Secret Santa for Jaydelin :] Hope you like it! Merry late Christmas!
Disclaimer: I don't own Lie To Me.
… … … …
Emily Lightman walked down the stairs holding her travel bag with one hand while she used the other one to reply to a text message she had just gotten from her boyfriend.
She pressed the button to send it right at the same time as she entered the kitchen.
Once she finally looked up from her cell phone, she found herself staring at her father, who was standing by the fridge, one of his hands on his pocket and the other one playing with the car keys.
"Dad…"
"Daughter…" He replied right away, not giving her time to carry on with her train of thought, causing her to roll her eyes at him.
"Don't even try to play games with me, Dad. We spoke about this for hours yesterday and I remember hearing you say that it was perfectly fine if my boyfriend took me to the airport." Emily said, putting her bag down and walking straight towards him, raising an eyebrow as soon as she reached him.
Reading her face expression, he moved to the side, his eyes never leaving her face as she opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.
"If I remember correctly, you didn't really ask me… and besides, I was on the phone." Cal commented, leaning back against the counter as he studied his daughter's actions.
"I would say you had a sudden amnesia attack just now but you didn't lose your memories, you created new ones to suit the situation and your side of the question…" She opened the bottle of water and took a small sip.
"I bet there's a name for that… I should call Gillian and ask… she must know what it is called." She couldn't help but smile at the reaction the name Gillian caused on her father.
Yes, he was fast at covering it up, but she had also gotten fast at reading him.
"I do believe Gillian is way too busy to answer your questions at the moment and besides, you better hurry up… your boyfriend has been parked outside for way too long and you never know… he might get tired of waiting." Cal knew he shouldn't have tried to change the subject but he was too tired to think as he had been spending a great amount of his free time working on his book.
"You wish." Emily said before wrapping her arms around him, holding him close for a second before pulling away and placing a soft kiss upon his cheek. "By the way, Gillian told me she was going to spend Christmas on her own… maybe you should call her and invite her over for dinner…"
"Oh, she told you, huh?" He asked, curiosity bringing his eyebrow up.
"I may have asked her but I can assure you it didn't sound creepy of me because it made total sense in context." Answered Emily, grabbing her bag from the floor and walking towards the door.
"Seriously, Dad." She said as she turned to face him again.
"You should call her… it's the first time she is spending Christmas alone and she deserves better… it's her favorite holiday…" She took a pause for a breath, shrugged and looked at her father's face.
"It used to be your favorite holiday as well."
Cal took a step forward and planted a kiss on Emily's forehead.
"It still is my favorite holiday when I get to spend it with you." His tone was soft and gentle and filled with emotion that he tried to hide by using one of his hands to mess with her hair, making her focus her attention on something else as he knew that if she asked him if he wanted her to say he wouldn't be able to lie to her.
"Dad!" She complained, trying to fix it.
"You look beautiful." He said, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he watched her reach out for the doorknob.
"I will call you. Behave." She said as she looked at him one last time before walking out the door. "And call Gillian." She yelled out on her way to the car.
He laughed and shook his head before closing the door, watching the car leaving the parking space through his window.
For a moment he actually considered calling Gillian but then he realized that he had nothing better to offer her.
Spending his Christmas away from Emily meant no Christmas decorations and he knew Gillian loved those; spending his Christmas away from Emily meant no Christmas food and he knew Gillian also loved that; spending his Christmas away from Emily meant that Christmas was just another day on the calendar and he knew that Gillian needed it to be special… she deserved it to be special.
And for a moment he hated himself for not being able to offer her anything but the coldness of a lonely heart and house.
That thought reminded him that he had a fireplace and so he decided to prepare a small fire before sitting on his couch with a glass of scotch and his computer.
The last couple of weeks had been hard for the Lightman Group. And as crazy as it might sound, this time the main problems had nothing to do with money.
Apparently the last few cases had been taken too personally and had caused the relationships to deteriorate inside the four walls of the Lightman Group.
Bloody hell. Who was he kidding?
Those last few cases had caused his relationship with Gillian to deteriorate and he wasn't happy.
Saying that he wasn't happy with the present situation was an understatement, actually. He was pissed off at himself for having said the things he had said. And he was even more pissed off at himself for not trying to take them back. Not that she would let him but hell, he should have tried… he should have at least tried to apologize.
He closed his eyes for a moment and leaned back on his couch, letting the warmness of the fireplace caress his skin before taking a deep breath, exhaling slowly.
As soon as his computer was ready to work, he opened the file that he had been working on for the past few days and read through it… read through the whole 250 pages of it.
That is right.
The only positive thing about the whole confusion at the office was that he had been spending more time at home writing.
Actually, the number of pages written is a great scale to evaluate the size of the mess at the office. At one point, it had actually become unbearable and the only thing they could do was yell at each other.
Well, at least he had yelled at her… she just had pretended not to be listening. It had been a smart move from her side… at least she hadn't said anything she now regretted. He wished he could say the same…
Now that he thought about it though, sometimes regretting not having said something is worse than regretting having said it…
His eyes fell upon the phone that stood by his side and Emily's voice filled his head.
"Hello?"
He only realized what he had done once he heard her voice.
"Gill?"
On the other side of the line stood a sleepy Gillian Foster. Apparently she had sat down on her couch and had fallen asleep.
"Cal?" She covered her face with her free hand and yawned. "What time is it?"
He looked at his living room clock, suddenly worried. Had the time flown by so fast that it had already become socially impolite to call her?
"It's 7 PM, love. I hope I am not disturbing…"
Gillian let out a healthy laugh as soon as his comment reached her ear.
He smiled.
