Chapter 6

On the road, Amy fell asleep after about a half an hour and Gillian settled back into her seat.

"Cal…"

"Hmmm?" Cal answered distractedly as he changed lanes.

"I want to take Amy to your house."

"Okay..." Cal frowned as he looked over at her worriedly. "Did you change you're mind, Darling?"

Gillian looked at him pointedly. "Are you kidding me? No…it's just that we're certainly not going to live in my apartment and if we're going to be together anyway it makes the most sense that we introduce Amy to her new home now. I don't want to get her settled in then uproot her again in a few weeks."

Cal nodded and grinned. "Makes sense," he chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Gill wondered.

"We're not even married yet and you're taking over my life."

Gillian looked at him uncertainly. "If it's too much for…"

"I'm kidding!" Cal laughed aloud as he took her hand and kissed it.

Gillian's eyes grew round. "Emily!"

"What about her?"

"She knows nothing about this!"

Cal shrugged. "So…we'll tell her about it this weekend."

"Cal! We can't just let her walk in the back door to find out Amy and I have moved in."

"Why not?"

"Cal! It's her home!"

"Last time I checked she hadn't made a mortgage payment."

"Cal!"

"Gillian, it's my home…she loves you and she'll love Amy. She'll be fine with all of this, I promise!"

Gillian sighed and shook her head. "I wish we had more time to prepare her."

"We didn't have any time to prepare and we pulled through, yeah?"

"Yeah."

Amy slept the rest of the way home. Cal pulled up in his driveway and Gillian came around as he was unbuckling her from her car seat. They walked in the back door to find Emily in the kitchen making cookies.

"Hey." She greeted not looking up from the cookie tray.

"Hello, Darling," Cal greeted.

"Hi, Em."

Emily looked up then and saw Gillian tentatively standing there.

She smiled warmly. "Hey Gillian, wow…she's a cutie, isn't she?" she said as she glanced at Amy. "Are you guys babysitting? Who's kid is it? She kind of looks like Sophie…Can she have a cookie?"

Gillian blinked at the barrage of questions while Cal put his arm around her shoulders and held up his other hand as he counted off the answers to Emily's questions. "Yes, no, ours, that's cause she is and yes."

Gillian frowned as Emily's eyes grew wide. "So, she's a cutie, you're not babysitting, she's yours, she is Sophie and she can have a cookie?"

"At's what I said." Cal mumbled as he got a cookie and handed it to Amy who promptly started to eat it.

"What do you mean she's yours?"

Cal poured a sippy cup full of milk for Amy while Gillian sat at the table. He sat down next to her and motioned for Emily to sit as well.

He and Gillian related the whole story. Tears came to Emily's eyes at the ending. "That's so sad, that poor lady, but its great you got Sophie back!"

Gillian nodded. "Out of respect for her Mom and Grandma, we're going to continue to call her Amy."

Cal reached for Emily's hand. "Hey, Luv, there's a few things more we need to tell ya…"

"What?"

"Gill and I are getting married."

Emily squealed and came and hugged Gillian. "It's about damn time!"

"Aye! Don't swear in front of your little sister!"

Emily's eyes grew round again. "That's right! If you and Gill get married Amy will be my little sister!" She squealed again and started laughing as she tickled Amy.

Amy giggled and offered Emily her half eaten cookie. Emily scooped her up and started dancing around the room. "It is going to be so cool having a sister! I'm going to take you shopping and then we can braid each other's hair and have slumber parties…" struck by a thought, she suddenly whirled around to face them. "Has it dawned on either of you that Amy has no place to sleep tonight? We need to go shopping!"

"Em, we just bleeding walked in the back door!"

Emily ignored him as she looked at Gillian. "We need to make a list…can I help pick stuff out?"

Gillian was laughing excitedly. "Are you sure you're okay with all of this Emily?"

Cal rolled his eyes. "You can see she's clearly devastated by the news…"

Emily hugged Gillian. "I'm more than fine…I just got a new mother and little sister in the space of an hour…now these lists…"

Gillian walked to her purse and excitedly took paper out. "I already started one."

