Disclaimer: I do not own Lie to Me or any of the characters, places, themes, etc. No copyright infringement intended.

Previously, a bomb went off in Gillian's room, but she was - generally - fine. The Dollen case was solved, but we still don't know who's trying to hurt Gillian...

Hysteria: Unattainable

"Are you okay?" Joyce Dale asked to start the session. "I heard about the bomb in your room."

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks."

Joyce nodded. She could see that Gillian didn't really want to talk about it. "So when was the last time you spoke to Alec?"

"Well… We had dinner last night to talk a bit, try and figure things out. But other than that, we haven't really spoken much," Gillian answered.

"Okay." Joyce scribbled something down on her pad of paper. "This question may seem a bit unrelated, but it is very important, I assure you." Gillian nodded. "What is your greatest fear?" Joyce continued.

Gillian folded her hands in her lap, looking away. What was her greatest fear? "I guess… Losing everyone I know and being left alone in the world."

Joyce smiled sympathetically, as her job required.

"I mean, I know it's irrational…"

"No, it's not. No one wants to be completely alone. I don't think it would ever happen to you though, Gillian."

Gillian gave a doubtful little half shrug.

"You have lots of people in your life, like that one friend of yours… What was his name again?" Joyce asked the question like she already knew the answer, so Gillian assumed that she was just trying to get her to find comfort in the it.

"Cal." And it did bring a small smile to her lips. "Cal Lightman."

And so the days passed.

Slowly.

Monotonously.

Gloomily.

But still they passed.

A day turned into a week, a week into two, then three.

During that time, Gillian realized two things.

First, she was thoroughly done with Alec. No more trying to patch up a broken marriage, no more lying, pretending, crying. The misery was over - at least in that aspect of her life.

And second, because of her first realization, Gillian was free.

"Hey, Lightman!" Torres called, hurrying to catch up to her boss, who had begun speedily striding off in the other direction at the sight of her.

"Torres, me walking away from you does not mean 'I wanna talk.'"

"New case," she said, ignoring him.

Sighing dramatically, he held his hand out for the file. He briefly glanced at it. "We'll take it." Cal began to walk again, rolling his eyes as Torres jogged along beside him.

"Okay. The son of the Argotos, who's adopted, was-"

"Adopted?" Cal asked.

"Yeah, adopted. Why?"

Cal closed his eyes, stopping dead in his tracks. "Fuckin' hell."

Gillian boldly strode into Joyce Dale's building, confident that today would be her final appointment. As she seated herself across from Dr. Dale, she couldn't help the grin that crossed her face.

"Gillian?" Joyce asked in surprise - surprise that Gillian was there, not at the smile on her face.

"You seem surprised to see me," Gillian noted in confusion, smile fading.

"Well… I didn't think that you would be coming in today."

"I have an appointment, don't I?"

Joyce nodded slowly. "You didn't hear, did you?"

Gillian met the other woman's eyes, trying to squish the fear that took over all other emotion at the tone of Joyce's voice. "Hear what, exactly?"

"Gillian," Joyce paused, leaning forward. "Gillian, there was another bomb." She spoke softly in a pointless attempt to lessen the impact of her words. "The bomb went off in the building of the Lightman Group. Homeland Security had received a terrorist threat earlier in the day, but couldn't trace the call and found nothing in the building."

Every part of Gillian was focused on the woman in front of her. "Cal?" She could barely force out that one word.

Slowly, Joyce shook her head, taking Gillian's hand in comfort.

Gillian forced her lips to move. "Torres? Eli? Zoe? Alec?" Someone. She needed someone, anyone, to be alive, to be there with her.

Joyce just gazed at Gillian. "I'm so sorry. Alec and Zoe were both there, Alec looking for you."

"No." Gone. All... just gone. Hot tears streaked down her face, falling silently from her unblinking eyes. She couldn't organize her thoughts, couldn't fell anything other than panic.

He hurt Gillian her greatest weak spot. Whoever it was that had sent her the note, whoever had placed the hammer, whoever had set the first bomb had gone after the people that she loved the most. And now they were dead because she hadn't been able to find and stop him.

When her parents had died all those years ago, it had torn her apart. Just when that hole had finished its careful healing by way of the skilled hands of Cal and Alec, it was cruelly torn open again. Pain and distress flowed out of the wound, and plugging the hole again would be no easy task. It wasn't the first time, when it took plenty of coaxing on Alec's part to being Gillian's confused mind back to her body.

Even now, she could feel that numbness taking her over, refusing to accept that Cal was gone, that she would never see Alec, Torres, Eli or even Zoe again. Her body went into lock down mode, going stiff and mechanically nodding. Anyone looking into her eyes would think that she was calm, steady in the face of hell. No one could possibly guess that behind those shielded eyes crouched a fearful soldier, shot beyond hope of full recovery. It would take a minor miracle to bring meaning back to words, to love, to life.

A/N: TBC, for sure, though it is taking me a little bit between updates, and for that I apologize. Just so you guys know, I have no clue what happened with Gillian's parents, and I totally made that up. Remember, reviews are love=)