Well well, are we having fun?

Eteri: you'll find out soon enough what they have in mind, question is can they deal with what they started?

A few hours later Gillian was in her office, scrambling to finish a report for a psych evaluation before lunch. Yes, she wanted to get it done so that she could have lunch with Cal and wasn't in the least bit ashamed to admit it. Of course, she wasn't going to compromise the quality of her work and had already told Cal they might be going for a bite later than planned because she needed to finish that. He had no problem with that, the utmost respect for her work had always been there and Gillian was honest enough to recognise it was one of the many things that had always kept them close.

"You're doing it again, Gillian!"

She muttered to herself then, feeling her resolve to focus on the task at hand slip away as her mind drifted off to him - to them - then she took a deep breath and went back to typing. She was just about to start on what should have been the last paragraph when she heard a knock on the door, a smile immediately coming to her lips before she looked up, ready to greet Cal with something teasing about him being unable to wait, but quickly wiped it off when she saw Loker instead.

"Loker, come in."

Ever polite, Gillian motioned him to come forward and moved away from the keyboard, even though she moaned painfully within as she noticed the expression on his face. She wasn't entirely sure what it was, not yet, but it certainly looked like he was there to have the kind of conversation that was going to take a while.

"Are you sure you're not too busy?" He asked as he sat down.

"No, don't worry." She turned the chair to give him her full attention, then noticing how nervous and worried he was. "Is everything ok, Eli?"

"Eli," he sighed then, huffing an absent smile through his lips as he repeated his own name. "You know, I think it's the first time you use my first name without being sarcastic or angry at me."

Gillian was baffled, partly because of his strange demeanour and because of what he said, and partly because she realised with a bit of guilt that he wasn't entirely wrong. She had an excellent memory and could easily recall some of the occasions he was referring to, which made her feel even worse because even though her irritation had been warranted at the time she was never a big fan of taking things out on other people.

Now on alert, wondering if those moments of disrespect and rejection were what had brought him there, Gillain immediately felt the need to fix things. Between the two partners Cal was the one with the jerk reputation, but Gillian knew she too could have a mean streak: certainly, unlike Cal, she didn't take pleasure in that behaviour and was more than ready to pedal back when necessary. So she stood, keeping her eyes on Loker who was now looking down at his hands on his lap, clearly uncomfortable, and walked around the desk to sit in the other chair.

"Loker," she said softly, her hand gently resting on his shoulder. "I'm sorry about that. I really am. I know some of those times I might have been under a lot of pressure but I won't use it as an excuse." He took a deep breath and looked up at her with sad eyes. "I know Cal likes to tease you and test you but you've been with us for years and we value your work. You are an important part of this company, I hope you know that."

"I'm sorry Foster-"

"Gillian," she interrupted him gently, smiling as he bit his lip. "Let's make it even, uh?"

Loker nodded, more to himself, then looked down for a brief second before staring back at her with a very different expression. His face seemed to have lit up, his eyes no longer sad but somewhat hopeful, almost dreamy as if a very pleasant prospect had come to his mind. Gillian picked up on the strange switch but held her gentle smile, carefully and slowly morphing it into a polite and slightly more detached one. Then Loker shifted on his seat and turned around to face her better, and Gillian felt him leaning into the touch of her hand still on his shoulder while his fingers absently brushed the one she was resting on her lap.

"I wish it was that simple, Gillian," he whispered, and she had to order herself not to panic when she saw the look in his eyes. "But things can't be like that, between us, can they?"

"L-Eli." She babbled, not sure what was more appropriate with what seemed to be the direction he was suddenly - very suddenly - heading. "What do you mean?"

He chuckled softly, the seemingly positive noise meant to hide a bittersweet smile that Gillian didn't fail to see. Slowly, she removed the hand from his shoulder, feeling the contact way out of place, and for good measure also pulled back on the chair to put some distance between them.

"You don't think I stayed all these years becasue I like being tortured by Lightman, do you?" He paused, smiling shyly as he added. "Despite everything I always had one good reason to come to work every day."

"I'm not sure this is a conversation for us to have," Gillian managed to say, thinking she should have probably stood up and gotten away from him, but decided for a less obvious rejection.

"No, you're right. Certainly not here." He did it, he took her hand in his and went on with a pleading voice. "I know it's probably not the best way to go about it but…perhaps we could go for dinner once? Or just a coffee, a walk…just so that we could talk?"

