Lucy came running into the offices, paving the way for Emily and the large tree. She was wearing her big fluffy coat as her feet danced on the floor with surprising grace and a look of pure joy on her face. She twirled in joyous circles, her toes pointed like she had been trained in dance until she danced right into Cal.

"Look!" she said pleased. "It's the biggest and prettiest tree I've ever see!"

He just kept staring at the tree with extreme bitterness. Christmas was not his holiday. It just wasn't. It was more along the lines of Gillian's holiday. She didn't wear Christmas sweaters or pins, but she did wear Christmas spirit.

Cal squinted at the tree. "How much?"

Emily rolled her eyes as Lucy leaned against him. "Relax, Dad," Emily told him. "It's a tax write-off."

"It's a rip-off more like," Cal grumbled.

Gillian appeared from around the corner and Lucy went running to her. "Look, Mommy! Look at the tree! It's so pretty!"

"It's gorgeous, girls!" Gillian clapped her hands excitedly, already wanting to get a hand in on decorating the tree. Lucy nodded excitedly as she looked up excitedly. She was light on her feet as she danced around on her toes around her mother.

"Are we gunna get a tree for home too? Or just this one for the Christmas party?" the little girl asked.

Cal glanced at her. "Christmas party?"

Gillian kept smiling, meeting his gaze. "The one you're throwing for you fantastic staff."

Lucy looked up at her mother. "Me too?"

"Of course. Your staff plus Lucy and Emily," she corrected herself as she stroked Lucy's hair.

"You always said they're just like family to you," Emily added, twisting her hips slightly.

Cal narrowed his eyes. "You two, you're in this together aren't you?" He looked down at Lucy. "You may be my only hope. Repeat after me: Bah humbug."

Lucy shook her head as she giggled. "Cal, don't be a Grinch."

Gillian chuckled. "Bah humbug is Scrooge actually, sweetheart."

Cal shook his head as he scooped Lucy up, tickling her stomach. The little girl struggled against him as she laughed.

"Oh! Uh, Dad," Emily said awkwardly. "I'd like you to meet Nick Massey." Her words were short and quick, already worried about how he would react and already looking to Gillian for help in keeping her father in line.

Cal immediately stopped his tickling as the dark haired, clean cut boy stood in front of him. Nerves were etched into ever feature in his face, which meant Cal had something to work with. Gill shook her head at Cal's initial reaction. She knew this was one of those times she'd have to step in.

"Oh yeah?" Cal studied him even more as he let Lucy back to her feet.

Lucy noticed the tension quickly as well. "Rick is really nice, Cal. He even helped us pick out the tree," the little one tried, but knowingly stood closer to her mother.

Cal kept both hands in his pocket as Emily's friend offered his hand out. Gillian decided to take pity on him since Cal definitely wouldn't. "I'm Gill," she introduced, shaking his hand. "Lucy's mom."

Relief washed over him. At least someone was being welcoming to him. Emily kept staring at her dad, hoping that he'd be civil, but she doubted it was going to happen.

Before Cal could say anything else though, another woman appeared through the office doors. She was accompanied by a man in a suit that screamed government official. "Dr. Lightman," she greeted politely before handing him a small card.

He looked at it as Gill studied the other two people. They were here for something very serious. Their faces sober and it made her heart drop. All she wanted was a quiet Christmas with Cal and the kids.

Cal snapped back into reality. "Right. You're with me," he told the woman then glanced at Gill. "You too."

Gill guided the others down the hall as Cal instructed Emily to watch Lucy and made Lucy promise to report any touch Emily and Dick chose to do. Both girls rolled their eyes.

The woman was trying to appear intimidating, but after being with Cal as long as she was government officials were just more kids on the play ground. She was nice enough, but Gillian felt like she was too loyal to Cal to say anything before he arrived.

Call quickly called the woman out on being NSA as she instructed Gill to boot up the satellite link system. He stayed very close to Gillian, his hands on her shoulders as she pulled up the screen.

They had dealt with the government's top secret, classified business before. They knew to tread lightly even if Cal didn't really obey, but they did listen. There were two marines that were separated from their platoon during a skirmish. They found an American with the Taliban/ Franko James Vincent from Baltimore.

Gillian cringed as she stared at the screen. "Oh my God."

"American who went over to the Taliban or—" Cal began but was quickly cut off.

"Don't know what he is yet," the woman insisted. "All we know for sure is he's given up a Taliban compound in the Greman Valley where he swears they're holding the two marines."

Cal kept looking at the screen, studying the features of the man on the screen. Searching the man's features through the beard and through the hair for a base line. His hands slid across Gill's shoulders as he moved closer. "Well, I get what you want from me." He glanced over to Gill. "Uh, transmit."

She obeyed. They gave each other a brief nod. "Mr. Vincent," Cal said loudly. "You say you know where the Taliban are holding two U.S. marines?"

