HOW IT ALL BEGAN

by kathyde

A look into the lives of Cal and Gillian before they met, when they met, their relationship then how it should have ended

7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Gillian set her alarm and got ready for work. She grabbed her cell phone to call Cal and grimaced at the time but she figured that Emily would be getting ready for school and they would probably all be awake.

"Yeah."

"Cal?"

"Foster, what's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you about my decision."

Cal's face fell. "That was quick, so Alec said no then…"

Gillian frowned at the sound of defeat in his voice. "Um…no…he didn't."

"Oh, so it's you that doesn't want to take a chance…"

Gillian shook her head and started to giggle that he sounded so forlorn. "Cal, who said the decision was no?"

In shock, Cal choked on the coffee he was drinking. "So it's a yes?" he asked excitedly.

"It's a maybe…"

"What?"

"I'm combining my vacation days and sick days and taking a few weeks off of work. I'll come work with you and we'll see how things go then I'll make my decision after that…"

"At's fair."

"I think it'll be a good test to see if this is what we both want."

"Oh, I already know, I want you Foster, in every possible way!" Zoe walked into the room and she stopped dead in her tracks as her eyes flashed angrily. "Wait!" Cal said immediately as he held up his hand to his wife. "I think that came out wrong! You know I love my beautiful wife, right. I meant that I want you professionally speaking…Foster?"

"I know what you meant, Cal." Gillian was laughing out loud at his slip up. She knew he had blurted it out innocently and she was guessing that Zoe had walked into the room at that exact moment. "I'll request my vacation time as soon as I get to work, hopefully, I can start working for you on Monday."

"With me…working with me…"

"Whatever, bye Cal."

Gillian went to work and gave notice that she was taking her two week vacation starting the following week. She passed her important cases onto the next doctor and then said goodbye to some of her other patients.

The following week, she drove herself over to Cal's house early Monday morning. She blinked in surprise when Cal answered the door in an apron.

"Foster!"

Gillian hesitated briefly. "Um…you told me to be here at 8:00."

Cal raised his eyebrows then frowned. "Oh, yeah, I guess I did…"

He turned and walked back inside and left her standing alone on the front porch.

Gillian blinked in confusion as she debated whether she should follow him.

"Hi, Gillian!" Emily greeted as she hopped down the steps. "Come on in!"

"Hi Emily, thank you." Gillian smiled as she shut the door and walked into the kitchen behind her.

She set her briefcase down in the corner then stood uncertainly in the center of the room.

Emily poured herself some orange juice as she looked at her dad expectantly then back at Gillian. Gillian saw her roll her eyes as she grabbed a coffee mug from a cabinet and filled it with coffee then walked it over to hand to Gillian.

Cal frowned as he looked up and realized he hadn't offered Gillian anything. "Thanks, Em, Foster needs cream and sugar…lots of it…"

Gillian was surprised he remembered how she liked her coffee and even more surprised at his culinary skills as she watched him expertly flip over omelets in three separate pans. Emily had brought over the cream and sugar and set it down in front of Gillian before she buttered the toast from the toaster and set it on the plates Cal had laid out. Cal slid omelets from each of the pans onto the plates as Zoe walked into the room.

"Just in time," Cal smiled as he handed her a plate.

Zoe made a face. "No time, sorry," she grabbed a coffee mug and turned to the coffee pot only to find it empty. "You drank all the coffee?"

Cal frowned then looked at Gillian as he realized Zoe's portion had been given to her. "Oh, yeah, sorry, I'll make some more."

Zoe waved her hand indifferently. "Don't bother, I'll buy some." She leaned over and kissed Emily's cheek. "Bye Baby, I'll see you later, have a good day!"

Zoe started to walk out the kitchen door when she noticed Gillian. "Oh, sorry, Gillian, good to see you," she smiled distractedly.

"Good to see you too," Gillian said to her back as she closed the door.

Cal looked at his wife's plate and sighed as he set in down. "At's a good breakfast gone to waste!"

Emily felt bad that Cal had gone through all that effort to make a great breakfast. "Mom doesn't know what she's missing Dad this is awesome!"

He actually looked disappointed and Gillian looked at him sympathetically. "Um…if it's going to go to waste anyway, I'll eat it."

Cal brightened as he looked at her in surprise. "Here, then, enjoy."

Gillian took a few bites and smiled. "Cal, this is really good!"

"Dad's an awesome cook!"

Cal blushed and shrugged his shoulders then raced to his wife's defense. "Your mom's a good cook too!"

Emily laughed aloud. "Yeah, she can toast a mean pop tart!"

Gillian hid a smile as Cal frowned at Emily. "Yeah, well, she doesn't have time to cook much more than that does she?"

Gillian felt the reprimand and watched Emily lower her eyes guiltily. "I guess not…"

Emily took her last few bites then shot to her feet. "I gotta go…" she announced as she kissed Cal.

"Bye, Luv…have a good day!"

"Bye, Dad, bye, Gillian."

"Bye, Emily," Gillian said as she watched the girl race out the door with her book bag.

Cal stood as well. "I just need to take a minute to cleanup this mess then I can be right with you." He nodded to a door that Gillian knew led to an office. "There's a blue file on my desk, you can start on it if you want…"

Gillian nodded as she helped clean off the table and brought him all the dishes and utensils. Then grabbed her coffee mug and headed into the office.

She gasped in surprise when she tried to open the door but it only moved enough for her to squeeze through. She turned on the light and blinked when she saw box after box stacked with papers falling haphazardly out of their covers. There were also stacks of papers all over the floor and on every available space.

