PROCREATION SCIENCE -

A Misconception

Chapter 3

AN: I'm on a roll. These chapters are just writing themselves. Thanks again for the lovely reviews. They make me smile. (and keep me writing!) Happy Scorpion Monday!

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Maybe he should have brought flowers or some other token. Should he leave and go get something? Not for the first time, he wished there was a protocol for this sort of thing.

No. Buying flowers would make him even later and it was illogical anyway. This wasn't romantic and it wasn't a date. Not that he would know romance if it smacked him up beside the head.

Just like there was no rational reason he spent a ridiculous amount of time grooming and deciding what shirt to wear. He finally picked the deep red one because she said it was a good color on him. Once. Over a year ago. Stupid. What difference did it make? They were just friends. Coworkers.

Who decided to have a child together.

No big deal. Mammals reproduced all the time. It was natural. It was science. It was the only way for a species to survive.

The problem was he was still having all those same perplexing feelings. They were stronger than ever. He'd never been intimate with someone he cared about before. It was a risk. He was concerned having intercourse would ruin their comfortable dynamic. Losing her for any reason was not an option he was willing to entertain.

Yet their relationship had survived kissing. Even though he remembered every detail of that kiss. Way too often to be healthy. It would be okay. It had to be okay.

Walter O'Brien spent a full six minutes pacing around in the hall outside Paige Dineen's apartment muttering to himself. He thought he probably resembled a schizophrenic stalker. His insides were all jumpy like the times he and Sylvester stayed up all night chugging diet soda and working on projects together. He hadn't had anything containing caffeine in seven weeks and two days, but he sure felt highly-caffeinated.

This was it. The point of no return. After he and Paige made the final decision to become parents together, this was the first weekend that her cycle was at the right point and Ralph had plans to stay with Sylvester. Something about a Super Fun Guy binge watching and gaming marathon. Utter nonsense, but it hardly mattered. The boy would be out of the apartment until Paige picked him up on Sunday. Which meant…

Taking a deep, fortifying breath and squaring his shoulders, Walter forced himself to knock on Paige's door. Some little part of him wished she would call the whole thing off.

The door opened almost instantly revealing a brightly smiling Paige. He was profoundly relieved to see her warm smile and to find she was dressed normally in a soft, pink sweater and gray pants. Was he expecting her to answer the door in the nude? Walter would have passed out. Or died on the spot.

"Hi, Walter. Come on in. I've got dinner going if you're hungry." She stepped to the side and gestured for him to enter.

Hungry? The smell of the simmering organic turkey chili, usually one of his favorites from their 'clean' diet, was making him feel queasy. He didn't think he could force a morsel past the dryness in his throat anyhow.

"Put your bag by the sofa over there. Can I get you something to drink?"

"Okay," Walter nodded vaguely as he dropped his duffle by the couch. His body was cycling between too hot and clammy cold like he had a broken thermostat.

Paige paused on her way to the kitchen. "Are you alright? You're really pale." Gently, she touched his arm and he flinched away as if she'd stuck him with a pin. Her pleasant expression fell from her face.

No, no, no. He didn't mean it. He just didn't know how to do this.

She took a step back, but instead of seeing contempt or disgust like he feared, he saw compassion. And Walter could breathe a bit better. Softly she said, "We don't have to go through with it. It's not too late to back out. If you're this uncomfortable, maybe we shouldn't."

"C-could I just get some water?"

He could see she was upset. Her shoulders were sagging slightly, and she gave him a sad little smile before she went to get him a drink. Walter needed to fix this.

He took a couple of hasty gulps. Then he said, "I-I want to," and when she looked at him skeptically, he reiterated, "I do. I'm just really, uh…"

"Nervous? Overwhelmed? Flat out scared?" Paige supplied.

Walter frowned then nodded. That assessment sounded pretty accurate to him.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm feeling all that too. I understand, believe me. At least ten times today I've thought seriously about calling you and cancelling. It's a big deal."

"I, uh, don't want it to change things," he blurted.

"I can guarantee things are going to change. Being a parent changes absolutely everything."

"I'm not talking about being a parent. I-I don't want to mess up our, uh, friendship," Walter said then cringed a little.

"Our relationship will evolve too, Walter. But that's not a bad thing. We'll have to grow closer. We'll have to spend more time together, helping each other, learning how best to cooperate with each other."

That all sounded good to him. But he was still worried about one more thing. "What if I fail to satisfy you? In the, uh, physical department? I've never really cared before…"

Paige's smile turned amused as his voice trailed off. "Is that what you're most nervous about? I could disappoint you too, you know. I hope that isn't a deal breaker for you. It's been years since anyone has seen me, uh," she cleared her throat and motioned toward her breasts, as his eyes widened and shot to the floor to avoid gravitating to less appropriate areas, "naked and up close and personal. I can tell you this; I'm very attracted to you. I've had a tough time keeping my hands to myself lately after we started down this path. I'll confess it's given me some steamy thoughts about you."

Walter looked up at that and his face relaxed into a crooked grin, "Thoughts, huh? I've had a few of those too. A-about you. I've-I've tried to educate myself on what might please you."

"I trust you," she said, her face flushing a becoming rosy color. "You learned how to hook someone up to a cardiac bypass machine from a You Tube video. I'm more than sure you've got this." She chuckled a little. A husky, throaty, suggestive laugh that he felt all the way down inside and it set his pulse thrumming.

His eyes were heavy lidded as they raked over her, then they blazed straight into hers when he said, "There is absolutely no way you could ever disappoint me in that regard. It's preposterous to even think like that."

Paige breathed his name and fisting the front of his shirt, tugged him against her body and planted her mouth squarely on his. Walter grunted a little from the impact and the surprise, but being quicker than most to catch on, he soon got into the spirit of things and kissed her right back. He brushed the inside of her bottom lip with his tongue and her mouth opened on a little gasp allowing him access.

Walter's head was spinning and he could hear every rapid beat of his heart throbbing in his ears as their tongues played, wrestling each other for dominance. Her hands stoked up his chest over the front of his shirt and her fingers slipped around his neck and wove themselves into his hair. One of his hands found her hip, pulling her even closer to him. The other… poured water down her back from the glass he forgot he was holding.

Paige yelped and jumped back. Still trying to get his bearings as if being awakened rudely from an intensely sexy dream, Walter wasn't sure what happened until he saw her swipe at the back of her sweater.

He set the glass down on an end table and sputtered an apology. Things were going so well, and then he had to spoil it. He felt so inept.

Until Paige flashed him a provocative smile and slowly pulled her wet shirt over her head.

Ho, boy.