You Make Me Happy
2
P.J. leant back into the couch, surreptitiously loosening his jeans
as he did so. They'd just finished dinner and both he and Maggie
were stuffed. He'd surprised her with dinner, making her favourite
Thai Green Curry, and making it rather well. It had been just right,
creamy but with a bite, and the bottle of wine had suited her nicely
too.
They'd taken a break from the paperwork, and Maggie had helped him
prepare dinner, biting back the laughter that erupted as she saw him
don his apron. World's Sexiest Chef' was emblazoned across his
chest, and she had been determined to find out who had given it to
him, and even more determined to find out who else it was that
shared her evaluation of him. Not that she'd ever let him know that
she thought the words were 100 true, why should she, I mean, it
wasn't as if it would ever make any difference to their
relationship. He would never see her as more than a mate, however
much she loved him, and she had finally decided that if friends were
all she was offered, it would have to do.
"So, " she said, "World's Sexiest Chef then?"
P.J. grinned. "But of course!" he said, waggling his eyebrows at her.
"MmHm!" she said, with a look in her eye.
"And what's that look for Margaret?" he asked.
"I was just wondering – Patrick – " she said, emphasizing his
name, "Whether the poor soul who bought you that had had their sight
fixed yet?" she said with a grin, moving out of his reach as she
finished.
"You have no taste, Mar-gar-et," he said, drawing her name out – he
knew how she hated it when he did that, and he only ever did it to
wind her up. "Here you are, standing in the kitchen with – and I
quote – the World's Sexiest Chef, and all you can do is mock" he
said, a wounded look on his face (the look marred by the grin that
kept tweaking the edges of his mouth).
"Oh? " she said, eyebrows raising and only just hiding a grin of her
own. "And what else would you have me be doing?" she asked, moving
towards him and prodding him in the chest. Only inches from him, she
stopped and stared up into his blue eyes, as images of exactly what
she could be doing flashed into her mind and she blushed, turning
away from him and busying herself with the vegetables.
P.J., similarly affected, finally got his breathing under control.
She had looked so gorgeous there, all flushed and ferocious, with
that grin only partly hidden. Standing that close to him, it was all
he could do not to whisk her into his arms and ravish her there and
then.
"Ah, yeah, ah – so those veggies done?" he finally managed.
"MmHm" said Maggie, turning to face him, her composure now back in
place, and her previous thoughts banished – or at least tamed. She
sighed quietly and mentally chastised herself. Now was not the time
or place to be thinking like that. She couldn't allow herself to
think like that, not then he was in the same room, not when he was
standing so close. She had almost given in just then, almost given
in and pulled him to her, her need to kiss him so great. It was only
through a hefty dose of restraint that she had held back, and now
she congratulated herself as she saw how uncomfortable he was. He
didn't need that; he didn't need her fawning all over him. She'd
been so close to making a total idiot of herself, and doing
something that could have ruined whatever it was they had.
Mags shivered slightly before turning on the megawatt grin and re-
burying her emotions. "So, do I put them in the pan? P.J? Peej,
anyone in there? You ok?"
Shaking his head slightly, as if to bring himself back to earth, he
nodded. "Yep. Into the pan. Veggies first, rice on, sauce in" he
rattled off, the words tumbling out of his mouth. That had been
close. Very close. And he still wanted to kiss her now, even though
she looked so flustered and confused.
Which was all his doing, he told himself angrily. He'd done that,
made her feel uncomfortable, and that was the last thing in the
world he'd ever want to do. Making her feel uncomfortable might
drive her away, might weaken their friendship – might make her spend
less time with him. And that would just about kill him.
"Mags, listen, I'll ah, I'll finish up in here, why don't you go and
finish typing up the Tamley case file? This should only take about
twenty minutes and then we can eat," he said, shooing her into the
lounge, his large hand warm on the small of her back, his touch
unintentional and surprising them both. Pulling his hand back, he
stared down at it for a second, before letting his gaze connect with
hers again.
