That night at the diner proved to be their new beginning. The first thing Cal did when he walked in was check out the desserts. There was one piece of chocolate silk pie remaining in the case; he promptly ordered it for Gillian and asked that it be kept cold until she arrived. He grabbed a booth by the window and spread files around the table, reading while he ate his meal. After about ninety minutes or so he saw Gillian exit her meeting with a few women. He watched as she chatted with them briefly, shook hands with some, waved goodbye to others, hugged one, and then started across the street. He cleaned up the files to make room for her and quickly picked up her piece of pie. She smiled when she saw both him and chocolate waiting for her. "Hope you don't mind, love, but it was the last piece and I wanted to make sure you got it."

"Exactly what I wanted."

"How was your meeting?"

"Strange. Okay, I guess. It's odd. I hear their stories and feel blessed that I don't have the kinds of memories they have to deal with. But in some ways their stories make me feel like a fraud. I know I belong there, but I don't have a lot to share." She picked up her fork, "It was my first meeting. I'm sure it will be better next week. Let's talk about something else."

This morning's Cal might have pushed, argued, told her she was crazy to feel like a fraud. Now he just touched her hand, said he understood and hoped next week would be better, and ordered coffee for both of them. As she ate, they talked. Really talked. About work, life, the weather, movies, books. It felt good. Conversation was free-flowing, not stilted. The ground beneath their feet felt solid again. By the time she drove them back to her house, they were laughing. About silly things. About the day they each realized all their favorite songs were now on the oldies station. About the latest dust-up between Loker and Torres. About the secret office pool predicting when Loker's radical honesty policy would get him punched again (Gillian had two weeks; Cal had three days, but Gillian threatened to disqualify him because he made his bet after he scheduled a meeting with one particular client). They held each other a little longer as they hugged goodnight, and he didn't leave until she was fully inside the house with doors locked. For the first time in months he was smiling as he drove home. He even let Rick off the hook. Sort of.

The next months continued the trend. Of course, it wasn't all smooth sailing. There were still times when Gillian flinched at Cal's touch or blew up at him unexpectedly, but he accepted that anger was a part of her healing process and no longer panicked and demanded answers from Patricia. There were still times when Cal made decisions for Gillian without consulting her, but she remembered that was a bad habit of his before "the reveal" and didn't take it so much to heart as a sign he thought of her as a victim. She was back on cases, even though Cal held his breath whenever she left the office for a solo meeting. And if she noticed that sometimes Loker's presence wasn't really necessary, she still didn't fight too much when Cal occasionally asked her to let Eli tag along. Because he asked.

The line was again in place, but it was more of a fence than a wall. It wasn't so much that Cal ignored the truth until Gillian said something; now he acknowledged what he saw and asked her if she wanted to talk about it. And he accepted "no" as an answer. And because he accepted no, her answer became more often "yes" or at least "not right now, but soon". He opened up more to her, too. Stories that once were glossed over with "a spot of bother – nothing for you to worry about" became fodder for discussion and analysis. They could talk for hours.

Her support group night became a ritual for them, but Cal never assumed he was invited. Each week he would ask if she wanted company. She appreciated the gesture. One night early on she said no as a kind of test, and he didn't question her or become upset. She found herself missing him that evening and never said no again. They were now considered regulars at the diner. The owner always saved a piece of chocolate something for Gillian, and the waitress opened a bottle of his favorite beer as soon as Cal walked in. Cal noticed the envious looks he received from the other men when Gillian joined him, but her smile was always only for him. Gillian noticed the envious looks she received from the other women when she sat down across from Cal, but his smile was always only for her. The evenings that she had started off dreading when Patricia first suggested she join the group became the night of the week she most anticipated because she knew Cal was waiting for her at the end of it.

* * * * *

"Gillian!" She jerked up from her computer, surprised to see Emily flying into her office with Cal hot on her heels. "Tell Dad he is being completely unreasonable!"

"Emily! Don't you dare try to drag Gillian into the middle of this!" Her office door slammed behind him. "Sorry, love," he acknowledged her and then immediately turned back to Emily. "This little stunt is reinforcing my decision. And the answer is definitely no."

"This is crazy, Dad! You know Max, and we'd just be going as friends. Rick says it's okay with him. Mom says it's fine. You're the only one who won't let me go. Gillian, tell Dad he is being crazy!"

