"Cole and I aren't suspended, Tia." Maggie attempts to explain as she, Cole, and Clyde make their way slowly down the hall toward their apartment. "I'm taking some personal time away from work to spend more time with my daughter who I've decided should start her summer break a few days earlier than we'd originally decided." She covers nudging the still guilty-looking Cole with her hip as they walk.

The move didn't change her daughter's sudden interest in staring down at her feet as they walked regardless of the fact Maggie knew Cole had her hearing aids in as she shifted the strap of her backpack into a much steadier lay against her shoulder as she followed at a much slower pace.

The call stemmed from Maggie's attempt to warn her aunt about the unintentional change in the upcoming weekend plans now it seemed she and Cole would be having more free time than they'd originally thought ahead of them.

Maggie sighed at the triggered string of questions from the other end of the line. "It's just an-an Incident came up at work between me and a…uh I guess she'd be our FBI liaison, accusations of erm… fraternizing if you will but it caused enough of a buzz that now a few of our mutual superiors are questioning our ability to work together." She elaborates aware of a few not-so-smooth passers-by attempting to listen in on what she was saying as she dug in her pant pocket for her keys once they reached the door they needed.

Maggie knew she was mostly grabbing at straws now in her attempts to smooth things over, but she couldn't help it when all her attempts were doing was to bring back the triggered reason for her sudden block of free time in strengthening detail every time Maggie tried to think of anything else.

She'd guessed just by the speed of it Alex hadn't intended to kiss her, it was simply reactionary. A reaction to what Maggie was still attempting to work out, but that didn't mean the warm press of Alex's lips against her own in those few to short moments wasn't…. unpleasant.

On the contrary.

If kisses were drugs, then Maggie was a newly born addict, and her drug of choice was Alex Danvers.

Not even her traded kisses or any of the other much more intimate things she'd shared with Sentinel had made her this frazzled.

As soon as the trio enters the safety of the apartment, Cole with Clyde following her immediately moves to the kitchen table to start on her homework. Maggie's phone-free hand slid through her hair in self-directed frustration as a new wave of guilt swept away the sudden sparks of needy longing as sure as a fresh swim in the chilly artic would have done.

"I messed up, Tia." Maggie admits close to tears now as the realization dawns with a newer painful sting when she remembers the unintended consequences her allowance of that single kiss with her crush had caused her child.

That and the look of complete heartbreak on what she'd seen on Alex's face before the other woman had turned away after Maggie had seemed to so bluntly reject her after that kiss.

A soft hand against her shoulder has the distracted mother starting in surprise. The phone fell to the open sofa cushion as Cole rocked back on her heels with a guilty expression.

"Sorry" the child signed before offering over the glass she was carrying. "Still think it's yucky." Cole smiles finally managing to pull a similar shaky grin from her mother as she signed this.

"Where did you…" Maggie started to ask but Cole gives her a telling look as the offered glass of scotch set down just within Maggie's reach.

Maggie had vowed to never let her daughter think whenever things would go particularly bad that the mother's first instinct was to crawl into a liquor bottle as her daughter's father had before Maggie had gained sole custody. But there were times when the stress or loss of a day would be too much, yet a single half-filled glass was all Maggie allotted herself with. Always when Cole was tucked into bed and drifting away into her dreams.

"You need it." Cole followed up leaning over to press a kiss to her mother's forehead then lightly nuzzling it affectionately with her own as the pair often do before turning her back and leaving her mother to her phone call.

Maggie can only stare first at the offered glass then towards her retreating daughter's back and back again as Cole attempted to quietly move the chair, she'd used to reach the hidden liquor bottle back towards the kitchen table to finish up her homework.

"Margarita? Margarita?!"

Her Tia's muffled voice reminded the proud mother of the phone call she was attempting to have. "Sorry, Tia." Maggie answers "Cole was giving me something."

"Better have been a hug." Her auntie says as Maggie's eyes meet Cole's for a fraction of a second longer once the child had climbed back onto the newly returned kitchen chair. "cause that's what I want to give you right now."

"Something like that." Maggie admits bringing the scotch glass up to take a much-needed smell of the amber liquid it held as Cole looked back at the page she was meant to be working on.

"Go give her one back for me, won't you?" her aunt asked, "and don't be too hard on her." She adds.

"I won't I promise, See you soon." Maggie promises considering her aunt was meant to be coming for a visit soon. Sooner now thanks to this not-so-little incident. A little surprise for Cole the two had been planning.

"I'll call again before I leave, tomorrow morning." The elder woman promised

"Stay safe." Maggie answered before her aunt ended the call and the mother moved over to help her child with her homework. The glass of scotch was left untouched for the moment on the coffee table.