Part Two:

Bo looks out his office window, noticing Antonio and Keri as they walk into the station. He stands up and walks out, stopping beside Antonio’s desk, “What are you doing back here tonight, Detective? I thought I told you to go out and have a good time.”

Antonio puts his arm around Keri, “We did but then I realized I forgot something here on my desk so we came back to get it.” He looks over at Keri and then back at Bo, “Speaking of being out…ummm we were at Capricorn earlier this evening and well Nora…”

“What about Nora,” Bo says, cutting him off.

Antonio looks at him, wondering if Bo and Nora will ever figure it out, if they’d ever find their way back, “Well she was there and Max…Max had to carry her out.”

“My father said that she didn’t look good, that she had been drinking…a lot.”

Bo knew that if she was drinking she was in trouble, “Thanks Antonio, Keri.” Bo walks out of the station leaving a confused Keri standing there.

Keri looks over at Antonio, “Where’s he rushing off to?”

“To find, Nora,” Antonio says with a smile.

“But they’re divorced,” Keri adds.

“Tell them that…”

Bo walks into the garret just after midnight that night, after stopping by her house, her office; Rodi’s, the diner, and anywhere else he can think of that Max would’ve taken her. He had called her cell phone but only succeeded in getting her voicemail. He pulls his tie from his collar as he makes his way towards his room, passing the guest room where Gabrielle is sleeping.

He walks into the bathroom and splashes water on his face, before reaching around and turning on the shower. He walks back into his bedroom pulling out a clean t-shirt and boxers. He was just about to walk back into the bathroom when the phone rang, “Buchanan…” he looks over at the clock; “she’s sleeping Al, what’s up?” Bo sinks down onto the bed, “Okay, we’ll be right there.”

~*~

The early morning sun shines through the large window of the suite. Max’ eyes slowly flutter open, closing quickly as the pain pierces through his head. He lets out a groan and brings his hand up to his face, rubbing his temples. He decides to give opening his eyes another try as he sits up. He leans against the headboard and closes his eyes again only to abruptly open them when he feels a hand brush across his chest.

He looks down, her red hair spread across the pillow, her hand resting on his chest. He looks down at himself. He lifts the blanket, lowering it quickly when his question is answered. He leans his head against the headboard once more and closes his eyes, “Now what have you done, Holden?” he whispers to himself.

She rolls over, her left arm falling across him and that’s when he sees it, that golden symbol of what exactly they had done the night before. He raises his own left hand, praying that he was wrong, that maybe he just hadn’t noticed the simple gold band on her hand the night before. He shakes his head and runs his hand over his face.

He reaches down and brushes the hair out of her face, causing her to stir. She opens her eyes, the same piercing pain ripping through her head. She squeezes her eyes closed and then opens them again. She blinks a few times trying to get things to come into focus. Max just stares at her not wanting to alarm her.

She blinks once again, finally bringing every thing into focus. She looks at Max then down at the bed, before looking back up at Max. She looks down at herself and then back up at Max. She quickly climbs out of bed, pulling the sheet with her. Max quickly grabs the blanket and covers himself. She just stands there for a moment, staring at Max. He looks at her and raises his left hand, “Good morning…wife.”

She looks down at her own left hand and back up at Max. She falls into the chair beside the bed and drops her head in her hands. “Oh my God,” is all she says, over and over again. Max stands up and pulls his pants on. He walks over to her and kneels down in front of her. She slowly raises her head and looks at him, the tears falling onto her face, “What are we going to do, Max?”

He reaches out and brushes a tear off her cheek, “Well, from the looks of things an annulment is out.”

She pushes him down and stands up, pulling the sheet tighter around her, “Not funny, Max.”

“I’m sorry, honey,” she spins around and looks at him, “I’m sorry, Nora, it’s just I don’t know, maybe this happened for a reason.”

“Oh yeah and what reason is that Max? Because the only reason I can think of is that I’ve made another HUGE mess of things.”

Max sits down on the bed, pulling her down with him, “Listen, I don’t think we’re going to figure any of this out here in this hotel suite. Obviously we both have a lot of thinking to do and things to figure out, but who knows; maybe just maybe we found what we’ve been looking for.” He notices the look on her face, “I’m not talking about true love here Nora,” he shrugs, “but who knows.” He stands up and gathers up the rest of his clothes, “I’m going to go into the other room and get cleaned up. Then we’ll head back home and figure this all out.” He squeezes her hand and stands up.

She watches him leave the room. She looks down at her hand and the tears begin to fall again, “Good one Nora,” she says to herself as she stands up and walks into the bathroom.

An hour later they were walking towards his car. He opens the door for her and walks over to the other side, after dropping the blanket back in the trunk. He slides in behind the wheel as she reaches into her purse to pull out her cell phone, noticing the message light blinking. She smiles as she hears Matthew’s voice on the first message, telling her he was having fun at camp and he’ll see her in a few days. She deletes the message and moves on to the second one. Max looks over at her, “Who was it?”

“Bo…he…he was looking for me. Antonio told him that I was at Capricorn last night.” Max nods his head and squeezes her knee, knowing she must have a million different thoughts running through her mind. She deletes his message and listens to the last one. She looks over at Max, “Um Max…”

He turns and looks at her. He notices the look on her face. She hands him the cell phone, telling him to hit nine to replay the message. He looks up at her and throws the car in reverse, pulling out of the parking lot. She looks over at him, “Al will be alright, Max.”

Max nods and gives her a smile, “He’s got you in his corner…right?”

She nods, “You bet.”

Back in Llanview Gabrielle is pacing around Bo’s office. He grabs her arm and pulls her down in the chair in front of his desk, “Nora called; she said she would be here in an hour and that was forty minutes ago, so please stop wearing a hole in my floor. As soon as she gets here we’ll work on getting a hearing set for Al.”

Gabrielle was just about to say something when his office door opens and Nora and Max walk in. Gabrielle turns around and looks at them as they stand there. Max looks between Bo and Nora, noticing the looks that are passing between them. He looks over at Gabrielle and takes her hand, “Let’s go see our son.”

Nora looks from Bo to Max, “I’ll be down in just a moment.” Max nods and walks out the door with Gabrielle. Bo walks around from behind his desk and leans against it, crossing his arms in front of him. Nora shifts from one foot to another, adjusting the strap of her purse on her shoulder. She looks at him, “I got your message…I’m sorry.”

“Where were you? I mean well I was worried, that’s all.”

She looks at him and smiles, “I know. I just needed to…” she notices his eyes shift away from her face and to her hand as she runs it through her hair without thinking about the ring she now wore.

Bo reaches out and grabs her hand, “What’s this…” Before she can answer Max walks back into the office. He looks over at Bo and Nora and notices her hand in Bo’s. Bo looks up and looks over at Max dropping Nora’s hand. He looks down at Max’ hand and looks over at Nora. She looks at him, her heart racing, “Well, I guess congratulations are in order,” he says a bit more sarcastically than he had intended to.

Max walks over and puts his arm around Nora who just glares at him. He leans in and kisses her cheek, “Hank is waiting downstairs to discuss Al’s hearing.”

She looks over at Bo, “We’ll talk later; I’ve got to go.”

Bo, who is still glaring at Max, “Sure, we’ll talk later.”

Nora picks up her briefcase and walks towards the door. She turns once more and looks at Bo. She smiles a small smile before leaving. Bo sits down behind his desk, wondering what this feeling was that was coursing through him.

TBC…