"Um…Cal…do Zoe and Emily store there stuff in here as well?"

"What? Oh…um…no that's all my stuff."

"Your stuff?" she muttered.

"At's right…I'm a little behind on filing."

Gillian walked into the room and slowly started to read scattered papers from off the tops of boxes. She bent over and picked up several receipts off of the floor as she made her way to the desk.

Overwhelmed, she walked back out into the kitchen.

Cal glanced at her in surprise. "Couldn't find the folder?"

"Folder? I couldn't find the desk!"

He grimaced with embarrassment. "Yeah, well, I'll work on that this morning…"

Gillian nodded her head then looked at him curiously. "We never talked about salary…I mean I know how much you've given to me but I…"

She hesitated because she realized she had no idea how much money the business actually made.

Not one for beating around the bush, Cal looked at her pointedly as he filled the dishwasher. "Whatever is troubling you, Foster, just ask…"

Gillian straightened her shoulders. "Exactly how much money does The Lightman Group have?"

Cal shrugged as he stacked the last of the dishes inside then closed the door and started the machine. He turned and looked at her with confusion. "I have no idea!"

Gillian blinked in surprise. She took a deep breath then started to think about the fact that his business was less than a year old and that maybe he just didn't crunch any numbers yet. "Okay…well, then how much do you take out of it personally?"

Cal threw his hands in the air. "I don't know! I have a credit card, I charge whatever I need and Zoe takes the rest."

Gillian's jaw dropped open in shock and she tried to hide her disappointment as she shook her head slowly. "Um…I'm not sure if this is a good idea…"

"What?"

"My working for you…"

"With you…working with me not for me!"

"Cal, look…I took my two week vacation to work with you and get a feel if I would fit into this business but I'm not even sure if you have a business here!"

"Foster, I have more work then I can possibly finish right now, I'm out all day trying to solve cases then I try to do my books when I get home."

Gillian pointed at his office. "Well, your office looks like a war zone so something else is taking you away from doing that!"

Cal grimaced as he nodded. "Yeah, I usually get home a little before Em and then I have homework to deal with and dinner to make…"

Gillian softened at the mention of Emily. She knew his daughter would always come first and by rights, she should always come first.

Cal had been watching her and he reached out to her and touched her arm. "I promise you Foster, come work with me and I will do better!"

Gillian sighed and smiled weakly at him. "Make some more coffee…its going to be a long day."

Cal squeezed her arm gratefully. "Thanks, Luv! You won't regret this!"

"I better not," Gillian sighed as she turned to walk back to the office.

She walked across the room and flung open the drapes to flood the room with light. When she turned around, she heard Cal gasp.

"Bloody hell!" Cal said as he walked into the room and for the first time actually looked at the mess he made.

Gillian nodded her head. "You're finally seeing what I see?"

Cal frowned and blushed with embarrassment. "Well, it looked better with the drapes closed."

Gillian started to look into boxes. "How long has it been like this?"

"Since the start," Cal admitted sheepishly.

"Do you have any system in place?" She looked at him and already knew the

answer. "All right…we can't do this in here. Let's start hauling it all to the kitchen and use the table there."

Gillian glanced down and looked at her white blouse and knew it was going to be ruined by the light covering of dust and dirt that covered everything.

"Don't move!" Cal said as he raced from the room. He ran to the laundry room and grabbed two shirts off of hangers then went back to hold them up in front of Gillian. "You can change into one of these…"

Gillian reached for what was obviously the woman's shirt then realized it was probably Zoe's. She thought about how she would feel if Alec lent her clothing out to another woman and she frowned as she reached for the black t shirt.

"Yours?"

"Yeah…" Cal grinned but it quickly faded as he looked at her worriedly. "It's clean."

Gillian looked puzzled by his comment. "I wasn't worried…unless you have cooties…" she said nonchalantly as she headed to the small bathroom off the kitchen to change.

"Nope, no cooties." Cal said as he grinned at her back.

He quickly carried in a few stacks of boxes then glanced up as Gillian came in with her blouse in her hands. Wordlessly, he went to the laundry room and brought her back a hangar. Surprised by his thoughtfulness, Gillian took it and hung her blouse in the doorway to the laundry room.

She frowned as she looked at the stacks of laundry piled up. "Cal, as long as we're going to be here all day, you should start a load of laundry."

Cal was walking in with more boxes and nodded. "At's a good idea, multi tasking…see I knew I needed you!"

He quickly loaded up the washer and started it then he and Gillian started to walk more boxes into the kitchen.

When the walkway was filled, Gillian held her hand up. "We'd better start on this or we won't get it done in time for your family's dinner."

They sat down and each opened up a box.

Cal looked at her puzzled. "What are we doing?"

Gillian was leafing through pages and sighed. "I have no idea…I have what I think are papers that belong in case files here as well as personal purchases and then bills…and sales flyers from stores…" Gillian turned it over and looked at the date. "From six months ago…and here's some expired coupons…"

Cal blew out a long breath as he watched Gillian square her shoulders. "Okay, I need paper, marker and tape." Cal walked over to a drawer in the kitchen while she walked around and emptied the contents of four boxes neatly onto the table.

Cal watched as she labeled the four boxes personal, business, client and receipts. Gillian pointed at a stack. "Start separating."

Cal grabbed the first few papers then set them down as he ran out into the garage to get a big box on which he wrote recycling. He set it down behind them.

