About Time

Chapter Forty - Gillian's Birthday

PSA:I realize I've never really just said this but I thought I implied it a few times but I don't know. Anyway, this story starts soon after the end of season three so this is like 2012 which is why I chose the movie I chose. Just an FYI. But Frozen didn't come out until 2013 and I threw in an Elsa doll for Sophie in one of the very first chapters though so it doesn't really matter tbh.
And you guys I swear I used a legit menu from an Italian restaurant in D.C. for a general estimate and added like two dollars because they didn't have the specific menu items that Cal and Gillian order. So uh, yeah, apparently Italian gets pretty damn expensive.

This chapter is dedicated to br152005 because she's my best friend and even though we aren't dating, let's be honest, we'd probably end up doing this just for the hell of it.

Cal got up early to make Gillian breakfast. Lacey followed him downstairs and while he was cooking, he nearly stepped on the Yorkie twice.
Sophie came down before he was finished.
"Morning, Soph."
"Good morning. Where Mama?"
"She's still asleep. It's her birthday."
"Today?"
"Yes, today. I need you to write your name in the card on the table. Can you do that for me?"
"Yep!"
Cal finished putting food on the plate and grabbed it and helped Sophie put her card in the envelope and followed the little girl upstairs.
He motioned for her to be quiet and opened the door. Gillian's alarm was supposed to go off in three minutes so Cal didn't feel bad about waking her up. She'd been feeling a lot better the last few days anyway.
He put the tray he'd put the plate on on the nightstand and leaned over and kissed Gillian awake.
"Good morning, love."
"Mm, I've been awake for less than ten seconds but it's been a very good morning so far."
"Happy Birthday, darling. I made you breakfast."
"Is that what I smell? You didn't have to do that. And you certainly didn't have to bring it up to me."
"Well, I wasn't going to make you walk all the way downstairs for it."
Gillian chuckled.
"Thank you."
"Sophie has something for you."
"Here, Mama!" Sophie exclaimed and handed Gillian the envelope.
The card itself was cute but Gillian's favorite part was Sophie's name written in her own handwriting.
"Happy Birthday, Mama!"
"Thank you, Sophie." Gillian told her as she wrapped her in a hug.
Cal picked up the tray and handed it to Gillian when her hands were free.
"You know, there aren't many things I'm going to miss about being pregnant but having my own personal table is one of them."
"I'm sure it comes in handy."

Emily came by that night. Gillian and Cal hadn't really done anything all day but sit around.
"Happy Birthday Gill!"
"Thank you, Em."
"You know I'm a broke college student so I couldn't buy you anything but my present to you is to watch Sophie while you and Dad go out and have fun. And don't even try to argue because he already has plans."
Gillian turned around and her fiancé shrugged.
"Em and I might have discussed it a few times."
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see. I got us a reservation for seven-thirty and it's five-fifteen so you'll need to start getting ready shortly."
"Whatever you say, Mr. Lightman."
"That's my Gillybean."
Gillian rolled her eyes and Emily snickered.

They left the house at six-forty. Cal still wouldn't tell Gillian where they were going. They pulled up in front of the Italian restaurant that Gillian had always wanted to try but never found the time. And on top of that, it was expensive.
"Cal, what are we doing?"
"We kind of did things out of order, love. I never did take you on a date."
He stepped out of the car and came around to the passenger door and opened it, offering Gillian his hand.
When Cal got up from the table to talk to Zoe when she called about something for Emily, Gillian managed to get the waiter to find out how long ago he'd made this reservation. He hurried away and was back before Cal. The latter was still outside and it looked like he was getting agitated.
"Three and a half months ma'am."
"Thank you."
The waiter left and Cal came back in and sat down. He grinned a little at the empty plate their appetizer had come on. Gillian had finished it off while he'd been on the phone
"Sorry, love."
"It's fine." Gillian reassured him. "What was that about?"
"She wants me to convince Emily to go stay with her for a month. I told her I didn't think Em would go for it but that I'd try and she told me to make sure Em goes. That's why I was getting angry. I'm not in the habit of forcing my child to do something she doesn't want to do."
"We can talk to Emily when we get home."
The waiter came back with their food. It was the most delicious pasta Gillian had ever tasted. Cal had gotten the same thing and he ended up giving her half of it. When she was finished, she promptly ordered the biggest piece of molten chocolate lava cake they had on the menu.
Cal snuck a picture when she wasn't looking and sent it to Emily.
She replied in seconds.
"That cake looks amazing! Bet Gill's in heaven;)"
"Pretty much." He texted back.
Gillian put her fork down after she'd all but licked the plate.
Cal got the bill and paid. Gillian managed to sneak a glance at the total.
239.84. Holy shit. Oh, mother-loving-sweet-holy-hell.
She'd known this place was expensive but damn. And she knew Cal would leave a decent tip.
When the waiter returned with Cal's card and bid them goodnight, he took Gillian by the hand and led her back out to the car. He once again opened her door.
"So where are we going now?"
"Not far." Cal promised.
He pulled up at a movie theater.
"Cal, you hate going to the movies."
"But you don't. Today is your birthday, not mine. We're doing things you want to do."
He surprised her even more when he bought tickets to see The Vow. He didn't like coming to the movies much anyway and certainly not to see a romantic drama. She didn't even know he'd heard her say she wanted to see it to Emily a few times. Or maybe he hadn't. Maybe he'd asked Emily. Either way, it was sweet.
They got inside and Gillian all but got down on her knees and begged for popcorn and a Dr. Pepper. But Cal gave in and she promptly told him that she needed to pee.
They met by theater eight and went inside.
During the movie, Gillian leaned on Cal's shoulder and was so still that he looked over a few times to make sure she hadn't fallen asleep. But she was intently watching the screen. He was pretty sure he saw a few tears a couple of times but decided to ignore them for now.
Nope, can't ignore those. He could feel his shirt growing damp under her cheek. The movie was almost over. He wasn't entirely sure what she was crying about.
"Gill?" He asked quietly.
She sat up and wiped her eyes.
"I'm fine, I swear. It's my stupid hormones." She whispered.
"Are you sure you're okay, love?"
She nodded.
Gillian was fine for the rest of the movie. As they walked out, she could tell by the look on Cal's face that he was unimpressed and it made her laugh.
"Cal, you can't think it was that bad."
"It was rubbish. But if you liked it, then that's all that matter."
"I loved it."
It was nearing eleven o'clock.
"You choose what we're doing next. We can stay out or we can go home, it doesn't matter." Cal told her.
"Can we go get ice cream?"
Cal grinned. He knew that was coming.
They found a place that was still open and Gillian ordered three scoops of triple chocolate with two servings of hot fudge and whipped cream on top. If any other person had eaten it, they'd have been bouncing off the walls on a sugar high. But not Gill. Cal didn't know how she did it.
They went outside and Gillian spotted the arcade across the street that was clearly open.
"Let's go."
She sounded like an excited child. They headed over.

