A/N: Sorry for the delay in updating. In case you've forgotten what this story is about – it's all about lying and telling the truth and which one at what time. The first part of the chapter sums it up a bit. To make amends for the delay, there will be not only one but two unexpected twists in this chapter. Remember that Burns never happened in my time lime because Cal and Gillian got together rather soon after her divorce. The chapter starts with a little fluff and gets more serious as it continues because I couldn't help it. Think you know me by now.

Thank you for your support that keeps me writing.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

They've come a long way – from deliberately lying to each other because that was what they wanted, needed even, as long as they were in denial, over craving for the truth but not being able to admit it, at least not fully or in plain words, to this. No more secrets.

After Cal poured out his heart to Gillian during that somewhat surreal, dramatic night in his kitchen, it has become their unspoken agreement. It doesn't mean that they tell each other everything or address everything they read in their faces, hear in their voices. It would be unbearable, too much to handle. Everybody needs to keep some things to him- or herself. It is an essential part of every relationship to know which secrets are to keep and which to share. Insofar, Gillian and Cal are no exception.

There are many things from their past the other doesn't know as yet, including the mysterious phone calls Cal refused to tell Gillian about. The past is past, though. This is their future. And never the twain shall meet. At least that is the conjecture.

"You really shouldn't do that, Cal," Gillian still is laughing as they carry groceries inside.

She knows Cal is on to the woman who works in the grocer's shop. Every time they meet her there, he pretends to be able to read her thoughts and thereby manages to completely annoy and confuse her. The poor woman. Her face is like an open book; an amateur could read her easily, let alone Cal.

"Not my fault," he defends himself jokingly. "She practically asked for it. You saw that, too, right?"

"No, I didn't see it, Cal. But, to quote Loker, I'm only second best in reading micro expressions."

"Loker...," Cal says with feigned contempt. "Has no clue, that one. You're the best in..." He turns around to check her out exaggeratedly, meaning that he is only a tad more obtrusive as usual. His hand wiggles up and down before he finishes the sentence, "...most likely everything, I'd say."

"Most likely?" she teases. "More like certainly."

"Oi. Bit too overconfident here, luv." Cal pauses to check her out again, this time for real. "Like that, actually." He clicks his tongue as if Gillian was a delicious dessert he just tasted. They both laugh and she kisses him fleetingly when she has to lean forward to put something in the kitchen cupboard.

"Speaking of Loker, I forgot to tell you that he will take two days off next week," Gillian states casually.

"He will?" Cal asks just to tease her.

"Yes, he will," Gillian answers, knowing what is about to come next.

"But he didn't ask me."

"Perhaps because he had already asked me." She doesn't know why she even bothers to answer, shaking her head in disbelief but not really frustrated. He is like this sometimes, well, most of the time. That's how Cal likes to play. Potato – potahto.

"Since when do our employees get days off anyway?" Cal tries another approach and Gillian has to smile. She likes it – the teasing, the light-heartedness. She was afraid their banter and innuendo would lose its spark, once they had gotten together, but it's all still there. Maybe even better than before.

"Since there is something like minimum vacation." She uses her lectures for beginners voice, knowing that it will please him how she hits back at him. Her voice always turns Cal on. She wasn't aware of it until she noticed how much he liked it when she talked while they were... well. Needless to say that his voice does the same to her.

"Bollocks," Cal mumbles, getting closer to Gillian, trying to clasp her in his arms whereas she is trying to unpack the rest of their purchases. Yes, he really likes their little debates. Verbal foreplay.

"Stop that, Cal. Emily will be here tomorrow and we agreed to cook for her. That's why we bought all this. So, would you please help me put it away." Gillian manages to fake annoyance to some degree, but as soon as Cal holds her tight and kisses her neck, she gives in. At least for a moment.

"Hmmm...," she sighs. "You know you're a very talented cuddler."

"Very," he confirms, his mouth tickling her skin when he speaks. "Could show you some new tricks I learned. So, what did Loker do to get two days off? Did he try to hook up with you behind my back?" The change of subject is rather abrupt. Cal does it for no other reason than because he can and thinks it is fun.

"Very funny, Cal." Gillian plays along even if her voice lets on that she doesn't think it is that funny.

