Cal's good mood continued for the two days after the Christmas party right up to the Christmas holidays on the 23rd of December. The fact hadn't gone unnoticed by either Ria Torres or Eli Loker but they said nothing. They knew that he knew they had snuck off together from the party. He hadn't seen them but that didn't matter. He just knew and Ria didn't want to agitate him enough to make smart remarks about them, whatever they were. But there was definitely something going on with him, she knew that. He seemed to light up every time Foster walked into a room. Eli told her he always did that but it was different. It was like before he'd only turned on the downstairs light but now they were all on. She winced at her choice of metaphor.

"Coffee?" Eli said suddenly and she nodded her head. They had just seen a suspect through a session in the cube. Lightman was out chasing a goose around the city, or something to that effect and Foster was listening to Christmas music in her office. The coast was, so to speak, clear.

Except that when the elevator door pinged open, the bossman himself, Cal stepped out of it. He didn't even cast a glance at them.

"Where you going?"

"Coffee." Loker responded quickly. Cal turned to face them this time.

"Get me one and all. Actually better make it two. Bring them to Foster's office." Loker nodded as the elevator doors closed. Cal walked on through the corridors, a bounce in his step. He rounded the corner into Gillian's office where he could hear the sound of 'White Christmas' soothing from the stereo speakers. Gillian was wearing blue today. He loved blue on her. He loved every colour on her. He'd love them even more off her.

"Hello darling. You getting in the Christmas spirit?" he jerked his head toward the stereo and she looked up from her laptop, smiling at him and nodding.

"Christmas Eve, Eve. I figure it's about time," she said smartly and he smirked as he rounded the desk to lean next to her.

"Give over. I've been watching you. You've been giddy since the end of November," She blushed slightly and he grinned. She looked up at him.

"What? I like Christmas!" He chuckled, his hand reaching for her shoulder, kneading the muscle gently. She closed her eyes to his touch.

"Cal…" she said warningly. He withdrew his hand.

"Sorry." He moved back around the desk to sit down in her visitor's chair. He swung his feet up onto the corner of her desk, noting, with glee, her annoyance. He sat quietly for a minute. She typed cautiously knowing full well that he was up to something and waiting for something to pounce from behind her. A big audit or an unused sum of money or something that would tip the nicely balanced scale she had worked so hard on for the last 6 months. Finally she couldn't stand the silence.

"It's hard to believe but, we're in a comfortable position for next year…" she said brightly, typing a figure into the spreadsheet. He quirked an eyebrow at her. She caught him.

"What's with the eyebrow?"

"Nothing."

"Cal…"

"So what's the plan for Saturday then?" he asked quickly, his head resting on his hand. She shook her head.

"You don't even try hiding deflections anymore…" He smirked and at that exact moment, Torres knocked on the door carrying two coffees. She and Loker had flipped for the honour to go even though Loker was perfectly happy to let her go. He wasn't as interested in what had Cal so happy. Torres on the other hand, was. Immensely so.

She walked in, and handed out the two coffees, glancing quickly at them both for any sign of a tell. But there was nothing. Damn these two were good. Cal reached into his pocket and handed Ria a ten dollar note.

"That cover it?" She nodded, taking the note and heading for the door. The latch hadn't clicked when she heard Cal say.

"Why don't you just come over Christmas Eve?"

OXOXOXO

Gillian shrugged.

"I guess that would work. I'll have to put the turkey on early if we want it to be cooked." Cal was nodding his head. He was liking this plan.

"Exactly. And seeing as you're being chief organ grinder on the turkey, I will cook up a storm on Christmas Eve. Storm being the operative word." Gillian laughed at this.

"I'm sure it will be a work of culinary wonder," she teased.

"Beans on toast. Never did me any harm." He grinned, standing up, picking up his coffee.

"So that's sorted then. Enjoy your coffee," he smiled down at her and she returned it warmly.

"See you Christmas Eve," she replied.

OXOXOXO

The next day came about in a whirl for Cal. He had to finish off the last of his Christmas presents in the morning, including something for Gillian and a small stocking filler for Emily, even though the Christmas stockings had long since vanished. She'd mentioned wanting a particular DVD a few weeks back, a sure hint at her old man but he'd pretended not to notice. He just hoped her mum hadn't beaten him to it now.

Cal pulled on a deep green sweater over his usual black shirt, suddenly realising how much dark clothes he had in his wardrobe. He'd never need any new clothes if he decided to do some undercover work anyway. He brushed his teeth and made his way down to the kitchen to start cooking. He'd done a quick run around the supermarket earlier today trying to think of what Gillian would like and what would be relatively easy to cook. In the end he'd settled on scallops, in a linguine and tomato sauce. Salad on the side. He was pretty sure it was something he'd seen on a 'recipes' section of a magazine in the break room. All of the items he needed were next to each other in the supermarket aisle so that had helped him to decide on it. He checked his watch – Gillian would be there any minute now. She was rarely late. He darted downstairs and started cutting vegetables up to throw into the pan with the scallops. He looked at the pack to see if there were any specific cooking instructions and found himself immediately confused.

As if on cue, the doorbell rang. He dropped the packet and moved towards the front door. On the other side, Gillian carried an overnight bag and another one with Christmas presents. Her look was completed by a bottle of wine in her free hand. Cal grinned when he saw her.

