A/N: Pfff chapter three was a struggle. There had to be some tension between Cal and Gillian. I believe that Cal will push when Gillian won't let him in. I hope it's not too OOC. I try to stay as close to the characters as possible. I've written part of chapter four already, but it's not ready yet. Thanks to all those who favorite this fix, thanks for the reviews. It always brightens my day. I hope you enjoy. And... I did something terrible when I posted chapter two. I forgot to thank my wonderful beta Chris. So Chris, thanks for your help!

Chapter three

Gillian had been at Cal's house for a week now and she was getting restless. She was feeling better but her ribs were still sore and moving around still wasn't easy. Living with Cal and Emily this week had left her angry and frustrated. The reason? Simply she'd realized that this was what she wanted, she wanted to be part of their family. She tried hard not to let them show both the anger and frustration, but every day it got a bit harder. And with Cal constantly keeping an eye on her, she really didn't know how long she could keep it up.

Cal was in his study trying to get some work done, but he couldn't concentrate. His mind was on Gillian. It was obvious she was distressed. She was frustrated and angry. He tried to give her some more space, but she still needed his help so he did make sure he was nearby. He was pretty sure she was about to explode sooner rather than later. He wanted her to tell him what was going on in her mind. Since she didn't want to volunteer the information and that was something that hurt him, he knew he had to force her hand. It was something he dreaded to do to her and to them because he was sure it would hurt their friendship. Maybe it would even hurt their future. He didn't know, but he knew he had to do it because he had to get his Gillian back.

He closed his laptop and walked back into the living room where Gillian was seated on his couch watching television. He sat down next to her and stayed quiet. He wanted to see if she was going to talk.

After a short silence, neither really watching the television, it was Gillian who started. "I wanna go home, Cal."

He stayed quiet. Her words didn't surprise him. He could do two things. Agree with her even if he didn't, knowing it was what she wanted or try to get her to talk about what was bothering her. He needed her to talk, needed to know what was going on with her. Only then he could help. With Gillian that sometimes meant a bit of a push.

"And how do you think you're going to get home?"

"I'll call a cab."

"And who's going to help you get your belongings together?"

"I can do that myself."

"Really? How exactly? You're still on pain medication. You can hardly grab a cup of coffee. How are you even going to take care of yourself when you're home alone, Gillian?" He paused for a moment. "Or would you rather stay at home, feeling miserable, unable to take care of yourself then stay here with Emily and me?"

Gillian sighed, mentioning Emily wasn't fair and he knew it. She knew he was trying to provoke her, but she wasn't going to give in. "I just wanna be in my own home, in my own bed, surrounded by my own things."

Her answer and tone of voice surprised him. He'd expected and wanted her to get angry and let out her frustration. Instead she went for honesty and vulnerability and knew it would throw him off. He decided to go with honesty too. "Is that why you're so distressed? You could have told me. I would have taken you home." He sighed. "I want you to be comfortable. I thought you were comfortable here with me and Emily." He shifted closer and continued. "I just want you to get better and if being here doesn't help your healing process then we need to find you a place that does. If that's your place, then we'll go there. But, I'm not going to leave you alone, Gillian. If you want to go to your home, I'm going to stay with you. You're not going to get rid of me, luv."

He was gentle and caring again like he'd been the entire time during her stay and she couldn't handle that. "Damn you, Cal. Don't do this."

"And what exactly am I doing?"

"You're smothering me. You're always hovering. I can't… I need to be alone."

"Why?"

Why? Because her feelings scared her and she didn't want to deal with them. "I don't have to explain myself to you, Cal."

Her frustration was reaching the surface. "You don't have to, but I'd rather know why don't you want to?"

Another question and another one she didn't want to answer. "Will you stop with the questions? I'm not going to explain myself to you." She raised her voice.

Got her, he thought. "Why not, Gillian? I'm your best friend, or at least I thought I was, but I'm not so sure anymore. You've been pushing me away this entire week. You're clearly frustrated and you're angry. Why? What have I done?" Guilt always worked with her. "All I wanna do is take care of you, to make sure you heal, that your body heals. But you won't let me. Why not, Gillian?"

"Will you just stop, Cal. I don't wanna talk about it. Why can't you take no for an answer? Just leave me be. Stop reading me and leave me alone." Carefully she stood up and tried to stomp out of the living room.

"Never picked you for a coward, Gillian." He followed her. "Aren't you always telling me to use my words? It's time you used yours." He taunted her.

