This is completely random one shot from two difference perspectives. Not sure if this will work but thought I would try something different for me, as I struggle with tense and narration.

I know that a lot of people have written stories with the scenario that Michael faked his death to go undercover. I haven't come up with a scenario where that is feasible or how this would be resolved. However assuming that did happen I thought it would be fun to see a reunion scene.

This is set after the final episode of Taggart, after Jackie is promoted to Detective Inspector. Stuart is still part of the team tho!

As usual I do not own any of the a characters and the story is written for fun only.

Chapter 1 - Michael

He had paced the landing a few times wondering if he should knock, she had ignored him at the briefing only spoke to him when required. She showed no anger, no emotion to him at all actually. Robbie did not hide his anger for one second, and Stuart seemed to be a mix of emotions. He was so impressed with her a Detective Inspector commanding the respect of the team, of Burke, that must have been tough he thought to himself. Was he being selfish by coming here? The urge to see her was too strong to ignore, so he knocked on the door, she didn't even look surprised to see him.

"is it even safe for you to be here ?" she opened the door letting him in.

"I wanted to talk to you, DI Reid," he smirked. "Congratulations on the promotion by the way!" He was so proud of her.

"thanks, took me a long time to feel ready for it" She lead him to the living room, "I was making some hot chocolate, do you want one?" she asked she sounded almost exasperated.

"yes, please" he smiled, one thing he had missed was her hot chocolate, she had a knack for making it just how he liked it. He wandered in her living room, a new flat since that last time he had seen her, looking at her photographs on the wall, noticing a few of him. "is Brian working?" he looked around the flat for him.

"so you haven't been keeping tabs on us then!" She exhaled handing him his hot chocolate motioning him to take a seat. She took a deep breath as she sat down "Brian is dead….cancer" she stated with a flicker of emotion crossing her face, which was quickly batted away. "of course we had been divorced for a few years before that" He could see her looking at the pictures on the wall "but we had made our peace and I was there for him in the end." He was shocked he didn't keep tabs on her, thought it would be too hard for him. He hadn't considered that Jackie wouldn't be happily settled, he had imagined she would be happy. Perhaps that's what he needed to think that to make his decision to leave easier. He thought Brian had worshipped the ground she was walked on, never contemplated they would have split or that he could have died, cancer Christ!

"I'm sorry Jackie, I liked Brian" He shrugged. He could see the pain in her eyes, pain he had contributed to.

"can't say the feeling was mutual" she laughed with that wicked look on her face. "he didn't even bother going to your service, never did forgive him for that!" She stated matter-of-factly. He envied her ability to do that, he had only seen that mask crack a few times. He saw her pause as thinking about Brian "when you died, that was the start of the end of our marriage!". He cringed at that, the thought she had grieved his loss on her own.

They sat in silence for a while, like they often had all those years, never needing to fill every silence with meaningless chat. He sat looking at her, her hair more natural than he had seen it years, the wrinkles starting to form, still the beautiful as the first day they met. He could see she had changed, become harder, colder and even more closed off so than she was before. Was that a result of his death? he wondered. He could see she was conflicted as to whether to hug or punch him.

She cut through his thoughts sharply "so when did you decide to run away from your life?" followed with a deadly stare. He was taken aback by the question, insulted even.

"I didn't run away" He insisted.

She scoffed "didn't you?, I mean …come on, if you needed a change Michael, you could have transferred. Could have went up the ranks. Could have transferred me, Robbie and Stuart out and have any team you wanted. You could have even quit completely, married any girl you wanted, started a family. But this,.. this was running away, from what I don't know, yourself, the work, the team, your family?" she bit her lip he could tell she was holding back.

She had a point, he never thought about it as having run away, that would make the reality of what he had done seem less courageous. He thought for a few minutes as he sipped his hot chocolate, the taste reminding him of all those late night takeaways, did I really just run away? he thought to himself.

The steelie DI interrogating a suspect he thought, he could see her trying to keep her guard up, trying to figure him out. "that's not to mention the hurt you caused in your wake! or was that the point to see if people cared?" That cut him to the bone, the thought he would do that to see people in pain.

"give me more credit than that!" he pleaded.

"Why?" she almost laughed. She was right of course what credit did he deserve, how badly did he hurt her, by dying and by not dying?.

