Aftermath

Loker/Lightman

This pairing is obvious to anyone born with the desire to pair up Tim Roth characters no matter their inclinations, history or personality. This occurs after the last scene of, I think, Episode 12 and will be terribly dated when and if another season starts up.

"I love you."

And then he walked away, of course, and back into the hall. Dr. Lightman was not in the habit of waiting for answers to his unspoken questions. He forced people into decisions—it was more than consciously done. It was habit, and a bad one. Somehow, though, it gave him comfort. Now, he wanted to make a dramatic exit and another interesting day would begin tomorrow. He felt barely in control.

As he was walking down the hallway, a man appeared in front of him, blocking his exit. Eli Loker. Pointing a finger at Cal despite the fear obvious in his eyes.

"You can't just leave me with a decision like that—"

"Of course I can!" Cal interrupted, amazed.

LIghtman could not believe this was happening to him. He had built a firm specifically designed so that his authority would never be questioned. Here was Loker, panicking, acting out, and then accosting him as he was prepared to leave. He wasn't the only one not in control.

"You can't just boss everyone—"

"I can!" he interrupted again, "I'm the boss! You want to get fired?"

Loker grabbed the lapels of Lightman's expensive suit and pulled him into a nearby room. Too incredulous to properly react, and, truthfully, a little curious, Cal let it happen. Something here he obviously hadn't figured out. Once the door was shut, Loker's strangely righteous anger was gone. He deflated completely, staring at Lightman with something akin to desperation. Shaking his head a little, Cal sat down, and gestured the distraught Eli do the same. He did.

"Listen, it's been a preposterously long day already. Now, you're a bright kid. I wouldn't have hired you if you weren't. If you know what you want already, by all means—"

Cal fell silent at the new look that had formed in Eli's eyes. That was something he hadn't seen before. He wasn't sure whether to feel threatened or flattered.

"You've been purposely avoiding me this week," Eli said, the stress of having so much revealed all at once destroying his normally rational thought processes. Cal took a moment to properly gauge how he should react. He decided, despite everything, to approach the situation with honesty, which was how he normally responded to Eli.

"I actually haven't been, but I might next week if this keeps going where I think it's going."

"I'm sorry. Can I do anything for you?"

Cal leaned forward in the chair, staring, elbows on his knees.

"Now, that all depends on how serious you intend to make this."

Eli swallowed. He couldn't admit everything, but he couldn't give up.

"It's as serious as you want."

Cal laughed, leaning back, "When are you going to stop lying to me? I hired you to be honest."

Reserve vanished from Eli's face. He rose, walked over to Cal, bent down and held his face in his hands. When Dr. Lightman didn't stop him, he touched their lips together. Neither made any attempt to deepen the kiss, but slowly Cal closed his eyes.

"That's better," he said softly, "I'm glad."

Abruptly, then, he stood up and began walking towards the door.

"I'll consider that an apology of sorts—"

"It wasn't," Eli wasn't protesting, he was stating a fact.

"And you can work for minimum wage. If I really made you an intern, you couldn't afford your apartment, could you, and then you'd have to move in with me."

He stopped, ready to make an entrance properly this time, and cocked his head to one side, "You'd make a terrible father, you know."

With that, he left. Loker sighed, letting his hands drop to his sides in baffled exasperation. Still, his mind was made up, and he'd had a piece of what he really wanted.