Me: Hey dear readers, I know what you're probably thinking: Dude, you evil (*^%. You've kept us waiting for EVAH. Well, yes, I have, but I'd like to apologize. I have had a lot of things on my mind lately.

Cal: Does that count the steamy dream you had about me and Gillian last night?

Me: Cal, that was you...

Cal: Well, you're in my head, therefore it was your dream too.

Me: Touche... but some thoughts I would really want you to keep to yourself. I'm not planning an M-rated fic... and I sure as hell am not planning for whipped cream to be involved!

Cal: You lack imagination.

Gillian: Hey, guys! What's up?

Me: Since when are you in the chapter intros??

Gillian: Since I've deemed you both unable to tell the readers that you do not own Lie to Me, Cal, Emily or I, and tell them to leave reviews of awesomeness for they make you happier than a kumquat.

Me: Whatever. On with the story!

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"Mmm, Cal, this is really good!" Gillian said, using her fork to stab yet another pancake.

"Seriously dad, these are great!" agreed Emily, grabbing some maple syrup.

Cal smiled at them both, and continued eating his pancakes. He rarely got moments like these, and he wanted to enjoy it as much as he could; especially with Gillian there. He hadn't been there much for Emily when she was younger, and he didn't want to lose the precious time he had left. Gillian standing up broke Cal out of his thoughts. She picked up her plate and walked over to the sink.

"I'll wash the dishes. It's only fair. Just tell me when you guys are done." she smiled as she picked up the sponge and dishwashing soap.

"Want me to help, Gillian?" asked Emily as she finished the last piece of her pancake and walked over with her plate towards Gillian.

"No that's fine, but thank you. But you might want to get dressed, I have a surprise for you." Gillian smiled.

"Cool, does dad know?" Emily asked, wondering what was up.

"I don't think there's anything your father doesn't know." Gillian said, looking towards where Cal was finishing off his pancake. He too was now intrigued, as she could see in his eyes. She hadn't told him what she was planning, but she knew that he could see she was up to something.

"K, I'll go get ready then." Emily said, rushing up the stairs excited to know what surprises the day held. Cal and Gillian watched as Emily ran up the stairs. Cal then turned to face Gillian as he stood up with his plate in hand.

"Alright, what's goin on?" he asked, coming up behind Gillian to wash his plate.

"I'll take that, and I don't know what you're talking about." she said taking his plate with a smirk on her face.

"Of course you don't." he replied, taking a dish towel and drying the plates Gillian was done washing. He stood there, drying the dishes, glancing at Gillian, waiting for her to tell him.

"Cal..." and there it was. He knew her far too well.

"Hm?"

"Will you come to the mall with Emily and I?" Cal looked at her with a questioning look.

"You mean as in being a slave of two girls asking me what I think looks best on them and in the end they don't listen to me at all? No thanks." he said, having had enough experience with what he called MSD, also known as, 'Mad Shopping Disorder'.

"Come on Cal. Besides, you've never been shopping with me and I need an opinion on what I try on."

"Isn't that what you'll have Emily for?"

"I need a guy's opinion, Cal." she said in a 'duh' tone. Cal thought about it for a few seconds before letting out a sigh.

"Alright, I'll come."

"I know you too well." Gillian smiled triumphantly.

"You really are a little devil, you know that?" Cal smirked. Gillian laughed as she continued to was the last of the dishes.

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"You guys ready yet??" called Emily from downstairs. Gillian came down the stairs dragging Cal by the arm.

"Sorry we took so long, I had to help Cal decide between the black or light blue shirt." she explained, giving Cal an 'I'll-get-you-back-for-that' look.

"Light blue looks good on you dad. So can we go now??" said the excited 15 year old, car keys in hand. Cal walked by Emily, taking the car keys.

"What is it with you girls and malls?" he asked, opening the door for them.

"Some answers are for us to know, and for men like you to never understand." Gillian jokingly said, brushing past Cal out the door. Emily sat behind Gillian, who was in the passenger seat. Cal got in the driver's seat and began driving towards the mall. Gillian and Emily looked out the window, watching the quiet suburbs turn into the more bustling streets that are downtown Washington D.C.

