A/N: Credit to #TheQuadBET and all of you for making me plug back into writing. I've got 5 or 6 chapters to go - I think 64 or 65 is a nice round number. Hmm?

As always, enjoy x

Chapter 59: Maggie

New Year's Day, Sunday 1st January 2017, 1.12am, Nolan's Pub, Bronx, New York

"Are you gonna do something with it or just stare at it all night?" Shaw asked her friend who sat in the corner with a warm beer defeated while the rest of the patrons cheered, jeered and yelled at a boxing match on the 104" screen, clearly in favour of the Irish competitor Scotty "White Dot" Tiernan.

"How'd you know I was here?" Fusco asked, since drinking wasn't supposed to be his thing anymore.

She sighed and looked around. Obviously, there were concealed cameras somewhere. "So…chug." For some reason her blatant insensitivity made him smile. "Since you're a little girl tonight, I'll show you how it's done."

She downed the pint with no chin spill or pause and punctuated her triumph with an unceremonious burp. And he laughed harder than he had in months. "You're a class act, Shaw."

"Ahhh, Lionel. What kinda name is Lionel anyway? I know; a gimme-your-lunch-money name."

"And she's back."

"You know we're the only normal ones left, right? Zoe's an infection."

"How the hell did Glasses pull that off?" He asked. "Legs?"

"Yeah. Legs cutting off the blood supply to his brain. Venus Fly-parent-Trap."

"You think that's her end game? Legs, Glasses and Richie Rich?"

"I think she's playing him…and I wanna punch her in the face; that's my end game. And two stouts." She elbowed him. "And tip the guy with the man bun. He looks like Tuesday afternoon…"

He knew better than to ask.

Thursday 5th January 2017, 1.35pm, Evelyn's Condo, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

The day Evelyn Magnolia Willie-Mae Taylor-Clement had prayed for had finally come; her sister was leaving for South Carolina and she was getting her house back, which was worth more fireworks than New Years' at Sydney, Rio and Dubai combined. Gregory was working on the B-section of an original song in the living room, while CeCe half-listened and half-pondered whether to swipe left or right on her dating app for a man who described himself as a 'lifelong Raiders fan', considering her sketchy history with a certain football player. Maybe her colleague was right; she needed a boring, dependable man to fix a leaky tap, take out the trash, come home at night and…love her.

Cammie looked more relaxed than she had in decades when she swanned back into the condo with two department store shopping bags and insisted her younger sister followed her to her room; presumably to try on a new outfit, gloat about what good a low-sugar diet could do, and prod 'Maggie' for compliments. But Evelyn was wrong, it wasn't a senseless shopping spree or retail therapy, Cammie had shopped for revenge; proving her vindictive streak was very much alive.

She didn't have to be a jewellery buff to know the matching diamond and emerald necklace and dangling teardrop earrings from Oculus Jewels on 5th Ave must have set her sister back enough to hit Hamilton where it really hurt – in his wallet – and put a monsoon rain over his Bahamian island paradise with the pop tart included. "Cammie…what are you doing?" She asked a question she already had an answer to as her sister was and always had been the 'get mad, get mad as hell, and get even, or hold a grudge 'til Kingdom come' type.

"It's…insurance." Cammie said with conviction.

"Okay…how many carats?"

Cammie swatted her question away with a flick of the wrist. "Let's not get bogged down in details." I figure I've been married three times and somehow at all so, keep them for me." She cleared her throat and remembered her manners. "Please."

"'Til when?"

Until Hamilton comes home and finds the joint bank account's almost empty. "Until justice comes, Maggie. Until then."

Evelyn mused, not sure whether to agree because Cammie wasn't her favourite person but secretly proud that she'd moved from the boozing phase to the proactive one; otherwise known as the Angela Bassett in Waiting to Exhale phase. "Fine." She agreed, with Mama's voice saying 'Blood is thicker than water' ringing in her ears. Although Cammie didn't need it, she tried to lighten the mood with a happier memory from a simpler time. "Remember when Joe used to hang around on the other side of the street? At the Watsons? Watching me."

