Cal waited for Gillian to emerge from the bathroom. He had heard the water stop fifteen minutes ago and he wondered what the hell she was doing in there. When she did finally come back into the bedroom, her hair was wet and she was rubbing the ends of her short strands with a white towel. But she was also fully dressed, and by the smell of it, moisturised. So that was what took so long.

Cal gave her an amused smirk from the bed, where he was still lounging, where she had left him when she had gone to clean up and get dressed again. Gillian stood at the end of his bed, watching him, rubbing at her scalp with the towel. She was in black trousers and a deep purple tight fitted top. "What?" She asked, turning her head slightly to get a better angle on her hair.

"Nothin'," Cal surmised shortly.

"Uh huh," Gillian responded, but she didn't believe him. She kept at her hair and after a moment, Cal spoke again.

He gestured to the door, "Nah it's just cos, no one's here but you and me but you felt the need to get fully dressed to come back to the bedroom."

Gillian switched the towel to the other side of her head. "You're not the only person who lives here, Cal. It's a little different from you walking around naked at my place."

Cal smirked again. He mostly did that to see if he could get a rise out of her. Which it, disappointingly, didn't really. Once it earned him a slap on the ass. But that was about the extent of it. "Em's not here," Cal countered.

"But she's coming over later right?"

Cal leaned over to look at the clock beside his bed, seeing as he was not wearing his watch. "Yeah," he agreed. But he wasn't sure when later was. Knowing the teenager, it could be right on dinner time. Cal shifted further, to the edge of the mattress, and stood. He was in jeans, but no underwear, having pulled on clothing after Gillian had left for her shower; he still needed to have one too. But there was no harm in getting a little dirty again first. He approached where Gillian was standing and she turned, firstly, to meet him, surprised by his sudden presence, then tried turning away and fending him off.

"I just had a shower," she complained, trying to step away. But Cal grabbed her arms and pulled her back against him, the towel getting tangled.

He dropped his head against her neck and took a deep breath. "I know. And you smell heavenly." Sort of fresh and clean, like soap, but sweet too, like Gillian. It was a good smell, an addictive smell. It was just Gillian, no perfumes, no body wash.

"And I just got dressed," Gillian went on, but Cal noted she resisted a little less, moved her head to give him a bit more room to lay soft kisses and a few seconds later, pulled the towel free and ditched it.

Cal gave a pleased hum and pushed his body into hers, backing her up around the corner of the bed until her calves were at the mattress. His hands were at her wrists and they were up, level with their shoulders. Gillian gave a sigh and dropped back to sit. Her arms tugged down in Cal's grip, but he didn't let her go. Instead, he tried climbing in her lap, but Gillian lay back against the mattress, so he was just leaning over her, knees on either side of her hips, ass in the air, pointed towards the door. He looked down at her for a moment, her wet hair fanned out slightly around her head, her blue eyes intent on him and her lips slightly parted. He gave a smile and he wasn't sure, but she might have rolled her eyes at him.

As he lowered his mouth to meet hers Cal felt her wrists push against his hands; a feeble attempt at release. Cal let her go anyway, because holding his weight up with just his legs was causing a painful burn in his thighs. He rested his palms flat on either side of Gillian's shoulders, lowering his elbows to kiss her deeper, then straightening them to pull his mouth back, making the kiss light again. Cal felt her fingers against his bare upper arms, brushing, then the left gripped, while the right smoothed up and around his neck to toy with the hair at the back of his head.

Gillian pulled her mouth from his by turning her head to the side slightly. Cal kissed the edge of her jaw instead. "Go and have a shower," she tried to tell him, her voice entirely unconvincing. "You smell."

"You smell," Cal retorted.

"I smell good. You smell like sex," Gillian turned her nose up in disgust, the fingers of her right hand falling still.

Cal pulled back to look at her face and laughed. "Who's fault is that."

"Yours," Gillian shot at him.

