Thanks to those that have been reading, and especially to those that have been reviewing. I have one more chapter planned for this story before it's complete. :)

Disclaimer's the same as always (even if I do forget to add it in sometimes. :)

Loker was the first one to speak up as soon as Cal left Ria's room. "What'd she say?"

"She quit." He replied in a monotone, moving down the hall towards the elevator, barely sparing a glance towards the others.

"What?" Gillian couldn't believe what she was hearing. "She quit? You can't let her quit. She's just upset. Someone needs to talk to her." She took a step towards the room before being stopped by Cal grabbing her wrist firmly and pulling her back from the door.

"No. She wants left alone. No one enters this room. Got it?" His voice was harsh, his stare was unwavering. Gillian found the way he was acting very odd, but he glared at her until she nodded her agreement, followed by the others who in turn received Cal's glare as well. When he felt sure that they'd leave her alone, he continued his departure, not waiting for the others to follow.

#

Over the next few days, they visited her at the hospital often – everyone but Cal, who kept his distance. Loker was the first one who tried to bring up the subject of her quitting. She warned him to leave it alone and when he persisted in his usual Loker way she promptly called the nurse and had him thrown out of the room since she couldn't physically do it herself. Apparently he spread the message around because no one brought it up after that, though they were hoping that she'd bring it up herself.

Ria was allowed to go home from the hospital a week later, with orders to rest and take it easy, very easy. Loker volunteered to drive her home, and even though she was reluctant to let him, she ended up giving in. On the way to her home, he insisted on staying at her place to help her get around over the next few days. But she promptly shut the door in his face when they arrived, knowing that if he made it inside he'd refuse to leave. She hoped he wouldn't take it too personally, but after being stuck in the hospital and constantly surrounded by people for the last week, what she really needed was some time alone to recuperate and think over some things.

#

Eva stopped by on her way to school a couple days later to check up on her sister. They made forced conversation for a few minutes, but the way Ria seemed detached, almost despondent worried her a lot. Taking a deep breath, she plunged into the subject she knew her sister didn't want to talk about.

"Why did you quit The Lightman Group?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." She stared at the tv screen, silently willing her sister to drop the subject.

"But you loved that job. You loved working for Lightman, even if he did drive you nuts, and you were good friends with the people working there."

"Yea." Eva wasn't an expert at reading faces but she could still discern the expression of sadness briefly displayed on Ria's face. She decided to try another angle.

"So what are you gonna do now?"

"Dunno," was the only reply she got. Knowing she wouldn't get any further, she said goodbye to her sister and left for school, sending Gillian a text message on the way: "She needs help."

#

It was 6pm that same day when she heard a knock on her door and opened it, assuming it would be her sister stopping by again. Instead, she found Gillian standing on her doorstep holding a square casserole dish with tin foil over it.

Gillian smiled at her, saying "I thought it might be a bit difficult for you to make dinner on crutches, so I made us something. I hope you like chicken broccoli casserole," she added on with a hopeful look that Ria wouldn't just turn her away.

Ria maneuvered off to the side, letting her enter. "I live off of take-out Chinese and pizza most nights, so a casserole sounds lovely." She hobbled to the kitchen, followed by Gillian, and grabbed plates, silverware, and glasses out of the cupboards. Opening the fridge, she glanced back over her shoulder at Gillian, who was loading the plates up with casserole.

"I've got juice and I've got beer. What would you like?"

"Juice." Ria balanced on her crutches as she poured them both a glass, and then suggested they take the food into the living room. She made her way on crutches and Gillian brought their plates and then went back for their glasses. They both took a seat on the couch and ate in silence for a while. It wasn't until Gillian took a sip of her juice that she broke the silence.

"What is this?" She asked, analyzing the yellow contents of her glass.

"Passion fruit juice. I can get you something else if you don't like it." Ria offered.

"No, I like it. I've just never had it before. But I think I'll have to add it to my grocery list the next time I go shopping. It's really good."

"It's my favorite. I drink the stuff religiously. My mom got me hooked on it when I was a kid, but she'd only get it for special occasions. Now I get it all the time. Perk to being an adult, I guess," she said with a small smile at the fond memory.

Gillian had never heard Ria talk about her mom before, but she was glad to find that she at least had some happy memories from her childhood. They continued eating in silence until Ria broke it a few minutes later, asking a question she figured she already knew the answer to.

"So did my sister send you over here?"

"Yes and no. She's worried about you. Asked if I could check in on you. But I had already planned on stopping by anyways." Gillian admitted.

"I'm fine. Really. You guys don't have to keep checking up on me. I know you have a lot of work at the office right now. Especially since…" She let her voice trail off.

