So...This chapter has been soooo hard to write...Not beacuse of it's content, or writers block or anything like that...No! because my dearest Hairy Hounds from Hell decided to 'Steal' my glasses from the coffee table whilst I took a nap on the couch, and I can't fing them anywhere!!!! I have a spare pair on but they have a slighty different strength and it make working on the pc quite hard......Goota love them...I NEED Cal to interrogate them and find my glasses.....
Disclaimer as Norm.
The Accent Was Wrong.
Gill was woken firstly by a gentle shake then a hand firmly across her mouth. His voice was barely a whisper and his lips brushed her earlobe as he spoke.
"I can hear voices out there, still in the distance, too far to make out who, but I didn't want you to make any loud noises when you woke luv"
She nodded acknowledgement of his warning. The hand slipped away.
"Can you tell if they are locals or American?"
"Not yet – but- we need to be ready right"
Delving into the bag he pulled out a semi automatic, he did a quick check on it's readiness to fire.
Once again into the bag and a smaller gun emerged, Gill felt the coldness of the metal hit her hand.
"You know how to use this Gill…"
"Cal, I don't…"
"You do Gill, remember – back after we had just finished our first case that had got a bit…well, angsty! I gave you one then and showed you how to use it..you do know Gill"
Again she used a slight head nod as acknowledgment.
As her mouth opened his fingertips pressed against them, in the distance – she strained and she could hear voices.
Her lips went to his ear, "Cal they're not speaking American"
His eyebrows rose slightly and she noticed his hand tighten slightly on the gun he held in it.
His breathing increased with his heartbeat and she could both see and feel every muscle in his body start to tighten
It was a deeply embedded, feral almost animalistic response to a life threat.
He had almost imperceptibly changed his position so that he was now more in front of her – 'protecting' her –
"Cal, if this doesn't work out well for us, …I need to tell you something…"
"I know, and I love you too, completely despite everything I do to fuck us up – know that luv..and I know you love me too"
"Yes Cal , but I have to tell you…so did…"
The voices interrupted her, they were so much closer and now it was clear that it wasn't English that was being spoken.
Cal started to edge to the front of the cave, his gun was readied in his hand – his hand raised – Gill reached out and grabbed his ankle, as he turned his head to and raised is eyebrows in query she held up her hand to stop.
Moving up next to him she listened a little more to the voices.
"The accent is off, these men are not locals Cal- not even to this country! They are American – the mimic is good, but I can still hear the mistakes. They are Americans I'm certain"
"We need to be more than certain here"
She suddenly heard a short whistle, so high pitched it was almost off the human audible range. Cal closed his eyes and listened - There it was! The same sound returned on the air.
"Shit you were right! They are our boys" He crawled out and stood up blinking against the harsh morning sun.
"Dr. Lightman – Hi – you ok? Is Dr. Foster with you?"
Gill then emerged to stand at his side.
The men approached, "We were sent out to look for you, glad you made it"
"Yeah thanx, but the language got us a bit worried for a few moments there mate"
"Oh, sorry. Quite often when we are out scouting or on patrol, we use the opportunity to practice our accents and dialects, didn't think you could hear us..good job you knew that signal Dr. lightman, and that you could do it, not everyone can"
"Yeah , well it does take a bit of practice. How's the camp?"
"A mess, but we're working on it. you did the right thing getting out though. Bosses want you both out of harms way now though. If you wanna come with us a helo is coming in shortly to evac you both."
Collecting their stuff from the interior of the cave they followed the soldiers.
xXx
Now, in the comfort of an FBI plane Cal was holding Gill lightly in his arms as she slept.
He had been quite shocked when he had gone back over the events of the last few days and fully realized just how strong and resilient Gillian Foster had been.
As much as he always had this image in his mind that she was something of a fragile doll that had to be protected at all times from the harshness and hostilities of life, he knew the image was pathetic really considering the kind of job he had dragged her into, and, over the years he had been the one to teach her his science on how to read all the lies and depravities in the human race. A paradox really!
She stirred and opened her eyes.
"Bout time as well – I been dying to have a pee – well go on then, let me up."
Smiling she sat up and watching him trot off down to the far end of the jet.
On his return she was still grinning,
"You should have woken me"
"You looked too damn peaceful, I didn't have the heart luv"
"How much longer before we land?"
"Couple more hours, plenty of time to join the 'mile high club' if you're interested" His hazel eyes sparkled with teasing anticipation.
"I've never been one for joining clubs Cal – you know that"
"A man can but try! Back to the bloody reports then"
"I'm going to freshen up, I'll get us some coffee on the way back"
Cal gulped own his coffee whilst Gill sipped at hers.
"I'm so proud of you luv" The statement was made with his head down, no eye contact, and was out was completely out of the blue.
"Sorry? I don't understand you, why? "
"Nuffin, doesn't matter, just thinking aloud really"
"I've always been proud of you Cal. Even when you have done the most stupid things, and have irritated me to the point of wanting to throw you out of my life. When you go crashing in regardless of the consequences leaving me, normally to pick up the pieces – despite all of that, I have always been proud of you."
He had raised his head and she could see the shock in his eyes.
"I never knew that Gill"
"Cal, back in the cave.."
"Let's not think about that now luv. time enuf to dissect everything when we get back to the office, lets just forget about it for a while"
"No! I Can't. I was going to tell you something and it's important. I tried before but….well the timing was a bit wrong…When I was with Hazel, during the attack. She saved my life Cal by protecting me with her body"
"God you go from one happy subject to another don't you…I know what Hazel did luv. I hope you're not feeling guilty about it, she wouldn't have wanted you to…she was just …like that."
"There's no guilt. I just hope you are prepared to act on your own advise…She told me, before she..passed out…that she was saving me – because she loved you so much. She believed that you were in love with me and that you deserved to have what you loved! …I think..what I'm trying to say is…Do you really want that to go to waste? What she did took so much courage…don't you think you could put aside your fear..show the same courage and ….let me love you..let yourself love me without the doubts and walls and lines?"
He stood and walked ignoring the plea in her watery eyes.