Bad Example.
By Jaye Reid.
Commenced: 15/08/1999
Completed: 26/01/2000
Disclaimer:
Any names, places etc., that you recognise belong to Southern Star, Seven Network and their amazing array of talented script writers whose words we consume every episode. I write for my own pleasure and not for any financial gain or monetary reward. Obviously people or places that are completely unfamiliar, belong to me and my highly fertile imagination. THEY'RE MINE, ……..ALL MINE. You need my permission to use them.
AUTHORS NOTES: (This is going to be long, but please bare with me and read)
WELL HERE IT IS. IT'S ALL FINISHED.
I know that there are several people out there as sad as I am about this series concluding. Why finish then? I hear you say.
Well, I only planned to write 6 and as it is I've added an extra one. I like the way this has ended, and although there won't be the 'completion' as some may have liked, I am pleased with the end result.
I have several thank you's.
Firstly, to my brilliant Police (now former Police) Adviser – Andrew for all the technical bits in this series. Without his patience with my annoying questions of "…what would the Police involvement be… how would you guys handle 'this' situation…." Etc. Despite the fact that he may never read this – Thanks Andrew!
Secondly, to every single person who has given me feedback over the many months since this story first hit your inbox. Thanks for your praise and encouragement to continue.
As this is it for the "Facing Up" series, I would seriously appreciate as much feedback from as many as possible.
I began writing this in April 1999, (in planning for months before that as well) prior to even being on the net, so this has been a long journey for me. I am going to miss my new players, they have become so familiar to me like old friends. But all things come to an end eventually.
~*~*~*~
Rain pelted heavily on Maggie's roof, in the early hours of the morning, as she lay awake in bed. She had a terrible night and very little sleep.
The shock of seeing P.J. standing in the doorway had almost been too much. Why did he have to come? And why now? Kayla said that he was so unlikely to ever come back to Mt. Thomas.
Kayla!
Maggie reached for the phone.
Kayla's phone rang and rang. Maggie had almost given up, when she heard a sleepy voice at the other end of the line.
"Hello… Kayla Darcy…"
"Kayla, it's Maggie, we need to talk."
"Maggie? … um, do you have *any* idea what time it is?"
"P.J. is in Mt. Thomas!"
"What?" she questioned, thinking she was perhaps dreaming.
"You heard me," Maggie replied.
"I'll be around soon," said Kayla.
Maggie wandered into the kitchen and put the kettle on. She had just made two cups of coffee when she heard a knock at the front door. She let Kayla in and handed her a coffee before curling up in a lounge chair.
"Okay," said Kayla, "start at the start."
"Oh I don't believe this is happening. Ah… I was at the Station last night. Everyone else had gone to the Pub. I said I would head down there. I didn't make it. So when I heard the back door unlock and close, I naturally thought it was Jack coming back to bag me about not showing up."
"But it wasn't…" added Kayla.
"No."
Maggie took a sip of her coffee.
"P.J. had been down at the Pub. He is staying there. When I didn't show up he got impatient…"
"As he does," interrupted Kayla.
"Yeah," replied Maggie, "well he convinced Jack to lend him the Station keys to go and surprise me."
"And surprise you he did. Hell, I have tried to get him to come up here myself. But he seemed pretty adamant that he wouldn't come back and visit. Too many memories he'd said to haunt him," replied Kayla.
"He said that?" asked Maggie.
"Yep. I can't believe he didn't tell me he was coming. So, what happened then?"
Maggie threw her head back against the couch and closed her eyes as the picture came back into her head.
"Oh Kayla, it was awful. I had a million things to say, but couldn't make any of them come out. He could tell I was about to fall apart, so he just said he was up for a few days, staying at the Imperial and wanted to catch up with me."
" I suppose I should expect a phone call or visit too," said Kayla.
"Well if he tells you why he's here, do you think you could let *me* know?" Maggie asked.
"Yeah, sure," she replied. "This has really shaken you up hasn't it?"
Maggie nodded. "It has. I always thought that if our paths crossed, which in the job they could have, I would be… oh I don't know… more professional about this."
"You still love him though, don't you?" Kayla dared to ask. She always felt that direct was best.
Maggie thought for a second and then smiled, "I guess I do still love him."
"Well, come on," grinned Kayla, "people rarely get second chances."
"No, they don't. But this is… this is…"
"The perfect opportunity," interrupted Kayla, " to make up for all these years."
"I don't know…"
"Look, don't do this to him again. Come on, we both know what he's like. Do you think that this would have been a spur of the moment decision to come up here?" Kayla asked.
"Knowing the old P.J., I doubt it," Maggie replied.
"Well he's put himself on the line to come up here and see you obviously. When you left, he was crushed from what I hear. It would have taken a lot to come back. The least you can do is hear him out. Give him a fair go."