"Listen…. Jackie, I am sor" She was quick to interrupt him.

"don't you dare tell me you are sorry!" she warned.

"ok.. ok!" he put his hand up surrendering to how insulting an 'I'm sorry would be to her'. She had never spoken to him like that before, she had always forgave him so quickly when he messed up.

"What do you want Michael?, Why are you even here?" the mask had slipped, her emotions raw for him to see.

"I needed to…" it was true, he needed to be in her presence again. "I want to try to explain"

"Well I'm all ears" he could see she was back in control that her mask was back.

"I don't know why I did it, I was approached by the brass to see if I wanted to get involved in undercover work, I guess being single with no kids makes you a better candidate" he shrugged, he thought to himself for a few moments "I hadn't really thought about it like that, as running away" he hadn't considered that he was merely running away not that he had done a courageous thing he convinced himself of. He had imagined how this conversation would go several times, but nothing had really prepared him for this. "I felt lost, Jackie, felt stuck, like my life was going nowhere, that I had nothing to show for my life and like I had no one" He could see that hurt her.

"ok" was all she said, "maybe you should go" she got up.

"no Jackie, please I don't meant it like that I…. em your friendship,.. our relationship …" He stopped unsure of how to proceed. "I just.." He couldn't get his thoughts out, he had never been this inarticulate in his life, but he was glad to see that she had sat back down.

"Why the langbank thing?" He cringed at that, "I mean, we saw your body!" a single tear rolled down her face. The trauma of that must have been hard on her, and the others, the details weren't his choice of course "that was the brass's idea, I told them you wouldn't stop until you had solved it, until you saw a body"

"and why would that be?" she asked almost like a therapist would. He smirked realising why she had asked the question.

"because of your loyalty to me" He betrayed that fierce loyalty she had always shown him and even in death she had fought for him. The brass were impressed with her dedication, in truth they had thought he was being dramatic when he told them a simple disappearance wouldn't suffice. .

A more uneasy silence fell in the room. She got up and poured herself a whisky, "Can I have one of those?" he asked. She arched her eyebrow but didn't question it. She poured him a glass and sat back down. Could see her thinking about what she wanted to say to him, the mix of emotions clear for him to see.

"I don't know what to say to you Michael!" she finally broke the silence.

"you can say anything to me!" He smiled knowing he might not like what she had to say.

"I don't know" He watched her face for any clue of what she was about to say. "you were the one man I actually trusted, needed even, I know that not fair to you" she paused. He hated that he broke her trust, he knew they both relied on each other, he leaned on her too much. "I don't how many times I have replayed that last day" she nodded the tears welling. "wishing that I could have prevented it, if I had answered my phone, if I had went to yours when you were suspended, if I hadn't gone home that night" tears rolled she wiped them away, she looked almost annoyed with herself. "truth be told, I loved you, but I didn't know just how much you meant to me until you were gone." She nodded fighting back her tears. He could see the guilt she felt over that day, which he could have said good bye not left things unfinished.

"I guess now I am just disappointed to find out you weren't that man after all!" that stung him. "that I was wrong about you," she bit her lip again he could see she was holding back.

"I always wanted to live up to your image of me" He smirked. He saw the flash of anger on her face, but it soon faded. She sighed.

"I guess I did put you up on a pedestal" she smiled. He loved seeing her smile. "I'm annoyed with myself Michael, the relationship I thought we had, was just in my mind"

"it wasn't in your mind! … and I didn't know how just how devastated I would be till afterwards either, it was too late then" He admitted. He knew that she had been his rock for years, had been his sparring partner, she was the only one that could tease him and get away with it. "We had a chemistry that I have never had with anyone else" he paused looking at her "I guess everyone could see that chemistry except us" He smirked.

She laughed "my reaction to your death, didn't help with the rumours about us, Burke even said I was acting like your widow!" He laughed, her humour was always on the dark side. There had been a lot of gossip about them, DI Skinner was not the only male officer to assume there relationship was more than a professional one. He wished he could hear what she was thinking. He really didn't expect her reaction to be as strong as it had been, his handler had told him that she was devastated, had even asked if they were a couple. He took a deep breath preparing himself to be honest with her.

"things changed for me when you married Brian, I knew Robbie was crushed and I was genuinely happy for you" He wanted her to have what he couldn't give her. He shook his head "actually that not quite true, things changed even before then, when I became DCI. I knew then that I couldn't indulge in our banter as much as I wanted to, that the possibility of something happening between us was gone!" He desperately trying to read her face.

