Cal stood at the end of the hall, keeping an eye on his youngest as he answered the front door. Owen was six but Cal was still a little wary of him opening the house up to any old stranger. It wasn't a stranger though, it was Emily; Cal just wanted to make sure. She gave Owen a hug and he ushered them inside. Ajay followed his wife in. Cal turned away again.

"Is that Em and Ajay?" Gillian asked from the kitchen. Lewis was helping her make pizzas.

"Yep," Cal confirmed and then his daughter and her husband came into the room with his youngest son.

"Hi everybody!" Emily greeted with a grin. Cal gave her a hug and shook Ajay's hand. They all said hello to each other. "Ooh what are you making here Lewis?"

"Pizza," he said with a smile, raising his hand for a double 'Z' movement.

"It looks great."

"Can I get you a beer Ajay?" Cal asked. "Em?" She shook her head 'no' but Ajay accepted the offer.

Lewis pointed out the toppings to Emily and Owen bounced around excited. Gillian told him to calm it down a bit and to ask Emily if she wanted something else to drink, if she didn't want a beer. Cal popped the cap on Ajay's beer and handed it over. He had one for his wife as well and she thanked him with a smile.

"Do you want a drink?" Owen asked his big sister politely.

"Yes thank you," Emily responded just as courteously.

"What do you want?"

"What do you have?"

Owen screwed up his face to think. He reeled off the options while Cal directed Ajay to take a seat at the breakfast bar. That way they'd be close enough for continued conversation. Emily decided on juice, and Owen got her a glass and shakily poured. He asked if he was allowed some too, which Gillian said he was, so long as he poured some for Lewis, who was now on cheese grating duty.

"What have you been up to Ajay?" Cal asked, swigging his beer.

"Working mostly. And we had Em's Mom to stay."

"How is Zoe?"

"Working hard," Emily responded heading around the bar to sit on her husband's other side, giving his arm a squeeze as she had to push herself up to sit on the tall stool. "Unlike some people."

"If that was a dig at me," Cal started. "You can just shut your mouth."

"Cal," Gillian warned. Two small, expectant faces looked over at him.

"I work hard," Cal went on. Emily smirked, Ajay hid a smile and Gillian laughed. "Where is this comin' from? Didn't realise I was unemployed."

"More like semi-retired," Emily shot back.

"I'm spendin' time with my kids," Cal countered with a gesture towards them. "Really. You lot are ridiculous."

"We're teasing you," Emily leaned over to give his arm a squeeze.

"It's Gill's fault anyway," Cal went on.

"Hey!" Gillian protested with a frown. "Owen I saw that," she added, still looking at Cal. Owen slunk back, his little stash of cheese between his grouped fingers.

"You went back to work," Cal informed her, as if he had to compensate for her absence now, ignoring his rascal son and continuing their conversation.

"I worked before I went back to practice," she corrected.

"Yeah that," Cal took another mouthful of beer.

"Don't drag me into this," Gillian told him lightly.

"Thought you were on my side," Cal mumbled.

He shifted his eyes rapidly to the right and Gillian gave him a grin before turning to her left, to where Owen was trying to sneak more cheese. "Hands out Trouble," she warned him. He gave her that cute grin that melted so many hearts. "I mean it," she threatened. "Why don't you set the table." It wasn't a question. The table had already been pulled out from the wall so everyone would fit around it. "Knives and forks for everyone. And don't forget there are extra people here." She asked Lewis if he was finished spreading cheese and he nodded he was.

"What do we need knives and forks for?" Owen queried. "You eat pizza with your hand."

"But remember last time we made pizza's the toppings kept falling off because the bases were nice and soft?" Gillian countered.

"Oh." Owen noted abruptly. Lewis helped Gillian put the first two pizza's in the oven, one on each tray. There was one more already made on the bench, which just needed cheese, and Gillian produced two more bases waiting for toppings. It worked out as one each for the adults; the boys were going to share. Owen started off with plates.

"We haven't had homemade pizza in so long," Emily noted.

"We're low brow here," Cal commented. "Lewis made the dough and all."

"Oh cool," Emily enthused.

"Ajay do you object to any particular toppings?" Gillian asked.

"No I'm happy to eat anything."

"This guy is an omnivore on a whole new extreme," Emily eye rolled.

"Just because you can't stand the smell of asparagus right now," Ajay started. Emily gave him a little glare and he trailed off quickly. Cal watched them, intrigued. His gaze slid to Gillian who glanced up at him and held his eye for a moment; she noticed it too.

"How long do I set the timer Mum?" Lewis called from the oven.

"Twelve minutes," Gillian turned to answer him, using her index and middle finger in a 'come here' gesture but up towards the ceiling.

Owen traipsed back into the kitchen to get knives and forks. Lewis was standing in front of the cutlery drawer. Owen opened it into his brother's hip who immediately protested, and did so loudly. He demanded an apology and Owen protested that he should have moved out of the way.