"You're right I suppose," conceded Maggie. She smiled at Kayla. "How can someone so young have so many answers? When I was your age I landed up here thinking I knew everything. Looking back now… I knew nothing!"
~*~*~*~
It was mid morning when P.J. wandered into the Station. He could see Maggie through the window between the waiting area and her office. She had her head buried again in paperwork and hadn't looked up.
He felt uneasy on the 'wrong' side of the counter. The number of times he had just casually wandered in over the years and headed for his office. But it wasn't his office anymore.
It wasn't even his Station.
Bec. left her desk to greet him.
"Morning, can I help you with something?" she asked.
"Ah yes… I'd like to see the Snr. Sgt. please," he replied politely.
"Is she expecting you?" asked Bec.
If she had only known the significance of that question P.J. thought.
"Sort of… perhaps if you could ask her if she is free?" he replied looking at Maggie through the window again.
"And you are…?"
"It's okay, she knows who I am."
Josh. looked over from his desk. He had been down at the Imperial the night before, Bec. hadn't.
"Hey there P.J.," he said.
"Hello… Josh. isn't it?"
"Yeah, the Detective has a good memory," he laughed.
"Years of experience mate," P.J. replied with a grin.
Bec. looked at Josh. and then back to the visitor. So, *this* was P.J.? She had heard the rumours about the new Boss and a former Detective at the Station. But you learnt to deal in facts, not rumours in this job.
She knocked on Maggie's door and tentatively opened it.
Maggie put her pen down and looked up. She saw P.J. standing in the office.
"Um, Boss… there's someone her to see you…?"
"Ah, that's fine Bec. Tell him he can come through."
Bec. turned to P.J., but he was already opening the swing door on the counter.
"It's okay," he said to Bec., "I heard the 'Boss,'" he grinned.
He walked into Maggie's office and closed the door behind him.
Bec. stood outside the closed door, pausing to think.
"I wouldn't get caught standing there," joked Josh.
Bec. woke from her thoughts and wandered over to sit on the edge of Josh's desk.
"So, *that's* P.J.? I've heard about him," she said in a far off tone.
"Yeah, so have I," added Josh. "And I think all the stuff we have heard about them is pretty spot on. He was down at the Imperial last night drinking with us. Except the Boss didn't show. He seems like a top bloke."
"Damn, sounds like I missed a good night," replied Bec. with a grin, "Did you learn any good goss.?"
"Well I wouldn't say gossip. There was only me, Jas. and Jack and P.J. We were all talking shop really. Jack and P.J. worked together here so I heard a few stories. But yeah, there was definitely something between the Boss and this guy. He and Jack started talking about the time the Boss was apparently working with Internal Affairs to flush out this crooked cop. There was a body found in her burnt out car, and everyone thought she was dead. P.J. actually said that he thought *he* had lost her. Apparently, well obviously, it was someone else, she was in a safe house. But the way Jack and P.J. were talking about it... Jack obviously knew about them. There's something *he* forgot to share with us."
"So what happened I wonder?" Bec. asked, glancing over at the office.
"Who knows," he replied.
~*~*~
"So P.J., how are you this morning?" Maggie asked in a controlled voice.
"Yeah, good thanks. Yourself? How are you settling in 'Boss'?"
Maggie laughed. "Yeah, 'Boss'… well Jack is to blame for that one. Before Tom left I was 'Acting Snr. Sgt.' and that was a bit of a mouthful. Jack decided on 'Boss' and the others have just followed."
"So how is Tom? Checking on you I suppose?" P.J. grinned as he wandered over to the window between her office and the waiting area.
"A little bit to start with, but he's been up in Gympie for the last month, so I've had it all too myself."
"And the uniforms? What are they like? I get the impression from Jack that they are a good bunch?" he asked as he watched the female Officer that greeted him, sit herself on the edge of Josh's desk. P.J. smiled to himself.
"Yeah, they are. I think Tom trained them fairly well. Jack is a good influence on the younger ones."
Bec. noticed P.J. through the window and after turning a shade of crimson when she realised she had been sprung slacking off, scurried back to her desk.
P.J. turned back around to Maggie.
"Are those two…?"
"Are those two what?" asked Maggie, wondering what P.J. was talking about.
"Ah… 'involved'? Josh and …"
"Bec.?"
"Yeah, if that's her name. I was just watching them and they seem… well I'm a Detective aren't I," he smiled. "I notice these things."
"Jack seems to think there might be. But I'm hoping there isn't. I don't want to have to deal with that one," she replied.
"Deal with it?" he asked surprised. Maggie would have been the last person to talk about *dealing* with Office relationships.
"Yeah well… So you're here for a few days?" she asked, changing the subject.
P.J. wasn't surprised at her skilfulness at changing the subject. Dealing with things he had found, was not one of her strong points.
"Yeah, a friend has been hassling me for over six months to come up," he replied.
