From part 1:
"Once, you told me that we were best friends and always will be. I've come to hold you to that."
Part 2.
Maggie talked for half an hour while PJ simply listened sympathetically. Inside, however, he was horrified. He'd gone through the same thing about 8 years ago, and it had been an experience he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy.
Standing, PJ gently placed his hand on her shoulder. "I've got to get back but we can talk some more after I get off work..."
Maggie shook her head quickly. "No, I've taken up too much of your time already. I should be getting home."
But PJ would have none of that. "Maggie, trust me, it's better if you talk about it. Have dinner with me tonight."
Before she could object, he pulled a small notepad and a pen out of his jacket pocket and began writing.
"Be here at 7:30, okay?" He ripped the top sheet off the notepad, which now contained a beachside St. Kilda address, and handed it to Maggie.
Looking sadly at the page, she nodded almost imperceptibly.
Satisfied, PJ decided that it was ok and pulled her close for a hug. I'll see you later."
With that, he released her, and headed off back towards the police building.
Maggie watched him until he vanished from view, then sat back down, drawing her knees up to her chin.
She stayed that way for hours, only moving when the hands on her watch ticked around to 7:20pm.
10 minutes later, Maggie pulled her car up outside the address PJ had given her. But instead of the quiet beachside restaurant she had expected, the only building in sight was a modern apartment building.
Climbing out of the car, Maggie looked up at the building, wondering where to go, but at that moment, PJ left the building and approached her.
"Realized I forgot to give you the apartment number." He explained.
Nodding, she fell into step beside him as they headed back towards the front door.
Maggie took advantage of the few seconds without conversation, and used the time to unobtrusively study her companion. Since coming home he'd traded his formal business suit for slightly more casual clothes, making him look more like the PJ Hasham she remembered. His hairline had receded a little further and his face had a slightly more weathered look to it, but essentially he was the same.
PJ pulled open the door to his modest two-bedroom apartment, and allowed Maggie to enter.
Situated on the top floor at the front of the building, the apartment boasted a stunning view over St. Kilda Beach and out into the Bay.
Large, floor to ceiling windows and a balcony took advantage of the excellent position, and also served to give the home a light and airy feeling.
Seeing PJ's flat for the first time, Maggie was captivated, heading straight for the window.
PJ crossed to the kitchen and pulled open the oven where several containers of Chinese food were gently warming. Raising his eyes briefly to Maggie, who was staring absently out over the ocean to the horizon, he asked, "Like it?"
Turning away from the window, she smiled properly for the first time all day. "I love it."
PJ filed her reaction away for future reference, and raised one of the plastic containers. "Chinese alright?"
He could almost see her mouth watering as she took a seat at the small round kitchen table. "It's wonderful. I haven't eaten anything all day." She confessed.
Sitting down opposite her, PJ gently reprimanded her. "You still need to eat. Starving yourself won't take the pain away."
Refusing to meet his eyes, Maggie nodded almost imperceptibly. "I know." She murmured, before digging into the steaming bowl of chinese food in front of her.
20 minutes later, the food was gone, and Maggie and PJ settled onto the couch to talk some more. In the background, an old black and white movie was playing on the TV, although neither was paying it much attention.
Maggie opened the conversation. "Can we talk about something else besides the obvious? I feel like it's all I've talked about and all I've thought about for the past week." She sighed.
PJ grimaced. "It's hardly surprising you feel that way. From experience, I can't imagine that it'd be too far from the truth." He said quietly. "So what do you want to talk about instead?"
Maggie brightened when she realised PJ was letting the subject drop for now and smiled her now rare smile. "I don't know, why don't we just talk about what we've been doing the last few years and just see what comes up?"
PJ smiled at her. "Sounds good to me."
"So tell me about your wife." Maggie said.
PJ looked surprised for a moment, then his face relaxed and he stood up and moved to the corner of the room and opened a small cupboard, pulling out a handful of photos. Thumbing through the pile, he selected one and moved back to the couch. Handing the photograph to Maggie he explained the significance of it. "This is my ex-wife, Maria."
Maggie nodded and looked at the picture, which showed a woman standing in a park or something similar. Her blonde hair was windblown, her brown eyes dancing, and her cheeks were flushed as though she'd been running. The woman looked happy and carefree, but it didn't escape Maggie's attention that the woman in the picture bore a striking resemblance to Maggie herself.
Maggie smiled and handed the photograph back to PJ who stared at it for a long moment.
"She looks so happy. What happened?" Maggie wanted to know.
