David still had his hand in his hair when she exited her office. He startled her, she assumed the office would have been empty by now.

"Oh.." She said as he turned back around. "Don't pull your hair too hard." She snickered. "I thought everyone had gone home." She quickly added, not to insult him.

He felt a twitch in his chest because of her remark to him. She hadn't joked around with him for quite some time. "Maybe times are changing.." He thought and smirked at her.

"Why? You disappointed I'm still here?" He gave her a smug look, secretly praying she'd play along like she used to. She stared at him for a little while.

"Maybe." She raised her eyebrow. "Maybe not." A small smirk formed on her lips. "Maybe I'm just surprised you're still working when you are allowed to leave sooner. "She was ready for this. She'd never admit to it, but she missed their bickering as much as he had.

David touched his chest. "Ouch." He quickly grinned. "Well Miss Hayes, just like you, I'd need to tie up some loose ends as well." Maddie was intrigued.

"I thought Mr. Viola had tied up all loose ends for you." She cocked her head. "That man would do anything to impress you. You must enjoy it." David narrowed his eyes and moved his hand through his hair again. "Ah ah David.. your hair." She snickered again.

"You're on a roll there, Maddie." He had missed this side of her more than anything. "And I know Bert is trying his best to impress me and yes.. I find it very entertaining." Maddie giggled, her giggle lifted his heart. "He's a good man." David ended. He wanted to tell her that he was just there to impress her, but he did not want to overstep any boundaries.

"He is. I know that. He takes both his job and his marriage serious. Agnes is lucky to have found such a man." Maddie concluded.

"Not your type though." David said without thinking. The moment the words left his mouth, he had regretted them. Maddie walked up to Agnes' desk and grabbed an empty box that Agnes had folded for her. She then turned to him.
"No, he's not. And you know that." He stood there, staring at her as she headed back to her office.

"Maddie?" He never felt more terrified in his life. Maddie turned awaiting what he was about to say. "Can we talk after.. you know.." he pointed between their offices. Maddie felt nausea rising. She had no clue how to respond. "I mean you don't have to, but maybe.. we can have some dinner?" He couldn't hide the hint of hope in his voice.

"David.." She started off.

"No, you're right, forget it." He quickly intervened.

"David." She tried again.

"No, no.. I'm wrong. It's fine." He threw his had up.

"DAVID!" Maddie yelled. He looked at her with puppy eyes.

"Yes?" There was another hint of hope in his voice.

"I will be busy till at least 6. But if you're willing to wait. We can grab some dinner." Maddie deliberately avoided words as love to and like to, to not give any hope.

"Really?" He felt so surprised that she agreed to go. "And 6 isn't a problem, I have a lot to do in my office as well."

"Really?" She scoffed. "I thought you loved the organised chaos that is your office." She grinned. David opened his mouth and then just smiled while shaking his head.

"I'll see you later." He said before entering his office, he softly closed the door. Maddie bit her lip as she watched him close his office door. Then turned, walked into her office and closed the door.

She leaned into her door, still holding the empty box. "Did I just make a bad decision?" She swallowed away the tears she felt welling. "What if I gave him hope? Am I ready for this? Am I ready for all of it?" She felt like hyperventilating. "Get a grip Madelyn Hayes!" She berated herself. "We've had dinner together before. It always went well.. well most of the time." She gave a small smile, thinking of all the silly moments that had passed. Maddie shook her head and made her way to her desk, slowly put down the box and just looked at the stack of files. "I wish I didn't love him this much. I wish I could let him go. But I can't." A lonely tear made its way on her desk. "I don't know if I can do this." She put the box on its side and starts putting in the files. Oldest first, she hopes she can fill a quarter per box.

X=X=X=X

David slumped down on his couch, throwing his arm over his head.

"She said yes!" He was grinning from ear to ear. "I cannot believe she said yes. We are having dinner!"

"Now don't screw this up Addison." There was this voice again. "You know I'm right, don't you."

"Shut up." David mumbled.

"I am you.. only you can make me shut up. But you won't because you know I'm right. Make this right." He wished he could shut himself up, but he also knew he needed to hear himself out.

"I definitely don't want to screw this up. I miss her. I miss our bickering, her laugh, her touch, her soft skin and just talking. We were so good together, until we weren't." David got up and started pacing. While pacing he start grabbing trash and put it in his trash can.

"Until we weren't." David says aloud. "We both screwed up so much." He grabs the trash from his desk. Then he noticed all the trinkets on his desk, his X-ray specs is the first thing he sees. He smiled thinking of when Maddie noticed them. Remembering what he said to her. "You must be wearing a lead dress, I can't see a thing." He opened his desk drawer and puts in the specs. "They might come in handy one day." He whispered.

He finally sat down at his desk and then starts grabbing loose papers and a couple of case files he had on his desk. He starts making piles without reading.

