Cal didn't know this coffee house but he was game to try somewhere new, especially if it was recommended by his little coffee connoisseur. He wandered along the footpath at a fair pace, because he was late, but his eyes roved faces even faster, because he didn't want to walk by and not recognise the young man. Kent didn't spot him first and Cal got two seconds of uninterrupted studying before he did. Kent was blonde, which Cal hadn't know when he was in the hospital and had no hair at all. He still kept his hair short, though now it was tidy for work purposes. Kent was a social worker.

Cal caught his eye and Kent smiled. He stood to greet Cal, waving hello even though Cal was a few meters away still. Cal waved hello back and asked how Kent was. Kent gave him a bright smile and a thumbs up. Then Cal was close enough for a hand grasp and a quick hug. They sat. Kent asked how Cal was.

"I'm good," Cal responded verbally, also giving a thumbs up.

"That's good," Kent responded. His speech still had the distorted sound of a deaf man but he'd been having therapy since his cochlear implant. It was a decision he had agonised over, absolutely agonised. His mother had never even had him assessed for an implant because she had, firstly, not the money to pay for it, and secondly, whole-heartedly embraced the deaf culture. Cal suspected, on some small level, she liked the attention having a deaf son brought. But now that Kent was a fully fledged adult he had looked into it himself, out of curiosity, or so he told Cal. Cal suspected he wanted the best of both worlds; he was a part of a specific culture, with its own language but now he wanted to experience another. A bit like moving to another country. He hadn't given up on signing, or even tutoring younger children learning to sign, or Cal, who still went to Kent every time he was stuck. He hadn't shut out that aspect of his life but after the surgery, when Cal had gone up to see him in the hospital, Kent had cried because he realised just how much he had missed out on in the world of the hearing.

Getting the implant had caused a lot of friction for the twenty-two year old. His mother felt it was a rejection of the way she had raised him and a lot of Kent's deaf friends felt the same way too. The deaf had a culture and they vehemently defended it, particularly when it came to the implant debate. Kent had asked Cal what his opinion was but Cal wasn't entirely sure. Kent asked if Lewis was eligible would he get his son the surgery and Cal had to suppose that he would. But Lewis was eight, a lot younger than Kent, he was only hard of hearing and he would adjust relatively easily. And he hadn't been born that way. Well he had been born that way but not in the way Kent had been born that way. It was complicated. In the end Cal said he supported whatever Kent chose to do, that he would not judge one way or the other, that he would be there for him, but that he got the impression Kent wanted the surgery and was afraid of what other people thought.

"I ordered you a coffee," Kent went on. "You're lucky they're busy otherwise yours would be cold."

Cal hung his head at the admonishment. "I got stuck in traffic."

Kent waved a finger at him, "Uh uh Doctor Lightman. No lying now."

"Work," Cal corrected himself. "But I'm only a little bit late."

Kent gave a smug little smile and sat back in his chair. Their coffees arrived and they tried them, agreeing the drinks were good.

"So what are you up to today?" Cal asked. "You workin' late-a?"

"Free as a bird," Kent responded warmly. He worked shifts at a youth detention centre, which meant he had random days off in the middle of the week but sometimes was on graveyards.

"What's on your mind?" Cal asked next, fixing the young man with a steady gaze as he took another sip of his coffee.

Kent looked surprised for a moment then gave Cal an unimpressed expression. "That's cheating."

"You're an open book."

"Not fair," Kent pouted. "But I did want to talk to you about something." And now he looked pensive. Cal felt nerves settle in his stomach. This was how he had brought up the cochlear implant too. Kent was good at dropping bombshells. "Or tell you something really," Kent corrected. "Simon and I are moving to London."

Cal felt his jaw want to gape open with surprise but he held it together relatively well, even though he still let it be known he was shocked. "When?"

"In a few months. His commander got stationed there so he's transferring and I decided to go with him."

Cal let that sink in for a second. "Wow."

Kent gave a grin. "I'm excited about it."

"I can tell." Cal gave it another second. Give it a chance to sink in and he'd be over the shock and on to enthused."That's great Kent. I think... You'll love London."

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah," Cal confirmed. He had not been expecting that information and he felt... no, yeah, he felt sad about it, that Kent was leaving but also... excited for him? Or proud? That he was going to go off and have an adventure. Simon was a Lieutenant in the United States Navy, stationed at the Navy Yards. Cal wasn't sure what the young man did for the Navy exactly but he had met Kent at university several years ago now. Simon had taken an extra paper in philosophy and Kent was finishing his degree and Cal still remembered the sheer joy on his young friend's face the first time he talked about Simon.

"What did your Mum say?" Cal assumed he was not the first to know.

"She was a little upset," Kent noted. "But she also says I should follow my heart."

"Now that's good advice," Cal raised his coffee cup in salutation.

"Will you stay for lunch? Simon is going to meet me here."

"I can't stay for too long," Cal noted. "Will he be here soon?" Kent shook his head in the negative and he looked disappointed. "How about you guys come ova for dinna?" Cal offered instead. "Soon?"

Kent nodded to that.

"Definitely before you go," Cal added. Kent gave a smile. "So," Cal took another sip of his coffee. "Whereabouts in London are you gonna be based?"