OK, it's explanation time: or, if you prefer, a little behind the scenes.

When I started writing this story it was supposed to be just the part you've read so far: they are already together, they go on a case, they tell Emily and they come back. Then, since I already knew this was going to be my last story, I thought it might be a little short and wanted to do something else.

I guess it's fair to say that from now on this is kind of a Frankenstein story, meaning that I used here and there some loose ideas I would have never written as stand-alone. So from now on you might find the story a bit different, maybe weird, possibly bad.

Anyway, you know I don't like to give things away so I will stop here and let you read.

After a couple of months since coming clean, they started to see that having their relationship out in the open brought a new dimension to the company as well. It wasn't exactly something that they would announce to clients or investors, but as word got around it seemed that people external to the company saw in their new personal connection some kind of insurance that the professional one would benefit from it too. They weren't wrong; being together was certainly bringing out their strengths and opening their minds to cases and opportunities they wouldn't normally take into consideration. As the ones in the middle of it, neither Cal nor Gillian seemed to be aware of the small changes: but those around them, those who saw them everyday, certainly did.

If confronted with the notion that he was mellowing down, Cal would have denied that was the case and felt downright insulted, but one thing he was certainly ready to concede: when Gillian was happy, so was he. There were many ways to make her happy, from spending a lazy afternoon watching movies together on the couch to opening up with her about things and talk, sometimes about nothing and sometimes about everything. One of those ways, one he had known for years, was to keep the business running and give his contribution. Cal knew he still had a long way to go to pay her back for sticking with him when he had bought out Zoe, and literally pay back to fill the gaping hole he had created in the group's finances, not to mention all the other times he had been a jerk to her and their company. Gillian wasn't a workaholic and her job wasn't her life, but she took pride in what they did and helping people and being able to do that successfully made her happy: it was an easy enough equation as far as he was concerned.

Still, when he agreed to take on as a client some TV actor looking to refine his acting chops for a big lead role, even Cal had to admit that he might have gone a little softer. Gillian had been more than happy to take on that kind of work, listing to him a number of reasons why it might have been good for business; it was a way for the group to branch out to new avenues of business and explore new opportunities, it provided a much needed break for all of them since they came from months of investigating violent crimes and, of course, it came with a generous paycheck signed by the production company. In all fairness, when they'd had that conversation they'd been sharing Gillian's bath but so his attention on the details might have been a little muddled by the scented bubbles and the naked woman in his arms, but his only counter argument had been what a stupid job that was so he had kept his mouth otherwise occupied.

Two days after their business meeting in the bathtub, Marcus Tolbert showed up at the office for his first day of training, so to speak. Cal had no idea who the guy was or what sort of things he had been in before and he hadn't even bothered looking him up, but judging by the anticipation of the staff, especially the female staff, he figured the man was supposed to be some kind of a big deal. Tolbert certainly seemed to believe that about himself, considering that he showed up wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses nearly covering his entire face, possibly with the intent to avoid being recognised as he entered the building.

Cal watched him from a distance politely shaking hands and signing autographs, rolling his eyes at the way his staff swooned over the celebrity, then rolled his eyes when Gillian stood behind him, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"Having second thoughts?" She asked.

"Did we already cash the check?" Cal responded with a grin, then shrugged and turned around. "As long as I don't have to deal with him I'll be fine."

"Oh you are very much part of the deal, Cal. It's your science after all." He groaned something and she chuckled. "Just show him around, give him some pointers. You can even openly dislike him and put it down as a teaching moment on how to fake that kind of emotion."

"Hmm, that does sound like fun," Cal murmured in her ear, his mouth lingering there for a moment. Not only was it amusing that she was suggesting something like that, but also somewhat arousing.

"Then we'll take care of the rest, it's all planned out," Gillian went on. "Torres will get him through the basics and show him the facial recognition exercise, Loker is going to show him some examples of misrepresented emotions in acting and I will help him with some exercises."

"How long is that gonna take?"

"A couple of days, three tops."

"And remind me how much we are getting paid for this? I mean, for one person to hold up the best talent our company has to offer?"

"Enough to pay the salary for all that talent for nearly a year."