"Kayla?" asked Maggie.
"Ah yeah, actually it is. You've caught up with her have you?" he asked as innocently as he could.
"Oh, briefly," Maggie replied.
Neither of them were good liars, but they weren't about to acknowledge anything to each other.
"Yeah, she is a great kid, considering what she's been through. Anyway, I had a few days of so I thought 'what the hell', get out of the city for a few days.
'You thought 'what the hell'?" she asked in a disbelieving tone.
"Yeah, spur of the moment," he replied, as less convincing as before.
There was a knock at the door.
It was Bec.
"Ah excuse me, sorry to interrupt. Boss, there's been an assault down at the Steampacket. Ambulance is taking the victim to the Hospital, Jack and Paul were on their way back from enquires about the Great Mt. Thomas Pot Plant robberies, so they are bringing the offender in."
"They got him?" asked Maggie.
"Ah yeah," said Bec. on her way out. "It's the guys son who was laying into him."
P.J. raised his eyebrows as Bec. closed the door.
"Great Mt. Thomas Pot Plant…. what's that about?" he laughed.
"Oh yeah… huge investigation that one," she replied with a grin.
"I should go. Thought I might catch up with Kayla. Perhaps you and I could have dinner together tonight?" he asked hopefully.
"Ah… okay. The Imperial?"
P.J. nodded. "After work? I gather you usually head down there with the others after work?"
"Yep. But *my* after work and *their* after work varies depending on how much paperwork I've got," she laughed.
P.J. went to the door.
"It's good to see you Mags."
~*~*~*~
Paul and Jack led a teenage boy into the Station. He didn't look up. He walked slumped over, dejected.
Maggie greeted them at her office door.
"I'll take him through to the interview room," said Paul.
Maggie waited until the door was closed behind them.
"Okay Jack, what's the story?"
"As much as we can make out, this young bloke – Lachlan, turned up at the Steampacket had a few words with his old man and then started laying into him."
"Did he say why?" asked Maggie.
"Nah, but I don't think he is much of a Father by all accounts," replied Jack.
"So Jack," continued Maggie, "you have been a father for all of what, a month? And suddenly you're an *expert* on parenting?"
Josh. looked up from his desk at Maggie. He didn't like the tone in her voice. Time to exit he figured and headed for cover in the Locker room.
"Well no. But you don't *have* kids, so I couldn't see how *you* would have anymore idea than me," he replied.
Maggie just stared at him.
There was silence.
Bec. pretended to read something.
Maggie and Jack just stood there, looking at each other. Jack's words had cut deep, and worse she knew he was right. Obviously Claire hadn't told him about their conversation.
Jack wouldn't be that callous.
She took a breath.
"Jack, can we have a word, in my office please?" she said as controlled as she could.
"Sure," he replied.
~*~*~
"Close the door please Jack," said Maggie as she sat down behind her desk.
He did as he was told.
"So, what's up?" he asked.
"That… out there. I don't want it to happen again, do you understand?" she said.
"What? What out there? No, I don't understand," he replied.
"That whole conversation. I am your Boss Jack, I expect to be spoken to as such."
Jack was annoyed.
They had fallen back to their old friendship when she arrived.
Now she wanted to change the rules.
"Fine Snr. Sgt," Jack replied formally. "I thought we were also friends. But fine, If this his how you want it…."
He turned to leave.
"No Jack, wait," she said resting her head on her hands before looking up again. "Look we *are* friends. We go back a long way. It's just… well I don't want the others to think that you get treated any different to them. I don't want to be viewed as if I play favourites."
"Huh," scoffed Jack, "well that is the *last* thing they think! I seem to be the one you give all the extra work to. I know I am the next senior Officer, but hell, they're glad you don't know them as well as me."
"Do I? she asked tiredly, " Jack, I'm sorry if you… if I… I guess I know how you work. And I like how you work. I trust you to get it right and you do."
"Look Maggie, you say we are friends?" asked Jack.
She nodded.
"Well as a friend… what's wrong with you? There is something wrong lately. I have noticed it the last week or so."
"No nothing… well yes… oh hell, I don't know…" she sat back in her chair, throwing her hands in the air.
"It's P.J. isn't it?" he asked sitting down opposite her. He knew he didn't really have to ask. He was fairly certain of the answer. "I was pretty shocked to see him back here too."
Maggie looked at Jack.
"Don't worry about it Jack. I can deal with it. Anyway, Paul is waiting to talk to the kid. How old is he? We will need his Mother or someone from Human Services won't we?"
"Yeah probably," said Jack standing. "But Maggie, sort it out with P.J. Coming from a friend… stop running away from him."
"Jack I don't runaway from anything," she protested.
"Yeah? Who are you trying to convince. Me or yourself?" he replied before he left.
End of Part One.
