Past

Cal spent the night at the office. Zoe had yelled and screamed at him as he gathered a few things in a bag. The worst thing was when little Emily appeared in the hallway pyjama-clad clutching her stuffed mouse, her big eyes wide with confusion and fright. She watched her mother scream and curse at her dad and tears welled in her eyes. Cal bent down to her and stroked her cheek, "I luv you darling" he said and added, "everything's going to be all right". At that Zoe turned and picked up Emily, looking daggers at Cal. "Leave. Now!" She said through clenched teeth. Cal picked up his bag and left the house and drove to the office. The next days and weeks would be hard but it was all worth it. Gillian was worth it.

As he entered the Lightman Group he noticed it was filled with people. As soon as the people who seemed to be in charge spotted him they stormed towards him. There was a new case, a kidnapping, and time was of the essence. Cal was ushered in the conference room which was filled with police and FBI. A little girl was missing, presumably kidnapped. She was last seen entering the school bus but hadn't been seen since. She had been missing for over 18 hours. Cal thought of Emily and chills sent down his spine. The investigation had led nowhere. The FBI wanted Cal to interrogate the school bus driver to see if he was lying. "Bring him in," Cal said seriously.

xxx

Gillian walked through the entrance of the group and was surprised to see all the people there. She approached the front desk.

"What's going on Carrie?" she asked the receptionist. Carrie explained about the kidnapping and Gillian shook her head minutely. "Poor parents, they must be devastated," Gillian said and made to join the conference room.

"Should I reschedule the meeting with the investors?" Carrie asked, picking up the phone and looking at Gillian.

Damn it. They couldn't cancel this meeting again. They had already had to reschedule twice before. Gillian looked thoughtfully at the busy conference room. The investors wanted to meet Cal. But there was not a chance that she would even try to pull him from a child kidnapping case. She would have to meet them alone.

"Uhm, no Carrie. Call and ask them to meet me at St. Regis at ten." Gillian watched as the receptionist nodded and began dialling.

Gillian walked to her office, catching a glimpse of Cal being debriefed. She had little time. She grabbed the necessary folders and fixed her nearly perfect makeup. She would need to charm these old farts. She sighed and grabbed her bag and left the office.

"Tell dr. Lichtman where I am if he asks" she said quietly to Carrie who nodded her head to indicate that she had heard.

This was going to be a long day, Gillian thought.

The meeting was long but successful. The investors insisted that Gillian join them for a lunch that prolonged greatly and she had yet to go over half of the files she had brought. Cal was usually the one who would make sure they never spent more than an hour with these people. He would leave and Gillian would apologise for him and they felt bad for her. But with the absence of Cal, they seemed to be making up for lost time. They seemed at least in no hurry and the lunch turned into cocktails. When Gillian finally left it was almost four o'clock. She was absolutely exhausted. She checked her phone and except for a few emails, she didn't have any messages. Cal was obviously still working on the case. She drove back to the Group and when she entered it was almost empty. Gillian went to her office and decided to do some paperwork until Cal came back. She was deeply focused on the budget reports in front her when someone knocked softly on her office door. She looked up smiling, hoping to see Cal there, but her smile faded a bit as Carrie stood there with her coat on.

"Are you leaving?" Gillian asked and smiled at the young woman.

"Yes. I finished everything…" her voiced trailed away and she smiled awkwardly.

"Uhm, this is a bit embarrassing but, do you have a spare tampon? Everyone left, or at least all the women did." Carrie asked looking embarrassed for having to ask her boss this.

"Oh, yeah, of course," Gillian smiled. She opened up her desk drawer and rummaged for a little while before finding one.

"Here you go," she said, handing it to Carrie.

"Oh my God thank you. You're really saving me." Carrie smiled again, "Somehow I'm always caught off guard, every month, haha" She finished with a little laugh.

"We've all been there," said Gillian sympathetically.

"Goodnight Gillian," said Carrie and left the office

"Goodnight" Gillian replied.

Gillian sat and contemplated something that was bothering her. She wrote a message for Cal, got up and put on her coat. She was probably just tired. These reports could wait until tomorrow. She walked to Cal's office and put the note on the desk and stopped to look at the sofa where she had spent last night. A strange feeling ran through her. She clasped her purse and left.

xxx

Cal entered the group just before midnight. He was completely spent. But thankfully the little girl was safe with her parents. This had been a gruelling day. The girl had been lured away by two teenage boys, one of whom showed serious psychopathic tendencies. After interrogating the bus driver for hours he finally admitted to seeing his son approaching the missing girl's house. What surprised Cal was that the bus driver was covering for his son not simply because he was the boy's father, but because he was afraid of his son. The son terrorised the house hold and Cal suspected that he had already harmed his little sister in some way.

