"Maura?" Rick laid her inert form on the sofa, peering eagerly into her face. He was vaguely aware of Jude Fontaine's presence hovering at his elbow annoying him like a fly would. He pushed the hair from her eyes, touching her forehead absently as he did so. "She's burning up," he muttered, pulling his suit coat off to cover her. "Maura? Come on baby, wake up."

Her eyes fluttered open focusing on Rick's face. "Rick?" She tried to sit but he pushed her back gently.

"I don't think so, Mo. You've got a helluva fever," he told her softly. "Just be still for a while. I'll take care of you." She nodded meekly, closing her eyes again.

Glancing over his shoulder, Rick caught an expression on Jude's face before he smoothed it out to a bland gaze. If he didn't know better, and Rick most certainly did know better, he'd have pegged that one as some concern, some anger, a lot of jealousy and a bit of self-righteousness thrown in for good measure. He wondered what he had interrupted. Had they been arguing? No, Maura's style would have sent Fontaine running for the hills by now. Perhaps professing their love for one another? No, he thought, forcing the smile that threatened to surface at that thought, Maura simply did not profess anything. Only one way to find out, he decided.

"Don't think we've been formally introduced," Rick said, shifting on the sofa next to Maura. He caught the blank gaze from Jude. Interpret that how you want, Rick thought, moving a hand to rest possessively on Maura's. "Rick Upton..."

"I know who you are," Jude interrupted. "What are you doing here?"

"I stopped by to see Maura. She's an old friend of mine. Anything wrong with that?" Rick replied, raising his eyebrows in surprise at Jude's tone. He'd always heard that Jude Fontaine was as polite as they come. Apparently not. "Wait, did I interrupt something between you two?"

"You did as a matter of fact."

"Huh. Sorry about that," Rick shrugged. Maura stirred next to him, pulling his attention away. He smiled at her as she opened her eyes again. "I thought I told you to take it easy."

"You did. I need to go home," she muttered, her eyes closing again.

"It's okay, I'll take you home, Mo," Rick soothed, smoothing her hair away. She was awfully warm...perhaps a stop at the emergency room might not be too bad an idea either.

"Wait a minute...," Jude began, but Rick had already scooped Maura neatly into his arms.

"What?" He asked crossly. He didn't want to play around with Jude Fontaine anymore. "She needs to be in her own bed. I'm taking her. I don't know what's going on with you two at the moment and I don't really care. This woman means a lot to me and I intend to make sure she's taken care of. If you care about her too, you'll let me get her home."

"Why don't you ask Maura if she wants you to do that, Upton. Last time she talked about you, she wasn't too enthused that you were even alive," Jude remarked, narrowing his eyes in an intense glare.

"I don't have to ask. But just to satisfy you..." He leaned over Maura and shook her gently. "Maura, who do you want to take you home? Me or Jude?" She didn't stir for a moment but he could hear her murmuring. He looked up at Jude to see if he did. From the look on Fontaine's face, he had heard. "Satisfied?" Rick called after Jude as he disappeared from the office.  He gathered Maura up again in his arms and lifted her from the sofa. "Come on Mo, I'll take you home and put you to bed. It'll be just like that night in Chicago. Remember that? We went to dinner and Sakamora's and you had a little too much saki? I won't forget that night anytime soon...," he trailed off as he carried a feverish Maura out the backdoor and through the alley to his car.

He had been certain he'd gotten her out of his system. Maybe he was wrong.



Scene 2:

There was no reason for him to be at The Foundation but he found himself there anyway. Even after someone told him that Hallie was at the Hospital for a fund raiser, he hung around. If Jory could see him now, Luke thought, he would have a hey day. "Hanging around waiting for the barracuda, when what you really want to do is stare at her secretary. That's smooth." Damn Jory and his observations!

"Hello, Luke." He whirled around at Liza's voice. "Hallie's at the hospital," she informed him, smiling at him.

"Oh I know. I was just waiting around for her," he replied trying to sound casual. "Thought I might take her to lunch."

"She won't be back until much later Luke. Maybe you ought to go on without her."

"Or maybe you could join me instead." Yes, smooth, he heard Jory's voice say.

