Sweet Child O' Mine

"Don't leave me in here by myself, please..." I say as I grab him by the hand. It didn't take us long to get back to the hotel, a few short blocks and an elevator ride to the twenty second floor and we were standing in the doorway to my room, and I was begging him not to go.

I don't know what came over me, the words left my mouth before I had a chance to sensor them. He looked surprised as I gave him my best puppy dog face.

"Um, what do you want me to do?" he asks, scratching his head. He looked as confused as I felt.

"Can you just sleep with me tonight? I mean, just sleep beside me?"

Duane Lee scratches his head again, looking around the room. I knew he was looking for the words to let me down with. I couldn't blame him, I was his boss, he was my bodyguard and I was asking him to sleep with me. Good thing I wasn't attracted to poor Bert.

"I guess it wont hurt if I just share a bed with you; not like its the first time..." He says with a crooked smile, reminding me of that time in Rome when I snuck into his room when I couldn't wake him up.

"Thank you." I say, returning his smile and pull my short dress over my head. He raises an eyebrow and pulls his own shirt over his head.

"I'm gonna take a shower..." I say, turning quickly as I bit my lip. That man had no right to be so sexy.

Fifteen minutes later I walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped tightly around my chest. The room was dark and cool, the steady hum of the air conditioner echoing throughout. I tiptoed to my suitcase and pulled out a short cotton gown, sliding it over my head and walked over to the bed; Duane Lee was already asleep.

"So much for that." I whispered to myself as I crawled in bed beside him.

*********************
Maggie's POV:

I moaned, as my cell phone rang early the next morning. We couldn't have been in bed more than a few hours as I ran my hand under my pillow searching for the obnoxious phone. I had gotten into the habit of leaving it in bed with me, it seemed to be the only way I could hear it. I blinked a few times as the phone stopped ringing, trying to adjust my eyes to the bright morning sun that streamed into the room.

"They'll call back if its important?" I say quietly, trying not to wake Duane Lee up. He looked so peaceful as he lay there, sleeping away.

I moved closer to him, studying the lines of his face. I knew he was older than I was...maybe he was forty; I didn't know, and didn't care. He sighed in his sleep, making me smile as I propped my head on my hand and watched him, until the phone started ringing again. I lifted the corner of Duane Lee's pillow up, and found my phone.

"Hello" I said, not bothering to see who was calling me.

"Uh - Who is this?" the woman's voice asks on the other end of the phone.

"Maggie." I say, through a yawn.

"Is there a Duane Lee Chapman there?" the stranger asks me.

I looked at my phone strangely, as if it could tell me who was calling for him. "Yeah... hold please." I say politely as I put the phone down on the bed to wake him up. I shook his shoulder, "Wake up." I say sweetly, pressing my chest to his back as I leaned into his ear.

"Why?" He asks rolling toward me as he rubs his eyes.

I pick the phone back up as he opens his eyes. "You have a phone call." I say, handing him the phone. He looks as surprised as I did as he sits up, putting the phone to his ear.

Duane Lee's POV:

I took the phone from Maggie, wondering who even had her cell number. The only person I had called was Lyssa and I knew she wouldn't dare call without my permission. I cautiously said "Hello?"

"Its Nikki."

"Nikki? How did you get this number... why are you calling me? Is Ellie okay?" I ask, sitting up in the bed.

Nikki lets out a short huff. "She's fine Duane Lee. And I got the number out of Lyssa's phone, she let it slip to your dad that you'd called. But I'm calling about you and your little escapades."

"My what? I don't know what you're talking about?" I tell her, as Maggie looks at me, a confused look clouds her face. I knew once I hung up I would have to tell Maggie the story of how I lost my wife, my daughter and my life.

"Well, imagine my surprise when I went to the grocery store and there you and Maggie Miller were on the cover of not one, but three tabloids!" She says yelling into the receiver.

"Holding her hand in the airport? Or the other two that had a pictures of you coming out of some bar in Barcelona with her arm around you! It said something about a secret love affair with her Bodyguard...Have you lost your f**king mind?"

"You know what, I don't have to explain anything to you, Nikki!" I yell, causing Maggie to jump. I whispered 'sorry' to her as I listened to Nikki rant and rave about the pictures.

"Did you ever stop to think about how this might affect your ability to see Ellie one day?"

"Don't you fucking bring Ellie into this. Don't you dare." I say harshly as I slam the phone shut, throwing it across the room for good measure.