"Emily, I don't know what is going on, but it's between your parents and you."

"No, just me and Dad. Mom says it's fine with her." She turned back to her father whose face looked like thunder. "You know Max and I are just friends. You know when you figured out his birth parent situation, they all ended up moving so they could live together as a family. That meant Max had to change schools, and he still feels like a freak. It's homecoming. He wants a familiar face with him. As a friend. Why won't you let me go?"

"It's not up for discussion, Emily. Leave Gillian out of it." He pointed back to his office.

"Fine, Dad. You never let me do anything anymore. I'm calling Mom to pick me up. I'll stay with her tonight."

"Don't try to play us off each other, Emily. My answer remains the same." He marched Emily out of Gillian's office.

Thirty minutes later he was back, leaning against her office door. "Sorry about that, love. It's not fair to you when we drag you in the middle of these things."

"It's okay, Cal. Why don't you want her to go to Max's party?"

"We don't know anyone who goes to that school, Gillian. No one but Max, and we don't know him all that well. It's a homecoming dance and apparently a lot of the college kids come back to attend it. From what little Max and Emily can tell me, there aren't enough chaperones and they'd be catching a ride with a group of guys Max barely knows. I offered to chaperone, figured I'd force Loker and Torres and ask you to come with me, but since she doesn't go to that school my national security clearance isn't enough to get the administration to trust me. Under these circumstances she can't go. Period. She's too trusting of people. I don't want her to find herself in a bad situation. She's mad at me, and she's gonna be mad for awhile, but I don't see another way around it."

His voice was nonchalant, but she knew how difficult it was for him when he had to disappoint Emily. She had noticed that he was much more conservative on what he let Emily do these days. She wondered how much of that was a result of her past. Maybe she could think of something.

* * * * *

The next day Cal wandered into the lab to find Eli and Ria reviewing film for one of their current cases. "Loker. Torres. Have either of you seen Foster?"

Loker turned around. "Not since she left for lunch."

"She's still gone?"

"Yeah, she said she had a meeting. Left over an hour ago."

"Hmm. Client meeting?" Eli shrugged. "Okay. I'll be in my office then."

Thirty minutes later he looked up to see Gillian and Zoe walk into his office. "Oh God, no good can come from the two of you in my office together."

Zoe smirked. "Nice to see you, too, Cal. Gillian called and asked me to meet her for lunch. She thinks she might have a solution that would make you more comfortable letting Emily attend the dance with Max."

He looked meaningfully at Gillian. "I thought I told you not to get in the middle of this one, love."

She sat down in one of his chairs. "No, you said Emily shouldn't put me in the middle of it. Don't worry. I didn't say anything to Emily. You said you couldn't think of a way they could go. You didn't tell me I couldn't try to think of something. I ran my idea past Zoe to get her take on it. Now we're suggesting it to you. If you don't like this compromise, then your decision stands and Emily never has to know."

Zoe sat down as well. "If you don't like it, Cal, then I'll tell Emily I've changed my mind and neither one of us wants her to go. See if that takes some of the heat off you."

"Well, let's hear it then."

Zoe started, "First, I called Max's parents. All three of them are really anxious for Max to adapt to his new school. It's been hard for him. They were surprised that he even considered attending the dance. He doesn't want to go without Emily, but they understand your feelings as well. They are willing to do whatever it takes for you to feel comfortable. They had been told originally that there were sufficient chaperones for the dance. They made a call to the school and all three of them will be there that night the entire time. They'll also drive Max and Emily there and back."

"Well, that's good."

"Cal," Gillian leaned forward. "I would like to tell Emily what happened to me. I get the feeling that it might be coloring your decision. I was talking with Zoe about it at lunch, and she thinks it is a good idea."

Cal was stunned. "You told Zoe?"

Zoe responded, "Yes, she did. Cal, I think having Gillian talk with Emily is a wonderful idea. You know that you and I can talk about things like this until we're blue in the face, and she'll just chalk it up to overprotective parents. To have Gillian talk to her from her own experience, I think that will really mean something to Emily."

Gillian spoke, "I won't scare her. You had said she was too trusting, and I thought it might help to give her just enough information so that she can be aware of her surroundings and protect herself. If I do that and Max's parents drive them and chaperone, will you let her go?"

