I appreciate all reviews and I'm glad you're enjoying my story. I am enjoying reading all of your LTM stories. If you enjoy watching "Callian" Videos on YouTube, Then stop by and check mine out. URL: .com/watch?v=lHd9ye8yw-U Hope you like it.

My YouTube name is 1crazymouse2.

Thanks to Tinochka for encouraging me to write a story and motivating me to keep it going! Thanks to my daughter ( Aena Firestar) for correcting my mistakes.

Now back to the story!

Chapter 7

Gillian tossed the last piece of clothing in her suitcase and grabbed her cosmetic case, then walked out of the bedroom. She heard tires squeal out on the street. She shrugged it off and thought it must be some of the neighbors. She descended down the stairs and heard people talking below her. She pulled her suitcase behind her and stopped at the last step.

"Alec!" Gillian was a bit startled. She wasn't expecting him to come home while she was there. "What are you doing here?" Then she saw Lightman. "Cal? Wha-." And then she spotted Wallowski. "What is SHE doing here?" With a white-knuckle grip on her suitcase, she stared at Wallowski. Gillian could feel the heat of her anger rising to the top of her head. Her eyes fell upon Cal. Her lips were tight, jaw clenched and nostrils flared. Cal couldn't remember the last time Gillian looked at him with such anger.

Alec spoke first. "Gill. You came back." He showed relief, but he had a nervous smile on his face. She finally looked back at Alec.

Gillian stepped down off of the last step with her suitcase following her. "Alec, I just came back to get a few things."

Cal walked over to Gillian with a disappointed look on his face. Gillian recognized it because she had more or less lied when she agreed to come with Cal in the afternoon. She gave him a 'Not now' glance and Cal stepped to the side. Wallowski moved from behind Alec and stood just a couple of feet in front of him making sure that Alec kept his distance from Gillian.

"I'm so sorry. Can't we talk about this Gill?" Alec attempted to move toward Gillian but Wallowski didn't budge from where she stood. "I mean, don't you want time to think about this?"

Cal read Alec and could see he did not intend to hurt Gillian this time. Why should he? The prat wasn't doped up today. Yet. But Cal remained close to Gillian, just in case.

Wallowski kept her eyes on Alec. "I'm here to make sure this stays civil." Her statement was for Gillian's benefit.

Gillian was pissed at the three people standing in front of her. "I came to get my things and get my car. Alec, I have nothing more to say." Without looking at anyone, she walked toward the door and opened it. She stood in the doorway and slowly turned to look at Alec. "I'll be back to get the rest of my things after I find a place to store it." Then she looked at Wallowski who was now watching Gillian. "Detective, this is none of your business and I'd appreciate it if you would stay out of it."

Cal walked toward Gillian. "I asked her to come-."

Gillian raised her hand to cut him off. "I know. And that's what pisses me off the most. I put up with Wallowski at the office and now you've pushed her further into my life. What, in the hell, possesses you to pull stunts like this? Especially when it involves something or someone that really gets under my skin Cal!" Gillian points her finger at Cal. "Keep her out of my personal life! I mean it!"

Alec yelled out to Gillian as she walked out of the door. "This isn't over Gill. You'll soon come to your senses."

Lightman and Wallowski walked out of the house toward their cars as Gillian was driving away.

"She really doesn't like me, does she Lightman? Surprisingly, that went smoother than I had anticipated." Wallowski looked at Lightman.

"This isn't over, detective. Not by a long shot." He said, watching Gillian's car disappear around the corner. He got into his car and drove off. Wallowski slightly shook her head and walked to her car.

Gillian drove to Cal's house and went to the guest bedroom to change into her office clothes. She put some make up on to cover the bruise on her face and the smaller ones around her neck. She heard Cal drive up and quickened her pace. She definitely did not want to talk to him right now. He came to the bedroom door and gently knocked.

"Gillian?"

"I'm not going to discuss this Cal." Fully dressed, she picked up her purse and opened the door. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him. He definitely could not mistake the glare in her eyes. He knew she was angry. "I'm going to the office. I have too many things to catch up on."

"Wait Gillian." He said catching her by the wrist as she pushed past him.

"Drop it Cal." She twisted her arm from his hold on her then walked away. "I'll see you there." And with that being said, she walked out and drove away.

"Bloody hell woman." Cal spoke out loud shaking his head. He walked out and locked the door.

Gillian walked down the corridors to her office. Employees were busy in their work, she smiled and greeted those she passed on her way to her office. She spotted Loker and Torres in the break room eating lunch and discussing a case. More like arguing over a case. Torres saw Foster coming by and she jumped from her seat then headed toward her.

"Dr. Foster?" Torres called out to her. Foster turned and smiled at her young employee. She always admired Torres' enthusiasm in the office.

