"Laura, Kathrine Steinman is on line two, and I'm headed out. See you on Monday."
Murphy listened to Bernice calling out her goodbyes and leaned further back in his chair, tapping his pencil against his leg. He didn't have to do this, he told himself for the countless time that day. He could just go home and try to figure this out on his own. The only problem was, he had done that, for the last two days, and it hadn't gotten him anywhere. Slapping the pencil down, he stood up.
There was only one thing to do.
He went past Laura's closed door to Steele's office where the man himself was sitting, shoes propped up on his desk, hands clasped behind his head, leaned back as if he hadn't a care in the world. "Don't you have anywhere else to be?"
He couldn't help himself. Even though he had come in here to ask the opinion of the man before him, the very sight of him needled Murphy. He had a feeling it always would.
Steele took no offense, only arched an eyebrow. "On the contrary, Laura is working on the last of the paperwork for the Steinman investigation, and then I'm hoping to entice her out to dinner." His cool blue eyes assessed Murphy, making him fight the urge to straight his shirt or smooth down his hair. "Is there anything in particular that has you darkening my door, Murphy?"
It was all he could do not to scoff. His door. The conman who had walked into their lives had assumed so much- the mantle of Remington Steele, he thought sarcastically, and everything that went with it- this office, the apartment, and the place beside Laura. That bitter thought stung even now.
"I know I'm going to regret this," he said, even as he lowered himself onto the long white couch, "but I need some advice."
Steele sat up, managing to look both smug and genuinely excited. "Advice, from me? Why, Murphy, I'm flattered."
"Yeah, yeah, let's just get this over with." He cast a furtive look out the open door to make sure they were still alone.
"Very well." Steele stood up and moved to sit on the edge of the desk, his arms opened wide. "The wealth of my experience is at your disposal. On what subject do you wish to speak- wardrobe, sports, my daring feats-"
"Women."
Steele fell silent at this, and Murphy glanced up to find him studying him. "I never thought you were particularly unsuccessful in that area, save for one exception."
He bit back, "Yeah, well, not many people do succeed there, do they?"
Steele inclined his head, accepting the barb for what it was. "True. But we're not referring to Laura, are we? After all, I'm likely the last person you would come to on that account."
"It's Sherry."
"Ah, yes, the lovely psychologist and film aficionado who moonlighted as a construction worker." He tsked. "A woman after my own heart."
Murphy glared.
Steele held out his hand, palm up. "My apologies, I simply meant that a woman with that many varied interests is a rare find. So, what seems to be the trouble? When Laura and I stopped by your apartment, it, uh, certainly appeared as though things were... progressing."
"Things were. Things were great."
"Yes, so what's the problem?"
"The problem is that she called me three days ago and tells me that this great job opportunity came open unexpectedly- in Denver." He stood up, needing to pace. "One that's too good to turn down. She left yesterday!"
Murphy felt unaccountably angry, and, as he had since the day he'd waltzed into the office, he blamed the man sitting there. "I mean, what the hell am I supposed to do with that!? No warning, just, 'Hey, we had fun, everything was great, but gotta go'."
"Did she dismiss you?"
"Well, she sure as hell didn't ask me to go with her!" The words were shouted before he even realized that was what he had been waiting for. He saw the second Steele realized it as well.
"Did you want her to?" His voice was free of mockery, and somehow, that made Murphy even more uneasy.
"Are you kidding me? That's crazy! Who would ask someone to make a life changing decision like that after only two weeks? No one, that's who!"
"Agreed. No woman of that caliber would ever ask that."
"Why not?" He hated the whine his voice had taken.
Steele gave an elegant sniff as he shrugged his shoulder. "Because a woman that independent would not be able to admit she needed someone, even if she wanted him by her side."
He collapsed back on the couch. "Great, she doesn't need me."
"I didn't say that," Steele corrected. "Only that she could not bring herself to ask you."
"Well, that doesn't leave me any options, does it?" Murphy had been crazy to think he could actually get advice from a conman who probably hadn't given a straight answer his whole life. "I can't afford to fly out there every weekend and long distance relationships never work. And it's not like I could just chuck it all, show up on her doorstep and say, 'Hey, let's make this work'-"
"Why not?"
He stopped, flabbergasted, because as far as he could tell, Steele was serious. "Whaddya mean, why not? You don't uproot your entire life just because you find a woman intriguing-"
"Don't you? If it's the right woman, that is."