"Takes two to tango," Cal countered.

"If you wanted to shower together," Gillian responded. "Then you could have come to join me."

"Oh yeah?" Cal asked lightly with a smile. He leaned down again to brush his nose against hers and Gillian gave a little huff, her fingers starting up in his hair again, petting and smoothing. "You should have said."

"Maybe I did."

"When?" Cal challenged.

"You have to pay attention," Gillian practically whispered and Cal's lip turned up in that sign of amusement.

"Don't be subtle," Cal suggested for next time.

"I'll make sure it's more obvious for you if you're a bit slow," Gillian teased.

Cal gave a growl and dropped his mouth to hers, kissing her hard to shut her up. He felt her hand bunch in his hair, pulling sharply, but not enough to dislodge him. Her hips pushed up against him and she huffed a breath against his cheek and Cal felt the flicker of her tongue against his lips. Damn but she gave as good as she got. He liked that. He liked the sass, the counter arguments; he liked it when she fought back.

"Hey Dad I was wondering. Oh. Sorry."

Cal turned his head abruptly, breaking the kiss noisily, but he was too slow. He caught a glimpse of a tartan skirt and white shirt disappearing around the doorway again, heading down the hall. "Ooops busted," Cal murmured.

Gillian gave a little surprised noise and her hands put pressure on his shoulders, trying to shove him away unsuccessfully. Cal looked back to Gillian and she stilled, looking up at him from the bed. Her expression was questioning and Cal honestly had to take a second to think. His daughter had just walked in on him kissing Gillian. Practically dry humping Gillian, to be fair, on his bed, but they were clothed, and the bedroom door was wide open, and he wasn't really sure if that meant he was in trouble or whether it was...

"I'm meant to go afta her aren't I?" Cal spoke.

"Yeah," Gillian gave a slight nod.

Cal pushed away from her, getting back to his feet, awkwardly gaining his balance again. He scuffed to the door in his jeans and was down the hall before he remembered he not only had no shirt on, but he also had no underwear on, just the jeans. He double checked his fly was at least done up and knocked on his daughter's closed bedroom door. There was a pause and then she called out to him.

"Can I come in?" Cal hesitated.

"Sure," the response was neutral.

Cal pushed down the handle and swung the door in. Emily was sitting on her bed, resting with the pillow in her back against the wall, ear buds in and her phone in her hand. Cal headed across the room and stood by the bed and she looked up at him expectantly, that almost smirking 'know it all' expression Cal really disliked. "Can I help with something?" Emily asked politely.

Cal sat himself on the mattress. Did he really have to have one of those 'now, about what you just saw' kinds of chats. It had been a long time since Emily had walked in on him, but back then it had been him and Zoe, Emily's mother, so yeah, he figured maybe this was weirder. Actually, he really had no idea how to handle this at all. Why was it Gillian never sent him away with instructions?

"So I would suggest you guys get a room, but you obviously already did."

"Yeah maybe we should have made sure the door was shut."

"If I'm interrupting then..."

Cal held up a hand to stop her. "Please don't even."

Emily kind of smirked again and Cal didn't like that she was somehow in that position. He hadn't actually done anything. It wasn't like he was naked and Gillian was writhing in ecstasy. But then again, they had kind of made sure they weren't busted before now, because Gillian had these odd notions about Emily being a child or... actually, Cal didn't know what the deal was, but now that it had happened, he realised he didn't really want Emily catching him in the act either.

"I didn't think anyone else was here," Emily went on, saving Cal from having to start the conversation or even make sense of it. Sometimes, she totally let him off the hook.

"You know Gill sometimes stays ova," Cal tried.

"Yeah but usually her car is in the driveway and that's fair warning."

Noted.

"Does it make you uncomfortable?"

"Uh, walking in on my Dad having sex?" Emily said bluntly. "Yeah."

