This is for entertainment purposes only. No infringement intended. The plot is mine, but the characters and other properties belong to ABC Circle Films and Picture Maker Productions.
The premise of this story is that the episode Lunar Eclipse terminated before the cancellation of the show and the lunacy that ensued. This provides an alternate ending, to the entire series, however long it has taken in coming!!!
TO THE MOON AND BACK -- PART I
By Diane Hopkins
Maddie Hayes was heading home after a long day. As she entered the elevator, she let a small, satisfied sigh escape her, and a smile rose to her lips. It felt good to be heading
home -- to someone who needed and loved her. Somehow it made it all worth it –the hours, the travel, the headaches. The doors opened and she took off towards the car.
He could hear the click of her heels as she walked purposefully through the underground garage. He couldn't resist a peek around the pillar -- a peek that sent him catapulting back into another decade, another lifetime…….another parking garage.
"Damn," he thought, "She's still gorgeous." "And she can still make me feel like a 12 year old checking out the Playboys at the 7-11."
He felt paralyzed…what to do, what to say. It had seemed so easy when he planned it out back in L.A……..fly to San Francisco, see her, have a civilized meeting, and see what developed. But the very sight of her sent all reason out the window, and triggered every insecurity he had ever felt around her.
She was fast approaching. He needed to make a decision.
As she passed, a disembodied arm snaked out from around the pillar, and grabbed her by the sleeve. The gesture took seconds, but Maddie was faster. In her other arm was the large grey clutch purse, which became a formidable weapon as she lashed out at the unforeseen enemy.
"HO,ho,ho,ho,ho…………what kind of a welcome is that?" he asked , fending off the enthusiastic attack.
It was a moment frozen in time……that voice that she only heard in her head. It was impossible!!!
He stepped from behind the pillar, a little less hair, a little more around the middle, almost a stranger…until that familiar smirk crossed his face.
"DAVID ???" , she shrieked.
"In the flesh," he replied, and brought her hand to his face and rubbed it gently across his cheek.
She shivered, as if someone had walked across her grave…."What are you doing, trying to scare me to death!! I haven't heard a thing from you in over ten years, and then, POOF, up you pop like a demented pervert hanging in a parking garage!!"
"POOF??", he laughed, "great to see you, too…. doing well…. thanks for asking."
"Oh David", she sighed. "My God, where did you come from, what are you doing here?"
He grinned, "Well, I was raised in the woods by wolves……….but hold on for a second, first things first." He proceeded to circle around her, looking her over, and ending his perusal with a long, slow whistle.
David: How many years did you say –can't be!! You sure look none the worse for wear.
Maddie: David, this is crazy! WHAT are you doing here?
David: Hey, hey, hey…a little small talk, banter, chatter….aren't we going to do that? It's what we do!!
She stopped him with a freezing glance.
David (taking the hint): Weeelll…I've got a proposal for you….no, wait…a proposition.
Maddie: A proposition? Do tell!
David: Whew, I'm feeling a little woozy. Either it's the fumes or you're just too damned beautiful for me to see straight. Let's say we adjourn to someplace a little more comfortable to discuss this….like your house.
Maddie: My house??
David: Yeah, your house. Four walls and a door…you know!!!
Maddie: I know about houses, it's my house that's the problem.
David: What's the problem?
Maddie: Not my house, please. Let's do this somewhere else. And give me a little time to get used to this, to make some arrangements.
David looked at her soberly, and shook his head. "After ten years, same words, same tune. I should have known." He turned as if to walk away.
Maddie grabbed his arm –"David, please. I want to see you, talk to you but it's complicated. Let me make some arrangements. I'll meet you at 9 o'clock at Vanessi's on California Street. Please."
He turned slowly, looked her up and down and said, "Do bears bear? Do bees be?"
She grinned in spite of herself. "Ten years huh?" She walked away quickly, without a backwards glance.
David stood and watched as she got into a blue BMW wagon, and with a smile and a wave, drove off.
She held that pose until she was out of his sight, and then her face crumpled. God, she'd had herself convinced that all was well and that she was doing just fine. She couldn't
go back to that time after she'd first moved here, spending all that time beating herself up for her past mistakes. She had plenty in her life now, plenty to be grateful for –a great house in a great city, a terrific fulfilling job…and Zack. David had set her so on edge, she'd forgotten the real reason she'd been rushing home.
