Life Anew Chapter 2

Warning: This story does not contain any sex. None of the characters are based on real people nor are they meant to resemble any living or dead people.

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Characters in This Chapter

Andrew Brock – age 25 - Ex to Ethan, Future B/F to Cody Gaines

Cody Gaines – Age 29 - Ex to Emma Reed, Father to Chase Gaines

Chase Gaines – Age 4 – Cody Gaines' son

Jennifer Cross – Age 40 – Nurse at the clinic

Susan Bridges – Age 30 – Office Manager at Clinic

Jason Perez – Age 26 – Friend of Andrew's

John Cross – Husband to Jennifer Cross

Mia ( Gaines ) Montoya – 26 Sister to Cody and Aunt to Chase

A New Life

Chapter 2

Getting Caught

Andrew had a great day yesterday at work. If Doctor Gaines hadn't been so sexy, charismatic, and kind, his day would have been so perfect. Even with the distraction of his boss, he was able to stay focused and get through the day. At least, it was okay. Everyone at work made the day so much easier. Even the patients were great. He arrives today at the clinic with enough time to put his stuff away before the meeting.

***

He enters the room that everyone meets in the morning, all ready for whatever comes. He's still trying to figure out the best way to work with Doctor Gaines without getting swept up in his emotions and thoughts. How do you work with someone who is so hot and not keep your eyes on them all the time? Doctor Gaines is interesting and super-hot, which makes it harder to ignore him. Everyone joins him in the staff room for the meeting. Doctor Gaines welcomes everyone to the meeting, and they review all the patients that are scheduled to come in today. Among the patients coming in today, there are half a dozen kids, an older couple, two or three teens, and few college-aged people. There is even a baby coming in for a checkup. Doctor Gaines is stressing how important it is with the older couple that the staff be vigilant on checking vitals and answering their questions, and of course, making sure to always be respectful. There is nothing as important as respect towards the patients as far as Cody is concerned. If you want to get fired, the best way to do it is to mistreat any of the patients. Andrew is listening to Cody and taking notes on the information that is being given now. It's hard to sit here and not watch him and not check out his body. Andrew is starting to tune Doctor Gaines out. Jennifer nudges him to get him his attention back on Doctor Gaines. If Andrew keeps doing this, it could be a problem with her, but for now, she'll let it go because he's still new to the clinic. He is brought back to the meeting just as quickly as his mind left it. It's all good, though. Jennifer gives him a wink, and then she returns her focus to the meeting as well. Doctor Gaines ends the meeting right there. After the meeting and ten minutes later, their first patient arrives. It's a young man coming in with a mystery rash. It's all good, and he's Andrew's first case of the day.

***

A little later in the day, Andrew is in the hallway, along with Jennifer and Cody. She catches Andrew and Cody exchanging quick glances as they move from one exam room into another. She winks at Cody, letting him know that she is fully aware of their flirting. A few minutes later, Jennifer comes up beside Andrew.

"Keep your eyes on your work, and you'll be fine."

Her advice serves a good reminder to him that he does need to keep focused and not focused on his boss. He managed to stay focused yesterday, and he can do the same today. He can keep doing it too.

***

Andrew is definitely more aware of his crush on Cody today. He's keenly aware that they have been exchanging glances. He's not going to lie, it feels good to have someone that hot looking at him and checking him out. It's all good too. Andrew's crush on him is growing every minute and every hour.

***

Andrew is called into an exam room by Doctor Gaines to administer a shot to a child. The mother is sitting in the room, and the child is sitting on the exam table.

"Hey Buddy, what's going on?"

Andrew says to the child, who looks a little worried. The kid has honed on to the syringe in his hand. Doctor Gaines watches intently as Andrew pulls out a sucker and hands to the kiddo.

"Thank you!"

The little guy says as Andrew readies the syringe.

"You're welcome. Now listen to me, you might feel a pinch."

As quickly as he can, he administers the shot. The mother is amazed at how well her son did today while getting his shot. He's never done this good at the doctor's office, usually, there is a lot of drama, but somehow Nurse Brock made the visit into something positive for both the mother and the son.

"Wow, look at that, it's all done."