The new colleagues, worked silently as they each put things in their correct box.

Gillian could figure out most of the papers but when it came to what she thought were items for the case files, she had to hand them to Cal for verification.

"Case?" she'd ask.

"Yep," Cal replied.

Eventually she stopped asking him and he would take it from her and file it into the proper box.

The recycling box was filled in no time at all and Cal walked it into the garage and brought in another one.

Four hours later, they had gone through all of the boxes in the kitchen as well as about twenty more boxes from the office. The back wall in the kitchen was now hidden by the separated boxes they had filled. The charge receipts and the client files were stacked three boxes high, the business files and personal files were each in two boxes and each category had a new box sitting on the table waiting to be filled.

It was noon when Gillian walked into the office again. "Wow!" she said at the almost emptied room.

"Yeah," Cal grinned. "It's starting to look like an office."

"We just need to get a few file cabinets in here." Gillian grinned.

Cal grinned and walked over to the closet door.. "Ask and you shall receive, Luv!" He opened it and waved his hand for her to look inside.

Gillian took a step and smiled at two tall boxes that contained brand new file cabinets. She turned and chuckled at him. "You should have opened these up sooner; it may have saved you some grief."

Cal rolled his eyes. "Maybe…"

"Why don't we sit and go through the client boxes first and get everything separated into individual file folders…"

"Um…Foster…I bought the cabinets but I didn't buy the folders…" Cal admitted sheepishly.

Gillian realized it was exactly something he would do and she laughed out loud. "Why am I not surprised?" Cal blushed as she reached out and touched his arm. "I'm going to the office supply store to pick us up what we need. You keep cleaning…"

Gillian walked out and grabbed her purse and keys. At the store, she quickly filled a cart with office supplies then frowned when she thought about asking Cal for money. She rolled her eyes and put it on her personal charge and filed the receipt into a special pocket in her purse. After she loaded the purchases in her car, she climbed in the driver's seat and felt her stomach rumble. She quickly assessed the drive-thru options around her then called Cal.

"Lightman."

"Cal, I'm hungry, I thought about picking something up, do you want me to get something for you too."

"Foster?"

"Are you working with someone else today that would be calling to buy you lunch?"

"I can fix us something here," Cal offered.

"What have you got?" Gillian wondered.

Cal walked over to the fridge and opened it then frowned as he let it shut. He walked over to the pantry and grimaced. "Beans and toast?"

"What?"

"Beans and toast…"

"Um, I'm going to pick up Italian beef sandwiches do you want chips or fries?"

"Chips."

"Okay, I'll be back in twenty minutes."

Cal hung up and walked to get plates and silverware as well as napkins. He set them on the counter then went back to separating client files. Twenty five minutes later, he heard Gillian pull into the driveway and he went out to help her carry everything in.

He set the office supply items by the table while Gillian opened up the carryout containers and began to move the sandwiches onto the plates. "I should have gotten chips too, I hate when the fries have the skins on them…" she groaned.

Cal picked up a French fry and popped it into his mouth. "At's the only way I like them…you take the chips, I'll take your fries."

Gillian smiled. "Thanks."

She piled the fries on his plate and the chips onto hers. She opened the beef sandwich and started to peel off the peppers and throw them back into the carryout container.

"You're taking off the best part!" Cal gasped.

Gillian wrinkled her nose. "It makes it too spicy then!"

"I like it when it's hot!" Cal grinned and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. He realized quickly what he had done and looked at her apologetically. "Sorry."

"I like it hot too but not when it comes to my food." Gillian grinned as she looked away and blushed.

Cal looked into a drink container and frowned. "What's this?"

"Iced tea, I thought you were drinking a bottle of it when you came into my office that last time.

Cal thought back and grinned. "Yeah, I did. Thanks. What are you drinking?" he asked as he tried to distinguish what was in the next drink.

"Chocolate shake…"

Cal looked surprised. "Really…"

Gillian rolled her eyes. "What…I like chocolate shakes…"

"Whatever, Foster," Cal grinned as he slipped into a chair at the island.

Gillian sat next to him and they talked amicably through their lunch. Cal finished first and started to clean up the containers while Gillian walked over and opened the file folders.

Cal finished and scooted is chair close to her. "I started separating them alphabetically by case; I was on the O's when you pulled up."

"Great!" Gillian complimented. "Why don't I get them labeled and start putting them in files while you finish P through Z."

Within an hour, they were done with the client files. Each client was now clearly labeled and the papers that corresponded to their case were filed with them."

Gillian motioned for Cal to follow her. "Come on, let's set up the office."

Cal followed her to the room and they looked around at the space.

"We need to clean in here…" Gillian suggested.

"Yeah," Cal admitted. He walked out to get the cleaning supplies and then carried everything back with him.

Gillian looked up at the dusty ceiling fan. "Top to bottom!"

Cal looked up and grinned. "Why don't we just turn it on and no one will notice?" He grinned at the look she gave him. "Right then, top to bottom!"

He left and came back with a ladder then started to clean the blades on the fan. Gillian washed the windows then started on the wood shelves lined up against the far wall. It no time at all, Cal had finished and then made his way around the room as well until everything was dusted and ready for use.

Gillian stood in the doorway. "Vacuum?"

Cal nodded and quickly brought her the machine. Gillian thoroughly vacuumed room and then stood back to look at their handiwork.

"Okay," She glanced at her watch and wrinkled her nose at the time. "It's almost 3:00. What time does Emily get home?"

