Chapter One Hundred and Four: Rebel Hearts

Nothing's that bad
If it feels good
So you come back
Like I knew you would

Machine Gun Kelly - Bad Things

The scent of Chinese food was an absolute God send to Antonio as he stepped into the small downstairs office, closing the door quietly behind him. He placed his hand to his stomach, feeling it vibrate as it rumbled loudly. That beautiful, tinkling laughter sent a familiar warmth rushing through him as he turned to face Maggie. She greeted him with that knowing smile as she set the take out containers out upon the desk.

"So I guess that answers the question about whether you ate today or not." Maggie said, taking a bite out of her sesame seed prawn toast before pushing his portion towards him.

It was an olive branch, a flashback to something they used to do once upon a time when there weren't any complications, there was just him and her, under a tartan blanket on the couch binge watching the latest Netflix series Kayla had recommended. More than anything in the world he wanted those moments back again, the ones where it was just the two of them in a bubble, being with each other.

"I got caught up." Antonio admitted, rubbing a guilty hand over his slicked back hair. "They just closed a big case upstairs, the paperwork's kept me busy for the past few hours."

"Looks like I'm not the only one ignoring doctor's orders." Maggie said, gesturing for Antonio to sit down.

"Let's keep that our little secret." Antonio said, dropping into the seat across from Maggie, snagging his piece of prawn toast.

"We suck at following orders." Maggie uttered, shaking her head so that her loose curls fell across her pretty features.

"Yea we do." Antonio said, an almost proud twinge to his voice. "It's our rebel hearts."

He held out his left fist, underneath the cuff of his teal shirt Maggie could see that thin, jagged band of scarring around his wrist. She wanted to reach out and run her fingertips over those white marks embedded in his skin but she knew that would be too much for him right now. Instead she made a fist with her right hand and bumped it against his knuckles lightly.

"Like you said, rebel hearts." she conceded, before turning her attention to her take away container. Antonio watched for a couple of minutes as she struggled to wrestle the plastic lid from her chicken and sweetcorn soup before gently taking it from her hands and popping off the lid with ease.

"I missed this." she admitted as he handed it back to her.

"Having someone to take the lid off your soup?" he said with a small smile as focused on his own container.

"I used to like coming home and talking to someone about my day." She confessed, her eyes downcast as she inspected her soup, poking at it with her spoon. "Gabe's great and all that but..."

Maggie trailed off clamping her lips together as her dark eyebrows furrowed into a frown.

"...but he's not me." Antonio concluded.

Maggie shook her head in response to his words.

"No he is not."

There was a companionable silence for a moment as they dug into their food, their individual thoughts swirling around their heads until Antonio broke the quiet.

"You can still tell me about your day. You can call me, text, we could even do this again." he said gesturing between the two of them with his spoon. "I still care about you, that hasn't changed."

"I know. I could see it this morning when we bumped into each other." Maggie said quietly, raising her cobalt blue eyes to meet his. "I'm sorry about what I said."

It was Antonio's turn to look away now, his gaze concentrated on his own soup as he stirred it methodically.

"You were just telling the truth." he recounted with a grim smile. "I can't be mad at you for that."

"I may have lied." Maggie confessed, setting her empty container down on the table and pushing it away from her with her fingertips. "It was just all too much, bumping into you after all this time and then thinking about that..."

"I shouldn't have asked." Antonio told her, placing his own half full container back onto the desk before raking his hands through his hair in agitation. "It's just we were getting there you know? We were building a life, moving in together and now..." he trailed off, biting his lower lip as his brain struggled to find the words to describe their situation. "...we're in different orbits."

"Same galaxy though." Maggie said kindly, her dainty hand coming to rest on top of his, their fingers threading together loosely. "It'll take a bit of work but I bet we can get back into sync. I'm willing to put the effort in if you are."

Antonio raised her hand to his mouth, his lips brushing along her soft skin as he spoke.

"I'm game."

Hi guys! I've just published the first chapter of my new story. If you are fans of Chicago Med, take a quick look and let me know what you think.

Soccer: I'm glad I could brighten up your day, I'm sorry that you needed it but I'm very glad it brought a smile to you.

Lauren: I love Gabe so damn much. He's a badass despite his inexperience and I love writing the two of them together. Gabe is an enigma to me and every time I write him I find something new. I'm sure your glad to see this chapter is about Maggie and Antonio.

Amber: I love delving into other relationship and making them completely different to each other and it is mega fun to work with so many different personalities. Thanks for the well wishing on the new job :)

Anime: I love the fact they finally kissed and it makes me smile to see the two of them progressing. I think Kim wants as much of Gabe as she can get in the time they had together. I can always imagine Gabe being entirely upfront about what's going on and it breaks my heart. I'm the same as you with regards to their relationship, there is just something about her and Gabe. I hope I didn't break CPD for you.

CPDLOVE: Thank you for taking the time to review. I was a never a Brettonio fan but I would love Antonio to settle down and be happy with someone. I'm glad you love Maggie! She is an awesome char to write.

Nat: I always hate writing dates but this one just flowed perfectly. They just fit together so well and I really enjoyed writing them. Gabe needs to make a decision and I think we are getting to that point. Thank you for the well wishing on the job.