It was Cammie's turn to roll her eyes because they had different recollections of the same thing. "Watching you show off on the porch with your James Brown act. Even had the hair." Evelyn laughed, because once upon a time she could croak out a few decent adlibs from I got the feelin' and flip her hair about, especially fresh off the hot comb. "What's that song?" Cammie asked, as a secret fan of Gregory's talent.

"It's called Right kinda trouble and it's about me, he can't seem to finish it though."

"How long since he started?" Cammie asked, closing the $64,000 jewellery box and leaving it on the bed.

"About…4 years. But I don't mind, gives me something to look forward to."

Cammie nodded and unzipped her suitcase. There were just toiletries, a trench coat and some Isotoners for Tullie left to pack away. "You know what I can't stand about you most?"

"My charm and arresting beauty?" Evelyn replied with sickly-sweet eyelash batting.

"That you broke all the rules and still ended up here. With him." She folded the trench coat over and wrapped her toiletry bag in a towel. "Gregory's a good man. Must be for putting up with you and your…charm, was it?"

Evelyn didn't have much to say because she couldn't argue for once, and sometimes winning was a simple as being happy with someone to be happy with. And, this was as good as it was ever going to get between them. "So, when's your flight?"

"5.15 at LaGuardia."

She nodded. "Cammie?"

"Yes?"

"Give him hell." Camellia didn't acknowledge him or the

"And let's never do this again and say we did."

Cammie sipped her suitcase shut and supressed a smile. "Amen to that, little sister."

2.47pm, Paul's House, Elmhurst, Queens

Taylor could sense the weird energy between Gina and his dad but didn't have it in him to ask what was going on. With Reggie gone, real life was back on his mind like his girlfriend and the nameless, faceless new roommate he'd be living with until the summer. This time he planned to mind his own business…unless they needed CPR or something.

"You wanna transfer back home?" Paul asked, tuning the car radio to the Jammin' on the One show he liked and Taylor didn't. Ray Parker Jr & Raydio's 'A woman needs love' was playing.

"I'm not moving schools just 'cause my roommate joined a cult, Dad."

"Just checking." He turned up the heat. "How was Zahra's holidays?"

"They went to her uncle's restaurant to eat and stuff. But, no tree or anything. She said the best gifts come at Eid."

Paul knew that half-smile anywhere, especially on his son. "You still like her. So what's the deal?"

He looked out the window and followed a squirrel down the street. "She's scared of me or something, and I don't know what do about it."

"Hmmm." Paul didn't have the answer, and didn't think anyone did. Not even Zahra. And the thought that Taylor got a new girlfriend at his urging made him scratch his neck. "Maybe you should do what you've been doing; get to know her. Then she can trust you." He reflected on his own situation with Gina and the niggling feeling that without trust the love wasn't really there; not like it should have been. "Maybe she's never done that before."

"Yeah, maybe." He would never admit he thought about it more than he let on.

"I've been thinking about the house."

Taylor swallowed. "Which house?"

"Ours. And the other one too."

"You want me to sign?"

"No. And trust me, you don't wanna do that. It's your half, Taylor."

It felt like the other half of a conversation they probably should've had months ago. "What about Jeremy?"

Paul breathed in and out. "My Mama used to say 'all giants fall like Goliath'. So, what about Jeremy?"

"Was he always like this?" Taylor asked, as the squirrel disappeared behind a trash can.

"Ummm…it's hard to say. You never know if he's getting better or worse. I guess it's just a game."

"That you can't win, right?" Taylor asked, intuitively, giving him a reminiscent feeling of something Joss said the first day she met Jeremy. "If I sign, he wins and hangs it over your head. And if I don't, he keeps coming back for it, right?"

Paul shook his head. "All I know is the best way to play; is not to play at all."

Taylor nodded, because he understood why it had to be this way; and why Reggie had an allergic reaction to his dad too. "So…are you gonna tell me what happened at Spring Break or not?"

"What happens in Daytona; stays in Daytona…but who knows? Maybe I'll tell you one day."

"Dad?"

"What?"

"Do we have to listen to this station?"

"My car, my music, kid."