They say right before you kill someone you see red; I was seeing red. Never in my life had I been so pissed off...no I wasn't pissed, I was livid. How dare she call me after all this time and taunt me with my daughter, the one thing that cut me to my core.

"Fuck!" I scream, running a shaky hand across my face.

A warm hand comes to rest against my back as I turn to see caring blue eyes looking up at me. I smiled as much as I could manage and sighed, "I'm sorry about that. That was...Nikki, my Ex." I explain, still trying to keep my temper in check.

"I see." Maggie says softly as she rubs my back with her hand. It seemed like such a small gesture, but it felt good to know someone was on my side for a change.

"I called my sister Lyssa from your phone and Nikki stole the number from her...apparently there are some pictures of us from the airport and from last night in some tabloids."

Maggie nods her head, she understood the pictures and what they meant or didn't mean in this case.

I shook my head in disbelief, where do I go from here? I never wanted to tell Maggie my story, but after today I was being forced to. I felt her head lying against my shoulder as I stared at my hands, trying to figure this mess out.

"You don't have to explain anything to me Duane Lee. Ive been in enough relationships to understand that sometimes you don't want to talk about it. Its your choice, its always been your choice." she says, looking down at my hands with me.

In seconds I was on top of her, pushing her back against the bed. I kissed her roughly on the lips, her hands grabbing my shoulders as I slid my tongue inside her mouth.

I wasn't thinking; she wasn't stopping me.

I pulled the strap of her gown down, grabbing her breast roughly with my hand. Her eyes connected with mine as I lowered my lips to her nipple, she moaned my name in a shaky breath.

In the split second that our eyes connected I came to my senses. "I'm Sorry." I mumble, rolling off of her. I jumped out of bed, throwing my jeans on and ran from the room.

Maggie's POV:

'What just happened?' That was the question I kept asking myself over and over again as I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. I let out a frustrated grunt when I couldn't come up with an answer.

I sat up, pulling my pink gown over my head and tossing it on the floor, as if it might be tainted. I didn't know how I would face him after this morning? I guess I'll put on my happy face like I always do.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't mad at him...quite the opposite, I would have had sex with him, I wanted to! Maybe I wasn't his type, maybe I was too young. I would probably never know after today.

I arrived on set that afternoon, accompanied by Ralph; who wasn't much of a bodyguard, if anything, I would probably have to defend him.

"Where did you say Duane Lee was?" I ask him for the third time, as I sit down in the makeup chair. I knew something was going on when Ralph showed up at my room an hour ago.

"He's gone Maggie."

I looked up, causing Pierre my makeup artist, to smear black eyeliner across my cheek. "Gone? What do you mean gone? Gone for the day...Gone forever? What?"

There's a pause, then a long sigh from Ralph.

"He quit, honey. He went home."

"No" I say sadly, shaking my head back and forth. "He cant go home...he's my bodyguard, he cant just quit like that. Did he say why?" As many questions as I asked, in my heart I knew why. His Ex, Nikki. Whatever she said to him was the reason he left.

Ralph shrugs his shoulders. "I wish I had an answer for you."

*****

The rest of my days in Barcelona passed by at a torturing snails pace. All I wanted was to get out of this place; to go home, find Duane Lee and figure out why he left so suddenly. Finally a week later I was able to leave.

It took me a few days to find his address in L.A., what was even harder was sneaking out of my own home; alone. As I drove into the parking lot of the apartment complex, I cautiously looked around. The last thing I wanted was to be recognized.

I knocked lightly on the door of apartment 12A, but he never came to the door. I took a deep breathe, pushing my sunglasses down over my eyes and went in search of the manager.

"Excuse me, can you tell me if anyone is living in apartment 12A?" I asked sweetly, trying to bring back my Southern accent. Most men were suckers for that accent, so I used it when the need arose.

"Let me see." he says, from behind the old wooden desk as he pulls out a few files. "12A...12A..." he repeats to himself over and over until he gets to the file he wants. "Nope. He moved out two days ago." the manger says to me.

"Did he leave a forwarding address?" I ask leaning over the desk, hoping to show him a little something in exchange for some information.

"No ma'am." he says, stuttering as he catches sight of my cleavage. "Did mention something about Hawaii though. I wasn't paying too much attention, sorry I cant be of more service." he says winking at me.

I giggle, for effect. "And they say people in LA are rude. Y'all are so nice. you especially." I say with a wink as I turn on my heel and leave the small office.

Duane Lee's POV:

"Thanks for letting me stay with you for a while Lyssa. I really appreciate it." I say, pulling my baby sister into a hug.