"Hi Torres." Gillian smiled.

"Whoa! Foster. What happened to you?" Torres was surprised when she saw the bruises on her face.

"Nothing." Foster hoped that Torres would dismiss it.

"No, no. Nothing is nothing. That! Is definitely something." Torres pointed at the bruise.

"Can I help you with something Ria?" Foster knew how Torres' curiosity pushed the young girl into asking questions. Personal questions. It was always hard to get Torres to back off when she was like that.

"Uh, yeah. Well, we need your help on a case that Lightman has us working on. He left the office earlier and, well-."

"You need help. I already have my results." Loker spouted off. He was standing behind Torres now with a bottled water in his hand. "Gee, Foster, wha-"

Torres elbowed Loker in the gut then put her hands on her hips and turned toward him. "Loker, I know I'm right about this girl." Then she turned back to where Foster was standing. "Somethings off about this girl, Foster. I know it."

Loker shook his head "No, we've been over-."

"Okay, okay. Stop arguing, please. Give me fifteen minutes and I'll meet you both in the lab." Foster interrupted the two employees with a soft reassuring voice. Looking at the two as if they were children, which they did act like sometimes. Both employees went back in the break room to clean up their mess on the table. Torres grabbed the case file and a few books she was studying about voice identification and forensic voice analysis.

Foster walked toward her office smiling and thought how funny those two could be sometimes. She hoped she could finish out the day without anymore questions concerning her bruises. It was odd, she thought, that being at work and around people who loved their job made her feel content and happy. This was her escape. This is what distracted her from the miserable everyday crap that happened in her other world.

In her office, she sat down behind her desk and turned her computer on. She looked through some papers and messages from clients. She had upcoming meetings she needed to prepare for and schedule a seminar for law enforcement recruits. She looked over her calender in her computer to see when she had availability for the new appointments.

After she completed scheduling the appointments, she picked up her note pad to take to the lab. Her cell phone chimed a familiar tune. One specific tune she assigned to one specific person. Alec. She ignored the ringtone and left it and her purse in the office then headed to the lab.

Torres explained about the girl in the interview. That there was something in the girls voice that she couldn't quite make out. She asked Foster to analyze the voice to see what she could come up with. For the while, Foster concentrated on the girls voice and at the same time kept Loker and Torres from arguing. Which, for Foster's part, had begun to nip at her nerves. Foster began to discuss her findings from listening to the girl's voice when Lightman entered the lab.

"Oi! You two still arguing over this same interview?" He was carrying a sack of Chinese take-out and handed it to Foster. "Chicken dumpling? Your favorite mystery meat, yeah?" Foster smiled back at him. No matter how much he pissed her off, she couldn't stay mad very long. Although, she will discuss Wallowski's part in this. She was hungry and had been too busy to think about how hungry she was.

"Thanks, smells delicious." She took the sack of food from him. "Aren't you having some?"

"Nah, not hungry, Love. You go ahead, I'll take care of this case. I have another task for these two." He directed his hands, palms turned up, toward Loker and Torres.

"We're done here. I've assigned Loker to schedule Ms. O'bannon in for us to talk to personally. The police were unable to charge her with anything. I think Torres is right but we need her in here. Torres will update the case on what we've discovered so far. I'll be in my office. I'm backed up on paper work." Foster said as she walked toward the door.

Cal was surprised that she had been able to concentrate on this case.

Loker and Torres were watching Foster and Lightman, to see how Lightman would respond to Foster delegating the task to them. He mostly liked to delegate the work to the young employees just so he could aggravate them. It kept them alert.

"Well, don't just sit there staring." He said to Loker and Torres. Both scrambled to their feet and walked out behind Foster. Loker and Torres headed in the opposite direction of Foster. Lightman was two steps behind Foster.

"Where do you think she got the black eye from?" Loker asked Torres as they walked down the hall.

"I'm not sure, but I bet it has something to do with that lying husband of hers." Torres was confident that Alec was the problem. "As many times as I've seen him lie to her..." Torres gave a heavy sigh.

"You think her husband hit her?" Loker seemed so naive sometimes.

"I don't know Loker, but you can bet Lightman knows and is cooking up some crazy plan to get Foster's husband out of her life. Did you see the looks between them two? Lightman's not going to let anyone get close to Foster. Ever." Torres looks at Loker, mirroring Torres' expression. That 'Oh Shit, here we go!' look, which implies that a storm is brewing in the vicinity of Lightman and Foster.

Gillian sat at her desk, and took the food out of the sack then started eating her chicken dumplings. Cal plopped down on the couch facing Gillian's desk. Neither one spoke, they both sat in silence for a few minutes. Gillian finally looked up at Cal. Meeting his eyes dead on.

"I'm still pissed at you, you know." She took another bite. "Don't you have something to do besides watch me eat?"

