TITLE: Meeting Smile after Smile
GENRE: Friendship/General
CHARACTERS: Gillian, Cal
PAIRING: Cal/Gillian friendship
RATING: PG-13
SPOILERS: None
WORDS: 1,500
SUMMARY: In the air there's a feeling of Christmas, as Gillian is paying Cal a visit before the holidays. And she didn't come with empty hands.
—City sidewalks, busy sidewalks
dressed in holiday style.
In the air there's
a feeling of Christmas.—
She was humming along to the melody and smiling. Christmas was still her favorite season; despite the dream of a small family with children gathering around a tree, the air smelling of cookies and hot apple punch never working out. It was okay. It was life.
A winter storm two nights before had dropped several inches of snow across the D.C. area, but while rooftops and lawns were still covered in white powder, the streets were mostly free. Perfect conditions to drive up to Lewisburg to her brother—but not before one last stop.
She pulled the car over and wrapped the scarf around her neck a little tighter while getting out of the car. The melody was still in her head, Dean Martin crooning gently. Silver bells, silver bells.
Usually it was Cal who came and danced on her doorstep, but today the roles were reversed. She rang the doorbell and took a step back, hiding the wrapped-up gift behind her back, a grin on her face that was impossible to hide and a tiny nervous tingle in the pit of her stomach.
He opened the door and returned the grin, wearing the floral apron she hadn't seen in a while. "Are you trying to cook something?" she asked accordingly and took a tiny step towards him to see if the kitchen was already on fire.
"No, worse. I'm trying to bake something. Emily's coming tomorrow."
"I see," she mused. "Do you have another gift for her? In case this baking thing goes awry…"
He just continued smiling and narrowed his eyes. "Hiding something from me, Foster?" he teased and pointed to her arms concealing something behind her back.
"Yes, a gift. Do you want it?"
"Free book written by Jesus? Nah, I think I'm okay." He took a step back and pretended to close the door on her, but she was faster and intruded his hallway before he could go through with it.
"I think you might want it." Her smile was full of confidence. The kind of smile she knew he just couldn't resist.
"I think so, too, all of a sudden. Why's that?"
She moved her right arm from behind her back and handed him a small package wrapped in white and gold paper with a fitting ribbon. She watched his face while he inspected it with the curiosity of an overgrown child.
"Can I open it?"
"If you want to know what's inside, I guess you will have to."
He loosened the ribbon until it came off easily and didn't take too much care keeping the wrapping paper intact. When the final present was revealed he stared at it for a while before looking for either assurance or quite simply an explanation on her face. When she didn't give him either and just smiled full of expectation, he looked back at the silky fabric in his hands.
"Wow, it's—a tie," he concluded dryly.
"Yeah, you weren't wearing one in our meeting with the mayor last week. I was afraid you had run out of special occasion ties." She wanted to laugh out loud mercilessly considering his reaction, but tried to contain herself.
"Um, no. I chose not to wear one. They choke my brain, you know."
"Well, this one is a hundred percent silk and will make you look extremely handsome, so I'm sure you'll be able to get over this." She took the tie from his hands and put it around his neck, tying a Windsor knot with a few swift movements of her fingers. "Look, so handsome. Told you."
He looked down at the dark grey tie with the black dots at the top fading to an abstract floral pattern in the middle and ending with a checkered design at the tip. It really did look good on him. Well, maybe except in combination with the apron.
"That's the moment when I say thank you, right?"
"It is. You're slowly getting the hang of these social situations."
He smiled and let his fingers run over the tie. "What if I don't have a gift for you?"
"Of course you have one. Heidi told me you asked her what I would want."
"Why are there no secrets in this company?"
"Because you decided to have a business that uncovers truths? I don't know, just a wild guess."
He groaned quietly and went inside to retrieve a package wrapped in white paper with small simplified fir trees. Fittingly, a real fie sprig was bound with a ribbon on top.
She took it and looked at it from all sides. "Did you wrap that?"
"Does it look like I wrapped it?"
"No, it absolutely doesn't."
They both laughed while she carefully removed the paper. What she revealed was the little purse she had been eying in the display window of Macy's for a couple of weeks. Her fingers stroked over the soft leather. "It's beautiful. Tell Heidi I thank her for that. And I thank you." She closed the distance and gave him a hug with the hint of a kiss on his cheek.
He seemed pleased. "You're welcome. It might not have been my idea, but at least I got you something you wanted."
"Are you saying you didn't want that tie?" She stroked over the smooth fabric again. "Maybe you just didn't know you wanted it."
"I doubt it."
She had to smile about his inability to simply pretend a tiny bit. "What if I have another gift for you?"
"If it's a matching pocket handkerchief, I'll pass." He looked at her with a cheeky grin. "But you love me more than that, don't you?"
"Do I?" She was just as good at this game as he was. "Hold the door," she told him and walked back to her car to get another wrapped package from the passenger seat. She could see the pure joy on his face when she returned, but he didn't say anything.
"If you don't like this one, there really is no third one." She handed it over to him, while he just nodded.
His fingers treated the wrapping paper more gently this time; maybe sensing that this gift could be a little more precious. Once the cover of the book revealed itself, his face lit up and she just loved watching that. As soon as all of the wrapping paper was gone, he opened it and went straight to the imprint. She knew what he was looking for.
He looked at her. "It's the first edition." He really sounded like a joyful child under the Christmas tree, besides them still doing all of this on his doorstep rather than a cozy atmosphere inside.
"Yes, it is. It was really hard to hunt down, but I guess you know that." He once told her he had been looking for a copy of the first edition of his first published book ever since he lost the one he had when moving houses years ago. The first run only had a couple of hundred copies and turned out to be a huge success, so most books available are later editions.
Same content really, but for some reason it meant something to him to have one of the first ever printed books with his words captured for eternity.
"You know what the best thing about it is?" she teased him further. "It's signed by the one and only: yourself."
He chuckled and found the page with his squiggly signature of twenty or so years ago. "So free book written by Jesus after all."
She rolled her eyes. "Christmas is the time of humility, they say."
He rolled his eyes again. "See, it's really not my time of year." Looking down at the book in his hands again, he added: "Anyway, thank you."
"I'm glad you like it." With one last hug and realizing that he did in fact smell slightly of cookies, she started the retreat from his doorstep. "Have a fabulous time with Emily and good luck with that baking."
"Merry Christmas, Gill."
She waved goodbye and almost with a little bounce in her step, she went out to the wintery world again, covered in snow and bliss.
„Are you listening to cheesy Christmas songs in your car, Foster?" he yelled after her.
"Yes, I am! And I love it. You should try it, too."
"Disgusting."
Back in her car, she took a look at the beautiful purse again and inspected the little details, when she suddenly realized that in one of the compartments, 200 dollars were hidden away neatly. She took them out and a little note landed in her lap.
She picked it up and recognized his handwriting. 'So you can invite me to dinner in a really fancy restaurant. I'm hoping for candle-light and all that shit. And decent-sized portions. Cal.'
Well, he kind of made it his gift after all. In the unconventional way that simply was him. She put the money back, but the smile on her face stayed with her all the way to Lewisburg.
THE END