Chapter Fourteen: See You Again

We've come a long way from where we began
Oh, I'll tell you all about it when I see you again

Wiz Khalifa – See You Again

"I wandered today to the hills Maggie, to watch the scene below,
The creek and the creaking old mill, Maggie, as we used to long, long ago," Detective Antonio Dawson sung under his breath, tapping out a tune on the steering wheel with his fingertips as his keen eyes took in the street around them.

"Yo Dawson, quit it." his partner Detective Maggie O'Neill muttered, using the back of her hand to slap his arm. He tilted his head towards her, watching as she selected a yellow M&M from the open packet on the dashboard and popped it into her mouth.

"We've been watching this guy for three hours already, I have to do something to entertain myself." he huffed before reaching over and flicking open the glove compartment. "I may have that Rod Stewart song Maggie May on CD somewhere."

"Don't you dare." she scowled at him, slamming the glove compartment shut with her palm and almost catching his fingers in it. There was silence between them for a few moments whilst Maggie slumped down in her seat, her eyes flickering closed as she buried her nose even deeper into the confines of her gunmetal grey scarf. Antonio didn't blame her, inside of the car was almost as cold as outside of it. They were both bundled up in their winter coats, sporting woollen hats upon their heads. He didn't think he could count the amount of layers that he was wearing underneath his jacket. They'd been following the suspect around for best part of a day now and all they'd gotten was cold.

"I can't believe that this is taking so long." Maggie murmured, banging the back of her head against the head rest of her seat in boredom. "Just take us to the where Jacobs is hiding."

"Hey, guys got errands to run just like everybody else." Antonio responded, leaning back in his own seat in an attempt to get comfortable. "You need to chill."

"I get anymore 'chill' and you're gonna be driving around with an icicle in your car." she informed him, intentionally hissing out the last word so that he could see the condensation in the air. They fell into a comfortable silence once more as Maggie pulled her fur-lined hood up over her head and crossed her arms over her chest.

Antonio began to hum softly under his breath, his gaze slipping to Maggie before he began to hum the tune even louder. Her eyes snapped open as he tilted her head towards him.

"Are you serious?" she snapped at him, her cobalt blue eyes narrowing in disdain at his choice of song.

"It's in my head now, if you'd just let me play the C.D we wouldn't be having any of this." Antonio chuckled before resuming his humming.

"If you had put that Rod Stewart C.D in I would have thrown it out of the window." she told him before sighing loudly. "I hate you."

Antonio broke into a wide smile, his attention coming to rest on the doorway to the building that they were watching.

"Admit it you love me." he teased her, his fingertips tapping along to the tune in his head once more as he awaited her reply.

"Not even in your wildest dreams Antonio."

Those words rang in Maggie's ears as she leaned against the black work surface in Antonio's new kitchen, stirring in another spoonful of sugar. Jesus those days felt like they were a life time ago. The two of them had just been partners, messing around and killing time during a stakeout and now she'd spent the night wrapped up in his sheets, dressed in his clothes, albeit she had been sleeping alone. However there had been something so soothing about being surrounded by his essence, his pillow had smelt like him and she'd woken up this morning with her face pressed into it inhaling his rich, masculine scent feeling safer than she had in a long time. He was intoxicating, she could admit that. She had spent years craving his touch, sometimes when she was undercover she would think about him lying in bed beside her, his hands gliding all over her body with that wicked glint in his dark eyes. She'd pushed those images aside when they had been partners, she hadn't wanted him to see those tell-tale signs of arousal, she hadn't wanted him to know what it did to her every time he laid his hands upon her. He'd figured it out eventually and it was at that point she realized that the attraction was mutual. The way he responded to her sometimes had made her nerve endings sizzle with anticipation and when that happened she would force herself to stare down on that gold band adorning his left hand. She could look but she could never touch.

That had changed now and if she was honest she had no idea where that left them. They hadn't talked about what would happen when she left the operation, the focus had been on getting her out and that had happened so quickly her head was still spinning from it. This time yesterday she had been Magdalena Murphy, sipping a latte at her desk in Osker's accounting firm, trying to figure out a way to smuggle out that flash drive and now she was Maggie O'Neill, soon to be the Twenty First District's newest patrol officer. It was disconcerting to say the least.

