They were untied just to eat but when Cal's hand instinctively went to his eyes, powerful fingers closed around his wrist, stilling it. "Uh uh sir. You know the rules."

"Doesn't mean I have to like 'em."

"I'm sure."

"Cal…" Gillian's voice held a tiny point of warning. Please don't antagonize them.

She was somewhere to his left. Close. His hand changed direction and blindly reached out toward her. He felt her soft skin under his fingertips and she immediately grabbed his hand in response.

His hand was warm and dry, the tiny hairs on the back of it tickling under her fingers. Gill let out an internal sigh of comfort, but knew that it would be short lived.

"You okay luv?"

"Been better."

"He gave you a pretty nasty wallop." That was the last thing he remembered before waking up here. His anger was palpable.

She figured she had some bruising but she hadn't given it much thought. She just hadn't realized that Cal had seen it. "I'm okay."

Gregory was chewing on a wad of sandwich but looked up. He actually felt kind of bad about that. It had been done out of panic. He hadn't meant to hurt her. Of course she'd tagged him first. He had a swollen and bloody lip to prove it.

"Okay all. Eat up. Especially you." Berk nudged Cal's leg with his tennis shoe. "Should have sustenance in your system. Going to be bedtime soon."

"Peachy."

(BREAK)

The first attempt resulted in a boot to the knee for Berkley. He stumbled back and grunted in pain.

"Hold him."

"Trying!" Gregory was hanging onto Lightman's arms but the man was not having it. He tucked down and rolled off the couch, taking the other man with him. He was stronger than he appeared. Gregory landed on his ass with an 'oof.' As his grip loosened, Cal's elbow whipped around and nailed him high on the cheekbone.

"God damnit!" Gregory blanked but just for a moment.

Cal knew that it was a useless struggle but he couldn't placidly sit by while they shot him up with God knows what. He lashed out again with one foot but the larger man stayed back. Gregory was on him once again. This time when he grabbed Lightman's arm, he twisted it, pushing it upward toward the middle of his back. "Sorry man but we have to do this." The arm was given a rough jerk and Cal let out a groan, stopping his struggles. A little higher and the bone would break.

"Please! Don't hurt him!" Gillian cried out, hearing the fight, feeling so damned helpless.

"Okay. Go for it." The second man was panting.

Berk crouched down, pulling the cap off the syringe with his teeth. "I apologize for this. But judging from this little display, I won't be able to let as much time elapse between doses."

Cal felt the sting and initially felt nothing else. For about a minute. Then a swirling vortex was pulling at him and he had the distinct impression he was falling but how could that be? He was lying on the damned floor.

"Cal?" Gillian's voice was timid, fearful. She also sounded so far away and he missed her already.

"S'okay…luv." He struggled to lift his head, wondering if she was close enough to hear him. Blinking behind the blindfold for just a moment, he felt everything go limp.

Her tiny sob lurched out. "Cal…?"

Nothing.

Her head tilted forward as she took a deep trembling breath. How could this be happening?

"He's fine Dr. Foster." The baritone sounded just a couple feet away.

"Keeping him drugged is not fine." It was a hiss as anger pushed back despair.

"True. But it isn't something that's negotiable. Please trust that I know what I'm doing."

She snorted in derision. "Sure. Right."

Berk didn't answer. He grabbed Lightman under the arms and Greg grabbed the man's feet to take him upstairs.

Gillian could hear their heavy footsteps moving away from her, taking Cal with them. Waiting just a few seconds longer, she tested the strength of her bonds, hoping that maybe she could waggle them off the end of the armrest. She rotated her wrists back and forth before pulling and pushing but the cloth was too tight. There was nothing she could do. For now.

Greg was down just a few minutes later. He didn't say anything, just flipped open his knife.

She gasped at the sound and he immediately felt a pang of guilt. "I'm going to cut you free. Blindfold stays on until you're upstairs. Please do me a favor and don't try anything." He really hoped she wouldn't try to run for it because he'd have to stop her and he didn't want a repeat of what happened at the Lightman Group.

"I promise."

She sounded sincere, at least to his ears.

The knife smoothly bit through the rags and Gillian was pulled to her feet. She had thought about giving him a shove, running and bringing back help. But she also knew that that was a fantasy. She'd just have to sit tight and wait for some kind of opportunity. Whatever that might be.