"Uh-oh." Cal catches the subtle reproach in her voice immediately. He has learned from her as much when it comes to reading voices as she has from him when it comes to reading micro expressions. All the same, he continues to tease her, "Someone doesn't like to be romantically linked with her colleagues. Good thing, then, that I'm your partner and not your employee. Makes it... acceptable, aye?"

Cal senses that he is cornering her although he doesn't understand why. When Gillian simply says yeah in response, pushes him back softly, and turns around to continue putting the food away in silence, he knows something is definitely going on. A short answer to give away as little emotion as possible plus avoiding eye contact so that he can't look for micro expressions. Emily does that, hoping she might outwit him, but Gillian? She knows it won't work. The fact that she did it, anyway, means that something bothers her so seriously that she couldn't help herself. His mock assumption that Loker tried to hook up with her can't be true, or can it? Cal is aware that Loker is physically attracted to Gillian. Then again, Loker is also physically attracted to Torres and every other woman he meets. It never would have crossed his mind that his playful remark might hold even a germ of truth. Not in a million years. Loker? Really? It has to be a misunderstanding and will resolve itself soon. Does he want to ask her about it? Damn straight! Will he do it or wait for her to tell him (provided she will tell him)? He has to think about it. No more secrets.

Despite that intermezzo, they soon find their way back to each other, picking up where they left off. More banter and innuendo lead them upstairs eventually. Only when it's already dark outside, they get up again to have dinner. A perfect Saturday.

In between, Cal thought about asking or not-asking Gillian about whatever this is she obviously thinks she needs to hide from him. He had already decided against confronting her when he remembered something. It couldn't be possible, now could it? But the thought wouldn't let go of him and kept nagging at Cal. The phone calls he refused to tell Gillian about concerned a delicate matter. A very delicate matter, actually. He handled it, made it go away for good. But now Cal wonders if there is a connection. Wouldn't it be an ironic stroke of fate if his secret and hers were the same?

The idea started to form in his head when they were still in bed, Gillian in his arms, and has developed into something he can't suppress any longer as soon as they have finished dinner. Gillian noticed his increasing tension. Given their earlier talk, she probably expects questions but for sure not that train of thoughts.

"What's the matter, Cal?" she asks with a curious, slightly uneasy glance in his direction. The fact that she addresses it so openly leads him to believe that she wants to talk. At least her words imply it. Her body language... not so much. Gillian is shifting around on her chair, fidgeting with her fingers.

He decides to go straight for the truth. Cal is not afraid to hurt Gillian. Over the months, they have developed a quite good strategy to deal with these kind of things. They talk, argue, delve into whatever issue bothers one of them. They never play dirty, though, never cross a line when they are not both willing to go there. It's complicated and sometimes exhausting, but it works.

"My comment this afternoon troubled you. The one about hooking up with one of your colleagues. I mean, someone else than me." It's a statement, not a question, leaving the decision whether to talk about it or not up to her.

They are sitting at the well-laid dinner table. Gillian always lays the table nicely even if they are more than casually dressed as they are now in pajama trousers and a shirt respectively tank top. Gillian puts her cutlery down, casting down her eyes along with it. Cal lets her pause for a moment to decide. But then the silence stretches and gets to him. She won't tell him that she had an affair with Loker, will she? When he pointed out that his comment had troubled her, he still hoped for a simple explanation that would resolve the supposed misunderstanding and not silence. Even if it is hypocritical, Cal isn't ready to accept an explanation that includes words like Gillian and affair in the same sentence unless his name is the only other name that is mentioned.

When Gillian straightens herself, looks at him and swallows, Cal's uneasy feeling gets stronger. Shame and determination – that is what he sees in her face. He has no idea whose name she will tell him. If she will give him a name at all. But there was someone else. Someone who was allowed to touch and have her before he was. Someone who worked or still works for The Lightman Group. That's why she reacted the way she did. There is no way she has an affair now that they are together. Therefore, it has to be something that happened in the past. And since she definitely isn't the cheating kind, it must have happened sometime between her divorce and them getting together. It doesn't even necessarily have to be someone he knows. There are so many people working for them, and as opposed to him, Gillian tries to socialize with their staff, tries to get to know people. Well, obviously one of them much better than the others. Whoever it is, Cal will fire him first thing Monday morning if he actually has the nerves to still work for them.

