She bursts into his office without warning, which isn't typical of her. She looks tense and nervous as she makes her way to one of the chairs in front of his desk, sitting ramrod straight.
"Tell me, Cal. Am I waiting for something that's never going to happen?" she asks.
Acting quickly to cover his surprise, he feigns confusion rather than facing an answer, rather than letting her see his true feelings.
She scoffs, shaking her head. Her eyes burn into him as she musters the courage to admit what she had meant.
"You think I don't hear it, Cal, in everything that you say? I know, okay? And you do, too. Don't even pretend that you don't know what you're seeing."
The words are edged with her frustration, her hurt. She wishes she could find another way to get it across, to get him to understand what she means without her having to say the words.
"What then?" he asks. "What do I see, what do you hear?"
She reads anger on him, but knows better than to think it's genuine, knows that he must be terrified underneath.
"Cal," she's firm, demanding him to listen, demanding him to forget his last question and the words neither of them are ready to face.
"I... I don't know, Gill," he finally admits. "I don't want-"
"I'm not going to leave you. Even if you say I should stop. I won't leave. It'll just be... An adjustment."
She sighs and he thinks he can almost see sorrow in her eyes.
He can't tell her with his words, he can't show her on his face. He just isn't ready. And even though it seems everyone around them is tired of waiting, the two of them are too tired from all their dancing around each other to take the proverbial next step. He just needs a rest.
"I don't want you to stop waiting," he says it so quietly she hardly hears it, but her head shoots up in surprise as she does.
"I won't wait forever, you know?" she presses, hope emanating her features, her every syllable.
"I know, love. It's gonna happen," he promises.
"Okay," she says, then a smile widens over her face.
He can't help but return it.
And the words are enough for now with the promise they hold. They're enough for the both of them.
Gillian laxes back in her chair and looks at him.
"So, scotch?" she asks.
And he laughs as he pulls out the tumblers.