She and Emily put there heads together while they poured over the list. Cal sighed and looked over at Amy.

"You're going to cost me a ton of money, aren't you?"

Amy held up her chocolate covered hands and nodded. "More cookie?"

Cal sighed as he handed her another one. "I have a feeling this is going to be a long day."

"Em, the first thing I need to get is a bed."

"I hope it's assembled," Cal grumbled under his breath, thinking of the endless nuts and bolts and screws he would have to sort through to put it together.

Gillian ignored him as she continued. "I'll probably wait on the comforter and curtains until after I paint the bedroom and get new carpeting."

"Bloody hell," Cal gasped as he realized his next two weekends would be spent on a ladder painting the guest room.

Emily shook her head with confusion. "We don't have to do that…Dad just painted my room and replaced the carpeting like six months ago. Liam and I can move my bed into the guest room and Amy can have my old room."

Gillian protested. "Emily I don't want to kick you out of your room."

Emily rolled her eyes. "First, I'm only here half the time and I'm leaving next year for college. Second, my room would be closer to you and Dad for any problems Amy might have and seeing as you're going to be in the honeymoon mood stage for awhile, I'd be happy to be far away from your room because…ewe…just ewe."

Gillian blushed as she laughed aloud. "Sorry…we'll keep the ewe down…"

"Maybe…" Cal muttered.

Once again Gillian ignored him and continued. "And thank you for offering your room. It does make the most sense but I don't want you to feel displaced in your own home."

"Well, as of tonight its Amy's home too so let's get out of here and make her a room."

Gillian turned to see Amy covered in chocolate. She frowned as she looked at Cal. "How many cookies did she have?"

Cal blinked. "I'm sorry, are you talking to me, cause I didn't think you remembered I was sitting here…"

"Lame, Dad…just lame…I'm getting my purse so we can leave."

She took off up the steps and Gillian leaned over to kiss Cal. "Are you feeling neglected already?"

Cal kissed her back. "Not so much anymore."

"Good…are you regretting any of this?"

"No, but I have a feeling I'm going to have to take on some of those crappy cheating spouse cases to pay for all of this…"

"What if I said I'd help on those crappy cases? Would it make it more bearable?"

"Maybe…" Cal sighed.

Gillian kissed him deeply. "How about now?"

"Ewe factor!" Emily grumbled when she came down.

Gillian turned around to see her grinning. "Are you ready?"

"Yep, but you better clean up the cookie monster there," she said as she pointed at Amy.

Gillian grabbed a towel and started to clean Amy up while Cal grabbed her a clean shirt. "Here you go, Luv."

Gillian stripped off the chocolate smeared shirt and handed it to Cal who threw it into the laundry room. "Let's go then!"

Gillian pulled Amy's shirt on and Emily scooped her up. "You riding in the backseat with me kid? We have a lot of stuff to cover over the next few days if you want any knowledge on how to handle these two…"

Amy squealed happily when Emily twirled her around as she walked towards the car. She secured Amy in her car seat then climbed in next to her and played with her all the way to the mall.

Cal carried Amy inside then set her down and Emily immediately grabbed her hand and started walking with her. "Keep up kid; you don't want to be left behind."

Gillian was all smiles as Cal took her hand. "Guess you're stuck holding my hand."

Gillian nodded towards the girls. "Cal, I am so grateful Emily is so accepting of all of this."

"Told you she would be…"

"You did…"

Gillian had leaned in and kissed him at exactly the time Emily turned around. "Ewww…do I have to separate you two long enough to get through this."

"It's not me, Em. Foster here can't keep her hands off me." At the mention of her last name, Gillian shot him a death look and he held up his hands. "Sorry, habit! Gillian can't keep her hands off me!"

Gillian laughed aloud. "That still sounds bad but its better."

Over the next hour, Cal discovered Gillian was a very frugal shopper. Although she loved clothes and bought expensive ones for herself, he discovered she never bought anything unless it was on sale and even then she asked the salesperson for a bigger discount. She also realized Amy would grow out of her clothes too quickly to warrant spending money on anything really expensive.

Three hours later, Amy was starting to whine. Cal ended up carrying her where she promptly fell asleep against his shoulder.