"4:30."

Gillian nodded and looked at the wall behind her. "What if we put the file cabinets over here?"

"They would take up less space in the closet."

"I thought we could put shelves in the closet and organize all your cameras and video equipment."

Cal grinned. "At's a better idea. I'm always worried something is gonna get broke, lying on the floor."

The two worked well and quickly unpacked the file cabinets then set them up against the wall Gillian had picked. Cal walked all the cardboard out to recycling as Gillian started to put the client files into a drawer.

"What now?" Cal wondered.

"Why don't you move your personal files over behind your desk under the window then you can go though them whenever you get a chance."

Cal did that as Gillian sat and opened the first credit card box of receipts. She glanced at the first receipt when she saw that a purchase had been made at a popular discount store. The receipt was for bananas, peaches, lettuce, cereal and deodorant and at the bottom of the list was a video camera. The next receipt was for Victoria's Secret. Gillian set them down then quickly grabbed three empty boxes and labeled them personal, business and mixed.

"What are we doing now?" Cal said as he read the boxes then wrinkled his nose. "Never mind…wait…what's mixed for?"

Gillian raised her eyebrows as she handed him the first receipt. Cal glanced at it then frowned. He made a face as he rolled his eyes and blushed. "Yeah, I was in a hurry that day."

Gillian swiped it from his hand and dumped it into the mixed box. Cal sat down next to her and started to shift through receipts as well. They were on their second box when Emily walked in.

"Hi!"

Cal got up and kissed her cheek. "Hi, Darling, how was school?"

"Boring."

"Hi, Gillian, I didn't expect to see you here!"

"Hi, Emily."

Cal looked at his daughter curiously. "I told you Dr. Foster was going to be working with me, where did you think she'd be?"

Emily grinned. "Long gone by now! It's been like eight hours since I left, and she's still here?! That's the longest anyone's ever been around you isn't it?"

"Hey!" Cal asked as he pretended to be offended.

Gillian giggled as Emily grabbed and apple and made her way into the office. She gasped as she took a bite. "Oh my God, I can't believe you got all of this done in one day!"

Gillian smiled warmly. "You can do anything once you set your mind to it!"

"Yeah, well Mom and Dad have been saying they were going to get this done for almost a year!"

Cal rushed to his wife's defense. "Well, it really isn't your mum's mess is it?"

"It's not Gillian's either!" Emily countered. She had been watching Gillian as she separated the receipts. She grabbed one and showed it to Cal. "So, you went to The Accessory Hut and purchased earrings for one of your clients?" she asked innocently but her voice dripped with sarcasm.

Gillian hid her grin as she looked down and continued to sort through receipts.

Cal rolled his eyes and turned away. "Should I start dinner?"

"Nope, I'm good with the apple. Can I help?" she asked Gillian first then glanced at Cal.

Gillian looked at Cal for permission and he waved his hand dismissively as he opened the fridge and brought over three water bottles.

Gillian smiled at Emily. "Wouldn't you rather be watching tv or listening to the radio then sitting with a bunch of old people."

Emily looked at Cal then innocently back at Gillian. "You're not old…" she said as she implied that Cal was. "Besides, if you have any hopes of finishing this by the time Mom gets home, you're going to need help."

"Well, thanks for offering; if you help, your dad can start on the business files…" Gillian said as she looked at Cal for confirmation.

He nodded and took his first box over to the counter top and started to separate the bills from the correspondence.

Meanwhile, Gillian and Emily made quick work of the last remaining charge receipts.

"Done!" Emily said proudly.

"Yeah, thanks to you!" Gillian praised.

"Where should we put these boxes?" Emily wondered.

"Can you take the ones that say personal and put them by the window behind my desk?" Cal asked.

"Sure," Emily said as jumped up to do as he asked.

Gillian carried in the business receipts and stacked them next to the file cabinet then put the mixed receipts on top of them.

Cal sorted through the last box and he, Gillian and Emily each carried one of those boxes and stacked them on the other side of the file cabinets.

Gillian took a deep breath and glanced at her watch. "Well, that was a full day of work."

Cal glanced at the clock on the wall and knew Zoe would be home within half an hour. "Fancy staying for dinner, it's just spaghetti…"

Gillian shook her head. "No, thanks, I should get home and get something started for Alec and I."

Cal started a pot of water to boil then walked her to the door. "Are you coming back tomorrow?" he asked nervously.

Gillian giggled at his worried tone. "Why do you have a basement to clean out…the attic maybe?!"

"No!" Cal looked horrified. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't get this done before you started, I swear I honestly had no idea it was this bad…"

"Cal, I'm kidding. All new businesses have growing pains, it was kind of what I expected, I don't see why we can't have everything on track by the end of the week."

Cal looked relieved. "Good, I'll see you bright and early in the morning then."

Gillian started to leave and met Zoe as she was coming in the door. Zoe smiled until she saw Gillian in Cal's shirt.

"Did you two have a good day?" she asked suspiciously.

"We did…bye, Zoe," Gillian said sweetly. "Sorry, I'm in a hurry, I need to go home and cook dinner for my husband."

Zoe clamped down on her anger. It was said so sweetly but she wondered if Gillian had just insulted her.

Cal had walked away and was putting the spaghetti in the boiling water when she walked in.

"Is there a reason she was wearing your shirt?"

Cal blinked in confusion until he remembered borrowing Gillian a shirt. "I lent her one so she wouldn't get her blouse dirty."

