A/N: I don't own any of the characters.

The rest of the weekend went by quickly. Too quickly for Charles. He and Pauline had a long talk about the girls and his relationship with Quinn. He still had no idea how he was going to get rid of Quinn but he was looking forward to seeing Liza at work. He was glad that things seemed to be a little more relaxed between them. He secretly hoped the two of them working on his book together would bring them closer together.

When he arrived at the office, he went up and dropped his stuff off. He went to get a cup of coffee and immediately saw Liza.

"Morning."

"Good morning, Charles. I finished editing your manuscript. Can we discuss it later?"

"Sure. How about lunch in my office?"

"That sounds like a plan. Noon?"

"Sounds perfect."

They both got their coffee and went into their respective offices. About a half hour before, Charles asked her what she wanted and he ordered lunch. At noon, Liza went into Charles' office and they got to work. Charles didn't know that Quinn was back and had decided to surprise him. When she arrived, the first person she ran into was Lauren.

"Ms. Tyler."

"Please call me Quinn. Why is Liza in Charles' office? What could they be talking about?"

"No idea."

"You're close to Liza, right?"

"Kind of. She's close to Kelsey and Kelsey and I are close too."

"Do you know why they broke up?"

"Oh, you hadn't heard about that?"

"No. That isn't something Charles has felt he could share with me."

"He proposed."

Quinn let out a cackle.

"What do you mean he proposed?"

"Yeah and she said no."

"Well, well, well. Isn't that interesting? If that man proposed to me, I would definitely say yes. Who wouldn't want to be married to him? He's amazing in every way."

Quinn slithered towards Charles' office as Lauren rolled her eyes.

"I'm back. Did you miss me?"

"Quinn."

"Liza, I'm surprised to see you in MY boyfriend's office."

"Why? I work here and we're discussing a book."

"My book. I want her here."

"Well, I'm here now, so Liza, you can leave and come back later. I just don't like you working so closely with him. It makes me jealous. I'm sure you understand."

"Quinn, you know what? I really don't want you here."

"What? Why?"

"Liza, can you give us a minute?"

"Of course."

Liza took the manuscript and went back to her office. She rolled her eyes at Quinn once her back was to her.

"That's better. Don't you think?"

"No. Is it really necessary for you to be here during the day? I have a job that I am trying to do and part of my job is to work with my Editor, who happens to be Liza."

"She doesn't like me. She made that perfectly clear when she tried making me look bad. That's ok. I told her that if she doesn't like the Boss' new girlfriend, she won't have a job. That's fair, right?"

"No, actually, it isn't."

"I'm much better for your image than she is. The woman lies."

"At least my daughters are comfortable her. They are very uncomfortable around you."

"Who told you that, Liza?"

"I had a long talk with Pauline and she told me how they feel. The girls were there too, so this wasn't just something she made up. I can't jeopardize my relationship with my daughters for you. I'm not sure why I even started a relationship with you in the first place."

"I'm in love with you."

"Well, I'm not in love with you."

"You're still in love with Liza, aren't you?"

"That's none of your concern."

"It most certainly is. Why didn't you tell me that you had proposed to her?"

"Again, that is none of your concern."

"I'm making it my business. I can and will make this entire company look bad starting with Liza Miller."

"Everything you do is to make yourself look good. You don't care about anyone but yourself. All you wanted me for was arm candy."

"That's not true."

"Yes, it is. Goodbye, Quinn."

"No. You can't break up with me because I'm breaking up with you. We're through. Don't ever expect me to use this publishing company again."

"Fine with me. We never should have published either of your books in the first place. Don't let the door hit you on the way out!"

Quinn stormed out and slammed the door. Kelsey and Lauren were in Liza's office. Charles walked out of his office and went to Liza's.

"Everything ok?"

"I got rid of Quinn and it actually felt good. She won't be using us for any of her books."

"I'm not too upset by that. Both of her books have been pretty bad."

"She did say that she can and will make this company look bad starting with Liza."

"I'll take care of it."

"Thank you, Lauren."

"Sure."

Lauren left and went back to Diana's office.

"How's the book coming?"

"That's what we were trying to work on before Quinn came in."

"After you discuss your notes with Charles, I'd like to read them."

"Of course."

Kelsey left and went back to her office, while Charles and Liza went back to his to go over her notes on his book. That ended up taking pretty much the rest of the day. By the time they were done, pretty much everyone was gone. Liza put Charles' manuscript on Kelsey's desk and then went to get her stuff.

"Dinner tonight?"

"Sure."

Charles made a reservation and then he called for a car. They went to meet the car and then it took them to the restaurant. Once they got to the restaurant, they were seated and had their order taken.

"So, are you ok after today?"

"With Quinn, you mean?"

"Yeah."

"Pretty much. I just wish I didn't let things get as far as they did."

"Where did we go wrong?"

"I wanted marriage and a commitment and you didn't. I do understand your situation at lot more now that I've spent time with your ex-husband."

"But?"

"But nothing."

"Then help me to understand your reasoning."

"I don't see marriage as just a piece of paper as you put it. I just want something stable for my girls. They have been through so much with what happened with Pauline and the divorce. After she left, I had to be both mom and dad to them."

"I love your girls. You know I do and I would whether we were married or not. I'm afraid of being hurt and cheated on again."

"I would never do that."

"I know you wouldn't because you're not David. Doesn't that bother you?"

"Yes, it does. Pauline and I had a long talk yesterday about a lot including what happened in our marriage. I also know she talked to you."

"She did. She apologized about what had happened at the Ball and said she should have handled that better than she did."

"I know about the conversation about Quinn."

"She's just concerned about Nicole and Bianca."

"I know. I told Quinn that the girls were not comfortable around her and she said that must have come from you."