You know the drill…. Feedback would be nice!
**********************
"Hey," said Kayla as she strolled into the office.
Bec. looked up from her lunch. "You're here about the kid I assume," she replied.
"If you are talking about Lachlan Standfield then yes. His father is still in hospital."
"Mother?" queried Bec.
"Nah, left years ago," Kayla replied.
Maggie emerged from her office and also greeted Kayla.
"You got a tic before you go in?" Maggie asked, noddling towards her office.
"Yeah sure. I'm on your patch at the moment," she grinned. "you're calling the shots."
Maggie opened the side counter swing door and let her through, closing the office door behind them once in Maggie's sanctuary from the world.
Kayla knew the score, before Maggie asked her question.
"P.J. came and saw me this morning," Kayla stated. "We're going to catch up for lunch tomorrow."
"Yes," replied Maggie as she sat at her desk. "he came in here this morning too. Only I had to agree to dinner, tonight."
"Had to?" queried Kayla. "No one *has to* have dinner with anyone they don't want to?"
Maggie sat there, not sure how to answer that. Was Kayla really expecting an answer anyway? Either way she wasn't sure what that answer was. She shrugged.
"How did he seem to you?" Maggie asked, deciding to change the subject. "It's been so long since I have seen him."
"Yeah, okay. Same old P.J. really. Although probably more of the *old* side for you. But quintessentially the same guy he has always been."
"It felt strange, him talking to me, back here. Like a time warp really," added Maggie. But then enough of the deep thoughts for one day Maggie inwardly decided. Work to be done.
"Well we want to talk to Lachlan and we need you here," said Maggie getting up from her desk. "Let's get this done."
~*~
"Hello Lachlan," said Kayla as she entered the interview room.
The boy sat there sullenly.
"This is a tape recorded interview between Snr. Sgt. Doyle, Snr. Const. Lawson with Lachlan Standfield. Kayla Darcy is also present. Time 12.48pm," stated Maggie as she pushed the record button on the machine.
"We need to talk to you about this morning," said Jack.
Lachlan shifted sideways in his chair, but his gaze was unmoved. His hands resting on the table in front of him had taken on a sudden fascination. He refused to speak and he refused to look at them.
"Lachlan we can't help you if you don't help us," said Maggie trying to get a response from him.
Still nothing.
Maggie looked at Kayla and Jack, trying to decide what course of action would be best.
"Interview suspended at 12.51 pm for Snr. Sgt. Doyle to confere with Snr. Const. Lawson," she rattled off as she stopped the tape.
"Kayla, will you be okay in here for a tic?" Maggie asked.
"Sure."
Jack stood up from where he had been sitting opposite Lachlan and followed Maggie out into the main office.
"We have to charge him," said Jack quietly, as they hadn't completely shut the door. "I mean Paul and I witnessed the assault."
"Okay, well you start the brief," Maggie replied. "I'd like a draft copy of it on my desk tomorrow morning. But in the meantime, he's a juvenile. Between Kayla and myself we might have to give Human services a call and see what we can do with him tonight. I thought we would have heard from them already."
"Ah Kayla's here. They probably think she will do," replied Jack. "He's fifteen, not a little kid, they're probably not very interested. He can't go home by himself though, despite I get the impression that he spends a fair amount of time by himself. I can give the Salvo's a call. See if they've got a bed available tonight?"
"Yeah, do that Jack. I will speak to Kayla about it. I get the impression there is more to this."
Maggie went back into the interview room.
"Okay Lachlan you will be charged with the assault, and pending further investigation you will be released into the custody of Human services. We are attempting to find him a bed at the Salvation Army hostel at the moment Kayla," she added.
Kayla nodded.
"I just wanta go home," he muttered. The first words he had expressed since arriving.
"Well I'm sorry," Maggie replied, "but that isn't possible."
~*~
"Hey Kayla?" queried Jack as she was leaving, "what time do you want me down at the School Hall this afternoon?"
"You're still serious about helping with the Youth Club then?" she asked.
"Yeah sure, I think it is a great idea," Jack replied. "Kids need something to occupy their minds that is productive rather than damn destructive. Keeps the workload down for us too, which is an added bonus."
"Anything to lighten *your* workload," quipped Josh.
"Watch yourself," grinned Jack, "or *my* workload will be lightened when I put half of it on *your* desk!"
Kayla laughed. She liked the atmosphere amongst the uniforms in this place. And even the current Detective was friendly, not to mention easy on the eyes to look at!
"Well say… six o'clock?" she asked.
"You gonna be allowed out?" grinned Josh continuing to risk his joking around.
"Yeah Kayla… that should be fine," Jack replied.
Jack picked up a few files. Picked out one and launched himself across the floor on his chair. The casters squealing on their short journey to Josh's desk.