"Okay.. I shouldn't think about that anymore." He turned his chair and looked outside the window. "I should think about how to make things right, what we both must do to get this to work for us." He whispers to himself.

"You'll screw it up again Addison. You're a screw up." His inner critic was speaking to him again. "No I'm not." He softly says. "Oh come on man, look at your track record. Your first wife cheated on you with a woman and you were too blind to see. Then there was Jillian, the woman who killed her husband almost in front of you.. and you were still too blind to see. Not to mention all the one-night stands. Then you finally find the woman that is perfect for you and you screw it up! You pushed her, no you pressured her too much. You pushed her away from you. And what is your brilliant way to try to get her back? You sleep with her cousin!" David rubs his eyes. "I know." He said to himself. "I know." He got back up, walked towards the radio and puts it on. "Let's see if I can drown you out." He said to his inner demon.
He sat back at his desk and started sorting through all the papers. Finally putting all his notes in the right file. He didn't know how long he was working at it. But when he was done, he felt both content with what he had accomplished and happy that the voice within had quieted down. He looked at the clock, 5pm. He looked around his office which was now clean. He was happy there was just an hour left.

He got up and turned off the radio. Then he stretched his body as he made his way to his bathroom to clean himself up quickly.

X=X=X=X

Maddie wrapped up her work in her office. She had 4 boxes full of case files, stacked next to her door. Each box had the months written on it. She checked her desk, which was now empty and clean. She checked the time. It was just 4:45pm. She finished sooner than she thought.

"I guess I should get ready for our dinner." She said to herself. "I can't walk around smelling and with smudged make-up." She walked towards her bathroom but then halted. She turned on her heels and grabbed her purse.

She opened the bathroom door and was pleased to see some extra clothes hanging on the door. Agnes picked up her drycleaning yesterday and she forgot to bring it home. She looked at the 3bags, there were 2 business suits and just one dress. It wasn't anything fancy, but it would definitely do. She quickly got undressed, cleaned herself up before putting on the dress.

"Oh this might be too much." She said looking at herself in the mirror. It was a dark blue, sleeveless dress with a bolero over it. She wore it 3 weeks ago at one of the most boring dates she'd ever had. She touched up her make-up and then put her hair up. Looking at herself in the mirror, she quickly pulled her hair loose. "Too much neck!" she said to herself as she combed her fingers through her hair. She grazed her fingers along her hairline, she shivered as her mind wondered back to when David grazed his lips along the spot just below her hairline. He always made her feel desired, he made her feel loved and no man had ever made her feel like that. She know Sam wanted her, he loved her very much but still he had never made her feel the way David could.

She finished getting ready and looked at the clock, finally 5:30. She walked towards her door and listened if she could hear David moving. She softly opened her door and like on cue, David's door opened. She thought she could hear him catch his breath, but she didn't respond.

"You look.. whoa.. Maddie. Did you have that hanging in your office?" He asked.

"Agnes picked up my laundry yesterday. This one was in it. And seeing as my other clothes got frumpy and dirty from cleaning my office.. this was the best next thing." She smiled at him.

"Well thank you Agnes." David tried to act suave. He knew Maddie wouldn't be affected by his flirtatious behaviour, but a man can always try!

Maddie couldn't help but be happy that she still hat this effect on him, but also didn't want to lead him on. "Thank you for your compliment David." She looked him up and down. "And I see you've also changed your shirt."

"You notice that?" He was surprised how observant she was.

"Of course. You wore your light grey shirt, had the sleeves rolled up and now you're wearing a clean white shirt. I'm assuming your office must be very clean and your grey shirt must have gotten very dirty and sweaty." Immediately when the words had left her mouth, she knew she had given away too much and had a horrified look on her face.

"Wow.. You noticed all that. Cool." Normally David would tease her relentlessly about this, but not now. He would have to settle by putting this in his memory and tease her at a later time. "You have any idea what you'd like to eat?"

"You didn't make a reservation?" she clutched her purse.

"Well.. no. I mean.. I didn't know what you'd like to eat and.. I mean I could always go for steak, but man.. I don't.." He stumbled over his words.

"It's alright. We actually didn't talk about what we wanted to eat." She looked at him with a smile. "I guess this is the Addison approach." He knew she was kidding and yet it hurt him.

"I'm not like that.. not anymore. I should have come to you and asked you what you wanted to eat. I also did not want to disturb you in your office. I don't know.. I always seem to choose the wrong thing." He looked her in her eyes directly. Both knowing what he meant by that, but not saying a word. "I know I screw up more than I move up."

