"Um Mum?" Lewis called over his shoulder. "What do I do if it's lumpy?" He had to use both hands to make a quick 'lump' sign.

Gillian came over to where he was standing at the stove making a cheese sauce. He was in the process of adding the milk to the roux (flour and butter) but it looked like the sauce had gotten too hot at the bottom and started to thicken unevenly. "Get a whisk," Gillian responded. She didn't know the sign for 'whisk' so quickly finger-spelled it; 'W', 'S', 'K'. She took the wooden spatula from his hand as he turned away and took the sauce off the heat for a moment, while she kept it moving so it wouldn't catch or get worse. Lewis came back with a whisk and Gillian stirred the sauce quickly to get out all the lumps while Lewis watched her.

"Phew," he noted.

Gillian gave him the whisk back and put the pot back on the heat. "Stick with that just in case." Lewis took the implement from her and went back to concentrating on his sauce. Gillian was teaching Lewis a few more complex meals now he was older. Owen was pretty much still on his basic prep: cutting vegetables and meats, but Lewis was moving on to sauces and 'winging' it; using whatever was in the cupboard or fridge to put a decent meal together.

Tonight it was pasta bake.

Once Lewis was finished with his sauce, and had seasoned it, he poured it over the top of the pasta they had already cooked and mixed with a Mediterranean pre-made sauce from a jar. Ok, slight cheating there. But they had also cooked up some chicken thighs and diced them up as well. On top went cheese, dried sage and ground paprika. Then it went into the oven to cook; well, to let the cheese melt and colour up. So they moved on to making a salad, working side by side at the bench. Gillian washed the lettuce while Lewis cut tomatoes and cucumber.

"Mum?"

"Yeah?" Gillian responded. She thought about what kind of dressings they had in the fridge. She liked a mayonnaise or yoghurt based one but Cal preferred a lighter, sharper vinaigrette.

"Mum, Hollie and I thought she was pregnant a few weeks ago."

Gillian froze out of shock, but not because she was surprised by the news, but because this was when Lewis was going to bring it up? No warning. Just blurting it out there. Reminded her of someone else she knew. Gillian noted Lewis had stopped working and so she turned to look up at him. The expression on his face was worry and the knife in his hand was poised in the air for a downward strike against a tomato he was no longer looking at.

"She's not," Lewis added belatedly while Gillian thought about what she was going to say. How was she going to play it? Pretend she didn't know a thing and act over the top? Pretend she didn't know and pay it cool? Or just tell him she knew all along?

"It was a false alarm," Lewis went on, his voice getting softer with insecurity.

Gillian gave a slight frown. She turned off the tap, shook out the last of the lettuce and dumped it in the salad bowl. She wiped her hands on a towel and turned to her son, looking up at him again, holding his gaze. "I know," she tapped her forehead gently. "Your Dad told me."

"Oh," Lewis noted quietly and his eyes fell down a little like he was ashamed. Gillian reached out to put a hand on his arm. He wasn't a little kid anymore. He was taller than her and his arms were strong and muscled like a man. And they were hairy.

"He told me to warn me," she tapped the back of her left hand. "So that I wouldn't completely freak out on you." She used 'afraid', meaning 'scare'.

"Is this you freaking out?" Lewis asked but he didn't sound like he was teasing.

Gillian gave him a slight eye roll. "I'm really glad you told me yourself." She used 'happy' and 'talk'.

"Dad made me." He used 'force'.

"Good."

Lewis raised a shoulder slightly like he didn't agree. Maybe one day he would understand. Like when he was a father himself. Not now, thank god, but later. Maybe one day.

"Why did you think Hollie was pregnant?" Gillian made 'wh?' hands.

Lewis looked a little startled. The question had not been asked before. "Her period was late and she said she felt different."

Felt different? Teenagers.

Gillian nodded. Maybe she shouldn't judge. She thought she was pregnant based on much less. A few times actually. And she had been wrong on just about every one of those occasions. "You know Lew, I'm really proud of the way you handled it." She made an 'A' hand and ran it, the thumb towards her chest, from her stomach to her collarbone.

Lewis watched her for a moment. "Thanks."

"I mean that." Gillian thought of Cal. Fifteen year old Cal who had all kinds of things going on his life that made him act in ways that made her cringe when she thought about them. She couldn't blame him but that didn't mean she didn't find them... abhorable.

"So Dad told you all of it?"

"Yes," Gillian admitted. Lewis nodded but he no longer seemed annoyed, just accepting. "And how are things with Hollie now?" Gillian went on.

"A little weird to be honest." He used 'strange'.

"Weird how?" Gillian pushed. 'Strange' was a 'C' hand starting upright, then moving over to the right so it was on it's side.

