Emily was still up when Cal sauntered in through the front door, whistling lightly to himself. He hadn't realised his daughter was still up until she stepped out from the kitchen with an accusatory look on her face.

"What are you so happy about?" He jumped, not realising she was there.

"Jesus Emily, are you trying to give me a heart attack? I'm not getting any younger, you know!" He grasped at his heart as if to emphasise the point before sitting down at the kitchen table, inviting her to do the same.

"Wow, you're all dressed up. Where were you?" Emily tried to sound nonchalant but it didn't fool Cal. Then again, he couldn't fool her either. It might be best to be honest with her. The thought somewhat scared him.

"If you must know, Gillian and I had dinner together," he said with a smug look on his face. Emily's eyes widened slightly.

"Really? How'd it go? Did you kiss?" Cal took stock of the questions she'd asked so he could get quick answers in and change the subject.

"Yes. It was good. And yes. Now go to bed, you've got school tomorrow." He knew before he'd even finished that this wasn't going to work. The excited squeal when he mentioned their 'kiss' had told him that.

"What kind of kiss was it?" He stared at her, frowning.

"What do you mean, what kind of kiss was it? It was a good kiss, what else could it be?" Emily frowned at him as if he was the oldest person on the earth.

"Dad. Come on. It could have been a bad kiss."

"It wasn't."

"Well was it…polite and close-mouth or did you…" Cal suddenly panicked, not wanting to have this conversation with his daughter all of sudden.

"Em, if you stop right there, I'll add twenty dollars to your weekly allowance. Just stop telling me things and expecting me to accept that you're not so innocent anymore…" The words almost choked him. And Emily, it appeared.

"Dad! Stop making assumptions about me!" She stood up but Cal caught her arm, pulling her into a hug.

"Tell you what, we'll both shut up. You go to bed, I'm going to have a quick drink and we'll say no more about it, eh?" Emily grinned into his shoulder.

"Perfect." She turned on her heels and made her way towards the stairs. Cal suddenly thought of something.

"Oh and Em? Not a word of this conversation to Gill, you understand? Everything's still a bit up in the air." Emily nodded.

"Ok Dad." Then she turned and headed upstairs. Cal watched her as she went, knowing instinctively that there was no way in hell that Emily wouldn't say something to Gillian.

Ok, short chapter there. I haven't forgotten the actual plot that I put in place at the start. It will eventually rear its silly, continuous head again.