"Oh David.." She knew exactly what he was getting at. "There might have been a time when this was true, but we both know this hasn't been true for quite some time now. You're not screwing up anymore, well not much." She winked when she said that. "But to be fair, your planning skills leave a lot to be desired." Both David and Maddie start laughing.
"Come on Blondie blonde, let's see where they'll allow us in." He extended his arm to her. She linked her arm into his as they head towards the exit.

"So is there anything near the office we could go to?" Maddie asked before turning to lock the office. David immediately missed the warmth of her arm in his. Before he knew it, she'd turned back to him and linked her arm in his again. "So?"

"So?" He repeated.

"Got any idea? She asked again.

"I'm definitely not taking you to any place near the office." He side-eyed her. "Especially looking like that."

"What?" She turned to face him. "Not good?"

"Maddie! Have you looked at yourself?" He couldn't hide his confusion.

"I have." She slowly said. "I thought I looked pretty good and not over the top at all."

"Sjeesh lady, you don't get it do you?" He moved a strand of hair behind her ear. "You look absolutely amazing and way too god for all these scumbags out there. I don't want to take you to some dive." Maddie stood frozen at his touch. "We will just go a bit further and find a better place."

"the places aren't that bad around here." Maddie shook her head. "I mean, you've taken me to worse. Remember our first real case together?" David nodded. "Remember the dive you took me to?" David kept nodding. "I remember what you did to my skirt." David grinned. "I see you do too."

"Look lady, you've got legs for days and you can't blame a man for enjoying what he sees." Maddie shrugged.

"I guess I can't."

The rest of the elevator ride was spend in comfortable silence.

After reaching the car in the garage, David opened the door for Maddie. "Madame.." He said with a fake French accent.

"Thank you." As she took the passenger seat.

David started the car and then turned to her. "You ready?" Maddie looked at his beautiful green eyes and just nodded. He slowly pulled off, Maddie automatically started looking out of the window. It was already getting dark outside. David looked at her for a split second, he secretly wished the sun hadn't set just yet. He would have loved to see the glow of the setting sun on her face, softly lighting her beautiful blue eyes. When they hit the road, he could see the city light shine on her face.
"That'll have to do." He thought to himself. "No matter what light she is in, she is absolutely breathtaking." He knew he loved her, he knew he never stopped loving her, not through Walter, not through the loss of their son and not while he was with Annie. It had always been her.

"DAVID!" He heard her yell, bringing him back to the car. "IT'S RED!" He immediately stopped the car as she panted. "Where were you? I mean where was your mind? I must have called you 3 or 4 times." Her voice was shaky.

"I don't know." He lied. "I just.. I'm sorry."

"No harm, no foul." She gave him a worried look. "Are you sure you're okay?"

After the light turned green, David found them a safe spot to park. "I am." He sighed. "I am fine. Well mostly fine. It's just.." He looked at her, he noticed the fear in her eyes. "I'm nervous."

"Nervous? You?" He saw the frown in her forehead disappear. "I thought David Addison didn't get nervous?" He looked out of the front window and made a huffing sound. She watched as the street lightened up one side of his face.

"I guess I do get nervous, but only with you." He said still stoically looking forward. Maddie didn't know how to respond, they hadn't been nervous or anxious around each other for quite some time. She felt that the way they moved around each other without actually be around each other was now the new normal for them.

"I don't get it." She still looked at him. "Do I make you nervous?" She could see a slight smile forming on his lips.
"No you don't, but our circumstances do make me nervous." He was ready to bare his soul.

"Our circumstances?" She was hard trying to avoid the topic of Annie. "I thought we were okay now." This time David immediately turned around.

"You think we are okay?" He honestly asked as she just shrugged.

"I don't know." She looked at her lap. "I thought this.." She moved her hand between the two of them. "Was now our new normal." He slumped back into his seat as he looked straightforward again.

"I guess you're right, this has become our new normal…" He was trying to find the right words to continue. "But do we want this to be our new normal?"

"I don't know." Was all she could say. This was followed by a moment of silence before David pulled out of the parking spot.

"What does he expect from me? Does he want me to forgive and forget? Should I forgive and forget? I mean Annie was as close to me as anyone. Do I solely blame him? No, Annie was the one who cheated on her husband, she made her vows with Mark, David didn't. But he knew he was the affair partner and still pursued a relationship with her." Maddie felt tears well. "The hardest thing is knowing that I only have myself to blame. I should have been honest with him and myself. I did tell him, but only when it was too late." She thought back at the moment Terri had given birth to baby Walter Hayes Addison Knowles. She'd never been as open and soul baring with him as she was in that moment. Yet it still didn't help, she had pushed him away when she came back and then told him she married Walter. "Poor Walter, he got stuck in the middle of it all." She did genuinely felt sorry for him. "We both have made so many mistakes." As a single tear fell down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away.

David had noticed her wiping her cheek, but decided not to ask or say anything. He knew they were already on thin ice and he definitely wasn't willing to break the ice.