There was many things Gillian had imagine and believed would never happen, that's why when she woke up next to Cal, she had to second guess herself whether or not she was still sleeping. Her face was turned into Cal's neck and she could smell his scent. She couldn't resist leaning in and kissing his soft skin.
He smirked. "I was wondering when you'd wake up."
She moved her bare feet against the inside of his leg. Cal had his arm around her body, resting comfortably on her bare hip as she sighed into his neck. His skin felt so good against her lips that she couldn't keep herself from going back and kissing the area just below his chin.
"Gill," he groaned, loving the way she felt against him. She giggled and kept going. His grip on her his tightened as he suddenly rolled over to where she was on her back and he was on all fours above her.
He smiled hungrily down on her as she grinned back. His lips captured hers in a kiss that stole her breath as his hand moved across her bare skin.
"No! No! No!"
Cal jumped back at the sound of the Lucy screaming, a room away. Gillian was on her feet, grabbing her robe and tying it around her as she rushed to Lucy's bedroom. Cal grabbed his clothes that were strung across the room and tried to force them on quickly.
Gillian opened Lucy's bedroom to find all the covers on her bed kicked off and the little girl thrashing around. Her clothes were twisted around her body as Gillian went to her side, careful not to spook her more.
"Lucy, baby, wake up," Gillian whispered to the little girl as she took her into her arms and stroked her hair away from her face. Lucy instinctively clutched onto Gillian's arm and wiggled as close as possible.
"I want my mommy," she whimpered, still stuck in her dream. "Where's Mommy?"
Gillian gently shushed her and kissed her forehead. "I'm right here, baby."
Cal stood in the doorway, watching as Gillian gently brought the girl out of her nightmare. She was so gently and loving as Lucy cried. Her soft broken sobs slowly dying down to just whines as Gillian held her close.
"They wanted me to go with them, but I said no. I wanna stay with you, Mommy."
Lucy's dark curls were plastered to her forehead with sweat as Gillian hugged her close. "I want you to stay with me too, baby."
The blue of Lucy's eyes found Gillian's. "Forever and ever?" she asked.
"Forever and ever," Gillian replied.
Cal watched for several more minutes until Gillian lulled the small girl off to sleep with gentle tunes. Gillian just held the girl until she was sound asleep. Then she gently placed the girl back down on her pillow, still singing the same tune as she pulled the covers back around her. As she turned around, she looked honestly surprised to see Cal standing there watching her.
She didn't miss a beat with the soft song she was singing as she soft pushed him away from the door and gently closed it behind her.
"You're a natural," he told her honestly as she wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled up at him.
She laughed. "I have a doctorate in psychology, I better know how to calm a scared child."
He looked down at her, his arms wrapping around her waist. "You're a natural at being a mother. That wasn't being a psychologist, that was being a mother."
He leaned in and kissed her on the lips smiling as she sighed into him. He could get used to this.
Cal woke early the next morning, Gillian still at his side her head on his shoulder and her hand over his pounding heart. He was careful not to wake her as he escape from her bed and redressed. He needed to get home to change before heading to work. But he worried that if he just left without a note or something, she'd think this was a pointless one night stand.
Instead he leaned over her and gently took her lips with his. She smiled sleepily as her eyes cracked open. "Where are you going?" she yawned reaching up and touching his shoulders.
"Home to shower and change. I'll see you at work in a couple hours," he promised kissing her one more time. She regrettably let him go and drifted off to sleep for an extra hour or two before deciding to get up.
She stretched her hands over her head as she yawned and got to her feet. She decided to hop in the shower before going to wake up Lucy. As she entered the bedroom, Lucy was sleeping peacefully.
Gillian picked out Lucy's school uniform from her closet and laid it on her bed. It was probably best to let her sleep as long as possible due to the events of the night before. Gillian took a moment to look at the little girl that seemed at peace for the moment. Her curls framed her face easily and her dark complexion had a glow than many people would envy. She was such a beautiful little girl.
Again, Gillian reached out and touched the little face and traced the beautiful features with her index finger, smiling as Lucy wrinkled her nose. Indivertibly, Gillian woke the little one with her tactics and smiled as a big yawn escaped Lucy's lips.
