Five weeks had come and gone. In those five weeks, Artie did his best to avoid Olivia whenever possible. It seemed to work out well, he only ran into her twice as he was going about his daily business. Once a week after the incident by the water fountain and another time on his way out of work. Both times Olivia stared back at him, hoping for a response, but both times Artie moved quickly hoping that she would not bother him. Marge hadn't found out either, she came home Sunday evening with Artie waiting for her in the living room with a box of chocolates and flowers. His way of promising to never cheat on her like that again. Olivia was way too tempting for him and he really hoped that once her internship was up, she would leave and find something better. Maybe even a man who had no one to love.
But the hope of having her out of his life for good, quickly changed one afternoon at the doctors office with Marge. It was one of Marge's checkups on the baby and one Artie didn't want to miss because they would find out the gender of the little miracle. Both sat together in the waiting room trying their best to ignore a crying child and hearing an old man complain about his back. Marge was looking through a new parent magazine hoping to get tips on how to raise a child properly. Her stomach was now much larger and was usually the center of conversation when talking to friends or random people in line at the supermarket. She was so proud of what was coming and could not wait to start a new life with Artie. Both were a little nervous about it though, but that was to be expected.
Artie watched her read the magazine for a moment before he himself decided to look through an old science magazine about string theory. As he kept his nose in the book, he did not notice a familiar face enter the room and check in. In fact he did not notice her at all until she took a seat just few chairs next to him. She smiled at him until Artie could sense that she was looking and looked up with a startled face.
"Olivia? What are you doing here?" Artie asked.
"What do you think I'm doing here," Olivia asked as she rolled her eyes. Why else would she be in a doctors office.
"Oh yes, checkups are always important. We're here to see how the baby is progressing," Artie said as she pointed to Marge who looked up from her reading and looked back at Olivia curiously.
"Oh this must be the Marge you've mentioned to me before," Olivia said in a voice that had some jealousy to it.
"Yup, this is her. Marge this is Olivia, a coworker of mine," Artie said.
"Nice to meet you Olivia, I haven't heard about you," Marge said curiously.
"Oh really? I'm surprised he hasn't," Olivia said as she glared at Artie. Artie stared back surprised. As if he was going to tell Marge he was cheating on her with this woman in front of him.
"I guess it slipped my mind," Artie said, rolling his eyes a little.
"Ah..." Olivia replied and looked over at the magazines next to her. She stared at them for a moment, wondering which one would be worth reading. But her mind was really not on that on the moment, not after taking a special test a few days ago, the reason for her visit. She wanted to say it to Artie right in front of Marge, but then again this was a public place, cat fights probably weren't allowed. But the way Artie was avoiding her these days, it was hard to get his attention. Now was probably the best time to break it to him. In private though and then let him sort it out and decide what to do in the long run.
"Artie can I talk to you out in the hall real quick, it's just about business stuff I am a little confused with," Olivia said.
"Uh...sure?" Artie replied. "I'll be back in a second Marge." He said as he got up and began to make his way out the door.
Marge watched him go, curious as to why a business issue could not wait. But sometimes she had teachers who were known to run into each other at the mall an talk about their lesson plans. As long as it was quick though, she knew that Artie did not want to miss this checkup.
Artie stood out in the hall with Olivia who was standing against the wall, staring up at a painting of flowers. She looked really tense and Artie was not sure what was going on. He remained silent though, letting Olivia speak. It took her a few moments to actually say anything. Instead she just stared up at the painting as if she was waiting for someone to actually hand her the flowers.
"I find it sort of ironic to run into you here of all places," Olivia said after a long moment of silence.
"Yeah, though I am really hoping you are not trying to do anything funny out here. Now is not the time," Artie replied in a stern voice, hoping Olivia was not out here for some annoying seduction.
"I am well aware of that Artie," Olivia said in a tone that was very much unlike her. Angry but more upset than anything.
"Then what do you want?" Artie asked.
"I'm late," Olivia replied.
Artie stood there, unable to process what she had said for that brief moment. Late? If she was late then why was she out here talking to him. The doctor would probably be ready for her by now, if he already wasn't behind. But then as he thought more about it, the more he realized why she was at the doctors and a horrible feeling of dread came over him. One that told him what he had done was the worst ever and now there was no turning back, he had made a mistake that was going to cost him. It was all thanks to her, but she of course would deny it.