(BREAK)

Even though artificial, the light still hurt her eyes. She raised her hand to the glare and squinted around her, immediately focusing on the double bed with a blindfolded Cal sprawled in the middle. Surprised that they'd allowed them to stay together, she was thankful nonetheless and stepped forward, sitting on the edge.

"Cal?" She gently removed the fabric from his eyes and touched his face, turning it toward her. It was pointless. She knew this but she couldn't help herself. "Cal?" Picking up one hand, she held it against her cheek. "We're going to get out of here. I promise you." She'd lowered her voice, just in case, before placing his hand on his chest.

Getting up, she paced the room, still squinting, eyes burning. Just the bed, a small bureau and two nightstands. One door opened to a coffin-sized closet and the other, fortunately, led to a tiny bathroom. Only one window graced the room and although big enough for her to wriggle through, there was a straight freefall outside, not to mention the fact that it was not only painted shut but nailed as well. Beyond the window all she saw was dense forest.

They'd covered their bases.

She just needed to wait for them to make a mistake.

With a sigh, she headed into the bathroom to give herself some semblance of a sponge bath. There were towels and washcloths hanging on the bar. They were old but clean. She was actually a little surprised by that.

The mirror didn't show a happy image. Gillian didn't really even want to look but did anyway. Her hair was in complete disarray, her eyes were bloodshot with dark shadows framing them and a purplish bruise was spreading across the left side of her jaw. With a sigh, she ran water and tried to scrub herself up the best she could before returning to the bedroom.

All she had was the dress she'd put on that morning. She hadn't thought to pack for a kidnapping. Her shoes were missing in action and her hose were shredded so she removed them. Undressing to her slip wasn't an option, so that was about as comfortable as she was going to get. Cal of course was still taking up most of the bed and she wondered about the logistics of moving him. Walking around to the other side, she did her best to maneuver him over. Pulling and yanking his prone form was no easy feat and she was breathing hard after just managing to move him a couple of inches. That was going to have to do.

Gillian went back to her side and laid down on her 12 inches of mattress space. Without much thought, she turned over, studying him. After all these years they were finally sleeping together. He'd be mad that he wouldn't remember it. A tiny giggle escaped her lips and she was disconcerted to find it mildly hysterical. She giggled again before it morphed into something else. Taking slow even breaths, she tried to ward them off but the sobs racked her regardless. She found herself edging even closer to Cal and leaning her head against his shoulder. His presence was comforting. She just wished he were awake.

(BREAK)

"My dad didn't come home last night!" Emily was taking great pains to keep it together but her insides were turning to Jello. Her instincts were generally pretty good, courtesy of genetics and right now they were telling her that something was desperately wrong. "His phone goes right to voice mail and Gillian hasn't been answering her phone either!"

Loker shot a look at Torres who just kept her face neutral.

"I saw that." Emily glared at him. "As much as I'd like to think they finally got it together, that's not what happened."

Neither one attempted to contradict her, suspecting she was right. Both bosses had neglected to call in and while it certainly was within the realm of possibility for Lightman, it was in no way indicative of the way Foster did things.

Ria looped an arm around Emily's shoulders. "I admit that it does look odd. Let me just check with Heidi and Anna and see if maybe one of them took a message and forgot to pass it along before we jump to any conclusions."

"And then…?" The girl's brown eyes were wide.

"And then we call the cops."

"Are they at the trial?" Loker wrinkled his brow and glanced at Torres. "Isn't the Bainbridge trial today?"

"Crap. That is today isn't it?" They stared at one another, thoughts forming. "Um, let's try calling them both again, just in case before we…" She left the thought hanging.

Emily was immediately on her phone, shaking her head when her dad, yet again, didn't answer. Disconnecting, she hit the direct dial for Gillian.

"Do you hear that?" Eli narrowed his eyes, listening.

"Yeah, I do." Frowning, Ria turned as they both followed the sound. Emily dropped the phone from her ear and trailed behind them.

"Try again."

The girl called again and they all now heard the ring tone coming from Gillian's office. Eli strode up to the desk and started hastily pulling open drawers. With a low curse, he broke the lock on the bottom one. Stopping, he stared for a moment before bending and pulling the bag out. "Phone's here…along with Foster's purse." He looked up, green eyes uneasy.