The shrill sound of the phone shattered anything that could have
been happening between them, and if it appeared to Maggie that P.J.
grabbed at it with any more force than usual, then she was sure it
was all in her mind.
"What?" he barked.
"And hello to you too!" Ben Stewart said. "What's up your nose then
Hasham?"
"Ben! Sorry mate, just – nothing. Nothing. So, what's up?" he said,
smiling resignedly at Maggie as he turned his attention to the
phone. He had not, however, missed the tiny flicker of - regret? –
at his choice of words.
"Nothing much, just a bit of car trouble. I'm going to have to stay
down here tonight, but I'll be back tomorrow, don't worry."
"You'd better, you're on earlies and Mags is off to Melbourne to see
Pat, so we'll be one down if you don't appear."
"You mean you might actually have to do some work, instead of hiding
away in your office with the delectable Miss Doyle?" smirked Ben,
safe in Montmorency, on the other end of the phone.
"We do not hide out in my office!" yelped P.J. rather liking the
idea. "Mags and I just tend to work hard, unlike the rest of you
lot. Anyway, give my love to the kids, and I'll see you bright and
early tomorrow morning, won't I?"
"Yeah, yeah, although – "
"Bright and Early" P.J. said firmly.
"Geez mate, sure, bright and early, bright and early. Now go back
and give Mags a hand to finish those files," Ben said, his laughter
punctuating the silence as he imagined P.J.'s stunned look.
"Wha – how – "
"Think about it. You have paperwork, and we all know that she does
your paperwork for you. You've got her wrapped around your little
finger – "
"Hey!" P.J. said indignantly. "It's not like that, Mags and I are a
team. An equal team, mate. Both of us pull our weight, Ben."
"I know, I know, I was only joking" covered Ben. Personally, he
thought that P.J. took advantage of Maggie, and that Maggie tended
to end up doing the lion's share of the legwork, while P.J. took the
glory. Of course, Ben admitted to himself, the way he felt could be
due to the close relationship P.J. and Maggie seemed to have. It was
like they were joined at the hip, leaving no space for anyone else –
namely Ben.
"Yeah, well, " P.J.'s voice tapered off, "We'll see you tomorrow
then."
"Mm. Right. Bye then." Said Ben, hanging up, annoyed at himself for
his slip up.
3
Replacing the phone on its cradle, Ben rubbed a hand over his eyes.
He'd nearly given himself away. He'd nearly let P.J. in on
something
he wasn't even sure he understood himself. It wasn't that he
was in
love with Maggie – at least, he didn't think so, but he had
to admit
that he wouldn't mind the chance of finding out.
But that would mean getting past Patrick Joseph bloody Hasham. And
that was proving to be fairly difficult. They were always together.
Always! It was like one was the shadow of the other – where one
went, the other followed. It didn't help that the Boss seemed to
think that they worked well together – well, they do (he argued
to
himself) but I wouldn't mind the chance to work with Maggie
instead
of P.J.
Ben's headache began to get worse as he argued with himself. Now
he
was going round and round in circles. All he knew was that P.J.
spent way too much time with Maggie Doyle – and she wasn't
complaining. And it wasn't as if it was only at work, either. She
was always round at the house as well. Ben sighed, and thought about
it. They were friends, and it was P.J.'s house, so he could have
whomever he wanted to visit, but Maggie seemed to be a permanent
fixture.
Which just made things worse. It meant that Ben not only had to put
up with the dynamic duo at work, but at home as well.
"Dad?" asked a small voice. "I'm thirsty." Ben
looked over and saw
his pyjama clad youngest son. Pushing thoughts of Maggie to the back
of his mind, Ben came over and scooped the sleepy youngster into his
arms, and lead him back to bed, stopping on the way for a glass of
water.
3
Back in Mount Thomas, P.J. finally brought out two plates of
steaming hot food, and set them down on the table.
"Ta Daaaaaaaaaa" he crowed, knowing that it was Maggie's
favourite,
and that he'd done a pretty good job on it. It helped that
he'd
snuck a taste in the kitchen before hand, and had quickly made a few
alterations, but she wasn't to know that.