"But you said you were on the pill," Artie said worriedly.
"I was, but apparently it didn't work. Unless it's skipping this month which is unlikely because that only happens if you don't take the last week of the pill and just move on to the next packet," Olivia said.
"Oh crap!" Artie replied as he began to pace back and forth down the hall. This was not good, definitely not good. He never thought this would happen, now he knew Olivia would find ways to make him stay with her and pay for supporting what was to come. But then again, was he the only one she slept around with?
"I can't be the only one can I?" Artie asked.
"In the past month yes," Olivia said.
"Son of a bitch!" Artie replied angrily. Mainly at himself, he just had to be cursed by this foul temptress and now things were not looking good. What was he going to do now, could he tell Marge? It would upset her too much, he had to think about the babies well being too. Stress was never good on a pregnant mother and telling Marge what was happening, well, who knows what would become of that.
"You know you will have to help me," Olivia said sternly.
"Artie!"
Artie jumped and turned around to see Marge standing there, how long had she been there? He hoped not long since he had been shouting profanities most of the time.
"The doctor is ready."
Saved by the bell, figuring out what to do would have to wait. For now, he needed to be with Marge as she found out the gender of her child. But now that Olivia had told him the news, his mind was now swimming as he entered the doctors office. He was going to be a father alright, one through marriage. The other was thanks to adultery. How in the world could he keep that a secret. He could pay Olivia to keep quiet and not black mail him, but he really wasn't that rich to do so. An abortion? Maybe, but he had no idea where Olivia stood on that issue. He wasn't sure himself at the moment, maybe adoption would be better. Oh man did he mess up!
But he had to stop thinking about that now and pay attention to his wife who was sitting in a chair getting an ultrasound. The nurse moved the remote on Marge's round stomach for a few minutes trying to get a good reading on the tiny thing inside. After a few moments, the nurse revealed the ultrasound and gave Marge a happy smile.
"Looks like the baby is coming along fine," the nurse said.
"And the gender?" Marge asked with a curious face.
"Hmmm... our readings aren't the best...but...hmm...looks like from what I am seeing that it will be a boy," the nurse said.
Marge smiled, just what Artie wanted most. A boy to teach and carry on in his footsteps. Little AJ. Marge watched the ultrasound for a moment, mesmerized by the picture on the screen before turning to Artie. But Artie wasn't watching, instead he was starting at the ground, looking very lost in thought. Did his friend tell him something important about work that he was now worried about? That seemed to be the case because he was not like that when they first got there.
"Artie, have you looked at the screen?" Marge asked.
Artie looked up suddenly from his moment of thinking. He looked surprised, as if he forgot he was in the doctors office waiting for his wife to be checked on. He blinked a few times before finally looking up at the screen and staring at the strange blur that was supposed to show a tiny baby.
"That is what you use to see inside?" Artie asked.
"Yes, we've been using it for years, it gives us a fairly accurate reading," the nurse replied.
Artie moved closer and stared for a long time, studying his future son that was swimming around inside his wife. He could not believe it, his own son, right there in front of him, growing inside his wife. If only he could get a better picture of it. If only he could see AJ in a better perspective. If only he could see his tiny toes and feet in the best way possible right now, just to get his mind off of Olivia. But the technology was not advanced yet, and he had to deal with that.
"I should come up with a better ultrasound technique where we could see the child better. Because it really doesn't look like much," Artie said truthfully trying his best to think of this idea and ignore the fact that Olivia was probably in the next room being tested to see how far along she was.
"We are always hoping for something new Mr. Ziff. If you can come up with something, we would love for that to happen," the nurse said.
"That could get me higher up in the company too," Artie replied trying to think how he could create something better. In the meantime, Marge was done and ready to head on home. Now that she knew the child was healthy, it was time to prepare for the little miracle. It wouldn't be long before he was finally born and a start of a whole new life for both Artie and Marge.
Hopefully things would be fine, hopefully Olivia just had a false alarm and he didn't have to worry. He wanted to know now too, he wanted to find Olivia and be with her as the doctor checked up on her and heave a big sigh of relief once both realize that it was just that, a false alarm. As Marge began walking out to the reception office, Artie looked down the rows of rooms, looking for Olivia until the very end door where one doctor was walking out with a urine sample. He needed to know, he could not wait any longer.
