It's not too late. It's not too late.
She's never needed to believe in anything so badly. Maxine's words echo through her head on the trip back to the station, her mind so distant that she is simply on autopilot as she restows her gear and makes her way down to the locker to pull out her mobile phone.
It's not too late.
She still has no idea how she can fix it and no idea what to do, but the mere reassurance of Maxine's words has rekindled the determination in her, and she finds herself pacing up and down the locker room after shift, chewing absently at a hangnail. This whole thing was new to her. She'd never been in a serious relationship before, had never been one to talk about her feelings and put herself on the line. But Mike had made her want all that.
She just hadn't been enough for him. But now, here, was her last chance to prove to him that she could be, that they could complete each others' lives and be happy and...
And be a family.
The family that they both craved, both deserved. All deserved.
As she unlocks the door, she's immediately confronted by two guilty looking faces eating icecream. Momentarily thrown, she stills, taking in the scene. "I'll buy you more, I promise." Cal interjects before Kate has even noticed the two empty Crunchie wrappers beside them, or the fact that they're using them instead of spoons to dip at their ice cream.
"Thief." Kate accuses, flopping sideways into the armchair, so that her feet hang over one of the arms. But she says no more on the matter of the stolen chocolate and, after a few moments, Cal and Bridie return to their eating.
"So..." Cal says between alternate bites and slurps. "How was work?"
"Oh, the usual." Kate sighs, one hand absentmindedly freeing her hair from its plait. "2Dads stirring up RO, Dutchy stirring up me. Nothing new." She rakes a hand through her hair, so that it flops in waves around her. Of course, Dutchy really hadn't been stirring. Just asking her again if she'd found a place to live yet. Which she hadn't. She only hoped that Cal was having more luck. But that was a problem for another day. "I... I saw Maxine." She voices the statement as calmly as she can, even though inside, her heart is pounding. On the trip home she'd gone over dozens and dozens of possibilities of what to say to him, of how to even address this, each considered and dismissed in turn, until she'd mercifully found herself at home. "You know..." She presses, focusing her gaze on a spot of peeling paint above her. "Mike's friend." She can feel Bridie and Cal's eyes fixed on her, as though waiting for her to cry, or jump up or some other ridiculously out of character emotion.
"Hey, Bee, can you-" Cal begins, tentatively, but Bridie forestalls her.
"Find an excuse to disappear, yeah yeah." She concedes, standing up and making to move away. However, Kate sits up.
"No." They both freeze, staring at her, and Kate forces herself to keep talking. "This affects all of us. We're... we're a family. Bee, I... I need you to help me too." Bridie looks confused but settles herself back down, and Kate takes a deep breath. "Maxine reckons it's not too late. She... she says that Mike still loves me."
"Well, duh!" Bridie throws her hands in the air, scooping up another lump of icecream. "I could have told you that ages ago, Mum!"
Kate ignores the dig. "I still love him, and... and if there's any way I can make it work... but-"
"If you are asking us for permission, Kate McGregor, I just might hit you." Cal interjects, rolling her eyes. "But the real question is, why are you here? Why aren't you boomboxing Careless Whisper under his window or riding that man-" Kate coughs pointedly, nodding at Bridie, and Cal changes tact. "Look, I'm in. Bridie's in. Rose is in. We've all just been waiting for you to be ready."
Bridie reaches across and squeezes Kate's hand, and it strikes Kate in that moment just how grown up her little girl is looking. "You've sacrificed so much to make sure we're happy, Mum." She whispers. "Now, it's your turn for a happily ever after."
Maxine wonders if it's possible to damage your eyes from over-rolling them as she sits on her lounge, flicking idly through the Saturday morning channels on the TV while Ryan video chats to Jess. With constant declarations of love flying from both directions, and many fond petnames coming from her son's mouth, Maxine feels as though she needs to watch a slasher movie to escape from all the mushiness.
"Aww, Jess... I can't wait to see your beautiful eyes." Ryan murmurs in a sickening voice, and she flicks the volume up louder on the Czech news, throwing an irritated glance at Ryan's half-eaten cereal that was probably now just mush, sitting abandoned where he'd left it. Whatever happened to their 'no phones during meals' rule anyway? Okay, so it wasn't as though she was begrudging the relationship. Jess was a sweet enough kid. But hearing her son called 'sugar' by a girl Maxine has only met a handful of times is nauseating to say the least.
A beep from her phone has her instinctively scrambling for it, praying for a distraction. She only feels a twinge of hypocrisy at her earlier thought about phone restrictions, quickly stifled by her justification that she'd finished eating long ago, and so she answers the unfamiliar number.
"White." She greets tersely, not sure whether she wants her weekend off to be interrupted by work or not. She'd hoped to actually get to spend the weekend with Ryan, rather than the Ryan-and-Jess show it had been ever since they had started dating. And hell, they'd seen each other the night before, and were going out to dinner! What more could they have to say? 'Hey babe, I dreamed about penguins last night?'
