There were many buttons Emily knew better than to push when it came to her father, but he did see Gillian's face when she had to tell Lucy that they'd be spending Thanksgiving alone. Lucy had gotten extremely used to Cal being around anytime she needed him, and he took the cake when it came to teaching her to tie her shoes. Emily had to invite Gillian and Lucy to Thanksgiving, even if it did include Zoe.

Gillian at first refused, saying they couldn't intrude. Emily had already convinced her father, telling him that Lucy and Gillian should never be alone on holiday and Lucy deserved the whole experience. It took a bit of convincing, but Gillian finally agreed.

So, there Gillian stood outside Cal's home, in her comfortable maroon dress that Emily not so subtly insisted she wear with Lucy in a new dress that was a flattering orange against her olive skin. She had prepared herself for sarcasm, for passive aggressive behavior, hell even for straight out aggression, but what she didn't expect was the look of surprise on Zoe's face when she answered the door.

"Gillian, what a, uh, surprise."

Gillian's face burned red with embarrassment as she was already prepared to kill Emily and Cal. Zoe then looked down at the little girl who was trying to hide behind her mother's leg. "And who is this?"

It would be a lie if Gillian would have said she expected Cal and Emily to keep Lucy from Zoe, but she honestly thought the little girl would have had to come up in some sort of conversation. Somewhere.

Before she could get a word out, Cal came pushing his way through the door. "I was wonderin' when ya'd get here. Well, don't just stand there, Em's cooking!"

Lucy's big blue eyes immediately sparkled at Cal. "There's turkey?" she asked softly, for once getting a word out before her mother.

Cal completely ignored Zoe as she stared at him in disbelief as he snatch Lucy's hand. "Course there's turkey. And I saved ya some marshmellows before they got put on the sweet potatoes."

The two disappeared into the house as Zoe looked to Gillian for an explanation. "That's Lucy," she said as though it explained everything in the world.

There was a bit of realization in Zoe's eyes. "Ah, that's Lucy. I was expecting someone older."

Gillian gave her a funny look as Zoe allowed her entrance into her home. "Emily asked me if her friend Lucy and her mother could join us for Thanksgiving. I didn't realize…" Zoe suddenly looked a bit humbled. "It seems they thought they'd have to lie to me in order to allow you over for Thanksgiving."

"It's not secret we've never been the best of friends," Gillian told her in an understanding tone.

Lucy's giggles erupted from the kitchen, immediately making Gillian smile. The little girl came running back into the living area, already missing her shoes, and grabbed Gillian's hand. "Mommy, you're missing all the fun!"

Gillian pulled Lucy into a hug and turned her around to face Zoe. "Please say hello, Lucy. Don't be rude."

Despite her shyness, she obeyed. "Hello. Thank you for letting us join you on Thanksgiving."

Truth be told, Gillian was rather impressed. She had asked her daughter to be polite and she was doing just that.

Zoe smiled at the little girl who had just proved she could win anyone over. Emily came running back at Lucy and scooped up the girl. "You're missing the fun!"

Gillian felt guilty for intruding on Zoe's family time, but she would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy herself. By the time Zoe left, Gillian was ready to curl up in Cal's arms and drink a nice glass of wine.

But that would have to come later. Emily tossed Gillian another cookie as Cal walked into the living room with Lucy's arms draped around his neck and her head falling lazily on his shoulder. She was exhausted and had actually fallen asleep in two of the kitchen chairs.

"Do you ever feed this thing?" he teased carrying Lucy over to the couch and gently laying her in Gillian's arms.

The little being cuddled into her mother as Gillian wrapped her arms around the girl's shoulder. "Of course I feed her," she countered. "I just didn't know she liked Turkey so much."

Lucy nodded against Gillian's chest, her eyes still closed. "Turkey and potatoes…"

"You act like you could live on turkey and potatoes, turkey," Emily teased her poking Lucy's sides.

She wiggled around as she giggled, finally turning around and scrunching her face at Emily. She tried to look angry, but that wasn't an emotion Lucy held very well. "I'm not a turkey!"

Gillian laughed. "No, but you are a sleepy little girl." She stood up, shifting Lucy to where she could carry her. If they didn't leave soon they'd not be able to get out of there at all. "I think we better be going home."

Emily suddenly looked extremely disappointed. "Oh, come on, stay. Please?"

Just as she was about assure Emily that they should really be getting home, Cal jumped in. "Stay, Gill. Emily can watch Lucy if you want me to take you by your place to get clothes. It's going to be crazy in the city."

The look on Cal's face told her he was planning something, but she wasn't sure quite yet. Emily looked back at Gillian with her round brown eyes doing their worst. "Please, Gillian."

