Blaine's POV:

Tonight was my night off from Caden. As much as I loved spending time with him, I needed to be around people my own age sometimes. This is why tonight, after much deliberation, I was going on my first date since Caden was born. I was nervous, beyond nervous. The last girl I was with I was paid to date. Seeing Phoebe with Damien was my motivation to move on and join the dating scene. Sean was an avid online dater but I wanted to do it the old fashion way. There was a woman at my office who had been more than forward that she wanted to go on a date with me and I finally caved in.

Elizabeth was gorgeous which made me wonder why she was so adamant about dating me. I never was physically conscious – I worked out and ate right – and never had problems getting dates but Elizabeth had more to offer than just her looks. She was a computer mastermind and what she was able to do made her that much more attractive. Plus she was great with Caden, which was an added bonus.

I had met Elizabeth when I first interviewed for the company while going to Columbia. It was a computer security firm that Mr. Grey had set me up with. We dealt with everything having to do with computers. I loved going to work every day and my salary was not too bad.

"So, what do you think?" I stood in front of Heather.

We did not live together anymore but we lived within walking distance of each other. After making the decision to move out, Caden primarily stayed with Heather but she did not want me to feel as if she was taking him from me. She did her best to make sure that she found another apartment close to me and I would always be grateful. Heather was one of my best friends and I valued her opinion. She was the one who had encouraged me to ask Elizabeth and I was finally taking her advice.

"Turn around," she twirled her finger.

We were at her apartment and Caden was playing with his trucks beside Heather. His toys were everywhere at the moment but he was happy which was all that mattered. Heather stood up from her spot on the ground next to Caden to give me a once over. She had dressed me in a very new and very expensive Ted Baker suit that she found on sale at Bloomingdale's.

"Come here, lemme fix your tie," she fussed, "I swear I'm going to be fixing your ties until you find yourself a wife. How do you get ready for work in the morning?"

"I do pretty well dressing myself thank you very much."

She rolled her eyes, "Try to keep your humor to a minimum tonight."

Heather took a step back and nodded her head in approval.

"What do you think Caden?" I scooped him off the ground to give him a kiss.

"Dadda pretty."

"Dads aren't pretty Caden," I kissed fixed his hair, "They're handsome."

"Hurry up or you'll be a handsome gentleman not getting laid tonight."

"Hey," I frowned, "Never joke about a man not getting laid. Plus, I don't think you're doing too well on that department either."

Heather hadn't been on a date either since Caden had been born. She claimed to always be busy with school or work or Caden. She was great at making excuses. Blithe and Meredith were always trying to fix her up with someone but she refused to date until Caden was older.

"I'm doing fine," Heather took Caden from me, "Now go and have fun."

I kissed her on the cheek, "I'll see you tomorrow."

She smiled and nodded. I walked out of Heather's apartment and stood to catch a cab. My phone vibrated in my pocket and I shook my head knowing it was Heather giving me last minute advice.

"I know, not too much baby talk tonight."

"Oh uhm," Phoebe hesitated, "That's not what I was calling about."

"Phoebe?" I froze.

"Yeah, hi. I just wanted to tell you something before you found out from someone else."

She was pregnant with that douchebag's baby.

"Okay," I braced myself.

"I honestly had no idea that they were doing this but Damien's father hired your company to work for us."

This news was better than her being pregnant but it was not something that I wanted to hear.

"Okay," I rubbed my forehead.

"Damien said that he tried to get his dad out of the deal but it was too late and I'm really sorry."

"Phoebe, relax," I finally caught a cab, "I'm not mad. I think it's great."

Phoebe let out a breath, "You do?"

"It'll help the company get some exposure, so yes I do."

"I'm so happy to hear that," she sounded more relaxed, "And I made sure that the contract was legit and you're getting paid a really great amount and the benefits are there too."

"I'm sure my bosses are going to tell me all about it tomorrow."

"Of course, you're probably busy, I'm sorry."

I was not used to hearing Phoebe sound so unsure of herself.

"No, it's alright. I'm glad to hear from you."

After the wedding we stayed at Charlie and Darcy's apartment for another day before returning to New York. I wasn't able to talk to Phoebe again but it was good to hear from her. We had agreed on being friends but I did not know if that included phone calls and text messages like before.

"You too. I'm supposed to eat with Abby, Blithe, and Meredith later this week."

"Yeah, they told me. They're really excited to see you, that's all they wanted talk about."

She laughed, "I've missed them and I miss the city."

"I know they miss you too."

"Do you want to get lunch sometime this week?"

I wasn't expecting Phoebe to make the first move and it only complicated things even more.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?"

