Several hours later, PJ dragged himself out of bed and headed for the bathroom. "Time for a shower I think." He turned and gazed fondly at Maggie before grimacing. "A cold one."
He stepped into the shower, making sure the temperature gauge was somewhere near as cold as he could stand it.
A few minutes later, there was a gust of cold air on his back as the shower door opened. He turned in a hurry and relaxed as he saw Maggie grinning at him. "Didn't think you could get away with a shower without me knowing about it did you?" She took a step towards him, but froze as the stream of water hit her skin. "God, PJ what's with you? This water is like ice!"
Her hand reached out and adjusted the temperature to a more bearable level, but other than that, she was completely preoccupied with the man in front of her, and he with her.
The two of them remained happily in the shower until the hot water ran out and the stream returned to its original icy state.
Afterwards, the two of them decided to take advantage of the perfect weather and go for a stroll down the beach. Maggie knew that her time had run out. There was no way she would be able to distract him from talking out here without the two of them getting arrested.
They walked for about ten minutes in silence, simply marveling at each other's presence after so many years, and enjoying the company. Maggie felt happier and more relaxed than she had since a long time before the shooting.
Finally, PJ took her hand and led her to an appropriate looking patch of sand, where he pulled her down with him. "So what happens now?" he wondered as he stared straight out at the water.
"I don't know." She replied. "What do you think?" Maggie shuffled a little close to PJ in an attempt to gain protection from the biting wind coming in off the Bay.
PJ glanced down at the top of her golden head. He wanted nothing more than to take her home and protect her from the outside world, but he knew it was impossible. Eventually, she would have to go back home and face the consequences of what had happened. He sighed. "Well, I guess the next thing we have to face is the coronial inquest."
"We?" Maggie sounded surprised.
"Yeah, we! Did you think I was just gonna send you back to Glen Waverley to deal with this whole thing yourself?" PJ was astounded she would even consider such a thing.
She looked down at her hands. "I don't know what I thought. Everything's been so mixed up since it happened." A tear slid silently down her cheek.
As he watched the tear, PJ thought his heart was going to break. He couldn't stand seeing her like this.
"Come here." He pulled her gently towards him and hugged her tightly as she buried her face in his shirt. "Maggie, I love you so much. Just tell me what I can do to help you!" he whispered desperately, feeling his own eyes become damp with unshed tears.
Maggie pulled away and looked at him, marveling at how bright his eyes were. "Do you mean that? After everything I put you through?"
PJ smiled wryly, "Yeah, strange isn't it? But I do mean it...I love you. I always have."
Maggie's eyes overflowed once again at PJ's touching words, and she turned once again to face the ocean. Quietly, she whispered "I love you too."
PJ just managed to catch her soft words before they were swept away in the fresh breeze. He smiled to himself and pulled her against him. They stayed that way for a long time, oblivious to the odd passer by who would smile sympathetically at the tearstained couple in the sand. Oblivious to everything but each other.
Later that evening, Maggie and PJ sat at the round, glass table in PJ's apartment eating dinner and watching the sunset. The room was lit merely by several candles, and seemingly out of nowhere, PJ had produced a delicious lasagna.
Once the meal had been devoured, PJ cleared away the plates before returning to his seat to gaze at Maggie over the flickering candles. Sipping her glass of red wine, Maggie broke the silence. "Can you believe it was only yesterday we met again? I feel as though I've been here with you forever."
She stood and rounded the table to take him by his free hand, leading him to the lounge. They set their glasses on the coffee table, then curled up on the couch together.
"I know what you mean." PJ ran his hand down her hair to smooth it and rested his forehead against hers. "Promise me you won't ever leave me again." He whispered softly. "I don't think I could take it if you did."
Maggie smiled. "I'm not going anywhere."
PJ smiled too and pulled away slightly, leaving one arm around her shoulders. "So what do you want to do for the next two weeks?"
Maggie sighed quietly and leaned further into him. "I think that I just want to stay here with you. I can take walks on the beach and stuff while you're at work." She ran one finger gently down his tanned cheek.
"Do you want me to take some time off work? I can do that if you want." PJ offered.
She smiled gently. "You are so sweet. But I think it's best if you don't take the two weeks off...I don't want the next two weeks to be too perfect. It'll just make it harder when I go back home."
PJ kissed the side of her head and sighed. "I don't agree, but if that's your decision I'll respect that."
She looked sideways at him. "But if you really wanted two weeks off work, I could probably find some way to occupy all that spare time you'd find yourself with..." She grinned mischievously.