Maggie turned off the computer and came over to the table, grinning
at P.J.'s enthusiasm. The earlier awkwardness between them had
gone,
each determined to make the other forget about it and to regain the
easy camaraderie of their day to day relationship.
"Hm. " she said, sitting down and prodding at the meal with
her
fork. "Good colour, texture seems ok, the rice – "
"Shut up Doyle, or I'll take it away and eat it myself!"
threatened
P.J. with a grin.
"Not likely!" she retorted, tucking in. "Hey! This is
good!" she
said, her surprise written all over her face. She'd known he was
a
good cook, but this really was good!
P.J. said nothing, merely pointing to his apron. Maggie raised her
eyebrows at him, her mouth full of curry.
"Well, what do you expect from the World's Sexiest
Chef'?" he said
with a smirk, before ducking to avoid the napkin Maggie launched at
him.
"Well, a glass of wine wouldn't go down to badly" she
said, without
really thinking.
"Aha! So you admit I am the World's Sexiest Chef!" he
crowed, a huge
grin making his blue eyes glow with laughter. She'd walked in to
that one well and truly!
"What! I never said that!" she spluttered, mopping at her
now empty
plate, trying to glare at him as he poured the wine.
Coming back from the kitchen, the washing machine gently humming,
P.J followed Maggie into the lounge and grinned at her as they
slumped down on the couch together. "And hey, you never did tell
me
what Dash's mystery comments were,"
Now, Maggie really was confused. How on earth had they got onto the
subject of Dash? And what comments?
"You know, this afternoon when you said Dash was making
interesting
comments about when you stayed over the last time you helped me out
with the paperwork. What were the comments? What's going on in
the
weird and wonderful mind of young Dash McKinley?"
"P.J.! Nothing. She was - she said, she was just being daft."
"But what did she say?" P.J. pressed, thoroughly intrigued.
Dash had
obviously said something to get Maggie this reluctant to spill.
"She – "
"Spill it Doyle"
"P.J.!"
"Mags!" he retorted, sticking his tongue out at her with a
grin.
"She's quite convinced that we weren't really working,
more like at
it like rabbits', to quote Dash, ok?" Maggie said, her mouth
falling
open in surprise, quite unable to believe that she'd just said
that.
"What?" spluttered P.J. "At it like rabbits hey?"
his grin
returned. Not such a bad idea – and he should really stop
thinking
like that, he told himself.
"See? I knew I shouldn't have told you!" yelped Maggie,
"I knew
you'd react like that! Typical man, thinking with his
trousers" and
a nice pair of trousers they were too – For goodness sake Maggie,
get a grip – even worse choice of though Maggie groaned to
herself,
unable to look P.J. in the eye.
"Hey, is it really that bad an idea?" he asked without
thinking,
and then waited with baited breath for the answer. Maggie's head
shot up and their eyes met, before she looked down again at the
cushion she held in her hands.
"Sorry Mags, that was out of line. Forget I said anything"
P.J.
said, dying to know her answer, but not wanting to have put her on
the spot like that. It hadn't been fair of him to ask her that,
they
were only friends after all, would never be anything more, however
much he wanted it. "You, ah, you want more wine?"
"No, no I'm fine, " Maggie said. "Listen Peej,
I'm going to make a
move, the files are nearly done and I'm sure you can finish them
up.
I've got to go anyway, I've got an early start in the
morning, and
well, I should go."
She stood up and gathered her stuff together, making her way over to
the front door. P.J. followed her, cursing his stupid mouth. Once
again, he'd stuffed up and made things awkward between them. As
she
reached out to open the door, he put a gentle hand on her arm.
"Mags? Are we ok? I'm sorry, I – "
Looking up at him, Maggie smiled softly. She wasn't mad at him,
more
embarrassed. She'd wanted to answer him, she'd wanted to
shout No,
it's a wonderful idea, lead the way' but she couldn't.
He'd only
been joking, and there was no way she was going to set herself up
for a fall like that.
"P.J., we're fine. Night" and without quite knowing what
she was
doing, she leant up and kissed his cheek, before shutting the front
door behind her and going home.