"I thought I smelt coffee." Antonio murmured as he breezed into the kitchen and making a beeline for the filtered coffee machine perching on his work surface. His sleek black hair was still damp and he was dressed in those denim jeans that fitted him just right and that familiar sea foam colored t-shirt. The color contrasted well against his skin tone, hugging his boxer's physique in a way that made her body flush with heat. He had been in the shower when she had awoken this morning, she had tread lightly past the bathroom, pausing for the briefest second when she heard the water running. A couple of months ago she would have opened that door and stepped inside to join him.

However after yesterday, she simply couldn't bring herself to do it. She felt like she had been flayed apart in one aspect, her emotions raw and open for the world to see. She'd given too much of herself away and claiming it back was taking longer than she had expected. She needed to figure things out for herself before she could commit to anything again. She knew that's what he wanted and it was the same for her, one time would never be enough for either of them and Maggie didn't have enough of herself to give away at the moment.

She watched as Antonio poured the coffee into a mug he pulled from the cupboard above the coffee machine, Maggie smiled against her own mug as she read the words 'World's Best Dad.' She'd seen the ceramic gift this morning while she was hunting around his cupboards for the supplies to make the coffee.

"You sleep ok?" he asked her, busying himself with adding sugar to his own mug before turning his full attention onto her.

Those dark eyes of his were smouldering, she felt her breath hitch as he surveyed her with unbridled interest. She was wearing his clothes, she had slept in his bed and now she was in his kitchen making them coffee. She knew what that was doing to him but he kept it in check, she could see the restraint there and she was glad for it. She trusted this man with her life, he refused to take advantage of that. Knowing that he still desired her despite the fact she was emotionally battered and physically bruised was a complete turn on. It helped her retain some of the self-confidence that she had been in the midst of losing.

"Well enough." she responded before addressing another issue that had been playing on her mind. "I'm sorry I took your bed. I just crashed after I took that shower."

"Don't be." he chided her. "A lot happened yesterday. I'm just glad you were comfortable enough to take it."

"I was." she said deliberately. "However I insist on taking the couch tonight."

Antonio laughed and Maggie found herself smiling. She had missed that sound, having it back in her life again made her heart pound just that little bit faster.

"My house my rules." he informed her before heading towards the living room, Maggie trailing after him. "For as long as you stay here you take the bed."

The bedding he had used last night was folded up in a neat pile on the arm of his black leather sofa. Antonio sat down beside it, placing his socked feet upon the sturdy wooden coffee table. Maggie sighed as she sat down on the opposite side of the sofa across from the mantelpiece. Her eyes came to rest on the framed pictures of his children perched there haphazardly. There were still cardboard boxes, half unpacked around the place but he had gotten the important stuff out first.

"I hate to bring this up with everything else you have going on at the minute but how are you planning to explain this arrangement to your children." Maggie said gently, folding her legs underneath her as she wrapped hands tightly around her coffee mug.

Antonio's shoulders tensed at her words, she could see the line of his jaw beginning to clench as he exhaled deeply through his nose. There was something wrong, she could feel it over their fleeting connection and it tore her up inside, she reached out a hand, placing it tenderly on his knee.

"That won't be a problem for now." he answered, his gaze lowering into the dark pools of his mug. "Laura's cancelled their visit at the weekend. Her lawyer thinks its best they don't stay overnight until we've hashed out the custody agreement."

It killed her to see him hurting like this. His marriage may have broken down, but those kids were Antonio's lifeline. Deep inside she knew it had to be ripping him apart that he couldn't spend time with them. There were no words that she could say that would change the way he was feeling so she simply sat beside him, her thumb lightly ghosting over the hollow of his kneecap as a symbol of solidarity. Antonio's warm hand clasped hers, their fingers entwining as he turned his head towards her so that she could see the truth in those soulful dark eyes as he spoke.

"I'm glad your back Maggie." He said his voice rough with emotion. "Going through the past year without you has been a living hell."

Hey guys, Thank you to everyone who has been reading this story, it's great to see the amount of hits this story is getting and I am glad that so many people are enjoying it.

Buster: Hi there, thank you for taking the time to review, I really do appreciate it. I'm glad you like the direction in which this story is heading, I'm having great fun writing it.

Anime: I imagine that Antonio has always thought of her that way. I think she's his person and he's accepted that now and as far as he's concerned his claim has been staked. Would you believe I am currently writing ch52 at the moment? I can promise you there are a lot of cute moments for these two.

Lauren: I think Antonio has loved her for a long time, it's just about getting the two of them to the right place at the right time. Your words are very kind and they make me smile so much, so thank you for them. I'm really glad the two of them have each other even if they aren't together at the moment. I truly believe that they would go to the ends of the earth for each other no matter what the cost.