Wallet, keys, phone, watch, a bunch of crumpled business cards and loose change: so far so good, normal and harmless items most people would have on them at any time.

Until the last one dropped.

It came down slowly, perhaps suffering the friction of the paper as the smallest object of the bunch, but when it landed on the table with an almost musical ping it brought the three people now gathered around the table to a complete stop, although for different reasons. Cal and Gillian because they knew they were screwed, and Emily because she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"Dad, what is that?" She stumbled on the question, slowly reaching for the object as if she was afraid to touch it.

"Em, maybe we should take this someplace else?"

"Is this-" She picked it up carefully, holding it with the tip of fingers as if it could burn her. "Gillian, what is this?"

"Emily we…" Gillian bit at her bottom lip, exchanging a quick look with Cal. "Maybe we can talk about it at home? I think it would be best."

"Why?" At this point Zoe was dying with curiosity for the scene, especially for the terrified looks on their face, and she stepped closer to take a good look herself. "What is it? What's- Oh my God!"

It was honest and pure shock in her voice, no judgement but simple acknowledgement of the objective magnitude of the ring Emily was holding in her hand. Simple, round, seemingly anonymous and yet powerful in its familiarity despite the unusual thin chain attached to it. Emiy was holding it and looking as if it was the relic at the centre of Tolkien's books, and it sure did hold a lot of power for something so small. Zoe was baffled, looking at Cal and Gillian who seemed like two kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar, scared and guilty, and really after the initial shock all she felt like doing was laughing it off.

Emily didn't seem so inclined to see the funny side of it, not without further explanations which would probably aggravate her even more.

"Is this what I think it is?" She asked, her pleading eyes going from her father to Gillian with frantic movements, frustrated with their stunned silence.

"C'mon Em," Cal finally tried to ease the tension. "Let's go outside and talk about it-"

"Are you guys married?" She spat out again, knowing already what the answer was seen that she was holding his wedding band. "Are you serious?"

Cal clenched his jaw, finding the situation surreal but not knowing what else he could do to calm her down if she didn't give him a chance. Then he looked at Gillian, who was carefully stepping closer while absently moving her hand around her neck, slowly unveiling a very similar chain hiding under the collar of her blouse until she revealed the ring attached at the end of it, which had been hiding under her clothes for God knows how long.

"Busted," she whispered over to Cal with a little smile, to which he smirked in response while wrapping one arm around her.

"Afraid so," he whispered back as he kissed her temple, then sighed and looked at his daughter who was staring at them bugged-eyes. "I'm sorry Em, I can explain."

"Explain? Dad, you two got married and didn't even tell me?"

Yeah, that's a hard one to sell!

"To be fair Em, we didn't tell anybody."

"Oh my God!" Zoe stifled a laugh and rushed to cover her mouth with one hand, feeling her reaction didn't go down well with her daughter but still finding the whole thing utterly hilarious.

"What? How-" Emily closed her hand around the ring, putting it out of Cal's reach. "When did this happen?"

Cal and Gillian looked at each other, then she nodded and sighed deciding that was hers to take.

"A couple of weeks ago."

"Two weeks? How?" Emily was beyond herself, providing quite the entertainment for the casual crowd in the lobby. "You two were super busy with that big case, you barely got to spend time together. You even had to work on the weekend!"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Zoe suddenly jumped in, a clear epiphany all over her face aa a sudden realisation came over her. "Two weeks, you mean to tell me you got married the day that Ash was killed?"

Crap, crap, crap! Cal couldn't think of anything else as Zoe said that out loud, causing Emily's face to scrunch up in an even more pissed expression. Then he glanced at Gillian, who was already bracing for impact knowing what was about to come her way.

"Is that true?" Emily looked straight at her. "Was it that day?"

"Emily, listen-

"Yes Emily," Gillian shushed him gently, not willing to let him take that. "It was that day."

"You could have said something, you could have told them where he was and you didn't?"

"I asked her not to, Em," Cal urged to explain, not at all comfortable with letting Gillian go down for that. "You know there was a lot on the line, I had to-"

The big and unexpected plot twist had already suggested to Huertas that it was probably time for him to step out, and the dramatic and heavy atmosphere that was forming in the lobby easily convinced him that it was time for him to go. He was grateful to Lightman and Gillian - hold on, was it the Lightmans now then? - for putting so much on the line for him but looking at the young girl fuming with emotions at the combined revelation he thought best to quietly leave the scene, not fancying some of that hurt anger coming his way. With an eye still on the group he stepped back toward the door, hoping none of them noticed him, and silently slid out leaving the chaotic scene still unfolding.