"It's just lunch," she reassured me, "Plus we can go over the details of the offer."

It seemed innocent enough, "Are you free tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll text you. It was good to talk to you Blaine."

"Same."

We hung up and for the first time in forever I did not feel the lingering dread feeling in talking with her. I wanted to go on this date to prove to everyone and myself that I was over Phoebe. It made going on this date with Elizabeth seem worth it.

I was meeting Elizabeth at this Brazilian steakhouse in Soho. She lived with her best friend in an apartment not that far from the restaurant and she loved this place. I stood in the entryway waiting for her, nervous that she was not going to show. When the door opened and she appeared, I was blown away. Her naturally wavy hair was straightened and gone were her glasses, replaced with what I assume were contacts. Elizabeth was petite and tonight the heels she was wearing made her legs look longer and she seemed more self-assured of herself. And her dress, god, it hugged her curves, curves that I did not even know that she had. In one word, she was stunning.

"Wow," I breathed.

Her entire face blushed.

"I'm sorry," I shook my head, "You look great."

"Thank you."

Our waiter led us to our table and I pulled the seat out for her.

"Have you been here before?" Elizabeth asked me.

"No," I surveyed the place, "It seems really nice."

Nice was an understatement. Like I said, most of my free time was spent with Caden so it was nice to be in a place that did not have cartoon characters walking around or annoyingly upbeat music.

"The food here is great, I promise," she smiled.

I was able to relax around Elizabeth. She was more relaxed outside of work and really funny. It may have been for my benefit but she asked to see new photos of Caden which I gladly showed her. As a precaution I had made Heather promise to text me that Caden was sick but I was relieved that she had not. I was being pessimistic by believing that there would be first date awkwardness but we were both able to keep the conversation flowing.

The more I learned a lot more about Elizabeth, the more I liked her. She grew up in Maryland with both her parents, who were doctors, and two siblings. She completed her undergraduate degree at University of Maryland and hoped to get a Master's. Even though we were the same age, Elizabeth was definitely more experienced with the world. She had done two semesters abroad and loved every second of it.

"I wish I had gone abroad," I admitted.

There was so much that I wish that I had done but was never able to do. I wanted to wait until Caden was older before traveling again and this time I wanted him to be with me.

"You seemed to have had a pretty nice life. Not everyone could say that they dated a heir to a billion dollar enterprise."

Many people around the office had wanted to know about my relationship with Phoebe but I had never felt the need to brag about it.

"True," I took a sip of my wine.

"Are the two of you still friends?"

I winced, "Something like that."

"Exes are never fun to talk about, are they?"

"Not especially. Apparently her fiancé's company just hired us for a new account."

Elizabeth's eyebrows rose, "That should make for some interesting watercooler talk."

"To say the least."

"Well are the feelings still there?" she looked down at her plate.

"No," I grabbed her hand, "I'm sort of interested in someone new."

"I'm glad to hear that."

Elizabeth changed the subject from Phoebe and I was happy to listen to more stories about her childhood; but I was also thinking about what I told her. I was trying to convince myself that I had not been lying by saying that there weren't any feelings there for Phoebe but I could not decide if I was telling the truth. I wanted to move on and Elizabeth wasn't a rebound, she was someone I could genuinely see myself being with.

"I had a really great time tonight."

We were standing outside of Elizabeth's apartment. I had tried stalling because this was the awkward part of the date. Did I kiss her or shake her hand? If she asked me to come upstairs did I try to be a gentleman and say no or did I go upstairs because I haven't had sex in forever and my hand was no longer doing the trick anymore? All of these decisions ran through my head as Elizabeth watched me.

"Oh," I tried to focus, "I did too. I would really love to see you again."

"You will at work tomorrow."

Just like that, she made me feel okay, "Besides work."

"I'd really like that too," Elizabeth moved a little bit closer to me.

Just do it, she obviously wants to kiss you. I took the chance and moved closer to her and Elizabeth did not pull away. Her lips were soft and she tasted like cherries. I grabbed her hips to bring her closer to me and she let out a little moan. Encouraged, I kept the connection going until we both needed to come up for air.

"Wow," she grinned, "That was some first kiss."

"Yeah," I tried to catch my breath but in reality all I wanted was to kiss her again, "I should get going."

"Don't you want to come up?"

I wanted to but I made the decision that I did not want our relationship to end before we even had a chance to start, "Trust me I want to, god I want to, but I want more than sex with you. Does that make sense?"

"It does," Elizabeth kissed my cheek, "And it makes me want you more."

"Next time," I promised.

She nodded, "Alright."

I waited until she was inside before letting out a groan. I needed a cold shower, a very, very cold shower.