Chapter 11---I've updated this cross-fiction story. I hope you enjoy it and thanks for the feedback!

C.J. prepared for her dinner date with Matt, then chuckled at the use of that word to describe something that the two of them had done many times over the years they had known each other without calling it that. Still, things had definitely changed between them and C.J. had only to try to button her pants to be reminded of that. Sighing, she realized that she would have to go back to that store and buy a new wardrobe that accommodated her changing figure. Her abdomen appeared a bit fuller but besides from that, she didn't notice anything. Except that she had expanded someplace else as well, not that she minded. But she wondered how long it would take until Matt noticed that her body was changing and figured out that he had something to do with that.

She got a woolen sweater to put over her wooly shirt and wrapped herself with a large scarf. The nights were quite frigid but so far, there hadn't been any new snow storms. Still, the locals had warned that the weather could turn on you at a moment's notice and that it was common to become snowbound. Several of the men who worked at Hollings had assured C.J. that if that happened at her cabin, they would dig her out. She smiled, thinking again of how nice the people were in Cicely and how much she liked staying here. Still, now that Matt had reentered the picture, she felt herself feeling unsure of how to proceed with him. Each time she saw him, memories of that last night they had spent together taking their relationship to a whole different level filled her and she saw that the physical attraction she felt towards her best friend hadn't abated. Maybe the hormones circulating through her because of her pregnancy had even enhanced it. But still, she kept her feelings in that area on ice, not willing to bruise her heart again. She felt relieved when it became clear that on some level, he understood her struggles although he didn't like it.

She heard someone knock on the door as she searched for her sturdy boots. Was it Matt, no it couldn't be as she was meeting him at the Brick for the dinner before she headed off to play Scrabble with the women. Walking to the door, she brushed her hair back onto her shoulders and opened the door. She saw Maggie holding a bag. She looked at her puzzled.

"Oh it's just some clothes, you know for your condition," Maggie said.

C.J.'s eyes widened because she had just been thinking about that. She picked up the bag and looked through at the outfits, smiling.

"The other women donated some of their own maternity clothing," Maggie said, "Of course, I didn't have any, I mean I don't even have a man yet but I was chosen to deliver them."

C.J. smiled at her.

"Thank you," she said, "I was just getting ready for dinner."

Maggie looked around.

"Oh you mean with J…I mean Matt," Maggie corrected, "I have trouble keeping names straight."

"I know the feeling," C.J. said, "I'm not sure how to deal with him right now."

Maggie tilted her head.

"You care about him a lot don't you?"

C.J. nodded. She had cared deeply for him most of her life but things had gotten a bit more complicated in the past several months obviously. Maggie seemed to pick that up.

"The pregnancy changes things doesn't it," Maggie said, "I mean not that I wouldn't know because even though my mother is postponing her latest midlife sabbatical since burning down my house to await another O'Connell grandchild, I am completely happy with who I am and my life."

C.J. smiled.

"You seem to have a very fulfilling life," she said, "You own your own business, you are your own person and don't let anyone get in your way of what you want."

"Yeah I am aren't I?"

"I used to have that confidence but when Matt died…," C.J. said, then shrugged, "I mean when I thought he had died…"

"Yes, I imagine it can get confusing," Maggie agreed, "I mean I had boyfriends drop dead on me but none of them ever came back to life…"

"I'm so happy that he didn't die," C.J. said, "But I couldn't go through losing him again and I've tried telling him."

"He seems like a nice guy," Maggie said, "Like I said, I can't figure this male-female relationship thing out, but I always wish those who can the best."

C.J. heard the wistful tone in the other woman's voice.

"I'm no expert on figuring out relationships either," she said, "I've had boyfriends get murdered by stalkers and others that turned out to be kidnappers and killers."

Maggie nodded in sympathy.

"I've never had quite that problem," she said, "Just that after I get into a relationship with a man and start to get well, comfortable with them, something tragic happens. I've just learned that you have to jump up and take the happy times when you get them because soon enough, it will all go to Hell."

C.J. digested that and realized that the other woman spoke the truth.