The look in Gillian's eyes sets Cal's teeth on edge. She probably picked up on his thoughts of revenge and firing people, but by now he doesn't care anymore. Of course, Gillian had other men. She was married, and from what she told him, he knows that she had her fair share of boyfriends and one-night-stands before her marriage. He always assumed, though, that there had been no one after her divorce and before him. It is pathetic and proprietary, but it is a fact that matters to him (or rather a theory that is about to be disproven as it turns out).

Cal's thoughts become entangled more and more in a deliberate confusion until they jump back to his, granted ludicrous, assumption that their secrets could be somehow connected. Therefore, he misses the moment when Gillian is about to open her mouth to start talking and blurts another question out instead.

"Did you ever let someone take nude photos of you?"

Gillian's facial expression goes blank, completely blank. She can't believe he said what he just said and there is no possible reaction her brain can come up with to match his words. Then, suddenly, she becomes livid as if she was jump-started. There is anger reflected in her eyes. Lots of anger.

"What?" she hisses.

"You know. Pictures of you without clothes, any clothes. In bed, for example."

It's wrong to phrase it that light-hearted and casually. Cal knows that, but he doesn't know how else to ask her, wouldn't have gotten the words out otherwise. And with this, she is completely thrown off balance, has to steady herself with one hand against the table as if she might falter.

"What happened, Cal? One minute we are happy and joking around and the next you are accusing me of having an affair and having such kind of photos taken. Have you gone nuts? Or are you deliberately trying to humiliate me? Because if you are, let me tell you, it's working. I am humiliated, even more so since I slept with you not an hour ago. And here you are blaming me for all sorts of things. Indulge me, Cal. What the hell is going on?"

She all but screamed at him. That is a first. Anger. Swearing. As far as his question about the pictures is concerned, he saw and heard it loud and clear – she has not the slightest idea what he is talking about. When it comes to the other subject, he is in the dark though. There most likely were micro expressions she flashed but considering she is his blind spot after all, he must have missed them. The only shaky proof he has that there actually was someone else is his gut feeling and her earlier reaction.

Gillian buries her face in her hands, then rubs her eyes. He can't tell if it's due to disbelief or if she's tired. Her voice definitely sounds tired when she repeats her last words, only without the swearing, "What is going on?"

She lets her hands drop down on the table and when he reaches out to stroke her arm, she doesn't pull it away. Confusion. Love. Trust. That's what Cal sees when Gillian watches him with such a broken look on her face that it tugs at his heartstrings. There is still anger, still lots of it, and – God forgive him – still humiliation, but beneath all that is trust that the imponderable man she loves beyond all reason didn't address those things for nothing.

"I don't accuse you, luv," Cal replies calmly, trying to deescalate the situation. "Knowing me, we both know that I'm not in a position to accuse you of anything. Ever. Just thought I caught something when I joked about you and Loker hooking up because of his free days and then I thought what if there is a connection to the photos?" his voice trails off, his thoughts already starting again to twist and turn in his mind.

"What photos?" Gillian asks, her voice quiet now, matching his tone of voice.

"The photos you know nothing about," Cal confirms what he saw. "But about the other thing... Was there someone else, Gillian? I can't see it and it's driving me crazy. So, please tell me." He is not ashamed of begging her.

She looks down, then up at him again, before she straightens herself and leans back so that his hand loses contact with her warm skin. Distance. She creates physical distance between them and this time he can read her. Was there someone else, Gillian? The answer to his question is an ugly yes that strikes him right in the face.

"It's been a long time. And it was a one-time occasion," her voice is a whisper. "At that time, I had given up hope that we would be together one day."

Interesting choice of words. (Aside from the part about having given up on them that breaks his heart, bringing home how close he apparently came to losing her to someone else.) Not a one-night stand but a one-time occasion. Plus, she didn't say it was a mistake. There is a twinge of conscience in her voice and face, but there is also something defensive as if she wants to make sure that the other man won't get blamed. It hurts Cal even more to see that because it means that it wasn't only about physical attraction. In one way or another, there were feelings involved, if only feelings of affection or respect. However, before Cal is able to assimilate the information, Gillian remembers his question about the photos.

"Why did you ask me about those photos? Why do you think there could be such photos in the first place?"

Cal did what he did to protect her, but given the circumstances Gillian has a right to hear the truth.

"Because I saw them," Cal answers.

Keep it simple. It's complicated enough.

I hope I didn't write myself into a corner with this chapter.

Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I have to think about how to disentangle those twists and still keep it remotely plausible.

Any presumptions? ;)