"Maxine, it's Kate." Kate's voice comes through the phone, and despite the slight fear in her voice, she sounds more certain than Maxine has ever heard her before. "I know you don't owe me anything, but I was wondering if you could help me."
Listening to Kate's plan, the corners of Maxine's lips twitch, and she feels her opinions on romance shift, just a little.
"Alright!" Maxine declares five minutes later, after hanging up with Kate. She moves quickly to Ryan, resting her head on his shoulder and waving to Jess. "Sorry, Sweetie. Loverboy has to hang up! We've got a relationship to save."
Mike backs his car into the last available spot in the carpark and looks around at the rest of the cars. "None of these are Max's. I don't know why she wanted to meet here of all places." He puzzles to Rosie, twisting around to get a look at her, frowning. "And why do you think she wants to meet here by the water? She's going to be getting all antsy at people breaking maritime law and all that."
"What are you on about?"
"Oh, come on, I had one beer fishing and I thought Max was gonna breathalise me. I hope she's not like that today." He adopts a mock look of terror. "Unless she's gone over to the dark side. Oh no! She could be a dirty cop?"
Rose, for her part, seems unmoved by Mike's jokes, and scoops up the bag before he has a chance to look any closer at it. "Come on, Dad. She said to meet here. And she probably walked. She only lives fifteen minutes away, and you know how impatient she gets trying to find a parking spot." She clambers out of the car without a backwards glance and making her way along the path towards the water.
"Kids." Mike muses to the empty vehicle, before following, wondering what 'Cheer Up Plan' Maxine has concocted for him this time, following Rose along the footpath. Despite the unseasonably cool day, several families have already set up underneath each of the adjoining park's gazebos overlooking the water, celebrating birthdays and baby showers and who knows what else. He lets Rose lead the way, meandering along behind her, and his eyes catch upon a sailboat in the water beyond, carving its way through the waves. It was a beautiful day for the water, and he'd been considering taking Rose on one of the boats around the harbor before Maxine had called.
Very nearly tripping over a rock with his focus so far away from his current self, he forces himself to refocus, looking around for where Rosie has gotten to. And his jaw drops. Because it's not just Maxine waiting for him just ahead.
Of course, she's there, Maxine's arm resting loosely on her shoulder, Ryan next to her. But they're not alone. There too, are his parents, standing next to a group of people he recognises as Kate's fire crew, with Bridie and Cal.
And Kate.
And even though he feels his gaze flickering between them all, trying to figure out what the hell was going on, he keeps coming back to her. "What..." is all he can manage. "Max-"
Kate inhales sharply and steps forward, but even though he can see her picking at her nails, a sure sign of nerves, he notices that the look of fear and apprehension that was so often in her gaze is gone. Instead, her eyes are ablaze with determination as she closes the distance between them. And, God, she's beautiful, even in a simple blue dress. "I kind of roped Maxine into this." Kate looks over her shoulder momentarily, giving her a small smile, before turning back to Mike. "I needed her help."
None of this is making sense, and if he'd been presented with either this or an alien invasion as the two possibilities of the day, he knows it would have been the latter he'd take to be the most likely. His throat has gone dry, and it takes him a moment to regain the use of his voice. "And what did you need her help for?" He knows he's failed to sound cool, calm and collected.
Kate takes another step forwards. "Because, I wanted to tell you, in front of your family and mine, your friends and my friends, in front of the family I hope can be ours, that I am totally in love with you. And if you give me another chance, I'll never let you go again."
He looks at the people that she's gathered, none of whom look surprised at her words. He wonders how much effort this is costing her, to say this in front of everyone, and despite himself, he reaches out to take her arm. "Kate, I-"
She shakes her head, refusing the supportive hand. "I screwed up big time, Mike. And I let you down. I let me down and Bridie and Rosie and my friends and yours. I get that now. So this time, I'm not just promising you. I'm promising them too. You said that it was about more than just us, and you were right." She swipes impatiently at a tear in her eye. "I will stand and declare my love from the rooftops, or... or scream it at every passing car. Whatever it takes for you to believe that I am all in, Mike. I love you. And I want to be with you. I want to live with you. I want to have a family with you."
He clears his throat, his heart beating very fast in his ears. "I... I don't know what to say."
"I have spent every single moment since I told you to leave missing you, and beating myself up because up until I met you, I thought family was blood. But you taught me it is so much more than that. You're the first person... the only person I ever envisioned a future with. You're the only man I'd trust to love my daughter as much as I do. And you're the only one for me. And I'm here because someone told me it wasn't too late. And I've spent every moment hoping that's true."
"Kate..." He doesn't register taking a step forwards, or tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"I will never push you away again." She vows. "Please, just give me a moment to make you believe me."
"But I want you more than for just one moment." Mike murmurs, and he closes the distance between them. And he doesn't register the applause from their family, watching on, or the stares or the sun or the air or oxygen. Just her, back in his arms again, where she belongs.