Matt waited on hold while Murray rushed to the fax machine to make sure he had received the documents that Matt had just sent to him, signed. The very last of some contracts that had pressing deadlines, remnants of the corporate world that Matt had hoped he had left behind when he had started his new life as a private investigator with C.J. He closed his eyes remembering the pain that still remained in her eyes when she looked at him, which stabbed at his own heart. Not a day passed by that he didn't relive the last time he had looked at her after they had spent the night with each other and had seen love tinged with fear and heady anticipation of what the future might hold for both of them when he returned from his mission. In her arms, he had found a part of himself in her that he hadn't known existed, when looking in her eyes as she loved him, he had found peace. Of course, when the vehicle he had stepped inside to had exploded into a ball of flame that had gone up in smoke too. But now that the danger had passed, he wanted nothing but to pick up to where they had left off but that wasn't going to be easy. Not as long as she kept him at arm's length

"I'm sorry Big Guy," Murray apologized as he got back on the line, "The fax's running a bit slow today."

"That's fine," Matt said, "Look tell Uncle Roy to send me only the outstanding invoices from the agency."

"Will do," Murray said, before hanging up.

Matt finished his work and picked up his portfolio to leave the general store. Ruth-Ann looked at him from behind the counter.

"You're finished with your work," she asked matter of factedly.

Matt nodded.

"I've got an early dinner at the Brick."

She smiled.

"Ah yes, with C.J.," she said, "Have a good time and take good care of her."

Matt narrowed his eyes.

"I'm getting the feeling that I'm missing something here," he said.

"Not uncommon in the male gender."

He scratched the back of his neck where his muscles had tightened.

"Listen, is anything wrong with her?"

Ruth-Ann just shook her head still smiling.

"Not at all," she said, "Nothing that time won't fix."

He hesitated.

"I know the past few months have been very difficult for her," he said, "I'm going to do my best to make that up to her."

"I know you will Matt," Ruth-Ann said, "But you're going to need to give her time to accept what you're offering."

"I know that too," he said, "and I'm willing to wait."

Ruth-Ann sighed.

"I have been in her shoes," she said, "I loved a man once and I thought he had died, then he showed up in Cicely one day years later as alive as you are."

"That must not have been easy."

"It wasn't, but life is filled with surprises," Ruth-Ann said, "Some pleasant, some not but all of them help make us who we are. And that's as much philosophy as you're going to get out of me today."

"Thanks," he said, leaving the store.

Ruth-Ann shook her head at the young man who looked as besotted over a woman as the men around her had shown her back in the day.

Maggie had left and C.J. had put the clothing that the women had given her away, deciding that she would be among the best dressed pregnant women in Cicely. She remembered back to a night months ago, when she hadn't been wearing much, just a towel around her tanned body as she sat watching Matt pace after receiving the phone call that they had known would be coming.

"I have to go," he said, finally, reaching for the shirt to pull over his chest.

"It's too dangerous," she had said.

He had reached over and cupped her face.

"I'll be back soon enough and we'll finish our conversation."

She had to smile at that.

"You mean the one where we barely got started before you kissed me," she said.

His brows rose.

"I thought you kissed me…not that I'm complaining," he said.

She had been silent after that as she went to find her clothes on the floor and got dressed. While doing so, she had sensed that something had changed but she hadn't known what, just a feeling. But the thought that overwhelmed her was that she didn't want him to go. Not by himself in a car filled with strangers to meet with more strangers over the fate of a disk that neither of them understood.

"Matt," she called.

He looked back over at her, knowing that she rarely had called him by his first name but that had changed that night. She bit her lip and he crossed the room to take her in his arms, inhaling the lilac scent of her freshly washed hair. She welcomed him in her embrace and wrapped her arms around him while his hands worked their way beneath her shirt, caressing the warm skin of her back. Finally she pushed him away and he looked at her.

"What is it," he had asked, running his hand through her hair.

"Did this mean anything to you?"

He looked at her again and found that the words couldn't find him so he kissed her again, hoping that would be enough talking.

When he had left her that night after getting dressed, she had already been pregnant but hadn't known it and neither had he. And he still didn't and she knew that she was going to have to tell him and didn't know if the words would come out the right way.

She sighed and went to put on her thick winter coat before leaving her cabin for the Brick.

Matt looked around the room before leaving to go to the Brick. As he walked out into the brisk air of an early evening in a mountain town, he tried to find the words to say, hoping that they wouldn't elude him.