Another chapter of the cross-FF. Hope you enjoy it, thanks for reading and the comments.

She snuggled closer to him as they lay spent and he wrapped his arms around the woman that he thought he knew very well but who never ceased to surprise him. Either through her beauty, the wisdom or that unexpected outburst of passion when her guard slid down, she shared new aspects of herself. He knew that he had put that wariness in her eyes which mirrored that of her heart and he had wanted to be responsible for taking it away.

He hoped that what he had said to her was a good start. She looked over at him, and felt that indeed he had communicated his feelings towards her very well. Both through his words and in other ways…she thought with a smile on her face. She still felt his fingers stroking her back

"You sure know how to show a lady a good time," she said softly looking at him.

He raised a brow.

"So I take it that's a yes to my marriage proposal?"

She smiled.

"I'm certainly going to give it some more thought," she said, "although any further persuasion you can give me will be most helpful to your case."

He answered that by brushing her lips with his own, gently at first and then she responded.

"Yeah, like that," C.J. said, in between kisses.

He stroked her hip.

"And this," he kissed her mouth again.

This time she pulled away.

"You know it's not that I don't want to marry you," she said, "I just want to know that you'll be there."

He looked at her and she met his gaze.

"I will be there," Matt said, "I'm not going anywhere."

Her eyes stung and she looked away.

"That's what you said that night," she said, "When you left to go with those men and the next thing I knew…"

He knew, he had gotten into the vehicle just before it had exploded. He had nearly died because the case that they were working on had been dangerous; their career of choice had been dangerous. Each time they left on an assignment, they risked injury or even death. And even though they hadn't talked about that part of their work very often, they understood it.

But for C.J. it had all changed when she thought she had lost him and even more so when she had discovered she was pregnant. She could take risks for herself but not her unborn child and face it, she hadn't just gotten bumped around a bit, she had gotten shot several times and was lucky to be alive.

"Things have changed Houston," she said, "I've changed and so has my life. I've got to keep my baby safe."

"Our baby," he said, "and that's my responsibility too."

She nodded.

"I know that," she said, "but it's going to be a major change, at least for a while and I'm not sure what I want to do or where I want to live."

"You don't want to go back to L.A…"

She looked conflicted.

"I don't know," she said, "Maybe not right away. Everyone who wants to come after you knows where to find you."

"The guys who were after us," Matt said, "They've been caught and are on their way to long prison sentences."

"But there are others," C.J. said, "I know it's always been like that but living here, it's the first time in a while I've been able to slow down and relax."

"I can see that," Matt said, "so you want to stay here?"

"I don't know Houston," she said, "I still have so many decisions to make. I feel like my whole life has changed."

She appeared a bit flustered at the thought of that. Joy mixed with some trepidation, not to mention suddenly having hormones flowing through her, causing all these changes to her body not to mention her mood. Matt couldn't really understand what she was going through, given that his contribution to her state had been a night of receiving and of course, giving pleasure.

"I think we're both going to be seeing a lot of changes," Matt said, "Change isn't a bad thing."

She sighed.

"Of course it's not and I'm looking forward to what lies ahead but that doesn't mean there aren't decisions to make."

She had him there and all he wanted to do was to make some of that easier for her. To reassure her that it would all work out and then to take her in his arms again, after all the morning still looked young.

But she looked at her watch about then and started moving away.

"Look at the time," she said, "I have a meeting at the Brick with Ed over how he wants to handle the sound mixing."

Matt arched his brow.

"Sound mixing," he asked, "This film making is very technical."

"I don't handle that part of it thank goodness," she said, "But Ed likes to bounce ideas off of me. We've really formed a good creative partnership."

And that had surprised her a lot because C.J. hadn't believed that she had a creative bone in her body. Matt saw the happiness on her face when she talked about it and he smiled.

"You'd better run along then," he said, "But later on, we're going to be picking up where we left off."

In more ways than one, he added silently. They had a lot of issues to discuss and work out before them before he had any chance of slipping his ring on that finger. Speaking of which, Murray had promised to ship it overnight up to Alaska, the one that he had picked up, custom made, when he first came back to the land of the living. Not that it was hard to make that decision, he had spent his time on exile while those he loved had mourned him thinking a lot about the future. Then planning it with the woman he had fallen in love with, without knowing it.

C.J. had gotten dressed in her usual outfit these days of larger sized jeans and a long woolen sweater. She wrapped around a colorful scarf to accentuate her outfit feeling like it this morning. As she walked outside, the air remained crisp from last night's snowfall but it had already began to melt, leaving a path of slushy mud to her car.

She drove to the Brick thinking about Matt. How could she not after the night and morning they had just spent together, she mused with a smile. Not that she didn't know exactly what he was doing, and yes, it was dirty pool to remind her of the feelings he had invoked in her during that night months ago. The sensations that he could arouse just with his hands, she sighed turning onto the main road to her meeting with Ed.