Cal looked towards Gillian's office and it there was no light. She probably went home, it was very late after all. He walked into his office and slumped into his chair where he noticed the note on his desk. He reached for it and read

—Went home to catch some sleep. We'll talk tomorrow, yours G.— Cal smiled and moved over to the sofa. He laid down holding Gillian's note and fell asleep almost at once. He woke when the sun shone in his face through the drape-less window. He looked at his watch, it was early but Gillian was usually one of the first people to arrive at the office so he decided to get up. He thought he'd surprise her and he jogged downstairs to buy her a coffee and danish. Cal was happy. He gave a big tip at the coffee-stand and whistled an off key tune as he waited for the elevator. A few employees who waited with him looked at each other bemused. He walked into Gillian's office and arranged her coffee carefully on her desk. He was actually a bit surprised that she wasn't here yet. He looked at his watch, it was nine o'clock and she was rarely late. Cal scowled but brushed it off. He saw that Carrie was looking around for him and she gestured that he had a call waiting. He walked briskly to his office, hoping it was Gillian, but it was the FBI. The teenage psychopath who had kidnapped the little girl hadn't said one word since he was captured. And now the little girl was insisting that the bus driver took her. What a mess. Cal agreed to interrogate the suspect. They would be here soon and still no sign of Gillian.

Cal had been in the cube for a long time, facing a smug looking teenager, but hadn't uttered one word yet. This boy was still silent but stared at Cal with a nonchalant look that was none the less beginning to falter slightly. He had obviously prepared himself to infuriate the questionnaire by refusing to answer but this was not what he had expected. The tension in the gallery was intense. It was as if everyone was under a spell, nobody dared make a sound. Cal stared the teenager down and finally saw it. The slight twitch of his eyebrow. His tell. Cal smiled and relaxed. This bothered the boy. His calm demeanour was slipping away. Cal was about to ask him a question when he saw a familiar face in the gallery. His heart skipped a beat. She was finally there. He snapped out of it and suddenly shot question after question at the boy, who still didn't move but was visibly tenser. Cal stood up and looked menacingly at him.

"You took her, didn't you? You took her to that basement because you're a small insignificant boy. You're certainly not a man. Look at you" he said with a sneer. "Did you take her because it made you feel powerful? Luring an eight-year old girl away? You think that makes you dangerous? You're just a punk. You're nothing. You're not even worth my time." Cal looked at him with pity and made to leave. "Let's just leave, he's not worth all this, we were mistaken." He began typing in the code on the door. The suspect suddenly moved.

"I fooled the FBI." He said but seemed to regret it as soon as the words left his mouth.

Cal shrugged and opened the door. The teenager started screaming, "get back here! You have no idea what I´m capable of" He kept yelling but Cal just left. Soon after the suspect confessed in hopes of getting Cal's attention back. He stared at the gallery but Cal stood with his back to him. Then he turned only to push a few buttons at the control centre and the walls of the cube turned white blocking the suspects view of the gallery. They could hear him scream and yell profanities at them. The detective in charge looked triumphant as he walked into the cube. He can finish this, Cal thought. He turned around expecting to see Gillian but she was gone. He walked towards her office but stopped abruptly. Inside her office stood Alec in front of Gillian. That alone was out of character, Alec never came to the office. He had probably only once before set foot inside the building. Cal saw as Alec handed Gillian something. As Alec turned a bit Cal could see Gillian and what he saw sent his pulse racing. She looked inside the small bag had handed her and tears formed in her eyes. Tears of joy. A loud buzzing filled Cal's ears as Gillian hugged Alec and smiled a true smile of happiness and love. Cal stared at her. When she finally looked up and caught his eye her whole demeanour changed and Cal stopped breathing. Her whole face showed deep sorrow and her lips mouthed 'I'm sorry' as she shook her head minutely. He couldn't move. His feet were made of lead. When he finally caught his breath again his throat burned as he inhaled. He didn't understand what had happened but what he had seen in her face was crystal clear, after all- they had never needed words.

tbc.