Gillian held Cal's hand as they drove home. The mood in the car was the polar opposite of that morning. All the tension was gone. It was like everything started from this point on; the last ten days were already a blurred memory. Lewis fell asleep in the back and the little girl continued to nap. "We should really think about names," Cal started.

"Absolutely," Gillian agreed. "And some serious supplies." She meant nappies and formula, wipes, clothes, furniture... all the things they had put off until then. "And phone calls," she added with a wince. They both knew how bad it would sound coming now. Hi, insert name here, by the way, we adopted a little girl, yeah, I know, it is exciting, thanks, um, yeah... ten days ago.

Ten whole days they had been living a secret life and now that the weight of it had lifted they had so much to catch up on. They made a plan.

Stage one was to get supplies. That was of the most immediate importance. They had a late lunch at home and then went out shopping for nappies and formula first and foremost, but also a new set of drawers for Lewis (Gillian liked the idea of getting him something. It would help assert his independence but also assure him that he was still special to them). Lewis found fifty toys he loved and getting him to pick just one ended up in tears and hitting.

"Time out when we get home," Cal warned him.

"Aw how old is he?" The attendant asked.

"Two and a bit," Cal responded from his crouch in front of his son.

"He's so cute," the attendant gushed. Seventeen, Cal guessed. Kids were cute until they threw up curdled milk, pulled hair, kicked in their sleep because they came in in the middle of the night and their mother couldn't be bothered getting up to take them back, and then all those nappies.

"Which one?" Cal asked Lewis. Lewis slapped both soft toys. "You can't have both," Cal told Lewis evenly. "Just one." He held up a finger to indicate the number. He was damned if he was going to buy both. Lewis needed to learn he couldn't have a fit and get what he wanted that way. Lewis smacked both soft toys again. One was a Dalmatian puppy with a red collar; the other a penguin with a white and blue striped scarf. "This one?" Cal indicated the dog, the one Lewis had hit first. He stood up to give it to the attendant.

"No!" Lewis cried. He grabbed the penguin out of his father's hand and hugged it tightly.

"Penguin it is," Cal tossed the puppy back in the bin of toys. "Come on," he indicated to Lewis that they should walk. The attendant guided them over to the check out to pay. Gillian was already talking to a delivery guy about the set of drawers. All the other items were already on the account and were just waiting to be paid for. Cal lifted Lewis up to sit on the counter top. "You have to let her scan it," he told Lewis. Lewis looked at him like he had tried to take one of his kidneys.

"Hey can I get in there?" The attendant asked Lewis. Lewis looked like he might murder her. Cal prepared himself to give Lewis a mega-stern telling off if he even attempted hitting her too. "I just need to get the barcode," she tried to tell him.

Cal forcibly shifted Lewis's hands so the tag was visible. Lewis squirmed and screeched at him, his eyes flashing in anger. He looked a lot like Gillian in that moment. But Cal made no apologies. Only to the attendant.

"Oh that's ok," she said amiably as the wand passed over the code and the computer beeped to indicate it had read it. She asked if there was anything else.

"Oh look!" Lewis pointed to the red glowing light that had read the barcode.

"No that's it thank you," Cal responded. The attendant cashed off their account and Cal handed over his credit card. Having kids was expensive.

Gillian approached with the baby girl in her car seat. Her expression was asking if everything was all right. Cal gave a slight wiggle of his eyebrows. Gillian got a tissue out of her pocket and wiped the snot from Lewis's nose. "What have you got there?" She asked Lewis. He held it up in triumph and then babbled about it, fingering the scarf, pointing out the features; orange beak, blue eyes, black coat. "Daddy's a softy isn't he?" Gillian added.

Cal gave her a neutral expression. Surely she had heard the meltdown in the soft toy section? The baby started to stir. Cal took his credit card back from the attendant and thanked her. "How old is she?" The attendant leaned forward on her work station to look down at the baby.

"Ten days," Gillian responded.

"Wow you look amazing for having a baby ten days ago."

Gillian gave a smile. "She's adopted."

"Oh," the attendant straightened up and suddenly everywhere else was far more interesting than looking at them.

