Title: The More Things Change

Author: Michelle

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Someone else (Radiant Productions?) Owns The Agency and all of the characters portrayed in this story) therefore, the author will receive no compensation for this story.

Matt was the first one to see him. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you in Chicago?"

"Nice to see you too Callan. Don't worry, I'm going back. Your sister and my wife invited me to the party. Speaking of, where is Mrs. Stiles?" This time it was Stiles who had the smug look on his face.

Matt groaned inwardly; he didn't need to be reminded that she was "Mrs. Stiles," but he wasn't about to let Stiles see him sweat. "Terri is helping Bailey." Before Matt could come up with an excuse to keep Stiles from looking for them, the two friends appeared.

"Hey handsome" Bailey greeted Stiles with a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, does your husband know you're hitting on his best friend?" Matt asked her. Stiles saw the smile on Matt's face and knew there was a jab in there somewhere even if he couldn't put his finger on it.

"So what else is new?" Chance laughed as he came up behind Bailey.

"Hi, I'm glad you made it." Terri walked over and kissed Stiles' cheek. She didn't know what possessed her to do it, but when she saw the smile on his face she was glad she did.

Matt watched the two of them and realized he may lose Terri again. It was bad enough that she lived with him. He planned to spend the rest of the evening reminding her why she had spent so much time with him the past few months.

The surprise went off perfectly. Liz and Carson had no idea that their children had planned anything.

Matt found numerous excuses to monopolize Terri's time. Every chance he got, he asked for her help with something--from checking on the caterers to talking to the D.J. Stiles had had enough when Matt pulled her onto the dance floor when the family was invited out.Terri, and everyone else who cared to, noticed the look on his face. She had been on her way to talk toStiles when Matt redirected her. With everyone waiting on them to start dancing, she didn't have the heart to say no.

Chance made a point of paying more attention to what was going on with Matt after Bailey told him how bad things had gotten. He saw the pain and anger on Stiles' face while Matt and Terri were dancing. As soon as the song was over, he whispered in Bailey's ear. "I'll be right back."

While Chance was gone, Bailey went to talk to Terri. She too noticed Stiles' watching Matt and Terri dance. "He's jealous."

"Who?"

"Stiles"

"Really?" Terri cringed.

"You've been with Matt all evening."

"I have not!" Terri felt the sudden need to defend herself; she did feel a little guilty. She calmed down when she saw the look on Bailey's face.

"I'm sure he's okay. We've had fun together the last few days, but…"

"You're still sort of seeing Matt and it's weird being at a party with both of them."

"You should have been a psychologist! Ugh, what am I going to do Bay? I'm not trying to hurt Stiles, but Matt did ask me to help him today.

"Must be rough having too men in love with you." Bailey was being sarcastic, but Terri missed her tone, focusing on the words.

"Did Matt tell you he's in love with me?"

Bailey laughed, "No, he didn't; but I know he's in something."

Terri couldn't help but laugh; Bailey always knew how to break the tension. "Stiles finally got around to asking if Matt and I are sleeping together."

"What did you tell him?"

"The truth. You cannot imagine the look on his face when I said that we aren't."

Terri liked Matt, but she was falling for Stiles and both of them wanted her attention. She was a little overwhelmed by her feelings.

"Oh, I can imagine. Why didn't you tell him sooner?"

"I don't know. Maybe I just wanted to see how much he cared, if he would ask. It's been such a mess for months--ever since I moved in with him. Bailey, half the time I don't know what I'm doing, especially when it comes to Stiles."

"I know hon, it's been a long year for both of you."

"Yeah, it has. Bailey I can't talk about this anymore tonight, okay? I just want to celebrate with your mom and dad and try to forget the sorted mess that is my life."

"Okay." Bailey let it go, but she kept an eye on her brother.

After talking to a couple of the other guests, Terri bumped into Matt; or rather, he bumped into her as she was on her way to find Stiles. "Hey, I've been looking for you, I need your help."

"With what, everything seems to be going fine."