Cal turned around again, his eyes wide, the surprise even bigger when he realised she was telling the truth. He knew that the retribution was going to be generous but that sounded like a lot of money.

"Wow!" He mumbled, then looked over again as Loker started coming his way with the VIP client. "Maybe I should really start to listen to you when you talk about work."

Gillian rolled her eyes and pinched his buttock before Loker and Tolbert approached, and after that he was on his best behaviour. Working with a celebrity wasn't as bad as he had feared. Tolbert was a bit of a primadonna and certainly liked to be served and assisted, but that said more about his staff bending backwards for a small celebrity than about the man himself. On the other hand, he was genuinely interested in learning and made the most of the opportunity, which made the few hours Cal spent with him somewhat tolerable. Still, when his part was over he was more than happy to pass the baton to Torres and get back to real work.

Gillian's planning had been spot on, and with the four of them and some other employees taking turns pitching in, not only they wrapped up within a couple of days, but they did so with little to no impact on the rest of the workload.

Tolbert was done with the last bit of his training just after lunch of the third day, and Gillian was accompanying him to the door answering his last questions and curiosities. Cal ran into them on his way back in from the police station for a case they were working on, immediately noticing how Tolbert seemed to suddenly have a lot of questions that he hadn't thought about asking him, Torres, Loker or any other of the employees he had interacted with over the past three days. He stood by the reception desk, waiting for Anna to find where the person covering for her during lunch break might have put the messages for him, watching as the actor kept talking, profusely thanking and complimenting Gillian and lingering on the parting handshake more than necessary. Cal smirked and looked away, but his eyes landed on Anna who had her hand stretched toward him with the messages and a rather tensed expression on her face.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing," she replied, way too quickly and immediately averting her eyes.

There clearly was something, Cal could easily tell, and it was the same thing that he saw on other people's faces as they happened upon the conversation going on between Gillian and Tolbert. What they saw was a famous and good looking man openly flirting with his best friend, business and romantic partner, which was supposed to explain why they were looking at him as if they were bracing for impact. Cal looked at them without so much of a reaction, then kept his eyes on Gillian and the VIP, who seemed to be enamoured with the sound of his voice for how much he was talking. He leaned back on the counter and put his hands in his pockets, watching the scene with that intense glare of him; watching as Tolbert reminded Gillian that she had his number, of course, then as he touched his hair before letting his eyes dip way lower than her face for a couple of seconds, his nostrils flaring in clear appreciation.

Then Gillian smiled and he took off toward his office, leaving Anna with her hand still stretched and full of yellow post-its, and a growing sense of dread that something was about to go down.

"Cal,"

"Ah, don't 'Cal' me, love, ok? Not with that voice."

Gillian was startled by his response and stopped just a couple of steps into his office, her mouth open in baffled surprise. She had never heard that tone on him, not addressed to her at least. He wasn't really mad or upset, more annoyed really but in a way that reminded her of how he used to scold Emily as a child more than anything else. And there was his body language, so talkative even if he was sitting on the couch with his legs propped on the coffee table. He had the laptop on his lap and the glasses on, his arms behind his head, but right after she had spoken the first time he had tossed the device aside and brought up a silencing finger.

"I'm sorry, what-"

"I'm not jealous, ok?" Cal went on, grumbling softly as he normally did when he was about to confess something he might have been ashamed of, looking at her but not really seeing her. "Let's be clear, I'd have all the reasons to. And pardon me if I don't exactly like to see another man shamelessly flirting with you. But I have to deal with it." He stopped and sighed, shaking his head and feeling the weight of his own realisation. Then he looked up at her, his face still with that uncharacteristic pout destined to appear incredibly out of synchrony with what he was about to say. "You're a beautiful, intelligent, strong woman. You're brilliant, you're kind, you're funny and any man with a pulse is going to notice all that if they get to spend more than five minutes with you and look beyond the exceptional exterior package. So I've come to terms with the fact that others are going to be attracted to you no matter what, but don't ask me to like it."

