Author's Notes: I hope this works, especially the final section.

Chapter 07

May The Road Rise With You

Otis watched sadness wash through Maeve as she seemed to have confirmation of an inevitability.

"Is it because I make your life complicated?" she quietly asked.

Otis frowned, not understanding.

"Last night you said things have been complicated ever since you met me," she said.

The memory returned and he shook his head regretfully.

"You don't make my life complicated," he said. "Loving you made my life complicated."

"I don't know what you mean."

Otis pressed his lips together, struggling to find the words he needed.

"I won't get upset about anything you say," Maeve said softly. "I… I just need to understand."

"Do… do you mind if I come sit near you?" he asked quietly.

"No," Maeve murmured and followed him with her eyes as he stood and walked across the gap separating them and sat beside her. Close, but not touching.

"Before we did the clinic," he began, looking into her eyes, "I was the guy in the corner liking being in the corner. Everything seemed easy."

Maeve shifted position, sitting up straighter, intent on hearing every word.

"Then we started being around each other and nothing seemed easy anymore," Otis continued. "I did the clinic because I wanted to be close to you but I didn't think I could tell you I liked you and that's how I fucked things up about Jackson. When I tried to move on with Ola, you came back to school and I wanted you in my life again so I was making sure I couldn't move on. I made decisions because of other people's behaviour instead of my own desire and that made everything blow up in my face. And when the pieces fell apart because of that cunt I wanted things back the way they were when I was that guy in the corner."

Otis sighed to himself.

"That's why I tried to cut you out of my life. I thought everything went bad simply because you were a part of my life. If we hadn't been doing the clinic, Jackson would never have asked me to help him be your boyfriend. If you weren't on my mind, me and Ola could have been happy together. If you hadn't been the person I was still hung up on, me and Ruby could have stayed together."

He studied the sadness in Maeve's eyes and shook his head.

"But it wasn't you," he said gently. "It was never you. All of it was me. I was never honest. With myself. With you. With Ola. I could never accept that I was in love with you. I never knew how to just be in love with you." He sighed. "I don't have any role models. Mum and dad are useless. Dad just kept on cheating with a lot of women and mum always kept her men at an emotional distance. It was all just sex with her. And now that she's trying to establish a relationship with someone she cares about, she just keeps on fucking it up. I don't know what a good relationship is supposed to look like."

"Do you think I do?" Maeve asked, quietly. "My dad fucked off before I can remember. I don't even have a photograph of him. And there were times mum went through so many guys so quickly I thought she was on the game. I don't know what a good relationship looks like either. The closest I've seen to a lasting relationship is Cynthia and Jeffrey and they're not what you'd call a great example."

"You don't like Cynthia and Jeffrey?" Otis asked, surprised.

"I don't hate them but they're not role models."

Otis nodded his understanding then looked directly into her eyes. "I don't want to screw things up between us again. I don't want to hurt you anymore."

"So don't hurt me," Maeve said, softly.

Otis gave her a wan smile.

"You and Ruby had a good relationship, didn't you?" she asked. "You both seemed happy before the meteor hit."

"I didn't love her as much as I love you."

"You still loved her," Maeve pointed out.

"It's different, Maeve…"

His heart ached at the level of her sadness and he reached out his hand, relieved when she took it.

"I'm not saying I never want to be with you," he said, quietly. "But it's too soon. I've only just understood that I was wrong to try to cut you out of my life like that. Only just learnt that I need to accept I'm in love with you." His voice dropped to a near-whisper. "Only just realised how badly I was treating you."

Maeve waved the piece of paper held in her other hand. "I can move past that," she said quietly.

"I just need time, Maeve. I'm sorry. We can start the clinic again. Take things back to the way we were. And we can hang out more. You could come over to my place sometimes if you don't mind Ola being there."

"No," Maeve murmured.

"We can just spend time with each other and see how we go."

"Okay…" Maeve said, softly.

"You can bring over Elsie, if you like. Anna can come, too, since I don't know whether you're allowed to take Elsie out on your own."