"Marge, do you mind if I discuss something with my friend, we need to get the problem sorted out. It shouldn't be long," Artie said.
Marge stared at Artie as he stood in front of the doorway to his coworker. He looked nervous as if his life depended on getting something sorted out right away. "Just this once, I'll be waiting out here," Marge replied.
Artie didn't say another word and quickly walked into the room where Olivia was sitting there waiting for any news. She was only wearing those uncomfortable hospital scrubs and sitting alone on the table twiddling her thumbs until Artie walked in. Quickly she jumped off the table and ran to hug him. Artie hugged her back, but only briefly before pushing her away.
"Are you sure you might be?" Artie asked worriedly.
"Pretty sure, I am having the same nausea your wife had," Olivia said.
Artie let out a sigh and scratched the back of his head to think about what he had done for a moment. He committed adultery and it turned into this. He was now most likely expecting two children, from two different people, one of which was not his wife. Marge was going to be furious if she found out. Would he be able to keep this a secret? Something had to be done.
"You know you will have to help me with this," Olivia said as Artie stood there wondering what to do.
"I know, I know, but I have a wife who is expecting a child too. She needs me to help her through this, I can't abandon her," Artie said.
"Oh so you are going to abandon me when I need you! It's your child!" Olivia replied angrily.
"So is the one my wife is having, but I am not married to you!" Artie replied back just as angry as Olivia was.
"So, you still have an obligation, you will help pay for this and care for it," Olivia said.
Artie sighed, she was right, there was no argument there. But something had to be done, he couldn't care for two children, especially if one was the cause of cheating. Olivia didn't seem like the kind of person who would even want a kid. All she wanted was to get laid and move on. Well at least from other guys, it still made no sense as to why she liked Artie so much, especially since Artie kept telling her he had Marge. Something had to be done and hopefully Olivia would agree to it. "I know this is sort of a bad question to ask..." Artie began, but Olivia seemed to know what he was thinking.
"No, I do not stand on that principle. Adoption maybe, but I'd rather keep it," Olivia said.
"Why?" Artie said.
"Because I think that sooner or later you will realize that this child was supposed to be born and that you were supposed to fall in love with me. Not that other girl out there," Olivia said.
Artie stared back at Olivia, amazed at how selfish she was and how she did not care that he had a wife. Apparently she was his and his alone. He had no choice in the matter and that sooner or later he and Olivia were going to live happily ever after. But Artie was too angry with Olivia now to see that through, he wanted to yell at her, he wanted to fight back until he won out and there would be no child. Instead though, the doctor walked in, looking a bit startled that Artie was there in the first place. At first, the doctor only stood there, a little shocked to see Artie again, this time with another woman. Hopefully it wasn't what he was thinking, but it was hard to tell these days. He once saw a guy come in four times with a different woman in one year. The poor guy looked like he was about ready to jump by the time it was revealed that the fourth girl was also pregnant. Of course he had to keep quiet and went right to the subject at hand.
"Looks like you were correct on this Miss Winters. You are pregnant."
And with that, before Artie could hear anything else, before even thinking about yelling back and getting into a fight. He was out the door, looking for Marge and wishing he could turn back time.
It was payday and Homer was making his way down the long hallway to his services office to pickup his paycheck. It had been a long week and he was ready to get some more money into his account. He had seen some very nice looking jeans at one of his favorite stores about a month ago, and now he finally had enough money to get them. But that was not the only reason why he was happy for this paycheck, he had an idea and he hoped it would work.
As he walked down the hall, he had one hand behind his back, and in that hand was a bouquet of flowers for Emily, Joe's secretary. After working for the company for a few months, he decided that what the heck, Emily seemed like a nice girl to go out with. They rarely talked though, but that was only because Emily never took her nose out of those books that she was reading every time he walked in. But maybe it was only because she did not have a man in her life and Homer hoped he could get her to go out with him.