Cal was still too shocked to respond. There was no love lost between Zoe and Gillian, but Gillian reached out to her, initiated the conversation, and told Zoe about her experience. And she did it all to help Emily and him. He had to clear his throat a little bit to be able to speak. "Yeah. I' d think having his parents hanging about the whole time would make Max feel like more of a freak, not less, but if those things happen then she can go."

Zoe and Gillian looked at each other and smiled briefly. Zoe stood up, "I've got to get back to work. I'll let you tell Emily, Cal. I'll call Max's parents and let them know." She turned toward Gillian. "Thanks for lunch, Gillian. Thanks . . . for caring about Emily."

"Thanks for meeting with me, Zoe." Their handshake was a little awkward, but there was a rapprochement of sorts.

Cal bounded out of his desk chair. "You," he pointed to Gillian, "stay right here. I'll walk you out, Zoe."

As he escorted Zoe down the hall, she said, "I know what you're going to say, Cal. I can't believe she called me either. Took a lot of courage to tell her story to me."

He nodded. "Yeah. It did." He looked back toward his office, pride flashing across his face. "You know, I did want to talk with you, Zoe. Until this past year I didn't really realize how hard it must have been for you to watch me struggle that summer while you felt so helpless. Now that I've had a bit of experience with it, I want to apologize. I don't think I ever really acknowledged the pain you must have been going through at the time."

She stopped and turned to him, "Emily is very protective of Gillian, but from the little she's said this past year I gleaned Gillian and you were dealing with something big. I had no idea what it was, of course, until today. She's tough. I've never given her enough credit for that."

He smiled. "That she is."

"Cal," She thought for a moment, shook her head, and took two steps toward the door before spinning around. "Oh hell, I'll just say it. The difference between you two and me is that you both hung in there when the other needed you. I didn't."

"Zoe, I pushed you away."

"Cal, I'm not looking to rehash the past. The bottom line is that summer I had a choice to stand by you or leave, and I left because it was easier to do so. We were married, and I still chose to walk away. Gillian had the choice to stand by you or leave, and she stuck with you when no one else would. I know from Emily and now Gillian that you moved heaven and earth to stand by her this year. I'm just saying it says a lot about the . . . love you two have for each other. I think it benefits Emily to see that kind of commitment. I guess I'm just saying that if you and she haven't . . . because you feel guilty about how we ended or you think I'm going to be upset because it's her, then I just want you to remember that I made a choice."

He knew how hard that must have been for her to say. "Thanks, Zoe." He kissed her on the cheek. He thought about saying more, but her phone rang.

"I've got to get this. I'll talk to Max's parents. Thank Gillian again for me, okay?" She waved as she walked out the door.

Cal sprinted back to his office. Gillian had moved to his sofa. He dropped beside her. "You told your story to Zoe."

"Yeah, Cal, I hope you're not upset. . ."

"You told your story to Zoe and want to tell it to Emily."

"I think it would help her understand how easily . . ."

He took her hands in his. "You are amazing. Have I mentioned that today? I am so bloody proud of you."

"Cal, I . . ."

"You're blushing." She tucked her cheek to her shoulder. "Did you talk to Patricia about all this? I think this is a good sign."

"No, I didn't. It felt . . . not good really . . . right to tell her. I wanted to help you, and telling Zoe made sense. I know you don't like it when Emily is mad at you and, let's face it, she was going to be mad for a long time over this one."

"Decades."

"Do you really feel okay about her going now?"

"Yeah."

"Then my work here is done." She smiled and started to stand, but he didn't let go of her hands.

"Gillian, would you like to go to dinner with me?"

"Grab a bite to eat tonight? I can't tonight. Sorry."

"No. Not 'grab a bite to eat'. Would you like to go to dinner with me on Saturday?"

She smiled, a little shyly at first, and cocked her head. "Like a date?"

"Yeah."

"Like a 'you have to wear a suit and make dinner reservations somewhere fancy and clean out your car and pick me up and worry about what to say to make a good first impression' date?"

He smiled. "Exactly like that. Or a 'I can wear a t-shirt and jeans and move all my papers from the front seat to the back seat of my car and pick you up and go out for pizza and beer and see how good you are at billiards' date. I'll let you know which one it is when I pick you up."

Her eyes twinkled. "I'd say yes to either one." She left his office with a spring in her step, and he grinned as he watched her go.