Without further ado, here is Chapter 25.
Cupid
Maggie, are you there?
Yes. What is wrong?
I think we need to talk.
What do you mean? Talk, like how?
I have a confession.
What kind of confession?
It's about you and me.
Oh?
I like you.
Okay.
But I am in love with someone else.
[pause]
Are you still there?
I don't know how to respond to that. You're in love with someone else?
It's not what I had planned. I thought that when I met you, I found the person I had been looking for.
I'm not finding any comfort. Please explain.
The woman – the one I told you about. We reconnected.
Reconnected?
Well, let me rephrase that. I reconnected with her. I learned a new side of her personality, and I forgave her. And she forgave me.
And you fell in love with her.
I did.
What's her name?
Joss. Her name is Joss.
What's she like?
What do you mean?
Well, she must be one incredible woman to have stolen your heart, twice.
[pause]
She's intelligent and no nonsense. She's tough as nails, and she has a good head on her shoulders. She puts up with me, which – I must say – is quite a job. She's loyal, too.
Didn't she kick you to the curb?
She did.
But you want her back?
I do.
What made you decide that?
You did.
Come again?
Talking to you. You made me see what was missing in my life.
Which was her?
I'm sorry, Maggie. I like you, but I love Joss.
You do realize that you asked me out for Valentine's Day, right?
I did?
You did.
[long pause]
Maggie, I'm sorry. I must have forgotten.
You forgot?
You're angry.
No. No. Not really. Except...
What?
You wanted my advice on winning back her back.
Let me explain...
SMHL. You had one of us waiting in the wings.
That isn't what I planned on doing.
One question: Did you ask her out?
[pause]
Did you ask her out?
I did.
After you asked me out?
I did.
What did she say?
She turned me down.
She turned you down. Well, John, that's...interesting. And you love her?
More than I thought possible.
Does she make you happy?
More than I deserve to be.
Would you lay your life down for her?
In a minute.
Would she do the same for you?
I don't know.
Does she love you?
I don't know.
You don't know?! Has she said she does or doesn't?
It hasn't come up.
Wait! You love her. You haven't told her. And to top it off, you don't know if she loves you?
It's not that easy.
It IS that easy. Tell her.
She loves him.
Him?
The other guy.
Oh. She said that?
Not in so many words.
But she didn't say it? Out loud?
No. Not really.
Did she come out and say 'I love this guy; now go away'?
Maggie...
I want to make sure she deserves you. Did she say it?
No.
She loves you.
She doesn't.
Are you calling me a liar?
No.
Did she like the roses?
She said she did.
That's enough to make me say that you won her over. Now, go get her.
That simple?
Any simpler, and she would be standing outside your door.
I wish.
Why wish? Go to her.
And do what when I get there?
She saved your life. You saved hers. Tell her that you love her. Make her believe you love her.
And she'll believe me?
If she doesn't, you don't need her.
[pause]
It's probably just as well this happened. I found someone, too.
Oh. That's...good. Is he a nice guy?
The best.
Do you love him?
With all of my heart.
I understand. I hope he makes you happy.
I'm sure he will...once he realizes that we're meant to be together.
I guess this is good-bye.
Nothing is ever good-bye. We'll see each other again.
I guess. Bye, Maggie.
Bye, Conrad.
Reese pushed back from the desk and closed his eyes. Maggie was gone, and Joss had rejected him. And Valentine's Day was one day away.
He needed a drink.
Walking over to the bar, he pulled down the bottle of bourbon. Half-way full, he observed, but it was enough to get the job done. If not, he could always run down to the corner store and get a couple more bottles. But right now, he just wanted to forget both women.
Tossing the drink back, he barely winced as it burned a path down his throat. The liquor hit his stomach and started a fire that slowly warmed him. Leaning over, he filled the glass again before swallowing the contents.
Two down. It was going to be a long night.
*****
Lionel climbed the stairs to the loft apartment. Closing his eyes, he leaned against the railing and tried to catch his breath.
