AN: My inspiration for this fanfic is actually kind of odd. My best friend is British, and over the course of a few parties I have been at with her and her family, the Boot Scootin' Boogie has come up pretty regularly. Being the good Southern girl that I am, I was in my element. Her dad commented on my aptitude at this dance and proceeded to tell me, in his thick British accent, that he "wants to learn how to be a Redneck." This led me to wonder about what would happen if two of my favorite things ever met: Cal Lightman and country music. In the end, this is just Cal/Gillian fluff :) Any songs I reference will be added in a second chapter as a sort of "Song Index" for those of you not familiar with country music. Hope you enjoy! Please read and review :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Lie to Me or any country music :(

"Don't worry about it Bobby. I completely understand. We'll do it some other time." Gillian spoke into the phone. She heard a gentle knock on her door, and turned around to see Cal waiting in the doorway of her office. "I'm going to have to let you go Bobby. Be safe on your way home." With that, Gillian hung up the phone.

"Hot date fall through, love?" Cal questioned in an attempt to dissect the disappointment written across Gillian's face.

"For your information, Cal, that was Bobby Schneider, one of my good friends from college. He is like a brother to me! I don't think dating him has ever crossed my mind."

"If that's so, why do you look so disappointed by whatever it was you two just cancelled?" Cal prodded.

"He was here on a work trip. Today was supposed to be his one day of fun, but they had an emergency at the New York offices and needed him home immediately. We were supposed to go dancing tonight, but instead, he is getting ready to fly back home to his wife and kids." Gillian replied with extra emphasis on the last three words. "I guess I'm disappointed because this would have been the first time I've really gone out since Alec and I spilt up. I was looking forward to having a little fun and dancing a little." Sadness flashed across Gillian's face. Cal fumbled with a few ideas in his mind before finally speaking up.

"Well what if I took you, love. We're friends, so it would almost be the same thing." Cal nervously asked as he rubbed circles on the floor with his foot.

"Cal Lightman, man with two left feet, is offering to take me dancing?" Gillian replied with a hint of laughter in her voice. "This, I can't resist. Pick me up at, say, nine o'clock?"

Gillian's doorbell rang at nine o'clock on the dot. Gillian had expected this type of punctuality from Cal, so she was already dressed and made up, a feat which is remarkable for any woman, even the superhuman Gillian. As she opened the door Cal stared at her in awe and confusion. Gillian had on a stunning floral sundress that hugged her torso and then flowed out slightly hitting her legs right above the knee. Her hair flowed down to her neck in gentle golden curls. None of this really bothered Cal, in fact he was quite enjoying the view. It was Gillian's choice in footwear that had him thoroughly perplexed. She was wearing rhinestone studded cowboy boots.

"Gillian, love, you look stunning, but where exactly are we going to dance tonight, Texas?" Cal inquired as he watched a sheepish grin creep across Gillian's face.

"Did I forget to tell you Cal? We're going country dancing." Gillian felt guilty about tricking Cal like this, but she had a sneaking suspicion that Cal would have retracted his offer if he had known this minor, okay major, detail earlier in the day.

"Oi, bloody hell, Foster, are you kidding me?" Now Gillian felt really bad. She could tell Cal really was not interested in country dancing.

"I'm sorry, Cal. You can back out now if you want to. I can tell you aren't really interested in this." Cal watched the sadness and disappointed from earlier creep across Gillian's face once again.

"No, love, I don't particularly want to do this, but I told you I would, so I guess I can suffer through one night. Be sure to thank Bobby for the thrilling night I'm sure to have." Cal acted like it was a burden to do this for Gillian, but she could tell he was secretly happy about spending the evening with her.

"Thank you Cal!" she all but squealed as she pulled him into a hug, "One more thing, you can't go looking like that; you'll get laughed at, so I bought you some boots and jeans. Wear them for me, please?" The puppy dog looked on Gillian's face was irresistible for Cal.

"Only for you, love." Cal grabbed the boots and jeans from Gillian and slinked off to the bathroom to change.

As Cal and Gillian entered the Red River Saloon, Gillian immediately heard Pat Green playing on the speakers.

"Cal, Take Me Out to a Dancehall is one of my favorite Pat Green songs. Please, let's dance!" It wasn't so much of a question, as Gillian had already dragged Cal halfway across the dance floor. They swayed and rocked to the beat, and Cal began to think that country dancing really wasn't that hard. It was more or less regular dancehall dancing, well not really, but Gillian was leading, allowing Cal's feet to simply drag along behind. As the music changed, Cal was in for a big surprise. As the first few moments of the song began to play, the dancehall went up in a roar, and everyone began to line up.

"Out in the country past the city limits sign
Well there's a honky tonk near the county line"

Cal stood in the middle of the floor, thoroughly confused and staring at Gillian as everyone around him began to dance in unison.

"This one is easy, Cal. Just watch me and do what I do. You'll catch on; I promise." Gillian hollered from in front of him. Cal tried his best, but his feet just didn't understand what was going on. He went left when everyone went right and back when they went forward. Gillian checked on Cal's progress out of the corner of her eye and giggled at the man before her. Cal was always in control of everything, but right now, the Boot Scootin' Boogie was taking serious advantage of Cal. As they turned so that Gillian was behind Cal, she put her hands on his hips and guided him in the correct steps.