She said nothing for what felt like an eternity to him. "I should fly off the handle at you Michael, that you hurt me like this because what… I didn't wait for you" she was right of course he wouldn't blame her for shouting at him being angry, but that's how he felt. He liked having the possibility of a future relationship.

"I know that's not fair to you!" He agreed with her "none of this has been fair to you Jackie" he added. "I thought I was doing the best thing for you and for me…. my feelings wouldn't go away after you got married"

"if you truly love someone let them go, isn't that the saying?" She asked, he smiled she could see right through him sometimes. He thought he was being the honourable man, that if he truly loved her that he would sacrifice his feeling for her, for her happiness. "there were times Michael when I wanted nothing more for you to tell me that you loved me, that I hadn't imagined the closeness, the chemistry as you say" she sipped her whiskey. "god there were even times when I worked myself up to tell you that I loved you." She paused. "I was scared Michael, never really felt like I was good enough for you, I'm no Gemma or the stunners you went for" she admitted avoiding his eye. He never knew she felt that way about him, that they had both been dancing around there feelings, hoping the other would take the plunge both being to scared to take the risk. She was right, she was no Gemma, she was 100 times the women Gemma was, but he wondered if seeing how full on he with her with all the others, to her meant that she didn't mean as much to him or that he wasn't as attracted to her. It couldn't be further from the truth he thought. How could I have been so wrong?.

"I felt the door close when you became DCI too, that why I tried to move on!" She admitted. "but I didn't want to lose you completely Michael, I was happy to have a little bit of you, than nothing of you" He was surprised that was how she felt. That maybe if they had talked to each to her back then, things would have been different.

"I was running away from you, from my feelings about you!" he finally admitted.

Suddenly she stood up "thank you for coming by, its been good to say goodbye properly" No… he thought to himself. He didn't want to say goodbye.

He stood in front of her "Do you really want me to go ?" He couldn't read her face. He hoped she would say no.

"I think it would be for the best Michael….. I mean you will be leaving to go back undercover shortly right?" She was right again he would be leaving soon.

"I am sorry, for so many things!" he wrapped his arms around her. To his surprise she returned his hug holding him in tight embrace.

"I did…I do love Michael" she looked up at him tears filling her eyes.

"I love you Jackie Reid, I always have, you are the most breath taking women I have met in my life, I ran away because I was scared of how much I love you" his hands cupped her face, he leant in kissing her, like he always wish he had. He felt her kiss him back, with a passion, a spark neither of them expected. He felt her pull away from their kiss, avoiding his eyes, composing herself.

"I want nothing more than to fall into your arms Michael" she reached up and touched his face. He looked into her eyes. Her touch felt warm and soothing, like coming home. He moved closer to her, god he wanted her, right now, he wanted all of her. He leaned in to kiss her but she turned to block him "but I can't do this" he felt her pull away from him, he grabbed her hand turning her back bringing it to his chest, pleading with her. She looked down not meeting his eye, "Please don't start something you can't finish!" she pleaded. He could see the tears streaming down her face. This wasn't fair to her, it would be one night they both knew that, could he live with just one night with her. Feel the completeness that only she could bring to him, he felt her trembling in his touch. Could she survive with just one night he thought to himself.

"I know, I'm sorry,… just… can I hold you for bit longer, please!" tears formed in his eyes. He knew this was goodbye. He had hurt her too much that spending the night with her would be selfish of him and he had been too selfish enough it came to her. They sat down on the couch and she fell into his arms "I made a mistake Jackie" he felt her shake in his arms. "I am truly sorry!" She didn't respond to him just cried in his arms.

Hours later she asked him to leave, he didn't want to go, but he had to go the case would be over soon and his next undercover assignment would start soon. She saw him to the door and he kissed her lips gently. He looked into her eyes, seeing the sadness there but still the warmth she had always shown him.

"Goodbye Jackie, thank you for everything" He took a deep breath, looking at her face taking in the moment. His feet dragging not wanting to move away.

"Goodbye Michael, take care of yourself!" She closed the door on him.

He walked to the base of the stone steps and sat down. His head bowed into his hands, how could he have go things so wrong, she had loved him.