"All right," Cal cut them both off. "Owen's sorry and Lewis, move."

"We'd love to have you over for dinner at our place," Ajay filled the silence.

"But there is so not enough room," Emily finished and they exchanged another look.

"Are you thinkin' of movin'?"

"Margaret wants us to move closer to them," Emily responded. Margaret was Ajay's mother, and yeah, it was no secret she wanted the two of them to move closer to Ajay's family.

"She's been saying that for years," Ajay responded and he went back and forth with his wife softly like there was no one else in the room. Cal looked over at Gillian again. Something was different. She watched him too. She agreed.

The alarm on the oven started to go off and Lewis turned towards it while Owen bounced excitedly again. "Owen," Cal called. "Come ova here a second."

"I want to see the pizza," he pouted but he did obey. The Lightman's were lucky, their kids were rarely defiant.

Gillian removed the first tray and set it on the wooden chopping board while Lewis closed the oven door. She slid the food off, then Lewis helped her slide the next one that was ready onto the hot tray carefully. He opened the oven again so she could put the uncooked pizza in and take the last one out. She put that one on the other chopping board, the plastic composite, and they put the next pizza in again. Lewis reset the timer.

"What?" Owen asked, approaching where his father was sitting on a bar stool. Cal leaned down and lifted him awkwardly to his lap. From there Owen watched the exchange of pizza and trays. "That looks soooo good."

"Doesn't it?" Cal agreed. He took another sip of his beer. Owen asked to try it and Cal let him take a small mouthful. Owen immediately turned up his nose.

"That's yuck. How can you drink that?"

"I like it," Cal noted.

Gillian cut the pizzas and Lewis put them onto a platter, then invited everyone to sit at the table and make a start. Gillian released him from pizza duty. The last one only needed cheese, which she did quickly. The boys dug in hungrily and Cal directed them to leave a piece for Mum, which he put on her plate for her. He left her the head seat so she had easy access. He sat next to Emily against the windows.

"This is so good Mum," Lewis noted, leaning over the back of his chair to give her a 'thumbs up'.

"Thank you for your help," she told him back, moving her fingers from her chin forward.

"Yum!" Owen crowed. Emily and Ajay echoed their appreciation. Cal wiggled his eyebrows at his wife and she gave him a slight smile. It was quiet for a while, while everyone chewed, then the oven's alarm went off again.

Lewis got up. "I'll help," he offered, placing his right fist into his left palm and moving it towards her. Gillian thanked him again and they went through the same dance of swapping the last pizza over to the tray. Lewis took the platter from the centre of the table away to reload it. Gillian wiped down the bench while she waited this time.

"Refill?" Ajay offered starting to get up. Cal indicated yes. Ajay gave his wife's shoulder a squeeze as he went by; she was listening to Owen tell her about school. He got Cal a beer and refilled Emily's juice glass.

Gillian joined them at the table with the last pizza. Lewis offered the plate around and they talked, the boys about school, Gillian about her practice, Emily about work, a few tentative stories about her mother coming to stay.

Owen turned to Gillian with a confused expression. "How come you're not Emmy's Mum?"

The table went quiet.

"Cos Emmy didn't come out of Mum," Lewis answered, leaning towards his six year old brother, as if he were imparting a secret. "Her Mum is Zoe." He dropped his fork to finger spell the name.

Owen looked as though that information had only just occurred to him.

"While everyone's quiet," Emily spoke up. "Ajay and I have an announcement to make."

Cal turned his gaze to his daughter. Her wide brown eyes were a little wider than normal and her cheeks had a flush to them. She looked over to her husband and he gave a slight nod, trying to hide a smile and Cal was torn between guessing it was good news or bad news. Good news for them could mean bad news for him. They could say they were moving to Oklahoma.

"We're going to have a baby," Emily finished.

"Wow," Cal uttered.

"Congratulations!" Gillian cried out, standing rapidly to give Emily a hug. Emily got up from her chair stand away from the furniture, to embrace the older woman. Cal had to get up and walk around the table to also hug his daughter and shake hands with his son-in-law. He offered them congratulations too.

"How far along are you? Are you feeling ok?" Gillian bombarded.

"I want hugs!" Owen announced, climbing down from his chair to grab whoever was closest; Ajay.

"Dad," Lewis tugged on Cal's arm. Cal looked down at him, trying to hear his daughter answer his wife at the same time. "Does that mean we'll have a new cousin?" He looked a little confused, he made a 'C' hand by his ear and moved it in a circle.

"Nah buddy, it means you're gonna be an uncle!" He made a 'U' hand shape and rotated it in a tight circle by his forehead.

"And your Dad's going to be a granddad," Ajay added facetiously.

Owen turned to his father grinning. He made a 'C' in front of his mouth and formed it into an 'S'. "You're going to be so old!"