A little hold-up, we were advised by Dublin and London yesterday, but no need to panic. At least not yet.
But alarm bells were ringing, and with reason. After all Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness were locked in talks for hours with the Taoiseach in Dublin last night, and the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, over in the US was telling Mr Blair "what for" by phone.
And Mr Trimble's possible heir, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, and Mr David Burnside were calling for a scrapping of the Belfast Agreement and a unification of the strands of unionism to combat the "insatiable" demands of the "pan-nationalist front".
Up to Wednesday the two governments and the pro-agreement parties were on the grid waiting for publication of the British-Irish package to get us all out of this political vacuum.
Word was that the so-called non-negotiable document would be presented to the parties and the press, roughly to coincide with the expected Ahern-Blair get-together. But the lights didn't change to green. Some time next week was the best fix available last night.
The proposals from the two leaders were described as a take-it-or-leave-it document, but as far as the Ulster Unionists and Sinn Fein were concerned there was still some serious negotiation to be done. As the UUP Assembly member Mr Fred Cobain said: "As it stands I think we'll be leaving it."
Senior sources said they weren't rattled by the Donald son-Burnside statement. "It's a case of Jeffrey having his cake and eating it," said one insider. "If this doesn't work he can say to David Trimble `I told you so'. If it does work he will claim his intervention steadied the British government's resolve."
It was just a cynical leadership manoeuvre, the sources added, something which Mr Donaldson denied vehemently.
The theory for much of these talks is that what is tolerable for Sinn Fein is intolerable for the Ulster Unionists, and vice versa. Confounding that pessimistic theory is what Mr Blair and Mr Ahern are trying to do. Hence the idea of a package that all the parties could grudgingly acquiesce in as opposed to generously endorsing. It isn't easy.
Officially nobody is stating it so baldly, but the sense is that Mr Ahern and Mr Blair are facing respective ultimatums from Sinn Fein and the UUP, and that one side or the other will walk away if the package does not meet their requirements.
Policing and arms are the main stumbling blocks. Sinn Fein and the SDLP need substantial movement from the British government on policing, just as Ulster Unionists need substantial movement from the IRA on weapons.
British and Irish officials were telling journalists yesterday not to get into a flap. Mr Ahern said only "minor matters" remained to be sorted, and this was the line from London and Belfast.
It's obvious, however, that the pressure has caused the two governments to pause. Rather than publishing today and taking a 50:50 gamble on killing or reviving the patient - as in the Belfast Agreement - the two governments are prepared to engage in some more microsurgery.
It's all about balance, the governments say again and again, in an almost subliminal acknowledgment that they may be striving to reconcile the irreconcilable.
"It is difficult to give 100 per cent successful conclusions to everyone's wishes," Mr Ahern said by way of confirming there will be discomfort, as well as comfort, for unionists, nationalists and republicans.
And that at the end of the day responsibility for deciding whether the agreement remains on the rails primarily rests with Sinn Fein and the IRA, and the Ulster Unionists. That's a big responsibility.