"Right, behind, right, together. Left, behind, left, together. Back, back, forward, forward, turn." They continued like this for a good part of the song until Cal began to get it on his own. "See, you're getting it Cal. You look downright country right now." Gillian stated as she let go of Cal's hips, and the song began to come to an end. When the song finished Gillian gave Cal a huge bear hug and a peck on the cheek. He really was being a good sport about this.

Cal looked at her and said, with as straight a face as he could muster, "I think I was pretty good at that one. I especially liked the part that involved your hands on my waist, love."

"You are incorrigible, Cal Lightman!" Gillian swatted at Cal as she lead him off the dance floor and over to the bar. After all that dancing she really wanted and needed a beer. As they left the dance floor, another one of Gillian's favorite songs began to play, That's Love by Brad Paisley.

"That's love you'll see
We all commit a little bit of perjury
Ah, but that's no crime if you ask me, that's love
You're starin' at a burnt steak
You bite the bullet and you clean your plate
And then you go on and on about how great it was
That's not a lie, that's love."

"Do women really believe that, Gill? Because it seems a bit ridiculous to me." Cal inquired.

"Yes Cal! I think I'm getting a little bit of insight into why your marriage didn't work out so well. I almost feel bad for Zoe." Gillian laughed at the thought that she would ever feel bad for Zoe, but if Cal really was radically honest with their marriage, she did have a little bit of sympathy for the woman. "You mean to tell me that if a woman you loved asked you if she looked okay in a dress, but she didn't, you would tell her she looked horrid." Cal thought about his answer. He imagined the one woman he loved asking him that question. Finally, he responded.

"That's an irrelevant question because the one woman I love could never look horrid in anything, even rhinestone cowboy boots." Gillian blushed. Cal had just let her in, even if just for a second. He was talking about her. She could tell by his face and the obvious cowboy boots comment. Gillian chose to pretend that she had missed it.

"You just did it, Cal. Your love for this woman clouded your judgment because every woman can look bad in something." Cal sputtered with some words for a moment but could not come up with a retort. He couldn't imagine Gillian ever looking bad in anything, but he wasn't ready to open up to her completely, not just yet.

"I guess you win Gill." Cal said pretending to be disappointed, but secretly, he loved when Gillian won arguments. One of his favorite things about her was how strong-willed and intelligent she was. As their argument ended, so did the song. The next song was a slow one. A love song he assumed, but the country accent was throwing him off a little. "Can I have this dance, ma'am?" Cal asked in the best Southern accent he could muster up as he extended his hand in Gillian's direction. Between intermittent laugher at the Southern-British accent that had just left Cal's lips, Gillian managed to say yes and follow Cal out onto the dance floor.

As Toby Keith played, Cal slipped his arms around Gillian's slender waist and her head fell on his shoulder. They began to sway together in perfect unison, almost as if they were one entity. Both of their heads reeled with thoughts as the spun on the dance floor.

Cal was not the kind of person who let his emotions take him over, but right now he wasn't sure what he was feeling, but he was pretty sure it was a good feeling. Something about Gillian felt different tonight. He had always known he loved her, but seeing her in her element tonight, dancing as closely as they were now, he felt justified in saying he was falling madly in love with her. Was it worth the risk? What if she simply thought they were friends?

"There's a different feel about you tonight
It's got me thinkin' lots of crazy things
I even think I saw a flash of light
It felt like electricity"

Gillian kept replaying Cal's earlier comment in her head. He had practically come out and said that she was the woman he loved. She had been waiting the entirety of their friendship for him to say that. She had fallen for him on day one but had never been able to justify risking their friendship because she didn't know if he reciprocated the feelings. Finally, Gillian couldn't stand it anymore. She lifted her head from Cal's shoulder and planted a gentle yet passionate kiss on Cal's lips. It didn't last long, and all too quickly, her head had returned to Cal's shoulder. Now her head was really reeling. He had reciprocated the kiss. Suddenly, Gillian remembered their line. "To hell with the line." She thought. It had already been more than crossed.

"They're all watchin' us now
They think we're falling in love
They'd never believe we're just friends
When you kiss me like this
I think you mean it like that
If you do baby kiss me again"

As if Cal wasn't confused enough as it was. Gillian had just confirmed his doubts, had she not? Maybe he was reading too much into the kiss. If only…if only she would kiss him again, so he could be sure. Why was this so complicated with Gillian? When Cal had courted Zoe, it had been easy. His heart never felt this fluttery, this nervous. Maybe it was because life without Zoe was imaginable, but life without Gillian was unthinkable. That's why he had been content with friendship. All these years he had been afraid to take it to the next level because he was afraid of losing her. Being best friends was better than not having her in his life at all, but this, this could be the game changer. If only he knew…as if Gillian had read his mind, she looked up and kissed him again. This kiss had the same energy as the last one only it lasted longer, and if it was possible, it was more perfect. This kiss couldn't be misinterpreted.

The song faded, but Cal and Gillian continued to sway on the dance floor, whispering the love proclamations they had both held in for so long. As they finally concluded their long awaited dance, they laced their hands in one another's and walked toward the exit of the saloon. They exchanged I love you's as they had many times before, but for the first time, it meant something so much more.

Just as they reached the doors, Cal turned to Gillian and said, "Love, would you tell Bobby thanks for having to cancel tonight? Initially I thought country dancing would be horrible, but this evening turned out more than perfect." With that he placed a gentle kiss on the head of the one woman he truly loved, the one woman he would consider following Brad Paisley's advice with. Of course he wouldn't need it because his girl was perfect in every way.