Andrew says to the young man, and he presents his fist to the kid for a fist pump. The kid smiles and shows his mom the sucker, and he also shows it off to Doctor Gaines.

"Very cool Christopher!"

Cody says to his young patient. Little Christopher is still smiling big time as Andrew goes to leave. Andrew goes on to his next patient, but he can't get Cody off his mind. He goes about working with the next patient, and they end up in the same exam room time and time again. Being Cody is driving him nuts. He is around his crush and can't say anything to him at all.

***

Doctor Gaines is out in the hallway talking to his office manager about some prescription orders that he needs to be written out and then he'll sign them. He is facing Susan talking and signing the orders. Andrew is in one of the exam rooms finishing up with a patient when he comes out of the room, the first thing he sees is a view of Cody's backside, but Cody turns his head and locks eyes with his nurse. His butt is covered in a pair of light blue dress pants, and it's on display for Andrew to see. He tries to avoid looking at the glutes in front of him, but he fails and takes in sight before him. He turns and puts the chart that he's holding into the file holder outside the exam room that he just left and this time it's Doctor Gaines who gets a view of the backside of his male nurse who is covered up in blue scrubs.

"Nice, maybe I'll see this butt for real someday."

His nurse doesn't even see the eyes that are resting on his butt, but somehow, he feels Doctor Gaines eyes on him. Andrew moves to his next patient, but he is still feeling all the feels from knowing that Doctor Gaines was checking him out. The flirting isn't appropriate at the moment, though. For now, he does his best to ignore the flirting that is burning in his mind. Like Cody, Andrew wouldn't mind a night alone with his boss, but it feels so wrong. Not to mention the fear of being abused again, he doesn't know if he can ever trust another guy again. There is no hope, or at least that is what he thinks. Cody would love to take the nurse out for a dinner or a movie. Maybe for something a little bit more, but he won't do anything if it means causing his son any grief. His own happiness comes second to his son's happiness.

***

It wasn't just Andrew who saw Cody's wandering eyes. Jennifer noticed it, and she isn't happy about it.

"Doctor Gaines, a moment of your time please?"

She wants to talk to him about his flirting.

"Okay, but this had better be quick."

Cody follows Jennifer into his office. He knows her enough to know that she isn't happy about something. As they enter his office, Cody sits down at his desk while Jennifer closes his office door. She turns around and looks Cody dead in the eyes.

"I know you aren't going to like this, but you need to remember who you are and where you are. Do not let the patients see you flirting with our new employee."

She speaks her mind and then places her hand on Cody's shoulder and then smiles. He smiles back at her, grateful for the reminder that he needs to contains himself around Andrew, if possible.

"Thanks, Jennifer."

There isn't a vocal response, but there is a nod of the head. She opens the office door and walks out. His mind churns over what she said to him. He gets up and goes to his next patient.

***

Jennifer needs to know that what she did was right and only John, her husband; can give her that answer. Susan is kind enough to schedule little breaks periodically for the nurses so they can use the restroom or have some coffee without it interfering with the patients.

"Susan, I need to call my husband."
She doesn't want to just take a break without knowing that it wasn't going to mess anything up.

"Okay."

Jennifer nods her head and then heads down the hallway. She enters the breakroom and sits down in the chair next to the phone. Dialing her husband's phone, she thinks what she did. Finally, her husband picks up the phone.

"Jennifer, are you okay?"

He asks out of worry.

"I'm fine, but I need some advice."

There needs to be a plan; she needs to know what to do. Should she ignore what it is going between Andrew and Cody or should she say something to Cody and Andrew or should she say something to Cody and Andrew to get them to talk to each other?

"Okay, so what is going on at work?"

John asks because he is still worried about his wife. Jennifer doesn't usually call home from work.

"So Cody has been flirting with the new nurse?"

Jennifer is good for sticking her nose into people's business when she feels the need to do so, but she doesn't mean to be nosey.

"What are you thinking of doing?"

If she knew that, she wouldn't have bothered to call him.

"Look, I think you should leave it alone."

John doesn't want her to be involved in their business.

"I just get this feeling that Cody and the nurse belong together."

Jennifer tells John what she thinks should happen in Cody's and Andrew's life.

"Look, I already told you that I think you should stay out of this, so no one gets their feelings hurt."