"What did you see in her anyway?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I thought she was different but the thing is, I still love you. That never changed."

"I know. It hasn't for me either. I want to be with you but a part of me is afraid of turning into Pauline and feeling like I would have to have my life revolve completely around yours."

"I made it perfectly clear to you during that time when we were going to that lawyer thing with the Katzes that I didn't want us to do anything that you weren't comfortable doing. I do want to share my life with you but I don't want you to feel trapped. I've always been more traditional in my relationships but I don't want you to be unhappy."

"Why can't we be with each other without being committed? We were all set to move in together until Pauline did what she did at the Ball."

"The proposal was me being impulsive when I follow my heart. I didn't put much thought into it but I just wanted you to know how much I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. You also pretty much indicated that you don't even want to live with me."

"I'd be willing to rethink that. All you want is stability for your daughters? I still think we can give them that not being married."

Charles knew this was a losing battle but he still loved Liza despite her stubbornness and she still loved him despite his. They received their food and ate. After dinner, Charles called for the car and took Liza back to Brooklyn before going home himself. When she got inside, Kelsey and Lauren were there.

"Hey, girl!"

"Hey."

"How was dinner?"

"It was ok."

"Just ok?"

"The man is stubborn."

"In other words, you got nowhere."

"We both still love each other but neither of us wants to cave on the marriage thing."

"I wasn't the biggest supporter of you and Charles but after you two broke up, I was really sad for you. That whole thing between him and Quinn was just weird. Why would anyone want to be with Quinn?"

"He couldn't even give me an answer to that. It certainly can't be for the stability he claims he wants for the girls. Quinn is more unstable than I am."

"I may have told her that he proposed and you said no, which is why you two broke up. She basically said if he had proposed to her, she would have said yes."

"He never would have proposed to her. Believe me. He understands why I don't want to get married because he's met David. I think Quinn expected that I was just going to bow down and kiss her ass just because she made an impression on my daughter. At the Vassar thing, she made a reference to the Sound of Music. She said I was Maria and she was the Baroness. No one roots for the Baroness and the Captain eventually chose Maria. He did dump her earlier and I know I'm a part of the reason he did."

"Did Josh ever meet David?"

"Oh, yeah. Remember when I ended up in the hospital after the bike accident?"

"Yeah."

"They met by accident then. At least that's what Josh told me. Remember that Get Real thing we went to?"

"Yeah."

"The guy that wanted to get his ex-wife back, that was David."

"No wonder you were acting so weird. Now I get it."

"For once I would like to be in a relationship where my life doesn't revolve around his. I had to give up my job to raise my kid and honestly, I never liked the stuff I did with Josh. We just had nothing in common and he's basically a younger version of David. I have everything in common with Charles but we can't be together because we can't agree on how to live our lives. Yet I know I love him."

"Love sucks sometimes, doesn't it?"

"It does. Have you heard from Zane?"

"Nope. It gets better. Remember Clare's boyfriend Rob?"

"Yeah."

"He said they broke up a month ago and he asked me out."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I consider her to be a friend and Lauren and I went to brunch with her. I don't get involved with my friends' exes. I felt bad enough that Josh kissed me once."

"When was this?"

"Remember when I told you that I needed time off after Zane took L.L. Moore away from Empirical?"

"Yeah."

"Josh went with us and we had a moment. I stopped it because he was your ex."

"Honestly, it really wouldn't have bothered me. I put Charles' manuscript on your desk, by the way."

"Ok. Thanks."

Maggie poured Liza a glass of wine and then they all talked for a while. After Kelsey and Lauren left, Liza went to bed and so did Maggie.

During the night, Liza had the dream that almost became reality that she had had before about her and Charles in his office. This time though, more had happened and then she woke up. She really did miss him but could she see a future with him? Maybe.

She got up the next morning and got ready for work before grabbing something for breakfast.

"I had that dream again."

"The one where you almost bang Chaz in his office?"

"That's the one. This time we did."

"That means you want to bang him. I say go for it! You know you want to."

"I do. That's the problem. I would give anything to be in his arms like that again. I'm scared, Maggie."

"Of getting hurt again?"

"Yeah. I know he is too, which is why I'm surprised he wants to be bothered with getting married again."

"He's a good guy, Liza."

"I know he is. I'm just confused."

"Couldn't you just have a long engagement?"

"What good does that do? Am I supposed to tell him that I'll agree to marry him but again, it's on my terms? All I know is that Charles wanted me to move in with him before what had happened with Pauline but now it has to come with a ring."

"Liza, it's clear the guy loves you and that he's nothing like David. You almost lost him to that Quinn bitch. Do you really want to risk losing him to someone else, maybe this time for good? This is why I'm only with women."

"You also have problems with commitment. Malkie wanted to commit to you but didn't want to be bothered."

"She also wanted a kid. That's not me. You're the one that has to make everything so complicated."

"Thanks. I love you too."

Liza finished breakfast and left for work. She still had no idea what she planned to do about Charles or the dream she had. During the morning, she kept visualizing her dream and the more she thought about it, the more she wanted Charles. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on her office door.

"Come on in."

Kelsey opened the door and came in.

"This is good, Liza. I think we're ready to run with it."

"Ok."

"You ok? You seem like you're a million miles away."

"I am. I just keep thinking about Charles."

"Damn, girl! You need to do what you need to do."

"He just ended his relationship with Quinn."

"All she was was his bad pancake. It would never amount to anything. People like Quinn are not capable of loving anyone but themselves."

"She told me she was in love with him."

"I wouldn't believe a word she says, Liza. Forget about Quinn Tyler."

"I wish it was that easy. I need some time to myself."

Liza grabbed her stuff and left for the day.

Stay tuned for more…

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