Where this one came from, I have no clue; I haven't written Moonlighting fic since the mid-1980s. It's just a moody little study from David Addison's POV. I hope you enjoy it.
Once in a Blue Moon
What happened? What happened is this.
Once me and Maddie broke it off, I decided I had to literally make a break for it. Everything that happened was eating me up inside, and I knew I had to put LA and Blue Moon and most of all Maddie Hayes as far behind me as possible. And maybe this makes me sound like a rat bastard, but when I left, I didn't even say goodbye to her. By that time, it didn't seem like there was anything left for us to say to each other.
So I went back east, back home, back where I came from; back to my roots. I knocked around New York for awhile, tending bar, jamming with a crappy blues band, putting time and distance and experiences between me and the life I'd just left. And I did my damndest never to have to hear the name of Madelyn Hayes.
It worked, too. The only people I kept in touch with from the agency were Agnes and Bert, and they both knew better than to bring up the past. I was pretty sure they'd kept in touch with her, but nothing was ever said. Over the years, they got married, they had a kid, then another. They named their second one after me. They're still together.
Over time it got easier, until finally one day I actually did hear her name and it didn't feel like a knife in my gut. Not long after that I asked Amy, the girl I'd been seeing, if she'd marry me. We ended up moving back to Philly to be close to her folks, and once we settled in I found my way back into the old line of work, and even though I'm pushing retirement age now - if you can believe that - I'm still at it. My limbo days are long behind me, along with my days of chasing down suspects - I've got a stable of younger guys and gals to handle the legwork - but I like keeping a hand in. It keeps me focused, keeps me busy.
Amy and me never had kids; not for lack of trying, but it just never happened for us. Considering my track record that's probably for the best. Later I found out Maddie'd never had kids either. Maybe that's for the best, too.
It's crazy to think we're both past 60 now, and that what went on between us was nearly 30 years ago. What's even crazier is that I didn't see her or speak to her in almost all that time.
But last year, Bert and Agnes' daughter got married, at the ripe old age of 22, and they invited me to come out for the wedding. Amy couldn't make it, so I flew out for the weekend alone. The wedding was packed, and I sat in the back among strangers. Then came the reception and boom, there she was.
She spotted me about the same time I spotted her, and I swear I could see my name on her lips - hell, I could practically hear her voice in my head, saying my name as she'd said it a million times, a million years ago. I tried on my old cocky grin, the one I hadn't had much use for in the past few years, and there was the ghost of its partner on her face. She might have moved toward me, or me toward her, but a guy - her husband, Bert told me later - picked that moment to join her, and our moment passed. But really, our moment passed back in 1989.
I'd be lying if I said I never thought about her, or about what we might have been together, and once in a blue moon I even let myself imagine that life we never had. But some things, they just aren't meant to be. Lucky for me I figured that out a long time ago.