"Don't!" Owen cried out, trying to push his big brother away from him.

"I asked you boys to stop it!" Gillian added from the bench, raising her voice to be heard.

Lewis had an arm around Owen's neck and was kind of, swinging off him and Owen was trying to back up rapidly out of the hold but only succeeded in reaching the wall behind the pantry door. Both the boys banged into the dry wall and Gillian turned again to yell. She had a knife in her hand and the surge of anger well up so strongly that she had to stop, put the knife down, and then yell again. "Lewis! Leave him alone!"

Owen got a hand up and jammed it against Lewis's ribs. Lewis shifted away from the pain and Owen laughed. They were encouraging each other but Lewis was fourteen and so he had the advantage of being bigger. They were driving Gillian up the wall. And they were not listening to her. Not one little bit. So when Cal came home the boys were play fighting roughly on the edge of the kitchen and Gillian was at the bench fuming, asking them to leave each other the hell alone.

"Oi cut it out!" Cal immediately hollered from the door way, raising his voice so the tendons in his neck stood out. Owen cringed where he stood and Lewis slowly untangled himself from his nine year old brother. "Your mutha asked you to stop it and you bloody well listen to her," Cal went on. He did want to back his wife up but he also just felt like yelling at them, especially if they'd pissed Gillian off. "Now go away and clear the table." Which was covered in their homework.

"But dinner's not ready yet," Lewis pointed out.

"You do it because I asked you to do it ten minutes ago," Gillian grouched just as firmly as Cal was speaking to them.

"It's not my turn," Owen tried.

"You do it cos you were asked to do it," Cal told him sharply.

The boys slunk away and Cal turned to his wife. She had gone back to slicing chicken. The house went incredibly quiet. Cal approached the bench. "How was your day?" He asked in a calm tone of voice.

"Fine thank you," Gillian responded politely, but the edges of frustration were still there. "And yours?"

"Yeah it was all right till I came home to a madhouse."

"They've been sniping at each other all afternoon," Gillian complained. She finally looked over at Cal. He looked tired. He must have had a busy day. And she was sure coming home to Lewis and Owen carrying on didn't help. Cal gave her a long steady look before she broke eye contact. At the table she could hear the boys arguing over something. Again. She sighed and moved to wash her hands at the sink.

"One of those days then."

"Yes," Gillian agreed shortly. She loved her kids. She really did. And they were good boys. They really were. But sometimes they drove her insane and she wanted to knock their little heads together. Lewis turned his shoulder against Owen and started pushing, so the younger boy was squashed up against a chair. Then the chair started to tip and Owen whined while Lewis laughed.

"Big brutha is assertin' his authority," Cal noted.

"Owen niggled and niggled while they were doing their homework," Gillian explained. "So it's more like retribution."

"Hm," Cal noted. "I'd yell again but I have a betta idea."

Gillian wiped her hands and watched as he went to the pantry. He grabbed a handful of snack bars, miniature packets of potato chips and dried fruit. The noise level went up a notch as Owen started to shove back against his brother. Gillian felt her irritation level go up again in direct correlation. Cal came back towards her, cramming some of the food into his pocket and took her wrist. He led her to the kitchen doors and to the stairs before Gillian protested.

"I don't know about you," Cal started as they rounded the corner of the stairs and kept moving up to the second level. "But I've had a bitch of the day and I don't really feel like crackin' the whip at my kids just to get a bit of peace and quiet." They reached the top of the stairs and headed into their bedroom. Cal let go of Gillian to close and lock the door. "In my own bloody house," Cal finished. He nudged her towards the bed.

"I would have to agree with you on that one," Gillian went with it, following him, climbing on to the mattress. They sat, against the head of the bed, pillows at their backs.

"Wanna talk about your shitty day?"

"No."

"Great cos I don't wanna hear it," Cal threw an apple and pear snack bar at her. Gillian thought she should be offended but she didn't want to hear about his shitty day either. She didn't want to think about it. But oh wait...

"What if they kill each other down there?"

"I know a good place to dump a body."

"That's not funny. They could hurt each other."

"Well maybe. But I don't think Lew would actually kill Owen," Cal popped open his packet of potato chips.

"And what if he accidentally puts him through the windows?"

