Author's note:

Hi everyone!

thank you so much for the reviews! I never knew how inspiring that could be)))

And now i do and honestly every review alert made me squeal=)) so a total of 8 squeals from me within 2 or 3 days - and believe me, that means a lot of happiness!

I would also like to point out that none of the characters belongs to me (I guess i have to do that since everyone does)

I changed the formatting for the story to be more convenient for you to read. Now the dialogues are in "quotation marks" and Cal's persistent thinking is in "italic". I hope it will be better.

So, on to the story, hope you enjoy this chapter.

***

The Chapter in which we find something out about Gillian.

Cal walked out of the cube angrily. He didn't care that everyone in the room could see it, he would just say he faked it later. But in that exact moment he was completely and utterly outraged. There were few things that Cal really hated and not being in control was on the top of that list. He sprawled himself on the chair and stared at the monitors. "How can that woman read romance novels and get high on lollipops and slushies and at the same time be so stubborn, impertinent, reckless..."

"Now that was sweet. How nice that Gillian is here to handle it for you." - Zoe's sarcastic remark interrupted his angry thoughts. Cal looked up at here from where he was sitting and felt another wave of anger rising inside of him.

"Yeah, it is nice actually. That's why I love having her on my team. Because she is always there to handle stuff."

"And I wasn't there, is that what you're saying?" He obviously struck a sour note.

"Exactly. It's not like it isn't true, is it?" He gave her a wry smile and stared her down. Zoe recognized it was one of those moments when he didn't control what he was saying trying to hurt her as bad as he could. Zoe averted his eyes and changed her tone:

"What exactly are you so angry about, Cal?" she said looking him in the eye.

Cal peferred not to answer and stared at the cube.

***

Gillian waited for Cal and Zoe to leave the room and approached Rodrigo. She stood at the side of the interrogation table and looked down at him, watching him carefully. He was looking up at her intently his eyes taking in every inch of her slim body clad in tight red dress. She didn't hesitate to check him out in an almost obscene manner herself, stopping when her eyes met his. She gave him a beguiling smile and turning away from him slowly circled the table, swaying her hips slightly, letting him enjoy the view, and sat oppsite him, her elbow on the back of the chair, her legs crossed provocatively and her blue eyes peering into his brown orbs. She studied his handsome face for a long moment: his pupils were dilated, his posture relaxed and a knowing and seductive half-smile played on his lips.

"What the hell is she doing?" thought Cal, both angry at her and fascinated by her gracefulness.

"He's very protective of you, isn't he?" Rodrigo broke the silence.

"Aren't you protective of your partner?" Gillian tilted her head slightly still looking him in the eyes, opened her folder and took out a pen.

"Well of course I am, but there is a line between us if you know what I mean." he replied distracted by the way she pressed the pen to her lips.

"Does she always have to put everything in her mouth?"

"Tell me about it" she was not looking at him, suddenly completly disinterested in him, focused on the documents in the folder.

"We don't mess with each other business or love life. We share stuff but to the limit we're comfortable with. That's it mostly. Don't you have that kind of line with Dr Lightman?" Rodrigo tried to win her attention back.

"Yes we do! And it's driving me nuts because I have no idea what her problem is. Not that it's any of you business."

Gillian's head shot up. She had a mischievous look on her face, and ignoring his question she asked in a low voice: "Have you ever crossed the line?"

"No. Never." Rodrigo's answer came too quickly and he gave a slight nod "yes" before shaking his head "no". He also showed a microexpression of anger, which didn't go unnoticed by Cal, but apparently Gillian missed it.

"When?" Gillian asked him calmly.

"I said I haven't." his eyes narrowed dangerously. He looked like a real predator now, all bristled up.

"You have a really short temper you know" Gillian said matter-of-factly.

"And you smell like cherries. Why is that?" Rodrigo leaned back in his chair regaining control.

"Cherry lollipop." Gillian smiled seductively, "So tell me, Rodrigo, you and Carla practice solo? No instructor?"