He paused, trying to watch the man's face but the signal sucked. There was so much that he couldn't make out, in fact he couldn't make out anything.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Cal tried again. He looked thoroughly frustrated at the gritty screen.

"I don't want to die." It was the only thing the man said that Cal could get a read on.

"All right. The part about not wanting to die, that's true enough, right?" he glanced back at Gill. Voices were her thing. That was what she was great at. She nodded in agreement but didn't take her eyes off the screen. "When did you join the Taliban?" Cal demanded.

"I was an aid worker, and I was teaching school when the war broke out." Cal and Gillian both watched, trying to read him, but it was nearly impossible. "And-and I got very sick in a village, and they—they saved my life."

Finally, Cal had enough. He turned away from the screen and shook his head. There was no point in watching him anymore. "That's enough. Stop there."

Gillian looked over at him. "No denial about being Taliban," she tossed in.

With a single shoulder, he shrugged. "No. Well, the delays not helping," he groaned. She looked thoroughly aggravated. "Um—But I mean, I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him."

The woman that still remained nameless to Gillian nodded. "He's lying then."

Cal pressed his lips into a then line then gritted his teeth as he tossed the idea around in a way he could explain it to her. Then he just gave up the idea of that. "You'd need to bring him here for me to get a proper read. I'm sorry."

"While we mount a mission to rescue those marines, we'll have to treat him like an operational asset," she looked him square in the eye. "In country."

Gillian watched as Cal took in what that meant. She prayed that he'd just wash his hands of it. That he'd tell the woman to go to Riker or anyone that meant him staying in the U.S. and not getting dumped into the middle of a war zone.

"Look, if you think you're gonna send me to Afghanistan-" he began but was quickly cut off but the woman's posture change.

Gillian and him both knew that's exactly what she planned to do. Gillian closer her eyes and sucked in a breath not wanting to even touch that subject. Whether Gill was Cal's girlfriend or business partner she had very little say in these matters, especially when the federal government was involved.

Cal stuck out his jaw as he bit the inside of his cheek. "You do think you're gonna send me to Afghanistan, don't you?" The only response she gave him was a sad sort of smile. "And there was I, dreaming of a white Christmas. How quick can you get me there?"

Gillian suddenly felt ill as she got to her feet. Just because she knew he wouldn't say no didn't mean she wasn't hoping he would. "Cal."

He looked over at her and raised his eyebrows. There were two marines with children that could die at anytime. In his mind his hands were tied.

"Have a helicopter on the roof," the other woman told him. "It'll get you to Andrews in 20, wheels up in 30."

Gillian just rested her face in her hands as she tried to digest this. Sometimes she really hated this job, usually when it involved Cal risking his life.

"All right," Cal agreed easily. "And, um, Gill." He met her eyes. There may have even been an apology in those deep eyes of his, but there was definitely concern in his and hers. "Not a word of this to Emily, all right?"

She pursed her lips. "Lucy too then?"

He paused and looked back at her. Now there definitely was an apology. Still he nodded before heading out the door to find the girls. He didn't have very much time to find and say goodbye to both girls, plus he knew he'd have to give Gillian a real goodbye.

Emily and Lucy were both in his office. Lucy sitting at his desk coloring while Emily held a bag up to his face. "Hey, what's that?" he asked her, not hiding his disgust.

"It's secret Santa," Emily told him as he tried to look over Lucy's head to see what she was working on but she did her best to hide it. "You pick a name, and you get that person a gift. There's a twenty dollar limit. It's for the Christmas party."

Cal rolled his eyes but nodded. "Alright." Then he tried again to look over Lucy to see what she was drawing. "Is that me?" he asked pointing to one of the figures on the paper before she could slap her hand over it.

"Cal," she whined. "It's surprise! For Christmas!"

He held up his hands in surrender. "All right. All right." Then he smiled at her and gave it one more try. "It is for me?"

Lucy glared at him and covered it with both her arms again. "Cal, no peeking!"

Cal kissed her hair as he reached for his coat behind her. "I've got to go away for a few days."

Almost instantly, both girl's faces dropped as Gillian appeared in the door way. The news was in no way good or expected. Lucy's big blue eyes dropped to the floor, afraid to openly complain. Emily on the other hand was more used to his sudden business trips.

"Where?" she asked casually, effectively hiding her disappointment from her tone.

"Umm," Cal stalled as he reached into his pocket to be sure his wallet was with him. "Just out of town. I won't be long."

"Well, the Christmas party's in three days. You'll be back for that, right?" Emily continued, looking more vulnerable than she sounded. Already, he was refusing to let himself look at Lucy, knowing she wouldn't be able to hide her emotions as well as Emily and it would break his heart even more.

Instead he straightened his scarf and flickered a smile at Emily. "Oh, I wouldn't miss that for the world, love."

