And here we are… The chapter that all you Cal/Gill fans have been waiting patiently for. (That I have kept you waiting for… sorry!) Keep in mind, this story took place after season one. Season two and beyond never happened for the purposes of this fic! I hope you enjoy it and I hope I don't have them too much out of character.

Cal had come home Wednesday night to find Emily's bedroom light still on. As soon as he had gotten through the door, she came scrambling down the stairs.

"Dad! What are you doing home so soon? What happened with Gillian?" She was staring at him with the most accusatory look on her face.

"Em! What are you still doing up?" He glanced at her and then pushed past her to head up the stairs.

Emily went to grab for him but he was too quick. She ran up the stairs after him. "I couldn't sleep. So tell me what happened!"

Cal shrugged his shoulders and said "What do you mean? Nothing happened."

She had yet to get a good look at his face, but she knew by the shrug of his shoulders that he was lying. Her dad never let anything that simple bleed through so he must have wanted her to see it. "You did it! You did it, didn't you? You told her, right?" Emily was walking from side to side, trying to get around him to see his face.

Cal couldn't hold it in any longer. He turned to her with a big smile. "Not exactly, well not with words anyway. We talked for a bit and decided that we could try with a relationship, but there were no declarations of love made." Cal stopped and stared at the ceiling for a moment. "Implied, yes. Declared, no."

Emily jumped up and threw her arms around his neck. "I'm so happy for you, Dad! So what happened, what was said, why did you come home?"

"Easy Em! We know what we both want. We're gonna talk about it after the party on Friday."

Emily thought for a second. "Did you kiss her?"

Cal rolled his eyes. "Good God Em!"

"You did! Yes!" Emily clapped her hands and smiled like a child. "I am so happy right now!" She grabbed her Dad in another big hug. "You did good Dad. Now, on Friday-"

"Emily! Enough! Off to bed with you." Cal turned her by the shoulders and shoved her toward the door. "Now! Get!" He pointed to her room.

Emily smiled at him again. "I love you Dad."

"Love you too Em. Good night."

Everything was set for the Christmas party. It was 5:30 and Gillian was heading home to change into the dress she had bought the night before. There had not been any time for her and Cal to talk after the kiss they shared on Wednesday night. She thought back and felt herself smile…

"So love, does this mean we are abolishing the bloody line?" The hopeful look in his eyes as he toyed with her hair and grasped her hand had sent a wave of chills up her spine.

She had smiled sweetly at him. "Yes Cal. The line, in its current form, is hereby abolished. But we do need to talk."

"And we will Gill. I have so much I've been dying to say to you. It's late tonight and I'll be out all day tomorrow with that Lockheed business. How about after the Christmas party? Meet me in my office?"

"I would love to." Cal had put his arms around her and squeezed her tight.

"You have no idea how happy I am at this very moment." Cal pulled back from her slightly and gave her a skeptical look. "You aren't going to change your mind by Friday night are you? Cause I can blow off these people tomorrow and give you the whole day if you'd rather."

"No way Cal! That is a big account! You will most certainly not blow them off." She had stopped abruptly when she saw the look on his face. She then realized she had addressed the business issue but had flown past his question about Friday night. "I'm sorry." She grabbed his hands. "I feel like we have waited so long to acknowledge anything… it may take some getting used to." She smiled at him "I'm looking forward to Friday night and there is no way in hell I'll change my mind, okay?"

… That had reassured him. They shared another deep kiss and then said goodnight. Yesterday had been weird for her. She envied him the chance to be out of the office. Even though she knew no one was aware of this shift in their relationship, she felt as if it were written all over her face. She had spent most of the day hiding under a pile of paperwork in her office. The few phone calls she and Cal shared had left her gut a quivering mess. What she always considered butterflies in her stomach at the start of a relationship were more like giant pterodactyls rooting around in there. It seemed like a major precipice, and she could hardly wait to see where they would go from here.

Gillian returned to the building just as the party started. She put her coat and purse in her office. When she approached the main hall, she saw Cal by the entrance to the conference room. He looked at her and smiled. Her hair was swept up with a few loose pieces hanging around her face. He licked his lips as he took her in from head to toe. She was wearing a sleeveless, deep red dress with a plunging neckline. He nodded his approval and raised his eyebrows at her. She smiled shyly and felt a blush creep up her cheeks. 'Well, obviously I picked the right dress.'

Just as Gillian and Cal were making their way to each other, she was stopped by Ben. After chatting for a few moments, she looked back to where she had seen Cal, but he was no longer there. This went on for the entire party. Looks shared across the room, but they could never get within two feet of each other. Hazard of being the bosses; everyone wanted a little of your time.

Emily came up to Gillian early in the evening and gave her a hug. "You have no idea how happy my Dad is right now. Thank you so much Gillian."

Gillian felt her eyes start tingling as if she could cry.

Emily leaned in close and said "See, I always knew he was happier when he was with you."

Gillian opened her mouth to say something. But the words weren't there. She took a small breath as Emily smiled and walked away. She stood there for what couldn't have been more than a few seconds with thoughts of looks, touches, small gestures and not so small gestures flashing through her mind. 'Just how long have we both unknowingly felt this way. And how could we be the only ones who couldn't see it?'

Around 10:30, people started to leave. Cal and Gillian ended up in the foyer together handing out Christmas 'bonus' checks and saying goodnight to everyone. Once they had sent everyone home, they retired to Cal's office.

Gillian slipped off her shoes and settled on one end of Cal's couch with her feet tucked under her. Cal slipped off his jacket and laid it over his desk chair. He then sat facing her on the couch. They stared at each other for a few moments before Cal bent forward and kissed her gently on the lips. He leaned back slightly to look at her face. "I've wanted to do that all night."

Gillian smiled. "I've wanted you to do that all night."