She looked between Cal and Emily, and in truth she wanted to say yes, but she knew that Lucy wasn't ready for a night away from the home she had only recently gotten used to. So, Gillian shook her head. "I'm sorry, but not tonight."

The disappointment was obvious on both of the Lightmans' faces which only broke Gillian's heart more. "But Sunday," she added with a smile. "Sunday Lucy and I will come by for lunch. I have to go to my mother's sometime this weekend."

Gillian leaned in and kissed Emily's forehead as she accepted a hug. "Promise?" Emily asked still holding Gillian with Lucy between them.

"Promise, sweet heart."

Cal followed her to the door, his arm snaking around her waist as she turned to him. She smiled at him and pecked his lips. Just as she was about to pull away, he tighten his grip and kissed her again. She smiled against him as Lucy continued her slumber.

His eyes watched her face, drinking in every feature and loving every single inch of her. The smile she was holding on her perfectly pink lips told him that she was enjoying his closeness just as much as he was. The flash of slightly oblique eyebrows showed true sadness that she had to leave.

"Drive carefully, love."

She kissed his lips again and looked deep into his eyes. "See you Sunday, Cal."

Emily smiled as she spied from the door way, watching as Gillian said goodbye and closed the door behind her. Cal turned around to see his daughter standing there, looking at least a little bit victorious. A part of Emily's world she had always hoped for was falling into place.

"Wipe that cheeky grin off your face," he told her lightly. Emily just continued to grin. "Or don't that's fine too."

Playing with the end of her hair, she fell into step beside her father as they walked back toward the kitchen. The smile Cal was trying to hide from her gave her even more hope than if he was blindly happy. If he wasn't afraid to hide that Cheshire grin that was tugging at the corners of his mouth, Emily would be sure that his cockiness would screw this up, that it would end like every other relationship for her dad. The fact he was a little nervous was a good thing, at least in Emily's mind it was.

More than anything, Emily wanted to be blunt. Call her father out on being in a relationship with Gillian, but she worried about what might happen if she did that. Instead, she wore her own Cheshire grin, hoping for the best.

The next morning it was barely noon when Emily swung open the door to see a flustered, but pleased, Gillian standing at the door with her hand still poised to knock. Lucy looked over the head of a stuffed puppy that Emily had never seen before, but could already tell it was a little roughed up.

"Thank God you're here," Emily said taking a deep breath inviting Gillian in. "Are you any good at calculus?"

Gillian looked a little bit concerned as Lucy went ahead and searched for Cal. "Um, I was in college, but that was years ago."

Emily pointed at a section in her book and Gillian frowned. Maybe she needed a refresher. "Let me think on this a while," she told Emily. The girl nodded and continued working on something else as Gillian carried the book in the kitchen to find Cal holding Lucy over the stove letting her stir something.

"I'm cooking," Lucy announced to her mother proudly.

"I have given her the very important job of stirrin' the soup," Cal explained. "Turkey noodle." Gillian smiled as she leaned across the counter, accepting his simple peck. "How was your mothers?"

In a flash her smile was wiped away and she groaned. Lucy crossed her arms. "Mommy's momma kept tellin' her that I wasn't-"

Gillian gave her daughter a warning look, knowing that her mother did everything but make a good impression to Lucy. "Horrid, to say the least."

Cal could see that she was truly upset and frustrated by this, but she had never really had a relationship with her mother. He knew that Gillian's mother always had other plans for her daughter. To become a "real" doctor and not some quack psychologist. Lucy escaped from his grasp to go see what Emily was working on.

"Oi! What happened to my soup stirrer?" Cal called after her as he reached for a bottle of Pinot Grigio for Gillian.

Gillian sighed. "Lucy, leave Emily alone. She's doing homework."

But Emily had already pulled Lucy into her lap and was explaining her chemistry homework to the five year old. Even though she didn't understand it, Lucy listened intently. It was adorable, but Lucy honestly thought the Lightmans were the most amazing people in the world. Except for maybe her mommy.

Putting the glass of wine to her lips, she sighed as she looked down at the calculus homework she was asked to help with. Finally she turned back to give the book back to Emily. "Has calculus got harder since we took it?" Gillian called over her shoulder to Cal, already smiling at the way Lucy was honestly trying to understand AP Chemistry.

Cal threw up a towel in the kitchen. "That's what I said!"

Emily shrugged. "It's fine, I'll figure it out myself. I mean, you'd think with the intellectual stock I come from though-"

Gillian picked up some of the chocolate covered peanuts that were sitting on the table and plopped them in her mouth. "Apples always fall farther away from the tree than you think."

Call came walking in wearing his floral apron and plopped a bowl of turkey noodle soup down at the seat across from Emily. "That's something to be thankful for, right Em?"

