Theo POV


    Waking up alone scared me at first. I felt her side of the bed and could tell she had been gone for a while. The bed was cold, but then I saw her clothes still scattered on the floor and the mess we had made, giving me a feeling of pride. The sight of that mess that was left behind had me thinking if a person was going to leave, would she not pick up her clothes? It urred to me that she left in a hurry, which meant she got called to work. I hope the child she was called in for makes it through the night; it is very emotional when you work on children, and part of why I do not work with children is that it breaks my heart to work on such small, innocent hearts.


    Though I was sad she was no longer in my bed; I felt it was time to move this arrangement away from booty calls to something more tangible, like maybe my girlfriend. It had been many years since I had one, and thest one had left me with a broken heart. I had steered away from having another one, fearing another broken heart. Yeah, we men get hurt, too, though we are usually better at hiding our feelings, and anger is what is shown instead of tears. I did not want that pain again, but Bethany was going to be worth the risk of the possibility of being hurt again.


    At work, I took a chance that Bethany would be in Robson''s office, but she was still in the theater, so I sat and drank coffee with Robson. He was a bag of nerves and kept looking at the time. He had something on his mind and was distracted.


    ''Why are you so worked up? Are you worried that Bethany will lose the patient?'' Bethany was my first thought; she was a good doctor and the best when it came to children, but children can be tricky, so tiny and vulnerable, and can drop fast.


    ''My best friend''s child is in Bethany''s hands. I am her Godfather, and I am very scared. This little girl has been fighting for so long, and I pray she does not stop fighting. You know as well as I how fast children can suddenly die.'' No wonder she was a mess; family is always hard to watch; we make sure we are not the ones to operate on a loved one unless there is no other choice.


    ''Why don''t you go and watch from the observation deck?'' I would want to watch it.


    ''I tried that but could not cope with watching her be cut open; I had to leave and had thought of sitting and waiting with my friend, but I could not cope with the tears and the emotions that would be pouring out of the mother.''


    ''How long has she been on the table?'' I wondered if the girl could survive a lengthy operation.


    ''She should be finished in close to four hours! He swallowed thest of the coffee and stood up.


    ''Come on, time to go and see how things are.'' I followed Robson out the door.


    ''I need to do a few things first. I''ll catch up with youter. When you have seen her settled in her bed, go home,'' I said, patting Robson on his back. Then, I headed to the shop to get Bethany a coffee and a muffin, and another coffee for me. When I saw her sitting at her desk, working on the reports, she looked tired but beautiful. My heart raced a little looking at her, and I felt my pants tighten as if my body was responding to the memories ofst night, the things we did. Wow.


    We arranged to have dinner and I could not wait for the day to be over. My good mood must have shown, as the nurses were giving me flirty looks, but I could not give a toss about them. My girl was getting food ready for me, and I was going to have a chat. Thesedies did not hold even a sparkpared to the zing me I had burned for Bethany.


    After a brisk walk and a stop at the bakery for a cheesecake, I made it home in record time. I decided to go to my ce first and get changed before I entered her home.


    Her home had a radio ying softly, but there was no smell of cooking. I entered the kitchen and could see the steaks sitting in the marinade. I put the cheesecake in the fridge and headed down the hallway, wondering where she was. There on her bedy my sleeping beauty. She must have been very tired. She must have thought about taking a quick nap, and it went a little longer than nned.


    Smiling, I went back to the kitchen and started dinner. I put the heat in the frying pan and started the meat. I looked in the fridge and found the sd she had prepared. All I had to do was cook the meat, and I treated it like I was cooking on the grill at Dad''s ce. I was humming to the tune on the radio when some arms were wrapped around my waist, and a head leaned on my back.


    ''Did you get enough sleep? Sorry if I woke you?'' I wondered if I made too much noise.


    ''No, the smell of the food woke me. My stomach grumbled with expectation. She was still wrapped around my waist, and I liked it.


    ''Still about ten minutes away, go freshen up, and I will put it on the table! Bethany left the kitchen, and I continued preparing the food, setting up the table, and putting out the sd, water, and coffee. Bethany came back with a giant smile as she took a seat, grabbed a napkin, and ced it on herp.


    I sat opposite her and waited for her to take the first bite. I watched as she cut the steak and lifted the fork to her lips. They parted, and the meat disappeared behind those luscious lips. I was getting turned on by the simple act of watching her eat, and then she groaned as she chewed, and that did it; my pants were not too tight. How am I going to survive it? I keep getting hard by the simple act of eating. I was not even aware that that was even possible until now.


    ''You not eating?'' Bethany''s voice broke my trance, pulling me back to the here and now. Bethany stood to start clearing the table.


    ''Sit, I will do that, and I brought dessert. I said, making Bethany sit back down, clear the tes on the sink, and grab the cheesecake; Bethany had two slices, surprising me.


    Together, we cleaned the kitchen, talking about the game this weekend. We both agreed we would win easily, and never in all my wildest dreams would I dream that I would be doing dishes and talking sports to a woman, not just any woman, but the one I wanted to see if we could be more.


    ''Coffee?'' Bethany asked as she filled the coffee pot again.


    ''Maybeter.'' I said, grabbed her hand, and dragged her out of the kitchen and out onto the balcony. I sat on a chair and pulled her onto myp. I wanted her close to me as I talked to her.


    ''Bethany,st night blew my mind. Bethany giggled and wiggled on myp.


    ''You keep wiggling like that, and I won''t be able to talk, and I really want to get this off my chest!


    ''Sorry! She said, leaning back onto my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her closer to me.


    ''As I was sayingst night, it blew my mind and also opened my heart, in a way I did not expect. I was hoping you would consider taking our rtionship outside the booty call to being in a rtionship. I waited for her to respond. I felt her stiffen in my arms, and I hoped that was not an inadequate response.