The Scorpios: (cont.)

Felicia comes in and shuts the door.

Mac: "You can't just show up here, Felicia."
Felicia: "I'm sorry."
Mac: "Look, I have a lot to do."
Felicia: "I'm sorry for everything."
Mac: "This isn't the place."
Felicia: "I'm not going to leave here until you listen to me."
Mac: "Fine."
Felicia: "I don't blame you for being angry with me. I lied to you. And you're right. I did play emotional dirty pool with you, just like you said."
Mac: "We've already been over all this."
Felicia: "I know we have. But I love you. And I know that you still love me. And you love our girls. You're my safe place. You're the person that I depend on more than anyone in the whole world. And I know that I've made lots of mistakes. But we have a good marriage. We've been together many years. Don't let that ruin what we have. Please, you have to give me a second chance."
Mac: "I wish I could."
Felicia: "What do you need from me, Mac? Please?"
Mac: "The bottom line--the bottom line, Felicia--you don't love me as much as I love you. And I wish you did."

Felicia: "I love you as much as you love me. That's why I'm here."
Mac: "My life has changed, Felicia. And I thought yours had, too."
Felicia: "It has."
Mac: "Look, I don't live on the edge anymore. You know? Luke does. So does Frisco. Maybe that's what you want."
Felicia: "No, it isn't."
Mac: "Maybe you need that rush."
Felicia: "I don't need it."
Mac: "You know, it's unfair when you think about it--this job, it's a rush sometimes. And then I get to go home to my family. I get to have it both ways."
Felicia: "It's a mistake, that's all."
Mac: "But a family is a different kind of adventure. Maybe that's not what you want."
Felicia: "Mac, of course it's what I want!"
Mac: "Maybe it's not enough for you."
Felicia: "Mac, please--"
Mac: "Look, a family--a family wasn't enough for me for a long time."
Felicia: "We both settled down. That was one of the reasons why we got married."
Mac: "Felicia, you can't shut down this other side of yourself."
Felicia: "I can if it means I'm going to lose you."
Felicia: "I love you. I want our family back."
Mac: "You remember that night you called?"
Felicia: "I was wrong."
Mac: "And I asked you to come home."
Felicia: "I made mistake."
Mac: "I thought you would come home."
Felicia: "I should have come home."
Mac: "You know, I understood. But I understood, you know? Even if you weren't sleeping with him--and I think you were. I mean, I appreciate danger, Felicia. You know, sometimes I crave it. I understand that adrenaline rush right when you think you're going to get caught. I miss it sometimes. But I've done all that. I've done it all. I want something more."
Felicia: "Please, don't give up on us. Please, I just want our family back."
Mac: "You know, all I know is what I see, ok?"
Felicia: "Give us a second chance?"
Mac: "Tell the girls I'll be there tonight."
Felicia: "I'm not giving up."

Mac opened the door for her to leave, and shut it on her at her last line. He went and sat down at his desk. Across town, Laura opened the door for Luke.

X. Mac Agrees to Try Again (3/14)

Felicia: "I know you're angry with me, and I want to straighten things out. Sit down, please. First of all, I just want to say--it's ok. You have every right to be angry with me. But I have every right to try to make you understand. Boy, this is difficult. You know Mac is angry with me. And I really thought that it was important to try to help a friend, but he didn't exactly see it that way. But the last thing that either of us want is for his upset with me to spill over to you and Georgie and hurt you as well. That's why he moved out."
Maxie: "I'm not Georgie, mom. I know what really happened. Mac moved out because you left town to be with lulu's dad, Luke Spencer."

Maxie: "I don't think it's so complicated. You wanted to be with Mr. Spencer instead of us."

Maxie: "He could've asked Mac. Helping people is Mac's job. Why were you the only one Mr. Spencer could go to?"
Felicia: "Because we're friends. And I wanted to help him. I wanted to help him. He would've done the same thing for me if it was about you or Georgie."
Maxie: "No, he wouldn't have to because Mac would find us. He's our dad. Why don't you love him anymore?"