"You want me to talk? Fine, I'll talk." She turned around and faced him. She knew she was giving him exactly what he wanted, but she didn't care anymore. "You make me angry and confused. You make me long for something that I never thought I could have and it hurts to be confronted with it every day. That's why I want to go home. I don't need this pain." She was trying hard to keep the tears at bay.

Dammit, he pushed and pushed and now she was almost in tears and he didn't even want to think about her words yet. He was hurting her. His home was hurting her. He took a deep breath, stepped closer and took her hand in his. "I'm sorry, luv. I'll help you get your things and take you home."

The next couple of days, Gillian and Cal managed, but their friendship was strained. They still hadn't talked about their argument. Gillian's words still lingered. Cal hated that they were out of sync. It made him feel unsure. Gillian gave him strength, she'd always done so and now he didn't feel as strong. Her words never left his mind because she'd told him so much and he wanted to tell her he wanted her to be part of his family. That for him she already was part of the family and that he wanted her by his side every day.

Gillian's recovery was going well and it wouldn't take long before she'd kick him out of her house. So they had to talk before the chance would pass him by. Standing up he searched for Gillian. But the ringing of the doorbell interrupted his search. He opened the door and found a woman with long blond hair.

"Hi." The woman greeted Cal, shaking his hand. " You must be Cal."

"I am."

"I'm Abby."

He'd heard about Abby from Gillian. She was one of Gillian's closest friends who'd only recently moved back to the area. He knew Gillian had told Abby about the accident. Though he'd seen some of Gillian's friends at her birthday, he'd never met Abby before. "Come in. You must be here to visit the patient."

"Thanks. And how's the patient doing?"

"She's doing well."

"Giving you a hard time?"

"Eeuuh.." Cal hesitated.

"Yeah, I know she is. I remembered back in college, she had the flu. Couldn't do a thing, but she didn't want to miss one day. I think she was even surprised that her stubbornness didn't beat the flu and she finally did have to stay at home. It was awful. She couldn't stop complaining."

Cal laughed. He had no trouble picturing that. Gillian was a stubborn and strong-minded woman. "I'll go find Gillian for you."

"No need, Cal. I'm here." Gillian appeared behind him.

"Ok, how about I get you two ladies a coffee and then I'll get out of your hair."

Gillian nodded and smiled. Cal slightly touched her hand as he passed her. He needed that short connection.

"How come you never told me Cal was hot! He can take care of me any time." Abby said as she and Gillian settled down on the couch. Cal had left the house a few minutes earlier.

Gillian blushed. She couldn't deny it. Cal was an attractive man.

"Just admit you like him." Abby caught Gillian's blush. Not that it was a surprise. Though Abby had never met Cal but she'd heard a lot about him from Gillian. And for her it was obvious that her friend had feelings for her partner. She wanted her friend to be happy. Gillian deserved to be happy after that awful divorce. From the short moment she'd seen Cal and Gillian together, she'd seen a lot. She saw Cal's concern and affection. But she also felt the tension between the two. And she also saw Gillian's insecurity. She knew her friend good enough to guess where it came from.

"I thought you were here to see how I was, not to talk about Cal."

"True." Abby smiled. "But I'm guessing those two things are linked. But we'll get to that later. How are you Gillian?"

"I'm getting better every day."

"Good." Never one to beat around the Abby got back on track, which was Cal and Gillian. "Now back to where we left off. Why are you back at your own home?" Abby had talked to Gillian the previous week when she'd still been at Cal's.

"I wanted to be surrounded by my own things, sleep in my own bed."

"With Cal?"

"Abby!"

"What? Ooh right, bruised ribs, you can't do anything even if you want to. And you know you want to." Abby grinned. She was happy to see that Gillian smiled too. "Tell me what happened, Gill?" Her tone was serious again.

"I…it got too real."

"Being a family with Cal and Emily?"

"Yeah." She whispered.

Having a family was something Abby wished for her best friend. She'd seen the pain Gillian had gone through after losing Sophie and then again after the divorce. "Why won't you let yourself believe?"

"I'm in enough physical pain already. I don't need to add to that."

"Why does it have to be pain? Why can't it be happiness?"

"Because…" Gillian sighed. "I just can't go through that again. It hurt too much."

"So you let fear rule? You won't take the chance because you're afraid? And that's why you're pushing Cal away?" She looked her friend in the eyes and saw the sadness. "In those few minutes I saw you with Cal, I saw more care and affection than I ever saw Alec show. Cal cares deeply for you. I know you care about him a lot. You're attracted to him. He seems to be a good man from what you've told me. You deserve a good man. Someone who loves you, takes care of you and puts you first. You deserve that. Why won't you let yourself believe?"