"No." Gillian felt that his denial was a little too forced. "You do know you're not supposed to say words like lollipop to a man unless you want to give him the wrong imression, don't you?" Rodrigo's grin grew wider and he resembled a cheshire cat now.

Gillian couldn't help but giggle. "You're deflecting. Good point though. Of course I'm not supposed to say "lollipop" because that would lead to you thinking about me licking it and sucking on it and according to Freud that could result in some kind of a sexual fantasy..." seeing surprise and amusement written all over his face she asked sweetly if something was wrong.

"What's wrong? Keep talking like that and I'll show you what's wrong." Cal was positevly shocked. He never knew she could talk dirty with such skill.

"Everything's fine. It's just there's a certain image in my head now and I really need to get rid of it and you're not helping much."

"I'd be happy to help you. Probably helping you will involve chopping you head off. Or some other part of your body that clearly does all the thinking for you."

"So no instructor? Never?" Gillian's tone was strictly proffesional now.

Rodrigo hesitated. "Well, there was an instructor. Ted Burns." Cal read contempt in his features but Gillian did not seem to notice that either. She asked him why they stopped working together, he gave her a lame reason that it didn't feel right and she settled for that.

"Is she blind? Why is she missing all the signs? He crossed the line and he clearly hates Ted Burns. What the hell, Gillian? Get on with it! You can't really fall for that load of crap he;s feeding you!"

""Thank you for your time, Rodrigo, I think we are done here" Gillian closed the folder and rose from her chair. Rodrigo stopped her, putting his hand on her arm

"Professionally, yes. Now could I ask you a personal question?"

Gillian seemed taken by surprise "Why not?" she answered looking up at him.

"Would you like to dance with me? I'll give you a dance lesson if you want."

Gillian fell silent and mused on how to answer that. "It will be free of charge - after all you've interrogated me for free" he added with a boyish and disarming grin.

"Now I simply cannot pass on that offer, can I? Gillian chuckled.

"Tomorrow at 3 pm? I'll e-mail you the adress. Wear high heels." And with that he left the cube, Gillian following him.

When Rodrigo was gone, Cal faced Gillian looking extremely furious.

"What the hell was that?" he asked silently, but Gillian felt like he was screaming at her.

"Cal..." she started but he refused to listen.

"You got nothing from him. Nothing! But for the private dance lesson. And that helps the case how? If you'd seen the anger and the contempt and pushed him about it you'd..."

"I'd still get nothing from him, Cal!" Gillian interrupted him, hating that he was scolding her in front of everyone, including Zoe. She knew he was too angry at her to care about others right now but it still hurt. "When I pushed him about breaking the line he withdrew immediately. And he was reluctant to talk about Ted Burns. You think I'm blind and didn't see his microexpressions?" the thought of him doubting her skills hurt even more, but Gillian tried to get herself together and went on. "I don't think that what he's hiding concerns the case, I feel this is some personal matter. However this case is pretty personal so this information might be crucial, but I'll have to make him trust me first."

"And how exactly are you going to get him to trust you? Cause back there you did everything but take your clothes off, is that the next base?" Cal knew he was crossing the line there but he couldn't help it. An emotion he would never admit to be jealousy was making his blood boil.

Gillian's mouth opened in shock and she stared at him wide-eyed."What exactly are you so angry about, Cal?" she asked him quietly and stormed out without waiting for an answer.

"It's funny that I've already been asked this bloody question twice today and I still don't have the answer", thought Cal when he felt Zoe looking at him fixedly.

"What?" he stared at her, annoyed.

"You know, what Cal, I simply can't believe you!" Zoe was clearly upset, her eyes were dark with emotion and she left abruptly as well before Cal could stop her.

"Get back to work!" he growled, noticing that everyone was staring at him.

That night as he lay awake in his bed he thought:

"Catlike... So true... You may be many things, Doctor Gillian Foster, but you are definitely not a good girl."

Next up: The chapter in which great minds think alike, Locker compromises another one of his principles and Gillian discovers some unexpected truths.