Fair warning, this is going to three parts as well. I just can't help it I guess, these two deserve every word they can get.
"We've been in business for years and we only solved 200 cases?"
And of course he had to ruin it all with that mouth of his.
"Well," Gillian sighed, stepping back and feeling the moment slipping away from them, but still holding the smile to her lips for appearance's sake. "I didn't count all the favours and freebies."
Cal caught a trace of disappointment on her face and wasn't surprised. Quite honestly, he didn't know why he had gone and ruined a moment he was thoroughly enjoying himself. The only reason he could think of being that forehead touching was something new to them. They were close friends and could be a bit touchy at times, to a point that left people around them uncomfortably wondering, but that was something different and it seemed to come from a good place.
He immediately realised the sadness of his own internal statement, implying it was only bad stuff that usually brought them closer, and desperately scrambled to fix it. He focused on the way he smiled at her, making sure his eyes were involved and that she could see how sorry he was.
"No wonder we're running this place into the ground," he said then, trying his best to sound apologetically cheerful. Then he eyed the bottle in her hands. "Are you sure you wanna use it for this?"
"Can't think of a better occasion." Her reply was quick and sufficiently upbeat. "And I also kind of forgot about it."
"Alright then!" He wiggled his eyebrows at her and walked around the desk to get two glasses, glad he had an actual reason to step away and eager to ride the positive vibe that seemed to be making a comeback. "Do the honours, love."
Foster gladly obliged, expertly manoeuvring to remove the protection around the cork and popping it away with a loud noise. A wide amused smile immediately came up to her face while Cal anxiously came over with the glasses trying to catch the liquid and foam pouring out of the bottle before it spilled all over the floor, and they both laughed at the simple silliness of it all. She then passed him the bottle, his turn to do the honours, and Cal poured two very generous glasses before handing one to her.
"To 200," he offered in a genuine toast, which she returned clinging her glass against his.
"And 200 more."
They both smiled widely as they drank, the more they said the number out loud the more they found it had indeed a nice ring to it. Cal took a small sip while Gillian killed almost half of her glass in one go, much to his amusement. Then they sat down, each in one of the padded chairs in front of his desks, Gillian like an adult with her back straight and legs crossed while Cal slouched forward in that posture of his, always looking like he could slide off of the seat at any moment. Glasses in hand and the bottle on the table, they enjoyed a long and comfortable silence looking at each other in a relaxed way, perhaps just then processing the insane achievement they were toasting to.
"Would you have bet on it?" She asked then. "When you asked me to-"
"Begged you, love."
"When you begged me to be your partner? That we'd gotten this far?"
"Yes."
The blunt honesty of his answer would have knocked off her feet if she'd been standing, a sudden flush of redness coming to her cheek which he clearly didn't put down to the alcohol judging by the grin on his face.
"I didn't," she teased in response.
"Of course you didn't. You thought I was gonna scare customers away with my charming personality, piss people off and likely end it all with a massive harassment lawsuit because I bullied some staffer, all within the first year."
"I gave it two." Her casually serious tone, as if she had been given that way too much thoughts, made his smile grow bigger. "I figured the first year or so those who didn't know you would give you the benefit of the doubt. And I did put away a little HR emergency fund, just in case."
"Oh, so we do have some cash stashed away for rainy days."
"Nah," she muttered absently. "I blew it all on last year's Christmas party."
Cal stifled a laugh behind his sealed lips, trying hard not to show how entertaining he found the idea that she might have burned precious company resources like that. The more the silly thought found its way to his mind the harder it became to contain the laughter and before he knew it he was laughing with gusto. Gillian followed suit, infected by his hilarity and by the ridiculousness of the situation, and they both let laughs fill the space between them.
It was a joke obviously, however Cal briefly thought that wherever the money for that party had come from it had been well spent. Sure, he hadn't been in the best of moods to actually enjoy it - The laughter died in his throat when he saw Gillian's face darken. They had clearly both stumbled on the same memory, one that was equally unpleasant for them, and it seemed obvious that it was weighing heavier on her. Cal didn't like it, not one bit. He might have not been the one recalling the memory since Gillian had brought up the Christmas party, but even if he wasn't the main symptom for that sudden manifestation he certainly was the underlying condition.
Any other time he would have probably sulked on that thought, immediately focusing on how it was almost always his fault that she could so easily and quickly go to some dark places. But that was supposed to be a joyous occasion, she wanted it to be and she deserved that, if anything for sticking with him throughout 200 cases. And for once he wanted to be the thing making those shadows go away.
"What was your favourite?" Gillian frowned, an improvement from the thoughtful expression. "Of the 200 cases. And please don't say the first one."
"Oh God no!" She waved her hand in front of her face, adding a little snorting sound that made him laugh. "That was a mess, more a fortunate accident than a real solve."
"We had no idea what we were doing," he agreed, then leaned forward resting his arms on his legs and putting the glass forward. "We learned from that though, didn't we, love?"
"I guess we did."
Foster mirrored his gesture and leaned in, once again glasses touched in a toast and serene smiles returned to their faces. Cal thought he could have been staring at her smile for hours, and it was a dangerous thought. In moments like that a certain conversation with his daughter, more like a verbal ambush actually, climbed its way through his busy mind. It had come out of the blue, and at the worst possible time for him to be able to deal with it in a mature way. One thing Cal would give himself credit for on that was that he had been honest about it then: he did not have an answer for that.
Once again his brain scrambled to push away those thoughts before they could reach his face, noticing that neither of them had drank after the second toast. More importantly, they hadn't touched the sparkly drink since the first sip.
"How about a real drink darling?"
"Yes, please." Foster answered with no hesitation, immediately abandoning the glass of champagne on the desk. "I appreciate the sentiment but this is too much of a girly drink."
Cal chuckled as he stood up with a bolt of energy, going for the cabinet where he kept the scotch bottle and the glasses to go with it. He started pouring, almost ceremoniously, glancing back at Foster as she absently took off her blouse and crossed her legs again.
"Last time I checked love," he went back to the chair and passed one of the glassed to her, "you are a girl." And there's no doubt about that, he added in his mind.
"Doesn't mean I can't enjoy more masculine stuff." She took a swig at her drink, Cal saw how she welcomed the burning sensation down her throat before pointing a finger at him from the hand holding the glass. "And it's your fault by the way, you got me hooked on this."
"I regret nothing."
He was all smug and happy as he said that, then sat down again. Instead of drinking he put the glass on the desk, absently circling the edge with a finger while looking down at the amber liquid before wiggling his eyebrows at her.
"So?" He asked. "Favourite case? I mean, I get you have 200 to choose from but it can't be that hard."
"Except for the fact you'd know if I happen to lie about my pick?"
"I just don't see why you would need to lie about this, love. Let's face it." He waved his hands in the air, in that way that always seemed very random but probably never was. "This is by far not the worst thing I could catch you lying about."
That was true, they both knew it. Yet, for some reason Gillian seemed very resistant in providing an answer. And the only reason why Cal wasn't freaking out about it, not yet at least, was that she seemed more embarrassed about the motivation than anything else. Not too serious, judging by the look of it Cal figured it was probably something that she thought he was going to dismiss as silly. He chewed at his lip as he formulated the theory in his mind, thinking it was probably about time he started to let her know that all those silly things she did and cared about were most charming and endearing to him.
"I can go first, if you want."
Bit of a slow burner, I know, but I promise it gets better. Let me know what you think, feedback is always welcome and motivates to get more stories done.
