Author's Note: Thank you everyone! I guess I'm going to have to keep up my writing! INeedAUserName, I agree! Cutler is an easy guy to hate, but when he came in I thought 'How did SCDP manage to even get off the ground?' Guest, thank you very much! :) Irma, you are too kind! thekerser, I completely agree! I think Don tends to give away a lot of power to women in his life in the beginning, and then he tends to run off and cheat and stop giving a fuck. He's all in or all out. Peggy always seems to matter to him though :)

"You look like you're a spy trying to get out of the Kremlin before someone spots you." Don noted wryly as Peggy kept glancing at the door of SCP while they waited for the elevator.

"I know you and Megan weren't big on being subtle, but that's the way I like it." She said out of the corner of her mouth, staring at the elevator doors intently as they opened. Don rolled his eyes, and followed Peggy onto the lift.

"That seems to be a new development since the St. Joseph's ad." The petite woman jabbed the button for the main floor.

"Yes, but we weren't actually sleeping together then." Don raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Really?" At her stony silence, he muttered "I'd hate to have seen you two if you had been going at it." Peggy shrugged her shoulders.

"It probably wouldn't have been as bad then. It's good to let off some sexual tension." Don smirked and grabbed for her waist, but the brunette slapped his hands away and gave him a harsh stare.

"Not at work, Don." He sighed and rolled his eyes again, but returned his hands to his briefcase and stared at the ceiling as they descended.

"So," Don held his burger in his hands as he looked at Peggy. "We can't pitch for Tiffany's because McCann is. Apparently there's a clause in the buyout that states this. However, I was thinking that we offer them Ted instead of you. I mean, he's obviously not as good, but McCann doesn't know that. I think Ted is dying to go over there anyway. He keeps complaining about how he doesn't want to do this anymore." He took a bite into his burger, and Peggy sighed and fiddled with a french fry.

"Don, you're assuming that because you don't want me to go, that I don't want to go." Don gave her a suspicious look at he chewed.

"I have never heard you say one good word about McCann. I don't think I've heard you refer to them without swearing. Why would you want to go over? You don't even wear jewellery."

"Because it is an amazing opportunity. And I could start wearing it. Besides Don, I think this could be good for our relationship." Don sputtered and choked on his burger.

"What?" Peggy looked at him tenderly and laid a hand on his.

"We won't have to pretend at work that we're not together. We can date like normal people – go to work separately, go out after work, have great sex, and not have to worry about keeping it a secret."

"You want to keep us a secret. I'm perfectly happy bending you over a desk in a partners' meeting." Peggy smiled and rolled her eyes, and took her hands back to her diner meal.

"I just think it would be better for us if we weren't spending all this time together at work and then after work. I mean, that's what you and Megan did, and that didn't turn out so well..."

"Megan and I," Don started, his emerald eyes staring with intent. "didn't work out because I didn't know her before we got married, and she didn't know me. I know you inside and out – every beautiful, ugly, crazy thing. You're impatient, you speak before you think, you're brash, and you're stubborn beyond belief. You're intelligent, kind, passionate, and in the moments where you need to say the right thing, you always find the words. I want all of it. I want all of you, all the time." She blushed and looked down, embarrassed by the thought that she was that transparent, but also partly afraid at the idea that someone could see all of it and still want to be with her. Abe had run when he had figured out who she really was, Ted had abandoned her, and Pete had only loved her when she was submissive to him. Was she running to McCann out of fear? She swallowed, and looked into her drink. As much as she berated Don for his shitty relationship history, hers wasn't any better, and unfortunately, she was the common denominator. Sometimes she couldn't help but wonder if the two of them were train wrecks headed straight for one another. It was scary, and thrilling, and it made her want to run, and she wasn't sure if it was towards him or away from him.

"Don, there will be plenty of time for us to work together. We've got a decade behind us, and a few more in front. Six months won't be the end of the world. I think it would be good." Don shifted in his seat, staring at her.

"Whatever you want." He said softly, even though neither of them believed he meant it.

"Joan." Roger waltzed in her office, and Joan appraised him over her glasses.

"Roger. Is there a corvette to go with your midlife crisis?" She asked. He laughed, then sighed as he plopped himself in the chair in front of her desk.

"I've been thinking-"

"Of course you have. And no, I'm dating someone." She replied. Roger groaned and made a look of agony.

"I knew you would be. A beautiful woman is never alone if she doesn't want to be." Joan ignored and and stared at the financial statements again. Roger watched her, a tinge of regret in his features. "My mother died, you know." Joan sighed.

"Yes Roger, a couple of years ago. How many girls have you used that line on?"

"Quite a few. It's surprisingly effective. I think there's some sort of maternal instinct that you can use to your advantage. With most women." The redhead fixed him with a stern gaze.

"Roger, is there anything you need, or can you excuse yourself?"

"I want to talk to you about Kevin." Joan leaned back in her seat, taking off her glasses, and looked at Roger pointedly.

"What about Kevin?"

"I just..." Roger spread his legs and leaned his elbows on his knees as he gazed at the most beautiful woman he had ever been with. "I don't know. I don't know why it's suddenly bothering me, but it is. He's getting big." She nodded, still fixing him with that same, patient yet waiting look.

"Yes. He'll start school the year after next."

