"I couldn't even get near you when you were on the rebound."

"Maybe you didn't try hard enough."

"Are you saying I had a chance?"

Had he had a chance? Could they have been together since Burns left? Or worse still had he wasted all of this time from the moment she left Alec? So many times Cal had wanted to go after her, tell her how he felt. Like the time he thought Alec was having an affair. He'd wanted to turn around in that corridor go back into her office and just hold her. Tell her, her husband didn't deserve her but then neither did he. So he hadn't turned around. He hadn't held her. He'd upheld the line. Or the time she'd told him that she and Alec were separating. He had struggled to contain his joy so he had made excuses about visiting Torres so he wouldn't act on the alarming need to grab her and kiss her and never let go. What about Burns? Gillian had been devastated when he left although she tried to hide it. Cal had wanted to be there for her like she always was for him but his jealousy wouldn't let him. He hated how she had risked her life and her heart for a man who brought all of the things Cal had been afraid he himself would taint her with.

"Mr Foster?"

Startled from his thoughts Cal looked up to see a smiling Gillian standing in his doorway. She crossed the room and perched next to him on his desk.

"Care to explain?" she asked.

Cal rose from his chair and stood in front of her. "I'm using you as bait. I mean what man could possibly resist you?"

"Bait." Gillian clarified.

"Yeah. You're my evil ex-wife who's bleeding me dry and I'm desperate to get shot of you by palming you off onto another man."

"And I'm sure that I'm the evil one because life with you will have been a bed of roses."

"Of course." Cal wiggled his eyebrows and grinned. "I'm just so loveable."

Gillian swatted his arm. "Yeah, not to mention arrogant, self-absorbed, slightly unhinged…"

Cal pushed his body flush with hers. "Are you calling me sexy?"

Gillian looked into his eyes showing him exactly how sexy she found him. He moved his mouth to hers but before he could kiss her she pushed him away retreating to the other side of his desk enjoying the look of frustration on his face.

"I only find amazing, funny men with interesting minds sexy." She told him as she headed out of his office.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To find myself a new man." She said winking. "Oh and why Mr Foster?"

"I'm a better liar than you." He answered following her to the door so he could watch her walk away. Truth be told the reason he'd chosen to use her name was exactly that. It was her name. When they had first met he had called her by it to distance himself, remind him she was married but then it became who she was. By using her name even just for a moment it made him feel like hers and it thrilled him.

What didn't thrill him was having to watch Gillian on a date with George. Even though he knew it was all an act it still made him uncomfortable and to make matters worse Loker and Torres were having too much fun watching him squirm. The shame he felt when she talked about his 'sexual A.D.D.' was matched by the surprise when she called him sexy. His emotions were getting in the way and he had to get out of there.

He was happy when the case was finally over. George had got what he deserved although Cal had still been tempted to castrate him. He was even happier when Emily got back from Chicago. He was glad to discover Zoe had a new man. His ex had moved on leaving him free and clear to do the same. When Emily had gone to bed. Cal took out a box of photographs and began sifting through them. He found the particular ones he was looking for. In each of the pictures he took out, Gillian was in the center. She was the focus of the photos and Cal had taken them all.

"There's a language to photographic composition. Framing everything. Tells you what he felt about you."

Cal thought back to his words to Noah. Judging by those words and these photos Gillian meant the world to him. Now if he could just find the words he wanted to say to her all of the waiting would be worth it.

The next morning when Gillian arrived at work she found a very expensive bottle of pinot noir on her desk along with a note. It read

'You called me sexy.'

Ok so not the greatest words Cal thought as he slipped the bottle onto her desk but they would have to do until he could find the right ones.