From the Ashes

"Of course not! I know it will take time for me to earn your trust again. Time that I'm willing to take if you give us another chance."

"Yet you didn't seem to care about our marriage when you were stepping out on me..."

"Like I said Magnus, I was stupid and blinded. I honestly thought I could do better than you, yet now, as I see you sitting there. Looking so... mmm... good, I know that I already had the best thing in the world."

"You mean now that I'm famous, that I'm now worthy of you? Is that what you mean?" Magnus asked, narrowing his eyes.

"What?! No, no, no, you're twisting my words all around," Iona said, shaking her head vehemently. Knowing that she had to be very careful with her words from now on. Especially if she wanted to worm herself back into his life and get her fingers on everything she could. "It's awesome that you finally followed your dream. I know how much you always wanted to make a living with your music," Iona said, laying on the charm. She knew if she could just sway him, just an inch, that would give her a way in. She knew her husband well enough to know just how to get into his head. "What I meant was that I was very stupid in that I would ever risk the best thing in my life..." Her cheeks heated in annoyance as she heard the buzzing of his phone. She definitely didn't like the smile she saw on his lips at whatever was on the screen of his phone. "How about this Magnus," sitting straighter in her seat, "since I know you've slept with that reporter woman..."

"Like you haven't been spreading your legs for that ass?" Magnus shot back. He kept his smirk hidden at how Iona was taken aback by that. Like she thought he didn't know about her months of lining Connor's bed.

"You left Magnus, you tossed me out of our home..."

"And I was what, supposed to keep sharing my bed with a sleazy woman?"

"Hey! I might have done some things but I'm not sleazy!" Iona said, her cheeks heating in her anger.

"And that was months after I left you, you on the other hand didn't wait a day to fall into the arms of your fuck toy."

"And I'm supposed to believe that?! That you haven't been fucking whomever while you were out on the road," Iona said, her anger showed in her eyes. She had honestly thought he had fled with his tail between his legs thinking he was weak due to how he allowed his father to walk all over him. That Magnus was hiding out in a small apartment somewhere pining away for her. However, the moment that woman showed up at her work asking for an interview, which she found odd, she didn't think they would be doing an article on Connor given who the woman worked for. To say she was shocked when she started to ask questions about Magnus was an understatement. She knew then she had to get back with him. She had to be there soaking up all the fame he was procuring once he had been on the road. Something that she knew was building since she had been stalking the fan page that had popped up for him. How she hated reading about all the female commenters detailing what they would do if they were lucky enough to get a night with him. "Look. I'm willing to overlook all that, I'm even willing to look the other way should you need some relief on the road. I can't ask you to be faithful to me when I wasn't. I just want my husband back. I want to show you how sorry I am for everything."

"No. You don't get to dictate anything anymore. I put up with a lot of your shit when we were married, why? Because at some point in time I did love you," Magnus said, rising from his seat. Knowing her time was up and he wasn't going to sit there and listen to any more of her lies. "You killed any ounce of love I once had for you when I saw you on that table. You only have yourself to blame. I asked time after time for you to stop. To cut down the hours, to be my wife yet that was too much for you. Yet you wouldn't, you never cared enough then to save our marriage and I don't care enough now to do the same. The thought of being touched by you, much less sharing my bed with you, I find repugnant," Magnus said, not caring if his words hurt her. She had torn out his heart and stomped it into the ground. He saw it only fair that Iona felt the same pain.

"But Magnus!" Iona nearly shouted quickly getting to her feet.

"But nothing, you wasted your chance with me. You threw away everything I was willing to do for you. All for what? A sad lay with a mid-forties something lawyer," Magnus said, shaking his head as he walked towards the door. "I do hope it was worth it. Hope it was worth destroying two marriages, and four different lives, all because you weren't happy. You didn't have the courage or the wherewithal to divorce me before you did this. No. You thought you could string me along and I wouldn't fucking notice. How fucking stupid do you take me for?! Did you honestly think this would go your way?" Thrusting open the door, stilling the two lawyers as they spoke in hushed whispers. "This the end of us, this is where I finally get you out of my life and start something that doesn't, and won't, ever involve you." Turning to look at Dan, "Let's finish this," Magnus said, hearing the sobs of his ex-wife behind him.