"Loker, I don't think that would be appropriate," Gillian said eventually, trying to be as delicate as possible but also playing the professional card. "I'm your boss, and I wouldn't want to lead you on regardless."

"I see." He sighed, heartbroken, deflating on his seat as she slid her hand away from his. But then he shook his head, looking painfully confused. "I just thought maybe…when you called me babe yesterday…"

Damnit Cal! She cursed in her mind, but then had to concede that whole babe thing had stemmed from her very own mistake.

"I am really sorry about that, I was trying to teach Lightman a lesson-"

"No, it's ok. I understand." He took a deep breath and shrugged himself out of some sort of stupor, then he stood up and made his retreat to the door, nearly stumbling on his own feet. "I should have known better, I mean…it was too good to be true."

Somehow he managed to smile, although it came out more like a painful grimace as the last words left his mouth with a heavy tone of regret. Still pretty much shell shocked, Gillian watched him leave and close the door behind, but she was unable to move from her spot for a while feeling as if she had just been run over by a bus. She had seen many strange and unexpected human behaviours in her line of work, but what she had just been through beat them all by a long stretch. For months she had thought that the way she had Cal had finally gotten together, with him blurting out 'I love you' out of blue while they had been laughing their asses of at insanely funny movie, had been sudden and uncalled for…but Loker coming to her like that was a second Big Ben explosion rocking her universe.

She was still mulling it over, knowing there was no way she could finish that report by the end of the day, let alone for lunch, when another knock on the door shook her. Somewhat terrified, Gillian stood up and turned around while stepping away from the door as if she was afraid of who might be coming in this time, partially reassured when she saw Cal coming in.

"How's that report of yours coming along, love? I'm starving-" His smug grin vanished immediately when he saw her face, concern coming down on his own in the blink of an eye. "What is it, Gill? Are you ok?"

"Yes Cal, I-" She shook her head then tried to gather her energy to give him her best reassuring face. "I'm ok, it's just…you wouldn't believe what just happened!"

Intrigued, almost reassured, Cal stepped closer and guided her to the couch where they sat together. There weren't many things he could name that would make her that uncomfortable, but Cal could tell she was confused and baffled by something and even if it didn't look like something he had to really worry about he didn't like to see her like that. Thankfully, she was eager to share and as they sat there he pulled her closer gently, listening as she told the fascinating and weird story of Loker making a pass at her. Cal listened, his face a mask impossible to read for her. Gillian hadn't even questioned whether to tell him or not, but he did have a possessive side when it came to her, which combined with his complicated interaction with Loker made her worry that he might get on his feet and go have a chat - involving fists - with the younger man.

When she was done, feeling better already, Cal pulled her even closer guiding her hand to rest on his shoulder and sighed.

"Can't really blame him," he mumbled then, seemingly careless. "You're quite the catch, and it does something to men when you call them babe."

"Cal, this is serious!" She pulled away and slapped him on his chest. "What if he makes something out of this, or decides to leave- Don't!" She admonished him with a raised finger, stopping his joke about Loker not being that much of a loss for the company before he could even put it together in his mind. "We need to fix this."

"There's nothing to fix, love." Cal shrugged. "He made a move, you laid him down gently and professionally and we all move on."

"It's not simple. Would you have just moved on if I hadn't reciprocated your feelings?"

Cal gave her a long grave look, loaded with sudden sadness and fear.

"Don't even joke about that, Gillian." She wasn't going to, they both knew their whole world would have imploded had that been the case. "Listen, you owe him nothing and it's not like you've been flirting with him or something. Unless-"

"No, of course I haven't!" She hit him again, but chuckled freely at his teasing smile. "You're impossible, you know that."

"Takes dedication love, especially on a consistent level," he teased, but then gently pulled her back down to him and kissed the top of her head while absently caressing her shoulder, the two of them well aware of how good it felt to do so without giving a crap about someone walking on them. "I understand him though, I do. You're a beautiful woman, you kind and smart and you always try to shield him from my crap. He's like a sick puppy you want to take care of. Hell, even Emily had a thing for him once!"

"I don't have a thing for him, Cal," she clarified again, suddenly exhausted.

"I'm not saying you do, but I do see why he would have one for you. Not much of a mystery there. He'd have plenty of reason for making a move on you." Then he sighed again, muttering in a low voice as he added. "I guess that also explains why all of a sudden Torres is hitting on me."