Cal winced. "We weren't..." But half an hour ago, yeah they were. And Cal was pretty sure they hadn't bothered to shut the bedroom then either. "Expectin' you till maybe late-a," Cal finished.

"I thought we had a dinner date," Emily's eyes went just that little bit wide, which meant she was unsure.

"Yeah we do," Cal quickly confirmed. "Just thought... I mean, you don't, you're not usually here till late-a."

"So it's not ok to just come by?" Emily's eyes went a fraction wider.

"No! I mean, of course you can! Em, this is your house too. Always has been."

"But now that you're dating someone I should..?" Emily tried for clarification again.

"No. No, no. That doesn't change. Not at all. It's me, we, Gillian and I, should be more careful, that's what I'm sayin'," Cal stumbled. "No I mean, sorry luv, that you saw, I mean that you, you shouldn't have to."

"Dad, it's ok. I'm sixteen, not six. I know you guys get up to stuff. And kissing really isn't that bad."

Stuff was putting it mildly.

"But still..." Cal tried again. Gillian would want him to make it ok again. If he ever walked in on Emily and her boyfriend even kissing, even if it was bloody tame, he'd want apologises and promises and written agreements that he'd never have to witness that again.

"Maybe we just need to work out a signal," Emily suggested. "I didn't see Gillian's car so just assumed you were here by yourself. But you know, I guess that doesn't always mean that anymore. So I can call ahead or something."

"No," Cal protested. "No callin' ahead. It shouldn't be like that. You should be able to come and go as you please," he reached out to her shin and gave it a squeeze, acknowledging that that was exactly what she had been doing now that she was older, moving between her mother's place and her father's. "We'll just... close the damn door next time." And oh, they'd have to be quiet, because what if she did come in and they were going for it and they wouldn't know... This was complicated.

Emily gave a shrug to say she wasn't bothered.

"I'm not tryin' to make it your problem. It shouldn't be your problem," Cal mused. Maybe this was a conversation he should have with Gillian. "Is this weird?"

"The conversation is a little weird."

Cal gave a hm and looked down at the bedspread of the moment; she wasn't wrong. They didn't often have heart to hearts. "What about your mum and Roge-a?"

"Uh," Emily looked equally unsure and appalled. "What about Mom and Roger?"

Cal suddenly realised how bad that sounded. "No. I just mean... He's livin' there and..."

"I don't really want to think about them..."

"No," Cal cut in. "No I know. Me eitha. I mean, was it," He wasn't asking if she had accidentally walked in on Zoe and Roger. He didn't want to know anything about that. But they must have a system or something over there. Maybe he should ask Zoe? Ew god no he was never going to ask her about that. He was going to talk to Gillian. "How did you feel about him movin' in?"

Emily gave a shrug and Cal looked away again under her gaze; he didn't make it a habit to pry into his ex-wife's life and that by default meant he didn't often pry into his daughter's other life. He was starting to think he should give that policy a bit more thought. Did he really want for Emily to be accidentally walking in on her mother and her mother's fiancé?

"All right," Cal pushed back, straightening, preparing to leave again. He was feeling freaking uncomfortable. "Well then... I'll start dinna soon. Afta I have a showa."

"Ok," Emily agreed amicably. "Is Gillian going to stay?"

"Yeah. That's all right, right?" He suddenly felt alarmed. Was he meant to ask if it was ok? Either of them. Was he meant to check in with them?

He totally felt stuck in the middle.

"Sure," Emily agreed again.

Cal got up and started to turn away. Really needed that shower. And a minute to think.

"Dad wait," Emily halted him. "You don't have to do this. Come and talk to me about things..." She gave a gesture with her hand, her eyes in that wide innocent stance. "With you and Gillian."

"Well," Cal hedged. He took a seat again. Actually, it felt very much like he should talk to her about things with Gillian. "I haven't really... checked in with you about that."

"I'm totally find with it Dad. Gillian's great. You know that."

