Chapter Sixteen

The next two days went at snails pace for Arnold. When he went to the cinema there were three films available and he made the mistake of letting the kids choose the film. So poor Arnold had to sit through 'Chicken Little' and do several toilet trips during the film. FINALLY the evening came to a close and he could go back to his warm bed ready to have a sleepless night filled with worry about the impending date. The time leading up to the date went really slowly too. He panicked several times and snapped several times at the kids. Chloë and Theo knew what was going on and gave poor Arnold as much space as possible.

When the time for the date actually arrived Kristine was relaxed but for poor Arnold it was like the first date twelve years ago

"Hey Kriss" Arnold tried to sound relaxed but failed miserably

"It's okay" Kristine giggled, "Arnold, it's me you can relax"

"Sorry" Arnold giggled

"Why are you so nervous?" Kristine asked

"I'm just worried" Arnold improvised "about the kids being alone"

"Oh" Kristine couldn't hide her disappointment "fair enough"

The rest of the meal went pretty well, unfortunately Kristine wasn't in the best of moods as she was expecting much, much more than she got from Arnold. But they made the most of what they could. After the date Arnold went to give Kristine a hug but to his surprise she leant forward and kissed him on the lips.

"Oh" Arnold exclaimed, "That's a nice surprise!"

Kristine just walked away with a massive smile on her face. She knew she wanted more but it was all a bit too quick. In a perfect world, Kristine's perfect world, they would be in bed together now, having sex, that wonderful sensual love making that she hadn't experienced for nearly eight years but it was all too quick, give her a few weeks maybe a month and Arnold wouldn't need the sexual magnetism virus, she'd be horny and she'd jump into his bed.

Arnold watched Kristine walk away, he saw her every movement and memorised it, the most wonderful thing about her was her legs, the movements they made were breath talking and wonderful

"I wish I could hold her" Arnold muttered to himself "I want to take her in my arms and never let go, I want to make wonderful love to her, sweet and so right, I want to kiss her again…"

"Go on then" a voice said from behind "if that's what's going to make you happy"

The small voice was Lilimay; since Billie-jean had been born Lilly missed her mother more than ever before. Kristine was still there to help her but it wasn't the same. Lilimay's voice of encouragement made Arnold really proud of her and he started sobbing silently.

"Are you sure Lilimay?" he just about managed to get out "what about your mum"

"She'd want you to be happy dad" Lilimay assured him "if Kriss makes you happy, then I'm sure mum would allow it!"

"What about you Lilimay" he asked, "what do you think about it?"

"if you think Kristine will make you happy, Dad, both me and Billie give you our blessings"

"Arnold smiled at his eldest biological daughter and his only granddaughter.

"How is she?" Arnold pointed at Billie and smiled

"She's okay" Lilimay answered "would you like to hold her?"

Arnold nodded and held out his arms. Lilimay handed baby Billie-jean to Arnold and just about managed a tiny smile.

"Can you look after her for me?" Lilimay asked her father "it's been a long time since I've seen Chloë properly, I'd like to spend some quality time with my sister"

"Okay" Arnold agreed, "Have fun"

He watched Lilimay tiredly make her way to Chloë's quarters, he put his hand on Billie-jean's thick brown hair and rubbed her little head lightly "I'm sorry Billie-jean" Arnold kissed her baby hair and inhaled her baby smell "I'm sorry I didn't want you, I'm sorry I tried to dismiss you, I love you, Billie-jean Rimmer, I love you so much it hurts." Arnold never wanted to let go of his granddaughter "come one baby Billie" he walked off "let's go and see Krissie and Lorena"

"Chloë" Lilimay called "Chloë, Chloë"

"Lilly" Chloë gasped, "What are you doing here?"

"Dad's looking after Billie-jean for me" Lilimay smiled "so I can spend some time with you"

"That's nice of him" Chloë gave her sister a hug "I'm so glad you're here Lilly"

"I'm glad I'm here too, Chloë" Lilimay smiled

"So what do you want to do Lilly?" Chloë asked

"Can we just talk?" Lilimay smiled "I just want to have a chat"

Arnold and Billie-jean took a nice long stroll down to Kristine's quarters. When they arrived Arnold tapped on the metal door

"Who is it?" Kristine's voice called

"It's Arnold" he called back "and Billie-jean"

"Come in" Kristine responded "but just to warn you, I'm feeding the baby"

Arnold walked into the room and placed Billie-jean on the floor under one of Lorena's many mobiles. He gave her a kiss on her forehead before sitting next to Kristine on the bed. Kristine looked up from Lorena and smiled at Arnold.

"Why have you got Billie-jean then?" Kristine asked him

"Lilimay wanted to spend some time with our daughter" Arnold answered "so I said I'd have Billie-jean for her"

"Oh, okay"

"And I thought that as Lilimay was seeing her sister Chloë, Billie-jean would like to see her sister, Lorena, too!"

"And let me guess" Kristine smiled "you thought you'd like to see your granddaughter's half-sister's mummy eh?"

"You got me" Arnold responded, "I'm sorry"

Kristine shook her head telling him that I was okay. She finished Lorena's feed and laid the baby in her cot.

"Can we carry on from earlier?" Arnold asked her "can I have a nice kiss?"

"I'm sorry Arnold" Kristine answered "not in front of Lorena and Billie-jean

"Okay" Arnold responded, "I understand"

"I'm sorry"

"It's okay" Arnold's eyebrows lifted and he turned to Kristine "if Lorena and Billie-jean weren't here, would you kiss me?"

Kristine thought about the answer she was going to give. It was possibly the answer that would change her life, possibly the most important answer of her life

"No" she answered, "if Lorena and Billie-jean weren't here, you would be in me so deep you couldn't even begin to imagine"

"Are you saying you'd sleep with me?" Arnold gasped

"if we were alone, we'd be making love like we used to" Kristine answered "we'd be making sexy passionate romantic love"

"Wow" Arnold answered "are you saying that nearly eleven years down the line you want to give it another go?"

"Yes" Kristine answered, "that's exactly what I'm saying"