"Cal-"

"That's not jealousy." He went on, so caught up in his own words that he wasn't able to see how much she had enjoyed the previous part of his speech, failing to see how fondly she was smiling at him. He stood up, glasses still on, absently pacing back and forth in front of the couch with hands in his pockets as he went on. "I'd be jealous if you were returning someone's interest and flirting back, or showing interest in someone else. But this is not what's happening here so no, don't get on my case for being jealous of poster boy out there because I'm not. You were professional, you were polite and that's all that there is to it. And of course he flirted with you, I mean who wouldn't! But you didn't flirt back so I'm not jealous, no reasons for me to be, right?" He stopped, suddenly and abruptly as if he had just crashed the car into a wall, looking at her with a pained expression that for the first time seemed to really acknowledge her presence. "Right?"

He asked again, all riled up and red in the face for the effort of a monologue he had spouted out without taking so much of a breath, chewing at his bottom lip as if he regretted that last word after having spent minutes trying to convince her that he wasn't that kind of guy. Gillian thought about leaving him hanging for a bit, but she didn't have the heart for it. He looked adorable - yes, that word could be associated with him as far as she was concerned - all flustered and wide open for any reading, even though he had been so honest and blatant that there wasn't much left for her to read.

Then she walked towards him and closed the distance, one hand on his chest and one immediately going to the back of his neck to pull him in for a kiss. Cal was somewhat taken aback but not enough not to respond and he quickly wrapped one arm around her, the other hand mirroring her gesture and going for the back of her head. He let her kiss him mostly, responding only when he couldn't hold back and far more focused on the way her body and hands rubbed all over him. It was one of those rare occasions where they didn't care to be seen, not even thinking about the possibility of someone walking in on them, and they stopped only when their bodies were craving for a next step.

"I'll take that as a no." He breathed in as he spoke, gasping for air as Gillian held him close.

"Of course not," she clarified, just to be sure, smiling widely at him and caressing the back of his neck. "That was quite the speech." Cal smirked. "And thank you for not making a scene out there. I think pretty much everybody had money on you punching the guy in the face."

"I'm pretty sure that would have been bad for business. And as for not making a scene…how ridiculous did I just look, on a scale from 1 to 10?"

Gillian chuckled and gently took hold of his glasses, which had miraculously stayed on despite the frenzied kiss but still needed a little steadying.

"Zero, Cal," Gillian reassured him. "That was very sweet. And flattering."

He grinned, looking more like himself although Gillian didn't mind the side of him she had just seen.

"So we're done with Mr Hollywood?"

"Please, you see how he acts! If he gets a nomination at the People's Choice Awards it would already be an accomplishment."

Cal laughed, although he really had no idea what these people's awards were, then he chuckled and sat on the couch, dragging her along with him.

"Did someone lose any money on my not going mediaeval on the guy?"

"Big time, yeah," she laughed. "Phones were drawn, ready to capture the moment."

Cal grumbled but stifled a laugh of his own, not knowing how much it meant to her that they could joke about it together. Gillian sighed and snuggled up on him, absently caressing his chest with her open palm and enjoying how he held her gently, savouring the comfortable silence and thinking about what he had said. She had never thought about it in such depth, jealousy, but she could easily share his take on it. She had seen women looking at him when they were out on dates, or even for work, and she couldn't blame them: but Cal only had eyes for her, and one thing she knew for sure about him being a relationship even before their started was that he was not the cheating type.

"What was it then?" He asked after a while, and she hummed absently as if to ask what he was talking about. "You came in here for something and it wasn't about poster boy."

"Oh right!" Gillian pulled back suddenly, jumping on her feet and absently adjusting her clothes all ruffled up during their make out session. "We're about to surprise Sarah for her birthday. You promised you were going to be there."

A groan escaped him as he closed his eyes and threw his head back, but he did get up slowly and took off his glasses.

"I forgot about that," he mumbled.

"Of course you did. That's why I came to fetch you."

"Do we even have to sing happy birthday? I mean, it's not like she can hear it anyway."

"Good, then she won't have to hear how terrible you sound." She smiled and grabbed his hand, starting to pull him towards the door. "C'mon. You should see the cake we got her."

Cal mumbled something else about that being her department, but she either didn't hear or flat out ignored him and instead stood behind him and pushed him out of the room.