So it's been almost a year from I have written what remains one of my favourite ships. I have wanted to write before now, but nothing stuck in my mind except for this idea. I am not sure what the future holds as I'm being drawn towards writing for a much older show that's no longer on TV, but I hope you enjoy this new one shot relationship reveal.
Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read my work, whether it be this new chapter or my older stuff. I really appreciate it more than words can express.
After losing Jessica and taking in Ella, Maggie had decided that the best thing for Ella right now was to take her to spend some time with her grandparents. That was why Maggie was currently away from the team and in Ohio. Isobel hadn't questioned Maggie at all when she had asked for the time off, they had all been amazing telling Maggie that they would help her and Ella in any way that they could. There was no way that Maggie could do any of this without Jubal, he had been amazing. Thankfully, he had spent time with Jess and Ella before Jess had passed so Ella was comfortable with him.
Maggie and Ella had been in Ohio for a little over two weeks now, she didn't want this to just be a quick visit, she knew that this time together was something that Ella and her grandparents really needed. Maggie was so glad that they had made this decision as it was the most she had seen Ella smile and laugh since her mom had died. Jubal had come to visit them last week when he had a couple of days off work and when he wasn't with them he had rung everyday and would try to FaceTime before bedtime with Ella. It was something that Ella had asked for and Jubal was more than happy to always find a way to make it happen. He couldn't imagine how Ella was trying to deal with everything the young girl was going through, and he wanted to do whatever he could to make that easier for her. He had brought Abby to spend some time with Ella as they were so close in age, that had just led to them considering a bigger bed.
Ella had been living with Jubal and Maggie for about 5 weeks, the nightmares had started straight after her mom's death, but they seemed to have settled over the last two days. It seemed that Ella getting some time with Abby had allowed the young girl to just focus on having fun with someone who was close to her age. Maggie and Jubal were thankful that the nightmares had settled as it was always heartbreaking to wake up to Ella crying out for her mom or appearing at their bed crawling in between Maggie and Jubal. The first night that Ella had climbed in with them, Jubal had offered to leave her and Maggie alone in the bed, but Ella had asked him to stay. When they felt their bed moving Jubal had thought that it was Abby climbing in with them as she still did that some mornings, he however was greeted with the sight of Ella holding her teddy and crying, he lifted her up into the bed between him and Maggie. This woke Maggie and she wrapped her arm around Ella instantly snuggling her tight kissing her head. Maggie looked over Ellas's head to look at Jubal, both adults were struggling with their own emotions. They were all about to fall asleep again as Ella had calmed her tears and was exhausted, when they felt their bed move again and this time it was Abby climbing in beside them. She told them that she saw Ella wasn't in her bed and wanted to be with everyone. This led to Jubal joking that he and Maggie were going to need a bigger bed if this was going to be how their Sundays were going to be in the future. This got both girls and Maggie laughing which had Jubal with a large smile on his face as they found a way for them all to comfortably fit so that they could fall back to sleep.
Maggie hated being away from the team when they had a case and she knew that OA had just told her about the case to keep her posted on what was going on in New York. He had contacted her everyday while she was off work to check in on her and Ella, the team knew that Maggie had a boyfriend but they had no idea who that boyfriend was. That didn't mean that OA wasn't always trying to find out, even now as he was on the phone to Maggie at the crime scene as he waited for Tiff to join him.
"You know I still think that you should let me talk to your boyfriend about him not being there with you and Ella."
Maggie rolled her eyes even though OA couldn't see her, "OA, I have told you this several times over the last two weeks, he cannot just take that kind of time off work, and the few days that he did have off work he came here to see us. And anyway, he FaceTimes with Ella every single night." Maggie had a large smile on her face as she said that.
"Maggie Bell are you smiling like a loved-up teenager right now over your boyfriend?" OA could hear that Maggie was actually smiling while telling him about the FaceTimes, so as her best friend, yes it was his duty to tease her "And forgive me for attempting once again to try and finally find out who your boyfriend is or why you have been hiding him for the last 10 months."
"Shouldn't you be focusing on the crime scene instead of worrying about my love life. Keep me posted on the case and try not to drive Tiffany and Scola insane while working with them. I will be back being your partner in no time."
Maggie and OA said a quick goodbye as Tiffany had arrived at the scene and that had stopped OA from being able to argue with Maggie more about her not telling him about who she was dating. Since Maggie was aware that the team were working on a case they had picked up early this morning, she was surprised to see that Jubal was FaceTiming her,
"Hey you, if you were hoping to catch me and Ella she's actually still in town with her grandparents." Maggie took one look at Jubal on the screen and knew that he wasn't just FaceTiming to chat with them, she knew something was wrong, that had her standing up from the little bench in the garden she had been leaning against. "Hey, what's, going on? Has something happened with the case."