"Well, here we are." announced Cal, pulling into the mall's parking lot. He parked near a mall entrance and all three got out of the car and made their way inside. Cal looked over at Gillian and Emily, who had huge smiles planted on their faces.

"Why do I get the feeling you guys are planning to torture me?"

"Because Cal, we're two girls who have just stumbled into the part of the mall with the 50% off dress sale!" Gillian said excitingly as Emily ran over to a strapless black dress.

"Oh God, what have I done?" asked Cal now realizing what this meant.

"Gillian! This dress would look great on you!" Emily said, running towards her with the strapless, knee length black dress.

"It's cute! Come on, let's go find something for you!" said Gillian walking with Emily towards the 'Young Adult' section.

"You coming dad?" asked Emily.

"Well I don't have much of a choice now do I luv?" Cal said, following the two on their shopping frenzy.

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"You guys done yet?" asked Cal, outside the women's dressing rooms.

"Nope dad."

"Almost Cal." Cal sighed and tried to keep himself occupied on the little bench outside the dressing rooms.

"Ready when you are Emily." he heard Gillian say from inside her dressing room.

"Alright, just gimme a sec... aaaaaand... done! Ok, ready!."

"You go first, Em." said Gillian. Cal saw as Emily opened her dressing room door. He saw was his daughter in a lavender satin dress with thin straps that went down just above her knee with matching heels in a bit darker shade of purple.

"I hope you're not dreaming I'll let you wear it on any dates." Emily rolled her eyes.

"It's for the spring dance dad."

"Well in that case I think it looks pretty." he smiled, as Emily ran over to him and gave him a hug.

"Thanks dad. Ok Gillian, your turn!" she said, sitting next to Cal.

"Alright, here goes." Gillian said as she opened the door to her dressing room. Cal could only stare as Gillian walked out in beautiful black stilettos and the dress Emily had given her earlier. The strapless black dress, which turned out not to be a knee length dress, since it was about 4 inches above her knee and hugged her in all the right places.

"So? What do you think?" she said twirling around with a smile.

"I think it's awesome Gillian! What do you think dad?" Emily asked, looking over to Cal, who was still staring at Gillian.

"Dad??"

"Hm? What?" he said, finally looking at Emily.

"What do you think of Gillian's dress?" she asked once more.

"Oh! I think... I think it looks...", he looked once more at Gillian, who was standing with both hands on her hips, "pretty." Emily and Gillian gave him a questioning look.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"Dad, it's a strapless dress that has the length of a mini skirt and all you can say is it's pretty??"

"Seriously Cal." said Gillian, walking towards him, now only a foot away.

"I told you I'm not good at this. What do you want me to say? That 'bloody hot' doesn't even begin to cover it??" he said all too quickly, trying to avoid looking straight at Gillian to hide his evident arousal.

"Well depends. Do you think it was 'bloody hot'?" Gillian smirked, making her look all the more sexy to Cal, which was most definitely not helpful if he wanted to even attempt speaking. A few seconds later and he realized that she was reading him. She looked into his eyes and he saw hers widen, realizing what he had been trying to hide.

"I'll um- I'll go change." Gillian said, pointing behind her at the dressing room.

"Good idea. I'll be in the men's department if you need me." Cal said quickly, standing up as Gillian walked back into her dressing room. Emily looked back and forth at them both and grabbed Cal by the arm.

"Hey, what was that about?" she asked, forcing him to look at her.

"Nothing."

"I think you hurt her feelings dad."

"Oh trust me, Em, that's definitely not it."

"Then what is it?" she asked, looking intently at her dad. He saw the same look on her face that Gillian had as she came to the realization.

"You did think it was bloody hot, didn't you? You like her!" Cal looked to his side, avoiding eye contact with his daughter.

'Curse the day I thought training this child in lie deception would be a good idea. Thank goodness we're far away enough from the changing rooms.' he thought.

"Go change." Emily sighed, and started walking back towards the changing rooms. She turned to face Cal once more.

"Dad... you should tell her." she said before heading back to her changing room.

"Trust me Em, I wish I could." he said to himself as he walked towards the men's department.

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