Chapter 6
Cal Lightman and Neil Taylor had finished up their impromptu lesson and were settling down to get to know each other a little. Cal was very careful not to offer to teach Gillian's father how to lie convincingly. He didn't want that to come back on him. He didn't want to upset Gillian by making her think her father could now lie to her better thanks to her partner. And most of all, he didn't know how Neil would take it and didn't want to get on his bad side.
Instead, he had given him pointers on how to not look like he was lying when he wasn't, to people who didn't know better.
"Might be useful for you in the court room too, you know."
"Ha. Gillian already made me read both of your books," he laughed.
"Did she really?" asked Cal, joining him in his amusement.
"Yeah. Years ago. You know she really admires you. What you do. She has since the start."
"Feeling's mutual. I'd be nothing without her. She's advanced everything about my science and our business. And she's made my life unimaginably better just by being in it."
Neil took in the introspective adoration he was witnessing. Smiling softly and satisfied that his baby had managed to find a guy that he didn't hate.
"I should get you a copy of the third book!" Cal exclaimed suddenly.
"She mentioned at Christmas that you had just finished writing the third one. I'd be happy to contribute to the sales once it's published."
"Nonsense. Publication's not for another two months. I've got a few advances lying about though. You're welcome to have a gander. It's a bit more personal, this one."
Cal stood from his desk and moved into his library, opening a small box and removing a hardcover book. He handed it to Neil without his usual brash swagger, instead displaying a shyness that seemed uncharacteristic even to this man who had only just met him.
"Gill has the first print at home," he digressed. "Won't let me near it," he joked, but there was truth in his words.
Neil cracked open the first pages of the book's cover while he offered Cal a thanks for the seemingly egotistical gift. He stopped a couple of pages in and froze there. He looked up at Cal again to see a tentative look, as though seeking praise. With a smile of understanding, Neil closed the book and thanked Cal again.
Cal hadn't only been trying to get him to learn his science. He hadn't been showing off that he had another book coming out. He wasn't trying to impress his girlfriend's father by showing him how smart and successful he was. He was trying to show him how much he loved Gillian. In any way that he could.
Neil once again gestured to the book, raised in his hand. "I better go say goodbye to Gillian. Thank you, again for this."
"Not at all. Thanks for stopping in to see her," Cal replied. "It's a shame you can't stay longer. My daughter, Emily, she'd love to meet you. Always been fascinated by all things Gillian Foster."
"Foster," Neil said quietly to himself with a befuddled shake of the head, he had never gotten used to her being refered to by that name and never wanted to. He looked back up at Cal and continued their farewell, ignoring his own interruption. "Hopefully I'll be able to visit again. I'd love to meet Emily. I've heard a lot about her. She sounds like an incredible young woman."
"Yeah, she is," Cal said with pride.
They offered each other one final friendly goodbye, and Neil Taylor walked out of the room.
Gillian sat in the alcove of her office below the TV in one of the cream-coloured armchairs. In the adjacent chair sat Sarah, their grad student. The pair were silent, using only their hands and facial expressions to communicate. Gillian's movements lacked confidence and she kept looking to Sarah for reassurance that she was doing the right thing. Sarah occasionally paused to show Gillian the correct exact hand position or to take hold of her hand to move it to the correct angle.
Distracted as she was, Gillian hadn't noticed her father enter the room. He cleared his throat gently and waved his hand now that he had moved within the peripheral view of Gillian's companion.
"Dad," Gillian declared from her seated position. And then she began speaking to Sarah, using both her hands and words. "Sarah, this is my father," she said with a self-conscious question in her face, checking if she had signed the correct way.
Sarah nodded at Gillian with a hint of pride and then stood and extended her hand out to Neil Taylor. "It's nice to meet you," she said. Then she excused herself from the room.
Neil waited for the young woman to leave before returning his curious attention to his daughter.
"You're learning sign language?"
"Trying to," she said, refusing to meet his gaze.
"Any particular reason?"
"I have a friend, who doesn't speak. I'm hoping to maybe teach him a little ASL to help him get by," she replied vaguely.
Neil understood that she didn't want to give away any more than she just had, so he moved to sit in the chair that Sarah had vacated and leaned in towards Gillian.
"It's been really great to see you, sweetheart."
"It's been good to see you too. I'm glad you came," she said with honest relief. "I'm glad you finally got to meet Cal."
"Me too. I just wish you'd told me who he was to you."
"I'm sorry. I know, I should have. More for Cal's benefit than for you, honestly."
Neil smiled indulgently, although he wasn't sure he fully agreed with her sentiment.
"He's good for you?"
"We're good for each other."
"Any other news I should know about before I go?"
Gillian was about to shake her head and deny that there was any further ground breaking news in her life when she noticed something. She laughed out loud and pointed to his hand.
"He gave you a copy of his book?"
Neil laughed with her then and held his gift up between them. "Yes. He did. I think he was trying to show off a little. Prove a point."
"Yeah," she laughed again, her affection for Cal evident in everything about her. "He'll do that."
"Not about the book."
She shot him a confused wince, questioning his meaning. He opened the book to the point that he had paused on previously and held it out to her.
"About how he feels about you… I didn't even get to asking him what his intentions were towards my only daughter."
Gillian's face transformed in the same understanding that had crossed her fathers face only minutes ago in Cal's office. Her eyes brightened and her smile couldn't be held back. She looked up at the older man again to see how he felt about the words. What she saw was the comforting smile of a man who was sure his daughter finally had what she deserved.
"That was my Christmas present, you know. So he said anyway. He did give me other stuff."
Neil smiled and took the book back towards his chest, turning it around to read it himself.
"For Emily and Gillian. Purpose and Reason, and everything in between," he read aloud. "That's a hell of a declaration."
"And before the first date too."
"I'm happy for you."
"Good. Would be really awkward otherwise."
His smile widened again and he stood and stepped forward prompting her to stand too, then he leaned in and wrapping her in a tight hug he whispered, "I missed you, baby."
She held him just as tight. She couldn't say the words to him. But this was a start.
A/N: As always, thank you for reading. Please contact me either by review or PM with your thoughts orif you want to give me any feedback.
A/N 2: I hope you liked my interpretation of Gillian's back story. I have a lot more detail in my head about it so I hope I didn't either leave it too vague or include too much unnatural exposition. This was the character background episode that the show never gave us. We got one or two for Cal, and we got one for Torres. Gillian deserved her episode. And this was probably the most ship I could squeeze into an episode. She canny take no more.
