I wasn't sure if this was the direction I wanted to take with the story. I'd ummed and ahhed about it a lot, and I've delayed posting, but I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and go for it- especially since I'd already written three chapters on it. Here goes nothing....
Several weeks later Gill was making slow progress with the doctors. She'd been taking their advice and they had been running tests to see if they could determine exactly what was making it difficult for Gill to conceive. Meanwhile, they had a list of instructions and suggestions as long as her arm, and Gill and Cal were making sure they followed every one of them to the letter. It was Sunday afternoon, and Gill was just about going out of her mind. It was raining outside, and had been all week, and the brunette was bored, itching to do something... anything. "Cal," she said, interrupting his attempts to complete the crossword puzzle in the Sunday paper.
"Gill," Cal replied, looking up at her with a smile.
"Do you want to play a game?" she asked. Cal's ears pricked up. "Not that sort of game," she smirked, shaking her head. They were meant to be abstaining this week, and it was driving both of them insane. They knew, though, that it was what the doctor had ordered.
Cal pouted. "Alright, love," he told her, putting the paper down to give her his full attention.
"Let's go upstairs, and we can pick one item of each other's clothing to throw out," she suggested.
Cal raised an eyebrow. "On a scale of one to ten, your boredom has officially reached three billion, hasn't it?" he asked.
"Yes," Gill whined, tugging his hand gently. "Come on, you never know what we might find going through our stuff. It might be fun."
Her husband sighed quietly and got up. "The things you talk me into, woman," he told her. "I don't even need to go upstairs to pick. I already know." He followed her anyway.
"I own something you hate that much?" Gill asked. Truth be told, she already knew what she was getting rid of that belonged to Cal.
"Hate's a strong word... I'm not fond of it."
"Okay..." Gill agreed, wondering what it could be. She walked into their bedroom and sat down on the bed. "Alright, show me what you've got," she told him with a smile.
Cal walked right over to the closet without any hesitation and pulled out one of Gill's gray dresses. It had sleeves that came down just past her elbows, and it covered most of her knees.
"That dress?" Gill asked. Not at all what she'd expected.
"It's gray... which I like you in when the dress is revealing or at least a bit sort of... y'know, snug.. This is neither," he told her. "If it was pink or red I might spare it, but this belongs in the tip. You're sexy as all get out, you shouldn't cover yourself up like that in a colour that detracts attention from your figure... Not that I want anyone else checking you out." He made sure he was clear on that last point.
Gill laughed gently. "Alright," she agreed. "Put it next to the door, I'll take it to Goodwill tomorrow."
Cal did as she asked, then turned to face her. "Go on, then, love. Have a look through my stuff and pick something."
Gill hopped off the bed and went straight to Cal's underwear drawer, retrieving a pair of faded red briefs. She turned around and held them up, a finger in either side of the waist band being used to stretch them slightly.
"Oi! Not those!" he told Gill. "They were freebies in a multi-pack. Don't y'know you're not meant to throw free stuff away?"
Gill laughed. "Cal, they're awful," she told him. "You look much sexier in boxers than you do in briefs, especially red ones. Not even Superman looks good in them. I can see why they were giving them away."
"Those are some decent knickers, love," Cal protested. "They're a bit faded, but they keep the boys comfortable, and the elastic in the waist is till good."
"The doctor said you're not meant to wear briefs anyway," Gill reminded him. "You need to keep 'the boys' as you like to call them, in boxers. They need space, not to be cooped up in a horrible red prison."
Cal sighed. "Fine," he agreed, walking over to Gill's underwear drawer. "These," he said, holding up a pair of control-top panties. "Granny knickers."
Gill laughed. "Cal, they're meant to look like that. They hold in what needs to be held in."
"Nothing needs to be held in. I told you, you're a stunner," Cal reminded Gil, dropping the underwear on the floor.
"Alright," Gill agreed with a smile. She walked over to their wardrobe and opened Cal's side. Ten minutes later there was nothing left in his half of the closet... well, more like his quarter-to-a-third of the closet. Gill had a lot of clothes. "Got it!" she declared triumphantly, finally deciding on a tie. "You wore this tie to Alec and my wedding," she told him.
"No argument. Out it goes," Cal confirmed, taking it from Gill and tossing it in the Goodwill pile. He crossed to Gill's clothes then and carefully started looking through them. Eventually, he pulled out a white sweater with a stain on the right shoulder. Gill's face fell. "This one," he decided.
"No," Gill argued.
"Come on, Gill," Cal smiled. "Look, it's got a stain on it, love."
"I said no, Cal." Her voice was cold.
"I let you throw things out, you have to be fair. This game can't just suit you when things are going your way. You can wash the stain out then we'll give it to charity." He moved to dump it in the dirty clothes in the ensuite, but didn't make it more than two steps before Gill was up off the bed, snatching it from him angrily.
"I said no, Cal! What part of that don't you understand?" She yelled at him. Really yelled at him for the first time since they'd met.
Cal was too stunned to say anything at first. He stopped and stared at Gill, his mouth agape. "I..."
"Get out," she told him angrily, holding the sweater to her chest and pointing at the door. He didn't move as fast as she'd have liked. "Go!"
Cal quickened his steps and closed the door behind him, standing and staring at it. 'Bloody hell. What just happened?' he wondered. It was a damn sweater, she was acting like he'd asked her to put Finn in a sack and drown him! He stepped away from the door, the harshness of her words still leaving him stunned.