Title: Happy Belated Birthday
Character/pairing: N/A
Rating: PG/T
Spoilers: All of Season One
Summary: Abigail Andrews wakes up the morning after her birthday tired, hung over and with her boss, Doctor Cal Lightman, next to her. One of these things is not like the others…
Author's Note: Due to reader request, I am continuing the tales of Abigail Andrews ("The Crush"). I do not own "Lie to Me" or its characters, the show belongs to Fox and I make no money off of these stories. I appreciate comments and critique, please feel free to read and review. Enjoy!
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"Nnnnnghf," was the first thing Abigail Andrews said on that fateful morning. Abigail had spent much of the evening before having the typical twenty something birthday party - cake and cocktails at her apartment, a delicious dinner of Thai food followed by dancing at a club where she had been forced to wear a birthday tiara and accept drinks from everyone she knew (and a few she didn't). The fact that she woke up that morning after at all was less a testament to her internal fortitude and more to her unforgiving internal body clock.
She groaned, then remembered that she didn't have to go to work that day. If anyone knew exactly how to celebrate a birthday it was Eli Loker, and rather than deal with a hung over Abigail at work the following day he had graciously given her the day off. She would have to thank him, Abigail thought to herself as she noisily turned over on her bed, flipping the pillow over to get to the cooler side, and prepared to fall back to sleep. I'll feel more human when I wake up, she sighed to herself.
This was when Abigail suddenly got the distinct feeling that she was being watched.
It didn't register that there was anything sitting on the edge of her bed when she peeled open one eye. She looked at the figure for a solid five seconds before realizing it was a person. Three more seconds to understand that the person was not her roommate. It was four seconds after that when Abigail's eyelids widened with recognition.
"Good morning, Abby!" Doctor Cal Lightman's British accent rang annoyingly in Abigail's hung over hears. He had his head cocked to one side, a picture of amusement. "But it's not that good of a morning, it is?"
Abigail squeezed her eyes shut. "You're not really here. I'm dreaming," she rationalized, "I'm dreaming and you're not here."
"Do you often dream about me, Abby?" Cal asked, a twinkle in his eyes.
Wisely choosing not to answer this, Abigail threw an arm over her eyes. "You don't know where I live," she stated as pointedly as her hung over state could allow.
"I have access to all staff files."
Abigail mulled over this for a moment. "You're too busy to make house calls."
"I decide how I spend my time in a day." Cal shifted on the bed, "Oh, I like this game. Say something else I can contradict," he egged her on.
One arm still covering her eyes, Abigail used her other arm to point to the door of her room, "Get out."
"So you're acknowledging that I'm actually here and am not a dream?"
Almost at the point of tears, and fearing for her dignity as the possibility of being gloriously and violently ill was becoming more and more probable, Abigail gave up. "Just tell me why you're here."
Cal shook his head, clucking at her. "I go out of my way to get into your apartment and you cut to the chase?"
"How did you get in?"
"Complexly and covertly," Cal said in a boastful tone. Abigail rewarded this information by removing her arm from her eyes and raising an eyebrow at him. "I knocked and your roommate invited me in," Cal admitted. "He seems like a nice fellow. Boyfriend?" He asked innocently.
"Very much not," Abigail answered shortly.
Cal inhaled audibly, "I don't know why, he seems like a bright young man, spoke very highly of you-"
"If you're not going to tell me why you're here," Abigail interrupted him, "I'm going back to sleep. I have the day off," she said pointedly, rolling over in her bed again. Cal got up and walked over face Abigail on the other side of the bed and crouching down to be on eye level with her he said softly, "You're hired, Abby."
"I already have a job at your Group, Doctor Lightman," Abigail said, not bothering to open her eyes.
"A new job. On my team," Cal further explained.
Opening one of her eyes a slit, Abigail glared at Cal. "I don't want a job on your team."
"Remember a couple of weeks ago, after your, ah, 'confession' in my office?" Cal asked.
