I guess the nearly total lack of review is a not so subtle message?
Oh well…
Cal had to slow down when he realised he was practically running to make it to Gillian's room, although nobody around seemed to mind. It was late for visitors in the hospital, but Cal had a feeling they weren't sticklers for rules around there or they would have already kicked Emily out. He suspected Dr Milton might have something to do with it, and that there might some kind of collective appreciation towards them from the town of Sedley; if that meant he got to wander in and out as he pleased, bring Gillian what she wanted and start to get over the nightmare of that day, he had no problems with it.
He stood by the door of the room and listened but nothing came, the small overnight bag with some stuff for Gillian over his shoulder, then he stepped inside. She was sitting up in the bed, looking mighty better than the last time he had seen her, looking up at something in front of her with a bored expression. Cal smirked to himself, leaning on the door and taking a minute to admire the view from a distance. He knew she'd feel him, eventually, she always did, and after a while Gillian did turn her head towards him with a smile immediately blossoming on her lips.
Now that's a sight for sore eyes! He thought, smiling back, then frowned when Gillian brought a finger to her lips as he stepped forward. Cal then followed her eyes and saw Emily, curled up on the couch and deep asleep, his smile growing as he approached the bed and sat on the edge while Gillian switched off the TV she had been watching on mute.
"She crashed shortly after you called," Gillian informed him in a low voice, immediately presenting her hand for him to take.
"My little trooper," Cal whispered softly, a statement that could be about either of the women in the room. "I'm not surprised. It's been one hell of a day."
"You think?"
They both smirked at each other, a hell of a day to say the least, then before he even realised what he was doing Cal started to lean down on her. A little alarm bell in Gillian's head rang, screaming that it was dangerous, that Emily could wake up at any moment and see them and that probably wasn't the way to find out…but nothing came out of her mouth, instead she just soaked into the intensity of his gaze and then closed her eyes waiting for whatever was coming her way. She could have, but she wasn't at all disappointed when his lips didn't land on hers but instead made a last minute detour and brushed her cheek. It was simple, chaste even, and yet it was overwhelming too. Acting on instinct, Gillian brought her hand to the back of his head and kept him in position for a few seconds, enjoying when he shifted slightly and brushed his own stubbled cheek on hers, then let him go when he pulled back slowly.
"Sorry love," he smirked, taking a deep breath to recover.
"About that? Never." Gillian smiled at him, then glanced over at Emily behind him. "She's a heavy sleeper."
"Like a rock," Cal nodded. "Too bad she wasn't like that as a baby."
After that, Cal managed to pull away from her enough to pick up the bag from the floor and put it on the nightstand to get some stuff out. In doing so, he spotted the flowers and grabbed them with a smile, holding them up to her with a funny accusatory glare.
"Something you wanna tell me?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Emily said Deputy Larry left those."
"I knew it!"
Cal hissed, but once again with a voice that didn't sound threatening at all. Gillian rolled her eyes at him, but within she was happy that he chose to joke about that and showed no sign of giving Deputy Larry any more thoughts than necessary. He still looked thoughtful, and after he lined up a few of the things for her on the nightstand he sat back again with a loud sigh.
"I should have thought of that," he mumbled then.
"Flowers?" He nodded. "You never striked me as the flower type. But if you have the charger for my phone in there, it could be love."
Cal rolled his eyes, partly grateful that she had bailed him out but still filing away her comment for the future, then he did get the charger from the bag and plugged in her phone. With that taken care of, his hands were free again and Cal simply couldn't resist, bringing one to her face and tracing light lines on her skin with his finger. Gillian closed her eyes and leaned into the touch, humming softly until Cal had to stop, hearing some grumbling coming from behind him. Gillian's eyes shot open in alarm and he turned around, relieved when he saw that Emily had turned on her side and was still deep asleep.
"You were right, not to tell her yet," Gillian said then, her hand absently resting on his leg.
"Did she say something?"
Their hands had life of their own, surfing and touching lightly with no rhyme nor reason. It was as if they couldn't talk without touching, like they needed the extra power to get them through the conversation.
"No, not really. I just…I think she's afraid you regret allowing her to come."
"Well, that's a tough one," he huffed, not even realising when he kissed the palm of her hand. "I think it's fair to say she was instrumental in solving the case. And then there's the small detail of her saving your life and all."
"Agreed, but you know how much pressure she put on herself from the start. Besides," she sighed and glanced over at Emily, "if we tell her now she might just see it as having been a third wheel, or a distraction. She's a strong girl and she's doing fine but that might be a little too much to deal with at this very moment."
"See, that's why I love you," Cal leaned in and left a quick kiss on her forehead, whispering softly as he pulled back. "But when we get home, when this is all wrapped up, I want to tell her."
Gillian nodded, deeply sharing his plans. She didn't like lying to Emily, especially not about something like that and for such a long time, and frankly if it hadn't been for that case coming their way with the worst timing ever the big revelation would have already happened. And granted, a scary amount of things had happened over the past few days but Gillian had always felt comfortable around Emily despite the strange situation, and she had realised how much she was looking forward to coming clean about their relationship. Not just because she was confident Emily would have been fine with it, but also because she saw that as the first step: with Emily in the loop they could then talk about coming clean at work, and therefore living their relationship out in the open.