"How can you eat that stuff?" He asked.

"It's good and I don't care what kind of meat is in it."

"Could be cat or even worse rat." He was trying to annoy her on purpose. Get a spark out of her. Maybe get her to talking about other things. Hell maybe even get her to smile or laugh.

"Well, then, cat or rat either one taste good." She smiled at the disgusted look on his face. She thought that he might leave on that statement but he stayed on the couch and made himself comfortable. Obviously he was planning on sitting there a while.

"Okay, Cal, out with it. I know you want to ask something, so, go ahead and get it over with. I've got work to do." She stuck the chop sticks in the dumpling box and sat it aside then took a drink from her bottled water that sat on her desk.

"Well. I was just, you know. I know you're a little angry with me, Love, but my intentions were good."

"Cal, I'm mad because Wallowski came to my house. I know you told her to come there. But can you just keep her out of my business. Actually, how much have you told her about my business?" She was tired, too many things happening at once. She sighed. "Never mind, I already know the answer to that question. I appreciate everything you're doing for me, Cal, but I think I can handle this on my own." Cal could tell she had no confidence in what she was saying. She even had doubts that she could handle this alone.

She heard her cell ring from inside her purse. That one specific ringtone. She ignored it, again. She huffed and closed her eyes for a couple of seconds. Four rings and it stopped. Cal knew who that ringtone was assigned to. He had heard the jingle numerous times in the past. Gillian stood up and dug through her purse to find her cell. She looked at the screen. She had several text messages and several voice mails. Cal walked over and stood by her.

"Gill, I want to help you. I want to be here for you." He put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. She looked at him, her eyes meeting his. She could see the compassion and concern there. She hated when he did that. He always knew how to get her to open up, breakdown and cry it out. Tears tried to form in her eyes and she quickly averted them from Cal. She found something on her desk to stare at.

Cal brought his other hand and cupped her chin to turn her head to him while the hand on her shoulder gently turned her body to face him. "Gill. It's okay, Love. You have to let it out or it will eat you up inside."

Gillian pulled away from his hand that held her chin. She could no longer look at him. "Don't Cal. I don't want to do this right now, please. We can talk later tonight. I just want to work and not think about it. Okay?" She still didn't look at him.

"Okay darlin', whatever you say." He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and gently kissed below her temple.

The rest of the day Gillian concentrated on her work. They interviewed Ms. O'Bannon and discovered that she was being dishonest but not for reasons that had anything to do with the case. Ms. O'Bannon did, in fact, give them information that would help them wrap the case up. Torres and Loker would take care of that tomorrow.

Gillian completed her paper work and her scheduled meetings for the day, thankful for being busy. She looked at her cell phone again and finally read all of the text messages from Alec and then listened to voice messages he had left for her. In every message he was begging her to call him back or to come back home or at least meet him for dinner. She decided to call him back to sway him from calling her again.

She was sitting behind her desk gazing out of the window. Noticing how the city lights glistened in the twilight of the evening. She loved that time of day. It was comforting to her somehow. She clicked the contact button on her cell to dial Alec's number. Her back was facing the door as she waited for Alec to answer.

"Gill." Alec was relieved that she finally called him back.

"What do you want, Alec? I've been busy. You have got to stop calling me." She was anxious to end this conversation.

"I...I just wanted to talk." He said nervously.

"So. Talk." She said as she rolled her eyes.

"I miss you, Gill. I want you to come back home. I need you."

"No. You need help and I can't give you the kind of help you need." She was becoming impatient.

"But, I love you, Gill. I promise I'll chan-."

"Don't Alec. Just don't, please just leave me alone." Gillian's voice cracked and a lump was forming in her throat. Tears were threatening to fill her eyes.

"I just need time and your support. I can't do this without you." He was trying to sound apologetic but Gillian wasn't falling for it.

"Alec. You hit me twice and then tried to choke me!" She was getting angry now. "You had a woman in our house! In my bed! I have a pretty damn good idea who she was. Do you honestly think I will ever come back to you?" She didn't realize that she had raised her voice.

All the while, Cal had been standing in the hall and listening to every word that Gillian spoke.

"Gill, that woman was a mistake. A one time fling." He was struggling to get the right words out, but she still wasn't listening.

"Dammit, Alec. Come off it. I've had Enough of your bullshit. You've been lying to me over a year now. I know you've been with your secretary, Heather. And your sponsor, Christine. That doesn't include the ones I don't know about."

"Yes, yes I have and I'm sorry. They mean nothing to me and I won't do it again. Please Gill. Just meet me tomorrow, let's talk. That's all I want. To see you and talk to you."