Cal was certain he'd spent well over a hundred in here. Gillian had made him play every single game in here for the last three hours. She was currently kicking ass at Pac-Man. She'd been playing for twenty minutes straight and people were starting to notice and gather around the machine.
He looked away from her as his phone rang. He stepped outside to answer it.
"Hey, Em."
"Hey! I was just wondering when you two are coming home so I'll know if I'm staying here or going home."
"Just stay in the guest room, darling. Gillian wanted ice cream and then she saw an arcade. We've been here over three hours and she's been playing Pac-Man for over twenty minutes now with no signs of stopping so I don't know when we'll get home. She might want to beat the world record first."
"Okay." Emily giggled. That sounded exactly like something Gillian would convince her dad to do.
"I'll see you in the morning."
"Okay. Night, Dad."
"Night, Em. Love you."
"Love you too."
Emily hung up and Cal went back inside. Some guy who was probably on the verge of being drunk noticed him and walked over.
"Hey, that chick beat the high score on the machine! She has a perfect score so far. It's a shame she's taken because I'd hit that." He said, pointing in Gillian's direction.
"That chick is my fiancée and I'd appreciate if you stayed away from and refrained from using that degrading language, thank you."

Three hours later, Gillian was nearing the end of the game. Several people had come into the arcade but not one of them had left. Gillian still had a perfect score and if she finished that way in less than about ten minutes, she really would beat the world record. Not only was Cal impressed, he was surprised she had gone that long without going to the bathroom. After about an hour though, someone had gotten her a bar stool to sit on so at least she wasn't on her feet the whole time.
Six minutes later, she was on the final level. Everyone watched intently as she moved around the screen. Then everybody screamed when she won. After three hours, twenty-seven minutes, and exactly thirteen seconds, she'd finished with a perfect score and beaten the world record by six minutes.
Everyone wanted their picture with her and the manager told them that he had a security camera feed that he'd send to Guinness the next morning.
Eventually, they made it out of the arcade and headed home.
"Well, if I don't remember anything else about this night in twenty years, I'll remember that I set a world record."
"I'll remember that we were out until after six in the morning because of it."
Gillian chuckled.
"Guess who's not going to work tomorrow?"
"Neither of us. I fully plan on sleeping until two in the afternoon."
Gillian smiled.
"I like that plan. Besides, Eli and Ria can handle a day by themselves."
When they got home, they quickly changed clothes and fell asleep, not even bothering to turn off the light.

Gillian woke up the next day at three-thirty. Her sleep schedule was going to be so screwed up because of last night.
Cal was already up. He was downstairs working on his book that still wasn't finished. Sophie was taking a nap on the couch and Emily was talking to her father at the table.
Cal noticed her first.
"Sleeping Beauty awakes."
Emily jumped up from the table.
"Tell me about it!" She demanded and Gillian didn't even have to ask what she meant.
"Not much tell." She said with a smile then told her anyway.

Oh and just in case you were wondering, the world record for Pac-Man is apparently a perfect score of 3,333,360 points in 3 hours, 33 minutes, and 12.69 seconds. It's held by David Race, who lives in Ohio.
(Literally who the hell has that much time to spend in front of an arcade game?????? Like go walk in the park and drive around or something instead.)