Here we go...confused as it often happen. I thought people would have like a lighter story? Mah
When Dr Foster arrived at work the morning after, Anna thought that she looked like she was in a really good mood. Of course she always smiled and said good morning, she was always polite and took her time to greet her and make small talks, and she had never really seen the female boss as anything but cordial and well spirited. But that morning there was an extra spring in her step, a wider smile and eyes that seemed to spark a bit, and Anna couldn't help but wonder if there could have been any connection between that extra carefree disposition and the way Dr Foster had left the office with Lightman the day before.
They had been all smiles and chuckles when they had left, earlier than usual, and they hadn't come back. Could it be… Oh, she was most definitely in favour of a special liaison between the bosses! Shortly after she had started to work there and having seen them interact, being rather touchy and displaying crazy levels of complicity as if nobody was watching them, she had been shocked to find out that no, they were not a thing. In her mind they were perfect for each other: Dr Foster was nice enough to see the good in Lightman but also strong and confident not to let him get away with serious crap, and he clearly admired that about her.
However, Anna came to the conclusion that there must have been another explanation for Dr Foster's good mood that morning, mostly because she thought that if anything would happen between them the two bosses would have gone out of their way not to make it too obvious. Besides, when Foster asked if Lightman was already there and was told no she seemed genuinely surprised.
Needless to say, Gillian herself was oblivious to the fact that she was giving out such vibes that morning. She had indeed fallen asleep with a bit of a smile on her face, dreamed of puppies and giant stuffed animals, and mused about Cal's interaction with his newly acquired dog. She knew him well, better than most, and she was not in the least bit surprised by the softer and childish side of him he had put on full display. He wore his heart on his sleeve, good or bad, and was not someone to do things halfway. The way he had come about the decision to get a dog was a perfect blueprint of how he operated: impulsive on the surface, rushing into decision, but really putting a lot of thought and preparation behind it. And then there was the way he and Buddy had immediately connected, akin souls and beings in some way, an immediate and mutual liking that somewhat reminded her of how they had synced so easily after their first encounter years before.
It had been quite the spectacle, and of course there was the charming dog himself. She had been having a good day already, before Cal came to share his plans with her; they had solved a nasty case and signed a new contract all before lunch, and frankly she had not been entirely ready for the meeting with the civil rights law firm so the postponement had been more than welcome. Tagging along with Cal to choose a dog, spending time in a room full of pets and witnessing the spectacle that had been their shopping session had certainly been the highlight of the day.
But, Gilian thought while picking up her messages from Anna at the desk and wondering why the assistant looked like she was daydreaming, she shouldn't get her hopes up. That afternoon had been a pleasant detour from her routine, certainly entertaining but likely hard to repeat and-
"Oi you! Wait- Bloody hell!"
The quick fire of loud and strong exclamations made Gillian jolt and Anna gasp, but before she could grasp what was going on she caught a dark brown object coming her way with the corner of her eyes. She had no time to process what it might be, not before the impact, however gentle and somewhat controlled, of Buddy rushing towards her and jumping up with his paws on her lap.
"Hei you!" She immediately greeted the pet, abandoning the messages and instead using her hands to ruffle his muzzle. "What are you doing here?"
"Sorry Foster, I just couldn't hold him." Cal came up to her slightly short of breath and rushed to get hold of the loose leash tied to the dog. "Get down old fella, you'll ruin Gillian's pretty dress."
Obedient, Buddy came down but stayed close to her between them, wagging his tail and nudging his nose back and forth between them.
"It's ok Cal, don't worry about it." She smiled, still absently petting Buddy whenever he was within reach. "Is everything ok?"
"Yes sorry, I just had to-"
"Is that a dog?!"
The outraged, and frankly superfluous question came from the unusually high pitched voice of Torres, who stood a few feet away with a folder in her hands and a confused expression on her face. Cal looked at her then at Buddy, who seemed to have noticed the new arrival and was ready to launch towards her to get a good sniff out of her, and managed to steady the grip around the leash before the pet could make a move.
"My Torres, you really are a natural, aren't ya?" He mumbled, moaning immediately afterwards when Gillian elbowed him in the ribcage to shut him up. "Yes, this is my dog actually."
Gillian grinned at him and he rolled his eyes, he really had had enough of her pointing out that it wasn't really Emily's dog the day before and he wasn't going to fight her on that anymore, so he was ready to take the L and move on.
"Oh my God, really? He's adorable!" Anna shrieked then, coming around the desk and consulting the boss with a quick look. "Can I?"
