an office/baby room [everyone]

"Dada" I repeat

And I look at Stella, not being able to actually say no to Eleni, I knew we agreed to this, but it just breaks my heart, so I give Stella a tormented look.

"oh my.. Eleni... " I look at the two of them and look concerned. This can't be happening...

"You it's killing me to say no to her." I say to Stella as I sit down on a chair near the couch, Eleni on my lap.

I start blowing bubbles with my own saliva "daaadaaaa"

"I know it is Mac, I'm sorry, I don't know what to do. Should we just go with her.. honestly I well sort of told her you're her daddy when I showed her the pictures on my wall" I say and sigh

"Then why not go for it, Stella? You know I want to and if you're worrying about Sinclair? We can deal with him then. But that depends on you, Stella. Your choice to make, but I love to be there for both of you." I say to Stella and then poke Eleni again.

Tears start streaming down my face "he's never gonna be ok with this Mac.. "

"Honestly Stella, I think he already knows and he's not the bad ass he seems to be." I say and stop poking my girl and walk over to Stella.

"but what if he's just as bad? He will either fire one of us or find another place to work.. I don't want that to happen!" I whisper

"And don't want to leave my family, pretending I'm just a close friend, when I'm not. Besides, Danny and Lindsay are married and working together, too and he's okay with that." I say and then wrap my arm around her shoulder.

"They have a different position here in the lab Mac you know that, I want you to be there when she grows up but.. maybe I should just find another job or something, just apply as a street cop.. if that means we can stay together I'll do that" I tell him and lay my head on his shoulder

"Trust me, it won't come to that. And anything in our private life won't get in the way here, right?" I asked her. I knew we would make this work and she'll keep her job. I just knew.

"They won't I suppose" I say as I stroke Eleni's back "You'd like to have daddy around too huh" I smile at her

I place a soft kiss on top of Eleni's head.
"We'll make this work, Stella." I say and place a soft kiss on Stella's cheek.

"Ohh we have to Mac, we have to" I say while I look at our little girl

I smiled at Stella and actually was pretty happy she was thinking the same.
"Maybe we just take Eleni with us when we talk to him. No one could be mad if he sees her." I say and smirk.

"You're right, is he here today?" I ask

"He's always in his office... at least he should be." I say and look at our girl. "Daddy's not leaving you ever again, squirt." I whispered in her ear.

I smile and look at you "shall we go now?" I ask

"You ready to face him?" I asked seriously. I could go and face him every time, but I wasn't sure she was ready to yet.

"Honestly, I'll never be ready for something like this but we do this for ourself and Eleni" I say and get up

I nod and get up, too, Eleni carefully held in my grasp, her head resting on my shoulder as I know she's now struggling to stay awake.
"Then let's go, for our little girl... and for us." I say in a determined tone.

"We can do this" I say and squeeze Mac's hand. Honestly I'm quite nervous..

"We can, Stella. We've done things that were a lot worse." I say encouraging, gently holding her hand.