"I should have known that you would have known just seeing my face that something was wrong." Jubal couldn't help the small smile that appeared on his face, being reminded of just how well Maggie knew him.
"Babe, if you were really trying to hide that something was bothering you then you wouldn't have FaceTimed me or even rang, so what's going on, talk to me." The worry could now be heard in Maggie's voice.
"Nate has shown up." Jubal sighed as he leaned against the desk behind him in the conference room.
"You mean at the JOC or in the case?"
"The case…Mags the girls that were found dead, Nate is the one that gave them the drugs that they overdosed on. I'm heading to go to talk to Joe now."
"Wow...okay… that explains why you are clearly struggling right now. I know that Joe saved your life and took a bullet for you, but you are just doing your job and following the evidence. Do you want me and Ella to come back from Ohio?"
Hearing Maggie's question had Jubal pushing himself off the table to stand up straight "No…you and Ella are where you both need to be right now baby. I'm not ringing to make you feel like you have to come home, I just wanted to talk to you, clear my head a little before going to see Joe."
"Hey, I'm the one that offered Jubal, you didn't ask, but you know that if I tell Ella that you need us, she will be more than okay with leaving. I don't want you there trying to deal with all of this on your own, because whatever is going on Jubal, we both know that Joe is going to ask you to protect Nate no matter what."
"I know you both would be on the next plane and I love you both for that Mags I really do, but I promise that I'll be okay. I know that you are only a call or a text away and I've asked Scola to come with me, I know going on my own isn't the right call and I trust Scola."
Maggie did relax a little hearing that Jubal was going to take Scola with him because she knew that this had the potential to get messy and she didn't want Jubal to feel pressured into doing something that he didn't want to just to protect an old friend.
"Taking Scola is a good call, he'll stay calm and Joe won't feel intimidated by him, Scola will be easy for him to talk to."
Jubal looked out into the JOC and saw that Scola was letting him know that he was ready to go, "Hey baby I have to run, Scola is ready to head to Joes with me, I will keep you posted on how everything is going, but you don't need to be worrying about me okay. I love you and I miss you, tell Ella that I love and miss her too but that I'm so happy to hear she is having fun."
Maggie smiled softly hearing Jubal, it still made her smile hearing those words from Jubal "We love and miss you too Jubal, trust your gut on this one okay? And know that Scola and the team will have your back no matter what."
They hung up after saying another round of goodbyes, Maggie couldn't lie she was worried about Jubal and how this case was going to play out. She was now even more thankful that the team had been in so much contact with her the last two weeks about their cases as her checking in a little bit more on this one wouldn't be too obvious for them.
After being to see Joe things moved quickly with the case as they tried to track down where Nate was. Jubal had text Maggie to tell her about what had happened at Joes, about him asking to let Joe get rid of the pills, bringing up how he used to cover for Jubals drinking. Maggie had been playing with Ella and her grandparents, but stepped aside to read and respond to Jubals text,
- Hey, babe, look I know that Joe saved your life and yes he did cover for you when you were drinking, but that doesn't give him the right to ask you to hide evidence. I know that it's not easy but you know what the right thing to do is, and I know the kind of man and agent that you are Jubal. If Joe is asking you to go against everything that you believe in then he doesn't really know you. I have 100% faith in you and I know that you will do the right thing on this case and if Joe isn't happy with those choices that says more about him than it does you. -
Jubal had read the text a couple of times and that had given him the extra push that he needed to do what he knew needed to be done. He knew that Maggie was right, Joe was asking him to be someone that he wasn't and yes he may lose a friend, a godson and people that he really cared about, but he had to get these pills before more people died, those young people that had died were also someone's kids. He sent a quick reply to Maggie thanking her and telling her he loved her before he had to dive back into the case giving it everything that he had.
The team had been keeping Maggie posted on what was going on with the case in the teams group chat. Finding out that Jubal was going undercover with Nate to try and gather everything they needed to take down Gio Russo had her pacing around the garden. She did not like that he was doing this when she couldn't be there as back up, she trusted the team with her life and with the man she loves life, but that didn't mean that she liked not being there to be a part of it. She knew that Jubal would do everything to protect Nate, including putting himself in danger, that's the only reason she didn't text Jubal, she needed him to be completely focused on the case and a message from her right now would only distract him.