"Yeah," Cal gave a nod. "But it's gettin' more serious and..."

"Still fine," Emily interrupted.

"How would you feel about Gillian movin' in here?"

Emily's brown eyes went just that little bit wider in a genuine surprise expression. Cal shifted his weight from the heels of his feet to this toes while he perched on the edge of her bed and studied her face. "She's going to move in?"

"Well. I asked her," Cal admitted. And it somehow felt wrong now that he hadn't talked to Emily about his first. "But we were just sortin' out the details and the lease isn't up on her place yet. So, if you're not alright with that, well, then... we can put it off for a while."

"Don't do that Dad."

"No really," Cal insisted. "Cos you live here too. You should get a say about who's movin' in."

"And what if I said 'no?'" She stared at him, not defiantly, but certainly a challenge.

Cal nodded. "All right," he said slowly. "It hasn't been that long." Meaning, he and Gillian had only really been dating for about six months at this point. "We can wait. It's not a big deal. Maybe give it a year..."

"I wasn't actually saying no," Emily hedged.

"Well, think about it," Cal offered, getting up again. "No pressure." He reached the door. "And we can talk about it anotha time." Cal stepped out into the hallway again and closed the door behind him. Ok, that went... awkwardly. Though he wasn't sure if it was worse for Em or him. He suspected him. It looked like Emily was already prepared for that kind of conversation. And now he suspected he had just put a halt to Gillian moving in. Damn it. She was not going to be impressed. At least he hoped she wasn't going to be impressed... Because if she was ok with putting this thing on hold for a year... he wasn't sure what that meant.

Gillian was finishing her hair with the dryer when Cal got back to his bedroom. She stood at his dresser where the device was plugged in and she could use the mirror. Cal snuck up behind her and circled his arms around her waist while pressing a kiss against her neck. She gave an amused huff then turned the dryer so it blew in Cal's face. He recoiled abruptly. "Ow my eyes."

Gillian shut off the air. "You guys talked?"

"Yes," he grouched, rubbing at his eyes. "But I might have accidentally uninvited you from movin' in."

Gillian turned to him, brandishing her hair dryer a bit like a weapon. "What?"

Cal stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I sort of said to Em that if she wasn't all right with it then... we wouldn't go ahead with it."

Gillian studied him for a long moment. "You really said that?"

"Yeah," Cal admitted. "Sorry."

"Sorry for what? Treating your daughter like she matters?"

"Wait, so you're not mad at me?"

Gillian smiled. "You're funny." She put the hair dyer on top of his dresser and turned towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Cal gave a pleased smile despite himself and it deepened when she pressed a kiss against his mouth, and her breasts against his chest. He put his hands into the small of her back, holding her in place. "No I'm not mad," Gillian went on. "I'm proud of you. For talking to her. And including her in a decision that essentially affects her too."

"So you wouldn't mind if we maybe, left it for a year?"

"She doesn't want me to move in?" Gillian's blue eyes went to concerned. And maybe a little hurt was in there too.

"No she didn't say that," Cal retracted quickly. "She said she'd think about it. But I think she was just testin' to see what I'd say to that."

"We can wait," Gillian responded immediately. "I don't mind waiting."

"Well I might," Cal complained. "I waited bloody long enough in the first place."

Gillian gave him an unimpressed expression. "And you can wait another two years until she goes to college." Cal turned up his lip in disgust. Gillian kissed it. "Then we can have the place to ourselves," she added, lowering her voice and giving him a pointed expression, borderline sultry.

Cal's hands tightened on her. "If you're still around by then."

"I might be," Gillian said airily and moved away from him. She reached for her hair dryer again. "Go and have your shower."

"Well I would but someone is blockin' my drawers. Can't even get to clean clothes."

Gillian gave a huff and stood further to the side, switching the machine back on, creating too much noise for a snide response. Cal picked out clean underwear and a shirt and headed to the bathroom.