A week. A week exactly. Had it been that long? In one breath it felt like no time at all and in another it felt like it had been so much longer than just seven days. It was a week that had aged her and had brought a vitality that she hadn't known in years all in one fell swoop. Elation that Bastian had found his way back to them. Fear that it wouldn't last. Contentment that their family was whole. Aching guilt that there was one person she had yet to speak to... And that feeling never went away. It clouded nearly every happy moment she had just seeing Bastian seated in the same room again, conversations that she hadn't thought to ever have again...
All of it held that touch of guilt to them. She had to talk to Daren. Though what she would say? That was as much a mystery to her as the true story behind Bastian's disappearance. Honesty? That was the only approach Maggie could think to take. The only approach that had ever truly crossed her mind. She wasn't the sort to float half truths or omissions in an attempt to make things better for herself, though she would be lying if she hadn't thought to do so to spare another's feelings. It was a wasted effort though, lies to spare feelings always came back to harm two-fold.
She liked to think that the words she had spoken so many times when they first starting dating would help, but they didn't make her heart feel any less heavy with the prospect of laying it all out on the table. She cared for Daren, how could she not? But did she love him? Perhaps... but not in the way that she had always loved Bastian. And that had proved to be just as strong as it had always been. Even amidst all the questions that still begged to be answered.
Maggie knew that Daren was busy with a million bits of business this week. She knew that fact and yet some part of her had hoped that the edge to her voice in the voicemails she had left would have brought a quicker response from him. But the last thing she wanted was for him to have been distracted from the work that she knew he needed to get done. No matter how badly she felt the need to speak to him. The time was only making it harder for her, making her feel as though she were living some painful lie that ate at her day and night...
That was the reason that straight after her shift at the hospital she had punched the floor for his condo instead of her own apartment. Just to check. Just to see if by chance he'd arrived home and maybe had a few minutes to talk. She probably should have gone home and changed, left her colorful scrubs behind but she had to go now, while she didn't have to explain to Bastian where she was going. She felt she owed Daren the words before she spoke them to Bastian. Purse slung over her shoulder and her hair finally freed from the ponytail she wore while working Maggie approached his door.
The bell sounded loud. But perhaps that was just her nerves.