He laughed, "I'm sure you could! I'll put the paperwork in first thing in the morning." By now PJ was noticing that Maggie's eyelids were beginning to slowly drift closed. "Come on, I think you need to get a little sleep."
But Maggie had fallen asleep and didn't hear him. Smiling, PJ gently gathered her into his arms and carried her into the darkened bedroom. He lay her softly on the bed and reached out to switch on the lamp, illuminating the room with a dim golden glow. He removed her jeans and shirt, leaving her simply in a t-shirt, as quickly as he could without disturbing her, before pulling the blankets up over her and darkening the room once more.
He planted a gentle kiss on what he assumed in the dark to be her forehead, before padding quietly out of the room to blow out what remained of the dinner candles, leaving the room bathed in moonlight coming through the huge window.
The next 2 weeks passed in quiet bliss. Maggie and PJ kept mostly to themselves, only venturing out in public when they couldn't be bothered cooking, or decided to see a movie. Mostly they stayed at PJ's apartment watching old movies (among other things!), and in the evenings took slow walks along the beach. Maggie began to feel as though she was a world away from the problems awaiting her back home, but all too soon the time she had with PJ began to tick away as the date of her coronial inquest approached.
The day before the hearing was due to commence, PJ noticed that Maggie seemed a lot quieter. He wanted to question her about it, but decided to just keep an eye on her. After all, he knew that she must be worried about what the following day would bring.
That night the two of them went out for a romantic dinner to finish off the wonderful couple of weeks they'd had together.
Returning to the apartment later that evening, Maggie quietly declared that she was tired and needed to get a good night's sleep before the inquest.
"Ok." PJ whispered, pulling her close for a hug. She smiled slightly at him before disappearing into the bedroom. PJ followed her, and 15 minutes later they were asleep in each other's arms.
A couple of hours later, PJ groggily became aware of someone moving around the apartment. Forcing himself to wake up, he cast his eyes to where Maggie should have been, noticing her absence just in time to hear the front door click shut.
PJ climbed out of bed and pulled on whatever clothes he could lay his hands on, before quietly following her out of the building. He followed her across the empty beachside road and onto the beach. Since their return from the restaurant a wind had come up, gently cooling the warm night air and ruffling Maggie's hair around her face.
PJ watched from a safe distance as Maggie wandered down to the waterline and stared out to sea for a few minutes, the wind becoming stronger and blowing her hair around even more.
Slowly she turned and made her way back up the beach, dropping down at the base of a sand dune. She pulled her knees up to her chin and stared out at the horizon, oblivious to the blonde strands criss-crossing her face.
At that moment, watching her from a discreet distance, PJ was struck by how hauntingly beautiful she was in the moonlight with her hair flying around her, and the windswept beach as the backdrop. He almost wished he had a camera so he could capture the sight on film, but immediately discounted the thought as unnecessary. He knew he'd never forget how she looked at that moment for the rest of his life.
Slowly he moved towards her, eventually lowering himself down beside her and mimicked her position facing the bay. She didn't turn her head from the horizon to look at him, simply knowing PJ's presence well enough to recognise it instantly.
Quietly she acknowledged his arrival with a whisper. "It's stunning at night, isn't it?"
He nodded. "Yeah."
"I wish I could stay here forever." she confessed.
"I know...So what brings you out here at 1am?" he asked gently.
She smiled and continued in her soft whisper, as though she didn't want to break the magic of the moonlit beach by talking normally. "I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep, so I decided to come and get some fresh air." She turned her face for the first time and looked at him, her eyes filled with despair. "I'm scared PJ."
PJ thought his heart would burst with love as he looked back at her. "I know you're scared. It's normal to be scared about something like this. But you're going to be fine. There's too much evidence proving you had no other choice. The statements of the other two officers at the scene, the fact that this guy had already shot one officer and fired in your direction...It's going to be ok Maggie. There was nothing else you could do." He placed on hand on her back as she leaned in to rest her head on his shoulder.
They stayed that way for a short while before PJ gently lowered the both of them down so they were lying on the soft, dry sand. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him until they fell asleep.
Around 4am PJ awoke to find Maggie kissing his cheek. She smiled as his eyes opened. He gently stroked her face and smiled back, before sitting up and brushing the grains of sand off his clothes. He stood and helped Maggie up as well. He gently ruffled her hair to let the particles of sand fall from it, before leading her back across the road and up to his apartment, where they gently made love for the final time before Maggie's coronial inquest.
END OF PART 3