"They were trying to get you for murder, Dad! Why would you not tell them you had an alibi?"

"That's an answer I'd like to hear too," Zoe mumbled, supporting her daughter's query but still keeping a low profile.

"Gillian wanted to Em, but I asked her not to. It was my idea." He gently grabbed her shoulders, lowering his voice and trying to de-escalate the situation. "And she fought me hard on that, but I was afraid it might have compromised everything. You know what I was doing, why this whole thing started, and I didn't want to leave our friend in trouble just to save myself."

That was what he said, speaking gently but not condescending, but Gillian knew he really meant 'her friend': not as accusation or negative remark, far from blaming her for anything but simply trying to explain to his daughter that he had been in a position not to be selfish. If possible, that made her love him even more: yes, she was still a bit upset that he had been working on something like that on his own, something so personal, but he had done so for altruistic reasons and damnit! Why did he always do that? Turn his reckless behaviour into something people around him would eventually understand and condone?

Because it wasn't just her, Gillian could see it in the way Emily's body and face slowly started to relax and let go as she processed his words. She could almost, literally, read the girl's mind: was she really going to tell her father that he should have been selfish and let an innocent man, someone who had a family like him, go down for something he hadn't done?

No, she wasn't. Eventually Emily sighed and relaxed, still shaking her head and showing all of her disappointment for the extra grief he had put them all through. Then she seemed to remember what she was still holding, the chain wrapped around her wrist and the webbind band in her hand, and Cal held his breath for another barrage.

"And why didn't you tell me about this?" She asked then, holding up the object in a way that really made Cal want to snatch it away no matter what. "For real Dad, you two got married two weeks ago, what were you waiting for?"

Cal bit at his bottom lip, not sure if he had an answer that would satisfy her, then looked over at Gillian who had a rather serious expression on her face. It wasn't brief, it wasn't subtle as it could have been considering who was involved, and Emily easily caught on to the fact that perhaps she was bashing at the wrong half of the pair.

"It was your idea?"

Gillian didn't answer but tried to step towards her, and when Emily motioned to recoil Cal tried to step in.

"C'mon Em, let's go home and we'll tell you- Emily!"

She stormed off, not after a hard and resentful look thrown at Gillian. Emily grabbed her coat and walked out taking the wedding band with her and leaving the three adults exchanging awkwards silence and looks, much to the disappointment of the casual audience around them who understood the show was over.

"I'm sorry love," Cal sighed, coming closer to Gillian. "She'll calm down, I will talk to her."

"I think that's on me, Cal, if that's ok for you," she replied instead, giving him a shy smile. "She's not wrong after all, it was my idea."

"I went along with it, didn't I?"

Gillian smiled, remembering how difficult it had been for him to do so because he was so happy about their impromptu wedding that he couldn't wait to share the news with the person he loved the most beside her. Then took his hand and left a light kiss on his cheek before putting on her coat and getting ready to follow Emily outside.

"I'll take this one. It's the least I can do."

Cal nodded, understanding he wasn't going to change her mind, watched as Gillian went through the door and then started to gather his things scattered on the table. He was putting everything where it belonged, filling his pockets, when Zoe stepped closer and gave out a little cough to catch his attention.

"Seriously?" She asked when he gave her his best dull expression. "You get married and you don't tell your daughter? Jesus, Cal!"

"That's your take away?" He mumbled, taking note of the fact that she didn't seem particularly surprised, not bothered by the update in his relationship status. "Not the fact that I wasn't going to play the alibi card?"

"Yes, that's a whole other level of stupidity!" The lawyer in her growled at him, shaking her head. "Did Martin know?"

"Of course he did. He's the company lawyer, that was a whole day of paperwork we had to go through!" Cal whined as if that had been the worst thing to happen to him, shrugging as she scoffed and rolled her eyes. "It was me or Huertas, the difference being that with him outside and me in jail we had a better chance to come out on top."

"So what, that was all one of your usual calculated plans?"

Cal sighed as he powered his cell, grimacing at the low battery sign, then looked towards the door and absently beyond it as he chewed his lip.

"Not this part," he mumbled. "Not this part."