"Okay... okay... you're squeezing me too hard." She says laughing as I let her go.

As I settled into the spare bedroom, I had so many thoughts and questions swimming through my head. The biggest one was, why did I quit my job? I didn't know what had possessed me to leave Maggie so suddenly. It had a lot to do with the phone call from Nikki and some of it had to do with the line I crossed when I pushed myself on Maggie. I had made that mistake before with Nikki and I swore I would never let it happen again.

Nikki loved to play on my guilt over what happened with Ellie, it was something she would always be able to hang over my head. She knew that with one phone call, threatening me with never seeing my daughter, I would come running home, and I did. I hung my head in shame, knowing that I wasn't even raising my own daughter.

Maggie's POV

The plane touched down at the airport around 3:30, and I was glad to be out of it. As much as I loved owning my own plane, I hated flying anywhere that took more than a few hours to reach.

'Where to start?' I asked myself as I wheeled my luggage to the rental car I had secured only minutes before taking off from L.A. Ralph would flip when he found out I left alone, at this point I didn't care. This was something I had to do on my own. Pulling out my cell phone I called the one person I knew could help me locate him: Bert.

"Hi Bert...yes sir, I'm doing just fine...Im glad you're enjoying retirement. Can I ask a favor of you? ...You're the best Bert!" I say as I explain the situation to my former bodyguard.

Bert was surprised to hear that Duane Lee had left me Spain, but he told me he would try his best to locate him. So I gave him all the names of his family members that I knew: His Ex, Nikki and his sister, Lyssa. Hopefully with that information he could find at least one of them. After driving around a while, I checked into a nice hotel and waited on the phone call from Bert.

Surprisingly it didn't take long for him to find something. He had located Lyssa, Duane's sister. She lived in Honolulu, not far from the hotel.

"Do you know what you're getting yourself into Maggie?" Bert asks in a very concerned, fatherly tone.

I sighed, "Yes sir, I think so."

"How much do you know about Duane Lee?"

I had to think for a minute. I really didn't know very much at all. The few times I had tried to Google him I was always being interrupted by someone. "Not a whole lot... is there something I should know? Something from his past? Is Nikki a psycho girl?" I questioned Bert.

There was a long pause before he says, "Why don't you Google, Dog the Bounty Hunter and see what comes up."

I hesitantly agreed and thanked him for helping me out, then pulled out my laptop and went to work researching anything I could find, late into the night until I could barely hold my eyes open. When I woke up the next morning I threw on some jeans and a black tee. I opted to go without any makeup, trying to blend in as any tourist just visiting Hawaii.

I hoped into my rental car, armed with a lot of new knowledge about Duane Lee and set out on my mission. He probably wouldn't be happy that I tracked him down, but after what happened that morning in bed; I deserved an explanation.

**********

Hawaii really was a beautiful place, my job and travels took me to many places but never here. My mind was starting to wander as I drove slowly down a few side streets looking for Lyssa's house. I stopped in front of one I thought might be it, a green, single level home.

The numbers on the mail box had fallen off and I wasn't too sure if I was at the right place, but decided to take the chance and parked the car in the driveway.

Biting my lip, I raised my hand slowly to knock on the front door. A moment later a very petite blonde appeared, looking rather confused.

"Hi... um, I'm looking for Lyssa Chapman. Is this her house?" I ask the woman.

She nods her head, "I'm Lyssa. Can I help you?"

Here we go. "Its nice to meet you, I'm - "

"Maggie Miller... I know." She says, blushing slightly.

That was one thing I hated about being famous, I was never able to introduce myself to anyone without them finishing my sentence. But I always smiled and said "Yes. Thats me"

She welcomed me into her home. "I guess you're looking for my brother?" she asks, as she motions for me to sit down on the sofa.

"I am, actually. I know I probably shouldn't pry into his business, but he left so suddenly and with out any explanation... I just had to know why." I say, explaining some of the situation to her.

"Yeah, I was a little surprised when he showed up on my doorstep." She says laughing nervously. "I hope he didn't leave you in a bind when he left so suddenly...Nikki has that hold on him." Lyssa says, clenching her fist.

"I don't know what happened between the two of them, I told him to tell me in his own time. I didn't want to force him into anything."

Lyssa looks relieved as I explained why I felt the need to track her brother down and soon we fell into an easy conversation about Duane Lee and the rest of her family. I told her that I had no idea they had their own television show until last night. I felt stupid admitting that, because it was such a popular show, but when did I ever get a chance to watch TV?