Gillian turned around and looked at him. "You have never looked more handsome to me then you do right now."

Cal knew what she meant and his eyes softened as he looked at her lovingly. "Because our baby is asleep on my shoulder?"

"Yes, there is nothing hotter than a dad holding his child."

She kissed him and Cal grinned into her mouth. "I have so many myths of yours to disprove."

"Aww…Dad…you look so cute. I remember when you used to carry me like that…" Emily laughed.

"Well, it's been awhile, yeah. Have you two done enough damage to my credit card yet? Cause I think Amy here has been eating bricks…"

"Want me to carry her for awhile?" Gillian asked.

Cal handed her over and within twenty minutes, Gillian's arms were tired. "Remind me to get a stroller…"

Cal laughed. "Heavy, yeah?"

"Dad's old now so it's bound to be harder."

"Hey!"

Gillian giggled. "Still, I think we should head home."

"Yeah, especially if you want Liam and I to get my bed moved."

On the way home, it was a unanimous vote and they stopped and picked up a few pizzas.

Liam met them at the front door and he and Cal carried the box for the toddler bed upstairs and left it in the hallway.

They all sat down and ate their dinner quickly then Liam and Emily took the twin bed from the guest room and put it into the basement. Then he and Cal lugged Emily's bed down the hall and had it assembled in the guest room.

Cal sat on the floor to assemble the toddler bed. Gillian helped hand him the screws and bolts he needed while Amy explored the room.

Cal grinned when she put her fingerprints all over the windows.

"Gill, why don't you take Amy downstairs and play with her. She's got to be bored stiff up here and she needs to be tired out or she won't sleep tonight."

"Are you sure, Cal? I feel bad sticking you with all the work."

Cal waved his hand dismissively. "Nah, makes me feel manly. If you want I'll even wear the tool belt to bed later on."

Gillian wagged her eyebrows suggestively. "That I want to see."

She scooped up Amy and headed downstairs to sit on the floor and play with the new toys they bought.

An hour later, she heard the vacuum going upstairs and picked up Amy to see if Cal had finished.

Emily walked in and looked around. "It's shaping up. Can we do the dressers tomorrow? Liam and I wanted to see a movie."

"Sure, Luv," Cal agreed. "Thanks for your help."

Emily kissed Amy. "Goodnight Amy, see you tomorrow."

Amy waved at her as she left then pushed away from Gillian. "Down."

Gillian set her down and watched as she walked over to her bed. "My bed."

Cal nodded and ruffled her hair. "Sure is, Darling, that's Amy's bed."

Gillian glanced at her watch as she pointed down. "Someone needs a bath."

"Amy baf!" she squealed with delight and ran out of the room. Gillian took off after her and chased her down the hall.

"Yes, Amy is getting a bath."

"Me baf! Me baf!"

Gillian opened the door to the bathroom and Amy ran inside and tried to take off her clothes. Frustrated, she began to whine. Gillian quickly stripped her down then started the bath water and set Amy in the tub.

Gillian was trying to wash her hair when Cal walked in. She looked at Cal pleadingly. "I had no idea washing long hair was so hard."

Cal slid down next to her and grinned. "Just takes lots of practice. Watch a master in action."

True to his word, Cal had Amy's hair shampooed and conditioned in record time.

"I'm impressed."

Cal laughed. "It's been a long time but I'm glad to see I've still got it!"

Amy splashed and giggled for over twenty minutes then finally grew tired. Cal held a fluffy towel in the air and wrapped Amy in it after Gillian scooped her out of the tub. He carried her to the bed and Gillian grabbed a pair of her old pajamas to dress in. She wanted her to have some familiar things for her first night away.

Cal had thoughtfully brought all her toys up as well for that very same purpose.

Gillian settled Amy in the bed and covered her up then sat on the floor next to the bed. Cal handed her a book then settled down next to Gillian and held Amy's hand. He caressed it absently with his thumb while Gillian read aloud.

Two books later, Cal began to read and Amy looked at him intently. Gill had to smile because she assumed this was the first time, Amy had really heard more than a few token words from Cal.

