ANDY FITCH'S APARTMENT
"I don't know," Claire says weakly.
"It's just ... after how wrong things went on New Year's--"
"I'm sorry," Andy cuts in. "I should
have realized--of course you wouldn't want to be a part of something else
like that after ..."
"I still want to see Nick caught."
Andy is quiet. "It would probably
be best to get
Brent involved," he finally says.
"I'm sure making it more official wouldn't be a bad thing."
"No, probably not."
"Claire," Andy says abruptly, "I--I'm
sorry. I should have thought. I shouldn't have tried to drag you back into
this. Especially after the way I messed up on New Year's."
Claire closes her eyes and drops
her head. "What happened to Tim -- that wasn't your fault. It was Nick's."
Andy tries to let that segment of
the conversation pass, even though it's clear he's still grappling with
it inside.
His struggle is not lost on Claire.
"How about that woman you met on New Year's Eve? Maggie?" she asks.
"Nothing to report on that front.
She sent me an e-mail a few weeks afterward, and I sent her something back,
but we haven't had contact since then."
"I'm sorry. I know things must be
lonely for you."
"I didn't realize what an enormous
part of my life my mother was until I stopped spending so much time with
her." He shifts his eyes downward. "And
Danielle. Maybe it's foolish --
it's been almost a year since we ended it -- but ... it still feels like
there's something missing with her gone."
Claire nods sympathetically. "That's
not foolish. It's real. You had deep feelings for Danielle, and she came
to represent a whole new life for you."
He turns his back to her, focusing
down on his busy hands. "Just a few weeks ago ... It was supposed to be
our one-year wedding anniversary. That was probably one of the hardest
days of my life, knowing what it was supposed to be and seeing how different
everything is from how I imagined."
Stillness buzzes in the air. Finally
Claire reaches a warm hand up to his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Andy."
He lets her hand linger for a moment
and then slides away from it, swallowing hard as he turns back to face
her. "And I'm sorry for having dragged you into such a gloomy conversation."
"Seems like the only kind I have
these days, anyway," she says, raising her eyebrows. She glances at her
watch. "But it looks like I'm going to have to go be gloomy in transit.
I have to go get the kids from the Fishers'."
"All right," Andy says, leading her
back to the door. "Thanks for stopping by."
She steps out onto the landing outside
his door. "Keep me posted on this Nick situation. And if you need someone
to talk to about ... whatever, just let me know."
"Thanks," he smiles warmly, dimples
creasing his tanned cheeks.
Claire makes her way down the stairs
and crosses the parking lot to her car. Andy watches her get in and start
it, and then heads back inside.
He leans on one shoulder against
the closed door, going in his mind back to New Year's Eve. That spark he'd
felt -- it was unlike anything he had felt in a long time. Since long before
the ill-fated wedding to Danielle.
He is reliving his late-night conversation
with Maggie as they sat in 322, as they walked through the park, trying
to recapture some of the hope he felt that night and the next morning--
And he is jarred from his thoughts
by a knock on the door. He jumps away from it and then, as reality settles
in, he takes a moment to recompose himself. Then he reaches his hand to
the knob and turns it -- and his jaw nearly falls to the floor.
"Maggie!"
END OF EPISODE #205
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How was the Don/Courtney chat? Did you like the Claire/Andy scenes? And
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