"Huh. I didn't realize he was that big." He looked into his hands. "I mean, how is he going to navigate life without a father? School is a tough time for a kid. When I was in third grade, the sixth graders would always beat me up and take the chocolate bar my mother packed." Joan raised her eyebrows.

"Your mother gave you a chocolate bar every day?" Roger shrugged.

"You're right. Come to think of it, I should be glad. I managed to keep my svelte figure, no thanks to her. Don't give Kevin a chocolate bar everyday." Joan smiled.

"I won't."

"But really, he just spends a lot of time with you and your mom. That kid is going to be the biggest mama's boy that New York has ever seen. He needs a male influence, to toughen him up. I could get him smoking by second grade. He'd be the coolest kid there." Joan sighed and put her arms across her chest.

"Roger, what do you want?" He shrugged and looked down at the floor self-consciously.

"I don't know. I just thought 'Wouldn't it be nice to have a son?' And then I realized, I do. And he doesn't know me. I think I'd like to spend more time with him. Take him out, do guy stuff together."

"Roger, my mother doesn't know that you are his father. It is going to look strange that you suddenly are coming by so often." Roger shrugged.

"Tell her the truth – I am a man who is madly in love with you, trying to win you over by winning the kid over." Joan's eyes narrowed.

"You can't say those kinds of things."

"Why not? If it's true it's true, whether you say it out loud or not." Roger took out a cigarette and lit it. "Think about it, will you?"

"Fine." She replied deliberately.

"Good. Now, who do you think Peggy is banging at the office?" He asked.

"Ted, obviously." Roger shook his head.

"I never understood that. If I was a woman, Ted is not what I'd be looking for. He's like a puppy who might pee on your leg at any moment. I'd want someone more charming, more debonair." Joan clasped her hands and put them on her desk, lost in thought.

"I don't think that is the kind of man that Peggy goes for. I think she likes men who dream big and love passionately with all of their heart." Roger chuckled.

"Don is going to bed upset then." Joan's eyes narrowed and her face frowned in confusion.

"What?" Roger waved her off and took a drag.

"Apparently Don has this huge thing for Peggy. I thought he was going to cry at the bar when he told me about it. That's why he almost had an aneurysm about her leaving. What is even more interesting – well, OK, nothing really tops that. But equally interesting is apparently Peggy doesn't want him."

"Of course she doesn't." Joan scolded. "That man is a mess, in every way. She's too smart to be drawn into that."

"Oh, because Ted was any better? At least Don isn't a hapless sheep, getting ready to go to slaughter. The only person who doesn't complain about McCann's oversight is Ted. He even defends them. How sick is that? If Ted were a five year old, he'd be wandering off with the child molester at the park. In fact, every time Jim Hobart wanders in here, I'm afraid he's going to offer Ted some candy." Joan laughed and, for a moment that Roger missed, she looked at him with a tenderness he hadn't seen in a long time.

"Honey, come out with me for a drink. For old time's sake." He said suddenly. She shook her head.

"I have to have these financial statements ready for the partners' meeting on Monday."

"But Joan," he whined. "It's late, and you shouldn't be alone with a calculator." She put her glasses back on and nodded towards the door.

"Goodnight, Roger."

Don walked with Peggy back to her apartment. She let him in, and he inspected the building apprehensively.

"Peggy, if you're going to go and work at McCann, I'd like you to move in with me." Peggy's head snapped around and she dropped the coat that she was going to hang.

"What?"

"This building is not a great place to live." He replied, and stepped forward and put his hands on her waist, his eyes filled with a patronly concern. "Especially not for a young woman. I worry about you coming back here late at night."

"Don," Peggy shook her head and removed his hands from her. "We've been officially together for 24 hours. Isn't that moving a bit fast?" He gave her a pitying yet frustrated look, as if she were just a little too slow for her own good.

"It isn't about us, Peggy. It's about you and your safety. One day you are going to be robbed, or mugged, or raped, and - "

"This is about us!" Peggy yelled. "I'm going to McCann, and you can't handle it, so you have to try to find some other way to control me. I've been fine in this apartment for the last few years, I think I can last a bit longer before being raped and stabbed and left in an alley to die."

"You're being ridiculous." He replied calmly. "Look, I know you're sunk a lot of money into this, and if you can't sell it for at least what you bought it for, I will give you the extra money plus inflation." Peggy sighed and went and flopped down on her couch, gazing up at Don with a stormy affection.

"The thing is, I know you're a man who likes beginnings, and then runs off when it starts getting hard. Don't deny it Don – everyone knows that about you. Every woman wants to think she's different, and that she's the one who will make you change, and I suppose I've bought into that as well." She smirked to herself. "But I can't go throwing my life away for a chance, Don. I don't want to be in the position of working with you, living with you, and receiving a call from you late one night when you've randomly gone away, and hearing 'I've found someone else. Be moved out in five days.' I'm giving this a chance, but I can't dive in with my eyes closed." Don looked shell shocked, and he stared at her, bewildered.

"I would never-"

"I know you don't mean to, Don. I don't think you ever consciously hurt anyone. But I've seen it happen, and I'm going to need more reassurance before I start changing my life to be in yours. OK?" He stared, and felt a misty film come to his eyes, and he nodded. She smiled with a kind sadness, and got up and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"For now, you can protect me from the evil of New York city for tonight." She brought his hand to her cheek, and tenderly rubbed her face against his palm. He nodded, and she took his hand and led him to her bedroom.