The doorbell rang and Owen raced down to answer it. Cal followed more slowly and so he was able hear his nine year old talking to their guests before he was close enough to see Kent standing on the door step with another young man. Owen was saying hello and Kent was saying hi back and Cal put a hand on the boys shoulder to pull him back. "Let them come inside," he directed gently.

Kent came in first and then the other man, saying hello to Cal as he did so. "This is Simon," he introduced, finger-spelling his name rapidly.

Simon gave Cal a smile in greeting, one that didn't reach his eyes and offered his hand to shake. "Nice to meet you sir," he said, his voice smooth and warm. His eyes were a startling blue and his blonde hair shaved close to his scalp so it's true colour was almost undetectable.

Cal gripped his hand firmly and gave a squeeze. "Cal," he identified himself. He noted Simon hadn't signed and so he didn't either; he must be hearing. Kent hadn't said either way. Which was completely natural. Hearing people didn't indicate that they could hear, so why should non-hearing persons do the same? Unless they didn't understand what was being said. "And this is Owen," Cal indicated his son.

"Hi," Owen offered, also extending a hand, like they had been practising.

"Hi Owen," Simon gave him a smile too and shook hands politely.

Cal didn't know too much about Simon, except that he was in the Navy. Which was the entire point of this evening. To get to know Simon.

"Are you Kent's boyfriend?" Owen asked next, signing 'boy' and 'friend'.

"Uh," Simon seemed suddenly unsure. Cal watched him carefully. "Yes," he answered with a firm nod, and his eyes darted towards Cal who was starting to think Simon was nervous about this meeting, and also something else, something Cal's spidey senses were starting to wave a flag about. But he hadn't worked it out yet. He would need more time to think about it, gather the evidence...

"Let's go through," Cal indicated, giving Owen a slight push to lead the way. Kent followed, with Simon behind him. Cal closed the front door and brought up the rear. He watched Kent introduce Simon to Gillian and Lewis and again Cal saw a slight tension creep up on Simon as he shook hands and said hello. Again, he didn't sign, even though it was obvious that Kent and Lewis did, and that Lewis was wearing hearing aids. But that wasn't it. That wasn't the weird thing about him that Cal was observing. It was something else.

Gillian spotted Cal hanging around in the back and shot him that look that told him off for skulking and also suggested that he get his ass into host mode. So he stepped forward and offered beers. The boys were allowed juice. Lewis was on setting the table, which he was already halfway through, and Owen had helped to cook. Cal handed out beers and suggested they go and sit on the couches. Gillian, thankfully, went with them; dinner was happy in the oven for another fifteen minutes or so and she was the best conversationalist out of them all. Even with a beer in hand she made signing seem so easy. Cal noted Simon watched her mouth, not her hands. But that still wasn't it. He had to restrain himself twice from blurting out a question, interrupting the flow of conversation and setting Simon on more of an edge; that was the best way to get information out of someone, make them uncomfortable, let the emotional markers start to slide in and become more noticeable. And Cal never knew what he might uncover with a well timed probing question. But he didn't, because as Gillian had told him, it was rude and Simon was a guest, not a subject for interrogation. It wasn't like Kent was Cal's kid which would have given him license to grill the boyfriend.

Gillian would be so proud at his restraint. She had her own method of wheedling out information and it was more subtle and socially acceptable. Cal liked to wear someone purposefully down in an interrogation room. Gillian was similar, in that she asked a series of questions, but hers was a social prying that was allowed, almost expected, and was so less invasive than Cal's technique with an uncooperative witness. So he sat back and watched the master at work.

"So Simon," Gillian went on. "What do you do? Cal told me you're in the Navy?"

"Yes Ma'am," Simon responded with pride that Cal saw immediately. "I'm a Lieutenant junior grade."

Whatever that meant. Cal didn't know his military ranks. Certainly not the American ones. And yes, they were different to the British.

"And what do you do in the Navy?" Gillian pried away to her wee heart's content. Which meant Cal didn't have to. Cal liked to observe and even though he had mostly gotten over being quiet in a social situation, mostly through Gillian's nagging, in this case, he just couldn't help himself. His eyes went from Kent to Simon to Kent and back again and he just... He felt this need to... verify.

"I'm an air traffic controller," Simon answered earnestly and again, showed pride. So did Kent.

"So how'd you meet Kent?"

"We met at college," Kent jumped in, his hands moving rapidly while he also spoke aloud. He signed so formally sometimes Cal wasn't entirely sure of what was said. The Lightman's had their own unique brand of communication. Simon turned his head to listen to Kent talk. He sat up straight, keeping his posture. If Cal hadn't already known Simon was military, it would have been easy to work out.

"Simon was taking an extra paper in philosophy," Kent went on. Gillian smiled as she listened and Cal felt a tickle at the back of his neck. He turned his head abruptly and found Owen behind him giggling.