Cal looked down at her dress and back up to her face. "You look absolutely gorgeous in that dress, well you look gorgeous in anything, but you look…" he let his eyes travel down the length of her and back up again "stunning."

She felt the blush spread through her. The intensity of the look on his face overwhelmed her and she drew in a ragged breath while averting her eyes.

He quickly leaned forward and cupped her cheeks with his hands. He gently brought her eyes back to meet his. "Don't be embarrassed Gill. You have no reason to be. You are the most beautiful woman; inside and out, that I have ever known. And I'm having trouble believing that I can be this close to you and kiss you and touch you… I keep waiting for the slap to come or to wake up and find this is a dream."

She put her hands over his. "If this is a dream, then I don't think I ever want to wake up." She leaned in to capture his lips in a kiss. Cal's hands made their way to her waist and her arms wound around his neck. He suddenly threw himself back so that he was leaning against the other end of the couch, dragging her with him. When they finally parted lips they were both breathing heavily. Gillian moved her arms down around his torso. She was lying on her side between his legs with her head on his chest. Cal's arms were wrapped around her and he was softly stroking her right arm.

Gillian was the first to speak after several minutes. "Does this feel as right to you as it does to me?"

Cal chuckled. "You mean how perfectly we fit together?" He felt her nod her head. "I knew it would be this way."

Gillian raised her head and looked at him with wide eyes.

Cal pulled her up so their faces were even. "I felt connected to you that first time we met in your office. I knew then there was something special there. I didn't look at it in this way" he motioned his hands back and forth between them "back then. I was married, you were married… I just thought we had a natural connection."

Gillian nodded her head in agreement. She had felt that too. "That's why you asked me to work with you; to be your partner."

Cal grinned. "That's why I practically begged you to come be my partner." He took her hand. "I was afraid you were going to say no."

Gillian looked down at their hands. "I almost did." She looked back at him. "Alec wasn't comfortable with it. He thought I was taking a big risk leaving my steady, boring job at the Pentagon to jump into the unknown."

Cal rolled his eyes. "The schmuck."

Gillian took a deep breath and went to speak twice but couldn't seem to find the words. Cal studied her face and then said "You want to know when I knew…"

She looked up at him, surprised that he knew where her thoughts had gone. She slowly nodded her head.

"Well… that's a tough one." He resituated himself on the couch so they were once again facing each other. "I had never looked at you this way. I mean I thought you were a beautiful, intelligent, and passionate woman but…" he paused to gather his thoughts. "We were both married and as much of a bastard as I can be at times, I would never have cheated on Zoe."

Gillian remained quiet. He had told her he had a lot he wanted to say and she planned to let him say it.

"I think things started changing for me some time after my divorce was final. I mean you know how hard that was for me, Zoe leaving… As much of a playboy as you think I might be-"

"Cal! I never said-"

"You didn't have to! I know! I wanted; I needed you to see that I was moving on. You did so much for me during that time and I was such a mess…anyway" he looked in her eyes. "To answer your question." He took a breath. "The wedding of the Ambassador's son. I finally saw, first hand, the shit that Alec was putting you through."

Gillian made to protest but he put his fingers in front of her mouth in a shushing gesture. "Hold on love. Let me finish." She nodded her head and closed her lips tightly.

"I knew things weren't right with you two. I'd been seeing it for months. It just became blatantly obvious after that day. I didn't say anything to you because of our bloody line. But, I saw it." Cal squeezed her hand. "When you walked away from me in the parking lot that night after saying you were going to make it up to him because that's what married people do… I felt that longing to protect you then. I think it just kept building after that." They stared at each other for a few moments. Cal continued. "During the Jenkins case was when I realized it might be more than just a need to protect you." Gillian saw him get lost in a thought for a few seconds. She went to speak, but then he started again. "When I saw you lying on the road, having just been attacked it felt like someone ripped my heart out. I wanted to hold you and not let go. By that point, I knew about the drugs and I knew things weren't right between you and Alec." He looked back into her eyes. "It wasn't long after that you told me you were splitting up."

Gillian looked at him, confused. "But, you never said anything, or did anything... I didn't know you felt that way."

"I wanted to give you time love. I knew it would be important for you to stand on your own two feet; to have time to get your heart back in its right place." He looked sad for a second. "Then the sandwich shop thing happened… and I thought the timing would be bad…"

"I saw it on your face, at your house. When you and Emily were taking care of me, I saw it. Just for a second. But, I thought it was just that you cared about me. I told myself you were my best friend and of course you loved me." Gillian looked at him sadly.

"It's okay love. I was in love with you then, but I thought it wouldn't be the best time to tell you, you know" he waved his hands around "with everything that was going on." Cal's face went slack. "Then Noah was in the picture… and he seemed to make you happy." He looked at her. "All I wanted was for you to be happy."

Gillian felt the tears in her eyes. "Cal, I'm sorry-"

"Whoa, whoa, what are you apologizing for? I missed that boat. The timing wasn't right. But, it's okay. I think we have it figured out now, don't we?" He smiled at her and then wrapped his arms around her.

Gillian had tears in her eyes. She hugged him as tightly as she could. She mumbled "I love you, Cal" into his shoulder. Then she pushed him back and looked him in the face. "I do love you. I think I have in here" she patted her chest "for a very long time. It just took a while for it to reach here." She tapped the side of her head.

He smiled at her. "Well, I'm just glad it finally made the long journey!"

She slapped him playfully and he winced for good measure. They kissed each other again, another long, sweet, slow kiss. When he pulled away, he put his hands on either side of her face. "I love you Gillian."

She smiled at him. "I love you, Cal."

TBC

This was the chapter to bring them together. Now a few more to tie up loose ends and answer some questions. I hope this was worth the wait… And thank you for sticking with me.