"Sure, go ahead."
Simply elated, the assistant started to bend down to reach for the dog and Buddy beat her to it, coming up to her and immediately nudging his muzzle in her hands asking for attention and cuddles that the young woman was more than ready to give. More employees started to gather around the desk, either because they were passing by or because word of a dog in the office had spread like wildfire and they wanted to see with their own eyes, especially when the notion that the animal belonged to Lightman came up.
Cal watched the scene with a seemingly blank stare, but Gillian had her eyes on him and knew he was somewhat pleased with what was going on. Relieved mostly, probably because bringing the dog to work had not been exactly planned and he had been afraid it might not go down well. As for Buddy, he was clearly enjoying the attention and to have so many humans literally queuing up to meet him, so much so that after a while he looked nearly overwhelmed, which would have been understandable considering he had spent the better part of his life in a kennel.
To Gillian's relief, Cal seemed to pick up on that when Buddy's tail slowed down for the first time, so he stepped in trying to reach for the leash that he had previously let go.
"Alright then, I don't pay you to play around with animals. Back to work now."
He sounded stern enough, and the small group of people quickly parted as he took hold of Buddy again. Cal looked over at Gillian, smiling softly at her small nod of approval for the move, then picked up the bag he had been carrying in the other hand and dropped when Buddy had escaped him to run off to her and they started walking down the corridor.
"Looks like I missed the 'bring your pet to work' memo," Gillian questioned once they were alone, and Cal smirked.
"I know, I'm sorry love but it was a bit of a situation," he explained. "I was ready to go and the moment I was out the door he started howling and crying. I waited a few minutes to see if he would calm down but it wasn't happening. I figured if I'd left him alone all day he was gonna go bonkers, probably drive the neighbours nuts and earn me a call for animal abuse or something."
"I'm not surprised," Gillian observed when they entered his office. "With his history, he probably has abandonment issues."
"I thought so, yeah." Cal closed the door and let Buddy off the leash, allowing him to explore the room freely. "I will think of something, I promise. For now I'll make sure to keep him out of people's way. It's only for a few hours, I'm picking up Emily from the airport this afternoon so we'll be out of your way."
"It's ok Cal, don't worry about it." Gillian smiled and sat on the couch, with Buddy immediately coming up to her once he had finished exploring the office. "Nobody seemed to have a problem with him."
"Oh I don't know, Torres looked positively terrified."
"I think it was mostly the surprise, and that I can get behind." She mumbled, then got lost in petting Buddy for a while. "I think we can manage for a few hours."
"Thanks Foster," Cal nodded, then took the bag he had been carrying and retrieved one of the blankets and bowls he had bought the day before, along with what had already become Buddy's favourite toy. "I have no meetings on my schedule this morning, I kept the schedule free because of Emily. I will be receiving the tapes from the Porter's case and do some prep for the law firm meeting. Have they rescheduled that yet?"
Gillian took a beat before answering, somewhat enthralled by the natural care with which Cal set up a little comfy spot for the dog on the couch while easily multitasking with the work agenda.
"No, not yet."
"Good then. Catch you for lunch later?" Gillian nodded, then watched Buddy jump on the couch and test the cushions before laying down and starting chomping on his toy. Then she looked up at Cal, who had been watching the same scene and was now smirking at her. "That'll easily keep him busy for at least two hours."
Gillian chuckled, finding the estimate rather reasonable, then took a moment to ruffle Buddy's head before leaving the room and going back to work.
They didn't meet up for lunch in the end, because Cal had to be in the cube with Loker interrogating a new suspect in the Porter case. Buddy had made it clear he wasn't going to be left behind when he had previously left the room to take a bathroom break, so Cal had taken the dog with him and instructed him to stay put. Happy to be included, Buddy had quietly sat on the floor under the console, staying out of the way but keeping a watchful eye on his master trapped in the white room with a stranger until boredom had won and he had dozed off.
Gillian had been otherwise occupied, and when Cal knocked on her door around 3pm she was just about finishing her late lunch while comfortably sitting on the couch.
"Hei, finally getting some food in?"
"Yeah," she sighed, throwing out the empty Chinese food container. "I got caught up with a training project with Torres and Sarah."
"They should know better to feed the beast!" Cal joked and she rolled her eyes, and before he could add anything else Buddy snuck between him and the open door, bursting inside Gillian's office and going straight at her. "Too late old fella, she's done eating I'm afraid."
"I haven't heard a peep from him, he must have been really good," she observed while saluting the enthusiastic dog.
