Lewis leaned casually against the doorframe, taking some of the weight off of his left ankle. It didn't really pain him, but he was supposed to be taking it light and it had been quite a walk. His right hand snaked up and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?"
"Trouble," Lewis shouted through the door, a smile twisting his face. "Can I come in?"
"Lewis? Oh, that is trouble," was Kate's response. "Okay, come in." Lewis opened the door and entered, seeing Kate lounging on the couch. As he came in she lifted the remote and turned off the television. "You're by yourself," Kate noted. "How did you get here?"
"Bus," Lewis answered, sitting down next to her and stretching his legs out in front of him.
"You weren't afraid of getting roughed up by some gangsters?" Kate asked with a laugh. "After all, you're a cripple."
"No gangster would mess with a six-and-a-half foot man with an arm of solid plaster and a boot that could break legs," Lewis said simply, but he was smiling as well. "Besides, I was bored and lonely, and I figured you might be bored and lonely too. I'm returning the favor for all of those times that you visited me in the hospital."
Kate beamed. "How kind," she said. "Welcome to the world of those of us who are forbidden to work."
"Yeah, a week stuck in that apartment and I almost want to go back to work already," he replied, shaking his head. "Worst of all, I'm still not allowed to touch beer."
"So has Oswald called your doctor yet?" Kate asked interestedly.
"No, he keeps losing his nerve," Lewis said with an exasperated sigh. "The other night he made it halfway through dialing the phone number before he hung up." They had all been trying to encourage Oswald to call Doctor Carter and ask her out, with the exception of Eugene, but Oswald seemed to be finding it difficult to do so. His normally bold personality with women was failing him this time. "I bet poor Eugene will be happy to hear that," Lewis added, shooting a glance at Kate and raising an eyebrow.
"What makes you think that?" Kate asked, feigning innocence.
"Please, Kate, the man is sort of obvious," Lewis laughed. "I think everyone knows that he likes Oswald. Except Oswald."
"Of course," Kate said, laughing as well. She looked up and Lewis found himself momentarily stunned by how brightly her eyes were shining. They suddenly seemed to have so many more colors than the brown he had always seen. Different hues layered over each other and gave them astonishing depth, while her amusement made them sparkle. Her smile lifted her cheeks and made the corners of her eyes crinkle.
Lewis had moved before he had any awareness of doing so. The fingertips of his right hand rested along Kate's jaw and his head moved forward until his lips brushed against another pair of velveteen ones. As he felt her mouth against his, Lewis' senses were sent reeling and it took another moment before he even had any conscious knowledge of what he was doing.
I'm kissing Kate.
Once this idea struck him Lewis heart leapt and then instantly sank. Kate had rejected him, she didn't want this. He tried to pull away but the hands that were interlaced behind his neck stopped him from moving. Maybe Kate wanted this more than he'd thought. Content with this logic, Lewis allowed himself to get lost in the momentary ecstasy again.
A knock at the door made the pair hastily push away from each other. "Kate?"
Kate and Lewis exchanged guilty expressions before Kate looked up at the door. "Yeah?"
"It's Eugene," was the answer. "Is it alright to come in?"
Kate ran a hand anxiously through her hair before saying, "Yeah, come in." The door opened and Eugene came in, smiling.
"Oh, Lewis, hey," Eugene said. "No Oswald? How'd you get here?"
"I rode the bus," Lewis answered, grateful that the other man couldn't see how fast his heart was racing.
"That's quite a walk from the bus stop," Eugene noted, slipping down into a chair. "I thought you were supposed to be staying off your ankle."
"It's not that bad," Lewis shrugged. "And I was bored at home. I'm willing to walk a little bit to not be bored and lonely. My ankle doesn't hurt much anymore anyway. Right now it just itches. These braces make your skin itch."
"That they do," Eugene agreed, chuckling. "I remember when I was in high school I broke my wrist." This launched the three of them into a lengthy conversation about old injuries that sidetracked several times until they were talking about entirely different topics. Lewis and Kate kept shooting each other inconspicuous looks during the conversation, but neither of them dared say anything about their shared kisses with Eugene present.
Lewis noticed that Kate seemed to grimace at random times during the conversation and finally after having seen this over a dozen times he cut across her in mid-sentence. "Kate, are you alright?" he asked. "You keep wincing."
"She's really moving today," Kate answered, resting both hands on her stomach. She gave a short gasp, her eyes squeezing shut as her breath hissed inward. "Guys, I think I need to get to the hospital."