John is adamant that Jennifer should stay out of their business. He knows, though, that she will not listen to him.

"Someone needs to get these two together, and it needs to happen soon."

John disagrees with his wife's statement.

"No, if they are going to get together, it should be them doing it, not someone else."

He tells her as his lunchtime is slowly coming to a close.

"Look, whatever you decide to do, don't hurt Cody in the process. The world has shit on him enough without having to go through another breakup. I love you, Jennifer, but I need to go."

It's incredible that after all this time, they still love each other.

"I love you too, John."

Now she sits in the chair and thinks about what John told her. Cody doesn't deserve to be screwed over by a guy, and Chase doesn't need to end up getting attached to someone only to have them walk away. Andrew doesn't seem to be the type to play games, but then again, she hasn't known him all that long, so he could be scum. Still, neither guy has made any move other than stealing glances, so would it hurt to give them a push towards each other? She gets up and goes back to her duties.

***

Finally, it's lunchtime for Andrew, and he heads out to his favorite lunch place. After getting his food ordered, he receives a phone call, which he chooses to ignore. Instead, he decides to text the person instead of being rude to those around him.

"Hey, Jason, what's up?"

His food comes out, and he begins to eat while waiting for a reply back from his best friend. It doesn't take long for a response to come back.

"I just called to see what was up with you and Doctor Hotness, so spill it, dude."

He's been dying to know all day long but had to wait till Andrew's lunchtime to find out.

"Well, he caught me staring at him."

Andrew doesn't want to relive getting caught, but he already knows that Jason is going to ask him about it. At least no one can hear their conversation, so that is a huge plus.

"What did he do?"

Andrew smiles at his friend's question.

"He was talking to our office manager and was bent over a little bit while speaking with her. His ass was the first thing that caught my eye. It wasn't too long after that, he turned his head towards me, we made eye contact, but he didn't say a thing to me, but he did smile at me. It made me feel kind of crazy."

Andrew smiles as he thinks about the doctor's ass in the dress pants. Jason smirks at the thought of his friend observing his boss's ass. It's getting late, and Andrew needs to head back to the office.

***

Once Cody goes to lunch, he gets a surprise. The surprise is that his son calls him. Chase is at his Aunt Mia's house and wanted to call his daddy, so he allowed it.

"Hey Buddy, what's up?"

Cody says with a smile on his face.

"Hi, Daddy, are you busy?"

Hearing his son's voice, when he's at work, it makes Cody happy.

"Nope, I'm at lunch. Are you good for Aunt Mia?"

He can hear his sister telling Chase, that he's been good, that makes Cody feel proud.

"I'm good! Daddy, can we go to the park?"

When Chase has been good, it's not uncommon for him to get a bit of a reward. He doesn't get an accolade every time he's been good, but his dad tries to do it enough, that he knows that being good is expected of him even when Daddy isn't around.

"Yeah, we can go to the park if you want too, but you have to be good until I get home, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy."

Chase wasn't going to be bad for his aunt. He knows his dad gives him a time out when they get home if he's been bad, so that is on his mind too.

"Daddy, I need to go pee. Bye..."

He wouldn't say that unless he really has to go.

"Before you go, what do you say to me?"

Chase thinks for a second.

"Love you, Daddy."

Cody chuckles a bit at how cute, his son sounded.

"Love you too, Chase. Bye-Bye."

Cody ends the call, and then he eats his lunch before going back to work.

***

Andrew's day has come to an end, and he's feeling quite happy. A certain someone gave Andrew a smile as he walked out the door. There is a smile on Andrew's face as he walks out the door. He could have ended the day just like he did yesterday. Yesterday, he left work thinking that he should quit, and today he is leaving job feeling much happier. Yeah, he still has his doubts, but at the same time, he knows that the key to getting through every day is being a professional.

***

Cody leaves from work and heads out to his sister's house. When he gets there, there is a warm feeling in his heart. Being with his son always makes him happy. He can see a little face watching him as he pulls up, and then it follows him as he walks up to the house. When he knocks at the door, he can hear little feet running to the door. Mia can be heard, saying, "You let me answer the door.". She opens the door with a smile on her face.

"He's been awesome, Cody."