"And what did you two do all day that she would have gotten so dirty?"

Cal opened the door to the office and waved his hand. "Ta da!"

Zoe's eyes widened in surprise at the condition of the office, "Wow, I should have let you hire help a long time ago."

"Foster isn't the hired help, Zoe, I'm hoping she'll agree to be my business parter!"

"What do you mean? Business partner?"

"I told you I was offering her a chance to be my partner!"

"You told me you were offering her a job!"

"I can't expect her to quit a damn good job and come work for me at a business that isn't really established, now can I?"

Zoe ignored his comment and cocked her head to the side. "What did you mean when you said if she agrees…"

"She took vacation time from work to try to see how we would structure this business, she said she'd give me a few weeks then decide."

"Well, she's not likely to get a better offer anywhere else…"

Cal frowned as he walked into the kitchen to see to the rest of dinner. Zoe ran upstairs to change and she and Emily came down together as Cal placed the dinner plates on the table.

The next morning, Gillian showed up and could tell Cal and Zoe were involved in a heated discussion. She smiled weakly then slipped into the office and shut the door to give them privacy.

She opened up the credit card receipts for the company then started to put them in date order.

Zoe could be heard screaming at Cal. "You're going to be home all day anyway, what difference does it make?"

"Your daughter has been up puking all night, Zoe, don't you think she wants her mum?"

Zoe spat angrily. "You know she always wants you when she's sick, you'll be here to take care of her."

"I'm working too," Cal countered.

"Oh, please! You're paying Gillian enough, let her do some work."

Gillian frowned at the venom in Zoe's voice until she heard Cal speak quietly. "I'm going to tell you this one last time. I need Foster in this business, if I can't convince her I'm worth the risk, The Lightman Group is going to close. If she agrees to this, she will be my partner so I would suggest you stop referring to her as the hired help."

"Or what?" Zoe asked defiantly.

Cal sighed as he ran a hand down his face and backed off. "Go to work, Zoe, I'll take care of my daughter."

He walked away and effectively ended the argument. Zoe's face fell as once again, he chose someone else over her.

Cal walked upstairs to check that Emily was set for awhile then headed back down.

He made a fresh pot of coffee then brought Gillian a cup with cream and sugar and smiled. "Sorry about that, Em's got a touch of something and we've been up all night taking care of her."

Gillian nodded understandingly. "Don't worry about it, raising kids is tough…"

Cal had backed away from her and she could tell he was listening to something. He frowned apologetically. "I've got to go…"

Cal raced into Emily's bedroom and his daughter was sitting up in bed crying hysterically. She was covered in sweat and Cal felt her forehead. She was burning up and her eyes were glazed over and she was mumbling incoherently.

"Foster!" Cal panicked as he called out.

Gillian raced up the steps. "Cal?!"

"Can you start a cold bath for me?!"

Gillian raced into the hallway and found the bathroom and quickly started to fill the tub with semi cool water. She turned to see Cal carrying his daughter into the bathroom. She blinked in surprise when he slipped into the tub fully clothed and held Emily tightly in his arms. The water level rose quickly and covered them. Gillian shut off the water when it was a few inches from the top as Cal continued to croon to Emily. Gillian grabbed a washcloth and applied it continually to Emily's forehead until she finally blinked in recognition.

"Dad?"

"I'm here, Darling, you're going to be okay now," Cal said as he looked up at Gillian. "Fever broke."

"I'm cold…" Emily's teeth started to chatter.

Cal motioned with his head to Gillian. "Do you mind…linen closet is in the hall."

Gillian knew he wanted her to get towels and she shot to her feet and went to get them. Luckily the closet and the rest of the upstairs seemed untouched by clutter and Gillian was quickly able to get several towels.

She walked back in to find Cal and Emily standing up in the tub. Emily was crying again because she was so cold. Gillian looked at Cal who was trying to cover up for the fact that his lips were blue and he was freezing as well.

Gillian placed the towels on the counter. "Turn on the warm water for the shower."

Cal closed the curtain and did as she asked then held Emily in the warm spray until she stopped shaking uncontrollably.

"Cal," Gillian asked. "Let me take Emily and get her into dry clothes, you can finish up then."

Emily climbed out of the tub and stripped in front of Gillian then allowed herself to be wrapped up in towels.

"Thanks, Gillian," Emily whispered as she looked at her while they walked towards her room. Her face was so pale but she had dark circles of exhaustion under her eyes.

"Oh, sweetheart, you're welcome, I'm sorry you're so sick."

It was only moments before Cal came in dressed in sweat pants and a t shirt and he was carrying a set of clean sheets. Emily was getting dressed so Gillian ran over and stripped the bed sheets for Cal then helped him put the new ones on. Working together they were finished well before Emily was done getting dressed. She was just slipping the shirt over her head when she started to stumble.

Cal raced over and grabbed her to steady her then guided her to the bed. "Woah, there Luv…if you're going to stumble always make sure you've got a nice soft place to land,"

Emily smiled weakly. "I knew you'd catch me…"

"Yep, I'll always be here for you," Cal smiled as he pushed her hair back from her face. "Get some sleep…"

"Okay," Emily sighed as she rolled over and was fast asleep within minutes.

Gillian had made her way downstairs and back towards the office. She stopped off in the kitchen and made Cal a cup of tea then refilled her coffee mug.

Cal walked in and sighed as she handed him his cup. "Thanks, darling, I'm freezing!"

"I bet…I couldn't believe you just hopped into the tub with her."

