Thank you to everyone who has been reading this. It still makes me cry at the thought that people actually read what I write. I love you all and am so grateful. So, a lot of you expressed the thought that Mac was set up maybe by Walter or Devon. He wasn't, he just broke the law and got caught in a stupid way as many people go down for those kinds of crimes. Just a wrong place, wrong time scenario. So I'm skipping over his incarceration entirely and sending him home to Julie's arms. J/K She's pissed as hell, he's pissed at her too, so they are even LOL. Of course, they have to be mad, or there wouldn't be any story would there?

Rosie by Jackson Brown

"She was standing at the load-in,
When the trucks rolled up.
She was sniffing all around
Like a half grown female pup,
She wasn't hard to talk to.
Looked like she had nowhere to go,
So I gave her my pass,
So she could get in and see the show.

Well, I sat her down right next to me,
And I got her a beer.
While I mixed that sound on stage,
So the band could hear.
The more I watched her watch them play,
The less I could think of to say,
And when they walked off stage,
The drummer swept that girl away.

But Rosie you're all right - you wear my ring.
When you hold me tight - Rosie that's my thing.
When you turn out the light - I've got to hand it to me,
Looks like it's me and you again tonight Rosie.

Well, I guess I might have known from the start,
She'd come for a star.
Might have told my imagination not to run too far,
Of all the times that I've been burned,
By now you'd think I'd have learned,
That it's who you look like,
Not who you are.

But Rosie you're all right - you wear my ring.
When you hold me tight - Rosie that's my thing.
When you turn out the light - I've got to hand it to me.
Looks like it's me and you again tonight Rosie."

Five Years Later

"Rosie", by Jackson Browne was playing on the jukebox that day when the news reached Julie and she wasn't surprised, she had been expecting it, sooner or later he was getting out and then, Mac would be back. But Devon had advised her to get the hell out of dodge now, and that had made her mad; this was her hometown too, she grew up here, lived here and had family here. Mac could fuck right off. She had never gotten to finish school and now this place was all she had, for better or worse.

What was between them was over, and had been for a long time. If he hadn't fucked up and got sent to prison, maybe it might have been different, but he did and now it was what it was. It was a shame, but something she never allowed herself to think about, out of sight out of mind was her philosophy, it hurt less that way.

Although it wasn't, this town had to be big enough for both of them, plus there was Michael to consider now. He was almost Six and Mac had been sent away when he was an infant. Michael was at that age where he asked questions, a lot of questions, all the time, he knew Walter was his grandpa and that Mac, his father was in jail. Julie had not kept that from him or kept him from Mac's family, who loved him. Michael enjoyed the love of his grandfather, his 'Dizzy', his uncle Dev and his aunt Gigi, he was a happy child. Still, she wasn't looking forward to dealing with Mac again.

When she saw Devon coming in that day looking like the cat that ate the canary she knew just what it was about. There had been talk for months that Mac would be getting out and she had been preparing herself for it. He would not be happy with her, she had not done what he wanted and in his mind, that would make them enemies. She rolled her eyes as Devon approached her, already talking about it.

"He's out," Devon said to her as she wiped down the bar, "I presume we'll be seeing him in a few days." Devon had kept in touch with Mac on occasion through the years, kept him updated on Julie and Michael as best he could. So naturally, he was the first to know he had gotten parole, "I imagine he's hitching his way back or something."

"Don't care," She answered as she took the cap off a beer and set it in front of him, Devon was joined by his friend Willy, who sat down and Julie had a beer on the bar for him too.

"He's gonna wanna see his kid." Devon continued and Julie felt her blood boil, she hadn't visited Mac but he had written to her every day, all his letters were in a box under her bed, unopened. Maybe someday it wouldn't hurt to see them. Maybe someday she could read them she told herself, and now some day was now. It was too hard to think about what they had almost had and she hadn't visited him either.

Devon was just feeding on her misery like a vampire now, mentioning Micheal and waiting for her to respond. She had to shut this down immediately, that was a closed book as far as she was concerned. Sometimes Devon was a great guy and sometimes like now he just liked to stir the pot.

"Devon, I do not give a fuck if he's getting out of jail. He'll see Michael if I think he should see Michael, you got that!" She answered again, just as she did when Devon first suggested she run the hell away before Mac returned. Over her dead body would she do that, and with Mac, it could come to that.

"Just sayin he's pissed as hell at you," Devon answered, "He's holding a grudge."

