So here it is. Quicker and longer, as promised. Reading your reviews make my day :-)

Chapter 5

He watched her go, but felt his own feet glued to the ground.

By the time Math found his voice and was blubbering on incomprehensibly, Baze regained control of his body and ran out on the street.

But it was too late. She was gone.

"What the hell is going on?" Math said, finally putting together a proper sentence.

Baze looked back at his friend, and walked back in off the streets. "...I have a daughter?"

"Dude…you have a daughter?" Both men looked at the other, unable to come to grips with the situation.

"This isn't possible…" Baze said, voicing his internal monologue.

"Well, she looked about..what - 15..16?" Math said, his face scrunched up trying to work out what time frame they were working with. "So that's… high school?"

"It's definitely high school. Remember I gave a talk at Westmonte the other day - she was in that class."

"So who did you get pregnant in high school?" Math said, not quite grasping the words he was saying, or believing them. They had moved up to Baze's loft.

Baze furrowed his brow in concentration. "It couldn't have been Melanie, because she was never fat, and we were doing it like all the time during our senior year."

"She could have had the baby after you finished high school." Math suggested.

"Nah, that would make Lux in her sophomore year, and she's definitely a junior."

"So this immaculate conception happened when…? Sometime between junior and senior year?"

Baze nodded.

They both stood in silence, thinking over Baze's sexual conquests of 93. There were a few, to say the least. But none that would make sense, or even be a possibility.

Then Baze remembered.

"Cate…" The name dropped from his lips, barely audible.

"Who?" Math said, perking up at a name.

"That Cate girl. Remember? Bookworm nerd." Baze said, a look of incredulity spreading over his face.

"Are you serious?" Math's voice took on a weird tone.

"Yeah." Baze said slowly, eyeing his friend cautiously.

"Cate Cassidy. Valedictorian. Perfect 4.0…Class of '94 Cate Cassidy?" Math said, his voice rising as he spoke.

Baze nodded.

"She never would have slept with you! She hated you. You were everything she despised. I mean, you weren't her type, and she…well she was so far from your type.."

"Well, she was my type the night of Winter Formal." Baze quipped, winking at his friend.

"Unbelievable." Math sighed, standing up.

"What?" Baze said, completely unaware.

"Nothing Baze. Absolutely nothing." Math deadpanned. Before Baze could respond, he had already walked through the door and back down to the bar.

"What's his problem..." Baze whispered roughly under his breath.

He fell back onto one of the sofas, quickly forgetting about his friend's weird mood change.

He had a daughter.

He didn't know what to think, or feel.

What was one supposed to feel when they found out they had a kid they never knew about? He always assumed that Cate had taken care of it? Not the best choice of words, but still. What the hell was a 16 year old girl doing showing up at his doorstep, claiming him as her father?

He couldn't be a father when he was 17, and he sure as hell couldn't be one now.

She did have blond hair though, which didn't really make sense, seeing as both he and Cate had very dark hair.

Maybe that girl wasn't his. Maybe Cate had…gotten around in high school. After all, she had slept with him even though they had barely known each other.

Baze knew there was only one person who could make sense of this all. Who could answer all the questions currently buzzing around his head. And luckily he thought, as he turned on the radio and heard her voice, he knew exactly where she was.

"Cate, it's a simple question."

"And one that I'm not answering. How about we put it out to our listeners?" Cate said smiling.

"Fine." Ryan pouted a little. "So, what was your nickname in high school? We want to know, embarrassing or not. Although, embarrassing is preferred."

"I need to get in there. I have to speak to Cate. Cate Cassidy."

"Yes, and I'm only going to say this one more time. Ms Cassidy is currently busy."

"Obviously, she's hosting a radio show, but what about in the ad breaks. Can't I just sneak in there and ask her a quick question? It's important."

"You were standing in front of me when I called the manager, who asked Cate, who said she couldn't as she was busy."

"Well, when does her segment thing finish?" Baze said, exasperated.

"In about an hour."

"And there's absolutely no way -"

"No! Now go away, before I have to make you." The security guy took a step forward.

"Fine." Baze said, glaring towards the man as he retreated back to his car.

As he sat there, tapping impatiently on his wheel, Cate and Ryan's voice filled his ears.

"….how about we put it out to our listeners?"

"Fine… So, what was your nickname in high school? We want to know, embarrassing or…" Baze stopped listening to whatever the guy was saying when an idea popped into his head. He never was one for waiting.