"Yeah, all good. Which makes it easier to ask if you could watch him while I go to the airport to pick up Emily?" Cal smirked, uncomfortable with asking her to share the burden of looking after his dog after having brought him to work with no warning, all on day one. "I figured if I take him with me the moment she sees him she'll forget she even has a father!"
Gillian laughed softly and shook her head, thinking Buddy might indeed give Cal some competition in the love department.
"Of course, I can keep an eye on him until you're back." She kept it casual, but they both knew she was more than ready to spend some time with the old pup. "What do you say Buddy, do you want to hang out with me for a bit?"
The dog's tail immediately started to waggle furiously and before Gillian could stop him he gave her face a good serving of kisses. Cal chuckled, pleased to see the gesture of affection didn't seem to bother her, then finally came inside the office and put Buddy's personal items on the floor.
"Right then, I'll leave you two alone," Cal grinned all smug. "Be a good boy, eh?"
Cal gave the dog a quick pet and left closing the door behind him, eager to beat the traffic on his way to the airport. The moment he saw his owner leave, Buddy immediately ran after him and started whining when he realised he could only watch Cal walk away through the glass door, his leg between his tail.
"Don't worry Buddy," Gillian tried to reassure him while going back to the folder she had been reading. "He'll be back soon."
It was meant to be just something to say, a little throwaway line while she tried to find the way back into the file, but after a few seconds the whining became louder and more intense. She looked up and saw Buddy now on the floor with his head between his front paws, eyes still fixed on the other side of the door, looking ahead with sad eyes and never stopping with the soft whining. Oh yes, she thought, abandonment issues big time! Then he actually sighed in despair, his whole body deflating with sadness and longing for the departed human, and Gillian couldn't take it anymore.
"I promise you, he will be back before you know it." She tried to reassure him, but Buddy only gave her a quick glance and went back to his sad staring. Then she sighed and put down the folder she had been reading, patting the empty spot next to her on the couch. "C'mon, why don't you sit with me?"
That seemed to work, Buddy looked in her direction and seemed to evaluate the offer before getting up slowly and walking over to her. Gillian scooted on the side but he just rested his muzzle on the cushion and looked up at her, as if waiting for confirmation that he was allowed, so she patted the couch again and the dog eventually jumped up and laid down comfortably resting his head on her lap. She wondered for a second if Cal might have been implementing a no couch rule at home which she had just broken, but she got distracted when Buddy started nudging at her hand, and after she picked up the folder again she used her free to pet him slowly and softly until he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Not that she would have had any problems with it, but nobody came looking for her and found her cuddled up with Lightman's dog. Not surprisingly, Gillian found that she could focus on her reading better than usual while absently petting Buddy's soft mantle, but after about more than one hour she did start to feel her legs going numb. She moved an inch and the dog was immediately startled, sitting up on his back paws and looking at her before letting go a giant yawn and making her laugh.
"Alright, how about a coffee then?" Not that he fully understood, but Buddy started waggling his tail anyway. "Ok, let's go before Cal comes back."
She stood up and searched the bag Cal had left behind, finding the leash and bags they had bought the day before, and the second she had it in her hand Buddy was at her feet offering his neck to be hooked up. Smiling at his eagerness, Gillian got him ready then grabbed her coat and scarf and made her way towards the exit, advising Anna that she was going to be out for a few minutes. Anna took her chance to pet Buddy a little before they left, even trying to assure Dr Foster that she was more than up to walk him if she was busy, but Gillian said she was ok and left.
It was freezing outside, still threatening the first snow of the year but not there yet, and Gillian decided to let Buddy do his business first before getting herself a hot beverage and going back inside. Counting traffic to the airport and back, she imagined that Cal would be back with Emily soon and even though he hadn't told her what his plan for the big reveal was, she figured he'd like to do it inside.
Buddy took advantage of the trip outside then happily waited with Gillian in line for the coffee, looking around and taking in the new surroundings with the curiosity of a child. She knew that animals didn't technically smile but Buddy's face, with his mouth open and the tongue hanging and a spark in his dark eyes, could have easily been up the walls inside the office as a perfect example of happiness.
With the hot coffee in her right hand and Buddy's leash on the other Gillian started to make her way back inside, but before she could reach the building entrance the dog gave a sudden and strong pull, catching her off guard and causing her to lose the grip.
"Buddy! Come here!"