"Oh. I would normally think that would be very nice, but I was planning on eating at my desk...I've got tons of work to catch up on. I'm really sorry."

"Well that's okay, another time then," he shrugged. "I'll just sit over here and wait for her." He moved to the couch Hallie had brought into the office to make it more inviting to visitors and stretched out on it. Liza's desk was opposite him and she nodded pleasantly, taking a seat.

"Suit yourself. I don't know when she'll be back." Luke nodded and picked up a magazine, thumbing through it casually trying to pretend he wasn't staring at her the entire time.

Dammit, what was his problem? He was getting married in less than two weeks and here he was drooling over this girl he barely knew. It wasn't as if he was in love with Hallie. He wasn't any more than she was in love with him. They had made a deal a long time ago and they were sticking to it, that was all. Of course, the deal was made before she started carrying on again with Stephen Roth. He wanted to tell her all bets were off, but if she could fool around, so could he. It was a matter of finding someone to do that with. Liza, of course, was a prime candidate. She was beautiful and nice with that edge that he found attractive as well. Of course, what he was thinking about was completely wrong. He was fully aware of the consequences of bedding Hallie's assistant. And Luke was not stupid enough to get in trouble that way. But if that was true, why was he now staring at her like a schoolboy with a crush? He caught her gaze and flushed a light pink.

"What?" She asked, her brow creasing. "Do I have something on me?"

"No..."

"Then why are you staring at me?" Luke's face burned to a deep red and he lowered his eyes. Damn, he had been staring. He had thought he was being even a little subtle. Apparently not.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was. You don't look like your brother," he added desperate for a cover.

"Galen? Oh, you're right we don't look alike. He favors my mother and I think I got the best of my dad. But you should see my son. Now he looks like Galen."

"Son?" Luke repeated. "I didn't know you had children."

"Child, and you didn't ask," she pointed out. "His name is Matthew in case you're wondering."

"I had no idea," Luke muttered. He couldn't believe she had a kid...she was so...well she was too sexy to be a mother, he decided knowing how ridiculous it sounded.

"Oh it's okay. How would you know?" She shrugged.

"And Matthew's father? Where does he figure into your life?" Luke asked out of morbid curiosity.

"Danny disappeared before Matthew was born. I don't know where he is, so the answer to your question is Matthew's father figures no where in his life." She looked away for a moment, her eyes dipping to the desk before coming back up to meet his. "What about you? Any kids in your life?"

"No. Not even a niece or a nephew," he replied.

"Oh? Do you think you and Hallie will have kids?"

That was certainly a question he hadn't expected. And it was one, he and Hallie had never spoken about before. The idea wasn't repulsive to him at least. Hallie though...well, she didn't seem like the motherly type. He supposed the idea of her as a mother would make her laugh her head off at him.

"I suppose we'll just have to see about that," he replied with a grin. Liza gazed at him, a curious glimmer in her eye.

"Yes, I suppose we will," she replied grinning back and sharing the joke.



Scene 3:

"I'll be right back Mrs. Hughes," Noah told the elderly lady as Dinah waved at him frantically from the bar. "What is it?" He asked, pouring a cup of coffee to take back to Mrs. Hughes. "Is Maura okay?"

"I don't think so," Dinah replied, glancing back at the office door. "She's got some man trouble to start...and you know how men are," she grinned sticking her tongue out at him. Noah pinched her arm playfully.

"Oh yes? Do I? I suppose you know all about men, huh?"

"Well, I try," she laughed. "But you should see her Noah, she looks like death warmed over as my mother would say. And I don't think that is because of a man."

Noah frowned slightly, his forehead creasing with worry. "Do you think we should..." He trailed off as Jude Fontaine exited the office, the blank stare on his face stopping Noah's thoughts cold. "Are you sure it isn't relationship trouble?" He asked nodding to Jude as he sank into a booth. Dinah followed his gaze and shrugged.  

"Well, maybe. But...well, maybe that is all it is then. She did say she and Jude were having problems. Who knows. I'll go back there in a few minutes and see if she's all right," she added.  

"Very thoughtful of you." He picked up Mrs. Hughes' coffee and turned to take it to her. "Oh, will you think about something for me Dinah?"  