Cal finished putting his wallet back in his pocket. "The baby is, not Gillian," he added.

"So here's your receipt," the attendant held it out to Cal. He took it and thanked her again. "You have a great day," she dismissed them and Cal tried not to laugh at the exchange. How weird was that?

Cal picked Lewis up and put him in the trolley. He caught up to Gillian. "What was that about?"

"I have no idea," she answered him with amusement on her lips.

PJ

Stage two was to put the baby's room together properly. Gillian fed her while Cal moved boxes from the garage into the hallway to be unpacked. The delivery team were supposed to be no more than an hour away but they were more like three and a half. While they waited Lewis helped them unpack his drawers. And helped meant he threw his clothes around the room or took them to his mother who was deciding which clothes didn't fit him anymore or he didn't like wearing and was packing them into two piles; one for the baby when she got bigger, and one to give away to donation. Lewis carried his new penguin around under his arm the entire time. The baby slept on in the master bedroom, the baby monitor clipped to the back of Cal's jeans.

The delivery guys deposited the set of drawers in Lewis's room while he bounced around excitedly. They did Cal a favour and used their trolley to move Lewis's old drawers back into the nursery. Cal tipped them at the door before they left. In Lewis's bedroom he was 'ooing' and 'ahhing' over his new furniture. The dresser was shorter, slightly wider and the drawers deeper. It meant the same amount of clothing would fit in there, but that Lewis could reach the top drawers, which were now around his head height; not Gillian's shoulder height. They were also lighter, and blue. Gillian was putting his clothes away. "T-shirts here," she told him. He grabbed one, which unfolded in his grip because he still refused to relinquish the penguin. "Thank you," she took it from him and refolded it quickly. She grabbed a large stack. Lewis brought her a pair of shorts. "These go in this drawer," she told him closing the one she had open and pulling the next one down.

Cal left them to it and went to check on his daughter. His stomach felt funny at that thought. His daughter! Still so surreal. She was still asleep. Gillian had made a little barrier of pillows so she wouldn't roll away or off the bed and hurt herself. She was still scrunched up like she was curled up in her mother's womb. Cal smoothed his thick fingers around the back of her delicate head. She made a sucking motion in her sleep and then settled again. He was looking forward to her getting over the stage of sleeping all the time. He wanted to see her eyes open and alert; he wanted her to learn to recognise them.

Cal spotted something crammed into the gap between the mattress and the headboard. He reached for it and pried it loose. He pulled the door gently closed behind him as he left again. He could still hear Lewis and Gillian tidying his room. Cal went to the nursery next door. He went to the cot and put his teddy bear in the corner. Giggle Bear. Lewis had a teddy and Cal wanted the new baby to have one too. Something special. She wouldn't be left out.

Cal shifted the drawers back against the wall further so there was less of a gap for anything to fall off the top into. He started moving the boxes into the room one by one, unpacking them as he went, placing the clothes into the drawers. He had found the mobile for over the cot when Gillian came in with Lewis. "What are you gonna put in the pict-cha frames?" Cal asked as he assembled the device.

"I haven't decided yet."

But that was her thing and so Cal didn't make suggestions. While Cal attached the mobile to the cot Gillian finished unpacking the last of the things out of the box that were too baby-ish for Lewis. Cal wondered again why Gillian had held on to these things. Had she been expecting to have another kid? Or had it been that she couldn't let go?

"Lucky we held on to this stuff huh?" Cal noted, giving the mobile a spin.

"Yeah," Gillian agreed as if she hadn't thought about it before. "Not that I thought we'd be getting them out for ourselves."

Perfect opening. "How come you kept them then?" Cal turned to face her.

Gillian gave a one sided shrug. "You never know." She paused; Cal didn't think she would elaborate further and he wasn't sure if he was going to push the issue or not. He was still deciding when Gillian spoke up anyway. "Ria might announce she's having a baby." She turned to Cal and raised an eyebrow. "Emily might."

Cal feigned a pain in his heart. He clutched at his chest. "Please let that be a joke."

Gillian came over to where he was resting against the baby's bed. "Aw did you give her your teddy?"