For a change it was PJ's turn to look sad as he began his story. "We were actually only married for one year. Two if you include the separation, but I generally don't." He shook his head. "I should start at the beginning though. It had been about 2 years since I'd last seen you. The longest 2 years of my life, but I'd finally accepted the fact that it was over between us. I was working on a case, and Maria Blair was working on the same case, but on the other side. She was the solicitor for the guy I was trying to put away. I ended up asking her out for dinner, and things progressed from there.
"About a year later we married. It wasn't a big affair, just close friends and family on each side."
Maggie interrupted. "So by that time I didn't count as a close friend anymore?"
PJ looked straight ahead. "You'd made it pretty clear when you left that you didn't want me to contact you." He continued before Maggie had a chance to respond. "Anyway, that photo was taken a couple of months after we married. While things were still going well. It was probably about 6 months after the wedding that it all started to fall apart, I guess. We started fighting more and more, about the tiniest, pettiest things. We managed to hold it together until our first anniversary, but about a week after that we separated."
"Earlier you said that you shouldn't have married her in the first place," Maggie pointed out.
He nodded. "It's true, but I didn't figure that out until after the relationship was over." PJ looked sadly at Maggie. "I was just sitting around one day, going through all our photos, wondering what was wrong with my life, when I stopped and really looked at a picture of Maria. Suddenly it hit me that she was the spitting image of you..." He trailed off, not knowing what to say anymore, but quickly gathered his thoughts again. "I finally realised why I'd been attracted to her in the first place - because she reminded me of you. I had thought I was over you, that after 2 years I'd finally moved past you. But in reality, I hadn't. I'd gone out looking for someone to replace you, and I'd found her. After we were married, it became obvious that she was a very different person from you, and that's when it started to go wrong, because what I was looking for was somone exactly the same as you, and she wasn't that person."
PJ smiled sadly for a second and glanced at Maggie beside him. "I've never told anyone that before." He said, turning to face her. But Maggie wasn't looking at him, she was sat staring out the huge window, tears running down her face.
"That's so...I don't know what to say." She whispered.
PJ slid across the couch to sit directly beside her and placed an arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you. You've got enough on your mind already."
Maggie should her head. "No, I'm glad you told me. It was something I needed to know. You're divorced now?" she queried.
PJ's dark head nodded. "Yeah, we got a divorce about a year after we separated."
Maggie looked at him carefully through her tears. "Did you ever explain to her why her marriage was a disaster?"
He laughed for a moment. "I was tempted not to. I was tempted just to let it go and let her believe it had been partly her fault, but my conscience wouldn't let me. I put it off as long as I could but in the end I told her. I don't think she completely understood, but I hope she realises it wasn't anything personal against her."
PJ sniffed, then looked up at Maggie. "Now if I'm not mistaken, I've done a lot of talking here, and you haven't done much at all. What about you? Anybody special in Maggie Doyle's life?"
She smiled wryly. "If there were, do you think I'd be sat here with you?" she became more subdued.
"No, there's been nobody serious. I've been on a hell of a lot of first dates, but not many of them turned into second dates, and even less turned into third dates. There were a couple of people I saw for a few months, but neither of them went anywhere." She turned her eyes towards the window once again. "I guess deep down I was always looking for you as well, although I hadn't consciously thought of you in years until these past few days." She stood and walked to the window, wrapped her arms around herself and stayed that way for several minutes.
PJ simply sat on the couch and watched, until finally it became too much. Standing, he followed her path to the window and stood directly behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders. He slowly pulled her back towards him, until she was leaning against him. Placing his mouth next to her ear, he whispered, "After everything we've told each other tonight I can't deny I'd like nothing more than for you to stay here tonight...But I don't think it's a good idea. Not tonight. I wouldn't want you to wake up in the morning full of regrets, feeling that I took advantage of you at a vulnerable time."
Maggie shivered as PJ's breath tickled her ear and she leaned back into him even further. "I promise you I won't regret anything, and I know you would never take advantage of me. I trust you."
The two of them stayed that way, staring out at the Bay for what could have been 2 minutes or two hours, neither of them really knew or cared. Finally, PJ slid one hand down from it's place on Maggie's shoulder, and slowly began undoing the small buttons on her shirt. Maggie moved one hand to help him, at the same time turning away from the window to face PJ.
As the last button was freed, Maggie leaned up to kiss PJ gently as he slid a hand under her open shirt and around her waist. The touch of his hand on her skin was electric and they broke off their kiss, breathing heavily.
PJ looked deep into Maggie's eyes and trailed a finger down her still damp cheek, before taking her by the hand and leading her into his bedroom.
END PART 2