"And what do you know about the right woman?"
Steele stood up, hands in his pockets as he walked over to the plate glass windows, staring out at the Los Angeles skyline lighting up the night. His voice was soft when he spoke, "I knew a woman once, remarkable, different from anyone I'd ever met. She was... everything I am not. It took only a few hours in her company to know that I would never again meet her equal. I have never wanted anyone so much in my entire life as I did her." He straightened, saying with his usual careless air, "So, of course, I did what I do best- I walked away."
Murphy's anger grew, at Steele, at himself, at Laura and on Laura's behalf, and for all the wasted opportunities his appearance in their lives had caused. "Of course you did. And how does this make you an expert on what I should do?"
Steele turned, his gaze sharp and hard. Murphy had only seen Steele's smarmy charm fall away so completely once before and it left him as off balance now as it had then. The person staring back at him was someone who had lost enough to know the value of what was gone. "Because I have never regretted anything as deeply as that, and if what you're feeling now is even a tenth of what I felt, Murphy, then believe me, you will do the same- for the rest of your life."
Unease curled itself around in Murphy's stomach because Steele's words had a ring of truth to them that he didn't think he could ignore. "What would I even do there?" He deflected desperately.
"Open your own detective agency, obviously."
"Open my own-" He laughed. "Okay, now I know you're nuts. Come on, I'm not like Alan or even Laura-"
"No, you're Murphy Michaels. A solid investigator whom Laura Holt not only chose to work with her, but also trusted enough to confide her biggest secret. That tells me the caliber of detective you are, Murphy. A man like that could very easily run his own agency."
It was insane, but a part of him was almost proud of the way Steele had described him. And he couldn't deny that there was this desire inside him, like a candle that had been lit and was growing brighter by the second, that wanted to know what kind of agency he would make on his own. It definitely wouldn't be like Alan's or Havenhurst, and he didn't even think it would be like here, with the kind of clientele Laura wanted.
Laura.
He turned his head toward her closed door. He'd have to leave Laura.
"Yes," Steele said softly, a surprising compassion in his voice. "She'll take your leaving the hardest, but will wish you all the best and mean it completely."
He ran his thumb over his mouth. Murphy hated the thought of leaving Laura and Bernice here alone with this conman that he didn't think even now they could trust. But the idea of surprising Sherry in Denver, of taking a chance they could make it work, and of having his own agency, it was like he couldn't make himself stop thinking about it.
He tried to imagine Laura's face if he told her he was leaving, the look of disappointment, heartbreak, how he would feel like he was letting her down. But all he could see was the way she looked at Steele, the way she lit up whenever he was around, the way she never had around him. Then he thought of Sherry. He could just see her opening the door, wearing one of his shirts, that welcoming smirk on her lips as she reached for him.
"I'm going to do it." He hadn't known he'd spoken until he heard his own voice. He was surprised, but one look at Steele showed he wasn't. "I'm really going to turn my life upside down to chase after a woman I've only known two weeks."
"Good man," Steele praised, seeming sincere.
Murphy stood up, his mind already on what he would need to take with him, what could be shipped later, how he could get out of his lease. But when he glanced back at the man who was staring out at the skyline again, he had to know. "What happened to her? That woman you found so remarkable?"
It was disloyal to Laura, he knew, to ask about a woman she could never be, and to know that, even now, there was someone who would always mean more to him. But, even so, he had never seen Steele like that, and he had to know.
Steele looked down with a smile that was only just bittersweet. "She's in the next office, taking an extra twenty minutes to do paperwork that could easily wait until Monday just to see if I really will wait for her."
Murphy's mouth dropped open.
"And when she comes out here and sees me, for just a moment those remarkable eyes of hers will brighten before she becomes the unflappable Miss Holt again."
"But you said you left," Murphy protested.
"And so I did, for what could be more ridiculous for a man such as myself than to not only upend his life by putting down roots where he never did before, but also to change his very existence for a woman he had spent what amounted to only hours in her company, danced with only once, kissed no more than her hand." He turned those cool blue eyes to Murphy once more. "Did you honestly think I enjoyed, as you are so fond of saying, 'playing detective,' all this time only for the lure of the limelight and the prospect of a night in Laura's bed?"
"My God, you're in love with her."
Now Steele did look away, his feelings hid behind the haughty mask that always made Murphy want to punch him.