He loved the sound of her laugh and lately he hadn't had many opportunities to hear it.
"I was just taking a nap. Is everything alright?" She asked as she slowly started to wake up and question that phone call.
Cal felt a bit taken aback with that question but decided to try and play it cool.
"Well, you know… Emily is out and it's Christmas… was wondering what my best friend was up to…"
"Best friend, huh? Very well played, Mr Lightman." She said, her voice sounding calm and not at all angry.
"As I told you, I was sleeping… don't seem to have anything else better to do."
"Would you like to come over?" He said almost instantly, surprising himself and the woman on the other side of the line that, even in her sleepy state, was becoming very aware of the awkwardness that was starting to fill the air as they had both gone silent.
"You know, I am alone and you are alone too… and I have just finished my book and would love your opinion… I could cook for us… You know… an alternative Christmas?" He tried.
"You have finished your book?" She asked, her eyes officially wide open.
"Oh, I would love to read it! And dinner… food sounds good." She added as she got up from the couch.
"Great! I will go check the fridge and see what I have…"
"Great! I will be there as soon as possible." And with that she hung up, making her way towards her bedroom as she needed to get ready to go out as something told her that going on her PJs wasn't such a good idea.
He put the phone down and connected his laptop to his printer through wireless so that he could get a copy for Gillian to read. The only thing missing was the dedication… but he would think of something while she read.
He then went to the kitchen and started working on what was going to be their dinner.
As he hadn't planned on doing anything special for Christmas so he didn't have anything interesting to cook. He studied his fridge for quite a long time before deciding on Lasagna. He knew that Gillian loved it and besides, he had a great wine to go with it.
It was about 8:30 PM when Gillian knocked at his door.
She had decided on taking a shower before leaving the house and had spent quite a few minutes in front of her closet because she didn't know what to wear. She had been confused about what kind of clothes she should choose… they weren't having a formal dinner but it was Christmas…
She had decided on wearing a pair of black skinny jeans and a black blouse that had quite an interesting cut to it. Her hair was falling freely over her shoulders and she was wearing a pair of shoes to die for… one of those pairs of shoes that made her legs look even longer… and sexier, if that was even possible.
He said that the door was open and she walked into his kitchen, a smile taking over her face as she recognized the familiar scent that lingered there.
"You didn't have to…" She said as she removed her coat and put it on the back of one of the chairs.
"We could have asked for a pizza or something…"
"I made you leave your house in the middle of the night to come read my book and keep me company and you were expecting me to call for a pizza? I know I am an idiot, but I still have a brain."
She understood the message hidden in between the lines and nodded.
"So… can I help with anything?"
"I am almost done… there's a glass and an open bottle of wine on the coffee table by the couch… the manuscript is also there." He said, turning to her for a second with a grateful smile before focusing back on their dinner.
She made her way to the living room and spotted the wine and the manuscript instantly. She walked towards the couch and removed her shoes before making herself comfortable. Her muscles relaxed with the warmness that came from the fireplace as she started diving into the book that she now held in her perfectly manicured hands.
Cal grabbed two plates and served the food before grabbing the two plus two napkins, two forks and two knifes. Somehow he was able to carry all to the couch with no major problems.
He put the things down over the coffee table that stood by the couch and sat by Gillian's side, causing her to finally look up and acknowledge his presence.
"Cal! You could have asked for help…"
"It's okay, love… you are already doing me a huge favor." He said, resting one of his hands over her knee, patting it reassuringly.
She smiled before looking down at her lap where the manuscript now rested and then at the plate and then back at the book.
"I don't mind if you prefer to carry on reading while eating… I need to finish a few things as well."
"Thank you." She said, actually grateful he had read her and hadn't made her ask him.
He watched her eat and read for a few moments while he played with the food on his plate. He took the opportunity to study her.
She looked absolutely beautiful.
He could see that she wasn't wearing much makeup and her freckles seemed to be alive on her face, reproducing themselves by the second. Her hair fell perfectly around her face that was being illuminated by the fire. Even though he was aware of the fact that it sounded extremely cheesy, she looked like an angel.
A deep sigh came out of her mouth and for a second he thought he had been caught in the act, for a second he thought he had been caught drinking in her gorgeous figure.
He felt his heart calm down inside his ribcage as he noticed that her eyes were still on the book. Her plate was already empty and so was her glass. He poured some more wine before standing up and taking both the places to the kitchen. He put them in the sink before washing his hands, grabbing his computer and returning to the living room.
Again he sat by her side.
Again he stared at the line that came under the word dedication…
The sound of the printer broke the silence at the exact same time Gillian's eyes took in the last paragraph.
"Cal…" She said, looking up from the book for the first time in hours, noticing that Cal had his back turned to her as he had gone to the printer to grab something.
"I don't… I can't… I am… speechless…" She didn't really know what to say. She had read his first book even before she had met him and she had been fascinated by it.
But this one… this one was completely different. Yes, it was still about the science but it was so much more human… and the examples he used… some were memories that they both shared.
This was his book but somehow he had written it in a way that made it half hers as well.
He walked over to her and sat by her side once again, giving her the page he had just printed.
She looked at him and then down at the page.
Dedication:
For you, Gill. Thank you. For everything.
She felt a tear tickling the corner of her eye as a rush of emotions ran through her veins.
She let her fingertips travel over the carefully chosen font that gave voice to the dedication before looking up at him and leaning over.
"Brilliant."
And she finally allowed her lips to find his.
… … … …
I hope you enjoyed this one-shot.
I apologize for the English mistakes but it's 3 AM and I am about to collapse.
R&R if you feel like it.
Tess.