*Early post today as I have a hospital appointment. :o(*

...

Maggie and Reese had the car to themselves on the journey back to the White House for dinner. Reggie, Camilla and Ayesha had spread themselves amongst all the other cars that were heading back for the feast. It was the first time the two women had been alone together since Valentine's Day.

Maggie couldn't help but notice that Reese was being very quiet.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

Reese cringed as she started the car.

"I think Erica just told me to get out of town." she said.

"Oh." said Maggie. "Are you alright to drive?"

Reese laughed bleakly at the joke. Bianca's diminutive mother could be very scary when she chose to be but Reese could tell Maggie was teasing.

"It's fine." she said. "It's not the first time I've suffered the wrath of Kane. It doesn't help that Bianca also let me know that she wasn't all that thrilled with the idea of me being her neighbour"

Maggie nodded.

"Well you can kind-a get where she's coming from… About to get married and her ex-wife is moving in next door."

"Hardly next door." protested Reese.

"But why are you moving here? I was wondering that myself. I thought you were looking forward to returning to Paris with me; getting you old life back!"

"Only now there is no you." said Reese quietly.

"This is about me?"

Maggie blinked and her cheeks reddened as the understanding grew.

"We haven't really talked about that night, have we?"

"We haven't talked about anything." corrected Reese.

Maggie sighed.

"Look… the thing to know about me is… I suck at commitment. I just can't seem to do it. I've tried, god knows I've tried, but then I get scared and I just… screw it all up."

"But I wasn't asking for commitment." said Reese. "I'd have been happy with a conversation."

"I know… I know." said Maggie by way of apology. "But I'm a coward too. And I do like you… a lot. And I just got scared that I would screw it all up as per usual…"

"So you screwed it up in case you screwed it up?"

Maggie gave a nervous laugh.

"Pretty much."

"But you do like me?"

"You've been a great friend and… yeah I like you."

"I like you too you know." said Reese.

"I know." said Maggie guiltily.

"… And it's not like I don't have a history of being a screw up either."

"True."

"So…"

"So..?"

"Why can't we have a go at being screw ups together?"

Maggie looked across to Reese. Her companion was watching the road as they drove into heavy traffic, but Maggie could tell she was waiting for an answer.

"Are you sure that's what you want?" she asked.

Reese's eyes briefly flitted in Maggie's direction.

"Only if it's what you want."

"But what about your house here? I've got a job to get back to in Paris."

"Well I only wanted to stay here because it didn't feel like I had many options left… without you there's not much left in Paris to look forward to apart from burying myself in work, and that's what got me in trouble in first place. If I have a reason to go to Paris I'd go."

"And your house?"

"It'll be a reason to come back here and see my girls." said Reese as they pulled up at a stop sign.

"Best of both worlds then." said Maggie. Feeling daring she reached across and squeezed Reese's knee. "If you're sure it's really what you want."

Reese turned to smile at Maggie.

"It's what I want… If it's what you want."

Maggie stared back at Reese. She shook her head slightly to herself. Her thoughts were going through all the things that could go wrong... All the ways things had gone wrong in the past…

At the shake of her head Reese looked suddenly broken-hearted and resigned. That was enough to swing it for Maggie. She reached up to cup Reese's cheek, leaned across the car and kissed her briefly on the lips.

"I think … maybe we should talk about this properly," she said, "Just us two. Like we should have done before…"

"What; skip the party?"

Maggie held Reese's gaze.

"They won't miss us."

"But where do we go?"

"Maybe you could show me this cabin of yours..?" There was a hope lilt at the end of Maggie's question.

Reese smiled and nodded. She returned her attention to the road, and at the junction turned left instead of right.

…