"See this?" he asked as he dropped the large file on the desk with a thud. "It's the Lost property report. It needs updating. I want you to *double* check every single item in the cage to the listing in the book."
"Hell Jack that'll take half the day!" complained Josh.
"No, probably closer to a whole day because there is more locked in the old shed out the back," Jack replied as he pushed himself away from Josh's desk and back to his own.
Kayla looked on bemused.
"Okay I think I will leave you all to it," she smiled. "See you tonight Jack."
"Sure."
~*~
The rest of the afternoon went quickly for a change.
Usually it dragged with paperwork.
Josh had convinced Jack to let him start on the report tomorrow as he and Bec. had a couple of leads in the 'great Mt. Thomas Pot Plant robberies' and spent the rest of the afternoon out investigating them. Well at least that is what they *said* they had been doing. But they disappeared off together after work talking about old movies. She wondered.
Maggie smiled to herself, pot plants. The sort of thing that would have been lost in paperwork back in the city, but out here it was a different story.
~*~
That evening P.J. and Maggie sat in the dining room at the Imperial Hotel. The conversation had been strained but polite.
"Hey guys," said Jack walking up to the table.
"Hello Jack," said Maggie "What are you doing here?"
"Actually I dropped in for a tic to catch P.J. he said, "Claire says P.J. that you *have* to come around for dinner tomorrow night. No excuses. You know what she is like so I would accept if I was you."
"Yeah I reckon," P.J. laughed.
"And Maggie, you come too," said Jack.
"Ah Jack I don't know…"
"Nah no excuses from *you* either," he replied. "Say 6.30 – 7.00 p.m. We'll see you both there."
"Yep," said P.J.
"Okay, yeah… I'll be there," replied Maggie.
"Good… anyway I'd better go. I'm on curfew," he grinned and left.
Maggie and P.J. watched him leave.
"They are good together," said P.J. "Claire is a nice girl."
"Yes, they're lucky," added Maggie as she finished her meal.
"So how about you Mags? Have you been lucky?" he dared to ask.
She looked at him. Hell she was dreading this sort of conversation, but she half expected it.
"Luck isn't a word I have found in the Police manual," she replied. "If it isn't fact or law then it doesn't exist for me."
P.J. just looked at her. He didn't know what her answer would be but he hadn't expected that one. She seemed so… so… hardened? No that wasn't the word. No matter what he couldn't think of her as being a hard woman. Lost? Perhaps lost was a better description. He had lost her, everyone had lost the real Maggie.
The silence was deafening.
Maggie decided to break it.
"Look, thanks for your invitation this evening, but I really have to get going. I have a couple of reports to work on tonight and I really should get going," she said as she stood up from the table.
"I'll walk you home then," he said standing also.
"Ah I drove P.J., my new place is just a bit further than where I used to live," she replied.
"Oh yeah… you don't live there anymore do you," he said realising that this was now and not back then.
She put her hand on his arm.
"Thanks again P.J.," she said and left him standing there.
She wanted to kiss him. To be that close to him again. But she just couldn't bring herself to. It wouldn't be right she thought. She didn't want to lead him on. Have him think that they could… No she couldn't.
He had wanted to hold her. To smell her skin close to his body. He wanted to talk. To get her to talk. But she didn't. He could have pushed her, but where would that have got him? No he couldn't.
~*~*~
Jack wandered into Maggie's office the next morning.
"I found out a lot more about Lachlan and his father last night," said Jack. "Down at the Youth Club meeting some of the kids were saying how his Father deserved it."
"So, what's the story?" asked Maggie leaning back in her chair.
"Well, and this is only from what they told me, I still will have to verify it. Apparently the Father has more than a bit of a drinking and gambling problem. Well there is a school trip to the 'Alice'. Lachlan has been busting a gut trying to save money, doing odd jobs around you know, mowing lawns etc., to pay his own way to go. Anyway the deposit was due yesterday and when he went to get the money…."
"It was gone?" queried Maggie interrupting.
"You guessed it," Jack replied.
"His Father took it is the assumption? But do you know if he admitted taking it?" she asked. "That would explain a great deal."
"I don't know yet," Jack replied. "But I'm hoping that I can get Lachlan to talk now that we have more details. I want to go and have a word with the Father and perhaps a couple of people who were down at the Steampacket. So the brief won't be ready until…"
"Okay, do that," said Maggie. "Put the brief together and I will go over it. I will probably have to sign off on it, but if it is worded right…. Well, we will see how far it goes."
"Yes, well I will go out now and see what I can find out," said Jack standing to leave. "Oh, how was last night?" he added.
"Last night? Oh dinner? Ah… yeah fine," she replied refusing to give away anymore details.
Really because there weren't any.
~*~
Jack headed out.
The Station was quiet.
Too quiet.
Maggie wandered out into the main office.
It was empty.
Where the hell were…..