"Oh I'd think about pretty much anything you asked me to," she giggled back.  

"Piper's play is next week...would you think about going to see it with me? I know you and Piper haven't spoken much but she might like a friendly face or two amongst the crowd. So will you think about it?"

Dinah's face clouded over. To say that she and Piper hadn't spoken in a while was the understatement of the year. Piper was in the throes of undying hatred for Dinah. She was being childish but then, Dinah probably deserved a little of Piper's vitriol. After all, she had known all along how Piper felt about Noah. She hadn't meant to fall for him and she never would have done anything about it because of Piper. But Piper would never act on her feelings for Noah anyway. She's had two years of fawning over him and nothing to show for it. Dinah, though, had seized the initiative and now had a budding romance with Noah, though they had never done anything more than kiss. But then again, that was all right too. Piper had Chase now. She shouldn't be holding this grudge but holding it she was as if her life depended on it. Still, she did miss Piper. And it had been Dinah's idea to audition for the play in the first place.

"I don't have to think about it. If you want to go, we'll go," Dinah replied firmly, smoothing out her expression. He smiled gratefully at her.

"When I don't have this hot coffee in my hands, I am going to kiss you." She blushed at his words, but felt a rosy glow spread through her. That was why she had acted on her feelings. To hear Noah talk to her in just that way. It made so much all worthwhile.



Scene 4:

"What's the matter?" Jamie asked seeing Jude's face as he slid into the booth. Jude picked up a menu and studied it carefully, keeping his eyes lowered and guarded. "Jude? Come on. Out with it. What happened in there?"

"Her fucking ex-boyfriend happened," Jude answered, lowering the menu. He raised his eyes and stared at Jamie.

"Ex-boyfriend? Who would that be?" Jamie asked. He knew Maura very casually and as far as he knew or been told by Hallie, she didn't date much. Well, Hallie's words had been something along the lines of needing a good.... He shook off the unflattering comment, returning his attention to his cousin.  

"Rick Upton," Jude returned.  

"The editor of The Observer? Isn't he relatively new in town?"

"They were college sweethearts," Jude supplied, his tone suggesting that they were more than just sweethearts. "He just showed up for no reason at all."

"Okay, so what happened? Did she ask you to leave?" Jude shook his head and filled Jamie in on what had transpired in the office. "I can't believe you just left!" Jamie exclaimed at the end of Jude's tale.  

"What was I supposed to do? Follow him around until I knew she was okay? I'll check on her later, but I will not act like a love starved teenager," he snapped. "She made her choice in there and I was not it."

"Jude...you said yourself, she wasn't feeling well. Maybe that was the fever talking," Jamie offered trying to soothe him. "Maybe she doesn't realize what she said."

"It doesn't matter, even if she had said my name instead of his, he would have made it very difficult," Jude said, the resignation evident in his voice. "I can't compete with her ghosts."

"So you're giving up?"

"What am I supposed to do? Sit around and wait for her to exorcise herself of Rick Upton? I'm not that kind of man, Jamie. You know I'm not. I'd rather just move on and let her figure out what she's doing."

"If that's what you need to do Jude. I can't tell you to do anything you wouldn't think of in the first place." 

"No, you can't. But now that Maura isn't an issue any longer, perhaps I should go talk to Cynthia again for you," Jude offered.  

"Jude, I think maybe you ought to stay away from Cynthia Mitchell until you get things worked out with Maura. Don't do something you'll regret later," he advised. Jude made a small noise of disagreement but dropped the subject as the waitress approached them. Of course, he couldn't stop Jude, but Jamie hoped he would take some time to sort out his feelings for Maura before going near Cynthia. If she got a hold of him now, Jude would live to regret it.



Scene 5:

Maura's bedroom was somehow familiar to Rick and yet so foreign. She'd lived in this room most of her adult life and every inch of it was her. And he knew Maura like the back of his hand. He knew every little thing about her; how she liked her coffee, how she twisted her hair when she read, how she liked to fall asleep to soft music on rainy nights. He knew her better than he knew himself it seemed. Looking at the room she spent so much time in though, he felt suddenly alien to her. As if she had become a stranger to him. She wasn't though, she had changed very little in the intervening years since their break-up. She had matured and so had he. Perhaps that was the difference.  