He entered the room to find another employee there picking up his paycheck and engaging in a conversation with Emily. Something he had never seen her do before. Of course of all things they were discussing books and Emily seemed quite intrigued by the young man and his fondness of books. This of course made Homer nervous and made him wonder if both were interested in each other. Instead of walking up right away, Homer took a seat nearby, but it wasn't long before Emily saw him.
"Homer, do you need your paycheck?" Emily asked.
"Yeah, but I hope you don't mind me waiting, I just have a quick question to ask," Homer said nervously, hoping she would not notice the bouquet of flowers sitting beside him.
Both Emily and the man stared back at him for a minute, finally Emily simply shrugged and continued the conversation as if she was never interrupted to begin with. Of course, Homer was not expecting Emily to take so long talking to her friend. In fact, it went on for thirty minutes before the man finally left with a book in his hand. Homer pretended that he didn't notice the man leave and continued to read a magazine.
"Homer?" Emily called. Homer looked up curiously. "You had a question?"
Homer jumped up and nervously made his way over with the bouquet of flowers still hiding behind his back. As he walked over, he cleared his throat and tried to look as optimistic as possible to get her to say yes. At least that was what he hoped for. Marge was easy to ask for prom, and Jenna, well she just needed someone after that long hard day of work. Emily didn't seem to have that problem. All she seemed to do was sit there and hand out checks or help schedule appointments with Joe. She had an easy life, and one that Homer would be happy to take part in.
"Emily, how are you this afternoon?" Homer asked as he approached her.
"I'm quite well, just finished Atlas Shrugged a few days ago. I thought I would never finish it, extremely long. Now I'm reading A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, have you heard of it?" Emily asked.
Just the mention of Hemingway brought back memories of Key West for Homer. The sun, the beach, the fishing, and most of all, Jenna. But he had to get her out of his mind so he could keep moving forward.
"I have heard of it, haven't read any of Hemingway's books, but I hear they are well done," Homer replied.
"They are yes, but what was it that you wanted to ask me?" Emily asked.
Homer cleared his throat once again and thought about how to present the flowers until finally he just revealed them before asking the question. "You wouldn't mind if I took you out to dinner would you?"
Emily stared at the bouquet of flowers, surprised that Homer would suddenly ask such a question. She did not realize that he had any interest in her, of course he did seem a bit shy. He would would walk away from her nervously whenever he came to get his check. Maybe he had wanted to ask her for a date for a while now, he just never had the heart to ask. She didn't know much about him either, just that he worked for the janitorial service and was a pretty good worker according to Joe. Maybe he was good at pleasing a lady on the first date. She had no idea, but why not, it was fun to learn more about the people she worked around. The man before him had dated her once. It didn't work out, but they still talked about their favorite books.
"You know, I haven't been to a good restaurant in ages, what did you have in mind any way?" Emily asked.
"I was thinking of a nice cafe somewhere, we could have a sandwich and some coffee and enjoy the evening," Homer replied knowing that cafe's were favorite hangouts for people like her.
"Hmmm, sounds lovely. Why not, Where were you thinking?" Emily asked as she finally took the flowers and sniffed them before setting them down next to her book.
"How about Sundress Cafe near downtown on Wednesday?" Homer asked.
"Ooh I would love to to but I have a class on Wednesday," Emily said.
"Thursday then?" Homer asked.
Emily thought for a moment, trying to remember if she had any plans at all. "I think I am open that evening," she replied.
"Sounds great! I'll meet you there at six," Homer replied.
Emily only nodded as she handed Homer the check. Homer quickly took it out of her hand and made his way out the door. When he finally left the building, he danced a happy little jig on the way to his car. Things were finally looking up. He had a date and maybe someone to love again. Hopefully any way, he still had that first date to contend with.
A/N: And look how fast I just updated! I think I got a good wind on this story now, especially since I realized I have only ten more chapters to go. It's actually kind of exciting and this means I might be updating faster than normal to get this story done. And mostly because one reader will be leaving in August for a special thing for school. Plus it's really time for me to retire. I need to move on and write an original story. So yeah if you haven't been shocked yet, wait until chapter 30 mwahahahaha! And please review, I keep getting only three of you. Well I know there is a fourth but she decided to give up fanfiction for lent, what a brave girl. But yeah more reviews please or something. I might have to wait until the final chapter but meh. Oh well see you all later.