Maggie was constantly checking her phone for updates while pacing, she was trying not to worry Ella, who thankfully was being distracted by her grandparents right now. She thought that getting a message from OA about the case would settle her nerves but it did the complete opposite when she read that Jubal had been grazed by a bullet. OA had told her that Jubal really was okay, thankfully, but he was being sent to the hospital to get treated, that Nate had been shot and that he was being rushed to the hospital and that Jubal had shot their target, Gio Russo. Reading the message Maggie was sure that she had forgotten to breathe.
Maggie knew that there were was no way Jubal was contacting her until he was out of that hospital and home or until he had at least been treated as she knew he wouldn't want her to feel like she had to drop everything and come back to New York for him.
The team had finished everything at the scene and OA, Tiff and Scola had all decided they were going to the hospital to check in on Jubal, he was a member of their team, they didn't want him being there on his own. When they arrived at the hospital OA was the one who did most of the talking and he had been told that Jubal was currently getting the bullet graze on his left side cleaned and bandaged up so that he could keep it clean and prevent it from getting infected. They were told to head to the waiting room and they would be told when they could see Jubal. When they made it to the waiting room OA text Maggie to tell her what they had been told about Jubal.
The team weren't sure how long they had been sitting chatting when they saw Jubal coming walking towards them, OA was the first to stand up to talk,
"Hey Jubal, how you doing? They were supposed to tell us when we could see you."
Jubal was honestly a little surprised to see that Tiffany, OA and Scola had come here from the scene and that Isobel had joined them "They told me I was free to go after they cleaned up the wound I didn't think that you would be here waiting. I came out here to wait on updates on Nate."
"We have asked but at the minute there has been no updates on Nate other than he is still in surgery." Isobel looked at Jubal as she spoke to him as she knew that he would be worried about his godson. She also knew that Jubals phone was likely to go nonstop until Maggie got talking to him as she knew that the team had informed Maggie about what happened. The only one of them though that knew that meant they were telling Jubals girlfriend was Isobel. Jubal and Maggie had disclosed their relationship to her after about three months, to make sure that nothing came against them at work.
Jubal was about to speak to thank Isobel when he heard a voice shouting his name and he knew that voice before he even turned around, he couldn't help the smile on his face when he did turn around and saw Ella coming running towards him. He hunkered down carefully so that he could prepare for the hug that he knew was coming the minute that Ella lightly ran into him and she threw her arms around his neck.
"Maggie said that you had been hurt so we got to come see you."
Jubal pulled back from his hug with Ella, he had lay one of his knees on the ground to balance himself "Where is Maggie?"
"I'm right here." Maggie came around the corner and into the waiting room where the team was "This little one ran ahead when the nurse said that you were in here with the team."
The team were trying to figure out how Ella knew Jubal well enough that she was happy to run on without Maggie and went straight to Jubal for a hug. They were thinking that Maggie had been speaking to Jubal for some advice since Abby was close in age to Ella, however, they knew that didn't explain why Maggie had come back from Ohio, she wasn't due back for another few days.
Jubal stood up slowly when he saw Maggie walking towards him, he walked towards her as Ella stepped to the side standing with the team.
"You know that you guys didn't have to come home from Ohio just for this." Jubal stopped right in front of Maggie, he hadn't hugged her yet because he wasn't sure how she would feel about that. Right now they could lie and say that Maggie and Ella had come home sooner than planned and that Ella knew Jubal because Maggie had been seeking his advice.
"I did offer to come home early this morning, you didn't have to go and get yourself injured just to make us come home early." Maggie smirked playfully as she looked at Jubal, she knew why he had stopped right in front of her, she knew he wasn't going to make the first move here, he was afraid of screwing things up. Maggie closed the short distance between them wrapping her arms around Jubal in a tight hug as she ran her hand along his back.
Jubal closed his eyes feeling Maggie's arms wrap around him, this was the first time that he had actually relaxed since the case had started. He pulled her as close to him as humanly possible
"I'm sorry that you had to cut your trip short because of me."
Maggie pulled her head back a little and she lifted one of her hands to rest on Jubals cheek "Jubal, you didn't intentionally get injured, and the minute we found out we both wanted to come home to you. You didn't make us do this, Ella and I decided that where we wanted to be right now was at home with you." Maggie leaned in closing the short distance as she kissed Jubal softly.
Jubal kissed Maggie back just as softly and when they broke the kiss he lay his forehead lightly against hers "Reminding me once again that I am the luckiest man alive."
"I am however still going to kick your ass for not telling me about what happened the minute that you got here." Maggie gently poked his right side to show him that she was joking with him.
