*Okay so it's taken a while. But today I was doing a whole load of nothing so I figured I'd update. Loving all the reviews, thanks for all the support, this fic has gone down better than I'd expected! Keep them coming!*

Chapter Three - Magic Man

Susan approached Abby's apartment building, sighing as she went along the freezing street. She never knew why these dates she went on never came to anything. Maybe she was just incompatible with every man on this planet. She thought briefly about becoming a lesbian and starting a march against all men, but then she remembered that the idea of kissing another woman freaked her out. She smiled to herself, she had the weirdest thoughts sometimes. She pressed the buzzer and waited patiently to be buzzed up.

"Hello?"

"Hey."

"Come on up." Abby said, letting her in.

Susan walked in quickly, just about to close the door when she heard a voice behind her.

"Susan!" Said the voice.

She recognised it immediately. She turned around to see him. Standing right in front of her, clear as day. But he looked different. More handsome, but different. A million thoughts were flying around her mind as she looked at him, as she watched him approach her. She froze as he became closer and closer, not wanting to move inside, but not wanting to move outside to him. She didn't have to anyway, he moved inside and closed the door behind him.

"It's been a while." He said quietly.

"Yeah. So it has." She replied, her face still a straight picture, no expression whatsoever.

"How have you been?"

"Good. Great actually." She said, lying.

"Good."

"And yourself?" She asked, not really interested.

"Not so good." He replied sighing. "Laura and I broke up."

"You expect sympathy?" She asked, slightly annoyed.

"No, of course not. But I realised something."

"What?"

"That I wasn't meant to be with her."

"Good for you. Now I gotta go." She said turning to walk away.

"Wait." He said reaching out for her arm.

He pulled her arm back and she looked down at his hand on her elbow, then looked up into his eyes. Another one of those moment shared, she couldn't face him hurting her again, she knew that for certain.

"What do you want Charlie?"

"I want you." He said simply.

"You had me." She said quickly.

"I was a fool Susan. I didn't realise what I had till you were gone."

There was a silence, but she knew it was wrong for them to be together now. So wrong. She shook her head and pulled her arm out of his hand.

"It's over now. You had me, and you let me go." She said sadly before walking away.

"Don't go. Please!" He called up the stairs.

Susan ignored it and carried on up the stairs, thankfully seeing Abby standing at the top.

"Who's that guy?" Abby asked concerned.

"Charlie." She said, holding back the tears as she walked past Abby and into her apartment.

Abby stood in the hallway wondering whether to go talk to him, or go in after Susan. She could still hear him shouting for her to come back, and she knew the neighbours would get mad if he didn't shut up. Seconds later, Abby's front door opened again, and Carter walked out looking worried.

"What's goin' on?" He asked concerned.

"Ssshhh." She whispered as she leaned over the banisters. "Could you get out!" Abby shouted down the stairs.

Then there was silence. She heard footsteps. Then the door open, and then close. He was gone.

Abby sighed, remembering hearing footsteps like those a while ago. She shivered as she remembered him, the harsh sound it made when the door was forced open and the chain broke. She shook her head, relieving her mind of her thoughts of Brian and the attack and walked inside.

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"Susan?" Abby said quietly as she knocked on the bathroom door.

"It's open." Susan replied in a muffled voice.

"I'm guessing that was Dix." Abby said softly as she walked into the bathroom where Susan was sitting leaning against the bath.

"The very one." Susan said sighing.

"Why was he here?"

"Who?" Susan asked, avoiding the subject.

Abby sighed and sat down next to her on the floor.

"You know, people like that aren't worth getting upset over." She said trying to comfort Susan.

"I know."

"What did he want?"

"God only knows." She said holding back more tears.

"Well what did he say?"

"That he wanted me back. And he was a fool to let me go. All that crap."

"You believe him?"

"No." She said sighing. "Well, I don't know. Maybe." She said struggling. "It's." She started but then stopped.

"What?" Abby asked.

"It's kind of.it's complicated. He was my magic man. I was his cowgirl. That's the way it always was." She said sighing, smiling slightly at remembering her name for him. "And now, well I don't even know anymore." She said sighing again.

"Magic man? That's cute." Abby said, trying to ease the tension.

"Yeah. He made everything like magic. So I called him my magic man. It was a stupid thing we did." She said mocking herself.

"That's not stupid." Abby said reassuringly. She paused for a while and there was silence, then Abby asked, "Do you still love him?"

Silence. Abby looked at Susan and saw a single tear run down her cheek. She reached over and wiped it away with her thumb and wiped it on her top. Susan looked up and saw Abby looking at her worriedly. Susan looked away, up at the ceiling, then back down to her knees that were pulled up to her chest as she hugged them tightly. Then came another tear.