Gillian chuckled as she reached for her wine. "It gives the girl some hope."

Cal rolled his eyes and moved back toward the kitchen, this time with Gillian following him as Emily poked Lucy's sides. "So much to be thankful for."

Lucy nodded with enthusiastic agreement.

The doorbell rang and Emily got up to answer it, Lucy holding her hand as she went. "At least Mom probably won't insist on another make believe family holiday!"

"We can only hope, luv," Cal called back as Gillian looked a little torn.

"Maybe I shouldn't have intruded," she told him quietly.

Cal gave her a firm look. "No, Lucy and you deserve a real holiday."

It was pointless to argue with him, especially when she wasn't actually regretting coming. She had a spectacular time and she was hoping for something similar again. So instead, she squinted her eyes at him, watching as he worked in the kitchen.

"You're a little odd," she inquired, a teasing smile on her lips.

He looked up at her, honestly confused. "Why?"

"The apron," she stated simply, smiling even more as he glanced down at the pink and yellow flowers that were covering his nice black t-shirt.

"I think it's becoming," he replied matter of factly.

She took a step toward him and clicked her tongue. "Do you?"

He leaned across the counter, ready to kiss her. "I think it's working its magic now."

Before they could get any closer, Emily and Lucy's footsteps interrupted them. "Hey, uh, Dad. Gill—" They all turned around to see a third person coming in behind their girls. Cal wiped his hands and dropped the towel on the counter already studying the boy like an threat. "This is Max Roland. Uh, apparently he's sixteen and a big fan of your book."

Alarms blared in Cal's head as he appeared from behind the counter, his body language already screaming aggressive. Gillian was watching the boy more than she was watching Cal, but she could already see fear on his face even under the smile he was forcing.

"Over here, Em. You and Lucy over here. You know better," Cal commanded soft enough to not scare Lucy. Immediately Emily obeyed, taking Lucy's hand and pulling her over to the other side of the room. Instinctively, Gillian put herself between the boy and Emily and Lucy, but stayed supportively behind Cal.

Suddenly Cal was in the boy's face, a very direct way of finding out whether or not the boy was threatening. "My address isn't listed," Cal stated, moving with the boy as he stumbled back. Even though Cal was a few inches shorter, they all knew who held the power in the room. "How did you find me?"

The boy struggled to find his words. "Online."

Lucy's hand found Gillian's, holding onto it nervously. "Mommy?" she asked nervously.

Gillian pulled her a little closer and shushed her gently, never taking her eyes off Cal and the boy. "I just need a half an hour of your time, Dr. Lightman."

Cal threw his arm eye level and pulled back his sleeve, revealing his watch. "You got two minutes."

The boy's eyes flashed alarm, but also hope. "Uhh—my parents have lied to me my whole life about who I am. I'm not their kid."

Cal kept watching his features, knowing that Gillian was right behind him doing the same. "Who are you then?"

The boy shuffled through some of the papers he was holding in his hand until he pulled out a missing child's poster and held it up. "I'm this kid. James Knox."

Suddenly he had all of Gillian's attention. She handed Lucy off to Emily and stepped forward. "The James Knox?"

Without even looking at the poster, Cal snatched away from him. "Well, how do you know you're him?" Emily asked surprising them all for a split second. Gillian would have told Emily to take Lucy upstairs, but she was too busy focusing on the boy's expressions.

"Look at this scar," the boy explained, lifting up his shirt to reveal a six inch pink scar going down the middle of his torso. Gillian studied it, the first time taking her eyes off his face. "James Knox has one just like it."

"Well, we've all got scars," Cal snapped. "You want to see mine?"

The boy struggled for another moment as he dropped his shirt. "Look, I took a D.N.A. sample from my parents, all right? I'm not a match. Their story of how I was born, it doesn't make sense. I can't spend another Christmas with people who might have stolen me." Finally, he looked between Cal and Gillian, his eyes meeting Gillian's for a second longer than Cal's, most likely sensing she was the one with the kinder heart. "Please, I have five hundred dollars. This is all I have to pay you. Will you talk to my parents? I have to know the truth."

All eyes were on Cal as the boy held the money for him to take. Emily opened her mouth for a second, but closed it again as Lucy held tight to her hand. Gillian was torn on what she wanted him to do, but she knew this was a decision Cal would make.

Finally, Cal snatched the money away from the boy. "You want a sandwich?" he asked, his entire demeanor more friendly.

Seven hours Emily was watching Lucy and Cal and Gillian had sent the boy home with his possible abductors as well as found out Max was not James Knox because James Knox was apparently dead. Gillian was less than happy, but Cal was extremely turned on by the way her brain was currently working. He finally had her thinking like a criminal, and though it changed his overall view on Gillian, he found it extremely sexy.