"I am."

"Great. We'll invite you all over sometime."

"Thanks."

Otis ran his gaze across her face.

"I'm sorry I can't give you more right now," he said quietly.

Maeve shook her head.

"You're giving me as much as you can," she said.

Aimee sat on the wall surrounding the main building, snuggling Goat. Eric sat beside her.

"So did he say he's going to tell her he wants to be with her?" Aimee asked.

"He said he wasn't going to pretend he's not in love with her," Eric said.

"I hope he does want to be with her," Aimee said softly. "As long as he doesn't hurt her anymore. "

"I don't think he will," Eric said. "Does Maeve want to be with him?"

Aimee nodded. "But I kind of want to tell her to make him woo her first."

"Otis? Woo Maeve?" said Eric, mind boggling at the thought.

"Yeah," Aimee said, enthusiastically. "She really loved it when Jackson was wooing her. Talking about the music they liked. The movies they liked. She said they'd be talking all night about books they'd read. Sounded boring but it made her really horny."

"Maeve never told you it was really Otis who knew all those things about her?" Eric asked, surprised.

"Yeah, but it was still Jackson on the phone all night. Talking about those things. Otis wasn't there beside him, was he?"

"No."

"Do you think telling Jackson that stuff counts as Otis wooing?" Aimee asked, frowning in concentration.

"I don't know."

"I hope he does better than Jackson if they do get together," Aimee said.

"What do you mean?"

"Maeve said Jackson stopped trying once they were together. He had her. He didn't have to keep wooing her anymore. Why are guys like that? Steve's the only guy who ever kept on wooing me."

"Why would he have to keep on wooing her?" Eric asked, genuinely confused.

"You have to keep stoking the furnace to keep the fire going, Eric," Aimee said, shaking her head. "Does Adam still woo you?"

Eric thought for a moment. "Yeah, he does actually."

"He seems real happy with you," Aimee said, gently pleased. "You should start wooing him if you want to keep the fire going."

"Who's wooing who?" Maeve's voice asked behind them, startling them.

"Shouldn't that be 'who's wooing whom'?" Otis asked, watching Aimee and Eric compose themselves as they faced the newly-arrived pair.

"No," Maeve said, softly but firmly.

"Are you sure?" Otis asked.

"Which one of us is the writer?" Maeve asked airily, then glanced quickly at him in concern.

"You are," Otis conceded, a small smile twitching his lips.

"So don't argue with the writer," Maeve said, softly relieved.

"Sorry," Otis murmured.

Aimee and Eric glanced at each other then looked back at Otis and Maeve.

"So are you two…?" Aimee asked.

"We're going to try to get back to being friends, Aimes. For now," Maeve said.

"It's all I can offer at the moment, Aimee," Otis said quietly.

"We'll see how we go," Maeve said.

"That's great," Aimee said.

"I'll be doing my best never to hurt Maeve again," Otis said to her, his tone the sincerest she had ever heard from anyone.

"Good," Aimee said. "You're too sweet to be hurting people."

"Hang on," Eric protested, turning to Otis. "You did tell her you loved her, didn't you?"

"Of course," Otis said as Maeve waved the piece of paper.

"And you told him you loved him?" Eric asked Maeve.

"Of course," Maeve said.

"So how the hell are you going to handle just being friends when you're so in love with each other?"

"We're just… taking things back to the way they were. We're starting the clinic again."

"Just keep it on the downlow," Maeve cautioned. "But if you hear if anybody's got problems, let them know we're open for business again."

"This is great," Aimee said, happily. "Isn't this great, Eric?"

"Yeah," Eric said to Otis. "It's great that you've finally stopped being such a fucking idiot."

Aimee stopped the car near Maeve's caravan and both girls watched as an unhappy Isaac spoke to an annoyed Jeffrey while a frustrated Joe intermittently interjected.

"What do you think that's about?" Aimee asked.

"Don't know," Maeve murmured.

"Do you think he's kicking Joe and Isaac out?"