He waited there for her and had clearly finished breakfast, and had a pile of papers next to him. She sat down next to him after taking off her coat and picked up one piece of paper, skimming it.

"What's this," she asked.

Though the answer to that question had been quite clear. It wasn't Ed's writing on the paper, but it did look very familiar to her.

Maurice.

She looked over at Ed and he just shrugged.

"These are Maurice's changes that he wants made in the film," he said simply.

C.J. felt indignation fill her.

"What in blazes does he think he's doing," she said, "It's your film. Yes, he sponsored it but you're its artist."

"He didn't like the orchard scene."

C.J. sighed, thinking that this particular final scene before the fadeout had been one of the most effective in the entire movie and she remembered back to when she and Ed had marveled over it while he had been editing the film. Not to mention the greenhouse that housed the delicate flowers in the midst of Cicely's harsh winter.

"It's a great scene Ed," she said, "We've got to find some way to get Maurice to understand that."

Ed flipped through more sheets.

"He didn't like the montage of the town's oldest residents either."

C.J. sighed again.

"Is there anything he did like?"

Ed looked up from the pile of papers.

"That interview we did of the realtor who sang his praises over his planned shopping mall."

Naturally, C.J. thought.

Ed looked around the Brick.

"So where's he?"

C.J. furrowed her brow.

"Who…Oh you mean Houston," she said, "He's back at the cabin."

The words had slipped out without any thought but Ed didn't seem to react to them.

"Are you going to marry him?"

C.J. looked taken aback but then relaxed, knowing that Ed wasn't judging her, he just was curious. But she still hesitated.

"I don't…know," she said, "He's really playing hardball but it's such a major decision."

"You love him."

"Well yeah I do and I know he loves me but his career…it's so dangerous and it takes him away a lot."

Ed nodded.

"You worry he'll never come back and you will be left alone with your baby," he said.

C.J. looked up at him and nodded.

"I loved what we both did, don't get me wrong but it's different when there's a baby in the mix," she said, "A baby that needs both of his or her parents to grow up healthy."

Ed nodded again.

"So you'll work it out," he said, "What you'll plan to do."

"I know that I want him in my life with me raising our child," C.J said, "I just don't know what to do about the danger and uncertainty if the next time he dies, it's for real."

Matt showered and got dressed and then walked to his car to go fax more documents to Murray and to check to see if his ring had arrived. On his way, he ran into Maggie who was cleaning up the area around her own cabin.

"Hi there," she said, cheerfully, "How are things going?"

He studied her, wondering where this bright mood of hers had come from and then decided to let it rest.

"Doing great," he said, "In fact, I was about to check on the mail in town."

She looked at him, as if trying to remember something then she broke into a smile.

"I have something for you that came in yesterday," she said, "Just let me go and get it."

He waited near his car for her to return and she did with a small box in her hands.

"This was in Anchorage yesterday," she said, "Overnight delivery."

He took it from her.

"Must be something very special," she noted.

"It is."

She looked down at her boots.

"Listen, I know that I sound a bit…harsh on this whole male/female thing but it's just because I've never been able to understand it, let alone make it work."

She seemed a bit embarrassed at that behind her lovely brown eyes which accentuated her oval face. In another life, maybe he would have been drawn to her if he hadn't given his heart already to someone else.

"It's not always easy to figure things out," Matt said, "But when the time is right, it will come together."

She shrugged.

"I don't know," she said, "I'm not holding my breath and it's kind of nice being on my own for a while and not hearing people in town whisper beneath their breaths at how I killed another boyfriend."

She tried to inject humor into her words but Matt heard the sadness.

"That's just silly. I've worked on many a murder case and have seen some unusual things but no one can kill anyone just by loving them."

Maggie smiled at that, her eyes melting.

"Thanks, I needed to hear that from a pro."

He nodded and continued on to his car.

"Oh and Matt, if that's what I think it is…"

He turned to face her.

"Did you peek," he asked, "You know there's federal laws prohibiting that."

She started to respond but the light in his eyes and the smile forming on his mouth told her he was joking.

"No I didn't," she said, "But I'm just saying, she clearly loves you but she's already thought you died once and I know better than most how it feels to believe that you're responsible…"

"But she's not."

Maggie smiled again.

"She understands that in the thinking part of her brain," she said, "but not its feeling part. It's only natural after all."

Matt nodded, understanding.

"So you've really got to convince her that no matter how much she loves you and especially how much, that you're not going anywhere."

Matt thought at this point that would be the easiest to prove if not to sell to C.J. And he had to do the latter to get to the former, but he had some time to think about it while C.J. spent her day working with Ed.

And maybe if he played his cards right…well he had to figure that part of it out still. But he knew that C.J. loved him underneath her reticence and she definitely loved how he made her feel. A smile curled his lips at the memory of that as he got inside his vehicle to head into town.