Cal chuckled. "I found out a long time ago that was the quickest way to break her fevers."

Gillian touched his arm. "You're a great dad!"

"Thanks."

"Look, why don't I grab some of these boxes and head home, I can work there…"

Cal shook his head. "No…its all right, really…Em will sleep all day now, She's on the mend and won't wake until at least 3:00."

Gillian frowned. "I don't want to disturb her…"

"You won't, I promise."

Gillian sat at the desk and went back to work on the credit card receipts. Once she had them in date order she matched them with the statements they corresponded with then set it to the side.

Cal sat at the kitchen table with the receipts she had already completed and jotted quick notes about what cases they corresponded to. His eyes grew heavy and he eventually put his head onto his arm and fell asleep.

An hour later, Gillian came to refill her coffee and saw him at the table.

She stood by his side and lightly touched his shoulder. "Cal…"

Cal shot up from the table. "What?!"

"Sorry…"

"I'm the one who's sorry," Cal said as he walked over to the coffee pot and poured a cup of coffee.

"Maybe you should just go upstairs and rest. I can come back tomorrow…"

Cal's phone rang and he grabbed it. "Lightman." He listened for a few minutes then nodded. "I'm at home, bring it right over." When he hung up, he looked over at Gillian. "We've got a doozy…"

"What is it?" Gillian wondered.

Cal reached for a bottle of aspirin only to find it empty. "Damn!"

Gillian went to her purse and dug out a bottle and tossed it to him.

"Thanks," Cal smiled gratefully as he took two pills out. Gillian handed him a water bottle and he sipped from it.

A knock sounded at the back door and Cal rolled his eyes as he opened it. "You called me from the driveway?"

"Nope, the stop sign."

The man handed Cal a blue file folder which Cal promptly opened as he walked over to stand next to Gillian so she could read along with him.

Their heads were close as they poured over the pages and familiarized themselves with the case.

Cal looked up and saw the man staring at Gillian. "Dr. Gillian Foster, Detective Nolan Martinez."

Nolan extended his hand. "Nice to meet you, Dr. Foster."

"Gillian, please."

"Yeah, call me Nolan."

"Foster here is my new partner."

Nolan blinked in surprise. "Partner? You're kidding right? I thought your wife was the only one stupid enough to tolerate you."

Cal pretended to be offended as he rolled his eyes. "Enough about my wife now tell me about this case."

Nolan filled them in as Gillian sat back quietly and tried to keep the facts straight and form her own opinion. Cal paced the room like a caged animal until Nolan stopped talking.

"Right then, the first thing we have to do is clear the parents name, they didn't kill themselves..."

Gillian frowned as she looked at him in disbelief. "Cal, all of the information gathered points directly against that theory."

Cal shrugged as he shook his head angrily. "I can't believe that a mum and dad would collectively decide to leave their kids behind."

Gillian faltered slightly then shrugged her shoulders as well. "I can't find anything in this file to suggest otherwise."

Cal looked at her pointedly and Gillian blanched at what she perceived was anger coming from him. "Then I suggest we spend some time finding something that will suggest otherwise…"

"Dad?!" a weak voice called from upstairs. Cal continued to pace, seemingly oblivious to Emily.

"Um…Cal, Emily's calling you…" Foster pointed out.

Cal shook his head dismissively as he stood and looked out the window. "Zoe will take care of her…"

Gillian frowned when he continued to pace oblivious to anything but what was going through his own head. She wondered if he even realized that Zoe wasn't here and with a concerned glance she backed slowly out of the room and headed upstairs.

She knocked lightly on the bedroom door. "Emily?"

"Hi, Gillian."

Gillian walked in to find Emily sitting up in bed with pillows propped up behind her and the television on. "Can I get you something?"

"Where's my dad?" Emily asked as she ignored Gillian's question.

Gillian smiled weakly. "Um, downstairs, we're kind of tied up with a case. How are you feeling?"

"Much better thanks, would you ask my dad if I can have some toast and maybe some 7UP?"

Gillian nodded. "Sure, do you want me to bring it up here?"

"If you don't mind…"

"Of course not," Gillian smiled as she headed towards the door. "I'm glad you're feeling better enough to try to keep something down."

Gillian went to the kitchen and quickly made some toast. She spread the smallest amount of butter on it just to give it some moisture then grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator as well as the 7UP.

She glanced at Cal who was still pacing in the office. With a frown, she climbed the steps to take the items to Emily.

"Here you go, Em."

"Thanks, Gillian." Emily said as she reached for the plate. Gillian sat down next to her and watched as she cautiously munched on a piece of toast then slowly drank some of the 7UP.

Gillian realized Emily knew not to chow down on the food or gulp the liquids. She was happy that she was probably on the mend as most of her color had returned.

Emily yawned loudly as she finished her toast. "Wow…I only ate a piece of toast and now I'm totally exhausted!"

Gillian stood and took the dirty plate. "Why don't you try to get some more rest?"

Emily's eyes were already closing. "Yeah, maybe I will."

Gillian knew she'd be asleep again in just a few minutes.

She was about to set Emily's plate in the sink when Zoe walked in the back door.

"Hi," Gillian greeted.

"Hi," Zoe said cautiously. "Um…where's Cal?"

"In the office…"

Zoe went to walk in then saw Nolan standing in the room with Cal and hesitated. "Nolan's here…that can't be good," she said as she turned to Gillian.