Lewis went back to his tomato. "Just, I don't know. There's a tension underneath now. When we're together it's not as easy as it used to be."

"Does that come from you or her?"

Lewis looked over at her, glanced at her hands. He went back to another tomato. "I would have said Hollie but I guess it's from me too." He was quiet for a moment, but thoughtful, and after another few seconds he went on. "We're a lot less... uh... physical now. I guess it's both on our minds... Consequences."

"That won't last," Gillian responded. Lewis looked over at her again, inviting an explanation. "Not having sex," she added bluntly, pressing an 'X' hand shape under her eye. "You'll get over that pretty quickly." Lewis gave a slightly embarrassed but resigned smile and looked away again. "You were talking a while ago about putting your relationship on hold when you go to college?" She made a 'stop' gesture.

Lewis gave her another side-long glance. He seemed almost wary but he did give a nod. Yes she was prying, or at least trying to add a little extra coaching to the situation that Cal had already handled. Sort of handled. She did care, even if she didn't have to lecture him about safe sex etc because Cal had already done that and warned her about the pregnancy scare. But she didn't want to be completely left out.

"Did you make a decision about that?"

"I dunno. It made more sense back then to call a break, whereas now it if I did it, it would look like I'm trying to distance myself from her cos of the pregnancy thing."

Oh he was good. And it was so impressive.

Gillian's first reaction was to go 'well aren't you?' but that was just an echo of her mother's voice, looking for the negative in someone, and it was so much worse to think that when she was talking about her son, her son who had already proven he was a thoughtful and sensitive man. "So you haven't talked to Hollie about it at all?" She twirled a finger by her mouth.

Lewis shook his head. He finished with his tomatoes. "What else?" He gestured towards the salad. Gillian went to the fridge. She found sun dried tomatoes, pumpkin seeds and beetroot. She also found a little nub of feta cheese but it smelt really strong so she simply put it in the trash. They went back to their posts while Lewis cut the sun dried tomatoes smaller and Gillian sprinkled the seeds in the bowl.

"What does your first instinct tell you Lew? Before the pregnancy scare happened, what were you leaning towards?"

Lewis thought for a moment, scooping up the shrivelled up tomatoes to add to the salad. Then he looked over at his mother. "I was going to call it off. Not cos I don't love her or want to be with her, but just because I think, I think we should go to college and start fresh. Both of us. I don't want it to be complicated."

Gillian nodded. "That sounds good."

"You think I should still do that? Tell Hollie that?"

"Hm," Gillian thought for a moment herself. She wanted so very badly to hate Hollie. Something about entrapment and stupid little bitch. But Hollie was sweet and Lewis was smart and the situation wasn't like that at all. So she shut those thoughts down too and suddenly got an inkling into what Cal talked about when he said he constantly fought to be better, to do the right thing, to say the right thing. "I think. I think it depends on how your relationship is with Hollie." 'Relationship' was interlocking the thumb and fingers of the left and right hand, like rings joined together, and moving them from side to side.

"What does that mean?"

"It means, if you explained it to Hollie how you explained it to me, would she understand what you were meaning? Or would she get upset and not understand you at all?" She flicked her finger like a light-bulb going on.

Lewis considered that for a moment. "How is that you can say the words but people don't get you at all? And then some people do?"

"They speak the same language." She drew her index fingers from in front of her out to the side, and waved them a little as she did so, like she had quickly written a length of parchment.

"Aren't we all speaking the same language?" He gave a lopsided grin, his hands giving an upward gesture at the end, like he was throwing something up into the air. It wasn't a sign, just a gesture. What he meant was, everyone spoke one language, but in their house, they spoke two.

Gillian smiled. "Communication is so much more complex than that Lew. It's not always about saying the right thing, but whether someone is willing to listen to you and understand what you're trying to say, even if you use the wrong words."

"Like you and Dad?"

"Yeah like me and Dad," Gillian agreed. They were silent again as they finished with the salad. Gillian figured they had about fifteen minutes left before the pasta would be ready. Gillian asked again, if Lewis felt he could talk to Hollie in a candid way, and have an open conversation about their future.

"I'm not really sure," Lewis admitted. "I think it will be tough. But, surely she must be thinking about it by now? What's going to happen when we go to college?"

Gillian nodded it was a possibility because college was just around the corner and Hollie wasn't stupid. "Then I guess you'll just have to go for it."

"Yeah," Lewis agreed softly. He rinsed the knife under the tap and set it aside. Then he wiped down his chopping board while Gillian put the extra ingredients back into the fridge. When she turned, Lewis said he'd go and get Owen for dinner. Gillian agreed. Then Lewis stepped up to her and gave her a hug. "Thanks Mum." He planted a kiss on her cheek and stepped away while Gillian smiled.