Groaning, Abigail was then forced to remember how she had been pressed upon to confess to Cal what she had been 'hiding' from him in the few weeks she had been employed at The Lightman Group. Sadly it was nothing as exciting as being a double agent, or plotting against the other employees. It was merely a crush on Doctor Lightman that she'd been harbouring for a few weeks. Unfortunately she'd had to confess this secret directly to his face. Abigail had hoped upon hope that he would never again bring this up, but as Abigail was to learn, this was never the case - not with something that entertaining.
"I had Doctor Foster take you through a series of tests," Cal continued. A bubble of memory worked its way through Abigail's memory and popped open when it reached the surface. "I thought those were standard tests for all employees. That's what Doctor Foster said. But…" she trailed off.
Cal's expression seemed to sharpen. "But what?"
"She said it like…like a Mom talking to her kid at the dentist. 'This won't hurt a bit!' Like that. Overly happy. It was strange. Anyway."
"Pointed emotion. It's what we call a deflection, or a hiding of the truth. You try to make the person feel the emotion you are feeling, or hide your true emotions with a false emotion in this case. You picked up on that. Good," Cal rambled on, lost in thought.
"Fantastic," Abigail muttered. "I've learned something new today. Can you leave now?"
Cal sat down on the floor next to Abigail's bed. "You know, I think I like you better hung over, you're much less flustered and much more to the point." He looked up at the ceiling, thinking aloud, "I wonder what you're like when you're sloshed." He leaned in closer to her. "I'll bet you're a firecracker."
"Enough!" Abigail said as forcefully as she could. "No more banter, no more random thoughts, no more…" She carefully suppressed the large belch that had been building up inside of her.
Cal ignored the burp and explained his presence to Abigail. "Those tests Doctor Foster administered were to see if you have an aptitude in deception detection. You do. You're not a natural, but your score was high enough for me. I'm offering you a position on my team, if you're interested," Cal said.
"The only thing I'm interested in right now is getting you out of my apartment and sleeping for the next six hours," Abigail whined.
"Say you'll take the job and I'll take my leave," Cal announced, standing up.
"I'll be reporting to you?" Abigail questioned.
"Indeed."
"And you'll be my teacher?"
"Naturally," Cal smiled.
"And my having had a crush on you figures into this how?" Abigail wondered skeptically.
Cal thought for a moment. "I figure it'll get more work out of you. 'Do this or I tell everyone'. I'm not below stooping to blackmail if I have to."
Abigail opened her eyes slightly and looked up at Cal. "Fine."
"Really?"
"If it gets you out of my room, then fine. I can always quit later," Abigail rationalized.
"Well, good." Cal said, picking up his jacket. "I'll leave you to your sleep then." Abigail raised a hand and gave a thumbs up, never raising her head from the pillow.
Before he left Cal turned around, "Will you be able to be at the office for nine o'clock tomorrow morning?"
"Get out," was the response he got.
Cal decided to have one more bit of fun with her before he left, "Want me to tuck you in, Abby?"
The pillow flying at his head was his cue to make his exit. "Happy belated birthday, Abby," Cal said softly, then turned and left Abigail's room.
Abigail waited until she heard the click of the front door to let out the breath she had been holding. Before she could drift off to sleep, she needed to go to the bathroom and went to kick the blankets off her.
This was when the second embarrassment of Abigail's history with Cal Lightman hit her square in the face.
There were no blankets covering her.
She'd been laying there in her pajamas. Or rather, what she wore as pajamas.
"He's seen me in a tank top and underwear," she groaned aloud, pulling a pillow over her head.
Cal got off of the elevator and approached the car that was idling, waiting for him. "I've been sitting here for almost an hour! Do you know how many times I've had to drive around?" Doctor Gillian Foster asked, exasperated. "I'm not your chauffer!"
Cal got into the car, closed the door and reflected over the last hour or so. It was the smile on his face that worried Gillian the most.
"So, what happened up there?" She asked, trying to get a dialogue going with Cal. He looked over at her and knew how to put a stop to the oncoming interrogation with one simple sentence.
"Abigail Andrews sleeps in the skimpiest tank top and underwear."