Here's the next chapter.. Sorry it's taken so long; writer's block, life! I have the following chapter pretty much finished so you won't have to wait too long after this one.

This is from Emily's point of view! Hope you enjoy!


He's sat staring at a spot on the living room wall, and god knows how long he's been there. Seriously, he's just sat there not moving. Staring. I've never seen him like it before, and chances are i won't ever see him like this again.

I won't see him like this again, because what she wrote will never be new to him again.

It arrived this morning, the book. I didn't know she had written the foreword, not until a few weeks ago when the letter from the publisher arrived saying that they'd received it from her and would be moving towards the printing stage as soon as possible.

I can't say i'm surprised, not really. They way things have been going between them this last year. he had to do something drastic to try and repair all the damage he must have done to her heart. She's strong. She's brave. She's, well, she's amazing. But she feels everything. That's one of the most magical things about her, i've always thought. The way she can just feel a situation. Feel someones every thought. So there is no way, despite her strength, that the way he has frozen her out this year has not caused her pain. She's denying it, but i'm sure a million tears have fallen onto her pillow at night this past year. And all at the hands of my stupid, brainless, helplessly in love dad.

I can't say that asking the woman i'm madly in love with, but also quite happy to spend the year shitting all over, to oh so pubically say how she feels about me would have been the way i would have gone. But it's Dad. And it's Gill and nothing about their relationship has ever been they way i would have done things.

If i was dad, i would have swept Gill off her feet the second the ink was dry on her divorce papers. I wouldn't have been worried about any of this re-bound nonsence or giving her time and space to move on and get over Alec. Don't get me wrong i'm sure there was a part of her that was sad that it hadnt worked (she is a romantic after all), but she was over that scum-bag the second she met my dad. They'll both tell you that they don't believe in love at first sight; they're scientists after all. They'll tell you, how they were both married and their relationship is built on friendship and respect and nothing more. They'll tell you there was no "love at first sight" when they met.

I'm telling you there was. I'm telling you, the day dad met Gill was the day he fell in love with her. Hopelessly in love with her. From the moment he met her, that was it. And from the moment she met him, that was it for her too. Alec never really stood a chance from then.

They're meant for each other. And i've always seen that. Which is why, it drives me so mad. Theyve wasted so much time over the years. Time that they could have spent together. When dad told me he was in love with Gill, i thought that was it. And for a while, it really seemed like it was all going to come together. They were spending so much time with one another. And they seemed happy. Genuinely happy. The house was filled with laughter and love. It felt like a real family home. The kind you hear about in the movies. Something that depsite all their best intentions, Mom and Dad had never really been able to provide. And it was something that i dont think dad or Gill had ever really experience either.

Maybe that's where it all went wrong. It doesn't take much to spook Dad, or Gill either really. I think seeing how happy they were together made Dad realise just how much they both had too lose. Seeing how happy he could make Gill, made him realise just how sad he could make her aswell. And when he realised that, he did what he does best. He ran.

So, like i said. It was always going to take something drastic to bring them back together. He was always going to have to do everything he could to make her see that he was sorry, and that he should never have treated her the way he did. And i guess when you're my Dad, the only way he could prove to Gill how full of regret he is, was to hand the reign over to her. By giving in, and giving her the control that he's always kept guarded, he was saying i'm sorry. And i'm ready. For whatever is it that you want.

She's never really been able to say no to him, so even if the it was the last thing she wanted to do, she would have agreed to write the foreword for him.

So i wasnt suprised when i found out that she had written it. But i was scared. Because truthfully, i had no idea what she would say. After what theyve been through, afterthe distance and coldness that has kept them apart, i didn't know whether she would be willing to give him another chance. Whether she would be willing to fight for him. Fight for them.

Don't get me wrong, i know she will always love him. And she'd never leave, not properly. If he ever needed her, she'd come running. No matter how bad things are. But there's a big difference between her staying, and her being willing to try.

There's loving someone. And then there's wanting to love someone. She's in love with him and she always will be. But after everything, i just wasnt sure whether she still wanted to love him. And if she didn't, then that was game over really.