Something he enjoyed telling her, just to watch her cheeks flush red.

Gillian was worried though. This boy was headed in for a lot of pain. There was a lot of hit and miss along the way and even Gillian lying to Emily, something she could honestly say was one of the worst things she's ever done, but days later Max was reunited with his birth father. His father was a parole officer that was shot by a drug dealer named Romeo. Romeo killed his wife, kidnapped his son to smother him later, while leaving the man himself in wheel chair forever.

Max kept his head down as he walked. "This this co-custody thing will work?" he asked bashfully as Lucy watched the house in front of them.

"Two sets of parents is better than none," Gillian told him kindly. She had grown rather attached to the boy and really would hate to see him hurt again.

He sighed and shook his head. "This is so screwed up."

Emily looked at Max as the five of them walked toward the home he grew up in. She thought about how he accused her of having the perfect family and how she corrected him with the honest truth. How Lucy was not her sister and Gillian was not her mother. How Lucy was a foster kid that wouldn't even speak until a month or so ago. How her father can read every lie she tells him and how she knows her mother sometimes sets out just to make her father miserable. The truth was, at the end of the day. She loved the quirks of her family. Gillian and Lucy included.

She didn't smile at him, instead looked at him soberly so he would understand she was not bending the truth. "Just give it a chance. These things kinda end up working themselves out."

Both Cal and Gillian caught the thoughtful tone in Emily's voice and almost wondered what she was thinking.

Lucy looked up at Max and gave him a big smile. "I sure your daddy will love you like my mommy loves me even though we haven't always been together."

Something about that little girl had a way of charming a smile onto anyone's face. Max nodded and offered the little girl his fist to bump, something he found fun to teach her. Then he looked at the three people waiting for him in front of his house, and back to the people who helped him get where he was.

Cal nodded. "Go on. Off you go, son."

Slowly her turned back around and took his first steps toward his new life. Emily exhaled the breath she didn't know she was holding as Gillian held Lucy against her legs.

Cal looked over at Gillian. "Hell of a rabbit, that one."

She nodded. "We made it."

They all watched as the four people entered the house. The kid was lucky. He had a lot of people that cared about him now.

Gillian then looked over to Emily. The girl had made it very clear she did not approve of being lied to, but maybe this time she'd bend her own rules. "So, have you forgiven us?"

Emily shrugged. "I guess." Then she looked over at Cal. "Have you?"

Gillian smiled. It was true, Emily had started off with the lie. She was the one that said she didn't know where the boy was when they needed him. "You were a protecting your friend…" Cal reasoned with a half of shrug. "So.. You are your father's daughter."

"Well, I know a little bit about how crazy families can be," Emily told him as they all turned around and started walking toward their car. "You think he'll be all right?"

Cal looked back in the direction they had last seen the boy. "Don't know. Hope so."

Lucy held Gillian's hand as they walked, looking up at Emily the entire way. "Maybe we should invite him to Thanksgiving next year," Emily offered.

Gillian chuckled. "He'd fit right in with us."

Cal rolled his eyes as he gave Emily a slight push. "Yeah." They all chuckled as Cal pulled Emily under his arm and hugged her to his side, before she threw her other arm over Gillian's shoulders too.

"I mean, I think there's a lot of love here, don't you?" Emily asked looking between the adults.

They all smiled. Lucy then looked up at them. "Are we going to get more turkey and potatoes now? I'm hungry."

Cal smirked as Gillian chuckled. "You definitely starve that girl."

"Dinner at my place?" Gillian offered as she lifted Lucy into her carseat so Emily could buckle her in.

"Sounds lovely. Would you like to borrow my apron?" Cal tossed back as he climbed into the driver's seat.

Gill sent him a look as she opened her own door and climbed in. "Do you lend your apron to criminal masterminds?"

"Hell, it's reserved for those who hold that title."

Gillian laughed heartily as Cal's hand found hers on the console. The two continued to argue back and forth, teasing each other about anything and everything. Emily looked over at Lucy who was smiling to herself as she watched her mother bicker with one of her favorite people in the world.

"What are you smiling at?" Emily whispered, not wanting to interrupt the scene either.

Lucy looked over at Emily and looked her square in the eye. "This is my family isn't it?"

Emily never thought about what that meant to a little girl who was never loved like she was, not until now. Emily looked back up at Gillian and Cal. They had fallen into a comfortable silence, their hands resting together on the console. If Emily had to share her dad with anyone, she would gladly share him with Lucy.

Emily nodded as she smiled at the little girl. "This is your family."

I really hope you guys like this so far. Please let me know what you all think.