"You quit?" Gillian supplied the words.

"Yea."

"Why did you quit?"

Ria set her empty plate on the coffee table, Gillian mimicking her actions. She looked down at her hands in her lap, debating on what she wanted to say. Gillian was easy to talk to, but she still didn't like feeling vulnerable.

"Just between you and me?" Ria asked, looking up at her, wanting to be sure that Gillian would keep it between the two of them and not run back to the office telling Loker and Lightman everything.

"Of course." She nodded her assent.

"There were a lot of reasons, I guess."

"Such as?" Gillian encouraged her on, not letting her get away with such a vague statement.

"Well, I'm not sure I even understand all of it myself, really. I think part of it was out of fear. Fear that it could happen again, that I could work on another case and another crazed lunatic could try to kill me. I came awfully close to dying." She was looking down again, sadness playing out in her facial expressions.

"I remember." Gillian said, a corner of her mouth lifted in a small smile, adding a little bit of levity to the conversation as she remembered how worried she had been after the accident and after the shooting.

"I don't know. I think the fear thing, I could get past it. I guess it's not the real reason, or well, not the main reason."

"So what is?"

"It's…I guess, it's Lightman." A barely noticeable microexpression of shame crossed over Ria's face.

"Lightman?" Gillian asked, a crease between her eyebrows showing the confusion she felt.

"It's stupid, really." Ria looked away, embarrassment showing on her face.

"I doubt it."

"I just…I guess I thought…I mean, after working there for a while, I guess I've come to look at Lightman as sort of someone I can look up to….a sort of father figure…like I never had. That probably sounds ridiculous. Unhealthy."

"No, not really. I can understand why you would feel that way. But I still don't see why that would lead you to quit."

"Well, it's just…I think he's… disappointed. In me. Because I got myself into so much trouble, and I think I'm more of a nuisance or a hindrance than anything else to him. I guess I just wanted it too much."

"Wanted what too much?"

"Wanted him to care. More than he does." Ria finally admitted in a quiet voice.

"Hmm. I see." Gillian replied. "And this is why you quit? The real reason?"

"Yea. Just don't tell him, okay? It'd just be awkward." Her voice held a slight tone of pleading.

"I won't say anything, but I think you should talk to him. I think he cares a lot more about you than you know, more than you're giving him credit for."

"I don't think so. He didn't come to see me in the hospital after the accident. He didn't even say anything or try to dissuade me when I quit after getting shot. I think he's probably just glad to be rid of me."

"He's not. He's been in a sour mood all week and I'm fairly certain it's because you're not there. And he came to the hospital with all of us when we heard you were in an accident. He left because he wanted to find the guy, not because he didn't care."

"Yea? So why didn't he come back the next day with the rest of you? He could've stopped in, for just a moment even. But he didn't return until after I'd been shot." She tried to keep the hurt and the accusation out of her voice, but it was hard to do.

"I can't explain why Cal does the things he does. But I do know that he has a reason for why he does them, even if he doesn't often let everyone else know what it is. I really think you need to talk to him."

Ria didn't respond, just let the conversation lapse into silence. Eventually they picked it back up, switching the topic as Gillian filled Ria in on what she'd been missing at the office. A little while later, Gillian decided to leave, realizing that it was getting late and she should probably let Ria rest. She walked to the door and opened it, before turning back around and looking at Ria.

"I really do think you should talk to him. Just think on it, okay?"

"Yea, okay. Thanks for dinner, Gillian. It was really good and I'm glad you stopped by."

Gillian hugged her and gave her a smile before leaving for home.

#

The next morning, Gillian stopped by Cal's office on her way in, and was glad to find him sitting behind his desk as she walked in.

"Hey."

"Foster." He spared her a small smile. " What's up?"

"I stopped by Ria's last night." She said without preamble, not really caring to engage in small talk first.

"Yea." It was more of a statement than a question, but he couldn't hide from her the small flicker of interest that showed on his face for the briefest of moments.

"I really think you guys need to talk. You need to go see her."

"Look, luv. She made her choice. End of story." His voice was perfectly controlled and unapologetic, expecting her to drop the topic.

"Cal, just go talk to her." she stated in a commanding voice before walking out and leaving him sitting there, staring at where she had been standing, in slight disbelief that Gillian had just ordered him to do something and then walked out. He was more used to the diplomatic, psychiatrist Foster, not the bossy, just-do-as-I-say Foster.

He put it out of his mind as he was busy dealing with clients all morning and didn't think of it again until lunchtime when he was sitting in his office again and heard a knock at the door. He expected to see Foster walk in again, but when he looked up, it was Eva that was entering instead.