Sweating profusely and trying to catch his breath, Mac
panted, "Twenty-one, eighteen. Whew! Either you have
been practicing in secret or I need to get in better
shape." During their intense racquetball game Kevin
made several incredible shots, forcing Mac to scramble
to win every point he got.
Kevin shook his head ruefully. "No, you're my only
racquetball partner. You're just the target of my
frustration about my lack of a social life," he wryly
noted as he wiped himself down with a towel.
Mac looked sympathetically at his best friend as they
headed to the locker room together. Other than Tony
Jones, no decent guys in Port Charles had more bad
luck when it came to women than Kevin and himself. Mac
was thankful that his streak of bad relationships had
ended now that he was with Dara and he hoped that
Kevin could find someone also. It was common knowledge
in Port Charles that Lucy Coe was working furiously to
get back together with Kevin, but as much as Mac
personally liked Lucy, he wasn't sure that Lucy was
really the best person for Kevin. He didn't offer this
opinion and instead joked, "Don't tell me that you're
sitting by your phone hoping for it to ring. I'm sure
that Lucy knows your telephone number and she's
probably not shy about dialing it."
"No kidding," Kevin thought silently as he stripped
off his t-shirt and shorts. Sitting on a bench to
remove his shoes and socks, he responded, "Yes, she
knows my home number, cell phone number, and office
number, all of which she calls most days. In some ways
I'll always love Lucy, but somehow I feel that I'll be
taking a step backward if we get together again. In
reality, nothing has changed between us so what will
keep us from making the same mistakes again? I guess
I'm looking for someone to make me as happy and
'peaceful' as you seem to be with Dara." Kevin was
truly thrilled for Mac, but a part of him longed to
find the same type of happiness that his friend had
found with Dara. The unfamiliar emotion of envy slowly
crept into Kevin's voice as he continued speaking. "I
haven't had a lot of opportunity to spend time with
both of you together but I don't think that I've ever
seen you this happy."
Nodding, Mac agreed with Kevin's observation. "I am
very happy, even with all of this conflict with
Felicia." Taking a seat next to Kevin on the bench,
Mac asked, "So you don't want to get back together
with Lucy, at least not right now. Is there anyone
else you're interested in dating?"
Slowly, and somewhat reluctantly, Kevin replied,
"Well, now that you've mentioned it, there is someone
I am interested in seeing but I haven't told her yet."
Knowing that shyness was not a typical characteristic
of Kevin, Mac queried, "How long have you been
thinking of asking this woman out?"
"I'm been seriously thinking about her for the past
few months..."
"Months?" Now Mac's interest was really piqued. Who
was this woman that could occupy Kevin's thoughts for
months without him asking her out? Not able to stop
himself Mac immediately spewed out a series of
questions. "Who is she? Do I know her? Why in the
world...?" Mac stopped speaking abruptly and then
cautiously asked the next question, "Kevin, is she
married?"
Kevin's blank expressionless face gave Mac no clue to
the thoughts that were going on in his mind. Mac had
never known Kevin to lie about anything but something
about the silence that preceded Kevin's response
troubled Mac. "No, she's not married, but she is
involved with someone. I really don't want to tell you
who she is because most likely nothing will happen.
She's probably never given a romantic relationship
with me a thought."
"Well, to be candid, given that she's involved with
someone else, that's a good thing she hasn't had
romantic thoughts about you." Mac continued watching
Kevin's face and expression as he was obviously
thinking of this woman. "Damn, he's got it badly,"
thought a slightly shocked Mac. Speaking hesitantly
Mac suggested, "Perhaps you should let her know how
you feel Kevin. I mean, it would be different if she
was married but..." Knowing that he was treading on
delicate matters Mac asked, "You really care about
her, don't you?"
Surprising himself with his answer Kevin said, "More
than I ever thought possible. I've been thinking about
telling her my feelings for her. I just look at you
and Dara and I don't know if I will be lucky like you
two, getting another chance to be with her. So I'm
considering letting her know how I feel before it is
too late." Pushing the wistful musings from his mind,
Kevin attempted to change the course of the
conversation. "I know that you and Scott met with
Felicia and her lawyer the other day. How did it go?"
