For a good cause... right?

IC:
Cole sat out on the back porch of his apartment, enjoying the tail end of a cigar and swirling the whiskey around the last remains of ice. It was going to be another Friday evening at home, which wasn't a bother really. He could see if his neighbors across the hall, Dex and Leah, would be up for something later. They could probably use a good night out.

Cole and Dex had been roommates during college, and the situation had worked well enough that they had kept the arrangement upon graduation. It had worked out very well, to Cole's mind, when Dex had started dating Leah two years ago and starting spending most of his nights at her place. The two had gotten married and moved in across the hall, and while Cole now had to pay for the apartment himself, a free dinner a few times a week made up for the trouble. Plus Leah had been throwing a few of her friends his way and while none of them ever really worked out, it had been an entertaining social life. For Cole, life wasn't bad at all.

Dex and Leah, however, had been having problems. Well, Cole amended, only one problem really. They were looking to start a family and a year of trying had produced no results so far. A trip to a specialist isolated the problem as a low sperm count, not a insurmountable problem but the young couple didn't have the funds for a medical solution. It had put a little stress in their relationship. It really wasn't a problem Cole could help them out with though, and he felt a little bad about being helpless. Dex would frequently use him to vent his frustrations, and Leah would use Cole as a sounding board when she thought she wasn't getting through to her husband. Cole was sure that the couple would work through it. Eventually.

OOC: Looking for a female to play the role of Leah, who will come to Cole with the idea of using him as a trusted, and secret, surrogate. PM if interested.

Leah wiped at the tears that had flowed from her eyes seconds before her husband had stormed out of their apartment. Once again she was made to feel like the bad guy in the relationship because she’d asked him not to purchase the newest high-tech gadget from Best Buy. He’d asked her why not. She’d mentioned the savings account they had set up to help in their goal of becoming parents. This of course led to the two of them arguing back and forth about how long it would take and how useless it would be for them to wait that long and be parents in their sixties. She told him he was over-reacting and within a few years of scrimping and saving surely they would have enough money to get started. The battle continued on until Dex eventually stormed out, leaving Leah feeling rotten and her soul broken once more.

She took a deep breath and headed to the bathroom. Once there she washed her face with cold water and looked at her reflection. Her nose was red, her eyes swollen from shedding tears, her cheeks were blotchy. She tried to calm down, but all she managed to do was cry some more. Eventually she sat down on the commode and released the pent up anger, fear, and sorrow that had been overwhelming her for the past few months. She didn’t think it was fair that she and Dex were having issues. She knew if they worked hard enough they could save the money, sure it would take a few years and yeah, they’d be a little older than they wanted to be when the kid graduated, but at least they’d be parents. Wasn’t it worth it?

Leah left the bathroom, and pulled off her robe, then dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. Why dress up? She thought to herself as she brushed out her long hair and slid some lip gloss over her full mouth. “A run, that’s all I need. . .” She knew though that she wanted more. She wanted a baby, not a run in the park. Leah laced up her shoes, tied them tight and opened the door to her apartment. She glanced at Cole’s place and thought of going to him to talk, but stopped her actions. Cole was Dex’s friend more than hers. She shouldn’t unload on him again. It wasn’t fair to Cole and she knew it put him in a position that surely he didn’t want to be in.

Turning away, she made herself walk down the hall and out the front door of the apartment complex. Once outside, she took a deep breath and sighed. She then stretched her muscles and pointed herself in the direction of the park. There she ran off the disappointment and the anger of her spouse and imagined herself as one of the mother’s in the park.

Cole listened to the door across the hall slammed closed, then watched as Dex stormed out the complex and over to his truck. As his friend sped off, Cole wondered just how long the couple would continue this peculiar routine of fights. After a few minutes Leah appeared walking out of the complex, stretched momentarily, then took off at a steady jog towards the park. Cole forcibly pulled his eyes off her retreating form and returned to his drink.

The two would probably argue again later, then one or the other would seek Cole out for a sympathetic ear. He briefly wondered if they flipped a coin or shot rock, paper, scissors to see which would come to him. So much for a fun night out.

Cole collapsed back into a chair on his porch. Dex would come around at some point, he did understand what a truly amazing woman Leah was. And Leah would come back to the realization that Dex truly did love her. It would just take some time and understanding. However, if there was something Cole could do to speed the process up...

This required some thought.

Sweat seemed to pour down Leah’s spine, collecting at the base of her back and soaking through the material of her shirt and waist band of her jeans. She knew she looked strange jogging in jeans, but she had sworn off baggy sweats a long time ago. She wanted to attract her husband’s attention, showcase her attributes and so she made sure her clothes fit her snugly at all times. Once she made her way back to the apartment complex, she was out of breath and looked as if she’d bathed in sweat. Still she was frustrated and angry with Dex.

Leah stretched and slowly headed back to her apartment. She glanced briefly at Cole’s door, stepped up to it and lifted her fist to knock on the hard surface that separated them. Her knuckles never graced the wood, instead she gripped her fingers tighter, turned and walked to the door of her and Dex’s home. Cole was not her friend at least he was more Dex’s than hers. Wasn’t he?

Inside her home, Leah immediately pulled off her shirt, tossed it on the floor and then discarded her bra, shoes, socks, jeans and panty. She shivered as the air-conditioner hit her heated flesh, goosebumps jumped up and formed their own goosebumps as another shiver rolled through her.

She made her way to the bathroom and slipped under a streaming shower of water. Eventually she worked the aches and pains of her jog from her shoulders and the muscles of her legs and arms. Soon she was humming a tune that had been playing on her Ipod the day before and had suddenly come back to her. After her shower she dried off, dressed in a simple, yet constricting pair of shorts and tank top.