"Hey…how did you know that wasn't the side that I was injured on." He chuckled softly "And the only reason I didn't tell you is because I knew that you and Ella would be on the first plane out of Ohio, and I didn't want her to miss out on time with her grandparents because of me."
"OA told me exactly where you were injured and how you were injured so I know to avoid touching your left side. When I said the team keep me informed I really wasn't joking babe." Maggie shook her head smiling, and she knew that Jubal was going to feel guilty about them coming home no matter what Maggie said to him, but she knew one thing that would help him.
Maggie pulled back a little but kept her arm around Jubals waist resting it on his lower back to keep away from his left side as she looked at Ella who was still standing with the team. "Hey Ella sweetie, you want to tell Jubal why we decided to come home early?"
"Mags said that you had been hurt but that you were safe, and I asked if we could come home to be with you to cheer you up like you did for me." Ella looked at Jubal, still not realizing that she was giving more confirmation to the team that Jubal was in fact Maggie's boyfriend "And this way you don't have to do my nighttime story through FaceTime, you can do it lying right beside me which is SO much better."
Maggie held out her arm for Ella to come join her and the young girl came running over straight away to them snuggling into Maggie. Maggie looked at Jubal and saw the slight tears in his eyes and she leaned in kissing his cheek "That's why we came home early, story time via FaceTime isn't the same as getting time with you right next to us." Jubal kissed Maggie softly and then leaned over kissing Ellas's head, he was a little too choked up right now to speak.
The team had been standing in shock, Isobel was trying her best not to laugh a little as she had never heard OA, Tiff or Scola be this quiet. She knew that the team were watching and listening to what was going on in front of them, trying to figure out what it all meant. Hearing about the stories every night via FaceTime though is what broke OA out of his shock,
"Wait…Maggie this morning on the phone you said that your boyfriend wasn't there with you but that he FaceTimed you and Ella every night before bedtime. Ella just said that she wanted Jubals FaceTime story time to be face to face, so he's been the one that's been doing that?"
"Jubal is Mag's boyfriend." Ella smiled brightly looking up at Jubal and Maggie "And story-time with them both helps the scary dreams stay away."
Maggie had told the team about Ellas's nightmares after she nearly fell asleep one day at work, she had explained to them why she hadn't slept the night before. So, the team right now we're trying to wrap their heads around the fact that Jubal really was the one that was helping them both through this.
"That's why you took some time off last week, OA said that Maggie's boyfriend went to visit them in Ohio, you flew to them?" Scola looked at Jubal as she spoke to him.
Jubal looked at Maggie and Ella before back over to Scola "I did, I would have loved to have gone with them for the two weeks, but I couldn't take that time off with Maggie being off as well. So we had to make do with me being with them a few days and our FaceTimes."
"This was clearly not how we planned on you guys finding out about us, but when we heard that Jubal was injured we both wanted to see him as soon as possible." Maggie looked at Tiff, OA and Scola as she spoke.
"Had you planned on telling us soon though or waiting until we eventually figured it out, because by then you guys might have been together years if we haven't figured it out already." Tiff joked playfully as she looked at Jubal, Maggie and Ella.
"We were actually planning on inviting you guys out for a picnic with us and telling you then, you know that Ella has been wanting more time with you all so we thought that would be the perfect way and by the way you guys have been blind to it for ten months now." Maggie smirked playfully.
"Maybe skip telling people that we didn't figure it out for ten months without you guys having to tell us, doesn't sound great for us." OA pulled a funny face.
"I did wonder if you really were my best agents when you couldn't see what was right in front of you all." Isobel joked playfully, she enjoyed getting to be like this with the team after a tough case.
"You knew?" Tiff asked a little surprised that their boss knew about them.
"Maggie and Jubal disclosed their relationship after a few months, it meant they were covered at work so you all could still work together."
"Dam I never even thought about it possibly breaking up the team." OA shook his head "I'm still trying to get my around head around that Maggie, the person who is all for the rules, is dating our boss." OA had a playful smirk as he said that.
"Hence why we had to disclose only a few months in, Maggie was stressing out a little."Jubal chuckled softly as he spoke.
"Hey, I wasn't the only one that was stressing out about it, you're the one that said about not wanting to be the reason the team got split up or having to break in a new agent." Maggie smirked playfully looking at Jubal.
"So you guys had to figure out pretty soon into your relationship that you were serious about each other then?" Tiff looked at Maggie and Jubal as she spoke.
"We knew what was at risk if it didn't work out and got messy or if we hid it from the bosses and they found our later down the line. So yeah, we had to have some big conversations early on in our relationship." Maggie looked at the team as she spoke before turning to look at Jubal as she heard him speak,
"But I knew I was all in from day one and would do whatever was needed to make sure we got to be together." Jubal leaned down stealing a quick, soft kiss from Maggie.
