Second Date - Blake & Cleo

Upon entering the pod, Cleo would find the couch pushed off to the side and a red and white checkered blanket laid out on the floor with a wicker basket. Inside the wicker basket would be a bottle of wine, a wine glass and several wrapped sandwiches with in neat handwriting telling her what each sandwich was and what it had on it. There would be some sugar cookies included as well.

When Blake entered the pod he'd walk over to the drink cart and pour himself a glass of ginger ale before he sat down on the floor. "Hellooooooo?" He called out.

Blake opened the basket and let a low whistle out and then laughed at the little sketch of the doc being tackled by six kids. "You've captured my likeness quite well! I'm impressed!" He chuckled. "Also, this look amazing I definitely plan on using these, and I'm very excited to try out these recipes. Mine should be buried somewhere under those sandwiches." He told her. At the very bottom of the basket was several index cards and written in neat handwriting, with a recipe for each one. They included, homemade Chicken noodle soup, sugar cookies, homemade chili with cornbread, homemade pad tai, homemade cheese enchiladas, and coffee scones.

"I did! I did not hold back." He laughed. He picked his basket up and came to sit on the floor in front of the glass. He picked up the jar of marmalade and opened it before he dipped his pinky in and tasted the citrusy sweetness of it. "Damn that's good marmalade." He said with a small grunt of approval and closed the lid before putting it back in the basket. "Very busy I must confess." He chuckled. He didn't want to go into to much details, but he also wanted Cleo to get where he was coming from. "I wanted to make all these dates specials in their own way ya know?" He said. "So a lot of planning went in to make them as special as I could for you gals." He scratched his head. "I uh...well it was very hard because you ladies are all pretty awesome." He confessed. "And now I'm awkward and turning as red as one of the tomato's in your sandwich." He laughed.

"It just....feels weird you know? We're all dating the same people, and some people they the same person, and but nothing is going to go anywhere with that person unless the person they both like chooses, and its-" He paused and took a breath. "It's banana's." He chuckled.

"And good! I'm gad you feel special, you're a pretty special girl Cleo." He told her honestly. "I'm kind of curious about how the girls are feeling about all this. I know one guy can't pick, and another one seriously came in with hearts in his eyes declaring he'd already found the one." He laughed. "I don't know how, but he must of." He crossed his ankles. "Alright, what are we going to talk about today? Should we travel into the semi-serious territory?" He asked her.

"Hey I already did that! I must be ahead of the game." He laughed.

"Oh ho really?" He asked curiously. "I'm curious to hear from the dude today how his date went then. Maybe someone will get engaged by date three." He laughed.

"I want her to do whatever it is that makes her happy. If she wants to be a stay home mom, Great! If she wants to work her tail off at work because she loves it or what have you that's great to! I'm by no means a controlling asshole who would control everything like that. I guess my only expectation would be after a long ass day we cuddle on the couch and tell each other how our days went." He said. "What about you any expectations for Hubs? Also, we should probably throw this into the mix as well. How do you feel about religion?"

"The plot thickens...Wouldn't that be something?" He chuckled a bit. "Yeah, it would. Heartbreak sure as hell hurts." He confessed. "My hope is they're both crazy about each other." He said.

"Alright alright, good to know." He made notes in his journal. "Well, I moved from house to house at least every three months, if not sooner. So when it comes to religion I'm very open as I've seen and experienced it all. If I'm being honest there was a time when I was a teenager that I was very angry at god, and for a time didn't believe because if there was a god, then how the hell would he have allowed to put me through everything I've been through? Or allow things such as childhood cancer? And now that I'm in a medical field I tend to lead more towards the science of things, but I've also seen miracles happen right before my eyes so...I'm on the fence. But if going to church is something the Mrs. would insist on I'm okay with that too, and will support whatever religious beliefs she has. I would just want my kids to be raised that it's okay to not believe in the same thing as others and to form their own beliefs when they're at that age they can make those decisions if that makes sense? And to still be respectful of other's beliefs."

"For sure, that's important too." Blake agreed. "Well, the cat's out of the bag." He chuckled. "I was. I was a ward of the state of California since I was two years old, and since my mom willingly put me in the system it made things real sticky in terms of getting adopted. So, she put me in, but didn't want anyone else to be able to legally adopt me. So I bounced around a lot, depending on the situation. It was pretty rough at times. Some of the houses I was in really shouldn't have been foster parents. You know, some people just do it for the money, but in some cases, there are some really good people. So I was all over the place. It was really hard at times, but I survived." He said.

He ran a hand through his hair. "That's a lot of the reason why I want kids, and why I want to be a dad. So I can be the dad I never really had." He mumbled. Becoming a bit self-conscious.

"Yeah, because she technically put me in there herself, she still had parental rights, and could have taken me out whenever she felt like it." He explained. "It's a bunch of legal jargon but that's cliff notes." He said.

"Thanks for that Cleo. I really mean that. It's something I tend to be pretty open with when the subject is brought up." He chuckled. He chuckled when she said it melted her. "Don't go turning into a Cleo puddle, I'm not equipped for that." He joked.

"Well she sounds like a pretty awesome lady who raised a pretty awesome daughter," Blake told her. "Tell me about her, what is she like?" He asked.