"I'm afraid. It's Cal and me and we've got the business. He's my best friend. I don't want to lose that. I can't because I can't imagine my life without him."

"But it could also be the best thing in your life. You could be spending the rest of your life with your best friend."

"Maybe…"

"Gillian, I remember you told me you two were getting closer after the divorce. And you didn't mind, you wanted that. Go with that feeling, Gillian. You deserve that. Don't let this pass you by because you're afraid of getting hurt. Talk to Cal. Share this with him. Don't push him away.""

Gillian nodded. She knew Abby was right. She needed to talk to him. It was just difficult. But there was more. This was Cal. Was Zoe still in the picture? Cal still went back to her.

"What else, Gil?"

"Zoe, Cal's ex wife. He still goes back to her, even though they're divorced and she's in a new relationship. They argue and fight and they enjoy the making up. I'm not sure he can truly leave her."

"If he can't leave his ex alone, then he doesn't deserve you and you're better off without him. Talk to him."

For the rest of the afternoon, Gillian and Abby laughed and talked about many different subjects. When Abby left, Gillian felt better. Her friend had helped her put things in perspective and she was thankful for that. She wondered where Cal had gone to and when he would be back.

When, at the beginning of the evening there was a knock on the front door, Gillian expected Cal on the other side. She was surprised to see Emily, with what appeared to be bags of food in her hand.

"Hi, Gillian." The teen greeted. "I brought food and a chick flick."

"Emily, come on in. Looks like you brought more than enough food for couple of days."

"Yeah well, dad told me to make sure you eat and I wasn't sure what you liked so I picked several things." Emily explained as she followed Gillian into the kitchen.

"Your dad's not coming?" Together with Emily she put all the boxes on the table and grabbed some plates.

"No, he said he was busy and had to work late."

"So he sent you."

"Yeah, but I wanted to come over because I wanted to know how you are."

With both their plates full they sat down. During dinner they talked about school and Jessie's upcoming party. Emily was excited about it.

"So what movie did you bring?" Gillian asked, after dinner as she settled down on the couch.

"While you were sleeping." Emily sat down next to Gillian after putting the DVD in the DVD player.

"Love that one."

"Yeah, me too."

While watching the movie Gillian and Emily laughed and commented on it. They truly enjoyed spending time together.

"You know, my dad does that too." Emily said after a particular scene. They were already halfway through the movie.

"What do you mean?" Gillian watched Lucy walk away from Jack.

"The leaning."

Gillian laughed. "Your dad likes to get into people's personal space."

"True, but he only does the leaning with you."

"He does not."

"Believe me, he does."

Gillian focused back on Jack and Lucy, hoping Emily would follow her lead, which she did and that ended the leaning discussion. That didn't mean the leaning wasn't on her mind. Did Cal really do that?

"I love chick flicks." Emily said after the movie ended.

"Yeah, me too. They always make me feel better."

"Can I ask you something, Gillian?"

Gillian looked at Cal's daughter who was suddenly very serious. "Of course you can."

"Did something happen between you and dad?" Emily turned her body towards Gillian to look at her.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because you left our place and you're staying here. Dad hasn't said anything but I know something's wrong. He hasn't been himself. I'm worried about him."

She didn't know how to answer. But before she could formulate an answer, Emily started again. "I liked having you stay with us. You're a part of our family. It seemed like you belonged there."

Gillian felt her eyes water. Whether Emily knew it or not, her words were spot on. "Thank you, Emily. You don't know how much that means to me." Pausing for a moment she collected her thoughts. "I just needed to be in my own home. I can't really explain why."

Emily nodded, accepting the answer. "Just know that you're always welcome. We both love having you with us."

"Thank you, Emily."

"Well, I gotta go to my mom's. Will you be okay?" Emily grabbed the DVD, put it in her bag and walked out of the living room with Gillian following.

"I will. Thanks for coming over. Anytime you feel like watching a chick flick, let me know."

A couple of hours after Emily left, Gillian was still alone. She didn't know where Cal was. She'd held her phone in her hand a couple of times already, but still hadn't called him. She was unsure of what to do. She knew they needed to talk. She wanted to apologize. But she was also apprehensive. She wasn't really ready to talk about everything yet because she was still confused by it all.

Suddenly her phone beeped, signalling her there was a new text message. Had to work late. Better to stay at my own place. Goodnight luv."

She didn't like that message at all. She hated it when they were at odds with each other. At least he'd ended the message with a goodnight luv. She debated answering the message. If she didn't apologize she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight so she decided to send a text message. I'm sorry Cal

It wasn't enough, but at least it was something. She needed him to know that she was sorry.

TBC...