Author's Note: Thank you for the review Valerie! I agree, I've been living through reading and writing Mad Men fan fiction since the show ended. It's helping to heal my broken heart!

Peggy liked John. She really did. He was enthusiastic and exuberant, brimming with life and excitement. He was a fun person to be with, and the time passed easily as he shared stories of growing up in Columbus and getting into mischief at his all-boys private school. He wasn't conceited or trying to show off. He was intelligent, but simple and open, and Peggy was attracted to it and repelled by it at the same time.

"Then my mother said 'John, if you do it one more time I am going to cut your wiener off and you'll never lose your virginity!' And that is how I finally stopped streaking down the street." Peggy laughed.

"I'm surprised it took her until you were 13 to say that."

"She was a wise woman who picked her battles. She wanted me to stop pitching baseballs through her kitchen window before she worried about my public indecency." He replied. She laughed again and took a sip of her gin and tonic. "This was a great place, thank you for suggesting it. It didn't appear in any of the guidebooks I read about New York."

"Good. I was worried it wouldn't be fancy enough to your liking." John waved her off.

"I'm sure that you can get a hundred dollar meal that tastes like shit in this city. Going off the beaten track makes me feel like a intrepid adventurer. Of course, who can even taste the food when you're sitting across from such a beautiful woman?" Peggy smiled and blushed as she looked into the bottom of her glass.

"Beautiful women are a dime a dozen in this city." John shook his head.

"Maybe so, but it is rare to find a beautiful woman who has the brains to not sit around and try to find a husband to make her happy. I mean, you said you've been in this business for a decade? And you're only 30? I can't imagine it was easy to get taken seriously as a young woman in the 60s." Peggy shrugged.

"I was just very fortunate that the right people took an interest in me."

"I think you're amazing." His eyes shined with eagerness, and Peggy was torn between being swept up in it, and anchoring herself to the shore of what she felt was comfortable. Her thoughts kept returning to Don and their conversation, and she couldn't help but feel that there was still a cloud of unfinished business hanging over her head.

"Listen," he continued. "I know I asked you out to pick at your brain, but I really just wanted to see you. You are the perfect mix of a hard-working and ambitious and charming and beautiful. They don't make girls like you out in Ohio. I know you have to be at the office tomorrow, so I don't want to take up too much of your night, but I was wondering if you'd like to come and visit me again in Columbus? Personally? I could show you the sights, you could come out during the state fair..." Peggy smiled a small, sad smile.

"John, I'd love to, but I'm just not ready for a relationship at this moment. I just have a lot of stuff going on, and to be honest I am not a great girlfriend. I work a lot, and I get really wrapped up in it, and tend to forget about other people. It isn't anything personal, but this just isn't the time." John nodded, his brown eyes looking a little saddened, and Peggy felt horrible.

"I understand. There's only so much time and energy one person has, and I can tell you pour a lot of love into your work. I don't want you to think this will affect our contract. I didn't just give it to you because I like you. I really am going to recommend you, and you personally, not the agency, when our other advertising contracts run out." Peggy smiled again.

"You are very sweet. I don't think anyone has ever been so enthusiastic about my work before."

"You deserve every compliment I can ply you with, plus a hundred more." He opened the cheque on the table, but Peggy grabbed it and shook her head.

"You're a client, I'm the one who needs to pay. That's how it works in New York." He looked surprised, and then torn.

"It would be rather... ungentlemanly of me to let a woman pay, even if it isn't her money."

"Hey, you wanted to experience the city, and this is part of it." She grinned, and then laid out some bills on the table.

"Well, thank you." She shook her head.

"To be honest, the partners would probably be horrified if I told them I took you to place where the entrées were less than $20 a plate. Next time you come out, we can go somewhere a little more renown." John grinned.

"I'd like that." Peggy got up to grab her coat and purse, and John followed her out the door.

"It's getting late, let's get you home. I'll get us a cab." Peggy shook her head.

"No, that's alright. I'm dog-sitting for my sister who is out of town, so I'll need to go to her place first to let the dog out." John frowned.

"I don't know if I feel comfortable letting you wander around New York in the dark."

"It's fine, the city gets a bad rap but once you've lived here a while, you know what places to avoid after hours." John nodded.

"It was been a lovely evening. Thank you for keeping me company."

"The pleasure was all mine." Peggy assured him.

"What kind of dog does she have?" He asked as they meandered to the front of the restaurant.

"Umm... one of the small ones. I don't know. It has curly hair." She lied.

"Good. I hate it when people in the city have large breeds. Those kinds of dogs need lots of space and fresh air." He turned to her, and reached for her hand.

"Goodnight Peggy."

"Goodnight John." She gave his a firm shake. "Have a safe flight back to Ohio tomorrow."

Don was watching the news when his telephone rang. He sighed and set down his bourbon.

"Hello?"

"Hey Don." His eyebrows shot up.

"Hello Peggy. How did your night go?"

"It was good." Don hesitated. He didn't like that answer, but it couldn't have been that good if she was calling him at 10 in the evening.

"I'm glad it went well." There was another moment of silence where he could hear the loud laughter of bar patrons in the background.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come and pick me up?" He gave a small smile into the receiver.

"I'd love to, honey. Where are you?"

"I'm at Murphy's pub."

"I'll be there in 15 minutes."

Peggy saw Don drive up the street, and quickly ran out and jumped into the passenger's seat. He looked at her for a moment, trying to drink her the sight of her with all of his senses. She looked back at him expectantly.