"Now that's how we all want someone to feel about us." Tiffany shrugged her shoulders when OA and Stuart looked at her for saying that, butshe knew it was what they were all thinking.
"Why don't we take Ella to the cafeteria to get something to eat to give you two some time together?" OA looked at Maggie as he spoke.
"Please can I? I'll stay with the team and do what they tell me to." Ella looked up at Maggie.
Maggie couldn't help but smile seeing Ella excited about going with the team to get something to eat, she had been honest with the team when she had mentioned that Ella was wanting to spend more time with them all. She leaned down kissing Ellas head,
"Of course you can sweetheart, we will be right here when you get back okay?"
Ella hugged Jubal and Maggie and ran over to OA and took his hand as they walked along the corridor towards the cafeteria, they could hear OA asking Ella about her trip to Ohio. Maggie knew that she was lucky to have the team all care about Ella the way that they did, as they could hear Scola and Tiff joining in the conversation with OA and Ella.
When they couldn't see the team anymore, Maggie walked over to one of the chairs and sat down waiting for Jubal to sit down beside her and she turned to face him and she ran one of her hands along Jubals upper back,
"How are you really feeling babe? OA said that you had to kill Gio Russo?" Maggie knew that Jubal wasn't out in the field that much and that it had been a while from he had to pull the trigger that killed someone, so she was worried about him.
"Is it wrong if I say that I'm really okay?." Jubal leaned into Maggies touch and turned to face her more as he reached over taking her free hand in his "It was either him or me Mags, so I didn't have any hesitation in pulling the trigger. My regret is that it should never have gotten that far, but Joe coming in to try and get Nate to safety screwed everything up."
"You were doing what you had to do to get out of there safely, I'm always going to be grateful for that." Maggie entangled their fingers and squeezed Jubals hand gently "OA and the team filled me in on what happened, you did the best that you could Jubal, you are the reason that Nate is actually in less trouble that when the case started. Joe has to take responsibility for his part in this and now you aren't alone, you have me and Ella right by your side."
"I still can't believe that you both flew home to be with me without having any doubts." Jubal leaned over and kissed Maggie softly "And I am sorry that it wasn't me telling you baby about what happened, I didn't want you to panic and to change your plans just because of me. I should have known that the team would have told you."
"I was angry when I heard it first via text message from OA, but on the plane I realized that you didn't tell me because you wanted to protect me and Ella." Maggie moved her hand on Jubals upper back to the nape of his neck playing with the hair there, "Jubal, you are our family, of course we were going to change our plans to be here with you, because being with you and helping you recover is the most important thing to me and Ella."
"I didn't want to hurt Ella by telling her that someone else she knew had been injured, especially when she wasn't going to be able to be with me to see that I really am okay." Jubal caressed Maggie's hand gently, leaning into her touch more on his neck "I have no idea what I did to have you and Ella care and love me the way that you both do, but I am so thankful everyday that I get to have you both in my life. You, Ella, Abby and Ty were the reason that I knew I had to come out of that undercover safely, you all are my reason for everything."
Maggie leaned in and kissed Jubal slowly to begin with before letting the kiss deepen as they both knew that they were briefly alone, and this was the first time they were getting to kiss properly in days. Jubal ran his free hand to Maggie's cheek caressing her cheek gently as he got a little lost in the kiss. The only thing that stopped them both from getting completely lost in the kiss was OA clearing his throat as he playfully covered Ellas eyes,
"Eh guys maybe don't try and traumatise Ella by letting her see you kiss."
Ella giggled as she lifted OA's hand off her eyes "I see them kissing all the time at home."
Ella ran over to Maggie and Jubal and she sat down beside Jubal, he turned around in his seat and wrapped his arm around Ella who leaned in to Jubal, and Maggie lay her head on his shoulder wrapping her arms around Jubals arm. He kissed Ellas head before laying his head against Maggie's gently.
The team stood looking at them for a moment before OA spoke, "Now we can see why Jubal has been so happy the last few months."
"I promise OA that I take good care of them both, I know how lucky I am to have them." Jubal looked at OA, as he knew how much OA cared about Maggie and how that had extended to Ella now too.
"You didn't have to say that out loud, it's clear to see how much you three care about each other, you are clearly a family." OA smiled softly as he said that, making them all aware of how lucky they all were to call each other family and best friends.
They may have wished they came back home under better circumstances, but Ella, Maggie and Jubal were all happy about being together again with no plans of being apart any time soon.