Sorry this took so long for me to update! I'm busy as heck, so updates will be slow, but I promise I'll finish this story.

Chapter 2

Gillian forced herself to look and sound as neutral as possible. "I don't have a daughter."

"But you did." Peterson insisted. "Sophie."

Cal looked at Gillian. Or, at least, where Gillian had been standing. She had disappeared as soon as the name was spoken.

"Can we have a minute?" Cal asked, uncharacteristically polite.

Marc nodded. "Of course."

Gillian walked to her office as quickly as she could without arousing concern. She closed herself in her office, a torrent of emotions and half-formed thoughts thundering in her mind. She fiddled with the ring on her fourth finger, the one Cal had given to her after getting on his knee and promising forever…

She heard the door open and close behind her, his light footsteps echoing in the silent room. She kept her eyes trained on the floor. Cal approached her slowly, keeping his space until her had a good enough read to calculate the best response. He gently grabbed her hand and brushed his thumb over her knuckles and her wedding band. "What d'ya say, love? Ready to get your baby girl back?"

"She's not my baby, Cal."

"You're mum."

"I was her mom. For 57 days."

"You never stopped being her mum. Not in your heart, anyway." That much was true. Gillian Foster was, for the most part, unstoppable. She had been able to overcome every challenge, every heartbreak, everything. Except for Sophie. Cal continued in a hushed tone, "I can see it in your eyes. Every time you see a mother and daughter; every time someone asks you if you have kids; everytime you see a little girl with her blue eyes. There's so much pain and despair."

Gillian blinked desperately, refusing to let any tears escape. She had wanted to be a mother more than anything else in the world. Of course, Emily was wonderful. They shared a strong bond, but alas, Zoe was her mother, and nothing would change that.

"And everytime I see that look, I want to do something about it," Cal said passionately, his voice steadily growing louder. "I want to make you stop hurting, and now is our chance! We're taking this case, Foster."

She cracked a dry smile. "What happened to the gofundme account?"

"Love, if there's the slightest chance he can get Sophie back, then dammit I'll do it." He let go of her wrist and placed them on her hips, slowly turning her to face him. He leaned closer, his eyes flickering around her face as he tried to read her.

"What, Cal?"

"There's something else… Something besides the grief and anguish… You know what it is?"

She shook her head.

"It's just the faintest touch of anger because you know that what happened to you was wrong."

Gillian pursed her lips. She hadn't even been conscious of it, but now that he had mentioned it, yes, she was angry. Pissed, even. "Oh hell." Her voice was so dark it was almost a growl. It was a terrifying, maternal rage. "I'll say it. There's a part of me that hates that woman for what she took away from me. But… Cal, if this doesn't work, I- I don't think I can-" Gillian's exterior began to crumble. There was so much hope in her heart that Marc really did know where Sophie was, and that someway, somehow, there was a way to get her back, that if it turned out to all be an elaborate plot, or, worse, that Marc really did know where Sophie was, but that she were just out of reach, then Gillian would never be able to recover. She no longer had the resolve to hold back her tears, and she pitched forward into Cal's arms as sobs shook her body.

"Alright, Love, it's okay. I've got you," he murmured. She wrapped her arms around his neck, soaking up all of the comfort he had to offer. "So we're taking this case, yeah? I won't do it if you don't want to, okay?"

She sniffled and pulled back a bit. "It's too important not to take, you know?"

"Yeah. So we're doin' this?"

"Yeah. Let's take this case."

Let me know what you think! I haven't quite ironed out the plot yet, so I'm very open to any suggestions/criticism/feedback