Maggie walked into the locker room catching Josh and Bec. trying to untangle from rather passionate embrace.
"Hmm," she said, "thought this might be where I would find you two. Door in here never did lock properly."
"Look Boss we were…" started Bec.
Maggie held up her hand to Bec. to stop talking.
"Look… you know that I know… and well, I would have to be a hypocrite if I said I didn't understand," she added. "Now I might not be happy on a *work* level about this, but I know that I can't stop it. So, this is where we are at. One. Not on duty. I catch you two together like this again and you'll be filing and washing the vehicles for months! Two. This starts effecting you work level or your ability to do your job, then it ends or one of you transfers. Mind you I could try and pull a few strings and try and get the transfer to a Station in the area. Three. It ends now. Not that I expect *either* of you to look at that option, but as your Snr Sgt. I had to mention it."
Bec. and Josh just looked at her.
Stunned.
"Now, I am going to go *back* to my office and I expect you won't be much longer."
She looked at the two stunned faces.
"Good."
Maggie closed the door behind her and then a few seconds later opened it again.
"Oh I just thought of something else. Josh, you might want to call a locksmith. This door lock has been broken for far too long," she grinned and closed it once again.
"Did what just happen *really* just happen?" asked Bec, still quite shocked.
"Yep," said Josh, taking the risk and grabbing hold of Bec. in his arms again, "it did."
****************
~*~
Another day and another dinner with P.J. to go to Maggie thought as she switched off her office light.
Jack had verified the stories that he had heard and had but together the brief. Mr. Standfield had left the hospital, and Lachlan had now gone home as well. It would go to court but with the way the brief was written, it was unlikely that he would receive anything more than a bond.
They had a whip around at the Station and after talking to the school, managed to get some money together for the deposit for the school trip for Lachlan. Jack was teeing up some work for him around the town to raise the rest of the money.
~*~*~
Jack had just sat back at the table after making coffee, when they heard Imogen cry.
"Damn," said Claire, "not feedtime yet."
"I'll go then," offered Maggie standing. She welcomed the opportunity to retreat from the overly polite conversation.
"Are you sure?" asked Jack. His lack of movement from the table also indicated to Maggie that he would welcome her to go. His question as a matter of politeness if nothing else.
Maggie smiled.
"Yeah sure… how long has it been since you have had a meal uninterrupted?" she queried on her way to Imogen's room.
Jack and Claire looked at each other.
"Never," they replied in unison with a smile.
~*~
Maggie waltzed around the room with Imogen in her arms. She was so engrossed with what she was doing. She loved the way babies smelt, their soft skin the sweet scent of talc. Warm and untroubled by the world.
"Now, are you going to go back to sleep?" she asked rhetorically as she tucked the child back into her crib.
"You know you do that really well," said P.J. quietly from where he was standing in the doorway.
Maggie hadn't seen him there and to hear his voice, gave her a start and made her heart quicken. She didn't know what to say, and she didn't turn around. She merely shrugged.
P.J. continued. "I remember you with little Rachel when she was a baby, and the Boss' young Sam too for that matter. You know you would have been a great Mother?"
"Leave it please P.J." Maggie replied shortly as Imogen smiled and giggled up at her.
"Why?" he asked as he walked into the room and stood behind her.
"Just leave it," she repeated softly.
He placed his hands on her shoulders, but she shrugged him away.
"Don't… please."
"Don't what?" he asked. His voice almost pleading.
"Don't think that… that… hell, I have to go," she said brushing passed him and leaving P.J. standing there.
"Sorry," she said to Jack and Claire, "thank you for the lovely meal, but I really have to go."
"You okay Maggie?" asked Jack. He could see that she was flustered and upset.
"Yes fine, goodnight," she replied heading for the door.
"Maggie!" said P.J. "Come on Maggie wait a minute…"
She didn't stop.
"P.J… what the hell happened?" Jack asked impatiently as the door closed behind her.
"Ah… life," P.J. replied. "Hell, I'm going to talk to her. I'll be back in a minute."
Jack and Claire were left standing there.
"I guess it is about time they talked," said Jack with a shrug.
"Yes, but that solely depends on Maggie talking back to him," Claire replied.
~*~
P.J. tried to catch up with Maggie as she was already half way down the block. He was glad that she had walked or she would have been long gone by now.
"Mags, please. Come on… wait up. Mags can't you understand what I went through after you left?" he called.
She stopped.
He caught up to her and she turned around.
Her eyes wild and frightened at the same time.
She looked like a woman possessed.
"You have no idea what I went through," she spat at him. "I wanted so much and I couldn't have it."
Tears were streaming wildly down her cheeks. "So I gave it all up, I gave up everything."
"You talk about wants," he started. "Christ Maggie and you always accused *me* of only thinking about *myself*. But I wanted what ever made *you* happy. So we weren't going to have kids…. so what. I loved you. I still love you."