She argued with herself all the way home……something about riding in a car just naturally led her to talking out loud. " It's ridiculous….I don't want him, I don't need him, I can't do this………….there's no room for him in my life."
But there was no denying,-- she'd nearly exploded when he touched her….it would take very little to ignite that flame if she wasn't careful.
And careful she would be. Her life, as she knew it, depended upon it. She refocused her attention on her driving, and on coming up with a reason to skip tonight's meeting.
Meanwhile back in the garage, David thoughtfully watched her car pull away. A sport wagon – for the original high maintenance woman. It didn't figure…..the blonde driving a babymobile……..unless!!!
David stopped dead in his tracks. In all the countless hours he had focused his thoughts on Maddie, never had he imagined her with anyone else. Oh, he had imagined her buried in sand up to her neck, shot out of a cannon, any number of tortures concocted on his whims. But with someone else….how could that be possible? It was as if he had just frozen her in time –as if the last eleven years had never existed, as if things were just the same as the day they closed the books on Blue Moon.
Who could say what the final cause was back then…but when Maddie had suggested selling the agency to Agnes and Bert, and splitting the money, he had jumped at it. Anything was better than the daily dose of "Not a chance, pal" that he had been getting at Blue Moon every day. Better to part pals than to let it go much longer and become enemies.
They'd stayed in touch for about a year , if you could call it that -- a couple of boozy late night phone calls, some Christmas cards, and a postcard from China -- then like a flash, she was gone….again!! That time he didn't even look…he'd had enough.
But he'd never been able to find a woman like her, though Lord knows he'd tried. And in the recent past, she'd crept in and taken over his head again. All it took was a dose of your own mortality to make you see what really mattered in life. And he knew he'd never have peace until he saw her again.
Finding her wasn't a huge issue. All he wanted was addresses and he had them for both her home and her office…after all he was a detective. So why had he felt the need to stage that scene in the garage?? Cute and nostalgic was not going to cut it here. The thing to do was to drive to her home and get it all out in the open.
UNLESS, there were a husband, a dog and 2.5 kids to fill that wagon! Better to take it slow and easy. He had no clue what he was going to tell her…what reason he would give her for being here. As usual, his good intentions were surrounded by a plan with holes as big as the ones in Swiss cheese. Oh well, he always hatched his best plans in the shower anyway.
He headed towards the rental car, belting out his best rendition of "My Girl"
"I got sunshine, on a cloudy day…When it's cold outside, I got the month of May
I guess you'd say what could make me feel this way? My girl, my girl, my girl
talkin bout my girl…my girl!!
The blast of a car horn brought Maddie out of her trance. God, how long had she sat here with the light turning red to green to red? David was back in her head again, and after that it was just a short trip to under her skin. Eleven years ago….almost to the day…the last time they had met face to face. When had it all gone wrong………..who was she kidding, when had it ever gone right? They were poster children for bad relationships.
After the fiasco with Annie, it seemed like their situation was as bad as it could get. They had said some terrible things to each other, things they couldn't or wouldn't take back. They didn't talk or communicate………..hell, they'd had difficulty staying in the same room.
Avoidance had been standard operating procedure around the agency, and it had become joyless and unpleasant for all involved…not only the two of them. Disagreements seemed to last forever, and the raging arguments held a far more threatening tone than ever before.
Finally, after a particularly ugly shouting match regarding a divorce case, Maddie had completely lost it.
Maddie: A divorce – that's what WE need!
David: A what??
Maddie: A divorce, an amputation, a dissolution!!!
David: What solution…there is no solution to this – you're impossible!!!
And let me clue you in on something, sister, you do not need a D – I – V – O – R – C – E
Unless you happen to be M – A – R – R – I – E – D !!!
Maddie: Thank God, I wasn't that C – R – A – Z – Y !!
David: Enough with the alphabet soup! What are you saying here?
Maddie: I'm saying this is no longer where I want to be….where you want to be. David, this business grew and flourished because WE made it happen together – you and me. But now, there is no you and me--just you over there, and me over here and a great big Grand Canyon of hostility in between us. Maybe we've gone too far…maybe we haven't gone far enough, but I can't do this anymore.
David stared for a long moment…"Is that really the way you want it?", he asked, his eyes boring into hers.