"Shhhhh," Cal said suddenly. Gillian was still as they listened for a moment. Interestingly, they couldn't hear whatever the boys were doing to each other.

"What?"

"Firstly, isn't it nice and quiet?"

Gillian didn't answer him.

"And secondly, no sounds of breakin' glass."

Gillian didn't respond to that either. While the peace and quiet was incredibly nice and soothing already, she was actually genuinely concerned. Plus she had to get dinner on otherwise the boys would be pestering her that they were starving to death.

"We'll give them fifteen minutes to wrestle and tire each otha out, as all boys their age need to do, and then we'll go down all refreshed from our little break and snack," he waved the potato chips. "And kick them in the bollocks," Cal finished. "Do you wanna yell or should I?"

"You're so much more effective at it."

"Then you should definitely give them that look you give."

"What look?" Gillian asked, and yes, she sounded a little defensive.

Cal turned to her. "Yeah that one. That's the one that shrinks my balls up and makes me feel cold inside."

Gillian ignored that too. Because Cal had a way of getting rather snarky when he was tired and grumpy. He didn't mean it to be hurtful. That was just his way. Gillian opened her snack bar, the smell of apples appealing.

"Besides if they actually break somethin', or each otha, that just gives me more ammo for tellin' them off for bein' stupid. Proof of the consequences is a fantastic parentin' tool."

That was actually true. A good 'see? I told you so!' sometimes really was effective when the boys weren't listening. So long as they didn't break each other down there.

"Crisp?" Cal asked, tilting the packet towards her. Gillian snatched the entire bag from him quickly and tossed the uneaten snack bar at his chest. It slid to his stomach and he picked it up wordlessly, pushing it to the top of the packaging and taking a bite.

"Do you think they'll even notice we're gone?" Gillian asked.

"I doubt it."

"Not until they get hungry right?"

"Right," Cal agreed lightly.

They ate silently for a moment and Gillian found herself starting to relax a little. Gillian finished the chips and leaned over her husband to take a bite of the snack bar, then snuggled against his arm. "Oh I see," he noted. "Makin' your move huh?" But he shifted his arm to put around her in an embrace.

"What can I say? You're irresistible."

Cal tossed the wrapper to the side and opened the little box of fruit. There were raisins, bits of apricots, apple, pineapple and pears; a dried fruit salad. He worked some of the fruit out, grasped between his fingers and offered it to Gillian. She guided his fingers into her mouth. "I hope your hands are clean," Gillian noted as she started chewing. He was so sweet. And so good at knowing just how to diffuse an escalating situation. For her at least, the boys, well she wasn't so sure. Or maybe what Cal had been telling her was that sometimes they just needed to get out all the pent up energy. When it came to boys she had to defer; she was female after all. And Cal was the same, sometimes he had so much energy he couldn't keep still.

"Filthy," Cal countered. "I jacked off in the car on the way home."

"I love you," Gillian said over the top of the end of his sentence, the thought already coming out her mouth as he started talking.

"For jackin' off in the car on the way home?" Cal asked surprised, around a mouthful of the fruit as well.

Gillian knew he was full of it with that comment. "There was actually a whole other thought process going on before you said that," Gillian answered dryly.

Cal chuckled. He offered Gillian some more fruit. She took it the same way as last time but there was no snide comment made. They finished the box and Cal threw it at the end of the bed, then shifted a leg so it was over hers and his body was turned towards her. "So why'd you not have a good day?"

"You want to know now?"

"Now that my blood suga is back to normal I'm all ears."

Gillian told him about a stubborn patient, a client at the Group who wouldn't return her calls, then Lewis and Owen constantly bitching at each other.

"They're at that age," Cal noted.

"Tell me they grow out of it," Gillian groaned.

"Yeah eventually," Cal sounded optimistic. "Or maybe not." Gillian groaned again. "No, I'm pretty sure they'll grow out of it. They're good kids." He paused. "Most of the time."

"Tell me about your day," Gillian requested. So Cal did and once he was done complaining about people hurting each other yet again they were silent on their bed. The boys hadn't come in and it must have been nearly half an hour.

"I thought they'd come in by now," Cal observed.

"Unless they really have killed each other down there," Gillian quipped but it did send a little shiver of concern through her.

"Suppose we should go down then and see what's goin' on."
"At the very least finish dinner," Gillian added. "I'm hungry."