"What?"
"I love you…"
"No… you knew? You know I can't have… How did you know? When did you find out? Did Claire tell you…."
"Claire… what has Claire got to do with this?" he asked puzzled. "I've known since… God since just after you left. Pat eventually told me. He figured you would too. But he was wrong. I waited so damn long for you to come and tell me Mags. To face up to this but you didn't… you just didn't."
"I … I… couldn't," she replied sobbing. The anger now subsiding. "P.J. I wanted to tell you. I wanted so badly to have your child. You wanted that so much, a family. And I just couldn't do that. I wanted you to be able to do that and I knew it couldn't be with me."
"Mags… I couldn't… not with anyone but you," he said losing himself in her eyes, "I couldn't love anyone the way I loved you. Still love you."
"No P.J… it's too late," she said shaking her head and beginning to walk off again.
"Don't walk away from me Maggie," said P.J. heading off after her. "Maggie I won't let you."
She kept walking
P.J. caught up with her and grabbed her arm, swinging her around and making her face him.
"Maggie… look at me!"
"No!"
He placed his hand and under her chin, tilting her face upwards with his fingers and forcing her gaze to meet his.
"You've got to face up to this Maggie, you still love me, I know it."
"You've got tickets on yourself Hasham!" she retaliated pushing his hand from her face.
"Have I? Maggie… I *know* you still love me, and I still love you. I'm not going to let you walk out of my life again," he said forcefully.
"Why P.J… what is the point?"
"The point is," he replied, "that I've never stopped loving you, wanting you. I won't let you walk away from me again. You waited until my back was turned… and you ran. I came back and you were gone. You wouldn't see me, or… or speak to me. I should have hated you for doing that to me. but I didn't I couldn't. Over the years Pat. kept telling me…"
"Years?" Maggie interrupted. "You have been speaking to Dad behind my back for years?"
"We actually catch up often," he said unashamedly. He decided that he had kept his friendship with Pat. Doyle a secret for far too long. "He's a good bloke your old man."
"You and Dad?" she queried, and then the penny dropped. "His fortnightly Tuesday meetings? They have been with you? Hell what else don't I know?"
"Mags, I love you. Please just tell me that you still love me?"
"No, I won't!"
"Come on Mags. We both know it. Just say it. I want you in my life. I *need* you in my life," he pleaded.
"You think… you think I could love someone who had been sneaking around, behind my back, communicating with my Father all these years…"
"Well you wouldn't talk to me," he interrupted her tirade. "What the hell was I supposed to do? Talk to the bloody walls until they started talking back to me! That was actually on the cards there at one stage… I thought I was going to go crazy."
"Well you *are* crazy if you think I can just pick this up again. I can't, its over."
"You don't mean that Maggie," said P.J. starting to sound desperate. This was his only chance and he knew it.
"STOP telling me what I mean… what I am saying. I *know* what I am saying," she yelled.
"Yeah you know, but I don't believe a word of it. I just want to know that you still love me. I want to hear it from you."
"Arghhhh," Maggie broke free of his hold and started walking again.
"MAGGIE" P.J. yelled. "JUST TELL ME!"
She stopped and turned. Her face still raging. Tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Okay, okay… I STILL LOVE YOU GOD DAMN IT! I still love you. Now leave me ALONE."
And she disappeared into the night.
~*~*~
Jack knocked on Maggie's door and opened it.
"Can I come in?" he asked.
Maggie put down her pen.
She had been expecting this.
It was nearly lunchtime and she had avoided him for as long as she could.
"Sure Jack come in."
Jack closed the door behind him and sat in the chair opposite Maggie.
"Are you okay?" he asked. "Last night… I was worried… Claire and I *both* were worried."
"No, it's okay Jack," said Maggie. "I guess a lot of long overdue things were said. They are out in the open now. Funny they're not as hard to deal with as I thought they would be. Anyway what is done is done. Well I could do with a walk. I think I might go and get the lunches."
~*~
Maggie wandered into the Imperial. Somethings never changed she thought.
P.J. car wasn't there and she breathed a sigh of relief that she was unlikely to bump into him there. Maybe she would give him a call and have a friendly drink that night?
"Hey Maggie?" said Chris with a questioning tone, "you been demoted or something?"
Maggie smiled.
"Nah, Josh and Bec. are out, and Jason is on afternoons. Jack is minding the shop, I don't know where Paul is," she said with a puzzled expression, he had been lying low lately. "I guess I should know."
"Ah, I think I *might* have overheard Kayla Darcy making lunch arrangements with him in here last night," Chris informed her.
"Really? Kayla having lunch with Paul? Hmm, must be working on a case or something," Maggie added.
"Yeah, sure," grinned Chris. "You seen P.J. then this morning?"
"No," replied Maggie with an inquiring frown, "why?"