There was panic in her voice as she tried to call him back and she immediately sprinted after the pet, thinking Cal was probably going to kill her - well, resent her very badly for a little while - if she'd lost his dog 24 hours after he got him. But after a couple of steps she could relax, catching up with Buddy and realising that he was safely reunited with his actual owner. Cal was kneeling down, smushing Buddy's head with his hands and trying to keep clear of the dog's tongue while Emily watched the scene in confusion. Gillian sighed relieved, realising the dog must have spotted his owner and decided to run to meet him, but it didn't entirely ease her guilt.
"Oh my God Cal, I'm so sorry! He just yanked away."
"No worries love, seems like he has a history for doing that already."
Cal genuinely reassured her, after all he had fallen victim to the same trick twice already, but before he could say or do anything else Emily came from behind, pushing him away and stepping forward.
"Hi Gillian, so good to see you again." They hugged quickly and clumsily, with layers of warm fabric between them, then Emily's attention moved to Buddy so quickly that Gillian understood why Cal had not wanted the pet at the airport fearing he would cause an emotional distraction. "Wow, when did you get a dog?"
Emily bent down and started petting Buddy, who immediately jumped up and showed her just how ridiculously friendly he was. She was distracted by the furry companion and didn't notice the adults exchanging knowing looks, and totally missed the huge happy grin on Cal's face.
"Actually Em," he mumbled, bending down to pick up the loose leash, "this is your dog."
Understandably, it took Emily more than a few seconds to fully comprehend what her father said. One because she was too distracted by the friendly dog licking all over her face, and two because she had long given up on seeing one of her childhood dreams fulfilled. Cal kept grinning when she didn't react, shrugging at Foster that the girl would get there eventually and standing there with his hands in his pocket. Then, all of a sudden Emily stopped playing with Buddy and looked up at him, incredulous and surprised.
"Wait, what?" She stood up quickly, ready to launch at her father. "Are you serious?"
"Believe it or not Em, I am." Cal smiled and nodded, taking the time to pet Buddy when he jumped up to him demanding his attention too. "Got him yesterday, thought you could have a little surprise for your trip home."
"Oh my God, Dad! This is awesome!" Emily grabbed him for a tight hug, and looking at Cal's peaceful expression as he returned the gesture Gillian couldn't fault him for his little scheme, and when the girl pulled back to busy herself with the dog again Cal couldn't fault her either. "He's so cute! What's his name?"
"Well, they were calling him Buddy but we've been waiting for you to find a proper name."
"Nice!" Emily took hold of the dog's face in her hands and gave him a good look, as if looking for inspiration. "What breed is he?"
"He's a chocolate Labrador," Gillian jumped in.
"Really?" Cal nodded to Emily, then she took a few more seconds before speaking again. "OK then, how about Milk?"
"Milk? Em, that's not- Oi!" The sharp end of Gillian's elbow dug deep in Cal's stomach before he could finish berating his daughter's choice, and the stern look coming right after told he'd better change his tune. He sighed, secretly thankful for the admonishment, then looked down at Emily who had been too busy playing with Bud-Milk, to notice the adults' interaction. "That's a good one. Try it out, see how he likes it."
He meant to be a touch sarcastic, and frankly wasn't sure the dog would easily respond to anything other than Buddy for a while, but when Emily started talking straight at the animal to let him know he was Milk now the pet seemed to go along with it with the usual enthusiasm and transport he had been showing for pretty much everything.
"Milk it is then," Gillian laughed, clearly at him, then she bent down to pet the newly named dog. "Hi Milk."
Whether it was because he hadn't understood they were calling him Buddy in the first place or because he didn't quite catch on to the change of name, Milk just sat down as a good boy and licked Gillian's hand as if to respond to her, and they all had a good laugh out of it. With the introductions and revelations taken care of, the small group seemed to decide they had enough of being out in the cold and went back to the office, where Emily greeted everybody and re-introduced the dog as Milk before Cal started to get restless and announce it was time for them to head back home.
Emily was all for it, the girl couldn't wait to go home and get even more acquainted with Milk and find out what it felt like to be a dog owner, but also asked Gillian if she wanted to come over for dinner. Gillian didn't even bother counselling with Cal in that silent yet effective way their eyes could achieve; not because she didn't need his permission, but on the contrary because she knew he'd be all for it and she thought father and daughter needed some duo-time. Not for any particular reason if not that Cal missed Emily, but that was good enough for Gillian: the man had gotten a dog for crying out loud, if that didn't scream loneliness then nothing else did.
Apologies if you really like Buddy as a name, but honestly this whole breed/name thing was a must for me!
Also, it hasn't come up yet but I feel like it might so I want to get ahead of it and reassure you: nothing bad is going to happen to Milk. I promise!