Chapter Five

Oscar couldn't stop looking at Christine, seated across the little candle-lit table. He'd managed to finagle an entire uninterrupted evening away from the office and there was no other way he wanted to spend it but on a third date with her. He could count on two hands the number of women he'd asked out in the last few years. The number he'd taken for a second date, he could number on one hand with a thumb and finger left over. A third date? Unheard of...until Christine.

She was charming, utterly fascinating to him – and fascinated by him. She didn't ask a single question about his work with the OSI, either. What interested Christine was what Oscar had been like as a child. Oscar found as he answered her questions (and asked a few of his own) that he was more and more drawn to everything about her. He found himself willingly sharing details of his boyhood – his family...and Sam – that he usually kept closed off from view. With Christine, Oscar felt comfortable...and happy.

For her part, Christine was relieved to finally find a man who knew how to treat her like a lady. Oscar was respectful, gentle, sweet...and very handsome. She didn't know where this fledgling relationship might lead them, but she couldn't wait to find out.

- - -

Russ and Peggy were spending the evening celebrating the two-month anniversary of their very first date. They could talk about absolutely anything, but were equally as happy saying nothing at all and just being together. Russ was beginning to realize he could be content to look into her eyes and hear her laughter for the rest of his life. He wasn't quite ready to bring that up just yet, but he thought (from the way she leaned toward him, touching his hand when she spoke) that she might be feeling that way, too.

Peggy had gone all out, cooking a special dinner, but she didn't have to wonder if Russ appreciated that. His smile and the sparkle in his eyes said it all...and neither one felt a need to try and impress the other. They'd moved far beyond that. They were more than drawn to each other – lately, they felt incomplete when they had to be apart. Now, it seemed, they were both ready to take a very special step closer together. Tonight, Russ would not be going home...

- - -

Steve and Jaime were reaching a new phase of their own – the 'I can't stand what you did but I love you anyway' phase. Jaime had indeed gotten the truth out of Steve over dinner....and she was furious.

"Since when do you make decisions for me – without me?" she demanded.

"I thought it was best...just this once..."

"You don't get to decide what's 'best' for me! I do! Or we do, but not you, all by yourself!"

"I'm sorry. I -"

"For all you know, I might've made the same choice....but we don't get to find that out, do we? Steve, I am not a child and I'm not your possession!"

"Sweetheart, you really shouldn't get this upset -"

"I have every right to get upset!"

"It's not good for you...or for our baby."

Jaime opened her mouth to argue, then stopped short. "You're right," she said softly.

"I'm sorry for talking to Oscar without you, but I can't stand even the thought of something happening to you...to the two of you. I love you...and little Edgar here." Steve gently rubbed Jaime's stomach as he kissed her.

"Edgar?!? We are not calling our baby Edgar! Besides, she's gonna need a more feminine name..."

"Okay. How about Bertha?"

"Steve!"

"Steve's not a feminine name," he joked. "Esmerelda? Gertrude? I've got it - Matilda!"

"We have lots of time to decide," Jaime said, laughing as she settled happily into his arms.

- - - - -