"Susan?" Abby asked again.

That was it. Susan started to cry, she did love him. She nodded her head as the tears came, and all Abby could do was sit and watch. There was silence in the room apart from the occasional sniff of Susan. Abby felt helpless. She was helpless. It hurt her to see Susan like this, but there wasn't a cure. All she could do now was be there for her. Susan began sliding sideways to lean on Abby. She realised Susan needing comforting and lifted her arm up as Susan leaned in to Abby's shoulder and cried. Abby put her arm around Susan and just sat hugging her. No words were spoken. There was nothing to say. And then, there was silence once more, but still the occasional sobs.

"It's okay. It's gonna be okay. I promise." Abby whispered to Susan as the tears still freely fell.

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Abby hated this. She was powerless. Like she always was in life. But this time, it wasn't her problem. It was her best friends. And she could do what? Nothing. Once again. Nothing. They sat in the bathroom for a couple of hours, till Abby's shirt was soaked through with tears. She had never seen someone cry this much, especially over a guy. Only it was usually a guy that was the problem anyway. She felt awful. Terrible even. Susan just wouldn't stop crying, and it was scary cos she was usually the one who was strong, who didn't cry in front of people, who didn't need help and who didn't need a shoulder to cry on. But she did now. Abby wasn't going to ignore it just because it wasn't normal for Susan be upset, if anything she was going to be there for her more because it was such a big deal. She sat with her arm round her, stroking her head softly as she whispered everything was going to be alright occasionally.

Time passed slowly when somebody cried, it seemed the world stood still just so that she could cry. Susan hated this, this feeling of emptiness and not knowing what to do about it. She felt bad for leaning on Abby to support her, emotionally and physically, but there was nothing else she could do. She hadn't cried over Dix since she left Phoenix, but now he'd come back, all those old feelings had made an appearance and she was powerless to stop it. She knew she still loved him, more than anything in the world, but it wasn't right anymore. She knew that too.

She started remembering the times they had spent together, the happy times, the sad times, the times where she didn't want to be with anybody else other than him. But then she reminded herself, these weren't the times she should be grateful for. The way he hurt her when he left cancelled out all those times, so what was left was her. A broken shell of a woman left to pick up the pieces. That's the way it always had been though, she was always left to pick up the pieces. With Chloe, with Susie, with Dix. There wasn't one relationship she had ended or one part of her life that was really going great, or that had finished on good terms. Apart from Carter and Abby. She had ended things with him on a good note, and she didn't want anything more from him. And Abby. They had become so close, and she knew without a doubt Abby was her best friend. She could rely on her, with anything. This was proving that right now. But she felt guilty for relying on her too much.

"I'm sorry." Susan said silently as she slowly moved back to her original spot. "I shouldn't be putting all this on you. God knows you have enough problems." Susan said sighing.

"I don't care. I'm here because I want to be." Abby replied sincerely. "Can I get you anything?"

"I would say something strong and alcoholic but I don't think that's the best thing right now."

"I think you need a cup of hot chocolate, and some munch." Abby said smiling.

"Sounds pretty good to me."

"I'll go set it up, stay here and cool off. Wash your face or something. You can take a bath if you wanna relax?" She said as she got up and held her hands out to help Susan up.

"A bath sounds perfect actually, thanks Abby." Susan said taking Abby's hands and hoisting herself up.

"All part of the service. I'll go get you a towel." She said as she left the room.

"Abby?" Susan called.

Abby turned around as she reached the doorway and turned around to see Susan standing by the sink. "Yeah?" She said.

"Thank you. For being here." Susan said sincerely.

Abby smiled and walked over to Susan, giving her a big hug and rubbing her back as she did so.

"Anytime." Abby said smiling as she leaned back from the hug and walked out, leaving Susan to start running her bath.

Abby soon returned with a towel and a cup of hot chocolate. "Take as long as you need." Abby said as she left the room and closed the door behind her.

She was alone now. Left to think, wonder about what could have been, what would have been if she'd only taken him back. She came to the conclusion that she didn't need Dix, she never had. He was someone she needed at the time, but she wasn't alone anymore. She had Abby, she had Carter, she even had support from Luka. Being alone wasn't all bad, she had these funny blind dates she'd gone on, like tonight's episode. She would never forget it, and she chuckled to herself every time she thought about it and what she did to get out of it. Times like these were the ones she would always be thankful for, and she glad that she remembered the good times as well as the bad. And this was a good time, lying in a hot bath, with bubbles, relaxing music, candles, and a hot chocolate. It couldn't get any better.