"Yeah, well fuck him," She answered, "It's over with us, whatever that clusterfuck was," She held up her ring finger where a sizable diamond sat. That ring came from Jake, her boyfriend, who was from California. They had casually known each other before Mac went to jail when Jake came to town to work on the railroad that was coming through and became a regular customer at the bar. Jake was a few years younger than her, and he had chased her until she finally agreed to be his wife. Jake was presently at Army basic training and when he got back and was assigned, he hoped they would finally get married. It had been four years, the longest engagement ever in Cainville probably.

Julie's aunt, Dizzy, to Michael, her only relative left alive had been sick with cancer for a long time now, Isabelle had Multiple Myeloma; it didn't kill her right away, just made whatever time she had left miserable. Julie refused to leave her now, even when just a few years ago she was in such a hurry to get away, a fact that she and Jake fought over constantly. He wanted to start a new life with her and Michael, somewhere far away and he had been taking steps towards that for a long time. Going into the Army had been his idea, a way for them to escape forever.

But Izzy had been there when she was a scared kid and an alone single mother, Julie would never leave her, and Michael was so attached to her now too. There was no way she was leaving Cainville, not while Izzy and Walter were still alive. Mac could fuck right off if he thought he could intimidate her. She knew he would try and she knew it wouldn't be pretty at all.

Even so, if she said the word Jake would arrange a wedding, but that wasn't her answer either.

Most girls would want to have a wedding if their only relative was dying, but Julie knew this wedding would not make her Aunt Izzy happy; Isabelle did not like Jake, at all. She loved Mac though and always had, many times in the past she had come to Mac's defense if she thought Julie was being too hard on him and she was angry that Julie broke all contact with him when he went to jail.

Devon laughed, "Julie, you really think he's gonna care about that?" Devon pointed to her finger, "He still thinks of you as his wife. He says Jake better watch himself."

"I don't give a flying fuck what he thinks, or who he thinks he can threaten, we were never married, and I moved on." She answered as she tied her dark hair into a sloppy bun on top of her head, "What did he think I was gonna be here tying yellow ribbons all over the place?"

"What the hell are you talking about," Devon asked and Julie just pushed past him, he didn't get her song reference at all and that just made her more pissed. Who didn't know that dumb Tony Orlando and Dawn song, it was on the fucking jukebox in this place?

Walter was behind her in a second with a sneer for Devon, and he showed Julie "The Persuader" the bat he hid behind the bar. Walter was a changed man, from the moment he saw a little boy named Michael.

"I got you, doll," Walter said, like a protective father. He had always looked out for her, even if she wasn't his son's woman anymore.

"Walter, I don't expect you to wack your kid over me, come on."

"If he has it coming he has it coming, you're my best bartender," Walter nodded to the little dark-haired boy playing cars in his office, "And the mother of my grandson."

Walter had made a complete 360 when Michael was born, and when Mac was sent to prison, he stepped up for Julie and continued helping her to this very day. His side business was handled far away now, he had new workers and Devon still cooked for him, likely Mac would go back on the payroll if he wanted to. But he took over where Mac had left off and never regretted a thing. Some people were just better grandparents then they were parents.

"Don't worry, I'll handle it, I'm not afraid of him..." Julie reassured Walter.

"He did five years and ya dipped, he isn't taking that well, you know it." Devon continued, "Ain't that right El hefe," He said to Walter.

Julie squared her shoulders back, "I'll handle it I said."

Jake had left the week before for basic after much discussion about their future and wasn't due back for six weeks, not that that would mean fuck all to Mac. Jake had seen the Army as a way out for him, Julie and Michael; Julie sighed, her life just got ten times more complicated. When Jake returned he expected an answer from her. They had been engaged for four years and he was tired of waiting. He wanted her to leave town with him; she was considering it, but her aunt was so sick and Walter and Michael had bonded so well.

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"When I got home from work,
I wanna wrap myself around you.
I wanna take you and squeeze you,
'till the passion starts to rise.
I wanna take you to heaven,
that would make my day complete.
You and me ain't movie stars,
what we are is what we are.
we share a bed some lovin' and t.v. yeah.
That's enough for a workin' man,
what I am is what I am.
and I tell you, babe,
well that's enough for me."

You and Me by Alice Cooper

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Mac sauntered into the place a few days later and he was immediately aware of Julie's presence there, even before he laid eyes on her for the first time in five years. It was hard seeing her again, she still looked the same, it was like it could have been five years ago and he was there to pick her up after work. But it wasn't, time had passed, hard time for both of them, it was over between them according to her; Mac disagreed with that. Julie had never visited, her anger at him had never dissipated either, but that also meant Mac hadn't seen Michael either.

He had quite a bit of anger himself, he wrote to her every fucking day for five years and not once had she responded. He wouldn't even know how Michael was or what he looked like if Devon hadn't sent him a picture from time to time. Devon said she was marrying someone else and Mac was there to let her know it wasn't happening.