Grabbing his phone out of his pocket, he punched in the numbers that Cate was repeating over air and pressed the phone to his ear. He waited with bated breath, hoping that his call was put through first. After a few rings, someone picked up on the other end.

"Hi there. You've called Morning Madness."

"Hey, this is Baze. Actually Nate. Yeah Nate." He didn't want the risk of Cate recognising the name and not answering the call.

"Okay Nate. I'm assuming your calling in response to the high school nickname?"

"Yeah that's right."

"Okay cool. What was it?"

"Oh, um it was…Baze." He finished lamely.

The lady on the other end paused.

"Yes well. That's um.. Your name. Did you have a nickname?"

"Oh right.. Yeah totally, it was umm," Baze panicked, trying to think of something, "Bunny….chops.." He cringed, realising how stupid he must sound.

"Bunny chops?" The lady repeated. He could imagine the smirk that must have been plastered across her face right now.

"Yeah Bunny chops."

"Alright then. I'll put you on hold now but stay on the line, and I'll put you through to Cate and Ryan in a few minutes."

"Okay thanks." Baze said quickly, before he was greeted with the sound of a soft piano and guitar.

He allowed himself to relax for a second, trying to gather his thoughts. Should he be doing this over air? Probably not. But she did refuse to see him. And the matter at hand was not something to be ignored. Anyway, she deserved it - she was the one that had kept the secret of him having a daughter for 16 years. Yeah, he was totally justified. He could get answers and payback all at the same time.

What was that saying about the two birds and one stone again?

Then suddenly her voice was filling his ears.

"So now we have Nate on the line, who's nickname is a bit strange, to say the least. Nate, would you like to do the honour?"

Silence.

"Uh Nate, you there buddy?" Ryan spoke into the mic.

Baze finally found his voice. He gave a cough, clearing his throat. "Yeah I'm here."

"Okay, so what was your nickname?"

All of a sudden, he felt a little nervous. The words he had come up with while on hold were gone, and the only word that came to him was -

"Cate."

"Alright then. That wasn't what was written on the screen but that's okay. So Nate, you've gone through a few changes since high school?" Cate said, giving a smile to Ryan.

"No. Cate, it's Baze." He regained a little more confidence, and smirked when he could practically hear her jaw drop.

Cate and Ryan immediately looked at each other, a mirror image of shock. Before the silence became deafening, Cate managed to splutter out, "Ba-baze? What are you… I mean why…?"

Realising his fiance was struggling, Ryan quickly took over. "So Baze. You realise we're on air, right?"

Baze sat comfortably in his car seat, "Yeah. I need to talk to Cate."

Cate could only look at Ryan, her eyes pleading with him to do something. Make this okay.

"Right well, do you think you could wait, I don't know, say half an hour till we finish the show?" Ryan had never met Baze, but whatever he was up to right now, Ryan sensed had the potential of turning very bad, very quickly.

"Okay. Well can I just ask one thing before I go?" Baze said, determined to get those answers. And that payback.

"If you don't mind Baze we've got a few other calls to go to so -" Ryan said quickly looking over to Alice, the radio station manager, motioning at her to hang up the call. But she was shaking her head.

Ryan looked at her perplexed, "-so um…" He lost his train of thought. Why wouldn't Alice hang up?

Luckily, Cate finally spoke up, "We'll be talking soon enough Baze, you can ask me any question you want off the air."

This time Cate looked over at Alice, her eyes shooting daggers. However, she couldn't see her radio station manager, only a piece of paper with writing.

Let him ask the question.

Before Cate could say or do anything more, Ryan had gotten up and stormed into the connected room. "What do you think you're doing Alice?"

"The call lines are going crazy Ryan. They all want to know what's going on, and who this Nate - Baze guy is."

Ryan let out a sigh. "He's the father of Cate's child." He waited as the shock registered on Alice's face.

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

Back in the studio, Baze had started to speak again. "It's just a simple yes or no Cate…" He knew she was worried about what he was going to say. Lucky for her though, at the last minute he decided to play nice. He figured he had made her sweat long enough, and anyway, he realised he didn't want all of Portland knowing he was a father. Hell, he might not even be a father. "Back in high school, did you lie to me?"

Despite the relief Cate felt at the direct, but discreet words, she also felt a heavy weight collapse on her shoulders, and a sinking feeling in her stomach. The past she had tried to bury away for so many years had finally clawed it's way to the surface. The shaky ground she had tried to fill and build upon since high school was crumbling and the only thing she could do was cling to the truth.

"Yes."