"Hello darling." He reached and took her bags from her, bringing them into the sitting room and laying them down. Then he turned to catch her lips in a sweet kiss. They'd been relatively well behaved since the Christmas party a couple of days ago. Cal had stolen a kiss the following day before leaving for the evening but otherwise they had been no different to usual. She smiled as his lips came down on hers.

"Am I to assume that the lack of a cooking smell means we're phoning a take-out?" she asked as they broke, her hand on his chest. He shook his head.

"No, you'd be wrong there love. I was just about to start cooking." He grinned and wandered back into the kitchen, knowing that she would definitely follow him. She looked around from the doorway.

"Scallops Cal. Very adventurous."

"I can cook, you know. I just…don't very often." He picked up the scallops packet again and continued to look for directions. Gillian laughed at him, taking the packet.

"What are you trying to make?" When he told her she chuckeld.

"You need to do the pasta part first – it takes longer to cook."

"Oh." Laughing again she rolled up her sleeves but he caught her arms.

"No, no. I'm cooking. Now that I know what I'm doing. You, open the wine, go to the living room, put on the TV or some music and leave me to it." He reached behind her and took two glasses from the cupboard. He handed one to her and put his on the table.

"Fill mine up before you go, eh?"

OXOXOXO

The smell of scallops cut through the house and Cal was quite pleased with himself. The pasta was heating in the oven, the scallops were nearly cooked and he hadn't drank nearly as much of his glass of wine as he'd expected which meant that there was a good chance Gillian would be slightly more tipsy than him. He took the pasta from the oven and dished it out into bowls from the cupboard. Then he divided the scallops between the two plates. Checking that he had turned off the cooker, he caught the bowl of salad under his arm and moved through to the dining room putting the plates down at the head of the table and the space directly left of it.

"Dinner is served," he called in a posh tone and Gillian stood up, smiling, bringing her wine glass and the bottle with her. She sniffed the air as she sat down next to him.

"Smells really good."

"Let's hope the taste behaves itself too," he quipped, picking up a fork and taking a dive into the bowl. Moment of truth. Gillian took a bite before him and her face lit up.

"Cal, this is really good!" He smirked.

"Alright, don't sound so surprised!" He took a bite himself and nodded. He had to admit, he'd gotten it pretty right.

OXOXOXO

Cal refused to let Gillian clean anything so he took all the dishes and dumped them in the sink. He'd do them later. They relocated to the couch with the bottle of wine and Gillian leaned against him, his arm rising to let her sink into him. He knew she was a little bit tipsy but he liked to think she would be comfortable enough with him now in this position. They flicked aimlessly through the TV, repeat after repeat until finally Cal landed on a music channel and he left it there. He turned and looked at Gillian's bags.

"What is all this stuff? You staying for a week? You're more than welcome to, by the way…" he added as she turned her head to look up at him. He was dying to kiss her again.

"Overnight bag. And Christmas presents Cal!" Cal smirked.

"Hang on, presents – plural? We never agreed to multiple presents." He kept a remarkably straight face and watched the flash of disappointment across her face. He chuckled.

"I'm kidding love. I have an attic bursting with presents for you." She swatted his chest and caught her hand, kissing it softly. It seemed to pull her back to seriousness.

"So what is this Cal? With us?" She sat up, crossing her legs into an Indian position and facing him. He turned on the couch, facing her. His hand fell to her knee as the other rested across the back of the sofa, playing absently with the hair that fell at the side of her face.

"What do you want it to be?"

"I asked you first." He smirked. She never gave in. He looked away for a minute, a sweet smile on his face as he tried to figure his words out. Eventually he turned back to her, his hand airborne between them accentuating his conversation.

"I want this to be it." Gillian felt her stomach lurch. What did he mean by that?

"I beg your pardon?" Cal watched the confusion play out across her face and realised the double meaning in his words. His hand fell back to her knee.

"I meant…I'm tired Gill. I'm tired of looking back at my past relationships. I'm tired of coming onto bimbos and sluts. I'm tired of ignoring what's right in front of my bloody face. And I can't understand why it took me so long to see it. I mean, I saw it and I liked it but… I never, I never had the balls. Until the Christmas party. I want you and me to be it, Gill. I want you." The silence in the room was deafening. Cal shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He was getting near to 'crack a joke' time. She was either shocked or disgusted. For the first time in his career he couldn't tell the difference. So he babbled.

"And I know, technically, in terms of naughty and nice, I haven't been a very good…" He didn't get a chance to finish. Gillian had pulled him into her, crashing her mouth to his in a blistering kiss. He groaned at the sheer need behind it. He leaned forward, his hands falling to her hips as she leaned back into the couch, his body fitting into hers as she went. Cal could feel his jeans beginning to strain. He pulled back from her breathless, his hand tucking her hair behind her ear.

"So you didn't answer….what do you want it to be?" he asked, dipping his lips to her neck, sucking at the skin there. She smiled up at him.

"Everything you just said." She grinned and kissed him again.

OXOXOXO

Ok, so I'm thinking one more chapter here. Maybe two actually but hoping to have it done before Christmas day. Read and review. IT's Christmas after all!