Maxie: "No, you shouldn't be apologizing. None of this is your fault. Mom kept leaving, so you couldn't stay."

Mac: "You're awfully mad at Felicia."
Maxie: "But I'm not mad at you. You're the best, Mac. You love me and Georgie just like we were your real daughters. We'll always love you. Even if you don't want to see us anymore."
Mac: "What? Hey. Oh, are you kidding? Maxie, I will always want to see you guys no matter what happens with me and your mom. I love you. I love you. That's in stone. There's only one other person that loves you more than me and that's Felicia. Look, I need to make you understand that."

Mac: "Felicia's not perfect. Neither am I. And you know what else? Neither are you. Hey, you know, when you think about it, the world would be a pretty boring place if no one ever made a mistake. That's how we learn and grow. But I need you to remember one thing--you and Georgie are everything to Felicia. You guys always come first with her."
Maxie: "That's not true, Mac. If it were, mom wouldn't keep leaving us. She wouldn't have made you so mad that you had to leave. It's not fair for her to give us a dad and then send him away."
Mac: "Hey, I will never be away fm you, Maxie, ever. Not in my heart. You have no idea what a gift it's been for me to watch you grow--from a teeny, teeny, little tadpole into this beautiful young girl, to see how you've become just like your mom."
Maxie: "I am not like her."
Mac: "Hey, yes, you are. Yes, you are. And you should be proud of that, absolutely. Felicia didn't hurt us intentionally. She was just helping a friend. Look, I may not be happy about it, but it doesn't mean that I don't know her intentions were good. And you know what? In a weird way, her being able to leave like that, well, it says a lot about the family that we built together."
Maxie: "How?"
Mac: "Felicia--she felt free to help Luke go after Lucky because she knew that we, her girls, would be ok if she took off for a while. I mean, the bottom line is Felicia acted out of generosity of spirit. And--maybe we should do the same and forgive her. Can you do that, Maxie?"
Maxie: "Can you?"

As he talked to Maxie about forgiveness, Mac paused for a moment, as if something was dawning on him. When he had to put aside his anger for Maxie's sake, he could see his way towards giving Felicia another chance.

Mac: "You know, I've been thinking. There's a lot more at stake here than just my hurt feelings. And to walk away just doesn't feel right. So I'm willing to give it another shot."
Felicia: "What? You are? Really?"
Mac: "I'll come home, if you still want me."
Felicia: "Well, of course I do. I love you."
Mac: "Felicia, wait a minute. Wait a minute. It comes with a huge condition and you might not like it. No more Spencer. No calls. You can't see him. No meeting him down at the docks, ok? I don't care what his problem is. I don't care what he asks you to do."
Felicia: "Well, if Lucky is alive--"
Mac: "Lucky is Luke's family. The girls and I are your family. It's up to you."
Felicia: "Yeah. Of course. If that's the way you want it. Absolutely, I promise--no more Luke."

Felicia was smiling--almost glowing--at the end of this, as if it were all taken care of. She didn't seem to notice that Mac's face was completely serious.

But this was the day that we ended up with three couples sitting side by side on the sofa, each with the girl on the man's right: Ned and Alexis, Luke and Laura, and Mac and Felicia. The music at this point was something that they used to play over Robin's scenes, I think. I was again amazed at the pacing and clarity of her choices, compared to the months and years we've watched Laura try to decide between Luke and Stefan. But again, the speed was a sign that the choices wouldn't stick.

XI. Memories Light the Corner of My Mind (3/16, 3/17)

Felicia was in black, Mac was in brown, and the girls were in bright colors, putting the attention on them visually just as these parents tried to pull things together for their sake.

Felicia had a cup of tea and looked at photo, spawning a series of flashbacks. But as peaceful as she seemed, when Mac hugged her, over her shoulder we still saw his very serious face.