"We reserved a suite for mom and dad. Bailey's keeping them occupied, I need help decorating."

"You, decorating? Why not Bailey?"

"She thinks it's a silly idea. I think mom will love it. What do you say? It shouldn't take long."

"Okay."

Matt gave Terri a quick tour of the suite before they got started. It had two rooms and a balcony overlooking the city. Terri was quite pleased with the results when they finished. Matt choose to celebrate with a kiss. Terri closed her eyes and Stiles popped into her head; she relaxed and imagined she was kissing him.

Matt lowered her onto the bed and slid his hand under one of Terri's shoulder straps. That's when she finally opened her eyes.

"Matt! What are you doing? We're in your parents suite for crying out loud, stop!"

"Terri, it's time. How long have we been seeing each other, six, seven months? Don't you think it's time we consummated this relationship?"

Terri stood up and walked away from him. "I can't believe you. I've been defending our relationship to Stiles, Bailey, my mother—your mother—for months. I told all of them that I was comfortable with you, that you didn't want anything from me. Well it looks like I was wrong. All you want is to get me in bed! Is that why you brought me up here—for a quickie?"

"Of course not, Terri, give me a little credit. Wait, what gives you that idea anyway? What, are you sleeping with HIM now?"

"I can't believe you asked that!"

Matt got up, put his hands on Terri's shoulders, and stared into her eyes. "Terri, I care a lot about you. In fact, I think I'm falling in love with you. I just want to show you."

Terri stared at him, trying to read his expression; she couldn't tell if he was sincere. "Matt, I'm sorry, but I haven't changed my mind about us sleeping together. Not while I'm married. I thought you understood that."

"Terri, you have no marriage. You know that. You and I have a lot in common, we're best friends, we work well together, we're good together in every way. I just want to make love to you. Is that so terrible?"

"No, it's not so terrible, but we need to get back to the party; people will start wondering where we are."

It was terrible and she wanted to get out of that room, but she would deal with Matt later.

Matt didn't know what to think of her last comment. She didn't seem angry, and she didn't deny that there really wasn't a marriage. Just bide your time Callan; only a little while longer and she'll be yours. Stiles won't know what hit him.

Matt was wrong, Terri was mad. He wanted sex—that was it. That's the reason he asked for her help. She seethed all the way back to the ballroom, but after talking to a couple of the other guests, she calmed down. She saw Bailey across the room and remembered what she'd said about Stiles being jealous, about how much time she'd spent with Matt that evening, about the long year Stiles must have had. Bailey was right about all of it. Terri knew she couldn't fix all of it in one night, but she could take the first step.

She went to look for Stiles. She found him in the lobby—alone and sulking.

"The party's in there." Terri said to him pointing to the ballroom.

He didn't bother to look up. "I thought you were hanging out with your boyfriend." The ring of truth in Stiles snide remark hurt.

"Stiles…"

"I'm sorry"

"It's okay, I deserved that. I asked you to come and I haven't spent any time with you. Why don't you come in with me?"

"I'm fine out here, really. Actually I should probably get going; my flight back to Chicago is early in the morning."

Terri felt terrible. He was hurt and it was her fault. She put a smile on her face and tried again. "You haven't danced with me yet. You can dance, can't you?"

She got him to smile. "Very funny; I'm actually not too bad."

"You're going to have to prove it. I get to pick two songs for us—then we can go."

"We?"

"Well I was hoping that you would drive me home, since I don't have my car." Terri smiled at him playfully. "Or are you going to make me walk?" She was about to tell him she would ask Matt but thought better of it.

"You win; two songs and we can go home."

Terri held out her hand; Stiles took it and stood up. They walked right in to one of Terri's favorite fast songs. A slow song came on next but Terri led Stiles away from the dance floor.

"What happened to two songs and we could go home?"

"I believe I said two songs that I choose. I don't care for that one." If Stiles could have resisted her smile, they would have been on their way to car right them. Instead, he was on his way to the punch bowl.