So today's the day. Well, it could be tomorrow. But the general expectation is that the meeting is held sometime this week some sort of decision is made, and we will all be put out of our misery.
The interesting bit is, we can't call it. There hasn't been a leak, there isn't a whisper.
When you're reduced to wondering out loud whether Jacinda Adern's wink on a Facebook post means anything, you know none of us have the slightest idea.
Those who are predicting things are doing so out of self-interest, guesswork or theory, nothing more.
There is logic to virtually any outcome.
From what Peters has said, both in the campaign and during the talks, you could easily conclude a Labour deal is obvious. They're close on immigration, they both want to meddle with the Reserve Bank.
They both have that over-arching thought process that life and times aren't that flash and they need to intervene in the economy more.
But, and what a but this is, the Greens. They're no friends of Peters or his thinking, they complicate the simplicity of a two-party deal, and they soak up Cabinet space.
So yes, Peters could easily go left, or not. And that's before you get to all the talk about him not forgetting the 90s and National, and why he left National in the first place.
But, another but, National is pragmatic. Far more so than Labour. National are retail operators. They're about being in power, and delivering what people want. They can cut Winston a deal in some seats to give the party a chance of survival once he retires.
Yes, policies are an issue: immigration, water taxes, messing with the dollar, foreign buyers of land and houses. But they're good economic managers, they're conservative and basically Peters is a conservative. And it's a clean, easy, simple, two-way deal, that most would argue has a better chance of sticking than a 3 way.
So which way? We don't know. We genuinely don't have a clue. Which is why, from his point of view, he's done so well. That's just the way he likes it, and wanted it.