"Please Magnus, think about this, don't make me sign this. It's not too late," Iona pleaded with teary eyes.

"Sign the damn papers Iona. Don't pretend you're broken up about this," Magnus said, incensed that she was stalling.

"Okay Magnus," Iona sniffed after her lawyer whispered in her ear. "I'm truly sorry that it had to end like this."

"No you're not, you haven't been sorry for a damn thing you've done," Magnus said, quickly signing his own name before pushing the paperwork to his lawyer. Shaking Dan's hand once he nodded that all was in order. "With that I am officially divorced from you. Go live your life, because I honestly don't give a fuck," he said, waving goodbye forever over his shoulder as he walked out.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuuuuck!" Iona screamed out as she sat in her car. The palms of her hands beating against her steering wheel. Her hair flying about as she vented her anger on the object. "God damnit Magnus! You were supposed to kowtow to me! Now I have to go... back to that man!" Screaming bloody murder once again knowing how her life was going to go now that Magnus had tossed her away. She wasn't about to raise this child all alone. So that meant only one thing...

******

Later that day...

"Hello?" Magnus answered his phone as he sat on his bed. His back resting against the wall of the motel room he had rented. His guitar rested against his chest as he had been practicing the songs for the new album.

"Hey! How did it go?!" Haleema asked, as her voice came over the line.

"Well... I'm not married anymore, so there's that," Magnus said, with a broad smile. "You wouldn't believe what she tried to do."

"Oh?!" Haleema's interest perked as she curled her legs beneath her as she sat on her couch in her apartment in LA. "What did she try to do?"

"She had the nerve to think she could just lie her way back into my life," Magnus said, telling her everything that had went on in that conference room.

"Well... she sounds like a lovely woman," Haleema said, feeling herself growing upset at the thought that this woman could be so crass to think she could have Magnus again. Also pleased that Magnus had seen through it and now was free. Free for her to show him that there were better women out there. "Tell me, did you like being married?"

"Honestly, yeah, I kind of did."

"Maybe... the next time you do it, it will last," Haleema said shyly, her hand gently rubbed her left thigh as her cheeks heated. Her dark brown eyes flickered over to the bags she had packed last night then to the clock. Knowing that she had eleven hours before her flight. While she wanted to fly there immediately and take Magnus into her arms. To finally taste what those lips were like, she thought she would give him a day before she made it known that they were dating.

"One can hope, although the question is: just who the lucky woman will be?" Magnus said, hearing the smile in his voice as he sat his guitar to the side.

"I don't know, maybe," her voice took on a cute, soft tone, "you'll meet this person soon," Haleema said bashfully, as she bit her lip.

"Hmm... I don't know. She has to be awful pretty, and have this sweet voice," Magnus said, hoping that she was getting the hint.

"I see. What else does this woman need to sweep you off your feet?" Haleema asked, feeling her face heating.

"She has to have this flowing ebony hair. These stunning brown eyes, supple soft lips. A smile that could light up the heavens, if they were so inclined in making her a star. These long, smooth, shapely legs that leads one's eye to her... can I say ass?!"

"Yeah, say it," Haleema giggled feeling her heart racing knowing he was speaking about her.

"This tight little ass that makes a man's mouth water at the thought of just biting it."

"Oh, mmm... I hope that there's a woman out there like that," Haleema said, her fingers ran along the silver chain her father had bought for her to hold the locket with her mother's picture. She had told them all about Magnus, minus his difficulties with his now ex-wife. Her father had often teased her about how her little girl had fallen for a southern gentleman. He had often threatened, in that fatherly manner, to fly to whichever city they were in at the time and see what this man's intentions were with his little girl. Haleema wondered if he would like to meet them. She sure hoped he did. She was a very family orientated person; family means everything to her. It was why she took Bobby's death so hard. Even if they were no longer together he was still family to her.

"Again, one can only hope," Magnus said, stretching out on the bed. His hand slowly running up and down his chest as he looked up at the ceiling.

"What motel you staying at anyway?"

"The Sunset motel, room 213, why?" Magnus asked, his eyes darted back and forth. His heart raced, shaking the thought from his mind.

"Just... wondering, is all," Haleema said, in an aloof manner. Feeling her body trembling in her nervousness, wondering if Magnus would be happy to see her when she lands in the morning. "Well... I need to get off of here, got a big dinner at my parent's house in a few hours. Can we talk tomorrow?"

