SPOILERS: through Graduation Day

NOTES: Thank you for all the reviews! Sorry for the delay; right now, my schedule is at the mercy of my house guests. This one has a change of POV as Maia puts her scheme into action. Diana doesn't use Ms and Ds for mommy and daddy, etc. Cypria had a preference for a bit of humor, so I hope these next two satisfy that preference. Thank you for the beta, PurpleYin!

DISCLAIMER: The 4400 and all things associated with it belong to other people.

MORE THAN A DOG

Part 2

"Mom, have you ever thought about getting married?"

I choke on my glass of wine and have to take another swallow to clear my throat before I can reply. "What?"

"Have you ever thought about getting married?" Across the table, Maia blinks her big brown eyes at me. There's no hint of guile in them, but she's been acting a bit strangely, lately--talking on the phone a lot but going silent when I walk in on her and being generally secretive. Then there's that vest of Marco's she absconded with, claiming she put it in her hamper by accident, but she doesn't own anything that remotely resembles a burgundy sweater.

"Where did this come from all of a sudden?" I want to laugh, but I can't seem to manage it. A weird kind of anxiety curls in my gut.

Tilting her head, she gives me a look of long-suffering patience, the kind ten-year-olds seem to reserve for dealing with clueless parents. "You're a single-mom. It's a reasonable question."

"Perhaps." Leaning forward, I put my chin in my hand and squint at her, suspicious. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm trying to figure something out."

"And what might that be?"

"Why you're always so embarrassed when I walk in on you hugging or kissing Marco."

Pulling back, I can feel the heat rise in my cheeks. So she's seen us kissing?

"I think," she continues, as though working her way through a theory, "it's because you're uncomfortable about being with him like that in front of me."

"I..." What to say? "I hadn't really thought about it." I'd never considered myself particularly prudish, but...

"That's what I thought." Her obvious disappointment makes me frown.

"Even so, what does it have to do with marriage?" It comes out of my mouth before I can stop myself.

Setting her napkin beside her plate, she draws a deep breath. "You and Marco behave a lot like Amy's parents and my first parents, except that you seem to have a thing about touching him in front of me. Julia says-"

"Who's Julia?" Marco and I act like a married couple?

"One of the older girls at school." She gives me a disgruntled look for the interruption. "Julia's parents got divorced while she was away, and she says her mom's the same way."

"The same way?" She's been talking to kids at school about how I behave with Marco? It's difficult not to feel mortified.

Maia nods. "Julia thinks that because her mom was so hurt by the divorce, she's using Julia as an excuse not to become involved with a man. You've never been divorced, but you also seem to be funny about getting too close to Marco. I don't know if you were hurt like Julia's mom, but I don't want you to use me as a reason to not become involved with Marco."

Does she know what she's saying? "Excuse me?" There's a slightly strangled quality to my voice.

"You like Marco, don't you?"

"Of course I like him." The speed of my response surprises even me; its defensive tone lingers in my ears. Why do I feel defensive about it?

"So why don't you-"

"This isn't something I want to discuss with you." I say it as calmly as I can, but there's no softening the meaning of the words.

Her face grows sad. "Why not?"

"It's..." Good question. "It's not the sort of thing adults discuss with children." How to explain I sometimes feel like I'm robbing the cradle?

"Why not?" she insists. "How else am I supposed to figure out what's going on if you won't talk to me about it?"

A change of tactics is in order. "Did you have a vision?"

"No." She looks away as though contemplating something else, but there's no distracting her. "Are you afraid Marco would hurt you?"

"Of course not."

"Then it must be because you don't like being with him in front of me, but if you were married-"

Married! "He hasn't asked me." Again, I try to laugh but can't.

"Would you marry him if he did?" She sounds completely sincere, even slightly hopeful.

"I..." The prospect leaves me thrilled and terrified at the same time, just like when Maia first asked to come home with me. It's been a subject I've been trying to avoid thinking about; my life is complicated enough as it is without adding a spouse to the mix. I'm comfortable with the way things are now. The combination of my disastrous history with men and having endured years of my mother's unsubtle suggestions that I'm old maid material have made me quite content to maintain my holding pattern with Marco. But wouldn't it be nice to come home to his warm smile and loving arms every night? "Yeah, I think so." My heart aches with the confession, reluctant to expose itself to such a risk, no matter how tempting the potential rewards. Then it fills with a sense of serenity. And just like that, I realize it's exactly what I want.

"Have you talked about it?"

"No."

"Then how is he supposed to know?" Her voice has degraded to an almost-whine, as though she's pleading with a simpleton.

"It's complicated." Again, I try to change the direction. "For example, I don't know how you'd feel about it."

She squirms a bit and looks down at her fidgeting fingers. "I like Marco a lot. I also like it being just the two of us a lot. But I'm pretty sure I'd like to have a dad, again, though I wouldn't want you to get married for me." Shaking her head, she stills her hands. "What I want most is for you to be happy. I want him to be happy, too. And I want you to feel like it's okay to hug him in front of me." Lifting her eyes, she pins me with a serious gaze. "I really, really don't want to be the reason you're alone."

Like I said--complicated. But maybe not as much as I'd thought. "I'm not alone, Maia." Reaching across the table, I take her hand. "I have you."

With a frustrated huff she pulls back and sternly folds her arms across her chest. Did she pick that up from me? "I mean a mommy without a daddy alone, not a mommy without a child alone."

I manage to smile. "And I don't know how he feels about it."

At this, Maia rolls her eyes with a dramatic sigh. Apparently, she thinks it's a foregone conclusion. I suppose she's right.

"So you'll ask him?" she insists.

"I'll ask him."

Her face breaks into one of her sunny smiles, and she hops off her chair to give me a hug. I can't help but laugh, a satisfying relief banishing my earlier anxiety.

"You really want a dad?"

Nodding into my neck she hugs me tighter. "More than I want a dog."