I know, that was a bit harsh after I already put Gillian through something… Sorry not sorry?
I was nice enough to let you know at the end of the chapter that she was ok though.
Guest: Yes, still something about the case to clear up, it didn't end with Tamara
Fridmame: it seems most of us love some good drama and stuff happening to our beloved characters…it sure makes for interesting reading!
Now, Gillian is ok and I promise: no more suffering! Unless of course you count having to hold back with Cal
"She's still a bit out of it, just give her a few more minutes to recover." Dr Milton gently took hold of his sleeve and guided him away from the bed and out of the door. "Her heartbeat is under control, we're giving her fluids and oxygen to stabilise her."
"What happened?" Cal asked, unable to oppose any resistance to being led away from Gillian. "Was it the potassium he gave her?"
He was winded by running and fighting, and then running back to her room as soon as he had gotten the information he was looking for. He was worried about Emily, who had just about started to let go of the guilt for the previous events and had now taken five steps backwards on the scale of trauma. And even though he could see that Dr Milton wasn't lying - he had to wonder if she was incapable of it or simply lucky she didn't have to - and he had managed to catch a glimpse of Gillian breathing regularly on her own with her eyes open, there were so many things going through his head that he himself felt like a toy spinned around by an erratic child.
"Yes, he injected a high dose in her IV. It was a slow drip, that is why it took some minutes."
Cal nodded, even though a lot of it was lost on him.
"How did you know what to do if you didn't know what he gave her?"
The doctor gave him a little shrug, not trying to dismiss his question but simply thinking the answer would have been easy if he had been a physician.
"We focused on getting her heartbeat back first, that was our priority." Then the doctor moved him again, this time away from Emily who was sitting by the waiting area with the Sheriff. "Your daughter…when the first nurses arrived she was doing CPR. That bought us some time, it kept her from going into full arrest."
As if that day hadn't been crazy enough, now Cal had to add a whole new item to the collection: his daughter had just saved his girlfriend's life. While he had panicked, ran after the guy and fought to retrieve a piece of information that had proved to be useless, Emily had kept her head about her and actually done something helpful. Speechless, he looked over at his daughter sitting…shrinking on the plastic chair and bracing herself, absently listening to the Sheriff. If she had looked tense before, now she was one step away from being a complete trainwreck and one simple but very clear thought came to his mind. Zoe is going to kill me! He whined to himself, barely listening as Dr Milton reiterated that Gillias was stable and they could go back in with her in a minute.
Cal nodded absently and thanked her, then slowly made his way over to Emily. Talbot saw him coming and nodded in understatement, then stood up and left the chair next to her free for him. Cal sat down with a lough sigh, his presence briefly startling Emily as she glanced at him. Her expression didn't change much, certainly didn't get any better, and Cal smirked: was there anything that he could say to her? Anything appropriate at all? He bought himself some time counting on the fact that she didn't seem that eager to talk either, then straddled his face with both hands and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, a finger loose touching her leg.
"You saved her life, Em." It most certainly wasn't the right thing to say, but that was all he could think about. "Doctor said you doing CPR kept her stable enough for them to get to her."
Emily, God blessed her, had the unmitigated guts to shrug as if that hadn't been a big deal at all. Cal didn't know what to make of it, aside from holding her so tight he'd probably crack a couple of ribs in her, and possibly scream to release all the pent up tension of the day. Instead he waited, giving Emily the time to get there on her own, glad that it didn't take her long to finally reach out for his hand and lean into him for a much needed hug.
"Where did you even learn how to do that?" He asked after a while.
"I took a first aid course in college for extra credit," she mumbled as if it was something to be ashamed of.
"My little overachiever," Cal chuckled, squeezing his arm around her and kissing the top of her head. "How are you holding up, love?"
"I don't know Dad, I really don't."
"That's alright love, I understand. I don't know either to be honest." He huffed, then took her hand. "Do me a favour though, Em?" She looked up at him, her eyes hopeful. "Talk to me if you need to, and come in with me to see Gillian."
"Dad-"
"You did something incredible Em, that should be the only thing on your mind when you see her." He looked down at her warmly, trying to convey as many positive feelings as possible. "She would want to see you and make sure you're ok, you know that."
"Is she going to be ok?"