Gillian let out a sigh. "Alright, Alec, tomorrow then. I'll call you and let you know where we can meet. But no more. The next time I see you will be in a court room." She hung up before Alec could respond. Gillian wanted this to end so she could get on with her life and go through the motions of getting over Alec. She felt that if she didn't meet him, he would keep calling, which wouldn't allow her to get any peace. Tomorrow would be the official end to their relationship. Then she would contact her lawyer.

Tears started to fall just as Cal knocked on her office door and opened it. Gillian looked at him as she tucked a few stray hairs behind her ear.

"Hey. I was just getting ready to leave." She said.

"You okay, Love?" He had heard everything she was telling Alec. He saw the anxiety and stress on her face. Her eyes were tired and sad. "Want to talk about it?"

"I'm fine." She tried to mask her pain, but Cal could read every emotion, every expression her face was displaying. She shook her head slightly. "I'll be okay."

"Alright, Love. How about I cook for us tonight?"

"That would be nice." A quick smile flashed across her lips. She was trying to be nice, but her mind was on a million other things. She knew he could see that and she also knew that he would understand. She should talk about it but not here. Not now. She wants to lean on Cal, her best friend. She wants someone to hold her and tell her it will all be okay.

Gillian just realized that she wanted that someone to be Cal. She wanted to disappear in his arms. 'Yes. That's what I want, but we don't always get what we want Gillian.' She thought to herself.

"Come on, then, let's get out of here." He said holding his hand out to help her up from her chair. They made there way to their cars and left for Cal's house.

"Why don't you go take a nice warm bath while I cook up something tasty." Cal suggested to Gillian as they entered his house. "You can use my bath, it has much more space than the guest bath."

"Oh wow, that would be great. I could use some downtime." Gillian was feeling lethargic after the days events. She wasn't going to turn down a soak in the tub. "Let me know when supper's ready. Oh and Cal. No beans on toast." She giggled as she left the room.

"Oi! Just for that, you get an extra helping, darlin'." Cal was already digging in the fridge.

Cal had supper ready and a glass of wine poured for both of them. He went through his bedroom and knocked on his bathroom door.

"Gillian?" No answer. "Gill, Love?" Still no answer. He knocked a little louder and spoke up. "Gillian? Food's ready." He was getting worried. He hoped she hadn't fallen asleep in there. Surely she knew better than to do that.

He turned the knob and slowly opened the door while knocking at the same time. His eyes fell upon the most amusing display. His beautiful friend lying in his tub with a blanket of foamy bubbles covering her body all the way to her neck. Her eyes were closed and she was bobbing her head from side to side then up and down. She had skull candy plugs in her ears. Evidently enjoying a favorite tune on her mp3. Cal's lips had crept into the widest grin a person could possibly have. He couldn't help but just stand there and watch her.

Gillian was so cute and yet so sensual and beautiful. He watched as she raised one knee just above the foamy water. Her creamy skin slick with soapy water. Cal's imagination got the best of him as his eyes followed the top of her knee down toward the part of her thigh that was unveiled from the white bubbles. What was underneath the bubbles was a complete mystery to him. He licked his lips slowly as beads of sweat formed on his forehead. The steamy bathroom wasn't helping at all. He knew what he was feeling and he knew it wasn't right for him to feel this way. Not now. Not while she was hurting emotionally.

Gillian opened her eyes and startled a bit when she saw Cal standing there staring. She followed the target that Cal's eyes were on, seeing it was part of her leg she dunked it under the water. Cal snapped out of his fantasy world, but still had that big grin on his face. Gillian removed her ear plugs and shook her head at Cal. To her, he looked like a young boy plotting something mischievous.

"Oh, sorry, Love. I knocked but you didn't answer. I was afraid you had fallen asleep." He gained his composure and his mask went up.

"I was hoping that the friend I've known for seven years hadn't turned into a pervert." She winked at him with a coy smile on her lips. Cal starts laughing infecting Gillian with laughter also.

"Food's ready if your still hungry, I have a glass of wine poured also."

"Great, thanks." She said as her laughter faded into a giggle. "I'll be there in a minute."

Cal nodded and left closing the door behind him. 'Don't even think about crossing that bloody line, Lightman!' He told himself taking a big gulp of wine.

'Oh God, Gillian, your getting too close to the line. Your line. That you put in place. Shit!' She sank back down in the tub letting her head go under the water. Gillian tried to drown the sudden desire she had for Cal. Wash it out of her brain. She emerged from the bubbles. 'Well that didn't work.' She took in a deep breath and exhaled. She got out of the tub and dried off. She put a towel around her wet hair and put her comfy sleep wear on then left out to the kitchen.

Sorry so late with this chapter. We've had tornado's here and have had no power. House is still standing and power back on. Now to clean up a lot of mess in the yard. My heart goes out to all of those who were caught by these storms this week April 25th-29th.