Cody puts his hands to greet his little man. Chase runs right to his dad with his arms outstretched.

"Daddy! Can we go, can we go?"

"Get your stuff, and let's go."

Chase walks with his aunt to grab his backpack. They come back a little later, and Chase has his backpack.

"Bye Aunt Mia! Love you."

Chase says as he hugs his aunt gives her a kiss. Then, it dons on him that he needs to talk to Mia, but he needs to do it without the little guy being able to hear them.

"You know what Chase, Daddy needs to talk with Aunt Mia for a little bit, is that okay?"

Chase puts his backpack down and then goes running off to find the cats.

"Well, I guess that answers that question."

Cody says as he sits down on the couch. Mia can't help but wonder what is going on with her brother.

"So what is going on?"

Mia is dying to know what's up.

`Does this have anything to do with the new employee that, he's taken a liking too?'

Mia thinks to herself as she watches her brother.

"I caught Andrew staring at my ass today at work."

She smiles and then chuckles a bit.

"He did not. Why are you lying?"

Cody gives her a glance and then nods his head as to hell her "Yes, he did.".

"Mia, I am not lying. I have to admit that I like him or in the very least lusting after him."

She doesn't get why her brother would go after this guy at work.

"I know you have not flirted with him?"

She knows her brother enough to know that he has flirted with the nurse.

"Maybe, I have. Maybe I haven't."

He says with a smile on his face. Mia nudges him a little.

"Are you going to pursue him?"

Cody can't help but smile at the thought of chasing after his nurse.

"Clearly, I want too, because he could be amazing, I think."

She is quiet for a second or two as she tries to come up with her next words.

"I can't tell you what to, but if it were me, I would find a way to talk to him."

She thinks that he should, and he should keep trying until he does talk to the nurse, and then find out if he's into her brother.

"I'll talk to him. Right now, though, I need to get your nephew and head out to the park because I promised him."

Mia sits in her living room as her brother gets ready to head out for home, but first, he has to find his son. Chase didn't want to give up playing with the cat, but Cody reminded him about going to the park, and he quickly moved towards the front door. They have to go home so that, Chase can change out of his clothes and into play clothes.

***

As Chase is changing his clothes, Cody is thinking about calling Doctor Hartman for advice on the whole situation. Doctor Hartman is always a professional even on his off time. This guy is all about the clinic, so he might react negatively to the possibility to Cody and Andrew dating each other. Is this even wrong? Cody stares at his cell phone as he contemplates making the call. The thought of Doctor Hartman telling him that he can't date Mr. Brock, and it really bothers him. As Cody is sitting there, he hears, "Daddy help me!" ring out from upstairs, so he gets up and goes to his son's bedroom. There he finds exactly what he thought he would find, his little man is upstairs in mismatched clothes.

`I am not going to freak out, this is one time that I am okay with you being mismatched. Grandma and Grandpa are going to love this, so will Aunt Mia.'

"What's up, buddy?"

Chase points to his shoes.

"I need my shoes, please."

Cody smiles at his son's politeness.

"Thank you, now sit down so I can put your shoes on your feet."

The child sits down in one of his chairs so, his dad can put the shoes on his feet. As soon as his shoes are on, Chase is ready to go. Cody stands up, and Chase takes his dad's hand and practically drags his dad out of the bedroom.

"Let's go, Daddy."

Chase is a little impatient.

"Slow down, we have time."

"No, Daddy, let's go."

Cody and son leave the house and get outside.

***

Cody opens up the car and helps to make sure that Chase is secure in his booster seat. Then he comes around and gets inside, he is as ready for the park as Chase seems to be. He gets the car going, and they head out for the park.

"Did you have fun at Aunt Mia's house today?"

"Yeah, I played with Jose and Kayla. We had grilled cheeses for lunch and peaches for lunch. We painted too."

Cody loves the fact that Mia lives close enough that Chase gets to see his cousins whenever he wants. Cody tries to rotate who watches him so that there isn't just one person watching him, but Mia does the majority of it. If you asked Mia, she would tell you that watching Chase is a breeze.

"Sounds like you had a blast at Aunt Mia's."

"I did Daddy. What did you do today, Daddy?"