She still had thoughts of Dex and their lack of having a child on her mind, but she also wanted to try and fix things again with him when he got home. She marched into the kitchen, content on preparing her husband his favorite meal. As the ground beef cooked on a low setting she set about looking for the other ingredients she’d need. Various spices sat on the shelf, all but one and it was that one that sent her over to Cole’s. This time she did knock on her neighbor’s door wanting nothing more than to borrow Oregano.

Cole was in the middle of pouring himself another whiskey when the knock sounded from the door. With a wry frown Cole looked up at the clock at the wall. Sooner than expected. He set the glass down on the counter and walked over to the door. He opened it to reveal Leah standing there, skin slightly flushed and practically pouring out of a pair of shorts and a tank top.

"Leah," Cole said backing out of the door, "Come on in." She favored him with a smile as she walked into his apartment. "What?s up?"

"Dinner," Leah responded as she moved toward his kitchen. "Or it will be if you have some oregano."

"Of course. Help yourself," he said nodding towards the cupboard where he kept his meager cooking supplies. "Or help yourself to whatever's there."

"Thank you," Leah said as she moved over and opened the required shelves. Her lithe form stretched up to examine the contents of the spice bottles stored there. Again, Cole politely moved his eyes from the view.

"I was just having a drink," Cole said as he returned to his glass. "Will you join me?"

"No thanks." There was the small clink of glass as she moved some bottles around. "You need to stock up some."

"Well, I don't do much cooking when it's just me."

Leah's hand retreated from the cupboard with the targeted oregano. "This should do."

Cole nodded as she closed the cupboard door and turned back to face him. "Well," he asked. "What's up?"

"Hm?"

Cole cocked his head to the side and waited.

There it is, Leah thought to herself, the opening I need. She licked her lips, swallowed the lump in her throat and sighed. “It’s just...,” she took another deep breath, “the same ol’ shit.”

Leah took a seat at the kitchen table and toyed with the bottle of Oregano. She struggled to once again unload her frustrations on Cole’s shoulders. But he’d asked, she told herself as she found her lips moving and explaining why she was upset with his friend, her husband.

“He just doesn’t seem to care anymore. I mean in the beginning he too wanted a baby, just like I did. We wanted a family. You know the scene, a two car garage, a picket fence, two point five kids, though how they get that number is beyond me.” She shrugged her shoulders and leaned back, wiping at a tear that had gathered at the corner of her eye.

“I’m sorry. I’m sure you’re quite sick of hearing the same ol’ stuff spilling out of my mouth. It’s just... well you asked. Surely you would have known it was about this again.”

She glanced briefly up at Cole and chuckled softly. “It’s not right that you’re easier to talk to than my husband. Then again, you’re not the one trying to have a baby with me, are ya.”

Leah pushed her fingers through her hair, leaned back over the table and rested her chin on her arms, which she’d crossed in front of her. “I need answers Cole, got any?”

"Answers? The only answers I have are the ones you already know," Cole said as he sat up on the counter.

"Any guy that can't get his wife pregnant is going to have some issues to deal with. Dex still wants a family, he's just having difficulty handling the fact that its going to be harder than it should be." Cole shurgged his shoulders, uncertain if should should voice his next thought.

"And... well, I can't say he's dealing with it very well. But you can either be patient and let it blow over, or do whatever you can to fix the problem."

Leah seemed to think that over a moment, the obivous questions coming into her eyes.

"Which is?" she eventually prompted.

"Well, that's up to you to decide. Look at your options and pick a course of action. Doesn't matter if it's the right, or maybe even the best course of action, I find that if I at least have a plan then I feel better."

"Okay..." she still seemed unsure.

"Well," Cole ventured, "You can let it go for the moment, but pick a time when you can return to the topic with Dex. It might not be easy waiting, but at least you'll know how long you'll be waiting. A goal to look forward to. Or, you can look at your alternatives. Put a financial plan together. It wouldn't be an immeadiate solution, but it'd still be a goal to work for."

Cole shrugged his shoulders. He was a bit embarrased, and was jabbering slightly because of it.

"I'm sure you can figure something out, there might even be an option out there you haven't thought of yet. If it comes along I'd like to do whatever I can to help."

Leah sighed as she rose from the table. She knew Cole meant well, but he hadn’t truly helped, he’d only added more questions to her already overfilled plate. “Thanks for listening,” she moved around the table, leaned in and kissed his cheek, “I’ll think some more on it.”

She left then, the weight of her and Dex’s situation still heavy on her shoulders. She finished dinner, hoping to help ease the tension between her and her husband. When he walked in, she was wearing a forced smile, her palms sweaty, yet she swore she would not bring up the subject again, until she had a plan formed, one that she was sure her husband would agree to.

They started their meal in silence, eventually moving into the discussion of some upcoming family reunion that neither wanted to attend. The day progressed, each doing their own thing. Leah was left alone with her thoughts and she found them always coming back to Cole and his words.

What other route? A financial plan? She’d already done that. That was what had called the whole bloody explosion between her and Dex in the first place. He was going off the plan and splurging. She couldn’t ask him to tighten his belt further; that was out of the question. She couldn’t handle another blow up like the one this morning.

A heavy sigh left her lips as she tried to think of the other options. She felt a stirring in her chest as she pictured the perfect scenario. She was sitting on a porch swing, Dex was mowing the yard, and their child sat on the floor in front of her playing with blocks. Another sigh followed the first. She rose from her desk and moved to the bedroom, there she rested on the bed, her eyes staring up at the ceiling as she thought of how to accomplish her dream in a quicker and much cheaper way than the route they had been taking.