Nothing had changed, he was a lot of things that were true, but she was the one for him. Whenever they were in a room together the air became electric, it had been that way since they were teenagers, it just took them a while to get there was all, but they had gotten there. They had been on the verge of something wonderful before he was busted and he wanted it back.

He stopped at the jukebox to make this a grand entrance worthy of a six-year absence and put a few coins in. He picked a song, turned around and there she was, his girl.

The hair stood up on his body, even though he had already taken care of business with a couple of hookers earlier; she made him hard just by existing. She always had. Mac licked his lips as he watched her she was bent over doing something on the floor behind the bar and he stared openly at her very fine ass.

As if she sensed him there she stopped what she was doing.

"What's this here? Lost pussy?" He said as he approached her at the bar, a song was on the jukebox, one that always reminded him of her and he knew she knew it too. It was perfect really.

Julie huffed as she stood up with an arm full of glasses, "Couldn't you do better than that?"

"They're playing our song..." He said as the memory of dancing with her under the fairy lights on Izzy's front porch flooded his brain, the last time he was truly happy.

Julie narrowed her eyes, "Fuck that song, I wanna vomit every time I hear it."

She walked the length of the bar gathering glasses and he followed on the other side, she might have been the only person in the place who wasn't afraid of him. That he had to respect.

"Go away Mac," She said.

"Afraid not, I'm back and here to stay..."

Julie ignored him and that just made him angry, well angrier than he already was at the way things had happened. He accepted that he broke the law, and was caught. What he couldn't accept was her cutting him out of her life and Michael's, and he would never accept her with another man.

"You need to see things from my point of view, Jules," He reached across the bar and pulled her by her shirt, "You never came to see me, kept my son from me and then I hear you've taken up with that piece of shit, ain't he a little too young for you?"

"Let go of me," She warned, but he didn't let go, he licked his lips and pulled her closer.

"You fucked me over," He was so close to her, close enough to kiss, and she almost closed her eyes and let him, right there in front of everyone, two minutes in a room with him and it was back to this shit again, "Wheres my son?"

"You fucked up and there were consequences..." She pulled away, once she got her head back, "There's a difference."

He backed up, but never took his eyes from her, "Keep that jerk off away from Michael," He pointed at her, "You hear me? Michael is my son, my son!"

"Will you shut your fucking mouth for one second, for one god damn second, for once Mac?" Julie countered, Michael was down the hall and she didn't want him to hear this bullshit.

"This ain't over, It's never going to be over with us," He growled at her, "Where is he? At Izzy's?

"You really need to lay off the crank and the alcohol." She said, "I can see you started both up again real fast didn't you?"

"Fuck off Julie," He snarled as he left the bar and walked toward the tables, intent on throwing some shit around to make his point "This ain't over! I wanna see my son! Now, where is he?"

Walter was there in a second with his bat in hand, "I wouldn't do that son."

"Oh poor you," Julie hissed at him quietly, "I mean I tell you not to fuck up. I tell you I'll leave if you do and then you're shocked when I follow through?"

"Shut up," Mac countered.

Off to the side behind Walter's office door, a little boy peeked out the door, caught his eye and suddenly Mac was calm again. The child peered from around the door at him and Mac looked over at Julie, she nodded her head, so he walked over. The boy clearly recognized him, at least this bitch had shown him pictures of his father.

He knelt down on one knee and looked at the tiny version of himself, with his blue eyes and Julie's dark hair, "You know who I am?" He asked.

The boy nodded.

"Yeah?" Mac smiled, maybe for the first time in years, "Who am I?"

"You're Mac," He paused, "Daddy."

Mac smiled and felt something he never felt before, complete peace, he stood up and turned to see Julie behind him. There were tears on her face.

"I never wanted him to see you like that, I wanted it to be like this." She said.

"Thank you," Mac answered and there was a moment between them, he knew she was thinking of the good times they had together, her eyes were soft. He was thinking of their life together too before he was arrested, too soon the spell was broken.

"Don't get used to it," She whispered so the boy wouldn't hear as they walked back out into the hall, "You smell like day old, booze, crack and whores, when you don't then we'll talk about this," She held her hand out for Michael and led him down the hall and out the back door. Now she was going to have to arrange daycare for him after school, he couldn't be here now. Mac was clearly a loose cannon with an ax to grind. It was never her intention to keep them apart if Mac was clean, but he clearly wasn't he smelled like three days of alcohol, meth, and God knew whatever else.

This was going to be a rough ride, she just knew it.