4
At six in the morning, P.J. Hasham finally gave up any pretence of
sleep and swung his long legs out of bed. Putting on a pair of
boxers, he wandered into the kitchen and turned the kettle on,
making himself a mug of coffee. Sleep had been elusive last night,
his mind wandering back to Maggie, his thoughts going over and over
their conversation.
Leaning over the counter he slowly began cracking his head against
the cupboards in front of him. What the hell had he been thinking?
Asking her that – asking her if it really was such a bad idea for
them to be at it like rabbits' – of course it would be a bad idea.
He sighed. Thinking about Maggie like that wasn't a good idea. Sure,
he wanted her, he'd always wanted her, but not for a one-night
stand, he wanted her forever. He wanted a future with her, he wanted
to give her his heart, he smirked to himself, hell, he'd already
done that. She just didn't know it. She held his heart in her hands,
and knew he'd never love anyone else the way he loved Maggie Doyle.
And then I go and stuff things up by opening my big mouth and
putting my size twelve's in. Sure Mags said things were ok between
them, but something had changed, something was a little off kilter.
And it was all his fault.
Sighing, he drank the now cold coffee, and, rubbing his head, he
made his way to the bathroom. After showering quickly P.J. grabbed
the files they'd worked on last night, and drove down to the station.
OOOOOO
It had been a very long night, and things were no better this
morning. Maggie had been eternally grateful that Dash had been
asleep when she'd got home last night, there was no way she was in
the mood for company, especially not after the night she and P.J.
had just had. His comment had been swirling round and round in her
head, banishing sleep completely.
"Hey, is it really that bad an idea?"
The thing was, Maggie admitted to herself, well the thing was that
it wasn't such a bad idea. The very thought of being with P.J. that
way made her shiver – and not in a bad way either. The thing was
that she didn't want it to be just once, that she didn't think she
could stop at once.
Shaking her head with a faint smile, Maggie sighed. I love him. I'm
in love with P.J. I want more than once, I want forever.
As if.
P.J. Hasham. The man all of the ladies of Mt. Thomas had their eye
on. The smooth talker, with sapphire blue eyes and that gorgeous
body. The ladies man. As if he'd be interested in me, Maggie
thought, trying to talk herself out of loving him. Except he wasn't
so much the ladies man any more, hadn't been for a while. Thinking
about it, he'd not been dating much lately at all. He'd calmed down,
almost as if he had something else on his mind.
And the way he'd looked at me last night, when he'd said – that.
He'd looked at her with an intentness, a fire in his eyes, a fire
that vanished as quickly as it had arrived.
Lying there in bed, Maggie Doyle laughed out loud, shaking her head
at her stupidity. There was no way that P.J. Hasham would ever be
interested in me, just get over it girl!
Half an hour later, having showered and grabbed a quick breakfast,
she lugged her weekend bag out to the car and plonked it in the
boot. Shutting the car door, she put the keys in the ignition and
turned.
Nothing.
De nada.
Zip.
Thumping her hands against the wheel, she reached down and pulled on
the toggle that opened the bonnet. Moving round to the front of the
car, she hoisted the bonnet up and propped it open. Gazing down at
the engine, she finally conceded that she had no idea what she was
looking at.
After a fruitless phonecall, she knew where he'd be.
Hoisting her bag over her shoulder, Maggie Doyle set off in the
early morning sunlight.
OOOOO
Nick Shultz disliked mornings. Maybe not as much as Patrick does, he
told himself, but morning shifts were most definitely not Good
Things. Nothing ever happened before ten, and Nick often wondered
why on earth they had to be there at such an ungodly hour. Seven
a.m. was practically the middle of the night – and what's more, he
would be working with Ben this morning.
Not that that was so much a bad thing, but he could think of people
he'd prefer to work with. Ben was still fairly new, and they were
still working him in. Maggie would be a better companion on a
morning shift, she was more amenable to mornings, and could be
relied on to cover for Nick's naps (not that he ever, ever snuck a
nap, no siree, Nick Schultz would never nap on the job – even if it
were still the middle of the flaming night). Dash. Even Dash
McKinley would be a better choice. She was most definitely fun to
annoy – and it was always se easy to wind her up and watch her spin.