Her big blue eyes fluttered open and looked up at her mother. Immediately a smile took over her kind features that Gillian couldn't help but match. "Morning, Mommy," she said sweetly sitting up and wrapping her arms around Gillian's neck. "Did Cal go home?"
It surprised Gillian that Lucy ever knew Cal was hear last night, unless she saw him when she woke up from her nightmare. "Yes he did," Gillian told her honestly. "Need help getting dressed?"
Lucy shook her head as she climbed off the bed. "Nope, I can do it, Mommy."
Gillian gave her another quick kiss on the forehead before going downstairs to get some breakfast. She grabbed her phone off the kitchen counter, how it ended up there last night she had no idea, and noticed she had two missed calls. One was within ten minutes from Cal, the other was right after that from Carrie, Lucy's social worker.
From some reason it always made Gillian's stomach drop to see Carrie's name pop up on her phone. Honestly, she was probably just calling to check up on things, but Gillian knew how these things worked. At any moment, Lucy could be ripped from her care and sent somewhere else. Carrie would do her best to keep that from happening, but it was still a general fear.
"I do okay, Mommy?" Lucy asked coming down and tripping on her untied laces, crashing into Gillian's legs. Gillian laughed as Lucy let the crash turn into a hug as she beamed up at her mommy. "I need to work on my shoe strings, can you show me again?"
"Of course." Gillian scooped Lucy up and plopped her down in one of the kitchen chairs. He took both laces and pulled them high up. "First, we cross them, then we tuck one. Then-"
"We make bunny ears!" Lucy said excitedly. "I remember that one."
A big smile took over Gillian's features. "Good job! Then they cross and one bunny ear goes into the hole and-"
"We pull!" Lucy nodded happily. Then she hopped off the chair. "I'll try this one, Mommy. Can I have Cheerios?"
Gillian nodded. "Of course."
In the end, a very frustrated Lucy finally gave in and let Gillian tie her shoes. This was probably the only thing that the little girl was noticeably behind in just because no one ever showed her before. In fact, Gillian never even realized she couldn't tie her shoes because she didn't wear tennis shoes very often. Lately they were all she was wearing because Lucy was determined to get it right.
Gillian promised herself she'd call Carrie back once she got into her office, but when Cal met her at the front door with a coffee in his hand, she couldn't help but smile. A hot blush crept to her cheeks as he noticeably looked her over in her classy grey dress that hugged her hips just right.
"Good morning," she told him, a smile that she was unable to hide revealing itself as he took a daring step toward her. She could feel that he wanted to kiss her but she attempted a sterner look. "Not here, Cal."
He pouted like a child. "It's our company, our bloody floor in this bloody parking garage."
She gave him a pointed look. "Cal, we shouldn't be flaunting our-whatever this is. Especially if we don't really know what this is."
He took another step closer to her, where her body was flush against his. "I can tell you what I want it to be," he said huskily.
Her blush deepened as her smile twitched at her lips. He knew he had won and she did too. He leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the lips before returning to a more appropriate distance. Gillian let herself smile then as his hand found her lower back and led her toward the entrance of the large building and finally the elevator.
"You know we can't be behaving like teenagers, this is our business," she told him, allowing the double meaning to do its job.
Cal just kept his small smirk. "Uh huh."
"Besides, we really haven't had the chance to really talk about it… I mean… last night."
Cal's smirk got wider as he kept staring straight ahead, just like Gillian. "Uh huh."
"So, we need to take it slow. At work. Discuss work. Not-"
Cal pulled the elevator stop button so suddenly, Gillian lost her footing. His eyes stared intensely down on her as she looked up at him. "Gill," he said sounding suddenly more serious than she had ever heard him.
Her throat felt dry and his hands held her waist. "Yes?"
"Do you want this?" he asked, the seriousness in his tone not completely hiding how timid and truly worried she would reject him. If she wouldn't have heard that tiny bit of self-consciousness in his tone, she would have rolled her eyes at him and asked him what kind of question that was. Of course she wanted this. She's wanted this for a long time, probably a longer time than she consciously realizes. Last night was one of the most intense and satisfying moment of her life and he was looking at her afraid that she was going to regret it, that she was regretting it already.