If that had been a movie, the big release from prison would have been marked by the sudden end of the incessant rain and welcomed by the first ray of sun and clear sky in days. But it wasn't a movie, far from it, and the rain was still coming down with relentless violence, and that was why Emily's hasty exit didn't take her far. She had no umbrella and once she stepped out she was welcomed by a wall of pouring water coming down from the sky. She looked around, seriously considering just running under that, but she had nowhere to go really and a loud cracking thunder let her know it probably wasn't a good idea. Then she spotted the bus stop a few steps away from the prison entrance, equipped with its own small bench under a sturdy wooden shed roof, and decided that it would do.

She pulled her jacket on top of her head and made a run for it, finding a dry spot where to sit down and think and caring little about the fact that criminals and released inmates normally waited for the bus to freedom there. Emily sat down on the bench then opened her palm, looking at the wedding band with a mixture of fascination and disappointment. She wasn't entirely over the missed alibi thing but she could understand, but what she struggled to grasp was why they hadn't told her about something like that, why Gillian of all people seemed to be the one who had decided to keep it quiet. Thinking, wondering if getting married to her father for a handful of days had somehow already changed the older woman that much, Emily played around with the ring for a few moments tying to imagine what she had missed, them getting married and exchanging the wedding bands, sharing vows and heartfelt words of love and commitment, and flowers and maybe throwing the bouquet-

"It was nothing like that, not that it should make you feel better."

Emily looked up and saw Gillian, wet and short of breath after her run to the bus stop, standing under the roof but keeping a discreet distance. She wasn't smiling and she wasn't trying to be overly friendly, and Emily wasn't surprised: Gillian always knew how to balance things when it came to her, when to be her father's girlfriend - wife - and when to act like a friend to her. Which made the whole situation even more difficult to understand.

"Why not?" Emily asked then. "Why not tell anybody?"

Gillian sighed and eyed the bench she was occupying, waiting for Emily's shrug as a sign that she could take a seat. Then she waited for a minute or two, trying to find the right way to go about it.

"It was… unplanned, spontaneous," she started, then stopped and shook her head. "It came out of nowhere and we just rolled with it."

"How can a wedding come out of nowhere?" Emily whined, rolling her eyes. "A proposal maybe, especially with Dad involved, but a whole wedding?"

Despite everything Gillian chuckled, then leaned forward and kept her eyes on the ring in Emily's hands as she spoke.

"We were at the office that Saturday, like we told you. It's always quiet on Saturday mornings and we had so much paperwork to go through…Well, I had the paperwork, your dad was there for moral support." Emily rolled her eyes, knowing that meant he was doing nothing but being a distraction. "I was at my desk and he was on the couch reading a book…funny, I don't even remember what it was. I was focused on what I was doing and then at some point I just looked up and he was staring at me, smiling. It was the most beautiful smile I've ever seen." She blushed slightly and Emily found it oddly sweet, something she had never seen Gillian do. "And then he just said it, marry me Foster."
"Foster?!" Emily huffed and grumbled something. "God Dad, what is wrong with him? Why would he call you Foster at a moment like that?"

"I don't know, I think he didn't either…but it felt right." Gillian smiled absently, clearly remembering the absurd moment fondly. "I laughed but he kept smiling, so focused and serious that he shushed me without a word. And then I felt it, that it was real, that he truly meant it and he must have seen it because all of a sudden he's on his feet, coming over to me, telling me that he doesn't have a ring because he didn't expect to be ready so soon but that yes, he wants to marry me and…and then he told me to stop laughing."

"You were laughing at him?!"

"I couldn't help it Emily, he was just adorable, all flustered like that…and I knew I was going to say yes already, no matter what, ring or no ring." She still laughed softly at that moment, catching the way Emily seemed to focus and trying to conjure up the image in her head. "I told him that, and I told them yes, I would marry him and things kind of snowballed from there."

"What do you mean?" Emily asked, showing shock when the older woman bit her bottom lip. "Gillian!"

"We just started talking about it, Cal was blaming himself for the horrible proposal and I told him I didn't care about a fancy engagement ring or a big wedding or a white dress. I've had it all before, the big ceremony and all that…we've been through that and we both knew that a wedding and a marriage are not the same thing. We talked about it, to keep things simple, and the first thing that came to mind was the things that really matters in the end is the marriage licence." She stopped and sighed, a wide smile on her face remembering the thrill of excitement of those confused and frantic minutes in her office. "It kicked off like that, going to courthouse and getting one to start things off. I don't know, maybe at thai point we were still just planning, or maybe we wanted something to mark the occasion since we didn't have a ring…but when we got there and we had the papers it just clicked. I guess the clerks see something like this all the time, a couple showing up with a certain eagerness or look in their eyes with the intention of only getting the paperwork."

