Now that Cal was teaching he actually had homework he had to do himself. Which meant he had moved in on Gillian's desk, much to her dismay, in the 'adult' lounge, because he needed somewhere to work at home and she wouldn't take kindly to him domineering the table they ate at. It was a little different from when Lewis was a baby and they never ate there anyway. Cal was marking assignments. And it was mind numbing. So when a figure appeared in the door way he was almost relieved for the distraction. It was Lewis. He was getting taller by the week at the moment, and eating in direct positive correlation.

"Hey Dad," Lewis greeted, his hand by his forehead.

"What's up Lew?" Cal turned in his chair a little to give his son his attention.

"Are you busy?"

"I'm always busy darlin', but I'll spare you some of my time."

Lewis gave a slight eye roll but sat in the seat his mother used on her side of the table. In compromise, they'd brought in the old dining room table Cal used to use as a desk in their old house, that had not found a place in their new home when they'd moved, and which up until a few months ago, been stored in the garage.

"So what's up?" Cal asked again.

Lewis shook the hair from his eyes. Now that his hair was longer again, the curls were back. He looked like a surfer, even though he didn't see the ocean on a regular basis. He did skate though. Maybe Cal should describe him as a skater boy.

"I was wondering how you get a girl to..." He hesitated and then seemed to think about what he wanted to say. "You know..." He looked reluctant and unsure and Cal was focussing too much on the resistance in his body language. Then he suddenly heard the words, what Lewis was implying and his attention was suddenly brought back to a sharp focus. Lewis didn't quite meet his eyes but he was pretty sure he knew what his son was talking about. Pretty sure. He was still going to need confirmation. No need to have a bloody awkward conversation without being sure he needed to have it in the first place. So Cal waited and after a short while Lewis did look up and met his father's eye and added. "When you're having sex."

"Oh," Cal responded first, a little surprise. He shouldn't be. Lewis was the direct type. He gave a little laugh. Lewis looked surprised now, then quickly went to annoyed. "Sorry. It's just... you caught me off guard."

"I wasn't sure how to subtly lead into the conversation," Lewis muttered, using his hands to speak clearly.

"Right," Cal agreed. This was his fault. He'd always encouraged direct conversation. And answering questions even if they were... uncomfortable. "Right yeah ok, serious conversation," Cal recovered himself. He gave a slight frown. How was he going to answer this one? Draw him a diagram? How much detail was he really going to give? Cal wasn't sure he really wanted to map it out for Lewis. It was... a process... figuring out women and it was one of those processes a young man had to go through himself. Otherwise, it wouldn't have the same impact. Plus every girl was different and every guy was different. But if it was a toss-up between Lewis coming to talk to his father about sex, and one of his immature friends, then Cal would rather it was him. He took a steadying breath and began.

"Well... the thing to remember is that girls... they're, sex is more for them. It takes more for them to," he gave a little pushing of his hand. "Get there, than it does for guys. You know? You see a pretty girl walk by and you think about her and you're pretty much ready," Cal gave an encouraging nod to say he knew exactly what he was talking about. He did. Been there, done that. "But for girls it takes a lot more so you have to be more patient and willin' and, uh, you have to try harda." He paused and looked at his son who was watching him avidly. But silently. Cal wondered if Lewis was asking for a specific reason. He was seventeen... with a steady girlfriend... and they'd been together nearly two years... it wasn't entirely unreasonable to assume.

"Get her to tell you," Cal went on. "When you were younga and figurin' out..." he hesitated. Awkward. He plunged on. "Yourself and what kind of things felt good for you, you know? You figa-ed out whetha you liked it fast or slow or whateva." He so hoped Lewis wasn't going to suddenly volunteer information. "Well, she should too, figa out her own body and, so, she... should be able to tell you what she likes. How she likes to be touched... If anyone's gonna know it should be her..."

Cal hesitated again. Lewis was still staring at him eagerly; like he was taking mental notes. Bloody hell.

"Talkin' is good. Girls like to talk. And kissin', lots of kissin'. Kissin' is always a very good startin' point. Can't kiss enough. And lots of explorin' and ask her if she likes what you're doin' or... and rememba that, don't just go for the obvious. There are lots of otha places that can really do it for a girl. Like the back of knees," Cal gestured towards his. "Lots of soft, gentle touchin' and kissin'."

He paused again. Avid audience. Awkward as all hell. Lewis's face shifted a little as if to say 'is that it?' Not in a demanding way like 'where's my share of the cake?' but more like 'is there anything else that I should know because this is really helpful and I'd like all of the information before I leave the room'.

Cal swallowed. "Uh and... girls, they react slowa to things so... it might take her a while to even get used to havin' sex in the first place. Girls kinda have to... train their bodies to respond so... she might, or you can help or..."

