Night and Day

Disclaimer: Lie To Me and its characters do NOT belong to me, but I grateful to those that they do belong to for giving us Cal, Gillian, Loker, and Torres in the first place, Alec though not so much.

Gillian Foster took the last bite of her chocolate cake, closing her eyes and savoring the sweet cocoa as if it were the last bite she would ever taste.

"Was it good for you?" Cal Lightman asked, amazed by his partner's sweet tooth. If he ate like she did, he'd be huge.

Gillian just smiled as an attentive waiter took her dessert plate and refilled her water glass.

"It's the simple joys in life, Cal," she teased. "You should indulge every once in a while."

Cal cocked his head and looked at Gillian for a moment before turning his attention to Alec, her husband, who had been able to join them for dinner at the last minute and was sitting there trying to look like he wasn't uncomfortable.

"So Alec, uh, what's going on down at the state department?" Cal said, trying to make small talk, but failing miserably at it. Alec had talked about work a good part of the evening, but most of what the man had to say went in one ear and out the other. Sometimes Cal wondered if the frequency of Alec's voice was one that didn't register in his brain, like dogs and whistles.

"Busy, the trip to Japan is next week, so arranging schedules to get everything done has been a nightmare," Alec said, taking a sip of wine and giving Cal a perfunctory smile. "'I'll be leaving in a couple of days with the advance team."

"I just wish I were going with him," Gillian answered, covering Alec's hand with her own. I haven't been to Tokyo in ages."

"Well, there just won't be much down time," Alec said. "I'm afraid I won't have time to do anything other than work."

Cal knew he was lying, that was his life's work after all, detecting when people were lying when nothing else could, and Alec obviously had something on his agenda other than work.

"Oh, that's too bad," Cal quipped, folding his hands on the table and leaning in attentively. "The night life in Tokyo is fantastic…I mean I went there right after my divorce, and man, I don't even remember the first week."

Gillian glared at Cal, "Maybe it's a good thing you're gonna be so busy."

"Hey, I'm just saying," Cal defended, just as Gillian's phone beeped ever so lightly.

"Let me get this," she said, looking between the two men. Cal now outright stared at Alec, who was trying to avoid eye contact with him above all else.

"Ok, I can be there in twenty minutes, just make sure he doesn't leave," Gillian said, hanging up and immediately grabbing for her coat. "I've been trying to get Mr. Baker in for a week, and he just showed up at the office out of the blue. Loker's entertaining him, so I have to get there before I lose him."

"Anything I can help with?" Cal said, looking up at her, desperately hoping she would say yes.

"No, I'm fine, are you coming back to the office tonight?" she asked, knowing it was almost 8 and that Cal had been in the office since 6 this morning.

"Yeah, Emily's at her mom's tonight, so I thought I'd torture Torres some more," Cal said, slight smile at the corner of his mouth.

"I'll see you later then," Gillian answered with a smile knowing how much he liked giving his new protégé' the run around, then looked to her husband. "I'm not sure when I'll be home."

"I have to go back to the office anyway," he replied standing up to give her a quick kiss, before she made her way out of the restaurant.

Cal watched Gillian leave and immediately looked around for the waiter. He didn't see him and wondered for a minute if he could just leave. Alec could pick up the check or hell, he knew the chef, and he could always pay later.

"I'm kind of glad Gillian got called away," Alec said, looking up at Lightman, more confidence in his eyes than Cal had seen in a long time. "Cal, we need to talk."

Cal sized him up, "About what."

"About Gillian…."