These little moments spent today are sometimes the best times of the day.

"Well, I took care of my patients.

Five minutes later, they pulled up to the house.

"Here we are dude, let me stop the car before you unbuckle the seat belt."

Once the car stopped, Chase had his belt off of him.

"Let me out."

Chase knows that the child-proof locks are in place.

"Hold on dude, I have to let you out."

Cody gets out of the cart and moves around to open the door for his son. Chase practically jumps out of the car and into his dad's arms. Cody closes the car door. Together, they walk towards the playground. Chase is holding Cody's hand. Chase runs to the swings while Cody does his best to keep up with him. Chase climbs up into the swing and starts using his feet to get the swing going, but he still wants Cody to push him. Spending time with his son is important to Cody, Chase loves having his dad's attention.

"Higher Daddy, higher!"

Cody's son is pleased with his dad. Chase squeals as his father gives him an extra little push. Cody sometimes gets weird looks from people, especially when Chase is off playing with other kids and he decides to sit down and watch. Chase doesn't care, he likes coming to the park. After spending 10 minutes on the swings, Chase decides that he wants to go on the slides. Cody stops him, and he walks over the slides with his son. Chase steps up to the slide while Cody goes to a nearby bench so he watch his son and near enough that he can come running should something happen. It's great to see him come down the slide with a smile on his face, and he is laughing the whole time, which is incredible. Cody is clapping his hands and egging his son on which Chase loves. He wants to encourage him to play, and he also wants him to wear himself down a little bit. Playing out on the playground allows him to play with other kids as well, something he gets a small taste of by playing with his cousins. Sadly, they can't spend all day at the park, so Cody tells his son that it's time to go. They head back to the car without a single tantrum from Chase.

***

As Cody and Chase are coming home, Andrew is sitting down for dinner. He decided on breakfast for dinner, so he fried up some pork sausage, fried up an egg, and had some fresh fruit.

If he can be honest, it felt amazing to connect like that, he's pretty sure that lightning might have flashed between them. Before he can go to bed, he needs to get the day off his mind. Reading is the quickest way for him to ease his mind, so he grabs his e-reader and starts reading. After an hour, he puts the book down and then gets ready for bed.

***

Back at the Gaines' household, Cody is preparing some fish fillets for poaching as well as steaming some green beans for dinner, while watching the fish fillets, he also keeps an eye on his son. Dinner was terrific, and even the little guy loved it. Dessert was simple; some fresh fruit and tonight its mango slices.

"What do you want to do before we get ready for bed?"

Chase is asked by his dad.

"Daddy, can we do a puzzle?"

Chase runs to his room and grabs some puzzles and then returns to his dad.

Cody loves it when Chase includes him in his activities before bedtime.

"Okay, buddy. Do you want to sit at the table or on the floor?"

Instantly, Chase sits down on the floor with the puzzles. The first one is a twenty-four piece puzzle. They work on the puzzle for a while. Cody lets Chase do the majority of the work on it. After that puzzle, Cody looks at the clock and sees that it's time for bed. Cody helps his son clean up the puzzles, and then they head up the stairs.

***

After getting ready for bed, Cody tucks Chase in and then they talk for a few minutes.

"Where do you want to go on vacation?"

Cody loves to have his son's input on decisions that aren't overly important. Vacation is one such decision. There is nothing this little boy loves more than going to the aquarium and seeing the sharks or going to the zoo to see the animals. Cody loves going to the beach and beach-combing for beach glass.

"The big swamp?"

Cody isn't sure what he means by "The big swamp," but then he remembers looking at a book at Mia's house that had pictures of from the Everglades, and Chase had taken a liking to the pictures.

"You want to go see the Everglades?"

The little guy nods his head and smiles.

"What do you think we're going to see there?"

The little guy gets super serious for a minute as he thought about his answer.

"Gators."

"Okay, I will start making plans for our vacation to the Everglades. Now time for lights out Chase. Love you, Buddy."

Chase pulls his teddy bear close to him and cuddles up with it

"Love you, Daddy."

Cody gives his son a kiss goodnight on the forehead and then turns to leave the room. He makes sure to turn off the light on his way out of the room. Cody retires to his room to read before going to bed himself.

***

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