A few pages into the book her eyes closed and Cal softened his voice. By the time he got to the last page, Amy was asleep.

He nodded towards Gillian who followed him out the door. They left the hall light on and walked into Cal's room.

"If it's okay with you, I'm going to take a shower…" Gillian asked timidly.

Cal shook his head as he took her in his arms. "This is your home now too, Luv, you have free reign to do whatever you want here."

Gillian kissed him lightly and smirked at him. "So…I have your permission to make any changes I want?"

Cal shrugged indifferently as he grabbed a clean towel. "Whatever you want."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, why?" Cal turned around and looked at her quizzically as he looked around the room. "You're not planning to knock down any walls or tear off the roof are you?"

Gillian rolled her eyes. "Of course not…"

Cal looked at her worriedly. "Good, 'cause you know how much I make and we can't really afford anything major right now."

"Nope, nothing major…I promise…just some redecorating."

Cal made a face. "So…new curtains and bedspreads and such?"

Gillian grinned. "I promise it won't be expensive, I'd like to bring some of my stuff here and incorporate it with yours…"

"Darling, your couch is white and we just adopted an eighteen month daughter."

"That's what slip covers are for…"

Cal kissed her quickly as he turned. "Well, whatever you want…I'm using Em's shower."

Gillian excitedly walked to the bathroom and quickly took a shower while she mentally thought about the changes she'd like to make. She quickly dried her hair and brushed her teeth then opened the door and walked into the bedroom.

"Bloody hell, Gill!"

Gillian blinked in surprise and stopped as she looked up. "What?"

Her mouth went dry as she looked over at the bed to see Cal propped up staring at her lovingly.

"You look fantastic, Luv," Cal complimented adorably.

Gillian rolled her eyes as she blushed. "Thanks, but I think you've seen me in this nightgown before…"

Cal slipped from the bed and walked over to stand in front of her. He put his arms around her and pulled her to his chest. "Yeah, but when I was looking before, what I saw, didn't belong to me."

Gillian put her hands against his chest and leaned forward. "And now it does and you have my permission to do more than just look."

Cal's hands slipped up her back and tangled in her hair as he started kissing her passionately. "It's going to be a long week!" he grumbled as he backed away.

It was only seconds before Gillian hands started tugging at the string on his pajama bottoms. "Let's not wait!"

Cal grabbed for her hands to stop her. "Gill…"

"Hmmm…."

He had pulled away and she leaned back to look at him curiously. He smiled as he looked at her affectionately. "Darling, I've dreamed of this moment for far too long to have it go this quickly."

Gillian started to pout then smiled devilishly. "Why don't we get the first time over with then we can go slower next time…"

"Really?" Cal blinked in surprise.

Gillian pushed him against the bed. When he sat down hard on the edge, she climbed on top and straddled his hips as she kissed him passionately.

Cal took only a second to recover from his surprise before he took control of their lovemaking and flipped her to her back.

Gillian laughed as she scooted out from under him and started to slip out of her nightgown.

Cal grabbed her hands to stop her. "Let me…"

Gillian stopped and blushed as Cal slipped off her gown then looked down the length of her body. "Beautiful…" he said as he claimed her lips again.

Afterwards, Cal was panting heavily and Gillian had a satisfied smile on her face as she snuggled up against him.

"Oh God…I wish I had known it was going to be that good…can't believe how much time we wasted."

Cal grinned as he pulled her close. "We can always try to improve on it…"

Gillian felt the evidence that he was ready again and giggled as she climbed on top.

Lying on her back again and fully satisfied, Gillian reached for Cal's hand. "Cal, when do you want to get married?"

"Whenever you want to, Darling." Cal mumbled sleepily.

Gillian slapped at him playfully. "That's not an answer!"

Cal frowned as he propped himself up on his elbow.

"Gill, I love you and have for quite awhile. I feel like we're already committed and a piece of paper isn't going to make me feel like we are less of a family."

Gillian sighed with relief. "I agree…"

Cal held her hand and kissed it. "Maybe we could just go to the court house with Emily and Amy."

"Loker and Torres could be our witnesses."

"At's fine, Luv."