This is slightly AU, and takes place after "Undercover." Loker's punishment has unforeseen consequences.
Disclaimer: I only wish I owned Lie to Me. It belongs to Fox.
After his conversation with Lightman, Eli was able to hold it together for the two minutes it took to walk from his boss's office to the bathroom. But once he was safe inside a locked stall, he proceeded to throw up everything he'd eaten the past day. Once he reached dry heaves, he decided he'd better go home. Splashing some water on his face, he realized how pale his face was and sighed. This lying stuff was not for him; it made him physically ill.
"Hey, Loker?" Eli grimaced as Torres approached him. The Natural looked at him with open concern. "Are you okay? You look like crap."
"Thanks." Even his sarcasm sounded forced. Ria paused.
"Lightman found out, didn't he?" Loker could only nod in response, swallowing against the bile that rose in his throat. "Did you get fired?"
"Nope," Eli sighed, with a weak smile. "He did demote me to unpaid intern, though."
"Eli, I'm so sorry."
Just because he was upset didn't mean that he couldn't tell that she didn't really mean it.
***
Months went by, and nobody seemed to worry that Eli wasn't talking as much as normal, or that he was losing weight. Not even Foster, who was typically such a mother hen. Eli was still working unpaid, and the lack of income was really starting to hit him hard.
Torres was actually the first to notice something was wrong because one day, Eli walked in soaking wet.
"Loker!" She called, catching up to him as he strode through the halls. "Why are you all wet?"
"I walked to work."
"You walked in the pouring rain? Why?"
Eli couldn't believe she actually cared; nobody had been talking to him much, lately. "Well, you see, my roommate decided to move in with his girlfriend."
Torres looked confused. "What does that have to do with you walking to work in the rain?"
Loker sighed. "I had to sell my car to pay the rent."
"Really?" When she saw he wasn't kidding, she blinked in surprise. "Wow, Eli, have you talked to Lightman about putting you back on payroll? It's been what, three months?"
"Four." Loker shrugged. "Yeah, and apparently he'll let me know when he feels I've learned my lesson."
***
"Eli, do you have a minute?" Gillian asked, sticking her head into the researcher's small office. What she found was Eli hunched over his desk, asleep. Rolling her eyes, she flicked his head, causing him to start awake. "Hey, I need you to— are you okay?"
Loker looked up at her with heavy lidded eyes. His face was pale, and his overall appearance was even more disheveled than usual. "I've only got a slight fever, why shouldn't I be okay?" he asked hoarsely.
With anyone else, that could have been considered complaining. With Eli, he was just stating the facts. Gillian leaned forward and felt his forehead, her mothering instincts kicking in. "You do feel hot. Have you been to the doctor?"
Loker let out a harsh laugh that quickly turned into a cough. "No. Apparently, because I'm no longer being paid, I've also lost my insurance. I can't afford to go to the doctor." He coughed again, his breath rattling in his chest.
Gillian frowned. "Have you talked to Cal?"
"He told me he'll pay me when he feels I'm ready," Eli said, then sniffed and blinked rapidly. "So, what was it you needed me to do?"
"Just a vocal analysis. Don't worry, I can have Torres do it. You should go home."
But Eli snatched the cd from her. "Let me do what I can. Besides, vocals are my thing."
Leaving the researcher to his work, Foster stormed into Lightman's office. "When are you going to put Loker back on payroll?"
Cal glanced up from his paperwork. "What, did he complain to you, too? Torres already asked me this week."
"Have you seen him, Cal?" Gillian asked, gesturing out the door of his office. "He's sitting in his office right now, working on what sounds like a very bad case of pneumonia, because he can't afford to go to the doctor. He told me you canceled his insurance!"
"Yeah, that's right," Cal nodded. "The victims of the Ponzi scheme don't have insurance either. Though he should know what that was like. Besides, a lot of them were worse off than pneumonia."
"That may be true," Gillian said. "But Loker's one of ours. Hasn't this gone on long enough?"
***
"Oi, Loker!" Lightman walked into the "intern's" office, clapping his hands loudly. Eli, who'd been reclining in his chair, half asleep, groaned and opened one eye. "Come on, time for some interrogation."
Loker sat up slowly. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. As soon as the room stops spinning, I'll join you."
At those words, Cal took a good look at the younger man. He was paler than usual, with dark smudges under his eyes. His normally lively green eyes were dulled, and Gillian was right. The rattling in his chest was probably the beginnings of pneumonia. After they'd wrapped up the case, he'd make Eli go to the doctor, even if he had to drive him there himself.
He put Eli in the room with the subject, preferring to watch and read the subject through the glass. He watched as the guy lied again and again, and Loker didn't call him on it. Did he have some plan, or did he honestly not see it? Frowning, Cal knocked on the glass.
A second later, Loker exited the room. "What's going on?" he asked, leaning against the wall for support.
"What's going on? That man has been lying to your face for the past half hour! Do you honestly not see it?" Cal asked. He watched as Loker gave a sheepish headshake, then staggered. "Eli, you alright?"
The researcher opened his mouth to reply, and instead broke into a coughing fit, the force of which sent him to his knees. Lightman hovered at his side as Eli continued to wheeze for breath. He could see that the younger man was shaking, chills raking his body. As the coughing fit finally subsided, Eli slumped forward, unsteady from the lack of air. Lightman hurried to catch him before he hit the ground.
"We finally got Monroe's file from the FBI," Foster announced as she walked into the room. When she saw Lightman supporting the taller man, she rushed to help. "What happened?"
"Help me get him to the car, will you, love?"
***
"How's he doing?" Torres asked as she joined Lightman and Foster in the hospital's cafeteria.
"He passed out on the way here, but the doctors think he'll be fine," Foster said. "He'll just be on some very heavy duty antibiotics for a while."
The three were drinking their coffee in relative silence when Cal spoke. "You know, they had to sedate him."
"Really?" Torres looked shocked. "Why?"
Foster laughed. "When he regained consciousness, he tried to escape."
Torres gave a smile, then turned to Cal. "Now are you going to put him back on payroll?"
"What are you, his cheerleader?"
"I'm just saying, if you'd gotten over his mistake earlier, this wouldn't have happened," Ria huffed, crossing her arms defensively over her chest.
Lightman squinted at her. "No, you're only blaming me because you feel bad that you didn't do anything either."
"I don't… I'm not his boss!"
"Look," Gillian interrupted, raising her hands for emphasis. "We all should've realized things were getting out of hand. Though, I have to say, Cal, if you hadn't—"
"Oh, for Chrissake, why are you two ganging up on me?"
"Because it's your fault," Torres replied with a smirk.
Lightman sighed, and gestured at her expression. "What have I told you about calling your boss a dumb ass? You know, I actually think I miss Loker."
Both Torres and Foster looked surprised.
"What?" Cal asked. "It's not fair of him to leave me to deal with the two of you alone."
Thanks for reading, please review. This is my first attempt at Lie to Me fiction... and I'd like all the feedback I can get!