He lay her on her bed and pulled the covers back. He went to work undressing her, taking her shoes off and lining them up carefully with the bed as he remembered her doing so many times before. She wore a pair of dark slacks and a silky blouse. Both would have to come off, he decided. If she didn't like the idea of him undressing her, she showed no sign of resistance, only watching him carefully, from under half-closed eyelids.  

"You've worked yourself into quite a state, Mo," he said softly, unbuttoning her blouse. "I don't know what was going on back at Connie's with Jude Fontaine, but he was certainly unhappy when he left." He smiled, pulling the blouse loose from her waistband. "You certainly have a way with men, don't you?"  

He pushed the blouse back, revealing her flesh just underneath it. Calm down, Upton, he told himself, she's not yours to get excited over anymore. He had moved on and so had she, but he could not deny there was still an attraction there. He did his best to keep his eyes averted from her bare skin as he took the blouse off. Standing he went to the closet and reached inside for a hanger. Maura always hung her clothes up at the end of the day. It was simply who she was. Smiling to himself he turned back to her realizing that she had done him a favor and slid out of the slacks on her own and tucked herself under the covers.    

"Not so sick that you haven't given up being modest have you?" He grinned, cheerfully. He went to a dresser and pulled drawers open in search of something he remembered all too well. He found it in the last drawer, hidden away in the back under an old sweater. She had liked to wear his old clothes once upon a time and had appropriated one of his t-shirts to sleep in at night. He put the shirt to his face for just the briefest moment, inhaling the scent of Maura's perfume. There was a hint of his own scent there as well but it was very faint and he wasn't at all sure his nose wasn't misleading him. He wanted it to smell like both of them as it had years ago.

"Think you can put this on?" He asked, turning to her. She nodded briefly, her cheeks still flush with fever and motioned for him to turn around. "All right, but I've seen you without clothes on Mo." He tossed the shirt to her and turned his back to her again. His eyes fell on the picture of her mother. She did look like Maeve Conlan, he realized with a start. The same expressive blue eyes, the same fine cheekbones, god even the shape of her mouth was the same. He saw Jillie in Maeve too and not for the first time, realized how the Conlan sisters resembled each other. He glanced over his shoulder as the shirt came down, covering her skin.

"May I turn around now?" He asked without waiting for a response. Maura slid back under the covers and shivered. "Poor baby," Rick murmured , sitting on the edge of her bed. "You really should take better care of yourself. You're very important to a lot of people."

"I didn't get sick on purpose," Maura muttered closing her eyes.

"I should hope not but I'm glad you aren't too sick to argue with me. Now, go to sleep. I'll stay here until you do and then I'll call your father for you. Okay?" Maura gave a weak nod of her head and turned her head to the pillow. Rick watched for a bit, until he was certain she was asleep. Leaning forward, he kissed her cheek lightly. She would never have allowed that one if she had been awake, he thought, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He stood and backed away from her, not watching where he was going. His elbow caught the edge of her dresser by the door and he muffled a curse as the assortment of items on its surface, toppled over. Maura stirred briefly but fell silent after a moment.  

He righted the picture of her mother that had fallen forward, noting that the backing had come loose and the picture shoved out of place. Carefully, he turned the frame over to fix it, noting the back of the picture. The name on the back of it made him pause and he opened it completely and removed a picture of a child with long dark hair and bright blue eyes. He turned it over again and read the back softly.

"Tristen Ford, age 10." Who the hell was Tristen and why was her picture hidden away? He flipped it back over and studied it again. She looked like a Conlan, he decided. She had the same soft cheekbones and almond shaped blue eyes. But the dark hair... His eyes widened with a strangled thought. Was it possible? He wondered before shaking the thought away. Certainly it wasn't. Maura would never have kept that from him. Still... He made up his mind, slipping the picture in his pocket. She would miss it eventually, he knew, but hopefully by the time she did, he would know who the hell Tristen Ford was and what she was to Maura Conlan.

On the next Episode of Secret Horizons...

Episode 66