Rating: G/K

Disclaimer: Nothing Newsroom belongs to me.

Pairing: Don/Sloan, and Jim/Maggie

Note: Since the beginning of the S2, I've felt Don and Maggie had some things to talk about. The episode with Don and Sloan playing emotional word games made me finally get it written.

Games

By Latte

It was late. Will's show was long over and Elliot had wrapped forty-five minutes ago. The newsroom was quiet and dark except for a pool of light at Maggie Jordan's desk. She was familiarizing herself with any story on the breaking news board of her computer. She didn't care that they were all yellow. By morning any one of them could be red and she wanted to have background facts at her fingertips.

Jordan yawned and stretched before getting up and heading to the small kitchen down the hall. If she wanted to finish what she started, she still had at least an hour of work and that meant coffee.

When Maggie came out of the kitchen, she saw Don and Sloan backlit by the light above the fire exit door, at the end of the hall leading to the emergency stairs. They were at it again, playing their stupid game, each trying to see who could out Keefer the other and had no idea they had an audience.

They were speaking quietly so she only caught snippets of what was being said, but she could read Don's expression like a book and the rise and fall of his tone of voice was very familiar. Once, two years ago, she'd been the woman in this game, trying to keep up with his gift of gab. Maggie was more grateful than anyone knew that those times were behind her.

"Ya know, it was cute at first, but it's getting kinda old." She sipped her coffee and watched the pair from a distance.

"We…ah…" Sloan stuttered and couldn't go further. The response caused Jordan to smile gently. She was always amazed that the stunning, incredibly intelligent dark-haired woman often stumbled in social situations. But Sloan Sabbith had been there for her one early morning when the younger woman's world had crumbled beneath her feet. It was Maggie's turn to return the favor.

"Mags, we were just leaving." Don looked sheepish and rubbed the back of his neck with his right palm. It was a bit daunting having his present lover and his ex-lover in such close quarters and it made him angry that he felt strange about it. "I mean we're…ah. Exactly what do you mean it's getting kind of old?" He glared ready to defend his feelings toward Sloan, though he wasn't ready to admit what they were yet.

"You two-"

"Maggie, we're just…well…" Sloan whispered, remembering the broken look on the younger woman's face when Sabbith found her sleeping under the desk in the economist's office and didn't want to upset the girl.

"We are none of your business." Don wrapped his arm around Sloan's waist to keep her beside him. He could feel her body straining to leave, wanting no part of a potentially uncomfortable conversation.

"I'm happy for you two and don't want to see either of you hurt. There's been too much of that in this newsroom already." Maggie stood straight and let her coffee mug warm her hands. "The part that is getting old is this crazy game you insist on playing. It's like you are playing chicken. You're deliberately trying to get the other to swerve. If you do that long enough, one of you will swerve and never come back." She felt her eyes filled and she blinked quickly refusing to let tears fall.

"Mags, I'm sorry." Don relaxed against Sloan, his anger gone. He knew what he felt for the woman in his arms was so much more than he'd ever felt for Maggie, but he also knew that he'd done some subtle manipulation because he'd been afraid of losing out to Jim. At the time it had seemed so important not to lose, he hadn't considered the feelings of anyone involved.

"I appreciate the thought, but we both made mistakes. When it came right down to it, the choices were mine. They cost me, but I learned an important lesson." Maggie looked at him directly and attempted her best smile. All three people knew it was an imitation of the real thing. "I don't want to see you make the mistakes we made, and Don, let me be clear, I don't mean you and I."

"You're talking about you and Jim." Sloan added.

"Yeah, but that ship has sailed. I kinda blew it out of the harbor." This time Maggie did smile, though there were tears in her eyes. "Lately, it seems, as if I have him back as a friend. Jim and I bicker at times, but then we always did. It's so nice to have that part of him back." Her words quivered slightly.

"That's what I'm sorry about. I was so damn competitive." Don shook his head at how he'd been. "Then when I saw that YouTube thing, I just gave up."

"Thank God you did. I'd was determined to make things work, because I was taught that was how it was supposed to be. Surprise, we were both wrong." Maggie giggled and Don laughed. The tension in the hall disappeared.

"We're heading out in a few minutes. Do you want to share a cab?" Sloan asked.

"I need to finish up here. You two go on."

"Mags, thanks." Don pulled her into a one armed hug. Sloan still tucked tightly against his other side.

"Be brave and tell her how you really feel." Maggie whispered in his ear. "You won't regret it."

"How do you know?" He pulled his head back and looked down at her, his face filled with doubt.

"Because I see how you look at each other." She stage whispered, causing Don and Sloan's heads to swivel until they met one another's eyes and time stopped for a fraction of a second. "That look, that one right there." Maggie pointed out. "That's the one." She grinned and headed back to the newsroom, coffee in hand.

"Do you think she knows Jim pushed Will to send her to Boston?" Sloan asked curled against Don.

"I doubt it, but that secret won't last for long." He buried his nose in her dark hair. "Did you know Charlie fired Hallie today?" It almost seemed as if they were playing their game again, except it felt strange and stale to Don.

"Of course, not much gets by me, Keefer."

He stopped for a moment, frozen in fear. Then he couldn't have kept the words in unless his mouth was taped shut, "Did you know I love you?" Don almost. Afraid and excited his stomach rolled.

Sloan turned her head slowly to get a better look at him. The city lights made his eyes sparkle and brought the planes of his face into sharp relief. He was dead serious and it took her breath away. "I love you, too." Her lips moved against his relieved to say the words and really mean them. "Game over."

The next morning on the way to work, with her hand held tightly in Don's, Sloan made a mental note to check on the Jim and Maggie pool from a few years ago. She was almost positive it still had money in it. She was keeper of all things financial, and that meant, unofficially, the occasional office betting pools. The only one she didn't know about was the on Don and her. Mac kept track of that one.

The End