"Okay, have fun, and you know you don't have to ask. I don't mind listening to that voice," Magnus said, wondering if she was blushing and how hard.

"Magnus, if you keep talking like that I might just fall for you," Haleema said, in a low whisper.

"Then I guess I need to step up my game, huh? I must be rusty," Magnus chuckled lightly. Biting his lip as he heard her quick breathing over the line.

"I... have..." Magnus was on cloud nine at the sound of her flustered voice.

"Go. I know. I look forward to tomorrow," Magnus said, his fingers drummed on his chest. A smile reached from ear to ear.

"Only if you knew," Haleema said, staring down at her phone. Bouncing on her couch in her giddiness, biting her nail as her elbow rested on the armrest. Her eyes lustering as she stared off into space. Her hips swayed as she walked towards her bedroom, knowing she was going to have to go to bed if she wanted to be up at three, to shower, get ready, and make her five a.m. flight in the morning. She so didn't want to miss it.

******

Friday, eleven a.m.....

Magnus had just taken a shower, changed into his nice clean clothes before he went to visit his grandmother. A smile raised the corners of his lips as he thought back to the phone call he had with Haleema yesterday. All through dinner last night he had thought back to it. Wondering if her flirting would lead to somewhere. He sure did hope so. Now that he had finally rid himself of his cheating wife, Magnus was eager to spread his wings again. Turning his head as he heard a knock on the door to his motel room.

"Yes..." His breath stilled in his chest as Haleema stood on the breezeway. Her white and red Westbrook lace Spanish skirt swayed gently in the breeze. Her white linen top allowed her dark caramel colored skin to bleed through. He could barely make out the darker shade of white of her bra through her top. He had wondered how those 32C breasts would feel in his hand. How they would taste on his tongue as it moved along her nipples. How her hands would feel on his skin as she held him close as she allowed him to experience that glorious body of hers. Her two black suitcases sat on either side of her, her red flats matched her skirt. Her ebony hair was down allowing those silky stands to brush along her soft cheeks.

"Hello Magnus," Haleema said softly, her lush lips held a warm smile on them. "Can I...?"

"Of course!" Magnus said, his mind snapping out of its befuddlement. Opening the door, stepping out of the way, his nose wiggled as the flowery scent drifted on the air as she passed. "What are you doing here?"

"Are you not pleased to see me?" Haleema asked, peering over her shoulder as she set her bags on his bed. Softly giggling into her hand at how red his face was getting.

"No, I'm not saying that. You just surprised me is all," Magnus said, as he closed the door. "So... where are you staying?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Haleema replied with a coy smirk.

"H-h-here?!" Magnus stammered.

"Mmmhmm," Haleema nodded. Her fingertips dragged along the surface of her bag as she sashayed to him. Her skin heated as her hands ran up his chest. Her eyes stared into his wondering if he could see the growing love within their depths. Her hair dangled down to her lower back as the two of them stood silently in that room. Biting coyly on her lower lip as she felt his hands on her shapely hips. "You don't have a problem with that do you?"

"Nope. Not one bit," Magnus said, feeling the heat of her body pressing in on his as they stood only a hairsbreadth between them.

"Good. You should always share your bed with your girlfriend," Haleema said, her hands ran up his neck. Her fingers weaving through strands of his hair as her lips inched closer to his. Her heart hammered in her ears as his arms slowly encircled her body. The moment their lips touched it felt like a bolt of lightning raced up her spine as that passionate kiss lingered.

"So... girlfriend, huh?" Magnus muttered once Haleema had pulled away.

"Mmmhmm. Don't pretend you haven't been checking me out all sly-like," Haleema said, with a twinkle in her eye and a devilish smirk on her lips.

"Can you blame me? You are a beautiful woman, I'd have to be gay or dead not to," Magnus said, holding her close as her arms slipped around his neck.

"Oh, go on," Haleema cooed enjoying hearing that he found her beautiful. Her cheeks heating to a darker shade of red as Magnus rattled off a whole list of items he found enticing about her. She couldn't hold back attacking his lips. Her tongue rolling in his mouth. Loving the taste of his warmth upon it. For some odd reason it just felt right to her. That never happened to her before. Sure, she's been attracted to a number of men, yet with Magnus it just felt... different. Haleema was eager to find out why. "So... are we going to stand here all day, not that I would mind that," Haleema said, bashfully.