"He brought us a case and Cal…" Gillian shrugged with confusion and came to stand by Zoe. "I don't know…for lack of a better term…he just lost it…the facts clearly point in the complete opposite direction he's looking…"

Zoe frowned knowingly. "Is it a suicide case?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

Zoe grimaced then looked in at her husband. "When he was young, Cal's mother committed suicide…every time a case like this comes up he becomes obsessed with it…"

Cal chanced to look up and blinked with surprise to see Zoe.

"How's Em?" he asked as he walked out of the office.

Zoe shook her head with confusion at his question. "I have no idea, I was about to ask you the same thing…"

"Well, Luv, she called out awhile ago, I thought you'd taken care of her…"

"Cal, I just got home…"

Cal frowned and started to walk upstairs when Gillian grabbed his arm.

"I went up to see her, she asked for some toast and 7UP, I brought it to her and she seemed to be able to hold it down, her color looked good and she fell right back asleep."

Gillian had spoken mostly to Zoe but she glanced occasionally at Cal.

Zoe smiled weakly at Gillian. "Thank you, I got home as soon as I could, I was able to get continuances on most of my cases but there was one the judge refused to grant and I had to stay longer than I anticipated."

"That's okay," Gillian smiled warmly. "Emily's a great kid, I didn't mind helping out."

Cal felt bad that he hadn't been there for Emily and grimaced at Zoe. "I'm sorry I let you down, Nolan brought a case…"

"I heard," Zoe interrupted. "Its fine, honey, I get it, I'll clear my schedule for tomorrow and take care of Emily, do what you have to do…"

"Thanks, Darling," Cal said gratefully as he kissed his wife's cheek. He turned and grabbed Foster's arm and dragged her back into the office. "Let's get you up to speed then, all right?"

Gillian almost fell over when he grabbed her arm and pulled her roughly along behind him. She quickly got her footing and slipped into a seat in the office where Cal bombarded her with his thoughts and feelings about the case.

"So what do ya' think, Foster?"

Gillian frowned and looked at him intently. "I…I'm not sure…I'm not seeing the same things that you are…"

"You think I'm wrong too?" Cal said sadly as he shook his head in dismay.

"I didn't say that!" Gillian quickly countered. "Cal…I…don't have any of the training in lie detection that you have so I'm not seeing things they way you do…but…I do have a gut feeling that there's something not right about all of this."

Cal whirled around and walked over to her, standing way too close to her. "Go with your gut, Gill, what do you feel?"

Gillian had initially balked at his closeness but then relaxed when he stopped just short of touching her. She squared her shoulders and began. "They were still so young, by all accounts they seemed madly in love and they were awesome parents…their financial problems weren't that great and I don't feel it was a sum so insurmountable as to send them over the edge."

Cal sighed as he smiled at her insight. "Thank you!"

Gillian cocked her head. "For agreeing with you?"

"For opening your mind to other possibilities…"

The partners sat with the detective and formulated a plan and after a short interview, Cal determined that it was the wife's brother who actually killed the young couple. Once it was determined that the murder/suicide was actually a double homicide, the insurance company paid the policies and the grandparents who were awarded custody gave The Lightman Group a huge payout.

Four days later, they were standing in his kitchen and Cal proudly handed Gillian that check. "See what we accomplished by working together?"

Gillian's eyes grew round as she looked at the size of the check. "Wow!"

Cal shrugged. "Lie detection can be a lucrative business. Have you decided yet if you're in or not?"

Gillian frowned as she looked at Cal worriedly. "Can we sit and talk for a minute?"

"Uh, oh…" Cal muttered as they walked into the office. Cal sat on the edge of the desk as Gillian settled into a chair. He could see she was struggling to find the words to break the news to him. "Just say it Gillian."

Gillian squared her shoulders and resigned herself to telling him the truth. "The Lightman Group has no formal accounting system."

Cal grimaced as he made a face. "I…know…I keep meaning to get around to it…but…"

Gillian smiled indulgently as she shook her head and continued. "I could find no record of any type of accounting system so, for the past week, I've gone home each night and spent time creating books and documenting all income and expenses…"

She walked over and lifted the lid off of one of the boxes. Cal glanced and saw that there were color coordinated file folders in the boxes and everything was neatly marked.

"I should probably give you a bonus…" he said sheepishly.

Gillian rolled her eyes. "That's not why I did it…if I'm going to make a decision as to whether or not I'm going to do this with you, I needed all the facts."

"So, what did you find?" Cal asked tentatively. Gillian frowned at him and he lowered his eyes. "I can take it, Foster…"

"Okay…The Lightman Group is definitely a viable company…" Cal's head shot up as he looked at her with surprise. "…I see no reason that we can't grow the company and continue to maintain our current financial standards…"

"So you're in?!"

Gillian sighed again. "I'm not sure…there has to be some changes…"

"Yeah, sure…whatever you say…whatever you need me to do, I'll do it…are you in?"

Gillian ignored him and continued. "These changes have to do with personal expenditures being run through the company books…"

"Uh, oh!" Cal frowned.

"Yeah…"

It was Cal's turn to grimace as he started to pace. "So, Zoe and I have been running too much personal stuff through the books?"

"Kind of…"

"Kind of…what kind of answer is that?"

"Your expenditures for the most part are viable business deductions..."

"And Zoe's are all personal…"

"In a manner of speaking…" Gillian said diplomatically.

Cal chuckled. "Victoria Secret lingerie and pizza parties not on the expense account…got it!"

