(NEW) VIRGIN CATHOLIC PRIEST...

I sat at the table with Ben in the restaurant that was right around the corner from us. I'd never seen it though. It was restaurant set in amongst the most beautiful trees, leading out onto a lawn with a huge kids play area.

"You know about these kinds of places when you're on the parent circuit." Ben said.

It was such a weird sounding statement. Ben on the parent circuit! I still hadn't really gotten used to the idea of him being a dad. It still hadn't sunk in. Especially since he looked like the furthest thing from a father. Fathers aren't supposed to be so sexy, and tattooed and they definitely aren't suppose to have sex with people in the backseat of their cars.

Li had run off even before the waffles had even been ordered and was currently playing on the trampoline, leaving Ben and I to sit in a strained, awkward silence.

"So you're a father." I finally said, breaking the silence.

"Yes. I'm a dad."

"You know, if you'd asked me forty eight hours ago what the most unbelievable thing about you could possibly ever be, father would have been at the top of the list. Along with virgin Catholic Priest maybe."

Ben let out a small chuckle.

"I'm being serious." I quickly turned to him.

"I know you are." He said. "Some days its still hard for me to believe. But I wouldn't change it for the world." Ben turned and looked at me. Our eyes connected and that same, totally involuntarily, bolt of something shot through me once more. That magnetic thing that was currently making me want to reach out and touch him against all logic.

I sighed loudly and shook my head at the total absurdity of this moment. "What are we doing?" I was feeling exacerbated. "What am I doing sitting here with you, once again? Why am I with you when I should be angrily avoiding you? Why am I here ordering waffles on a Sunday morning with your adorable daughter bouncing up and down on a trampoline like we are some kind of... " I stopped. I didn't want to say family, even if it was exactly what I was thinking. " After everything you've done, everything that's happened ... I'm meant to dislike you immensely."

"But you don't. " Ben's hand inched across the table.

"No! Stop it there, Ben." I pointed at his hand and it stopped it's sneaky approach. "I'm being serious, why are we here again, together? Why?"

"I told you, Sera. There's something between us. It was there from the first moment I saw you and it's pulling us together."

"That sounds ridiculous." I mumbled.

"How else do you explain it all then? You working in the same office as me, being my next-door neighbor, the fact we can't keep our hands off each other, that we can't stop thinking about each other and talking and..."

"Who says I'm thinking about you?"

He shrugged. "Anyway, we wouldn't be here together if you hadn't been spying on me. Sneaking around in the basement and the roses. You're the reason you're with me. You can't keep away." His hand crept again and I flicked it.

"But wait..." I pulled my hands into my lap least I temp him any further. "But what you did at the party yesterday, it was­–"

"Terrible." He cut me off. "And I'm so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you." He looked at me with such sincerity that I believed him.

"Do you think I'm a total asshole?" His voice was soft and filled with emotion. Regret. Hurt.

"Honestly I don't know what to think about you anymore. I have so many questions."

"Well, ask them."

"You were married?" I said. It was more of a statement than a question.

"I know."

"You cheated on your wife?"

"I know."

"You ask me to date you while keeping your entire life a secret from me?"

"I know. I know. I sound terrible."

"You do." I shook my head at him.

"And yet here we are." He said.

I nodded and echoed his words. "Yup. Here we are."

"Anything else you want to know, Sera? I promise I'm going to be completely honest with you from now on."

Something bubbled up inside me. A question that I had been wanting to ask so badly, but hadn't had the courage to yet. What the hell. There was no time like the present "Did you sleep with all the women in your previous office?"

"Mmm." He looked cautious for a while. "It's an exaggeration, but yes, I did sort of sleep with a few."

"Sort of? You can't really sort of have sex can you? Unless I'm missing something here? Maybe I didn't learn about this sort of sex thing in biology." I leaned in a whispered that, what with all the kids running around.

He ran his hands through his hair. "I definitely used sex as a way of..." He looked like he was thinking carefully for the next words, "...forgetting. I was in a pretty bad way for a while after Li went, and I wasn't that well behaved for a while."

I felt sick to my stomach thinking about this. I wasn't sure that I wanted this level of candid honesty. First the cheating revelation, and now this.

"And when we...that night in the car," I asked, "how long had it been since you—"

Ben suddenly reached across the table and took my hands, but I pulled them away quickly. "I'm not going to lie to you," he said. He looked me in the eye... and he looked serious.

Shit, here it comes. He was going to tell me something like he'd had sex with someone the night before, or a few hours before or—

"Six months." he said in a deadpan tone.

"Six months?"

"Six months." he repeated, and it still sounded like he was being serious.

"You hadn't had sex in six months?"

He nodded. "A while ago I kind of realized that if I was ever going to get Li back, I needed to start being more responsible, so I started making some changes in my life and six months ago I stopped sleeping aro-." He cut himself off.

"Around!" I finished his sentence. "Sleeping around." I studied his face for any telltale signs of deceit, but there were none.

"You're being serious."

He nodded. "Please don't hate me, Sera."

I laughed. "God, I actually wish I could. I wish I could hate you and never want to see you again. It would make this all so much simpler." I snapped my head up and looked at him again. "And don't come with your 'life ain't simple thing' or 'the best things in life are complicated' or—"

"You took the words right out of my mouth." He cut me off with a smile. Our eyes met again and I started to feel the pull once more. The dangerous pull that was so hard to resist. Luckily, loud children's laughter made us both turn. Li was climbing up a tree now and laughing with her new friends. I turned back and looked at Ben, his eyes were glowing.

"She's adorable." I said.

"I'd do anything for her."

I nodded. "I know." You could see he would throw himself in front of a bus for her without a second thought.

"You don't know what love feels like until you have a child." He suddenly looked at me – his look was packed with meaning and subtext and it scared the hell out of me. I shuffled nervously in my seat. "And you? Do you want kids one day?" his meaningful look continued and it was making me very uncomfortable. I fiddled with my hands in my lap.

"Like you said, life isn't simple. And mine is just too complicated." I replied.

"So you won't be falling pregnant with my illegitimate child any time soon?"

"Arg," I hung my head "Please don't remind me about it ever again. And..." I looked back up at him and waggled a finger, "And just for the record, so there is no confusion, it wasn't true. It was a joke, just like you wanting a son called Max."

"No. That was true." Ben said.

"Huh?" My voice caught in my throat.

"I want at least two sons and three more daughters."

"You want six kids! Don't you think that's a bit much?"

Ben laughed. "Twelve would be pushing it, six though would be good. Besides...." His face changed again. Gone were the playful smiles, and back was that meaningful look. Damn that look. "Six seems to be my lucky number."

"How's that?" I asked.

"Well, we met at club six and I moved into apartment six." He met my eyes.

"I see." I broke eye contact and looked down at my lap again.

"Sera," Ben's hand came slinking back and this time I let him slide it onto my lap and intertwine his fingers with mine. "I'd really, really like to—"

He looked like he was just about to launch into a whole speech when Li run up to us and threw herself onto Ben's lap. He let go of my hand and wrapped his arms around her. Just then the waiter arrived with the waffles and they both started eating them. I tried to focus on eating too, but Ben kept looking back up at me. Minutes later Li was gone again and Ben and I were once alone again.

"What I was trying to say earlier," he turned to me the second Li had left, "I would really love to talk to you later, when we don't have so many distractions, there are still some things I want to tell you and..."

"Oh God. I don't think I can handle anymore surprises, Ben. Not for another lifetime. At least."

"Just come round tonight and let's talk about everything?"

I glanced up to see Li already running up to the table again. I nodded. "Fine. I'll see you later."