With a gesture of surrender, she held out her hands in front of her, and in a barely audible voice responded, "Yes, I do."
David: Fine
Maddie: Fine
David: What's your plan?
Maddie: Plan?
David: Maddie Hayes, the grand Poobah of preparation, does not have a plan here?
Maddie (improvising as she goes along): Of course, I have a plan.
David: Which is?
Maddie (Eyes snapping): Which is…….we need to sell this agency.
David: Sell the agency? HA!! Where would we find somebody dumb enough to take this little moneymaker off our hands?
There was a knock at the door. It opened to reveal Agnes and Bert, back from their honeymoon.
David laughed, "Oh perfect!!".
David stared at her intently…."Just tell me one thing…is this what you really want?"
Maddie nodded solemnly, "It's what I really want, David."
Time stopped for a moment as a hundred unspoken words hung in the air. Then, just as quickly, the spell was broken as David started to laugh….
David: What an exit……Hey, Bertie, catch!! (he tossed a ring of keys)
Well kids, it's been a blast!! But all good things must come to an end….Au
Resevoir.
He sauntered out the door, leaving the three of them blinking in disbelief.
Just then, he stuck his head back in the door. "Hey Blondie, just one thing. Be careful what you wish for!!!
She shook her head sadly, "David, you have no idea what I wish for."
"I guess that's the problem," he said, and blowing her a kiss, he walked out of her life.
For the next three months, she moved as if in a dream. She finalized the sale of the agency to Agnes and Bert, tying up all the loose ends. And she sat at her desk, staring at the door –replaying in her head the hundreds of times David had burst through it –and recalling her responses….."Disappear, disintegrate, dissolve", she had once told him.
She repeated to herself –"Be careful what you wish for!".
On her last day, she discovered Agnes cleaning out his desk. She had filled a large cardboard box with items who were essentially David – binoculars, Playboy magazines, a rubber chicken, X ray specs…….and two books on childbirth. Maddie picked up the one entitled "How to Be the Perfect Dad", then dropped it as if it were on fire.
Somehow walking out the door that day was not so difficult!!
She found ways to fill her days…..knowing that she would need to find something worthwhile to do, but not ready to commit…to give up yet.
From Bert and Agnes, she heard that David had taken a position with Lou Lasalle, and had set a new company record…………..hired and fired in the first week. Well, at least LaSalle had declined to press charges after David had broken his nose!!
Maddie had mailed the check for his half of the proceeds of the business, and was gratified to find out that it had been cashed. At least his failure, his demise, his starvation would not be on her conscience.
She was wide awake at 3 AM the night the first phone call came.
Maddie: Hello
David: Are you happy now?
Maddie: David…………..
David: Are you happy now, I asked?
Maddie: I don't know. Happiness is relative, I guess.
David: And since we're not relatives, you're happy, is that it?
Maddie: That's not what I said!! …I guess……I don't know…..I don't know
David: Well there's a first! Do you even have a clue as to what would make you happy??
Maddie: David, have you been drinking??
David: Yep –drinking, eating, sleeping, all the normal functions. You?
Maddie: David, where are you? Where have you been for the last six months? I've been worried about you.
David: Yeah, my answering machine's just been clogged up with all those messages you've left me.
Maddie: yeah –well, I wasn't sure you'd want to hear from me.
David: Huh? You don't know what I want either? You're losing your edge, Maddie.
Maddie: David, what can I do for you? Can't we talk?
David: No talking is required, I just wanted to listen. I just needed to hear your voice.
Oh well, gotta go.
Maddie: Don't go.
David: Gotta go. It's been fun. Maybe we'll do this again sometime.
And that quickly he was gone. It was a scene that was repeated many times over the following six months…………the phone would ring in the wee hours of the morning. Sometimes he'd talk, sometimes he'd just listen. Always he'd be gone in a split second, leaving her feeling anxious and empty, spending many wakeless nights staring at the phone.
Till one night when the phone started to peal, and she shrieked in utter frustration. She grabbed a suitcase, tossed in clothes, grabbed her passport, and fled to the airport. She stood in front of the departure board. Domestic flights…………..Chicago. Been there, done that!!! No, this required a little more distance…a foreign country. " Pick a country, any country ," she muttered to herself. "and the winner is…………………China".
END OF PART ONE