"Didn't anyone think about installing an elevator?" he muttered under his breath. With the back of his hand he wiped the sweat from his forehead. He thought about turning back, but it was too late now; he was right outside the door.
Saying a little prayer, he raised his fist and knocked.
Lionel swore his heart picked up speed with each lock that turned. He swallowed his fear and braced himself for what was about to go down.
"Joss, I wasn't expecting you..." Reese's greeting faded from his lips as he noticed Lionel standing on the landing. "You're not Joss," he observed.
Lionel waved the air with his hand. "And you're anything but sober," he grimaced. "Whew! How much have you had?"
"What are you doing here, Lionel?"
"I need to talk to you."
"Go away."
"I can't. There is something I need to tell you."
Reese started to close the door. At the last moment Lionel shoved his foot in. "Hear me out."
Reese considered his options and realized he had none. Rolling his eyes upward, he opened the door. "Come in, Lionel. Want a drink?"
Lionel looked at the numerous bottles on the shelves behind the wet bar. "Got any Sprite?" he wondered.
"Fresh out." Reese made his way over to grab another glass.
"Darn my bad luck."
"I got Scotch," Reese offered.
Lionel shook his head. "No, thanks. I'm good." He looked around at the large, spacious room in amazement. "Wow!"
"What?"
"This." Lionel turned around in a circle. "I never pictured you living in such luxury," he replied.
"What did you expect?"
"I don't know. An underground tunnel. A cardboard box. A telephone booth," he listed off the possibilities. "Thought maybe that's where you kept your cape in case of emergencies."
"I keep it in the hall closet so it's close by," Reese replied tongue in cheek. "What do you want to talk about?"
Lionel shoved his hands into his pants pocket. It was the moment of truth.
"What's going on with you and Carter?"
"Nothing." Reese filled the glass and threw it back. "Not a damn thing."
"Did you ask her out?" Lionel wondered.
"You know I did."
"And she turned you down."
Reese slammed the glass on the counter. "Is this suppose to make me feel better? Because it's not."
"Why did she turn you down?" Lionel probed.
"I'm sure you know." Reese's hand shook ever so slightly as he refilled the glass.
"I want to hear it from you."
"She loves someone else."
"I see."
"You don't sound surprised."
Lionel shrugged. "Just getting all of the facts. What about the other woman?"
"Other woman?"
"The one waiting in the wings."
Reese's eyes flashed hot. "Is that what Joss told you?"
"Joss didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. So, you asked her out while you had another woman waiting in the wings? That takes balls, my friend," Lionel grinned. "Knew you were a few things, but 'player' never crossed my thought."
"Lionel..." Reese warned.
"So, what's going on with her? The 'other woman'," he amended.
"She has someone."
Lionel's eyes widened. "She left you, too? Wow. Both of them."
"Are you getting pleasure from rubbing my nose in my failures?" Reese groused.
"So, you have no one."
"I need another drink."
"Look. Look. I'm sorry. I just...I thought that with two women, you might have a chance."
The tip of the bottle clanked unevenly against the rim of the glass. "Like a snowball in hell."
"Heh. Joss thinks you don't love her."
Some of the liquid sloshed over. "She what?" Reese's heart sank at the thought.
"Do you?"
"Love her? I do."
"And the other woman? Do you love her?" Lionel dug deeper.
"No. Not that way. I like her."
"What if you could have both of them?" Lionel asked out of the blue.
Reese gave his friend a wary look. "What the hell are you talking about, Lionel?"
"Joss and the other woman. What if you could have both of them wrapped up in one person?"
"I'm drunk, not stupid. And I'm not quite that drunk...yet. Get to the point, Lionel," he stated. "You know something. Spill it."
Sweat broke out across Lionel's forehead. He was a dead man.
"I might know something..." he began. "Something about the other woman."
Reese couldn't believe his ears. "You found her? You know who she is?"
"I...I do," he hedged. Oh yeah, he was dead.
"What's her name?"
"Jocelyn Margaret Carter."
The deafening silence that fell over the room was almost too painful to bear.