Lewis and Eugene stared at Kate in silence for a moment, both of them stunned. Then they glanced at each other with wide eyes, not exactly sure how to react.
Kate winced again and then looked at them both. "Now!" she emphasized. This urged them both into movement, jumping up and helping Kate to her feet. Eugene grabbed a duffle bag that was prepared and tucked in a corner near the front door as they helped Kate slowly out of the apartment. She clung to their arms, her grip tightening painfully with every contraction. They managed to get her down to Eugene's car and Lewis climbed into the back with Kate. Eugene hurried to the hospital, driving as quickly as he could while not getting in trouble with the police.
Twenty minutes later, Lewis and Eugene were sitting in chairs in the waiting room of the maternity ward. There was silence between them as they both anxiously awaited any word from a doctor. Drew and Oswald had both been called at work to give them the news, but neither of them would be able to get out of work early so they'd have to wait a few hours before they could be there.
A middle-aged man strode towards where Lewis and Eugene were sitting and they both stood up expectantly. "Are you the men here with Kate O'Brien?"
"Yes," they answered together, nodding.
"Well, she's definitely going through contractions, but they are still too far apart to actually induce labor," the doctor informed them. "I would guess that it will happen sometime today, early tomorrow at the latest, but for now all we can do is wait. You are welcome to visit her if you feel, one at a time, please."
Four hours later, three men were gathered together in the waiting room, a shallow conversation between them simply to distract them from the wait. Eugene was in with Kate at the moment. The four of them had been cycling through spending time with Kate over the last few hours.
"This is taking forever," Drew complained with a heavy sigh. "It's been hours. Is that normal?"
"The doctors said that everything is normal," Lewis said, shrugging.
"I guess at least we know Kate's kid is going to be just as stubborn as Kate," Drew suggested. They all laughed at this.
"I need a drink," Oswald suddenly declared, standing up. "I'm going to go down to the vending machine in the lobby and get a drink. You guys want anything?" Drew and Lewis shook their heads and Oswald vanished towards the elevator. A few minutes later Eugene appeared and took Oswald's vacated seat. Without a word of exchange between them, Lewis stood up by silent consent and headed down to Kate's room.
Inside, Kate was lying on the hospital bed. A lot of the equipment was already in the room, ready for when the time came. Kate glanced over and her smile was faltered by a wince. "You boys are working like clockwork," she said.
"Have fear, we're organized," Lewis joked, coming over to stand by her bed. "How are you holding up?"
"Well I'm alive, but I'm more than ready for this to be over with," Kate answered. "The time's coming, I can feel it. The contractions are a lot closer together. Every minute or two now."
"You're almost there, Kate," Lewis said and he pushed a few strands of loose hair from her forehead.
"Lewis," Kate said suddenly, her tone more serious. "About what happened at my apartment…"
"I'm sorry," Lewis said immediately. "You said you didn't want a relationship. I crossed the line. I didn't mean to, it just happened without me realizing. I'm sorry."
"No, Lewis, it's okay," Kate said. "I didn't stop you, it was as much my fault as yours." She hesitated. "But now I'm not sure whether to put it behind us. There was a lot more to that kiss than I would have expected from you. From you I expected eagerness and maybe even lust, but that wasn't what I felt at all."
"I told you I never wanted just a fling," Lewis answered, his characteristic goofy grin lifting his cheeks and reducing his eyes to slits. This familiar sight made Kate laugh. Lewis' right hand found her hand lying on the bed and he gave it a short squeeze, not releasing it. "I may not always tell the truth, but I wasn't lying to you about that, Kate."
Kate laughed again, but it was suddenly cut across by a loud gasp. Her face tightened with pain and Lewis knew immediately what was going on. He crossed to the door and stuck his head out. "Doctor!" he shouted. "We need a doctor in here." A doctor raced into the room and two nurses followed shortly after.
Lewis hovered in the doorway, not sure where to be. "Lewis." Kate's pained voice made him turn around in the door. "Don't leave me. I don't want to do this alone." Lewis was still apprehensive, but the doctor's didn't seem to have any complaints so he nodded and stepped up to the bedside again. He grabbed Kate's hand and she held onto it with a death grip.
"It's okay, Kate," Lewis said, trying to sound soothing although he was wincing through the pain in his hand. "Everything will be –" The rest of his sentence was drowned out when Kate gave a quiet scream.