"Don't," Cal told him off. "Have you done the table?"

"Lewis was doing it," Owen answered.

"Is it done?"

"Yes."

"Good. Go away."

"I want to listen."

"Well then come and sit down," Cal told him with slight exasperation. He was missing the story now. Gillian's hand found its way casually to his thigh and gave a very slight squeeze. Was that a little message for him to calm it down? Or was she just satisfying her need to touch him in some way. Because often, she just needed to touch him.

Lewis and Owen came into the circle of couches. Lewis sat next to his father and Owen chose to squish beside Kent on the end of the smaller love seat. So Cal had missed the conversation about why Simon was doing a philosophy paper and now they were talking about what his job entailed. If he minded being grilled he didn't show it and considering Cal found him a completely easy read, he was confident in saying that Simon didn't mind.

The alarm for dinner went off and Gillian got up to get it. Owen hovered to help because he was on dinner, though there wasn't anything for him to actually do. They all sat up at the table, which had been pulled away from the windows so Owen and Lewis could sit on that side of it. Gillian served up and encouraged them to help themselves to salad before taking her seat.

"This is really great thank you," Simon noted from the head of the table, looking down at Gillian, who sat beside Cal, who was at the other end.

"I helped," Owen piped up from Simon's left.

Simon gave him a smile. "This is great," he reiterated.

"How long have you guys been dating?" Gillian asked.

'Oh good,' Cal thought. It had been a while since prying questions were asked. And that thing was still bugging him. That thing he couldn't name. Kent reached over to place a hand on Simon's forearm and Simon gave him a smile. Almost a shy smile and Cal realised that that was it. Affection. Kent's entire face lit up when he talked about how long he and Simon had been together and where they had gone on their first date even. He signed so expressively whenever he told a Simon story and he leaned into the other man like he was compelled to be close to him. But Cal knew Kent was an emotive, expressive and loving person. He was more interested in seeing how Simon felt about Kent.

After dinner the boys cleared the table around their parents and their guests while they kept talking. Kent was a big talker and he was clearly excited but it seemed Simon was a man of few words. Few enough anyway. He started to loosen up a little toward the end and that was about the time Cal started to also start inserting himself into the conversation. He had what the others did not, more stories of Kent. And so he shared them. Obviously cancer was not a laughing matter, but Cal did have other memories of Kent now. Namely the younger man trying to teach Cal to sign properly.

Owen approached where they were sitting again. "Mum," he interrupted. "I'm bored."

"Well you can go to bed if you'd like."

Owen looked alarmed for a moment. "I'm not that bored."

"It's bed time anyway," Cal noted.
"No!" Owen protested and ducked away quickly.

"That was serious!" Cal called after him.

"I'll get them to bed," Gillian noted, turning to talk to Cal.

"I'll do it," he offered.

"We should really go anyway," Simon spoke up. Kent nodded his agreement.

Cal and Gillian both walked Simon and Kent to the door. "Thank you so much for inviting me over," Simon said politely as they stood there for a moment.

"You're welcome. It was lovely to meet you," Gillian smiled warmly.

Cal nodded his agreement and looked down to see Simon reach for Kent's hand. He also turned his head to the other man and his eyes softened and Cal thought: finally!

"I'm not exactly, uh, 'out'," Simon suddenly admitted. "My father..." he trailed off abruptly, embarrassed. And of course, the Navy. Just because 'don't ask, don't tell' had been repealed didn't mean it was easy, or that the issues had been resolved over night. So it was obviously a tough subject for Simon and Cal understood why the young man was habitual in not showing affection. He doubted Simon could take his boyfriend home to show him off to his parents. And that sucked.

"You're welcome anytime," Cal added kindly. He felt the brush of his wife's fingers against his own. "We're pretty much a doss house around here sometimes." He got blank looks and then polite smiles and nods and he sniggered to himself because they hadn't understood what he meant. He wasn't far off though. They had collected a small gathering of strays over the years that had found a home of sorts in their hearts. Gillian's fingers caught on his sleeve and gave a tug. That meant 'explain that to me later'.

Cal reached for the door and opened it, not because he was trying to get rid of their guests, but because they were all just standing there, not doing anything. With the door open there was a round of hugs from Gillian. Simon attempted a hand shake with Cal but Cal just pulled him into a hug. He hugged Kent as well.

"The boys should have come to say goodbye," Cal noted. That was impolite of them. Or him. Maybe he should have gone to get them.

"We'll see them again," Kent responded.

"Make sure of it," Cal told him.

Simon stepped down to the path outside and Cal saw they were holding hands again. He felt better seeing that, the affection and also, the explanation. Simon wasn't exactly out and proud yet. That was why he seemed a little distant with Kent. He was still getting used to things. That was ok in Cal's book. How long had it taken him to get used to Gillian? To let her in...

They waved and closed the door and then Gillian pounced on Cal. "I like Simon!"