"For now," Gillian said when all those thoughts finished going through her mind, "I think you should take her home."
"Kicking me out, love?"
"Don't take it the wrong way Cal, but you look awful and you need a shower." Cal faked an exaggerated offended reaction bringing his hand to his chest, but then smiled and nodded. "I'll be fine."
"I know you will, love." He whispered, then brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it softly before pulling away. "But you call me if you need anything, yeah?"
Gillian nodded, her fingers lingering around his as he pulled away slowly, then she watched him go over to Emily and gently pat her shoulder to wake her up. The girl stirred and groaned in protest for the end of sleep, something Gillian knew for a fact she took from her father, and eventually opened her eyes and sat up, acknowledging her father's presence.
"Hei Dad." She yawned loudly. "How did it go?"
Cal sat next to her, realising only then that he had been so caught up with enjoying some alone time with Gillian that he had completely forgotten about the reason why he had left.
"Good, I guess," he huffed, looking at Gillian too. "That man was Kevin Letwon, Tamara's brother. When they took Toby away from her he took it upon himself to give the child back to his sister, he's the one who orchestrated the whole thing."
"He kidnapped Toby?" Emily asked.
"Yes, he did. It wasn't hard to find out where he ended up and he just went ahead with it. He was doing all the shopping for her too, she barely left the house since she got her hands on the kid."
"But…why come after Gillian then?"
Cal sighed and brought Emily closer with his arms, but his eyes stayed on Gillian as he spoke.
"He was at the house when you guys arrived, he tried to make a run for it with the kid but Toby managed to run away. Big brother bailed out when he heard the gunshots…so much for looking after the family." He grumbled. "The three of us stuck out like sore thumbs around here, didn't take him much to find out what happened. In his mind it is our fault that his sister died, and when he heard Gillian was here he figured he could get some kind of payback."
When he finished talking there was a deep silence in the room, the three of them processing his words. It was an odd feeling, not so much to hear all of that out loud but mostly to find that, at the end of it all, there really wasn't much else to say. They all wanted to move forward from that day, and that piece of information felt more like much needed closure than anything else.
"So it's over then?" Emily asked, voicing a mutual feeling.
"Looks like it," Cal nodded. "And I think it's time we all get some proper rest. How about we go back to the cabin and get some sleep?"
Emily looked over at Gillian, who smiled and nodded at her.
"Ok," the girl huffed, then stood up and started to collect her things and asked her father. "We're coming back here first thing tomorrow, right Dad?" He nodded, and Emily gave Gillian a very serious expression. "We will bring you breakfast, ok?"
"They do have food in this hospital, you know that Em?" Cal chuckled as he stood up.
"Yeah, but you haven't seen it," she shot back, which reminded him that he hadn't had anything to eat in hours.
"Well let's get a move on, Em. I want to wash up before bedtime… I've been told I smell."
"I didn't say that," Gillian mumbled absently.
"It was the obvious implication, love," he quipped, then walked over to the bed and looked at the items he had brought her. "You let me know if you need anything else tomorrow, right?"
"Will do."
Not for the first time, Cal and Gillian had to gather their energies and strength in holding back, fighting the need for a quick touch of hand or anything else. All they conceded was a long and silent look, charged with meaning, then they nodded at each other and put a stop to it. Emily helped, unknowingly, when she stepped close to the bed and gently hugged Gillian, careful not to cause her any discomfort.
"Good night Gillian, take care."
"Good night Emily," Gillian responded, then whispered to her before she pulled back. "Make sure he eats something, ok?"
Emily nodded fiercely and they exchanged a knowing look, then she joined her dad by the door and they left as he wrapped his arm around Emily and audibly grumbled something about not being a child.
Leaving Gillian, again, wasn't as easy as he made it look. Bad things seemed to happen when they were apart, and quite frankly he had almost reached the breaking point. So he made it quick, like removing a plaster, not lingering on looks or words that weren't going to ease the separation at all.
Emily kept him busy with some more questions about Kevin Lewton during the drive back to the cabin, and once there he ransacked the fridge and pantry while she took a shower. Then they switched, Emily going for some of the ice cream still in the freezer as he spent a ridiculous amount of time under the hot water. When Cal walked back into the living room his daughter had started packing up the equipment, figuring with the case closed it wasn't needed anymore. He watched her absently, trying to gauge if that was another frantic outburst to cope with the tension: much to his relief, he saw nothing of the sort, noticing she was keeping herself busy because she was bored. Cal thought about asking her how she was doing but it seemed obvious to him that it had already been taken care of, so he decided to let it go.
With Gillian safe and resting at the hospital, bored to death according to the message she sent him as soon as her phone had charged up a bit, Cal soon started to feel the stress and fatigue of the day heavy on his shoulder. Emily too, despite the nap she had at the hospital, and soon they called it a night. Once alone in the living room, Cal smirked down at the couch and decided he couldn't be bothered to change into his pyjama so he just grabbed the blanket and pillow from the armchair and dived on the couch, slipping into a nearly comatose state as soon as his head hit the pillow.