listener most of the time. Why do you think you would go to prison?”
“Well I came home from work tonight and my drunken boyfriend attacked me. After punching me and throwing me into a bookshelf which feel on me breaking my ankle, and bruising some ribs, he held a gun to my head. I threw myself at him and we collapsed to the floor, during the struggle he dropped the gun and I picked it up. I only wanted to hurt him so I shot him in the leg but he came after me again and this time he had a knife which he held to my throat. I figured I was in a no win situation so I shot him again this time in the chest, killing him. I’m so scared I don’t want to go to prison but I killed a man…I…I don’t know what to do. You work at a hospital and have probably been to college so you got to know a little bit about law, that’s why I’m asking.”
“Wow, well Miss Bonasera you’ve been through hell tonight and I’m no lawyer but my brother is attending the police academy and will graduate soon. He says in self defense cases, which is what yours was, that the victim usually doesn’t do time. Now don’t go by what I say because I could be wrong but I don’t think you have too much to worry about in that aspect. It was a very traumatic experience though so you need to worry about making sure you’re okay mentally and environmentally.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Okay well thanks for listening and giving me some advice. You have a good night and take care of yourself.”
“Miss Bonasera if means anything that animal had no right treating you like that we get a lot of abuse victims that come through here and everyone of them breaks my heart. You’re a beautiful young woman and in my opinion your boyfriend got what was coming to him. Well, I better go my pager just went off and they need me on the sixth floor but you hang in there and take care of yourself. You’re strong, you’ll get through this. Goodnight.”
“Thanks Louie that does mean a lot what you said thanks again for listening.”
“No problem.”
“He went on with his job that night but I was very touched by his kind words. Little did I know that was just the first of many things to come.”
“I was discharged from the hospital a couple of days later and had to go back to the apartment. I called my friend Sarah and told her what had happened and she said I could stay with her until I found a new place. So I packed up all of my stuff and basically told the apartment manager to sell all of Frankie’s stuff. Then I moved in with Sarah and started looking for a new apartment. I had contacted my boss and let her know what was going on she said to hang in there and take as much time as necessary to recover. If it hadn’t have been for my ankle I would have been back to work the day after I got out of the hospital but it needed to heal and being a waitress isn’t exactly great for a broken ankle. A couple of weeks after the incident I went back to the hospital to pick up a prescription for some pain killers and I ran into Louie again.”
“Stella Bonasera didn’t think I’d see you again. What are you up too?”
“Louie, hi, well I needed some more pain medicine and I could only get it filled through this pharmacy so I came up here to pick it up today. How have you been?”
“Doing good, doing good, just working as much as I can how did everything turn out for you legal wise? Should I be looking for your picture in the paper under recent arrests?”
Stella laughed and smiled at him.
“No, no my picture won’t be there turns out you were right the jury found me not guilty because it was self defense and there were even some co-workers of Frankie’s that testified in my defense saying Frankie had bought that gun illegally and had a temper. They also said he was known to make threats so the judge backed the juries’ decision and I was found not guilty.”
“Alright that’s fantastic! Umm, listen there’s something I want to ask you since you’re here.”
“Sure, ask away.”
“Well, and I don’t want to sound like a jerk or some scumbag but I haven’t been able to get you out of my head since we met that night I took x-rays of your ankle and you told me what had happened to you. I told you that night I thought you were beautiful which is true but you just seemed really interesting and I wanted to make sure you were okay. I wanted to try to get your number or address from my boss but I couldn’t risk losing my job because I broke patient confidentiality. I know you just got out of a bad relationship and are going through hell right now but I’d like to take you out sometime. It doesn’t have to be like a date or anything just go out have some drinks or just hang out. I just want to get to know you and correct me if I’m wrong but maybe you could use a friend? What do you think? Yes, no, maybe, get lost creep?”
Stella laughed at him and then answered his question.
“You’re very funny Louie and yes I did just get out of a horrible relationship but I don’t have many friends and I could use another one so yeah I’ll go out with you sometime for drinks or whatever. It’s very sweet of you to think about me and be concerned on how I’m doing. I’m staying with one of my few friends right now but why don’t you give me your number and I’ll give you a call sometime, when is the best time to reach you?”
“I go to work at 3:00 in the afternoon and work until 11:00pm, so anytime before that is fine but tomorrow I’m off so you can call at anytime no matter how late. Here’s my phone number and oh last name’s Messer by the way. Louie Messer. Thanks for doing this Stella, I just knew you were going to think I was some creep or something but I really do just want to get to know you so thanks for giving me a chance.”
“Well Louie you’re a very sweet guy and thank you for asking me, it’s nice to know someone cares. I better let you get back to work though; I’ll give you a call tomorrow sometime. Take it easy.”
“You do the same I’ll be looking forward to your call. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
Stella walked out of the hospital and headed back to her friends’ apartment, she was very excited about getting to know and going out with this Louie Messer guy.