Mac's face started to flush and his anger briefly
surfaced as he recalled the meeting on Monday.
Standing up and slamming the locker door, Mac
conceded," You were right about Felicia's
determination in stopping the divorce. It's
unbelievable. Somehow in her mind she's made my
relationship with Dara the cause of the breakup of our
marriage." After a pause in speaking, Mac continued
astutely commenting, "Just because something's a lie
doesn't mean that people will ignore it or that it
won't hurt. But Dara and I have talked about what
might happen as Felicia tries to stop the divorce and
Dara has said that she'll support me and will help me
get through it. Scott has petitioned a judge so that I
can get visitation rights to see the girls. I'm now
able to see them twice a week in unsupervised visits
as long as I see them alone and not with Dara."
Felicia had pettily instructed her lawyer to insist
that Dara could not accompany Mac during any visits
with the girls. She contended that having the woman
responsible for the breakup of their marriage with Mac
would turn the visits into traumatic events for the
girls. Scott pointed out the important thing right now
was to get immediate visitation rights for Mac and he
assured Mac that they would later attempt to modify
the rules regarding the visitations, so Mac
reluctantly agreed. "I'm seeing the girls tomorrow
night at Kelly's." Mac's mood brightened at the
thought of finally being able to see the girls again
and he had an idea.
Heading with Kevin towards the showers he proposed,
"Well, let's fix this problem about you not seeing
Dara and me together. How about coming over to dinner
on Friday night?" Stemming Kevin's protest on how he'd
be a fifth wheel at dinner Mac countered, "No, you
won't. Dara mentioned that Ellen Burgess will probably
be joining us for dinner that evening. Dara's helping
Ellen with her wedding preparations. Her fiancé is out
of town for a medical conference and she's staying for
dinner. So come on over and join us." To Mac surprise,
Kevin changed his mind and offered, "I can probably
give Ellen a ride to dinner. What time should we be
there?" They agreed to get together on Friday evening
at 8 p.m. for dinner.
For the first time since she agreed to help Felicia in
her scheme, Lucy Coe was having second thoughts. She
and Felicia were walking to the building where the
local ABC news station was located for an on-camera
interview to be conducted by a reporter who was also a
friend of Felicia's. It wasn't as if she was going to
actually lie during the interview. And any publicity
or anytime she would be on TV would be good for her
new fledgling cosmetic company. But Kevin and Mac were
best friends; the outcome of this interview may hurt
her attempts to get back together with Kevin. Felicia
noticed that Lucy was deep in thought and was slowing
the pace of her steps. "Come on," encouraged Felicia
as she linked her arm in Lucy's. "We're almost there
and this interview won't take fifteen minutes,
especially if they're already set up and waiting for
us."
Wary about what they were going to do, Lucy wavered,
"Felicia, I don't know. You know that I want to do
anything I can to help you and Mac get back together.
But I'm trying to work out things with Kevin and I
don't want to do anything right now that will make
Kevin mad."
"Lucy, you know that I wouldn't ask this favor unless
I really, really needed you, and I do. Mac may be mad
at you but you're going to speak the truth and even
though Kevin is Mac's friend, he's my friend too.
Initially he may be angry in support of Mac but the
truth is the truth, and he loves you. It will all work
out. I just want us all back together again. Please
don't let me down now; I need your help." Felicia
pleaded.
Knowing that Felicia was in dire straits, Lucy sighed
and relented, "O.K. Let's do it."
~~~~*~~~~~
"I know that you're looking forward to seeing Maxie
and Georgie tomorrow." Dara was snuggled in Mac's
strong arms as she relaxed with her back against his
chest in a reclining position on the leather sofa.
They had eaten a very late supper and were waiting to
watch the 11 p.m. news before turning in for the
night.