So when the book arrived this morning, i grabbed my bag and i ran. I didn't need to be there to watch him read that. And he didn't need me there. Reading what she had to say, he needed to do that in private. It may be about to be out there for the world to read, but i know that what she has written, she has written for him. And he needed to read it alone.

So i left, knowing that when i came back, everything would have changed. I just wasnt sure how.

The dread that filled me when i walked through the door and found him sat here is something i cannot explain. I felt like the air had been knocked out of me. The way he was so silent and dazzed, not even bothering to look up and me, screamed to me that he had got one very clear message from Gill; that she was done.

I didn't even bother trying to talk to him. Whatever she had said, he clearly wasnt in the mood to explain. So i took the book from it's place in the centre of the coffee table, and i made a bee-line straight for my room.

It took me a couple of minutes to pluck up the couraged to start reading. I know it probably seems crazy. Why would i be nervous about reading what she had to say. It was about her and Dad, not me. But Gill is family. She's been there as long as i can remember, and i was scared. What if her being done with Dad somehow meant she ended up being done with me. I know she would never intentionally walk away from me, but i had visions of her slipping away. About the wedge between her and dad finally driving itself between the two of us. And that terrified me. So it took me a minute. But i did it. I opened the pages and started reading.

And boy, could i have been any more wrong. From Dads state downstairs, here i was preparing for the worst. And she's only gone and written the best. Literally the best.

It's like a bloody open love letter. It's understated and classy. It's Gillian, in print form. But that doesn't change the fact that it's a bloody love letter.

She's shouting out to the world, that she, Gillian Foster, is in love with Cal Lightman. And you don't need to be a human lie detector or master psychologist to understand that. She's spelled out, in black and white, for the world, that she loves him. That she's never going anywhere, because with him, is where she's always needed to be. Hell she even used the word home to describe him.

And that means everything.

That means she's ready. For him. For them. Which mean dad should be downstairs jumping for joy. Not looking like someone just got shot. Hell, scrap that. He shouldn't even be here. He should be with her. The second he read those pages he should have been out of here, driving like a bat out of hell, to get to her.

But he's sat downstairs. Looking, well, looking far from happy. I'm down the stairs, in record time, with the book still in my hand. I must have made quite a noise, because as i come flying into the room, he's broken from whatever trance he was in.

He looks up at me and every question i had for him, everybword that was burning my mouth is gone. Because as his eyes find mine, and mine find his, i understand.

I understand why he's still sat here. It's not because he's unhappy with what she's said. It's not because he doesn't want to go to her, but because he physically can't. I'm no mirco expression expert, but i can tell, with absolute certainly that what i'm seeing on his face is surprise. Complete and utter surprise.

It's not fear, or anger, or upset that has had him routed, it's surprise. It's Gillian. It's the fact that Gillian wants him. After all this time, the crazy, talented, in your face, nothing can surprise me, Cal Lightman has been grounded. By words. By her words. By her words that let him know, despite everything, despite all the crossed words, and dissapointments, all the damage and hurt, he's good enough. He thinks alot of himself, alot of the time, does dad. But he's never thought he was good enough for her. Not even at his best.

But he is. He always has been, according to her. And now he has it, in black and white. And it's got him completely and utterly surprise.

I'm about to yell at him. Tell him he doesn't need to be surprised. That she's always thought the world of him. She's always thought he was good enough, and if he hasn't been so wrapped up in what he thought of himself, he would have seen that she's always believed in him. Always believed in them. That's why she's stayed. I'm about to yell at him, tell him to get himself together and go to her. But it's dad and so he reads it on my face before i've even finished having the thoughts.

He nods at me, and then smiles in a way that i've never seen before. In a way that makes me sure that he finally understands exactly what Gill has been showing him for years. And about bloody time really.

And with that, he's out of the door without a word. I suppose it's only fitting that the first words he speaks are to her. After all, whatever thoughts are swirling round his head, whatever words are forming in his mouth, they're about her. For her.

They always have been. It's just until now, he's never been brave enough to speak.


Thanks for reading guys! Please review, I love hearing your thoughts!