Gillian smiled that he was being so understanding. "Cal…let me show you something…" She sat and opened up her laptop. "This is what you made in income last year…"

"We made…" he corrected as he bent over and gasped at the bottom line. "At's a lot of money."

"This is what was spent…"

"Oh…"

"Yeah, for this to be successful, you need to issue yourself a paycheck and stop using the company as a petty cash fund." Cal nodded as she continued. "Now if we do at least the same number of cases that we did this past year, this amount is what I feel the company can afford to each pay us as a salary…"

Cal blinked in surprise at the number. "At's a pretty good amount."

"I feel the same way."

"But…" Cal changed the numbers so that the two of them made the same amount of money. "This is how the payout should be."

Gillian smiled nervously as she continued. "Thanks…we can discuss that later…now this is the amount we would have for new equipment or expansion if all expenses are company related."

"Look, Luv, Zoe was on the bank account because I thought with me being alone that would be a good idea, we'll close that account and open up a new one with our names only and nothing will be put through unless you approve it…"

"You might want to run that passed your wife…"

"Nope, our company, our rules…are you in?"

"If Zoe agrees to the new rules…" Gillian smiled brightly. "Then yes, I'm in…I'll be your partner!"

Cal ran to her and crushed her to his chest in a warm hug. "You've made me a very happy man! You won't regret this I promise…"

Gillian giggled at his exuberance. "I said if Zoe agrees!"

Cal sniffled indifferently as he shrugged his shoulders. "All right, then Alec needs to agree too, print up these numbers and the four of us can have dinner tonight. If spouses agree, we'll move ahead…"

Gillian nodded as she picked up the phone. "Seems fair."

That night, the two couples sat down together for dinner. As Zoe and Alec were meeting for the first time, they kept the conversation centered around learning about each other. After dinner, Cal stood up and grabbed a folder off the desk. Gillian opened it and handed to Zoe and Alec a rundown of the company's financial statement.

"It's time for me to make a decision as to whether or not I'm going to go back to the Pentagon or continue to work with Cal. I've been spending time at home the last week to organize his books so I could have a better understanding of…"

Cal impatiently rolled his eyes. "Luv, they can see that; it's all right there! Look, Foster says she'll go into partnership but the conditions are that it's all right with you two." Cal showed them page two. "This is the amount that we would each be paid if we do nothing but the same amount of work we've been doing all along."

Gillian looked at Alec who nodded his approval, she looked at Zoe but all she could see was a blank look. "I also showed that if we accepted a higher case load, we will certainly see an influx of cash that would enable us to invest in better equipment."

"And possibly an increase in salary, once the equipment had been paid off." Alec added as Gillian smiled lovingly at him. "Honey, that sounds fine with me, you've taken on extra cases all this time and we're financially in a pretty sound place because of it, if you want to make this move, I have no problem with it."

Gillian threw her arms around Alec's neck and kissed him. "Thank you, Honey."

Zoe shot Cal a look then shrugged indifferently. Gillian looked at her warily. "Zoe, if you're still uncomfortable with this…I can turn down the offer."

"Bloody hell," Cal scraped his hand across his face as he looked at his wife.

Zoe saw the worry on his face and smiled. "No, it's a good move. Cal relies on you and I know he appreciates your insights into the work. He sleeps a lot better at night…"

"So it's okay with you, Luv?" Cal asked as he reached for her hands.

"Sure," Zoe smiled.

Cal hugged her warmly and delivered a sloppy kiss.

The two couples retired to the living room and spent another hour eating cake and drinking coffee. It was getting late and Alec and Gillian left to go home.

Cal turned off all the lights and headed upstairs. Zoe was sitting popped up in bed with the financial papers of the company in her hand.

"Uh, oh," Cal frowned as he looked at her warily. "What are those for?"

Zoe's brows rose in surprise. "You have to ask?"

Cal sighed as he sat down on her side of the bed. "You said you were okay with this Zoe!"

"I just want to know why she's making as much money as you?"

"She's my partner, Zoe!"

"She doesn't have your knowledge!"

"No and I don't have hers! We each bring our own level of expertise to the table."

"And you don't think you bring more to the table?"

"I'll start teaching Foster tomorrow. She's smart; she'll be able to pick things up in no time."

Zoe sighed. "Fine, so this is your new salary?"

"Yep, with you working now, we should have no trouble making it on that, we've been dipping into the company for far too long for stuff we really don't need."

"By we you mean me?"

"I didn't say that, but the company hasn't had the money to buy the things I need to do my job properly."

"Like better equipment…"

"It would make it a whole lot easier if I could replay interviews that had better clarity and on a bigger screen."

Zoe smiled and nodded. "I get it, I just don't know how I feel about you having another woman's name on your checkbook."

"Its not another woman, its Foster were talking about here…Dr. Foster who came here tonight with her husband…"

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Those two do seem like they're still in the honeymoon stage."

Cal scooted against her and grabbed her around the waist. "We are too!"

Zoe rolled her eyes as she dropped the financial report to the floor then turned off the light to make love with her husband.

The next morning, Cal got every piece of equipment out and lined it up around the room. He had all of the programs up and running before Gillian came over.

"What's all this?" she asked with surprise when she walked into the room.

"Back to school," Cal said as he handed her a cup of coffee.

Gillian followed him to the first computer and sat in the chair he offered.

For the next two weeks, Cal taught her everything he knew. Gillian was a quick study and would go over at various points in the day and practice reading people from old footage.

It wasn't long before she was pretty good at it and was able to "carry her weight" in the new company.