"And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be
All I do is keep the beat and bad company.
All I do is kiss you through the bars of Orion.
Julie, I'd do the stars with you any time."
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Claudia walked in and sat down in the chair the officers had put in front of the cell for her and put the handful of letters he mailed to her on the table. It was the same as always, the current in the air when they were in the same room together changed as soon as they set eyes on each other. It was thick in the room immediately; Claudia sucked in her breath and faced him as she sat down. She wasn't wearing anything red this time, she was here to end this chapter of her life once and for all, not get him all stirred up and crazy again.
Mac stared at her as he sat down on the bunk provided for him in his cell. He wore prison blue, it looked good on him, she thought to herself, that shade made his eyes so bright. Possibly she would remember his eyes forever; it was probable now.
She made eye contact with him through the bars, they hadn't seen each other since he was arrested outside her hotel room three months ago. Claudia had not written back to him, for obvious reasons to her. But her boss had wanted her to engage with him but she declined, she wanted nothing more to do with him.
Mac was where he belonged and she gave shit all about how she got him there, the point was he was there. Of course, there were whispers around the office, but no one dared ask her what happened in the room between her and Mac. No one but Charlie knew the truth and that was the way it was going to stay. Charlie knew everything, he was her best friend after all and he and Emalee would always be by her side. Now more than ever she would need them.
He waited outside for her at this very moment and once this errand was done, she was heading to her new assignment. She would miss Charlie, now she would have another partner, but they planned to keep in touch, they were her family now.
Claudia had gotten ten pounds of shit for what she had done and almost fired.
Charlie made sure to remind people that she had stopped a killer using her instincts, unconventional tactics yes, but the result was the same. It was Claudia's business how she had done it, or what had happened between her and Mac. It would never happen with a suspect again, she was being assigned a liaison job, a desk job, field work was going on the back burner for a while. At least for a few years.
To his credit, Mac knew he was defeated that night and after they had gotten enough of each other he surrendered. There were people that night who thought he was holding her hostage, but that hadn't been the case, still, it was either get shot or to go peacefully, which he did. But he was who he was and so from the back of the police car he had blown a kiss to Claudia and licked his lips obscenely as they drove away, telling her "I'll be seeing you."
Now she was relocated out of state and ready to make a new start in Oklahoma City, but he was a loose end that had to be tied up once and for all.
As she stared at him her thoughts were brought back to their night together, it was to catch him, of course, but also to get him out of her system. Mac had gotten under her skin. Still, when she looked at him she remembered the way he made her feel, his touch and kiss. She remembered the slight curve of his lips as he smiled, the mole over his left lip, she remembered it all. Even if they hadn't seen each other in months.
Her boss had suggested maintaining a relationship with him to use him for information on the drug trade that he was on the fringes of or for his insight into the criminal mind.
That was not going to happen.
"Stop writing to me," she said.
"I like it better when you say 'don't stop' Claudia," He leaned forward and said with a raise of his eyebrows, " Don't stop Mac, oh, please don't stop."
"Stop writing to me," She said more forcefully and maintained eye contact with him through the bars, "I'm not going to say it again Mac."
"Is it over between us now?" He asked, "This thing we have."
"It wasn't a thing," She answered, "It's not."
"Yeah, it was," He stared her down, "Is."
"Its over," She answered, "Whatever it was, it's done now."
"I don't want it to be over, obviously you read that in the letters, but, as you wish. That's a pity, I enjoy you so much and I know you enjoy me."
Claudia didn't answer him, "I had to see you behind bars for myself, and to tell you I'm so happy you're where you belong now."
He raised his eyebrows again as if to say, and are you truly happy that we're apart now? How did that saying go? You can't call up the devil and then expect him to behave; he rolled his shoulders and stood up to come closer to her.
"Thanks to you, right? You got what you wanted?" He said, " I hear you got promoted."
He walked to the bars grasping one in each hand, Claudia didn't move, she stayed rooted in her chair, she was not going to engage him like this.
"And of course the best fuck of your life, too bad I didn't put a baby inside of you." He smiled, "Can you imagine the outcome of our genes mixing...?"
Her eye twitched slightly as she struggled to maintain eye contact with him, he was just trying to get her riled up, but looking away would be a huge mistake on her part. There was absolutely no way he could know, she had just found out herself. Mac was clever and observant but he hadn't caught her slight intake of breath and her eye twitch. It had passed over her too quickly, she told herself, but, this was why she was never having contact with him again, for any reason.
"I won't be coming back Mac, and I will not accept phone calls or mail from you, nothing, consider this goodbye forever."
"Have it your way," He said as she got up to leave, "You'll still never forget me," He called out as she slammed the door, leaving his letters on the table unopened.
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Claudia waved at Charlie as he waited in the parking lot leaning against the car, and he smiled at her; she looked happy to him, at peace finally. She had a long road ahead of her but he and Emalee and their baby would be there for her and this child was never going to know who its father was.
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"When you can fall for chains of silver, you can fall for chains of gold
You can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold.
You promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin.
Now you say Romeo, yeah you know I used to have a scene with him."
The End
