Gill had managed to get an appointment with her gynaecologist the following week, and Cal watched as, day by day, she became increasingly anxious. It started off as simple things- being a little distracted at times or forgetting what she was doing. By day three of their wait it wasn't uncommon for Cal to see her staring into space, her mind obviously elsewhere. She was a little more restless sleeping at night, and by the day before she'd started to become a little short with people, snapping more easily than she normally would with people she'd normally be patient with.
The day of her appointment she'd gone to work, but she was completely useless. She just wanted to get it over and done with. By mid-morning she'd typed one sentence and her cursor sat blinking at her, counting the seconds that passed without her moving it. She closed her word-processor to stop the near-blank page from taunting her any further and sighed. Her appointment was at 1.30. She glanced at the clock. 10.45. How was she going to last another 2 hours and 45 minutes?
'Just write one more sentence,' she willed herself. 'Starting's the hardest bit. Once you do it'll come easily. You know what you have to write, so just do it!' Her fingers hovered over the keys on her keyboard but it was no use, she couldn't concentrate. Standing up, she took her results, a notepad and a pen and headed towards the only place she knew she was likely to find any sense of calm- Cal's office. She poked her head in to see if he was there and knocked quietly when she did.
Cal looked up from what he was doing and smiled adoringly. "Problem, love?" he asked her.
Gill held up the papers in her hand. "Just a little writer's block," she told him. "I'm trying to type that paper on recognising vocal expressions of different positive states, but I just can't seem to get started."
Cal knew that was only partially true. "Happens to the best of us, love," he assured her, even though Gill knew it already. "Change of scenery might help. D'you want to sit in my study for a bit?" he offered.
Gill nodded gratefully, thankful Cal didn't call her on what the real problem was- or at least the root of the problem. "You're sure you don't mind?" she asked as she stepped into his office, ready to make her way through to the study.
"Course not," Cal assured her. "Here," he said, standing up and taking his suit jacket off. "It's a bit chilly in there this morning. I think the air conditioning repairman did his job a bit too well," he grinned, holding the garment out for her. He knew this was just the first step in what would probably be a long and difficult journey for them, but he wanted to show Gill that he was going to be there to love and support her every single step of the way.
Gill's eyes lit up. She approached Cal slowly and set her papers down on his desk, allowing him to put his suit coat on her. "Thank you," she whispered, kissing him softly then picking her papers up again. They weren't meant to kiss at work- her rule, not his- but rules were made to be broken from time to time. She knew for a fact that Cal was lying about the temperature, she'd seen it all over his face, but she appreciated the gesture. Wrapped up in his jacket, she felt almost like he had his arms around her. If nothing else, it smelt like him, and she took some comfort in that.
Cal nodded and touched her hand lightly. "You'll just be in there if I need you, yeah?" he asked. Of course, what he meant was 'I'll just be out here if you need me.'
"Yeah," Gill agreed with a smile. She lingered for a moment before she turned and walked into Cal's office, taking up residence on the arm chair there. She tucked her legs up underneath her and rotated her body to get the right angle so all she had to do was glance up and she could see her husband.
Cal wanted to look in on Gill, but didn't want her to feel like he was watching her too closely. He'd made an effort to comfort her, but he didn't think she'd want to feel like he was hovering too much- he did have a tendency to be a little over-protective when it came to her. Loker could testify to that. Instead, he glued his eyes to his computer screen and forced himself to get back to work. He could glance up in a little while, when she was settled.
Gill spent a minute or two watching Cal before turning her attention to the research in her hands. When she picked up her pen and put it to paper, it was amazing how freely the words now flowed.
A/N: I 'borrowed' the idea of the study from real research. If any of you are lucky enough to have access to uni research databases it's:
Sauter, D.A. & Scott, S.K (2007). More than one kind of happiness: Can we recognize vocal expressions of different positive states? Motivation and Emotion, 31(3), 192-199.
I believe the research uses Paul Ekman's work as a starting point, and that Ekman built on it with the authors and presented findings at a conference in 2009.