"I don't want him to do that," Maeve murmured then noticed Aimee's surprise. "Let him see me every day and know he'll never have me even as a friend because he fucked everything up."

"Did you ever actually love him?" Aimee asked, tentatively.

"I don't know," Maeve sighed. "He was just there for me. He was doing the things I expected Otis would be doing for me. Except for having Joe cook breakfast. I hadn't imagined Otis cooking me breakfast. In real life," she amended, mouth twitching as memories of wistful dreams returned.

The two girls watched as Isaac and Joe moved away from Jeffrey toward their caravan, neither of them looking at the two girls in the car.

"Do you want to know how you can hurt him a little?" Aimee asked.

"How?" Maeve asked.

"Make sure when you and Otis get to snogging, you snog right in front of him."

"Ooh, that's really mean of you, Aimes," Maeve said admiringly.

"Are you proud of me?" Aimee asked.

"Yep," Maeve said.

"Thanks, babe," Aimee said, pleased, then asked, "So, do you think it'll take long before you do start snogging?"

"I don't know," Maeve said. "I'm not going to push him."

She unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door.

"I'll see you on Monday," Maeve said then glanced at the back seat. "Bye, Goat."

"Bye, babe," Aimee said.

Maeve closed the door and stood by the car then watched as Aimee drove away. She glanced over at Jeffrey who was pretending he wasn't watching her. She smirked to herself then walked over to him.

"Hi, Jeffrey," she said.

"Hey, Maeve," Jeffrey said. "How'd things go with the stray last night?"

"I've decided to keep him," Maeve said.

"A wise decision," Jeffrey said, sagely.

"Thanks for bringing him over."

"He's a good kid, OT. He'll do you fine. Ruby said he treated her real special."

"I bet he did," Maeve murmured.

"Sorry, love. Shouldn't mention Rubes."

"It's okay," Maeve murmured, then hesitated a moment before continuing. "Isaac and Joe didn't look happy."

"Nah," Jeffrey said with not a little sense of satisfaction.

"You're…. you're not kicking them out, are you?"

"Nah," Jeffrey said unhappily. "Wanted to. Cynth won't let me. Just told them they need to get another source of green."

Maeve nodded, satisfied.

"You want one, love?" Jeffrey asked. "On the house."

"Thanks," Maeve said and watched Jeffrey reach into his pocket and take out a good-sized joint.

"That should do you nice for a bit," he said, offering it to her.

"Ta," said Maeve as she took the spliff and placed it in her jacket pocket. "Did Otis smoke?" she asked, curious and hopeful.

Jeffrey shook his head. "Wouldn't even have a brew."

"I'll share it with Aimes, then," Maeve said, a little disappointed.

"OT's a good kid, but you need to get him to relax."

Otis stepped into the kitchen and noticed his mother sitting at the kitchen table eating from a tub of ice cream while Ola stood at the bench, making herself a sandwich, studiously ignoring the older woman.

"Hello, darling," Jean said, seemingly relieved at the opportunity to break the silence.

"Hi, mum," Otis said, then called to Ola, "Hi, Ola."

"Hey," Ola said without looking around.

"How was your day?" Jean asked.

"It was good," Otis said. "Really good."

"That's good," Jean said.

"Do you mind… I've got something to ask. Both of you."

"What is it?" Jean asked.

"I'm listening," Ola said without turning around.

"Remember that girl I was telling you about?" he asked, talking directly to his mother.

"Maeve?" Jean asked, tentatively.

"Yeah," Otis nodded. "We've… um… we've started talking again and I was wondering if either of you minded if I invited her over to dinner sometime next week? Aimee, too."

"I don't mind," Jean said after a moment.

"Ola?" Otis asked.

"That's fine," Ola said, picking up her plate and walking toward the exit leading to the balcony. "I'll clean that up later," she said as she passed Jean.

Jean pressed her lips together, waited until Ola was gone then looked at Otis and said, quietly, "Some days I can't seem to say anything right."

