Just want to say that you are all absolutely fabulous. Thank you so much for welcoming me to this fandom with open arms even though I arrived dreadfully late like the Diva I am. I never dreamed that people would want to read something I had written let alone beg for more.

This is a shorter chapter because I wanted to get this out and it felt like a comfortable stopping point before I launch into smut round 2! As I said, I originally intended this to be a piece of fluff but I've gone too deep for that.

As usual, I don't own Lie to Me or any of its characters but I think it would be more fun for them if I did. Just sayin'.



Love, it will not betray you, dismay or enslave you, it will set you free~Mumford and Sons


Cal and Gillian lay on the floor of her apartment, fire blazing in the fireplace as the sound of howling wind continued outside. Cal lay stretched out on his back, head propped up with a pillow, one hand held lazily behind his neck. Gillian had spread out on her stomach between his thighs, head resting above his stomach as she stroked her hands over his chest and arm, slowly tracing the patterns of his tatoos. She listened to the steady beat of his heart beneath her ear as his hand toyed idly with her hair.

Her fit of giggles seemed to have passed and now they nestled together in comfortable silence, sated and lost in thought.

"Somehow I don't think we're going to make it to work tomorrow," she sighed.

"What made you think of that?" he asked.

"Just thinking I should have brought some work home with me that's all."

"You're thinking about work at a time like this?" he said incredulously.

"I love my work," she said simply, smiling as she rested her chin in her hand looking up at him.

He studied her with his head cocked to the side. "You really do don't you?"

"Of course Cal," she said seriously, "though the management is a little tough to take sometimes," she chided.

"Oh yeah? Real stick in the mud, workaholic, slave-driver type?"

"More like mad scientist meets the Marquis de Sade type," she laughed.

"Ahh…but devilishly handsome and witty?" he supplied.

"Mmmm…maybe not devilishly handsome."

"Ouch!"

"More like good looking in an unconventional way but with an indefinable but undeniable sexiness," she said quirking an eyebrow.

"Aha!" he exclaimed. "I knew you were calling me sexy."

She was quiet for a moment before she asked. "What about you Cal. Do you still love what you do?"

His hand stilled in her hair and his voice was soft when he answered. "Some days I do."

"And the others?" she asked raising herself so she could see him. He was looking at the ceiling but shifted his gaze to hers when he felt her move.

"The other days I do it because I have no choice. I can't stop reading people so I may as well put it to use, try to help people if I can. It's better than the alternative."

"What's the alternative?"

"Something I don't want you to ever have to experience, love."

Sensing that was all she would get on the subject she shifted her track slightly. "If you could somehow forget everything you know about reading people would you do it?"

"In a second," he said with no hesitation.

"But why Cal? What you can do is a gift."

"Because I can never turn it off, Gillian," he said desperate for her to understand. "Do you have any idea how hard I've tried? Look what it did to my marriage. Look how many times I've hurt you and Emily because I can't block out the lies. I do what I do because I have to Gillian, because someday the government or someone else will find the next Cal Lightman and I have to be here to make sure this science isn't used as a weapon. I put this out there in the world Gill; I have to make sure it doesn't wind up in the wrong hands."

She moved quickly up his body, curling around him as she pulled his head to the crook of her shoulder, stroking his back and neck. "You're not responsible for saving the world Cal, not even one person at a time."

"Neither are you, love…but here we are."

She sighed, unable and unwilling to argue.

They held each other in silence, neither ready to go further.

"We should probably put clothes on at some point." She said after awhile, steering them back to safe ground.

"I don't know about that," he said with a gleam in his eye, "I personally think you should walk around naked all the time. Putting clothes on you is like painting over the Mona Lisa's smile."

"Cal," she said, blushing genuinely at his frank compliment of her body.

"I, on the other hand, do need to cover up these chicken legs."

"I always liked you in shorts."

"Now that's a lie Foster, and after I just paid you a bloody compliment. I see how it is," he said in a teasing tone.

She stretched as she rose, looking around the room for her hastily discarded clothing. She tried to ignore Cal's openly lustful appraisal of her as she pulled on her long sleeve t-shirt and pajama bottoms. Her bra was nowhere in sight but she didn't really need it. She turned to find that Cal still hadn't moved and had in fact crossed his legs and put both arms behind his head. For some reason the sight of Cal lying naked on her living room floor made what they had just done suddenly seem real to her and she felt doubts about the wisdom of their recent passions begin to creep in.

"Don't do that Gillian," he said softly.

"Don't do what?" she evaded.

"You know what I mean. I saw your face. You're starting to wonder if this was a good idea. You're thinking maybe you'll regret this in the morning."

"Aren't you thinking that?"

"Nope."

"Oh come on Cal, not even a little?"

"Never."

"How can you be so certain?"

"Well the way I see it, it was inevitable really. I mean it was bound to happen sooner or later," he said sounding somewhat smug.

"Oh really. And why is that, do you think?" she asked, hands on her hips.

"Simple love, I'm completely irresistible and you're totally in love with me," he grinned widely.

"You're impossible!" she said, throwing up her hands as she quickly turned away before he had a chance to see the reaction his words had on her. She realized that he had come very near the truth and she wasn't ready to deal with that particular truth quite yet. She walked quickly down the hallway toward the bathroom and away from the feelings he had stirred in her.

Once Gillian was gone Cal quickly dressed and even managed to retrieve her bra from where it had landed, dangerously close to the fireplace. He'd seen what she had tried to hide when she walked away and it both delighted and troubled him. He was suddenly glad of the howling wind and the snow that still fell steadily outside the window. They were both going to need a bit more time to negotiate this new twist in their relationship before they had to face the outside world.

Next up...smut round 2.

Please review, it makes me type faster.