As they talked Gillian had resumed her position, comfortably snuggling up on him with her hand resting on his stomach and reeling in the comfort of his presence to chase away the confusing thoughts of Loker's apparent love confession. But as he said those last words, getting them out with such an absent and careless voice he almost seemed bored by the thought, her whole body froze and she nearly lost her breathing. Shocked, Foster pulled away from him and stared him down, trying to understand if he was being inopportunely funny or outrageously serious, left not at all reassured by the realisation he was actually both things at the same time.

"Excuse me?!"

Cal couldn't hold back a grin, her reaction was funny enough but most importantly he caught the clear flash of jealousy in her voice. He filed away the information that she could be as possessive as he was, extremely pleased by that piece of knowledge, then smiled softly and leaned in for a quick, reassuring, kiss on her lips before explaining.

"She came into my office this morning, shortly after we got in," he said, calm and not at all bothered by what he was about to reveal. "She said she had been thinking about trying her hand at doing some research based work, like Loker, so that she could sharpen a different set of skills. So we're there in my office, she's asking for advice and the lot. I'm at my desk and she's standing near me, then she start leaning in, more an more, until she's basically whispering in my ear and her ch-"

"Alright I get it, Cal!" Gillian cut him abruptly, shuddering slightly at the thought. "What did you do?"

"What do you mean what did I do? Nothing, love!" He rolled his eyes. "I ignored her and tried to keep my distance." Gillian looked relieved, however it didn't last long as he bit at his bottom lip before adding. "But she wasn't having it."

Gillian's eyes grew wide in shock and her face contorted in a disgusted expression, which got worse and worse as he went on. Torres had seemingly pulled all the stops, chasing him around his office every time he tried to get away and put some distance between them, tilting her head whenever she was close enough and continuously looking for contact with his arms and shoulders, speaking in a low and seductive tone and not shying away from some well timed innuendos. Too shocked to react for the time being, Gillian listened as he told her about how the young woman had eventually cornered him in the library with the excuse of asking for a specific book from his collection. According to Cal, Torres had spent a few good minutes thanking him for the help with her new project, shily confessing she didn't think he would be up for it, following it all up with that she had been hoping for them to have more time together for more one-on-one special training.

Gillian listened to all of that not sure what to make of it, especially considering how totally unphased by it all Cal seemed to be. He looked like he was having fun with it, not Torres' advances per se but rather amused at the idea of her making a move on him so shamelessly as if he wouldn't see right through her.

"And before you ask," he finished then, gently holding her hand and stroking the back of it with his fingers, "I didn't tell you because I didn't have the chance. By the time that was over you had gone to the meeting with the Animal Control people, then you said you had to finish the report and I figured we'd have a laugh about it over lunch."

"I'm not sure this is a laughing matter, Cal," she sighed, not questioning for a moment the veracity of what he had just said thanks to how openly he was letting her read him. Then she stood up and looked at the two chairs in front of her desk where the strange showdown with Loker had gone down. "They are up to something."

"Hold on, it's ok for me to accept Loker could have a crush on you but you're just going to discard the possibility Torres might have the hots for me?" Cal stood up too as he whined childishly, coming over to her.

"Please!" Gillian scoffed loudly and huffed, staring him down with a confident spark in her eyes that made him stiffen in his underwear. "Like she would be able to handle you!"

"I feel equally flattered and insulted, love." Cal cocked his head on one side and stepped closer, keeping his hands in his pockets but coming close enough to trap her body against the desk. "And aroused, mostly aroused."

"Well, keep it in your pants Cal. We've got a situation here." Foster didn't know where she found the strength and willpower to resist him at times like that, when he was so close that she could almost taste him, when he looked at her like he had x-ray vision and was scanning everything underneath her clothes. "What do you think they are trying to do?"

Cal took his time standing so close to her, enjoying the way she looked while not hiding how he made her feel whilst also being focused and fully committed to address the issue at hand. He wasn't surprised that, like him, had immediately realised the sudden intimate interest of their employees was part of a plan they had to unravel.

"Well, I guess it's fair to say they finally did get it," he said then, regretfully stepping back a little.

"And what? They don't think we're solid enough to withstand someone trying to work their way between us?" She said that and they both looked at each other, nearly bursting into laughter at the thought someone could be that delusional. "You think it was some kind of test?"

"I don't know love. If it is, I'm not sure what they might be trying to prove." He shrugged, thoughtful.

"Me neither," she sighed and folded her arms to her chest, then looked up at him with a sultry smile that once again tickled him in some very interesting places. "I guess we'll just have to find out."

Let me know what you think Cal and Gillian will do next!