I walk into the hotel lobby, looking around the old, well-worn place. It's the only hotel in town and... well, it's not exactly the Ritz. I look at the people standing around, all seven of them, and feel a weight in my chest lift as Spot emerges from the elevator.

"Hungry?" He smiles at me as he approaches.

"Yeah." I smile back. "I can drive, if you want."

"Isn't there a bar just a couple doors down?"

"Um, yeah. You wanna go there?"

Spot nods and I follow him out the door and down to the bar, where we find a booth and sit down. We stare at one another for a moment, then Spot shrugs. "So, anything I should know about Pulitzer's before I head in there on Monday?"

"Don't look any of the students directly in the eye. You may turn to stone." He laughs and we order as the waitress comes up, then sit back quietly after she leaves.

"Well... how's the new little Racetrack comin' along?" Spot smiles a little bit, but doesn't look very happy.

"Um, well, Caroline's due at the end of June... and, uh, that's about all we know right now." I shrug.

"You don't seem particularly thrilled about it."

"I'm not, really." My eyes widen as the words come out of my mouth. "Um... I mean... you know, I guess I'm happy, I'm having another kid and all, but... my life is full enough, you know?"

Spot nods. "Well, things will even out."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

After dinner and a sufficient, if not slightly excessive, amount of alcohol, Spot and I wander out of the bar, laughing over God knows what. My phone rings as we stroll along the sidewalk. I pull it out and answer to Caroline's voice.

"I'm about to put the kids down to bed, where are you at?"

"Um... walking out of the bar and... uh, walking?"

"You've been drinking again."

"I told you I would be."

Caroline sighs. "How much?"

"I don't know, enough?" To my side, Spot snickers, though seeing as he can't hear Caroline, I don't know what's so funny. "What's so wrong with having a few drinks with a friend?"

"What is it about this Spot character that makes you drink so damned much, Tony?"

"It's not like I'm an alcoholic."

"I don't want you driving home."

"Oh, come on. It's like, two, maybe three blocks." I roll my eyes. "Hell, I could walk home."

"When it's this cold out? Are you retarded?"

I sigh. "Caroline, what's wrong?"

"I don't want you here if you're drunk, Tony. You'll be a bad influence on the baby."

"The baby isn't even a real baby yet!"

"Goodnight, Tony," she says sharply, and then the line goes dead.

"What's goin' on?" Spot asks, turning into the hotel.

"Apparently I'm not welcome in my own home tonight." I sigh and shake my head. "Pregnancy appears to have transformed my wife into Adolf Hitler."

Spot laughs and waves for me to follow him. "Come on up, you can stay here tonight."

"You sure that's a good idea?"

"I think it is." He heads into the elevator.

I know I should argue, but I don't want to. I just follow him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"So, what do you feel like doing?" We've been up in Spot's hotel room for maybe forty-five minutes, just sitting in silence.

"I don't know." I shrug and look around the room for the umpteenth time; nothing's changed.

"Wanna watch a movie?" I nod and Spot picks up the remote, choosing some random gold-digging movie from the pay-per-view. "You seen this?"

I look at the title and shake my head. "Nope... Caroline and I were going to see it when it was in the theatres but then we decided not to."

"I haven't seen it either. I hear it's good."

"Yeah."

Thirty minutes in and the movie is forgotten about. Spot keeps adjusting on the bed and thus inching closer to me, and finally I just can't take it anymore. I look over at him, his eyebrows knitted together in determination as he tries to concentrate on the movie. I take a deep breath, lean over, and kiss him.

I feel him tense in surprise for a moment, but he quickly relaxes and kisses me back before pulling away. "What was that for?"

Shrugging, I lean back against the pillow and sigh. "Wanted to, I guess. Sorry."

"Don't apologize. It's just, you surprised me. You put up such a huge fuss last time and I thought--"

"Yeah, that's what I thought, too," I say, closing my eyes. "But you throw everything off balance."

"You do the same thing to me, pal."

Our lips meet again and this time it's frantic. Before I know it, we've peeled one another's clothes off down to our boxers and Spot is on top of me until I turn my head for air.

"Are you okay?" Spot asks, panting.

I nod. "Just needed some air. I don't do this very often."

"Well, I should hope not." He smirks. He rests his forehead against my collarbone for a moment, then lifts his head again and looks at me. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

I sigh and nod. "Yeah. I'm sure."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

I roll over in the morning and once again find Spot's face instead of my wife's. I find myself smiling a little at the sight, the way he still looks like he's about sixteen years old... I figure he'll probably always look like that. The corners of his mouth are turned up like they always are, and he looks so completely peaceful.

His eyes open after a few minutes and meet mine. "What?"

I laugh a little. "Nothing. It's just, you look... Never mind. Nothing. Sorry."

"Okay..." Spot sits up and swings his legs over the side of the bed, giving me a view of his bare back. "I'm gonna take a shower. You're welcome to leave if you need to get home."

I glance at the clock on the nightstand and see it's six-forty-five. Why the hell am I even conscious this early in the morning? "Nobody's going to be up at my house, so I could stick around here for a while, if that's okay."

"Yeah, absolutely." He stands up and walks, naked as the day he was born, to the bathroom. "Um... this might be... well, um." He scratches his head nervously and smiles at me. "You can keep me company... if you want."

"Mr. Conlon, how bold of you. I am shocked and appalled." I laugh, but am somehow propelled from the bed to my feet and follow him into the bathroom.

It's been a while since I showered with someone – not since before Junior was born, back when Caroline and I still had sex for reasons other than to produce a child or strictly because it's what married people do. It's kind of a strange feeling, having someone that close to you in such a small place, but it's not bad.

My mind wanders briefly to my wife, still at home, asleep in our bed, and what she'd have to say if she knew what I'm doing at this very moment. But then I feel Spot's hands, his mouth on me, and all thoughts of any nature are quickly banished.