"Where are we going?" He asked, putting the car in first and pulling away from the curb.

"Let's go to my place." She replied.

"Great, where is it?" Peggy took a drag of her cigarette.

"The upper east side." Don frowned as he shifted into third, entering the flow of traffic in the night.

"That isn't the best area for a single woman to live in."

"Really? I haven't heard that from my mother, my sister, my coworkers, my friends, and my neighbours. Just drive." Don let out a low chuckle and turned up the radio.

"Yes ma'am."

"Mind the poop." Peggy said as they entered the stairwell. Don stared at the step.

"Is that human?"

"Probably." Don carefully took in their surrounds as he ascended.

"I know what you make, Peggy. You could afford something nicer than this." She sighed as they reached her level, and Peggy inserted the key into the lock.

"I own the entire building, so I am in it for the long haul." Don raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"That's quite the investment. Why did you buy the whole thing?" Peggy set her coat and purse down on the couch and kicked off her shoes. Down followed suit.

"I was dating this hippie at the time who wanted to live in a 'area with different types of people'." She made quotation marks with her fingers. "I thought it was going to be the relationship, so I invested here because he wanted to. So much for the apartment and the boyfriend." She went into the kitchen. "Do you want anything to drink?"

"No, I'm fine." He eyed the apartment, which was fortunately a lot nicer than the stairwell they had come up. "You do know you can sell it?" Peggy popped out from the kitchen and fixed him with a look.

"Did you come over here just to shit on this place?" Don shrugged.

"Well someone has already been there and done that, so..." Peggy laughed, and Don took the time to look her over. She was wearing simple but cute blue dress with a v neck that showed a minimal amount of cleavage but hugged her exactly where it should. He liked that the dress had a little bow at the bottom of the v, like she was waiting to be unwrapped. He strode over to her and pulled her in by the waist, touching their foreheads together. "You look stunning."

"Thank you." She said shyly, and tilted her head up to meet Don's kiss. It was slow and sensual, and Peggy felt herself grow wet as Don's hands ran up and down her sides.

"Here." She grabbed his hand and led him into the bedroom. She laid down and grabbed his tie, pulling him on top of her. Her hands wandered to the buttons on his shirt and she began to undo them.

"Peggy." He groaned, and he took one of her hands in his own. "I don't want to do this." She frowned.

"But you're hard. I can feel it." He chuckled, and nuzzled his head into the crook of her shoulder.

"I know. Its involuntary. I just want to be next to you, and hold you. I don't want to do anything until we know where we stand." Peggy sighed as he rolled off of her and onto his side. "C'mon." He put an arm around her, and she put her back to him so they were spooning. "How did it go tonight?"

"It went well. He is a really sweet guy." She paused. "He reminded me a lot of Ted." Don unzipped the back of her dress and unhooked her bra.

"Oh?" He asked, and began rubbing circles into her back. Peggy sighed contentedly.

"Yeah. I don't know. He was just so... earnest. So innocent." Don snorted.

"No man is innocent."

"Some are more than others." She retorted. "He wanted me to visit him in Ohio. I told him I wasn't interested in a relationship right now. I just kept thinking about you and our conversation." Don kissed the back of her neck and reached under her dress to wrap his arm around her waist. "What kind of relationship would you see us having? What would it look like?"

"Well," he murmured into her back." I'm torn between two ideas. The first one is that you move into my office, and I just watch you while you work all day. Like a voyeur, I just sit and sip whiskey and watch you while you bite the end of your pencil and scribble down notes, and at lunch I just brush them all aside and make love to you. On the other hand, I like the idea of coming home and having you on the bed, dressed up in lingerie, maybe with a little bow that I get to undo every night. You're just waiting for me to come home, and we spend the entire evening having sex." Peggy snorted.

"No, I mean, practically. Would we have a real relationship, or just sex? Would people at the office know? Would we go out on dates? Is this something with future potential, or just a hedonistic fantasy that we live out for a while and then go on?" Don planted a few slow kisses on her back, and she moaned.

"I'd take you everywhere, Peggy. To the office, out to dinner, out to the theatre. We'd go shopping, go on vacation, have Thanksgiving together. I don't know the future. But I want to try."

"What about children? Do you want anymore?" She asked.

"That would be up to you." Peggy stared at her walls, and sighed.

"I don't think I do. I mean, I'm not great with kids, and I'm already 30. Who knows if it is still even possible? And sometimes, when I think about the past, a part of me feels so grateful that I didn't have to be a parent, and that I was able to devote so much of myself to work. Is that selfish?"

"No. It is very practical." He replied. "But work isn't all there is to life, Peggy." He kissed the back of her neck again. She snorted.

"Coming from you that is a load of bullshit." They lay together for a moment, enjoying the silence. Don loved the perfume she was wearing. It had a fruity smell with an undertone of ginger, and it caressed his head as he gently drifted off.

"I stabbed my ex boyfriend." Peggy said suddenly. Don opened his eyes.

"After convincing you to buy this place, I would have stabbed him too." Peggy giggled.

"I got scared when we first moved in, and I was looking out the window late one night, and I had a knife. I heard something sneaking up behind me, and I turned around and stabbed him. He broke up with me in the ambulance." Don smiled.

"I sounds like some sort of metaphor. 'Our worst fears lay in anticipation, and it only hurts the ones we love.'" Peggy giggled, and offered up her own.

"'The real enemies are the ones closest to you.'" Don chuckled, and took his hand and gently grabbed both of her wrists.

"I'm going to keep my eye on these. Just in case."