Now. Did that answer the question enough?

"You have to figa it out," Cal added. He paused again and Lewis sat there and gave a slight nod. He had just turned seventeen, his body like that of a man, while his mind was still sometimes like that of a boy. "I have to ask," Cal went on. He did have to... And he was suddenly feeling more confident. "Are you havin' sex?"

Lewis looked only slightly uncomfortable before saying 'yes'.

"And you're bein' safe right?" Cal felt a spark of his heart beat. "You're usin' condoms?"

Lewis nodded, "Yes Dad."

"Condoms Lew. Not just pullin' out or..."

"No Dad!" Lewis interrupted. "We're using condoms."

"And you have... enough?"

"Yeah," Lewis agreed, looking into his lap a little. "You can get them from the health nurse at school. They're free. "

"Right. Good," Cal felt relieved. "And you know, you can ask me. I'll get them for you. I'd ratha make sure you had them."

"Yep thanks Dad."

"All right," Cal gave another nod, not wanting to push the issue, or more accurately, push his son out the door. He should probably just go and get some and give them to Lewis anyway. Yep, he was going to do that. "And..." Cal hesitated again. "We're talkin' about Hollie right?"

"Yeah," Lewis agreed.

Cal had no idea why that made him feel better but it did. Maybe it was to do with less random encounters for his son. Or that his first time was at least with someone who cared about him, even if it was a little premature to be talking about love at seventeen.

"How old were you?" Lewis asked suddenly, his face coming up again, his eyes meeting his father's. "The first time?"

"Ah, young," Cal hedged. This was the answer he had given Lewis before. "Just a kid really. It was stupid." And when Lewis didn't seem dissuaded by those answers he admitted he was fourteen. Lewis's eyebrows went up a little in surprise. "But I wish I had waited," Cal went on. "Till I was olda and a little bit more mature. It wasn't a great experience and I'm not really proud of it." He hesitated again. This was probably too much to share but oh well. When had that ever stopped him? "When you're with someone you love, Lew, really love, more than you eva thought possible, more than words will even describe, you get to thinkin' about what kind of man you are. And you think about the things you did in the past and how you once were, and in particula, the mistakes you made with otha people. And... my first time is one of those things I kind of regret. It wasn't special or even really very nice."

"She didn't love you?"

"No," Cal agreed. "No she didn't. And I didn't love her eitha. We weren't really even goin' out. Not like you and Hollie. We just hung out a few times at some parties or when a group of us went to a movie. It was behind some buildin' in the dead of winta and it was a quick... 'get it ova with' kind of thing." He gave a slight wince, the memories replaying in his mind. What he didn't add was that it was the poor girls first time too and Cal had hurt her and she had cried. At the time, he'd thought that was just normal. He'd always heard about how it hurt for girls and that was just normal. But now he suspected that was wrong. And he hoped it hadn't been like that for Lewis and Hollie. "I look back on that and think I don't deserve..." He stopped. "It sometimes makes me wonda whetha I deserve to be with someone like your Mum."

"Mum loves you," Lewis supplied.

"Yeah she does," Cal agreed.

"And you love her. Loads."

"I do," Cal confirmed. "But you know, Lew, when you really love someone, you really want to be the best person you can. You want to deserve to be with them. I didn't always feel that way about your Mum. I thought she was too good for me."

"Yeah I want to be a good boyfriend to Hollie," Lewis chipped in helpfully.

"Right," Cal nodded. "Good." He gave a slight smile and Lewis returned it and it seemed strange to Cal that he found himself in the same boat as his son. Which he supposed was a good thing even if Lewis wasn't saying he loved Hollie but cared for her very much. The boy, no, young man, was realistic. He knew they would be going away to college soon and he knew that teenage love was not always the real thing. They talked about it sometimes. Or at least, Lewis mused aloud while Cal had no idea what to say. If his life had taught him anything, it was that everything he thought was true was in fact wrong and that Gillian was the only thing that truly made sense to him. Those misguided notions from his childhood of getting married and having kids had all fallen out the window from six stories up when Zoe came along. Now he knew that a love like he shared with Gillian was rare. He hoped Lewis found it, but he also didn't want to shatter the boy's hopes. If Lewis didn't ever search or try, then how would he ever discover?

Lewis got to his feet, slapping his hands against his thighs lightly in a gesture of finality. "Thanks Dad."

"Sure," Cal agreed. A part of him felt he had communicated well, while another part worried he had not done enough. That was the part that kept him a good father. Or so Gillian told him, because he was always searching and trying.

"Have fun with your marking," Lewis shot at him before walking off.

"Thanks," Cal replied dryly under his breath.