"You're never going to leave her, are you?"
His smile was sharp, a man full in control once more, as he glanced back. But it was like Murphy was seeing two people at the same time, the conman and the one who was more vulnerable than he'd ever realized. "I seriously doubt it. After only a few days, I rearranged my life to become, well, steal, my way into being the most important man in hers. I do my very best to earn her respect and admiration, to nurture the agency she has made her life's work, and to find a way around the walls she has hidden herself behind. And each day I only seem to want her more than I did before. So, no, Murphy, I very much doubt that I will ever leave unless she should request I do so."
"Which she's never done," Murphy murmured, thinking of all the times he had hinted, flat out said, demanded, pleaded that Laura get rid of him, once and for all. And each time, she had only drawn him further into their lives.
"You're still here."
The quiet voice accompanied the opening of Laura's office door. Murphy turned in time to see the look Steele had been talking about before she was once more the consummate detective he had known for years. But in that moment, she had looked like the girl who had walked into Havenhurst and captured his heart. He could understand why Steele had waited, because he had been waiting all this time, too.
"Where else would I be?" Steele was all charm and flash now, opening his arms wide as he gave her one of his smarmy smiles.
Laura noticed Murphy and her brow furrowed. "What are the two of you doing here so late? Did we get another client?"
"Nothing so glamorous, I'm afraid," Steele answered, before he could. "I was merely getting Murphy to explain the finer points of your American football." He turned toward him. "Something about the forward pass in the end zone, wasn't it?"
Murphy caught on and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, that's right."
Laura looked from one to the other, as if weighing their story, but she finally smiled. "Good. Our Mr. Steele is hopeless when it comes to football."
"Hopeless," Murphy muttered, looking at the tall man who had sprung toward Laura with all the eagerness of a cocker spaniel.
"Precisely so, and since I presume your presence here means you have finished that abominable amount of paperwork, I thought you could take over where Murphy left off... say, over dinner?"
Her hand went to her neck, playing with the edge of her shirt as she considered Steele. "All right. Let me get my coat." She smiled, then her eyes went from Steele to him, and he knew she'd just now remembered he was in the room. "Do you want to come with us, Murphy?"
"No, I don't think you need me to tag along." An irrefutable feeling settled over him, the same way it did when he knew the tumblers had aligned and the lock was picked. If he stayed here, that's what he'd be doing the rest of his life, tagging after Laura and Steele. And she didn't need him to do that anymore. "No, you can handle him just fine on your own."
Laura nodded and smiled, going to get her coat. When they were alone, Murphy held out his hand. "Thanks, Steele."
He assessed Murphy before shaking his hand with a firm grip. "You're very welcome, Murphy. And you have my sincere wishes for your future endeavors- in all fields."
He smiled at that, thinking to himself, what do you know? A straight answer at last.
"Ready, Mr. Steele?"
Like a siren's call, Steele turned at the sound of her voice, walking out to the lobby to help her with her coat. He pulled her close, murmuring something Murphy couldn't hear, and she softened in that way Murphy had always hoped she would when she looked at him. It still stung to see her looking at Steele like that, but it didn't burn like it used to. It felt like he was finally seeing what he'd refused to acknowledge all this time. Laura was a remarkable woman, Steele had that right. But she wasn't the woman for him, and seeing them together now, he realized, he wasn't the man for her. And maybe, for the first time since he'd met her, he didn't want to be.
"Lock up when you're done, Murph?"
He started at the sound of her voice and met her gaze. Steele had her in his arms, but she was smiling for him. He smiled back, making it the same non-threatening smile she could trust that he'd always done. "Yeah, pal, when I'm done."
Steele's eyes were on him, and he knew he understood. It was over now. There would be no more cases, no more waiting. The goodbyes and explanations were coming, but his decision was made. He wondered if Steele had felt this way when he'd watched Laura go in one direction and the gems go in the other. Two valuable things and Steele had gone after the one worth the most without hesitation. Murphy got that now, and felt the tinniest bit of respect for the conman.
Steele nodded, leading Laura away, and she never looked back. But that was okay, Murphy thought, hands in his pockets as he walked back through the office that had been the place of his dreams for a while. Now those dreams were in Denver. He stared out the window as Steele had done earlier and smiled, thinking of Sherry and what could be waiting for him. No, the time for looking back was over.
After all, like a certain conman, he had a heart to Steele.
THE END