"I am anxious to see them," Mac confessed. He nuzzled
his nose behind Dara's left ear and his light kisses
sent shivers throughout Dara's body. Dara's
increasingly labored breathing and the way her hand
tightly gripped Mac's thigh encouraged Mac to try to
convince Dara to skip watching the news tonight. "Tell
me once again what's so important to see tonight on
the news?" he whispered seductively as one of his
hands slid under her light cashmere top to gently
massage her breasts. With the fingers of Dara's other
hand running through his curly brown hair and while he
continued to kiss her neck and cheek, Mac himself
fought to maintain some type of control as Dara began
to writhe and move against him.
Struggling to remember what was important in the news
tonight, Dara moaned when Mac unsnapped the top of her
jeans and started to unzip them. "The trial," she said
with a gasp. "I give my closing argument to the jury
tomorrow. I...I just want to see what they're
reporting on ... on the news...ahhhhh!" Dara moaned
again as Mac continued to arouse her and knew if she
didn't get off of the couch in the next few seconds
she could forget completely about television tonight.
Twisting her head to kiss Mac passionately on the
lips, Dara took advantage of Mac's loosened grip on
her and she leaped off of the couch. Mac groaned
fiercely as he watched Dara disappear into the
kitchen. "We'll only watch it for a few minutes," she
promised as she tried to compose herself. "Turn on the
TV."
Rr
Grabbing the remote control, Mac did as Dara
requested. "They had better say something about that
trial in the first 15 minutes or else the VCR will
start taping," Mac shouted to Dara from the living
room. Dara laughed in response and joined him again on
the couch again just as the news started.
February sweeps period was just beginning and the
local stations were doing their best to get higher
ratings. Sometimes this meant broadcasting shocking
and headline grabbing news, and tonight the ABC
affiliate news station was leading the program with 'a
local political scandal'. Bonnie Fitzgerald, a former
weathergirl and aspiring network news anchor, was the
reporter. "You don't have to go to Washington D.C. or
New York City to see public officials shamelessly
flaunt their mistresses in front of unsuspecting
constituents. Bill Clinton and Rudy Giuliani have
nothing on Port Charles' own local police commissioner
Mac Scorpio. Commissioner Scorpio is in the process of
divorcing his wife and has left his home and two
children. He's currently seen about town with
Assistant District Attorney Dara Jensen." A photo of
Mac and Dara smiling and with their arms around each
other, probably taken at the New Years Eve party, was
flashed in the background on the screen as Ms.
Fitzgerald continued her commentary. "Apparently the
commissioner doesn't mind mixing business with
pleasure. He recently insisted on expensive extra
round-the-clock security for his girlfriend, at the
taxpayers' expense of course. The round-the-clock
security does seem a bit redundant since the
commissioner is known to be spending almost every
night in Ms. Jensen's apartment these days." The news
program then displayed a brief videotaped comment of
City Councilman Reynolds stating how he opposed the
extra security details for A.D.A. Jensen but
Commissioner Scorpio had ignored his concerns. Ms.
Fitzgerald returned to the screen stating that several
Port Charles citizens were asked to comment on the
topic of public servants and private behavior. The
first citizen to comment was a burly, half-drunk man
in a bar identified as Ralph Harden who said,
"Whatever a man does after hours or behind closed
doors is his own (bleep, bleep) business! A man's got
to do what a man's got to do."
The second citizen to comment was the prominent local
entrepreneur Lucy Coe. "While generally everyone has a
right to privacy I do believe that it is the
responsibility of public servants to be role models
for the community," was Ms. Coe's civic-minded
response. The news segment ended with Ms. Fitzgerald
urging viewers to call the number listed on the screen
and respond to the poll on whether the commissioner's
and ADA affair was their own business or whether they
were an embarrassment to the community. Stunned and
shocked into deadly silence, Mac held Dara tightly in
his arms. He picked up the remote control again and
turned off the television.
Across town, Felicia Scorpio smiled to herself as she
also turned off the television. She definitely owed
Bonnie for the story that was just broadcast; in her
opinion it was fantastic. Thinking that step one was a
success, Felicia started planning her next actions to
bring Mac back home. "Poor thing," she slyly mused as
she prepared for bed, "he'll never know what hit him."