Otis hesitated, frowning queryingly.

"Doesn't matter," Jean murmured. "But I hope you don't mind cooking next week? I'm not sure I'll be up for it."

"I was planning on cooking anyway," Otis said. "You know, make something nice for Maeve."

"Are you two…?"

"No, we're just friends. Trying to be friends again. I don't think I can be anything more for her just now."

"Does she mean a lot to you?" Jean asked, gently.

"Yeah, she does. And I was so fucking stupid trying to pretend she didn't."

Jean was silent for a moment then said, "We often cause problems for ourselves when we try to pretend things aren't what they actually are."

Otis looked at his mother for a moment then quietly asked, "Do you think you and Jakob will be able to work things out?"

Jean was silent for a moment, staring into the tub of ice cream then murmured, "I don't know."

Ola sat at the table on the balcony. She didn't look up as Otis tentatively stepped through the door and halted.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

"Nope," Ola said.

"Where's Jakob?"

"Gone for a drive."

Otis moved to sit in the chair at the end of the table, facing Ola.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Not your fault," Ola said, then looked at him. "So you finally talked to her?"

Otis nodded. "Went to see her last night. Talked properly today."

"Good," Ola said approvingly.

"You don't mind her coming over?"

"It's your house," Ola shrugged.

"It's your house, too, now," Otis protested.

"I don't mind. We've made peace. I think we've made peace," she amended. "Besides, she probably did us a favour."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, first, she stopped me from having sex with my brother."

"Step-brother."

"Still my brother."

"And the second reason?" Otis asked through gritted teeth.

"We wouldn't have worked out, anyway," Ola said. "It just would have taken longer to fall apart and we may have hurt each other more when it did."

"I'm sorry, Ola," Otis said quietly.

"I shouldn't have made you choose between us. Friend or girlfriend. That was shitty."

"You were angry. You had a right to be angry. With both of us."

"We still should have talked about it. That's on me that we didn't."

An uncomfortable silence settled over them.

"Why did you choose me?" Ola eventually asked. "You loved Maeve. Why did you choose me?"

"I liked you."

"But you loved her. Why did you choose me?"

"My dad," Otis said, sighing. "I didn't want to be like my dad. I'd just spent the weekend with him and I really didn't want to be like him."

"My dad didn't like your dad," Ola said after a moment.

"I don't think anybody likes my dad once they get to know him."

"You're not him, Otis," Ola murmured.

Maeve sat on the floor in her caravan, back against the lounge, inhaling deeply from her freebie from Jeffrey before passing the joint over to Aimee sitting beside her.

"Oohhhh," Maeve sighed blissfully as she exhaled. "It's been so long."

"We haven't—" began Aimee with a half-strangulated voice then halted and exhaled slowly. "We haven't done this in ages. Thanks for asking me over."

"Don't like using it when my life is shit," Maeve said, reaching into the bowl between them and dragging out a handful of popcorn. "Always worried I'll… mum started on this shit."

"You're not your mum," Aimee said, taking another toke. "Ohhh, this is good shit."

"Jeffrey always has the best," Maeve said, popping a kernel into her mouth, following it with a swig of bourbon from the open bottle beside herself. She offered the bottle to Aimee.

"I don't like bourbon," Aimee said plaintively.

"Sorry," Maeve said. "I think I left some Jack Rabbit over at Isaac's but I'm not going over there to get it."

"Doesn't matter," Aimee said, taking the bottle. "I'll get used to it," she continued, taking a swig.

"Careful," Maeve said, giggling at the sight and sounds of Aimee's reaction. "Just sip it until you get used to it."

"Who drinks this fucking piss?" Aimee asked as she started to recover.

"I do," Maeve said, taking the bottle and taking another swig before popping more kernels into her mouth.

Aimee grabbed a handful of popcorn then said, "We should have gotten pizza."

"We can if you want. Got a bunch of coupons."

Aimee looked at Maeve shrewdly. "You should call Otis. Get him to bring over pizza."