She cupped his cheek with her hand and kissed his lips. It wasn't just a peck but it wasn't all together passionate, it was tender and loving. "I want this," she promised, her lips close enough to still brush his.
He smiled at her. "Good."
They took a moment to regain their composure, both of them a bit more smiley now, before starting the elevator again.
"By the way," she said quickly, knowing she was going to forget if she didn't start talking about their actual business now. "I was looking at our budgeting." They walked into the Lightman Group together, something that was common enough that nobody thought much about it. "Expenses and overtime are two areas we should look at. And we should consider changing our company investments portfolio."
She looked over her shoulder at him to see him grinning before he placed a hand on her shoulder. There was a game he was playing, she could see it in his eyes. "You've started dating again, haven't you?" he squinted at her, his features playful. "Yeah."
She almost outright laughed. "Oh, stop it, Cal. Right now."
He pretended to think for a minute about what kind of person she would be dating. "Right. Um, stockbroker?" he offered teasingly. "Money manager?" Gillian chuckled at Cal's suggestions. "Banker?"
Torres had fallen into step behind them and was watching the way they interacted with each other. To her it was just typical Cal and Gillian.
Cal scrunched up his face and shook his head. "Oh, I thought you wanted to have some fun."
She wrinkled her nose at him in good hearted humor. "Oh, I'm having fun. Don't you worry."
A twinkle came in his eye and she quirked half a smile. "Oh, yeah?" he tossed back then immediately looked over his shoulder at their shadow before he dragged Gillian into his office and pushed all the boundaries right then and there. "Yes, Torres?"
"Uh, there's a visitor in your office. Sally Robinson from London," Torres informed him, smirking at the conversation she had just witnessed.
Cal came to an almost immediately halt. His head was down as his contemplated that and Gillian was suddenly more interested than she should have been. He spun around and looked Torres with raised eyebrows. "What?"
Gillian was a little taken back and so was Torres. "Whoa. Sally who?" she asked Torres, unable to take her eyes off of Cal's features, waiting for another hint of who this woman was.
Torres seemed more nervous than Gillian. "Uh, Robinson. High school sweetheart or something?"
Gillian's twinge of jealousy was nothing compared to her curiosity. Cal didn't answer Torres, just motioned in the opposite direction. "In my office?"
Torres smirked. "Uh-huh."
Just like that he was off, with Gillian and Torres hot on his trail. He threw open his office door and glanced around his room, searching for the mystery woman with the other two women standing in the doorway. Instead, a man jumped out from behind the corner and pointed at Cal. "Gotcha!" he exclaimed, his British accent even more define than Cal's.
The man chuckled mercilessly. Cal shook his head. "God Almighty," he mutter shaking his head.
"Yeah, but my mates still call me Terry," the man tossed back with impressive wit. The man opened his arms. "Come here."
The two men embraced like brothers, clapping each other on the back. "Sally Robinson, eh?" Terry teased, releasing Cal. "Hello. Is that a canoe in your pocket there, Cal?" He then looked over at Torres. "Nice played there, Mia."
"Ria," she corrected, handing him the coffee she was holding.
"Oh, well, thank you anyway." Terry then glanced at Gillian. "Excuse his manners. Terry Marsh," he introduced, "ex-partner in crime."
Cal squinted his eyes at him. "In a manner of speaking."
Gillian took note of the defensive tone which told her there was a lot to be said about their history. "Gillian Foster," she replied taking Terry's hand, "current partner in crime. Nice to meet you, Terry."
"You too." Cal noticed the dilated pupils as Terry grinned back at Gillian.
Cal grabbed Terry's wrist and pulled down away from Gillian's hand. Gillian felt a sort of flutter in her stomach because of his protectiveness. "All right, that's enough of that," Cal grumbled. "Good-bye, Dr. Foster."
He moved toward the door to escort the ladies out. Terry looked away, perhaps a bit of blush on his cheeks but that would inquire he had some shame. "Wow, Cal, that's so charming."
"Well it's been twenty-two years, hasn't it?" Cal shot back.
