Chapter 7

He sat in his apartment in the dark, hadn't moved from the sofa since sunset. The ambient light from outside cast strange shadows around him, and suited his dark mood. Eli was having to adjust to the fact that the aneurysm had returned, when he'd barely had enough time to come to grips with it being gone. He felt lost. Torn between one life and the other that felt like it was slipping away.

Eli knew only one thing. He wanted to be alone. It was the only way he could deal with the situation. Some might call it hiding, but that would be too simple an explanation. He knew first hand what this news did to people he cared about, how it changed the way they felt about him, and about themselves. He didn't just want it, he needed to be alone.

So it was with an overwhelming feeling of annoyance that he listened to the knocking on his door. He had told Nate not to come over. He'd ignored the message his brother had left on his cell reiterating the offer. He decided to ignore him but the knocking was persistent. Eli reached over tiredly and turned on a lamp, squinting against the brightness. Shuffling to the door, he didn't bother to check the peep hole so he wasn't prepared to see Maggie on his doorstep.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi." His voice caught in his throat and he realized how dry his mouth was.

Maggie tried to smile but she was doing a poor job of it. "You didn't come in today."

"No. I took a personal day."

"Is it because..." She didn't finish, her eyes dropping to the middle of his chest.

"No," he replied quietly, blocking out what it felt like when he almost kissed her the day before. "There was something I needed to take care of."

"Oh." She looked relieved, if a little nervous.

He stopped blocking the door and apologized awkwardly as he stepped back so she could enter. For a moment she hesitated and he wondered if she would turn around and leave, but then she took a few steps inside the apartment and turned around to face him.

"I hope you don't mind me just showing up like this."

Eli shook his head, and was determined to act as if everything was normal. "Did you need to go over something? I'll finish those motions tomorrow… we still have time before they need to be filed."

"No. I finished them today."

"Oh. Thanks."

Eli's eyes darted around the apartment as their conversation ground to a halt once more. He was trying to work out how to politely ask what the hell she wanted when she saved him the trouble.

"I'm not here because of work, Eli," she blurted out.

He'd been afraid of that. Eli couldn't ignore the panic which had started to grip him. "Can it wait, Maggie? Because I have had a really bad day, and I don't know how much more I can take."

He walked past her towards the couch but kept going to the other side of the room, putting enough distance between them so he could trust himself to not try and kiss her again. It was becoming increasingly difficult as she kept staring at him.

"Scott and I broke up," she said without further preamble.

He stopped in his tracks, but didn't turn around to face her. It took him a moment to digest the news, to feel the moment of exhilaration that soon settled into one of intense guilt.

"Why did you do that?" he asked, finally looking at her.

"What do you mean?" she stammered.

Eli took a few steps forward as he spoke earnestly. "It's not too late. Go home and fix it right now. If this is about what almost happened with us… it was a mistake, Maggie. I shouldn't have done it. Don't throw away a good thing because of a moment of weakness."

Maggie gaped at him, then her lips pressed into a firm line. Her eyes blazed. "Don't tell me that's what it was. Don't pretend it was nothing. I was there."

"I'm telling you it was a mistake."

"And before? You kissed me once before. After everything we've been through together, Eli, are you saying there's nothing between us? That it's all a mistake?"

"Yes."

"You're lying," she persisted.

"Nothing is going to happen here. It can't," he said firmly. He held her gaze as steadily as he could.

She swallowed hard. "Why not?"

"You really want me to list the reasons why it would be a bad idea?"

Maggie shook her head slightly. "I want you to give me a reason – just one – that actually means something. Because if it's because we work together or because of Scott... these things aren't insurmountable. They might be difficult and hard, but they shouldn't keep us apart. So you need to give me another reason. If it's because you don't care about me, fine. But you have to say it because everything I see and feel tells me otherwise."

Eli, breathing heavily, couldn't respond immediately.

"I mean it, Eli," she said fervently. "Tell me why not. Because I think we should try. I think we could be happy together."

He started at her choice of words, an involuntary reaction. But his expression darkened as he focused on what was really happening, not some musical number he'd imagined.

"We can't be together, Maggie. I can't be with you. I won't."

His words were adamant but she frowned at him, growing angry.

"Why can't you just be honest with me?" she demanded.

Eli wanted to explain but he didn't know how to tell her about his test results. He didn't want to burden her with his problems, or guilt her into feeling something she wasn't. Or shouldn't. Either way, he wouldn't do it to her. He shook his head weakly.