Author’s Note: I got this idea from SuzzieSidle’s fan fic entitled Nuclear Explosion over at fanfiction.net; I thought it had a very cool twist and decided to borrow her idea. Be patient though Mac and Stella will eventually end up together in this fic but I have to do some background work to them first. Please read, comment, and enjoy. Thanks!]
Second Chance at Love
Chapter One: Stella’s Story
Detective Mac Taylor walked into his office on Monday morning to meet with his newest employee, Stella Bonasera. He checked his emails and made a couple of phone calls before noticing a beautiful woman standing outside of his office. He hung the phone up and went outside to greet her and invited her into his office.
“Good morning ma’am, I’m Detective Mac Taylor you must be my new CSI, Stella Bonasera. It’s nice to meet you; Danny Messer has told me many things about you.” Mac said as he shook Stella’s hand.
“Oh well I hope they’re not too bad Detective Taylor and you would be correct I’m Stella Bonasera. It’s nice to meet you as well Danny has told me a lot about you. I’m kind of nervous, this job is very important to me, and I promise I will not let you down, boss.”
“Well that’s good to hear and I have heard nothing but the best about you although I do have a few questions about you as well.”
“Alright I expected as much I will tell you anything you want to know.”
“Okay well first of all Danny mentioned you are his sister-in-law and that you’re the widow of the late Louie Messer? I would first like to offer you my condolences I know he died several years ago but I also know that the pain of losing a spouse never goes away for good. If you wouldn’t mind I would like to talk about your marriage to Louie and your relationship with Danny if that’s alright with you. If it’s too painful then we’ll leave it alone and keep our discussion strictly to the job. It’s up to you.”
Stella sighed.
“Detective Taylor…”
“Please it’s Mac.”
“Okay well Mac you seem like a nice man and someone I can trust and it is difficult to talk about Louie but I need to and you probably need to know since I will be working with a family member.”
“That was my main reason for bringing this up.”
“Okay well I will just start from the beginning. I graduated from high school when I was eighteen years old and was dating a guy named Frankie Mala. We started dating at the end of my senior year and were together for the next two years. When I was twenty years old I moved in with Frankie and we lived together for three months when things started to go bad. One night I came home from work around nine o’clock and when I walked in to our apartment I realized Frankie had been drinking… a lot. I laid my purse down on the table and walked over to him he got off of the couch and started kissing me. He smelled so badly of alcohol that I couldn’t stand it so I pushed him away. He asked me what was wrong and I said,
“You’re drunk we’re not doing this while you’re drunk Frankie.”
Then he just kind of lost his temper. I had seen him mad before but never that mad. He punched me in the jaw so hard I thought he broke it and then he threw me into a bookcase which fell on me and broke my ankle. It took a few minutes but I eventually got back to my feet and before I knew it he was holding a gun to my head. I didn’t even know he owned a gun. At this point I was ignoring all the pain I was feeling and just lunged after him. During the struggle he dropped the gun which landed close to my legs so I picked it up and after a little bit of hesitation I realized he also had a knife so I figured my only way out was to shoot him. I only meant to hurt him give myself enough time to get out of the apartment so I shot him in the leg. Before I knew it we both collapsed to the ground he still had the knife in his hand and held it to my throat so I knew my only option was to shoot him again. That or let him slit my throat. I shot him in the chest which I’m guessing went straight through his heart and killed him. I was so panic stricken that I just barely crawled away from the body and then I passed out. Minutes later I guess a neighbor heard the gunshots and called 911 the paramedics arrived and loaded me onto a stretcher. I had a minor concussion from hitting my head so hard on the bookcase and I also had a cut on my cheek from where he had hit me. He had also managed to cut my neck a little so I had a small cut there as well. Then the paramedic told me my ankle was broken and I had some bruised ribs and would need to spend a few nights in the hospital to have surgery. Wow, it’s been years since I’ve talked about this to anyone.”
“It’s okay if you want to stop we can.”
“No, I’m okay. The ambulance arrived to the hospital and I was admitted all of this took place around ten thirty about an hour after the attack and I was sent to a room on the third floor. The nurse in the emergency room put a temporary cast on my ankle and told me they would be by to take x-rays later on that night. Around eleven a man came into my room and told me what he was going to do.”
“Hi ma’am my name is Louie, I’m going to take you down to radiology to do some x-rays on your ankle okay. Can you tell me your name and date of birth so I know I have the right patient information?”
“Yeah, it’s Stella Bonasera and my date of birth is September 14th, 1975.”
“Okay that’s what I got on my paper here, let’s get you in this wheelchair and then we’ll be off.”
“I remember he had the most adorable accent, pure New Yorker. He wheeled me down to the x-ray department and asked me to get up onto the table.”
“Alright ma’am this shouldn’t take very long but I need you to get up on this table for me so I can take the pictures.”
“I got on the table and he took the x-rays, then he took me back to my room, before he left though I asked him a question.”
“Hey, Louie can I ask you a question?”
“Sure, ma’am what is it?”
“Well I wanted to know do you think I’ll go to prison for what happened tonight?”