Then on the next day:

Mac took both of Felicia's hands and pulls her to sit on his lap when he sits at the coffee table, saying that he had lost her once already and didn't want to lose her again (I think).

Terry's update for the 17th: "Mac and Felicia: This couple showed up after the first commercial break. Mac arrives home to find a small table in the living room set for dinner for two, with candlelight no less. Flea comes in, sexy in all black, he pulls her into his lap and they wind up discussing the APB out for Helena. Maxie and Georgie, it turns out, have arranged for the quiet dinner a deux, and are spending the night with Betty, who is out front honking her horn insistently. Maxie orders the couple to have fun, and leaves."

"Maxie has provided the Scorpios with takeout from Kelly's, which begs the question--how did it get to the house? Does Kelly's deliver? Mac and Felicia are both simultaneously touched and a bit embarrassed by the trouble to which Maxie has gone. They have an awkward meal. Mac talks about Frisco being Felicia's 'the one'--not him, and she says that was long ago. She keeps saying she loves Mac."

"Later in the hour, Mac and Felicia make it to dessert (apple pie from Kelly's). 'Do you miss those cases we used to solve?' Felicia asks. 'You do,' Mac responds, in a way that stifles rather than stimulates discussion. It's sort of a combination accusation/statement. (As police commissioner, of course, he doesn't have to miss them, since he's still involved in solving cases.) They apologize to one another about Faison's tape. He jokes--but its not really funny--'No more apologies. I was right, you were wrong, and we still love each other. That's all that matters." Would that be the loving each other part or the I was right, you were wrong part, Mac?"

"The phone rings, and she asks him not to answer, but he does. He has to go to the office to help Dara with a warrant--oh, really? He does not invite her to come along. She says she'll wait for him as he dashes off."

After the last commercial break, however, she is on the docks, alone, sitting on a bench, thinking of Luke. We get a montage of her adventures with Luke as 'Come Around,' by Kim Richey, plays: 'I don't miss the good old days/I've learned a lot since then/ I've changed my ways / I'm not bothered by those things that / Used to get me down/ Only when you come around / I don't carry much regret / We all hold something / That we'd just as soon forget / And I remember like it was today / The love we found / Every time you come around / Every time you come around / Well, I'm the first to say I should / Forget you, and I wish I could / Sometimes wishes don't come true / It doesn't seem like much to ask / To live a life / That isn't caught up in the past / But there's really no place else on earth / For me right now /I wish you'd come around / I wish you'd come around / Why don't you come around"

"As the song fades away, Felicia whispers, 'Goodbye, my friend.' She leaves the bench and heads up the stairs. As she turns around for one last look from the top of the stairs, she is startled to see Helena."

Felicia sat on the bench where she's had more than one scene with Luke, including a scene in which Mac came up behind and saw them, when they didn't know that he was there. After all the couples on sofas this week, the absent partner here was very noticeable. She had some flashbacks about Luke, too, and I had to notice that they came after the ones about Mac, taking the stronger position in her mind and memory. As she looked back, she smiled. But I noticed that she insisted on calling him "friend," even though she had just remembered all of their kisses.

Terry: "I liked the Mac/Flea flashbacks. Nicely done, and included the hilarious nun escapade. And Felicia looks good in all black--thank goodness she wasn't tricked out in colored leather again, very distracting."

Joan: "I liked it too, but doesn't this reconciliation seem far too fast? I have my doubts."

Amy: "But I would have liked to see some older clips, too. The barn scene, perhaps?"

Terry: "I was fixated on the one flower that didn't blend in the bouquet Mac brought Flea. All these pastel blossoms, pale pinks and blues, and one red/orange Gerber daisy. Why?"

Joan: "Hah! I thought the same, but then I don't like Gerber daisies much. They're sort of vulgar and artificial, in my opinion."

