Cal snuck through his son's dark bedroom to the bunk beds and gave Owen a slight nudge on the top mattress. The boy stirred and half sat. "We're home," Cal whispered to him. Owen gave a grunt, leaned forward groggily to put an arm around his father. Cal gave him a hug and a kiss, then whispered for him to go back to sleep.

"Mum."

"Yep Mum's comin' in," Cal told him, giving his leg a final pat to indicate he was leaving the room and went out quietly. Gillian was paying the babysitter and walking her out. But as Cal came into the hall outside of Owen's room, she came up the stairs.

"Is Owen asleep?"

"Pretty much but he wants to say goodnight."

"Ok," Gillian whispered. She moved past him and Cal went to their bedroom to start undressing. He took off his suit jacket and loosened his tie, hanging both in the wardrobe, before kicking off his shoes and lining them up in place on the floor. When he turned Gillian was closing their bedroom door. "He's so cute; he asked me if it was time to get up."

Cal gave a smile and untucked his shirt. Gillian crossed to the ward robe and slipped off her shoes. "Oh that's so much better," she groaned.

"So much torture and yet they look so damn good," Cal noted.

"Exactly," Gillian agreed.

Cal moved towards her, giving her hips a squeeze and her lips a quick kiss before gently moving her aside so he could get by. Cal undid his shirt and laid it over the end of the bed, slipping out of his trousers next, ditching his socks and pulling on a t-shirt. He went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth and Gillian joined him in a tank top and underwear to do the same. Gillian slipped a hand around his waist as they stood there together, brushing in unison, until Cal bent to rinse his mouth out.

They got into bed and put the light out and met in the middle. The sheets were cold for a moment and Cal clung on to Gillian because she was warm. Except her feet, which she tried to put against his calves to warm up. "Ugh you always do this," Cal complained.

Gillian gave a slight chuckle but she left him alone and they settled. It was quiet. So quiet Cal could hear the hum coming from the electrical alarm clock. Gillian snuggled up against his arm, her breath at his neck. "Do you remember when we used to have sex?"

Cal gave a laugh of surprise. "Those were some good times."

"Yeah," Gillian agreed on a sigh.

"Do you wanna have sex?" Cal asked, lifting his head from the pillow slightly, as if he moved he could see her face. He couldn't. Not in the dark.

"I'm a bit tired."

"Me too," Cal agreed and lowered his head again. Sex was pretty much an extreme luxury at this point in their lives. It was almost more effort than it was worth. Almost.

At thirteen, Owen was starting to sleep later in the mornings, which meant, the next day, Cal and Gillian were up before him. They had a leisurely breakfast, toast and coffee, flicking through the newspaper, going over a few notes of interest from the mayor's charity ball the night before. It was more a habit than a networking opportunity these days and Gillian liked to keep tabs on who was prominent in the city. She also said it didn't hurt to be on the good side of the mayor and the police commissioner. Cal took her word for it. He liked the mischief.

As the sun cleared the house next door and started to flood their living room with warm light Owen emerged. His blonde hair was sticking up in the back and he picked at his eye as he slouched into the room. Gillian was on her way to the bathroom and gave him a quick hug hello. Cal heard them talking and turned his head to also greet his son. "Hey Dad," Owen responded lazily. He headed slowly around the couch and sat on his father's right, shifting his arm so he could tuck up underneath it.

"Did you have a good sleep Batman?"

"Ten four Robin," came the soft response. "Did you have fun last night?"

"Yep," Cal answered. The smaller body was warm against his side and he was reminded of Lewis at the same age, doing the same thing. A teenager, but still not so big he couldn't get a cuddle out of his old man. "We had a yummy meal and then lots of dessert."

Owen gave a 'hmph'.

Cal shifted down the couch further so he was more slouched and much more comfortable with the sun no longer in his eyes. Owen adjusted himself against his body accordingly. Cal waited quietly for Owen to wake up more. Gillian came back from the bathroom, still in her pyjamas and bare feet; she had pulled on trousers before heading downstairs. "Someone stole my seat," she complained lightly, giving Owen's hair a brush as she went by, to Cal's other side. He opened his arm to let her sit against his side as well.

"Do you want toast Wen?" Gillian asked him.

"Sure," Owen agreed.

Gillian got up again. "I'll make you something."

"Aw now isn't that nice?" Cal noted. "Mum's gonna make you breakfast. She doesn't make me breakfast."

"I can hear you," Gillian commented from somewhere across the room.

"Spoilt you are," Cal went on, talking to Owen.

"What time did you get home last night?" Owen asked more clearly this time. He even raised his head to look his father in the eye.

"It was late."

"It was weird being the only one going to bed."

"What do you mean?"

"Normally Lewis also goes to bed if you go out."

That was because if Cal and Gillian went out, Lewis was usually the one babysitting his younger brother and when it was Owen's bed time Lewis would go to his room. Not necessarily to sleep. But with Lewis gone, they'd had to pay someone to sit with Owen and so Cal figured that what he was really was saying, was that it was weird without Lewis there.

"Yeah fair point," Cal conceded. It was taking them all a bit of adjusting with Lewis gone. At least they had routines to get through; it would have been worse in summer, noticing how vacant the house felt without him around. As it was, their home seemed quieter and emptier than usual. "Did you think of a name for your robot?"

"I'm going to call him 'Tin Man' but I'm going to ask Lewis first if he likes that name."

"Tin man huh?" Cal gave an amused smile.

"Cos his favourite movie is The Wizard of Oz," Owen explained. Like that needed any explaining.

"Sounds like a good fit."

Owen nodded. "Dad, what do you think I can do at college?"

"Anythin' you want luv."

"I could make robots like Lewis?"

"Sure yeah you could," Cal hedged. Not that Lewis had gone to college to make robots. But knowing Lewis and half a chance, he probably would. "But you could do somethin' else." Something different. Owen didn't have to follow in his big brother's footsteps entirely.

"Hm," Owen mused.

"What's somethin' you like to do?"

"I like playing xbox."

"Yeah," Cal agreed drolly. No shit. Cal had threatened on occasion to rip the plug from the wall if the boys didn't get off it right now.

"Will you play later with me Dad?"

"Sure. Late-a."

"Do they have professional xbox players?"

"They sure do," Cal confirmed. "But I'm pretty sure you can't go to college and get a degree in that. But you know what would be coola and much betta for you, so you don't turn into a complete couch potato with sprouts growin' out your head?"

"What?" Owen asked amused.

"You could design xbox games."

"Oh now that would be cool," Owen mused. "You can do a degree in that?"

"You can study computa graphic design," Cal countered. "But I'm not sure exactly. We could look into that sometime."

"Yeah that'd be cool," Owen noted. "I'm hungry," he announced and pushed away from his father. He got to his feet and wandered away again.

"Bye," Cal uttered under his breath. He heard a phone chime in the background and went back to his paper. A moment later his phone was deposited on his shoulder. It was accompanied by a slight self-amused laugh and slid down into the gap between his back and the couch. Cal had to reach around for it awkwardly and got annoyed when the small device evaded his hand. 'Thanks a lot Owen.'

Cal finally got a hold of it and brought it up to his face to see there was a text message. From Lewis. Cal opened it.

GOOD MORNING. FREE FOR A CHAT?

Cal didn't even text him back, just hit 'dial'.