Chapter 15 Friends Don't Let Friends…
Shane was working with Norman trying to retrieve an address off a package they'd been researching. He'd been playing with a new mix of chemicals to get his mind off all the stress of the wedding preparations. Every time Shane had heard an explosion and she stuck her head in to check on him his shoulders had relaxed a little bit more. She was glad to see him loosening up had wondered if the office would still be standing by the end. Oliver and Rita had just returned bringing in a bunch of bird feeders that had wound up in the unattached items area. Norman saw some of the address come to life after he dropped a bit more of the new solution on the package.
"Way to go, Norman. You're such a chemistry stud." Shane said teasingly. Rita started giggling as she walked by with another birdfeeder and saw Norman grinning proudly.
Norman leaned over whispering to Shane, "It's nice to hear Rita laugh again."
Shane sighed, "It is Norman. It definitely is." Returning to her desk to work Shane received the email notifying her Oliver's genetic history results were in halfway through the afternoon. Not knowing if he'd ever said anything to Norman, she waited for Rita and Norman to leave for the day to let Oliver know it had arrived. She approached his desk uncertainly. "Oliver?"
"Hm?" He absently responded in the middle of reading a letter. When she didn't respond he finally looked up. Seeing the uncertain look on her face, he took her hand and asked, "What is it?"
"Your ancestry results arrived. I wasn't sure if you'd want to look at it on your own or if you wanted me to look at them with you?"
"Shane I always want you with me," Oliver replied kissing the back of her hand. Shane's heart melted. "Why don't we go back to my place for dinner and we can look at it together. I had a favor to ask anyway." Distracted by the feel of him rubbing his cheek against her hand she didn't think to ask what the favor was.
They picked up takeout on the way to his house. As they sat down to eat Shane recalled his earlier comment and asked curiously. "Oliver what was the favor you needed?"
"I was wondering if you could look at my computer. I rarely use it but last time it was acting a bit sluggish." He looked up concerned when he heard Shane choking. She reached for a drink gasping for air. He leaned over to pat her on the back. "Are you ok?"
"Oliver you can't just spring information like that unexpectedly. You have a computer. How do I not know this? When?" Shane managed to squeak out. "Where is it?"
"In the office but we're not done eating."
"No, no, no. You cannot let that out and expect me to wait. When did you get it?" Shane said getting up to head in the direction of his office. The food was forgotten as Oliver trailed after Shane trying to keep up.
"Shortly after college. Everyone was getting them as we were looking for jobs, I never really used it much…" Oliver trailed off realizing he'd lost her.
Entering his office, she saw an ancient looking laptop sitting on his desk with a phone cord and power cord draped awkwardly to the wall.
Shane wailed, "Oliver it's acting sluggish because it might as well be a Commodore 64!"
He wasn't sure what that was but could tell from the exclamation of disgust it wasn't a compliment. He replied defensively laying a hand on the computer, "Shane now there's no reason to be insulting."
She looked pointedly at him concerned, "Oliver please tell me this hasn't been hooked up to the internet anytime lately?"
"Would that have been a bad thing?" Oliver asked innocently.
Shane shuddered in horror quickly opening the laptop. He stepped away watching her tapping away on the computer muttering about passwords, firewalls, malware, and viruses before leaning over to pull the phone cord out of the jack in the wall. "You're not allowed to use that anymore Oliver." She said in a huff.
"Shane"
"Hush." She said absently while still working. Finally, she leaned back in the chair looking at him with concern.
He tried again standing there defensively with his hands in his pockets, "Shane don't you think you may be overreacting?"
She looked at him thinking about how she could put it in terms he could understand. "Oliver would you let a child cross a street without teaching them to look both ways first?"
"Well, no." Oliver said not seeing the connection.
"Then you shouldn't be turning on a computer and using it all willy-nilly. You've never learned how to cross the street or not talk to strangers." She said gently trying to explain.
"Shane." Oliver rolled his eyes.
Shane stood up taking his face in her hands, "Oliver I'm serious. I l..er..care about you." She stumbled a bit almost saying something she knew he wasn't ready to hear. Taking a deep breath, "Friends don't let friends wander around on the web unprotected Oliver. Will you please let me take this ticking time bomb and dispose of it properly?"
"If I do can we finish eating dinner?" Oliver asked not really caring about the computer that he used once a year.
"Yes." Shane responded relieved. He kissed her on the forehead and picked up the laptop for her bringing it into the kitchen with them.
They sat down to finish eating. When Shane looked up from her food, she saw Oliver grinning at her.
"Oliver?" Shane asked not sure what he was thinking.
"You're beautiful when you get all worked up." Oliver responded smirking slightly.
"You're pretty cocky for a man that was taking his life into his hands every time you turned that thing on." Shane said shaking her head.
"Surely it wasn't that bad." Oliver said starting to eat again.
"Oliver even Rita would have known better." She started chattering on about computer security using terms that Oliver thought she was speaking Greek before winding down. "I'll wipe it before I take it to a recycling center."
"It shouldn't be that dirty. I always left it in a drawer and rarely used it." Oliver replied a little offended.
"The memory Oliver on the hard drive. I'll wipe the memory." She shook her head taking a deep breath trying to reign in her patience. "Let's drop it before I lose my appetite. It's a miracle that dinosaur isn't infected with every virus from the last ten years. There's a reason things become extinct." She said indignantly.
They moved on to other topics finishing up dinner without Shane getting worked up again. After cleaning up Shane brought her laptop over to the table so they could log in to look at his results. She pulled up the report on the computer so they could read through the health information together before they looked at the ancestry results.
"Hey look that's probably why you don't like that Mexican restaurant. You're more likely to dislike Cilantro. They put it in everything."
Oliver started laughing confused, "I thought this was supposed to give health information and where my ancestors were from?"
"It does but it gives you some traits on exercise and random other things as well. Oh, sorry looks like you're going to have to watch your blood sugar. Higher chance of Diabetes in your family. That's my worst nightmare." Shane said sympathetically.
Oliver cringed thinking of Shane going through sugar withdrawal. They finished reading the health information commenting on different bits along the way before Shane pulled up the ancestry report. "Oliver, congratulations! You're still Irish." She said with a grin happy for him. "You've got some Spanish origins as well. You may be related to Ramon after all Oliver." Shane grinned mischievously. Seeing the joy on her face as she read through the report knowing it was for him, he leaned over kissing her. He took his time his hands making their way into her hair.
As they broke apart Oliver looked at Shane tenderly before he said, "Thank you."
"For?" Shane asked brushed her fingertips across his cheek.
"Caring about me. Understanding what I need, taking care of me." Oliver said leaning his forehead against hers. She leaned her head on his shoulder as they continued reading the report together.
Eventually they wound their way through the rest. "I should get going. We've got work tomorrow." Shane said running a hand over his hair as she stood up to pack up her laptop. "I can print you a copy of the information tomorrow, so you have a hard copy."
Oliver walked her to the door thinking about how incredibly fortunate he was to have her in his life.
"Good night." Shane said kissing him on her way out.
"Good night Shane." He watched her walk to the car with his rarely used laptop. A grin widening on his face when he thought about her indignation at the state of his technology. He was going to have to ask Norman what a Commodore 64 was tomorrow he thought heading to bed.