Terry: "And I wonder how long this 'I won't see Luke' business will last. Won't she resent him making such a demand? Does this bode well? Not particularly. It's an unrealistic demand, and I wonder if Mac realizes it's unrealistic and means it to be, as a sort of test she's doomed to fail."

Joan: "I don't know (see above). To me it smacks of the powers that be saying 'OK, let's wrap this up and move on.' If I'm wrong and you're right, we might be in for some yearning scenes, but I suspect that will be the end of it."

Amy: "Either that or Felicia's going to manage to look worse."

Arda: "I had the same feeling as Joan--that the whole Fluke business was being tied up. Confession: I'm not very sentimental, but I cried--just a little--at the Felicia/Mac reconciliation. And it didn't seem too fast to me--I had the sense that Mac would find it difficult to stay away from the family. I do wish they hadn't used the hokey stuff about Maxie not doing well in school. There was no need for that as the Maxie/Mac and Maxie/Felicia scenes were effective in themselves."

Amy: "But I think that if neither Luke nor Felicia thought this would go on for long-term, it makes sense that it's being tied up now, when it's no longer easy to be together--and when at least one of them doesn't need the other anymore."

"As for Mac's demands, I could understand that to be more of a short term thing. 'You can't see Luke right now. Not when this is so new and painful and we're trying to get back together.' I can see that. And 'see' I would take to mean no more adventures, rather than a 50 ft away, can't run into each other, restraining order type thing, but I might be wrong. And hey, I figure he has the right, and she knows it. When they're more stable it won't matter so much."

"It was clear to me from the beginning that the powers that be weren't invested in developing Fluke into something long term. They were a way to work some things out about Luke and Felicia, and then send them back their separate ways, with more history and a beautiful setup for some really good story. But again, the pacing is weird. We strung along with Luke and Flea when they were just repetitive, and there was no Mac in the story to speak of, and Laura and Stefan were treading water too. Guza has said that he needed to have people invested in each other enough to make the revelation bigger, but it felt like we were just waiting for sweeps. And then we get this great stuff with Mac and Laura, etc. Terry may be right in her instincts that this isn't over."

Terry: "Now that we've seen the following day, do you believe me when I say that the Mac/Flea/Luke story ain't over? We had the awkward chili supper, and then those Luke flashbacks. This woman's mind is still with Luke. And she's surely going to hear something important when she spies on Helena on Monday. Now what will she do? But does she miss Luke or the adventures she had with him? She asked Mac if he missed those cases they used to work, and he deflected it, saying, 'You do,' flatly, so that it wasn't an accusation but a statement. But then he gets to rush off to be police commissioner. So he doesn't have to miss them, because he still has that day job to provide excitement. She doesn't. Is that where we're headed?"

Joan: "I told you we'd see a 'yearning' montage! And yesterday you were proved right: Mac is not going to take this lying down. But I didn't understand why she didn't answer him directly instead of spouting that icky 'family is the greatest adventure' stuff. (Not that family isn't great, of course.) It's legitimate to say that she misses excitement, especially when the two of them were P.I.s together."

XII. That Didn't Last Long (3/20)

Mac: "I don't like my life without her in it, and she has promised me that nothing and no one is more important than me or the girls. So we're both home to stay."

Of course Felicia was behind that same corner on the docks from which you can hear everything that's going on. *G* We cut to her after Mac's line, above.

Dara: "I am so glad that you and Felicia are working things out. The staff couldn't take much more."
Mac: "Much more of what?"
Dara: "The boss' foul mood."

Mac gave a big smile as Dara told him to tell Felicia to light the candles in half an hour.

Mac: "Hi, it's me. You there? No, you're probably in the shower. Listen, I'm going to be stuck here for another half an hour or so. Give me a call. We'll synchronize our watches. I love you."

Felicia: "Something's happened I went for a quick walk at the Elm Street pier and I saw Helena Cassadine. She's in town. Mac, you put out an A.P.B. on her. You have to bring her in. Mac, she knows where Lucky is."

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