"I'm not going to push, Aimes," Maeve said.

"That can be part of him wooing you."

"What?"

"I told Eric to tell Otis that he needs to woo you. And keep on wooing you when he's got you."

"'Wooing?'" Maeve giggled, shaking her head.

"Has he texted you since yesterday?" Aimee asked through a mouthful of popcorn.

"No," Maeve said.

"Ah, well," Aimee said, sadly. "He's probably busy."

"Yeah," Maeve said, taking the joint from Aimee and toking from it.

"Jean's been getting lots of cramps in her feet lately," Aimee said. "He's probably helping her."

"Mmmm," Maeve hummed, trying to hold back her exhale as long as possible.

"Are you and Otis going to have kids?" Aimee asked.

Maeve spluttered out the smoke, coughing.

"You alright, babe?" Aimee asked, concerned.

"Give us a fucking break, Aimes," Maeve nodded, giggling as she recovered. "We haven't even started having sex yet."

"Have you thought about it? With Otis."

"There's no guarantee we'll ever start having sex. We may just wind up friends."

"You could be friends with benefits."

Maeve passed over the joint then took a swig of bourbon and pressed her lips together for a moment. "I've thought about it. I don't think he'd be into it."

"Invite him over and ask him," Aimee said, looking at the joint in her hand. "I wonder what Otis would be like baked," she continued then took a toke.

"Jeffrey says Otis never smoked with him and Ruby's dad."

"Ohhh?" Aimee asked, surprised. "Jean does. Got baked with her a couple of times after an evening session."

"Is that ethical?" Maeve asked.

"Dunno," Aimee said, shrugging. "But she's cool."

Maeve reached for the popcorn before scrunching her face. "I think I will get pizza."

"Yay," Aimee said.

Maeve stood and staggered a little.

"Woah," she said, recovering her balance and swaying a little, giggling. "That is good shit."

"Did you give Otis your number?" Aimee asked.

"What?" Maeve asked, distracted by the effort of keeping her balance.

"He deleted your phone number," Aimee said. "Did he ask for it again?"

"No," Maeve said, walking carefully and deliberately toward the table in the breakfast nook where her phone was laying. "He must have forgot. I wasn't thinking of it."

"You should send it to him."

Maeve picked up her phone then grabbed the pizza coupons and walked carefully and deliberately back to her place at the lounge.

"I am buzzing," she said, giggling.

"That shit is making me spin," Aimee said. "Has Jeffrey got more?"

"I don't mean up here," Maeve said, indicating her head as she sat down. "I mean, down here," she said, indicating below her waist.

"I never get horny when I smoke," Aimee said, wistfully.

"I haven't had sex in a year. I think I've got cobwebs," Maeve said and began to giggle. "Cobwebs."

"Call Otis and get him to bring pizza," Aimee said, trying to be commanding. "And wine."

"You want Otis to give you pizza?" Maeve asked, smirking.

"Well," Aimee said, smirking in return. "I can handle my own pizza but Otis can give you his."

Maeve giggled and looked between the pizza brochures held in one hand and her phone in the other.

"Should I?" she giggled uncertainly.

"Do it," Aimee commanded.

Maeve smirked at her then searched for his name and pressed, waiting impatiently and hopefully.

"Put it on speaker," Aimee said.

Maeve pressed the speaker icon just as Otis answered.

"Maeve," he said happily. "I was hoping you would text me something. I forgot to get your number again."

"You're on speaker," Maeve said. "Aimee and I want pizza. Will you give it to us?" she asked and rolled onto her side, curling in on herself and giggling uncontrollably.

Author's Notes: I don't think it's ever clear whether Maeve does smoke the wacky t'baccy in the show, but Aimee and Sean certainly talked to her as if she did so I'm making the assumption Maeve did get high occasionally with her best friend and her brother. She'd never try anything harder.

I just wanted a lighter moment to indicate patches of light shining through the storm clouds which still haven't completely dissipated.

I think I have only one more chapter after this one, possibly two if my thoughts coalesce.