"It's back, isn't it?" she said, her voice almost a whisper. "The aneurysm."

"Did you talk to my brother?" he asked, shocked.

"No."

"Then how?"

"You were having visions again. You tried to hide it but I knew."

Eli, stunned that she had guessed what was going on, shrugged in an attempt at levity. "So much for me being a prophet. It was just a life threatening neurological condition all along."

"It doesn't mean that what you see in your visions isn't important. You've proven that before. Maybe that's all a prophet is." She took a few steps towards him to close the distance between them. "I still believe in what you see. I believe in you. And I don't care about the aneurysm."

Caught in her passionate gaze he almost let himself give in. He wanted to believe she was speaking the truth. But then Eli forced himself to remember the decision he'd made that very afternoon.

"Maggie, that's easy to say... but living with this is completely different. I've seen what it does to a person, to a family. I've lived it. And I won't put you through that."

"Can't it be my choice?" she insisted.

"No, because it doesn't just affect you. My father went through the exact same thing I am and it ended up breaking him. It destroyed my mother and ruined his relationship with my brother and me. I hated him, and everything he did to my family." He took hold of her arms, desperate to make her understand. "Do you think I want to hurt you? That I could live with myself if I did? And what if it wasn't just us?"

Maggie's eyes were filled with tears. "Eli, there are so many ifs, there always will be. Aneurysm or not. Prophet or not. I don't care. Don't you see that? I don't care if I get to spend one month or fifty years with you. I don't care about the visions – I know what good you can do and it's because of them. I want to help you with that work. But you have to give us a chance. Please."

Eli was torn between what he wanted with every fiber of his being, and what his head demanded. His hands dropped to his side.

"You shouldn't have broken up with Scott. I don't want you to throw away your relationship because of me."

"I didn't. He left," she said. "And it's been coming for a while now. We both knew it wasn't working. He wants to be in Ohio and I... I want something else. I just had to stop running from it."

"Maggie..."

"I told you," she went on, "if it's because you don't care about me, you're going to have to say it. I'm not going away until you do."

He narrowed his eyes, sizing her up. Her face was a mix of nervousness and steely resolve. He could feel himself surrendering by the second.

"You would have to be the most persistent, aggravating, pig-headed woman I have ever met," he said.

She nodded calmly. "Okay."

Eli's voice dropped to a whisper. "I don't know if I can do this."

"Yes, you can," she said adamantly. "All you have to do is ask me to stay or tell me to go."

Eli took in a deep breath, still staring at her. He stayed silent for what felt like an eternity, thinking of everything he had seen in his visions, and everything he had felt. It was all there, at arm's length. He just had to reach out and take it – to take a leap of faith.

He closed his eyes, silencing the confusion and doubt. When he opened them again Maggie's gaze was fixed on his. Then Eli Stone uttered the single word that would determine his future.

"Stay."

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They lay in other's arms, talking softly. Maggie was nestled against Eli's side, her hand resting on his chest. She had just placed a kiss there too when she yelped.

"Ow! Did you just pinch me?"

Eli smiled in the warm light cast from the other room. "Just checking you're really here."

She rose up on her elbow. "Oh yeah? We're going to have to work out a code word instead."

"Yeah?" He rolled her on top of him.

"Yes. Or ask me a question that only the real me would know."

"Like what?"

She leaned down and whispered something in his ear that made him blush. She felt the hotness on his cheek as she leisurely kissed his neck.

"I don't think that's how the visions work, but you can say that to me any time."

Eli sought her lips and kissed her again.

"I'll tell you something you can do," she said between kisses.

"Hmm?"

"Feed me. I came here straight from work and I'm starving."

Eli ran his hands up her bare back. "The only thing I can cook are omelets."

"Perfect."

He rolled her gently onto her back and planted a last kiss on her forehead. "Stay right there."

"Wait, I can help," she replied with a laugh, as Eli had already jumped out of bed and pulled on his shorts and a t-shirt. She eyed her suit that was lying rumpled on the floor. "I just need to borrow something to wear."

Eli pulled open his dresser drawer on the way out of the bedroom and hunted for something vaguely suitable. His eyes came to rest on a garment and he smiled.

"Here," he said, tossing her an old Stanford Law t-shirt.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Always rubbing it in."

"And you might want these too."

She caught the pair of paisley boxer shorts he offered her.

"You'll look good in them. Promise."

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FIN