The room is silent when Cal leaves, handing off the gun to Gillian as he goes. Any other time and he would have stopped to touch her, reassure her of his safety before even thinking of walking away. She's still shaky scared and the cool metal of the gun makes her feel frozen over.
It takes a minute for things to snap back into motion. Reynolds crosses the room to take the gun from her hands and she finally feels a little relieved. She is so worried about Cal, she doesn't even notice that Reynolds is worried about her, not even when he tells her that it's all over and no one was hurt, except Matheson and he deserved it. She smiles just a little, but there are tears pricking behind her eyes. She subconsciously comforts him with a hand on his shoulder before she, too, walks away.
She doesn't go to her own office, but Cal's. She knows he won't be there, but at least she'll be able to smell him and picture him in this space, picture him safe and warm and happy. She has work to do, but she's too shell shocked to do it, so she just sits on Cal's sofa and breathes in his scent.
She turns at a knock on the door, finding Reynolds leaning against the doorframe.
"How are you holding up?" He asks, moving into the room to sit on the coffee table in front of her.
"I'm okay," she says, but her voice is tinny and small.
"Even I know better than to believe that," he replies.
She smiles a half-smile at him.
"Not just a man with a badge and gun, huh?"
"Nah, I'm much more than that."
The way he's looking at her suggests that he's got something to give, that he could be something to her. She's initially surprised at his expression, soft in its verity. She's flattered that he's attracted to her, must admit to herself that she finds him attractive, too. She could've seen it earlier if she had ever bothered to look for arousal in any man's face other than Cal's.
"I can see that," she smiles.
She wonders for a moment whether his attraction came from that moment outside of the bar when she'd asked him what he thought of her look, probably giving him a very good view down the front of her dress. But honestly, it doesn't matter much to her because she's not in it for the long haul, at least not with him.
She shifts forward on the couch and touches her hand briefly on Reynolds' knee.
"I really am okay," she promises.
"As long as you're sure," he says, his concern still evident.
"Really, Reynolds? Do I have to show you that I'm okay? Look at my face. Tell me what you see."
She's playing with fire, now. She's got her voice heated and sultry low and she looks at him with a face so full of desire, it's smouldering. You didn't have to be trained in microexpression to know that she was asking him to bed. She watches his eyes grow even darker as he looks at her, slowing raking his gaze over her body.
"Gillian," his voice is full of warning she doesn't need. She knows exactly what she's geting herself into.
The behaviour is out of sorts for her, but she's having an out of sorts day. If she could make it better with bold and blatant flirting and perhaps a dirty romp with a man she didn't love, why shouldn't she? If she waited for the person she truly wanted to get his head out of his ass, she might be waiting forever. There was really no reason to believe he'd want her anyway. At least with Reynolds, she knows.
Gillian shifts even further and brings Reynolds' mouth down to hers with a hand on his neck. There's only a second of resistance before he's opening his mouth to her insistent tongue and sucking against it. His hands reach for her waist and he pulls them up and flush together, her fingertips digging tightly into his shoulders. She sighs as their kiss ends, wiping her lipstick from Reynolds' lips with her thumb.
"There's a supply closet down the hall, no camera coverage. Meet me in ten?" she suggests wantonly.
"Okay," he breathlessly agrees.
He would never say no to Gillian.
Gillian's barely been home an hour when her doorbell rings. She opens up to Cal awkwardly shuffling around her porch as he apologises for leaving her.
"Everyone's dealing with it in their own way," she says.
It sounds like acceptance, but truthfully it's an apology of her own. She doesn't fully regret it, but she does feel a little sorry for the way she had dealt with the situation; having sex with Reynolds up against a wall in the workplace, her skirt pushed up over her hips and her panties pushed aside. Her shame lies only in the fact that it wasn't really Reynolds that she had wanted, although she tried to convince herself she did. Sure she was attracted to him, but she definitely didn't love him. There's someone else.
She stops Cal for a hug before inviting him into her house for the night and she relaxes, knowing that he's safe. He hugs her back so tightly, she fears shattering and she knows in that, he's really giving her a love confession. She said it back with a kiss on the corner of his mouth and a watery smile.
Reynolds knows before sleeping with Gillian that she loves Cal with everything that she is and Cal loves her right back. The problem is that he's been falling for her, too. How could he not love the woman? She was not only gorgeous, but also kind and funny and real. It was refreshing to see an honest deception expert. She was wonderful and at least for an hour, she had wanted him. He would take what he could get. If it was what she wanted, he'd stay with her until she could finally be with Cal. He'd do anything she wanted because her happiness bolstered his.
It had been nice to be able to comfort her when Cal wasn't around to do it, to be with her in whatever way she'd allow. But he'd understand if she never wanted to sleep with him again. If he had a love like that, he'd never want to sleep with anyone else either. But secretly, he wished it would continue at least for a little while. After all, Cal would get her forever, but Reynolds would be lucky to get a tomorrow.
A/N: I have always believed that if Ben & Gill would start a relationship, it would be after Honey. He's obviously attracted to her and she needs comfort after seeing the man she loves almost die and Cal's not around to give it. Also in the Ben-centric episode (which is before Fold Equity) about his undercover work, Cal says something about Gill being his best friend and Ben gets this look on his face and I instantly thought he was either sleeping with Gill or in love with her (or both)