She grinned too. "Liar."

"No, it's uh… fairy lights… and really crappy music and-and good will to all men. Right up my alley," Cal added sarcastically. .

Lucy kept drawing, not looking up at him. "And Santa and family."

Finally he looked down to the mess of brown curls sitting at his desk. "And I wouldn't miss that, Luce," he promised, petting her hair as she looked back up to him. "I'll be back for Christmas."

Gillian inhaled as Lucy nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shirt. Cal picked her up and hugged her for a long moment before looking back at Emily. "Where's your boyfriend, Dick?"

Emily rolled her eyes. "Rick. Funny Dad."

"Uh, did I- did I scare him away, did I?" Cal asked her, a hint of victory on his lips.

"Uh, for your information he went home to study," she fired back with just as much power.

Gillian smiled at the exchange as Cal took out his wallet. "All right. In that case," he counted out a large amount of money and handed it to Emily, even with Lucy still in his arms. "There. Get the best Christmas lights for your tree that money can buy." Then he placed Lucy on the ground and handed several more bills to Emily before looking back to Lucy. "You buy the biggest, prettiest topper for that tree. Make sure Em lets you pick it out. She's a bit of a Christmas hog."

Emily laughed and pushed him as he headed for the door again, giving Gillian one of his classic Cal smiles as though he could handle anything in the world that was thrown at him.

"So where are you going?" Emily asked chasing behind him and holding up the stocking of names.

"I'll only be in Florida," Cal lied, immediately looking away from Emily and pretending to pat his pockets for something then he looked at the stocking. "What happens if I pick myself?" he asked as he reached his hand in.

"Then you put it back and draw again. Besides someone already has you," Emily told him.

"Who?" he asked, getting closer to her and studying her features.

"It's a secret!" Lucy reminded him.

He smiled at her. "Oh, I almost forgot." As he looked at the name in his hand he started laughing. Of course he'd get Loker. Just who he wanted.

"Well, hurry home," Emily told him as Cal hugged her and kissed her cheek. He holds her for several minutes before reaching down and snatching up Lucy.

"You need in on this hug too, don't you luv?" he asked the little girl who immediately snuggled to him.

The hug for a moment longer before Cal hands Lucy off to Emily and looks at both of them. "I love you," he tells them both kissing Lucy's forehead then Emily's cheek again.

"I love you, too," Emily respond automatically as Lucy just nodded as the both hurried to the door.

Lucy beamed at her mother. "We're gunna get stuff for the tree, Momma!"

Emily also looked beside herself as she smiled at Gillian. "This is gonna be the best Christmas party ever!"

The girls were gone before Gillian could even respond. They were too happy, but then again, they didn't realize that person they loved was going to a very unsafe warzone, not Florida. She tugged on her scarf as she looked at him.

"What?" he asked her, obviously not happy.

She shook her head. "You can't go to that place again."

He raced his hand. "I've never been to Afghanistan in my life," he told her matter of factly.

Taking a step toward him and completely removing her scarf she gave him half a smile. "You know what I'm talking about, Cal."

There was a moment that he looked away. Of course he knew what she meant, but this was something bigger than him. "Two missing marines, love."

She moved into him, her head resting on his chest against his pounding heart. She nearly told him their two girls that need him as well, but she knew better. She didn't want to fight with him, she'd wait until he got home for that.

"Fear's healthy," she reminded him softly as he wrapped his arms around her. "Don't forget it."

"Right you are," he replied before pulling her away just enough to look at her. His lips twitched into a grin as he raised an eyebrow. "I'm going off to war, I was hoping for more than a hug."

Of course he could make jokes at times like this. She laughed at him and moved her hands to his face. He needed to shave, but that was another thing that would just have to wait. They held each other's gaze for an extra moment before she went in and kissed him passionately. His arms tightened around her as she smiled into the kiss, nipping at his lower lip and even moaning as his tongue invaded her mouth.

It was one of the best kisses she had ever had. His hand just underneath the back of her shirt, holding her hips in place as she ran her fingers into his hair. When they finally broke apart she could see how dilated his pupils were and feel his arousal.

For a moment he was about to go in to kiss her again, when she turned her head. "You come home and we'll pick up where we left off," she promised, forcing a smile even though she very much wanted to cry.

"Right where we left off?" he waggled his eyebrows.

She laughed at him again. "You come home," she repeated. "We'll pick up where we left off."

He seemed to find this agreeable as he leaned in to peck her lips one more time before heading out the door. "Bye, darling."

For several moments she stood there, leaning against the wall in his office, hoping that everything would go smoothly. That Cal would get there, be able to read the guy with ease and be right back home before she knew it.

Then she sighed, wrapping the scarf around her hand and shaking her head. Sometimes she just wished Cal would say no to people.

Hope you guys are like this so far! Please review!