Terry took the opportunity to rub Cal's face in the dirt just a little more. "Listen, Gill, you fancy meeting us for a drink later?"
Gillian blushed at his forwardness, which only made Cal angrier. Before she could answer, Cal stepped in again. "It's Gillian, actually, and she's busy."
Instead she accepted Terry's coffee cup and looked back at Cal's intense gaze. They were flooded with emotions that she knew very well only she could see. The largest one of all was desperation. "Call me if you need me."
Gillian nodded before he escaped out the door, expecting Terry to follow, but Terry turned back to Gillian. "Listen-"
Cal's voice sounded from the hallway. "Oi!"
Terry turned on his heels again. "Yes," he muttered finally actually following Cal.
Gillian looked back at Torres. "Well that was… interesting."
Torres looked back at her and hummed with agreement. This was something they knew better than to sit around and discuss, so Gillian headed back toward her office to work on budgeting. She didn't mind doing the business part of their company usually, but lately it's been driving her insane. She needed to get out of the office. Actually…
She looked over at her cell phone. She needed to call Carrie and get it over with already, but she was dreading it. Truthfully she knew that she was being irrational, but this was Lucy. She was allowed to be a bit irrational when it came to her daughter.
Taking a deep breath, she dialed the number on her office line and listened to it ring. "Hey, Gill, I was hoping you'd be able to get back to me before lunch," Carrie said cheerfully.
Gill released the breath she didn't know she was holding. "So this is a personal call?"
"Sort of. I was hoping to catch up with you for lunch. Got plans?"
"Not unless some emergency comes up, which happens from time to time. Let's go someplace with good chocolate cake," Gillian told her with a smile, absently tracing the frame of Lucy's smiling face.
"The Cup? Meet you there at noon."
Gillian nodded to herself. "Sounds good. See ya then."
She hung up the phone and looked at the grinning little girl in the picture. It was only a week or so old and she was sitting at the top of the slide with a big smile. Gillian could almost hear her calling to her. "Mommy! You wanna go down too?"
Gillian smiled. She would fight tooth and nail for that girl, no one would ever take her baby girl away. Cal would fight with her.
Gillian kept her cell phone close as she grabbed her purse several hours later. Just in case Cal needed her, or she needed him. When it came to conversations about Lucy, no one knew. She wasn't happy to find out the FBI was watching Cal's friend Terry was on the FBI's watch list at the current moment which meant Cal was being watched as well.
Cal had a way of making things difficult for her. But he usually made it up to her. Perhaps that was one of the reasons she was so attracted to him. He had a way of daring her and testing her in way that made her want to kill him, but at the end of the day, she would rather hold him instead.
"Gill!" Carrie called to her as she walked up the sidewalk to The Cup. Gillian smiled at her friend and accepted the warm hug. "Are you actually eating, or just getting cake?" she teased lightly.
Gill shrugged as they walked into the entrance. "I'm not sure yet."
The hostess sat them almost immediately and Gillian ordered herself a glass of wine. Carrie did the same and looked across the table at her friend.
"How are you?" she asked, exhaling.
Gillian gave her a sober look. "Let's cut the small talk, you know I hate beating around the bush when Lucy's involved."
A satisfied smile twitched at Carrie's lips. "If only more foster parents were like you, Gill." Carrie then reached into her purse and pulled out a folder.
Gillian groaned as she realized there was more paperwork. "I thought this paper work was done."
There was still a big smile on Carrie's face as she pushed the paper closer. Gill pulled the paper closer to her and flipped the folder open. Part of Carrie wanted to take out her phone and take a picture of her expression. "Adoption forms."
Carrie nodded vigorously. "It's the first step."
Tears were pricking at Gillian's eyes as she covered her mouth with her free hand. She didn't know what to say as tears were barely held back. This was one of those things that she wanted more than anything, but the fact she could have it was something completely different. If Lucy was ever taken away, it may very well kill Gillian to have another child taken away from her.
Carrie leaned forward and patted Gillian's arm. "We're going to do everything you can so you can stay Lucy's mommy."
Gillian sucked in a breath and nodded. Immediately Gillian took a pen out of her purse and began.