"Oh that's a shame then. That you weren't here half an hour ago I mean. He hasn't long left to go back to Melbourne. I thought he may have called in at the Station?"
Maggie could see that Chris was on a fishing expedition. Hmm, well she wasn't going to catch much with Maggie. Chris must be slipping if she thought Maggie would spill.
"Ah well, he might have," Maggie lied, "I've been in and out of the Station all morning."
"Oh. Oh well, not to worry," replied Chris, disappointed that she wasn't going to get any gossip from her old friend. She hoped that Maggie and P.J. would get it sorted out one day. "I'll just go and see if the lunches are ready."
Maggie stood there and waited. Processing the news that Chris had revealed. P.J. had already left, and without so much as a phone call or goodbye. Nice that was! He wandered back into her life and then back out of it again.
Damn him!
But then the irony of it all hit her.
Hadn't *she* done the same thing to him seven years earlier?
Just up and left, with no goodbye?
Well there you have it Margaret Doyle, she told herself, but she would hear her Mothers voice in the words circling in her head. "…what goes around comes around…"
"Maggie?… Maggie?" said Chris.
"Chris, ah sorry. Miles away," said Maggie as she took the box of lunch orders. "See you later."
"Yeah bye," replied Chris, watching her leave.
Miles away eh?… yeah thought Chris, somewhere along the Calder Highway heading back towards Melbourne she guessed with a faint smile.
~*~
The front screen door of the Station slammed shut behind Maggie as she walked back in. Only Jack was to be found in the main office.
"Where are Bec. and Josh?" she asked and then in a way, wished she hadn't. Hmm, did she really want to know? She remembered several hiding places that she and P.J. had back in the good old days.
"Oh, they are on there way back," smiled Jack. "And they are bringing in our major criminal with them."
"Huh?"
"The 'Great Mt. Thomas Pot Plant Robberies' has been solved!"
"You're kidding," grinned Maggie. "Oh one to cross off the books then."
"Yeah, case of the decade for Mt. Thomas," laughed Jack. "Maybe we should contact the Police News on this one. Get a write up."
"Hell yes… I could see that headlines 'Major Crime Racket Broken'… perhaps not!" she replied.
"Well I don't know. I mean bugger the 2.3 million drug bust the Shepparton crew did last week. Did ya hear about that?" quizzed Jack.
"Yeah I did," she replied. "That was a good get. See uniforms do more than traffic work and domestics."
"But hey, this is bigger," he laughed.
"Hell yeah… *huge* in comparison," she ginned back.
~*~*~
Maggie was sitting out on her back verandah.
It was the perfect place to unwind. And soon it would be *her* place to unwind. The owner was interested in selling and Maggie decided she was interested in buying.
Time to stay in one place she decided.
The major criminal had turned out to be some guy who had been left in charge of looking after his mothers garden while she was overseas. But green thumbs he didn't have. Everything kept dying on him. His theory had been that if he replaced the plants with brand new ones, his old mother would notice and he would never hear the end of it. So he decided to steal older plants that he figured would blend in.
She took a sip of her coffee and pondered the stupidity of some criminals.
She heard the front gate creak open and then clunk closed. She heard footsteps on the front porch boards and a knock.
She was tired and couldn't be bothered moving.
"I'm around the back," she called. At least she knew it wouldn't be P.J. She was hoping it was Kayla. She could do with some girl talk.
Footsteps stumbling in the half darkness, and then P.J. appeared from around the side of the house.
"P.J.? What the…" she said stunned to see him there. "Chris said you had already left?"
"I had," he replied leaning forward on the verandah railing. "But I realised I couldn't let you push me out of your life again. Not without a fight this time. So I turned around and came back."
"P.J. I'm tired of fighting," she said wearily.
"Yeah Mags… so am I."
"But P.J. it wouldn't work now. Not after all these years," she sighed.
"Why Mags? I still love you. You said you still loved me. I look into your eyes and I still see that woman I fell madly in love with. I want to be with you…"
"P.J. I…"
"Look Mags," he said gently, "tell me you don't want me. Say that *honestly* and I'm gone. I won't bother you again."
Maggie dropped her head, tears welled up in her eyes. There was a huge knot in her chest, working it's way up to her throat, trying to strangle her.
P.J. walked around the railing, up the step, and crouched down beside her. He lifted her face back up to his gaze.
"Mags?"
"P.J., she sobbed. "I love you, I don't want to go on any longer without you."
Finally she had said it, faced it.
P.J. took her in his arms and kissed her tears softly, before sweeping her up in his arms and carrying her inside.
Logistics of any life they would have together could be discussed later.
He knew he would find a soft bed inside.
One that he once knew well and one that he wanted to reaquaint himself with the only woman he loved.
It was a magic that would be rekindled.
Their magic!
THE VERY END!!!!!!