Nick sighed. Even P.J. was preferable to Ben – however much the
dashing detective loathed mornings, Nick grinned to himself. It was
widely known that P.J. and morning shifts simply did not mix.
Pulling into the car park, Nick turned the engine off and stretched
his arms above his head, wincing as his elbows cracked against the
sunroof. Most people wanted to be taller. Well, Nick had news for
them – being tall wasn't always so brilliant, the world was most
definitely not built for tall people, he thought as he climbed out
of the car and strolled over to the station.
He sighed to himself as he realised that Ben had beaten him there.
Flexing his shoulders, he prepared himself for the morning ahead.
Time to make the best of the situation. Walking in silently, Nick
crept around the corner, his face cracking into a grin, wanting to
creep up on Ben. This was going to be good. Ben was so serious all
of the time, it was about time he was initiated into Nick's
Wonderful World of Morning Shifts.
Except that Ben wasn't at his desk, which rather spoiled things. And
except that the light was on in the C.I. office. Nick's amateur
detective – and professional policeman – antenna started spinning.
What was young Ben doing in P.J.'s office?
"AHA!" he yelled, slamming the door wide open. Then, "P.J.!"
"Nick! What the hell are you doing?" yelped P.J., as the paperwork
he'd been filing scattered on the ground behind him. Nick had
frightened the life out of him creeping up on him like that.
"Mate, I'm sorry! I thought you were Ben, and - "
"Yeah, well, I'm not. " said P.J. crossly, staring down at the mess
of paper on the floor. "And now this lot are all mixed up and it's
all down to you. Took us – me, took me hours to get them sorted last
night" he complained, praying that Nick had missed his slip up.
Except Nick hadn't, taking P.J.s words and storing them away for
later.
"So what are you doing here at this ungodly hour of the morning
Patrick? You hate mornings, in fact I've never seen you here this
early! What's wrong, heavy night?"
A voice out in the front office was a very welcome distraction for
P.J.
Especially this voice.
"Hello? Peej? You there?" Maggie called. Nick watched as P.J.'s face
softened, and a smile worked its way across his face as he went out
to see her.
"Mags, hello!" he said, smiling. He couldn't help it. Whatever had
been said last night, however awkward he had felt – and still felt
having said such a stupid thing - whatever was happening, he still
couldn't help smiling when he saw her.
Maggie grinned back. It was the way he smiled, the way his blue eyes
crinkled, the way he moved. It was just him. He made her happy –
just seeing him could make her day better.
Nick stood off to one side watching them, a sappy grin all over his
face too. If these two don't get something sorted out, he thought to
himself, I'm going to have to knock their heads together and lock
them in a room together and hide the key until its resolved.
"P.J. Just the person I wanted. " said Maggie. "Yeah, I er" she
stumbled slightly, suddenly realising how true her words really
were. "I called you at home, but you weren't there, so I took a
chance that you'd be here – and er, here you are" she
grinned. "Listen, my scrap heap of a car has given up the ghost
again, and I was wondering – " and she took the keys from P.J.'s
outstretched hand, he'd grabbed the keys from the board as soon as
she'd mentioned her car.
"Hang on Patrick, " Nick said as he followed them outside. "What if
we need the car – what if – "
"We've got the squad cars, Nicholas, so stop worrying" retorted
P.J., watching as Maggie unlocked the car, moving forward to help
her put her bag in. Maggie made herself comfortable in the drivers
seat, adjusting it to her height and checking the rear view mirror,
before turning the engine on. Winding the window down, she smiled
over at the two men.
"Look after her, " P.J. said softly "She's very precious to me"
"What is it about men and their cars?" groaned Maggie. "Of course
I'll look after her. Bye!" she called as she reversed out and turned
into the street.
Watching her go, Nick had to strain to make out P.J.s words.
"Who said I was talking about the car?"