"Yes, for real this time." He sure as hell hoped that was going to be the case. "She's probably a bit groggy, but all good." Emily nodded absently and took a deep breath, then they both saw Dr Milton gesturing to them to come forward. "Ready?"
"Guess so," she mumbled.
"You know what, Em?" Cal stood up and pulled her on her feet by her hand, a smirk plastered on his face. "Between Foster finding all those kids yesterday and you pulling this one out today…you two are making me look bad. I wonder why I even bothered to stick around for this case."
Emily chuckled softly and gently elbowed him in his chest, with Cal exaggerating his reaction of pain and glad that he had stolen a smile out of her. Dr Milton smiled at them as they approached, then kindly stepped away and left them on their own as they entered the room. Gillian was awake, not sitting up as she had been before but laying down on the bed instead, but aside from that she didn't look like someone whose heart had just nearly stopped. Then he got closer and started noticing that she looked a hell of a lot more tired than before, that she was struggling to keep her eyes open and that pulling off the 'I'm fine routine' was out of the question.
It had been difficult enough to keep his hands to himself over the past few days, and at that moment Cal felt his whole body itch with the need to climb in the hospital bed with her and hold her until the morning. So he played it safe and kept himself busy by holding Emily instead, at least until his daughter wiggled out of his arm to move closer to the bed the moment Gillian's eyes fixed steadily on them.
"Hei Gillian," Emily greeted her with a nervous smile, but Cal had to give her an A for effort. "How are you feeling?"
"Ask me again in a couple of hours," Foster managed to answer with a shaky voice, and Cal was glad she didn't try to act tough. "What happened?"
"Don't worry about it, love. Just-"
"Cal." The way he said his name, the way she looked at him with a firm look…she had no business sounding and looking so assertive after what she had been through. "What happened?"
He hesitated, perhaps hoping she would let go if he waited long enough, but then Emily also gave him a look and he grumbled behind his teeth.
"Someone posing as a nurse gave you a big dose of potassium, messed up your cardiac rhythm real good." He couldn't resist, as images of what had happened flashed before his open eyes Cal leaned a little closer. Then he looked over at Emily and smirked evilly, payback was a bitch. "Em here saved your life while I made a fool of myself running around the hospital to get the guy."
Gillian immediately looked at Emily, who had turned all shades of red and didn't know what to do with herself. She wanted to thank her, and perhaps to apologise to her because she'd had to do whatever she had done…but she looked at Emily, shy like she had never seen her before, then at Cal who was biting at his lip nervously, and opted not to. She didn't quite know what she had been through in the past hour or so, but she had a feeling they all wanted to move on from that as soon as possible. So she just gathered all energies and lifted her hand to touch Emily's face, ready with a smile when the girl looked at her.
Well that's settled, Cal thought with a sigh of relief, then Gillian asked him who the man was.
"I don't know, they took him away for questioning." Gillian gave him a strange look, one that meant to ask why he wasn't there doing the questioning, and he scoffed loudly. "I needed to know you were ok, Gill."
Perhaps it was a risk, so to speak, something that could betray them easily with Emily right there watching their interaction. But it was reasonable to think he cared more about knowing the danger was over rather than questioning someone who wasn't going anywhere, even though when Gillian looked at him with that warm expression he knew she had just for him he had to do his best not to react as he normally would.
"Dr Milton said I will be, I just need some rest." She sighed and smiled. "She also said I should try to eat something, it might give me some energy."
"I'll go get you something," Emily immediately volunteered with a burst of energy. "Something sweet?"
"I think that would be good Em, but not too much ok?"
Both Gillian and Emily gave him a look, as if to ask who was he to decide what exactly constituted as too much, then his daughter held out her palm asking for money. Cal grumbled something but took his wallet and put some notes in her hand, yelling at her to get some tea for him too while she was at it as she left the room. Then he turned to look at Gillian again, who suddenly looked a bit more pinkish and present.
"Did you just send off my daughter with an excuse?" He questioned with a smirk, carefully sitting on the edge of the bed and leaning down on her a bit.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
She feigned ignorance with her words and face, but her hand went up to his face and gently stroked his cheek. They were painfully aware that that was the most contact they've had in three days and it nearly killed them, Cal especially, but they both decided to enjoy it and linger on it as long as possible instead of ruining the moment with words. Cal closed his eyes and let her touch soothe him, thinking it wasn't right that she was the one comforting him, then leaned down a bit more and blindly rested his lips on her forehead.
