Subj: A Return to the Shadows part 37
Date: 8/26/01 10:14:32 PM Central Daylight Time
From: KimD

Roger looked grim as he walked through the door of Maggie's modest home. He looked at her with eyes that held a disturbed look. "What's wrong?" she asked as she came closer to him.

He slumped down in a nearby chair and rested his head in one of his hands, running his hand through his hair. She knelt in front of him, looking up into his face. "I need you Maggie," he said simply.

Later they lay together in bed. Maggie sat up and looked down with concerned at Roger. She reached over and touched his face that lines of stress still creased. "Now do you want to tell me what's wrong?" she asked. He looked up at her and tried to judge how she would react to the news that he had to tell her. During the time he spent with her she had become more that a diversion from the family, and a retreat problems and life. He hadn't realized how much he had grown to care about her. He could remember when they had first become involved. He had just gotten back from England, after putting Laura in an institution. He had spent nearly every evening at the Blue Whale, hoping to drink away the terrible way his marriage had turned out. Maggie had noticed one evening while she had been closing up.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she had asked while wiping down the bar. There had been no one else in the bar at the time.

"About what?" he asked, taken off guard by the sudden question.

"The reason why you're here until closing practically every night." She stopped cleaning and came to stand beside him.

"It's not that easy to explain." He hadn't been ready to talk about Laura to anyone yet.

"You don't think I'll understand about Laura?" He had been surprised that she had already known what happened. Of course she knew. It was hard to keep secrets in a town as small as Collinsport. She sat beside him and laid her hand on his arm.

"She seemed so normal until we were married. I would find her drawing odd symbols in our room. When I question her about it, she would only say that it was necessary. I thought a change would help her. That's when we moved to England. At first she seemed normal again and happy. It was a few years after David was born that things seemed to slowly change. She would leave the house in the middle of the night. I would go out the next morning and find odd symbols in the yard and in the house. She would be at a loss to explain them. I would watch her closely, trying to find out what she was doing. Then came the fire that she had started. I had hoped it was an accident, but she had meant to start it. She was even mad at me for pulling her and David out. I didn't want to put her in the institution, but I didn't really have a choice. She had become dangerous, and crazed."

She listened to him patiently while he told her everything. He hadn't realized how much he needed to tell someone about his problems. He looked into her eyes that were full of kindness and understanding.

"Where's Sam?" Roger asked realizing that he hadn't seen the older man in a while.

"Pop wasn't feeling well, so I told him to go home."

"Do you want a ride home?" Roger stood up and reached for his coat. She agreed easily. It wasn't long before they were at her small home. Moonlight softly illuminated her face. Roger couldn't help noticing how lovely she looked. He reached out and touched her face. When she didn't pull away, or make any excuse to leave he pulled her closer to him and kissed her. He wasn't sure if it was the way she looked or the compassion she had shown him.

Roger was brought back to the present my Maggie's questioning glance. "Laura's back," he said.

Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.