Posted by Kim on 8/6/2001, 10:13 am "I am," replied Dara smiling at him. She could see the intense concern in Taggert's eyes and hear it in his voice, and she was quite touched by it. "For a few hours yesterday I was probably in shock but I'm fine now. Let's go to lunch." Fifteen minutes later they were seated in a relatively quiet booth at the Recovery Room. After placing their orders, Taggert gently took Dara's right hand into both of his and asked, "You're holding up o.k. in the courtroom today? I know that you have a job to do but it wouldn't have been unreasonable to ask to delay the trial today by at least one day." Dara shook her head vigorously and replied," Absolutely not. That would have given Moreno exactly what he wanted, a delay in the trial. No, the sooner we get Bannion on the witness stand, the better." Dara brought her left hand to the table and clasped both of Taggert's hands tightly as she noted," You're guarding Bannion and even you have to admit that he'll be Moreno's next target. As soon as Bannion testifies then we'll all be out of danger." The thought that her friend may be in the line of fire if an attempt was made on Bannion placed a cold chill around Dara's heart. Realistically she knew that this type of danger was a part of their jobs, but knowing that fact didn't make her feel much better right now. She removed her hands from Taggert's clasp and leaned back in the booth to take a drink on water in an attempt to calm her nerves. Taggert was staring at Dara wondering how to broach the subject that was on his mind and he decided to try humor as a tactic. "Well, at least I didn't have to worry about you last night. In addition to having the best cops on the force - present company excluded of course - outside of your door, you had the police commissioner sleeping on your couch last night. No one would have gotten to you last night. It even kept me out of your apartment." Dara was quick to guard her feelings but she couldn't hide the somewhat guilty expression that flashed across her face when she was reminded that she told Marcus that Mac would be sleeping on the couch. While she was thinking of how to respond to his last statement, Dara saw Taggert reading her expression and immediately realized by the surprise and anger in his eyes that somehow he was able to discern the truth from looking at her. "So I guess Mac didn't spend all night on the couch, did he?" Taggert asked quizzically knowing the answer. "Dara, do you really think that this is a good time to get involved with Mac?" Dara was puzzled and blinked her eyes when she heard Taggert's last question. "What do you mean? You knew for the past weeks that Mac and I have been dating. Why are you questioning now whether I know what I'm doing?" "I don't know. I was hoping that it would blow over quickly and I wouldn't have to say anything. Maybe I thought that you guys would have a couple of dates and go back to being friends." "You mean like we did?" Dara asked with an edge in her voice, remembering being hurt when Taggert didn't want to date only her. "And that still will probably happen Dara," Taggert continued ignoring Dara's remark. "Do you really think that Mac and Felicia are finished? He's angry with her and at the moment he wants to 'move on' with his life. But I've seen guys like that who will take an amazing amount of crap from someone he loves and eventually they ALWAYS go back. Mac falls into that category. Alan Quartermaine is another. The reason we didn't get together when we dated was that you wanted a serious relationship; that's the type of woman you are, and I wasn't at that point in my life then. Knowing you and the type of woman you are, why would you want to get involved with Mac?" "Marcus, we are friends. You're certainly entitled to your opinions. And I'll even give you credit that maybe you're right about me," Dara conceded. "But you have an opinion of what Mac is like and I have another. I see someone who is patient and can love deeply but in the end he wants his love returned. I see someone who will give a person every opportunity to return that love but when he decides he's waited more than long enough and given them more than enough chances, he moves on - permanently. That's the type of man I think he is." Indicating that she wanted to change the topic under discussion by signaling for the waiter, she said, "Only time will tell which one of us is right." ***** Mac entered the house where he used to live with Felicia and the girls and sat down on a chair in the living room waiting for her to speak. She was obviously upset about something and he waited for her to tell him what it was. "Mac, Scott Baldwin met with my lawyer two days ago and presented what he considered the 'final' version of the divorce papers to be drawn up. I want to let you know that I'm not going to be bullied or rushed into breaking up our marriage. Neither the girls nor I want this divorce. I want for us to go to a marriage counselor." Mac sucked in his breath and waited a few seconds before speaking. This day had started off so great with Dara and it had gone downhill every since he'd left her in the courtroom. He was grateful at least that he made the right decision and decided not to contact Felicia until he got to work. There was no way he wanted to have heard this before now. "Felicia, it's too late to talk about going to a marriage counselor," Mac responded bitterly. "Last year there was a marriage to save; this year we just need to sign the divorce papers. You and the girls can have the house and I'm willing to help you out financially while you get your PI business going, but ..." "Stop talking about financial settlements," cried Felicia as tears filled her eyes. "Why are you determined to end our marriage quickly? Is Dara Jensen putting you up to this?" Taken completely aback, Mac thought that he couldn't be hearing correctly. How did Dara's name come up in this conversation? "What are you talking about? Dara has nothing to do with me getting this divorce. You and I were separated before Dara and I even started dating." "I saw her yesterday, looking smug in your office," Felicia said bitterly. "I bet she uses every opportunity she can to tell you how badly I've treated you and how you deserve better. She's just trying to break us up and you're can't see it because you're still angry with me. You were with her last night, weren't you," accused Felicia. "She the reason you didn't contact me yesterday." Exasperated with the direction of this conversation, Mac said, "Felicia, in all honesty I think that Dara avoids talking about you because she doesn't want to influence me one way or another. I can assure you that you are not the topic of conversation when Dara and I are together." "Well, maybe I should be considering that I'm your wife," she retorted. 'Not for long,' Mac thought. There was no way he was going to let Felicia hang the breakup up their marriage on Dara and he was going to state in clear, succinct terms so that even she could understand why their marriage was over. He responded, "Which brings us back to the original topic of the conversation. Felicia, I'm not coming back. I won't be your second or third choice any longer behind Frisco and Luke. No real marriage can survive under those conditions." "Mac, I love you." With disbelief clearly expressed on his face, Mac looked Felicia directly in the eyes and asked, "Felicia, if Luke Spencer showed up today and asked you to live with him, would you immediately tell him absolutely no, that you loved me?" "Yes, Mac. Yes I would," Felicia anxiously replied. Mac didn't believe her for a second. "You've gotten so good at lying I can't tell whether you're lying to me or you're lying to yourself by giving that answer. Either way it doesn't matter to me, not anymore." Mac rose to make his appointed meeting with Sonny. "We're scheduled to meet with the lawyers on Monday morning next week. I'll see you then but now I have to go. Tell Maxie and Georgie that I'll call them tonight" Mac didn't look back as he departed from the house.
At 12:30 Taggert saw Dara exit the courtroom just Moreno's trial recessed for lunch. "You look o.k.," he commented warmly embracing her. "Are you?"
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