"I'm ok Cal," she tried to reassure him, probably feeling that he was shaking.
"It's not that easy, love," he whispered painfully. "You've got no idea."
"I'm pretty sure I do," she quipped back, softly but not so subtly hinting at all the times he had gotten himself in trouble and she had to stand by and watch. "Emily?"
"I really don't know where she gets it, all this resilience." Gillian gave him a look. "She seems ok, I don't want to push her to talk about it, yet."
"She'll come around."
Cal nodded in agreement, then pulled back slowly. He had to, no matter what she still smelled amazing and it messed with his resolve big time.
"She'll also come back soon," he mumbled. "She's on a mission, you know?"
"You thought about telling her, about us." Cal nodded in response to her statement, not surprised in the least she brought it up. "Did you?"
"No, I wouldn't do it without you. And it didn't seem like the right moment." His hand was still on hers, his fingers absently caressing the inside of her palm. "She sure as hell could use some cheer-me-up today but I'm afraid she'd just look at it as we lied to her for months."
Gillian nodded absently, her own fingers now tracing lines on his wrist.
"And how are you doing?"
"Me? Marvellous!" He didn't convince anybody with that and he knew it, so he looked down at their joint hands and sighed. "Not great love, trying to keep it together."
"If you're doing it for Emily I understand, but don't do it for me," she warned him.
"At this point love, I think I have to do it for myself really," Cal smirked, then gently brushed some hair off her forehead. "You look tired."
"I am, exhausted really."
"Doctor said they'll keep you in tonight, head injury protocol and all that."
"I don't mind that," Gillian sighed as her eyes fluttered for a moment, then she glanced at the IV by the side of the bed. "I don't think they'd let me take whatever it's in there back to the cabin."
"Look at you," Cal broke out into an amused grin. "All hooked up on painkillers."
Gillian gave a slow nod, her eyes again trembling for a moment as fatigue started to set in. It was stupid, but Cal found himself pleased with the fact that she wasn't trying to act all tough and dismiss how she was feeling. She was no stranger to that kind of behaviour, she was a fighter and she always tried to fight back because she knew people were always looking at her. But with him she didn't have to, he liked the fact that she knew it too and he didn't think it took anything away from the strength of her character.
He was still mulling about that, smiling down at her who was trying so hard to stay awake for him, when Emily came back into the room carrying a paper bag. Cal immediately let go of Gillian's hand with great regret, rolling his eyes when Emily pretty much moved him out of the way and started listing all the items she had purchased at the hospital cafeteria. The very sight of the food options, all sugar packed, seemed to breathe new energy into Gillian who found the strength to sit up a bit, clearly assuming a more comfortable position to be able to eat. She did her best, although Cal noticed she didn't seem to have that much appetite after all, plucking at a chocolate covered donut while Emily assaulted a blueberry muffin.
They didn't say much after that, Gillian really was exhausted and Emily seemed content with spending time with her without seeing her going into cardiac arrest or something. As far as Cal was concerned, he didn't mind that either and was happy to just be there and maybe, just maybe, not having to worry about a thing for a bit.
But things were hardly going his way that day, and after a while a knock on the door shyly announced a new curve ball coming his way. Cal turned around and saw Sheriff Talbot standing on the door, already looking apologetic for what she was about to say. He sighed and walked over to her, knowing both Gillian and Emily were watching him with a touch of concern, then when the conversation was over he came back closer to the bed.
"They want me to go talk to that guy, he hasn't made a peep so far," he explained.
"You should go," Gillian said immediately, seeing on his face that he wasn't sold on the idea.
"It can wait," he tried, but he already knew he was going to lose the argument.
"I'm not going anywhere, Cal," she noted. "We need to know how he fits in all this."
"And we all know you will start obsessing about it soon anyway," Emily chimed in. "I'll stay with Gillian, don't worry Dad."
"As I said," Cal huffed as he jokingly shoved Emily, "why do I even bother?" Then he looked at Gillian, fighting the urge to part from her with a kiss on the cheek and instead just awkwardly patting her hand. "I'll be back as soon as possible, ok?"
Gillian nodded, then Cal stared down at Emily with a silent instruction to look after her, and after that he walked away to go with the Sheriff, thinking after all he didn't mind having five minutes alone with the wannabe killer.