"Well, I was about to head to the hospital to see my grandmother when you showed up," Magnus stated.

"Oh?! Then let's go!" Haleema said, taking hold of his hands.

"She... does want to meet you," Magnus said, feeling a frog in his throat.

"I'd love to meet her. As I want you to meet my parents," Haleema said, leading him down the breezeway as the sound of the door closed behind them.

Magnus felt a lightness in his step as his eyes followed how those stands of hair were lifted in the air. The way her eyes sparkled as she peered back at him. To the smile she flashed him as she held his hand leading him down that concrete walkway. The way her ass swayed as she held onto him like a kite fearing that he would float away in the breeze. Magnus was determined that, that lovely smile of hers would always touch her face.

"Magnus what are you doing?" Haleema asked, as he popped the trunk of the car. Tilting her head to the side as he pulled out his guitar case.

"Well... since I can't come play for her at sunset I have to do it now," Magnus said, matter-of-factly.

"You play for her?!"

"Mmmhmm," Magnus nodded. "Ever since grandpa died I've taken up the habit of playing for her at sunset like he would always do for her. That was the case until I moved away."

"That's so sweet," Haleema sighed lovingly, as she rested her head on his shoulder. Her right arm looped around his left as they walked towards the entrance of the hospital.

Mary Lou was once again working the front desk. Looking up, her eyes took on a joyful nature to them as she saw her dear friend, the smile that appeared mirrored her glee. Then her eyes slyly glanced at the woman on his arm. She wondered who it could be. She had to be no older than he was or a year younger. Still, it was good to see that smile on his lips.

"Hello Magnus," Mary Lou said, rising from her seat. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were stalking me."

"Well, if you'd gave me the recipe for those cookies, I wouldn't have to camp out in your backyard," Magnus joked hugging his best friend the best he could from over the desk.

"Magnus?!" Haleema said, feeling her jealousy rising.

"Right. Introductions. Mary Lou, Haleema, Haleema, Mary Lou."

"Oh, so you're the Haleema that Magnus here spoke so highly of," Mary Lou said, flashing Haleema a friendly smile. "Knowing Magnus, he hasn't told you about me. We used to be as thick as thieves, he and I, before I went off to college. If you ever want all the juicy dirt on him, you come to me, as his childhood friend and best friend I know where he keeps all his skeletons," she said, holding out her hand to her. Mary Lou could see the relief on the woman's face. "Trust me, there was a time that I might have wanted to date him, but those days are long gone. But if you hurt my friend..."

"Trust me, after what he's been through. I wouldn't dream of it," Haleema said, glad that Magnus had someone to fight for him. "We must have coffee some time, I would definitely love to hear everything about how raucous he was when he was a kid."

"Now, now, you shouldn't ask questions you don't want answers too," Magnus said, turning up his nose.

"Don't listen him, I'd love to sit down and shoot the breeze with you. You are coming to dinner with us tomorrow night, right?"

"I just arrived, but I would have thought he would have told me along the way," Haleema said, playfully poking him in the ribs.

"What?! You got a way of making a man's mind go blank," Magnus said, bashfully.

"My, I haven't seen that look in years," Mary Lou giggled. "It's good to see it again. I should warn you your parents are visiting," she said, gently laying her hand on his right arm.

"Bound to happen," Magnus said, shrugging his shoulders.

"You still not talking to them?" Haleema asked, watching how he shook his hand silently telling her 'So-so'. She knew if this went the long run, then she wanted them to know about any children that came to be. She would just have to see if she could slowly help heal the wound. Any faster would only show that she was trying to manipulate him, and she didn't want him thinking she was anything like Iona. "It was a pleasure meeting you, I look forward to tomorrow night," Haleema said, smiling warmly at Mary Lou.

"I'm just going to have to keep Scott's tongue from wagging," Mary Lou chuckled. "That's my husband by the way."

"Yeah, Mary Lou here lucked out and married the high school football star. Why I will never know. I think she lost a bet," Magnus teased his friend as she slapped his arm. "What happened to your hand?" he asked, noticing the abrasions on the knuckles of her left hand.