“Uhh I don’t know they just told me to take some x-rays, they didn’t say what happened to you or anything but I got a couple of minutes if you want to talk about it I can be a pretty good listener most of the time. Why do you think you would go to prison?”
“Well I came home from work tonight and my drunken boyfriend attacked me. After punching me and throwing me into a bookshelf which feel on me breaking my ankle, and bruising some ribs, he held a gun to my head. I threw myself at him and we collapsed to the floor, during the struggle he dropped the gun and I picked it up. I only wanted to hurt him so I shot him in the leg but he came after me again and this time he had a knife which he held to my throat. I figured I was in a no win situation so I shot him again this time in the chest, killing him. I’m so scared I don’t want to go to prison but I killed a man…I…I don’t know what to do. You work at a hospital and have probably been to college so you got to know a little bit about law, that’s why I’m asking.”
“Wow, well Miss Bonasera you’ve been through hell tonight and I’m no lawyer but my brother is attending the police academy and will graduate soon. He says in self defense cases, which is what yours was, that the victim usually doesn’t do time. Now don’t go by what I say because I could be wrong but I don’t think you have too much to worry about in that aspect. It was a very traumatic experience though so you need to worry about making sure you’re okay mentally and environmentally.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Okay well thanks for listening and giving me some advice. You have a good night and take care of yourself.”
“Miss Bonasera if means anything that animal had no right treating you like that we get a lot of abuse victims that come through here and everyone of them breaks my heart. You’re a beautiful young woman and in my opinion your boyfriend got what was coming to him. Well, I better go my pager just went off and they need me on the sixth floor but you hang in there and take care of yourself. You’re strong, you’ll get through this. Goodnight.”
“Thanks Louie that does mean a lot what you said thanks again for listening.”
“No problem.”
“He went on with his job that night but I was very touched by his kind words. Little did I know that was just the first of many things to come.”
“I was discharged from the hospital a couple of days later and had to go back to the apartment. I called my friend Sarah and told her what had happened and she said I could stay with her until I found a new place. So I packed up all of my stuff and basically told the apartment manager to sell all of Frankie’s stuff. Then I moved in with Sarah and started looking for a new apartment. I had contacted my boss and let her know what was going on she said to hang in there and take as much time as necessary to recover. If it hadn’t have been for my ankle I would have been back to work the day after I got out of the hospital but it needed to heal and being a waitress isn’t exactly great for a broken ankle. A couple of weeks after the incident I went back to the hospital to pick up a prescription for some pain killers and I ran into Louie again.”
“Stella Bonasera didn’t think I’d see you again. What are you up too?”
“Louie, hi, well I needed some more pain medicine and I could only get it filled through this pharmacy so I came up here to pick it up today. How have you been?”
“Doing good, doing good, just working as much as I can how did everything turn out for you legal wise? Should I be looking for your picture in the paper under recent arrests?”
Stella laughed and smiled at him.
“No, no my picture won’t be there turns out you were right the jury found me not guilty because it was self defense and there were even some co-workers of Frankie’s that testified in my defense saying Frankie had bought that gun illegally and had a temper. They also said he was known to make threats so the judge backed the juries’ decision and I was found not guilty.”
“Alright that’s fantastic! Umm, listen there’s something I want to ask you since you’re here.”
“Sure, ask away.”
“Well, and I don’t want to sound like a jerk or some scumbag but I haven’t been able to get you out of my head since we met that night I took x-rays of your ankle and you told me what had happened to you. I told you that night I thought you were beautiful which is true but you just seemed really interesting and I wanted to make sure you were okay. I wanted to try to get your number or address from my boss but I couldn’t risk losing my job because I broke patient confidentiality. I know you just got out of a bad relationship and are going through hell right now but I’d like to take you out sometime. It doesn’t have to be like a date or anything just go out have some drinks or just hang out. I just want to get to know you and correct me if I’m wrong but maybe you could use a friend? What do you think? Yes, no, maybe, get lost creep?”
Stella laughed at him and then answered his question.
“You’re very funny Louie and yes I did just get out of a horrible relationship but I don’t have many friends and I could use another one so yeah I’ll go out with you sometime for drinks or whatever. It’s very sweet of you to think about me and be concerned on how I’m doing. I’m staying with one of my few friends right now but why don’t you give me your number and I’ll give you a call sometime, when is the best time to reach you?”
“I go to work at 3:00 in the afternoon and work until 11:00pm, so anytime before that is fine but tomorrow I’m off so you can call at anytime no matter how late. Here’s my phone number and oh last name’s Messer by the way. Louie Messer. Thanks for doing this Stella, I just knew you were going to think I was some creep or something but I really do just want to get to know you so thanks for giving me a chance.”
“Well Louie you’re a very sweet guy and thank you for asking me, it’s nice to know someone cares. I better let you get back to work though; I’ll give you a call tomorrow sometime. Take it easy.”
“You do the same I’ll be looking forward to your call. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
Stella walked out of the hospital and headed back to her friends’ apartment, she was very excited about getting to know and going out with this Louie Messer guy.