Cal nodded.

"That's so cute!" Gillian gushed.

PJ

Cal lay on his back in the middle of their bed, his naked wife pressed up against his side, her head resting in the crook of his neck. His right hand was playing with the fingers of her left hand. "I promise next time I'll do betta."

She gave a light laugh. "It's ok."

"Let the record show she said my dismal performance was ok," Cal jumped in. Gillian stuck the index finger of her right hand into his ribs. Cal flinched away, "Ow."

"I meant, it's ok, if you make me come that hard and fast first. I'm not complaining. Especially because it's been how long?"

"Twelve days."

"Exactly," she said with finality. "At least we didn't have to wait six weeks this time."

"As I recall that time I got top marks for performance and effort."

"Well. You can make it up to me." She turned her head to kiss his neck. "When you're ready," she whispered. She waited a beat while she kissed his neck again. "Are you ready?"

"Sorry luv, my recovery time isn't what it used to be."

She snuggled into him, draping her arm across his abdomen. "That's ok. Definitely next time though."

Cal kissed her forehead. "It's a date."

"Mmm," Gillian responded. "Tomorrow night?"

Cal looked over at the digital clock. "It's nearly tomorrow."

"Then, later tonight?"

"Sure."

"You don't sound keen."

"You know I love the spontaneous sex the best."

"Me too," Gillian groaned. "But it doesn't always happen that way does it?"

"No," Cal agreed lightly. "It doesn't. Date night tomorrow then." He kissed the top of her head again. "Sounds great."

"What time is it exactly?"

"Eleven thirty."

"The baby will need a feed soon."

"Yeah," Cal agreed thinking the sooner they could stretch out her night feeds to six hours the better. They had gone to bed as soon as Lewis had fallen asleep. Originally, it had been to implement stage three but somehow it had led to sex. Not that he was complaining about the sex. Even if it had been a very short lived quickie on his part. Stage three was naming the poor kid. Ten days old and still nameless.

Cal has suggested Cassandra, which had made Gillian giggle, because she loved the way he pronounced the 'a's'. Cal had asked her to elaborate, to which she replied that it made him sound like the Queen. Cal told her she was ridiculous so she mimicked him to prove her point so to shut her up he attempted a tickle only to remember that she wasn't ticklish. He had discovered that the first time they had slept together. Not the first time they had had sex, but the first time she had actually stayed over at his house in his bed and they had just slept. And in that way she seemed to know what was going on in his mind without him saying it aloud, she had leant in to him and given him a kiss and told him his accent was sexy as hell. And then they had sex.

"Baby names," Cal reminded her.

"Oh yeah," Gillian said amazed. "That's what we were talking about..."

"Any thoughts beyond Cassandra, Sarah, and what was the otha one?"

Gillian giggled, convinced he was pronouncing them with even more of an accent on purpose. She didn't remember the other name, it had gotten lost somewhere in a kiss. "You know the more I think about this more I can't actually think of any names I like."

"Well that's helpful."

Gillian shifted so she was resting her hand on his chest and her head on his hand. "All I can think of are people I know or celebrities."

"I don't want to name her afta someone."

"Me too. I don't want to think of Montana or Disney every time I hear the name Hannah."

Gillian watched as Cal gave her a confused frown. "Hannah Montana? It was big on Disney several years back."

"Pass."

"Miley Cyrus?"

"You go wash your mouth out with soap."

Gillian laughed. "See what I mean? I used to really like the name Britney too until about twenty years ago."

"Preach."

"How did you come up with a name for Emily?"

"Zoe picked it."

Gillian settled so she was lying down again. "I want to give her a name just for her."

Cal's hand smoothed up the curve of her arm. "I like that idea very much."

"Are you going to fill out the birth certificate?"

"If you want me to."

"I was just wondering if you were going to slip in an extra name like you did with Lewis."

"Thought about it."

"Because that was kind of sweet."

"Want me to tell you what it is before hand?"

"No, I'll wait for the official copy to show up."

There was a moment's silence. Cal thought he could hear rain on the roof. A soft whispering.

"It's more fun that way," Gillian finished.