A thousand heartbeats later, Reese's low voice cut through the silence. "What did you say?"
Lionel swallowed and repeated, "Jocelyn Margaret Carter."
"Are you telling me that the woman I've been chatting with for the past two weeks is Joss?" Reese asked slowly and deliberately.
Lionel took a step back before answering, "Yes."
Reese clenched his fist. "You better have a damn good explanation."
"It was for your own good," Lionel blurted out. "You were lonely and heartbroken, and I wanted to make you feel better. Joss was heartbroken, too. And I...I figured that maybe I could get the two of you together and..." His brain searched quickly for an appropriate word. "...and not be lonely anymore."
"The truth."
"That is the truth. You have to believe me," Lionel implored. "I did this for your own good. I wanted you to have a great woman who could like you – I mean, you have your likeable moments. Okay, this isn't one of them, but you're a good guy. I wanted you to be happy."
"You set me up with the woman who kicked me out of her life?" Reese asked incredulously. "Are you insane?"
Lionel nodded. "Looking back? Yeah, maybe. It was stupid. But I meant well."
The wheels turned in Reese's brain as he tried to fit the pieces together. "You didn't do this alone. Did she help you?"
Lionel spread his hands wide. "No. She was just as surprised as you when she found out." His eyes flew up to meet those of the man who held his life in his hands. "Ooops?"
"She knew?"
"Not at first," Lionel rushed to his partner's defense. "She almost killed me when she found out."
"Would have saved me the effort," Reese grumbled under his breath.
"She was going to cut off contact with you, but then she fell in love with the guy I knew you really were. How could she walk away?"
"You said she was going to cut off contact. Who set up the accounts?" Reese asked.
"I did."
"You're corrupt and a liar, Lionel," Reese dismissed the confession. "But you're not that smart. You had someone backing you. If it wasn't Joss, who was it?" Reese asked rhetorically. "Harold."
"He was against it from the beginning," Lionel rushed in quickly. For some unknown reason he felt the need to protect the bespectacled man who had fought him from the very beginning over setting up the deception. Maybe he should have heeded the wise man's advice.
"I don't believe you."
"He didn't want you two to get together," Lionel revealed. "He fought me every inch of the way. He only gave in because..." Lionel paused. For the life of him, he had no idea why Finch had given in every time he asked for one more chance.
"I doubt you threatened to kick his ass," Reese remarked dryly.
"Maybe he believes in true love?" Lionel offered weakly.
Although pickled, Reese's brain tried to make sense of everything that had hit him from all sides. He was angry and pissed, but his heart broke at the same time. He felt betrayed.
"Joss knew."
"What do mean?"
"Tonight. On line. She knew. She called me 'John'. As she was telling me to go back to the woman I love, she was cutting me loose."
"She just wants to believe that you love her. See it from her point of view," Lionel pleaded with all of his heart. "You sent her flowers, then asked her out, but you asked out her alter ego. She was confused."
"And the first flowers?" Reese wondered. "Did you send those?"
"On a cop's pay?" Lionel scoffed. "No way."
"Finch."
"Look, we meant well. You still have a chance with her. Don't let her go. Go to her. Talk. Connect. Fall in love again."
Reese set the bottle down on the counter with a deliberate thud. He tried to breathe, but his chest hurt. He closed his eyes and tried to find his balance.
Opening his eyes, he looked up at Lionel with a look that needed no interpretation.
"Get out," his voice was low and bordered on a growl.
Lionel hesitated, although his heart raced at the speed of sound. He opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted.
"Get. Out. Now."
Backing up slowly, Lionel walked backwards across the floor until his back connected with the heavy oak door. Blindly his hand reached for the door handle. He turned it once. Twice. On the third attempt, the door opened. Without a word, he slipped out to the landing and closed the door behind him.
He barely remembered walking down the stairs to the car, but once he was inside, he closed and locked the door. Secure in the sanctuary of his car, only then did he begin to breathe. He felt the strength slowly leave his body.
Leaning his head against the steering wheel, he closed his eyes and wept.