"You mean they read you?" Emily asked, now laughing too.

"In a way, yes. And we fell for it," she confessed. "The person who gave us the paperwork said that there probably was someone able to officiate still around before the lunch break, he mentioned that they had wedding bands - I know!" She interrupted herself, agreeing with Emily's stupor. "At that point I thought the only thing missing was an Elvis lookalike! Well, we thought about it, not that much I confess, and we called Martin to come over and help us sort out the rest." Gillian shook her head, absently touching the chain around her neck as she finished. "Your father proposed to me and two hours later we were legally married."

"Ok," Emily nodded slowly, thinking about it. "That might explain a few things but why not tell anybody else, for days? I get people at work, but me? Did you think that I wouldn't have been happy about it?" Gillian didn't answer but her face said a lot. "What? Gillian, I know my reaction was a bit over the top but you can't possibly think I'd have anything against it!"

"To be honest Emily, I wasn't sure. And yes, I asked your father to keep it to ourselves until I was ready to tell you first," Gillian admitted with a long sigh, knowing the difficult part was coming. "We had been together for a while and I knew you had no problem with that, but when I moved in and gave up my apartment…I didn't mean to read you Emily, but you know sometimes we can't help it no matter what, and when we started living together you looked like you had some doubts about it, or concerns maybe. Nothing too serious maybe, I was sure you would have told your dad if that was the case or that he would have noticed too if there was the possibility of a real conflict, but there wasn't something there. So when we got married, in the way we did, I thought maybe you could use a bit more time to adjust to the previous step before something even bigger."

Emily stared at her for a while in silence, trying to match her words with her own feelings, then looked down at the ring and sighed.

"I just…I didn't want him to get hurt again," she explained eventually. "Don't get me wrong, I know he loves you and that you love him and you two are great together." She looked up at Gillian with a shy smile, understandably feeling uncomfortable in having that conversation with her father's companion, who happened to be one of her closest friends too. "It's always been a better version of himself when you are involved, he's been so happy since you two got together and it was great to see you become a couple little by little. I understood why you took it slow, there is so much on the line… When you moved in I just thought maybe that was a little too early, that if you two were moving so fast maybe it was because you were afraid to mess it all up or get bored with each other. You are the first person Dad let in since Mom left him and I was afraid that he might just try too hard and end up losing you."

"That is a very understandable feeling Emily, I'm not gonna lie." At that point Gillian felt confident enough that they were past the hurdle and gently put her arm around the girl's shoulder. "And very on the Lightman brand, if I may say so."

Emily chuckled, then looked up at her.

"I don't mean to say that you are going to hurt him," she clarified.

"I know, and I have no intention to. But you're old enough to know there is no telling how these things go, after all we both come from failed marriages." Then she took her own ring out, looking at it with a smile full of hopes and promises. "That also means we might have learned a lesson or two on what mistakes not to make again."

Emily nodded, the thought that she was sitting there with her father's second wife slowly sinking in and with no oppositions that she could think of. Then she held up the ring and looked at it closely, squinting her eyes and mumbling.

"It's engraved," she noted, then looked at Gillian with a raised eyebrow. "Exactly how many services did this courthouse offer?"

Gillian laughed and shook her head; she really was her father's daughter.

"We only got the bands there, we did the inscriptions a couple of days later."

Emily nodded then focused on the ring again.

"Hear me," she read out and frowned. "That's weird."

Gillian smiled and took off her own necklace, handing it to her and watching as the girl read the two words engraved on the inside; see me. Emily looked up at her, the two seemingly disconnected statements now becoming a meaningful banter for her too, and she smiled widely before returning the ring to Gillian.

"Should we go back inside?" She asked then, nodding at Cal's ring still in her hand. "I think your father would like that back."

Emily agreed and nodded, safely holding onto the ring as they made the quick run back to the entrance. Cal was in a corner, sitting alone and brooding over the fact that of all the things that had happened to him over the past days his daughter's seemingly hostile reaction to his marriage was quite possibly the worst of all. Then he spotted them coming back inside and immediately stood up, launching a questioning look to Gillian who thankfully gave him a reassuring nod.

"I'm sorry Dad. I mean, I still can't believe you got married without me but I might have overreacted."

"I'm sorry too Em, I mucked it all up." He kissed her forehead then looked at her hands. "Do you think I can have that now? Kind of like having it on me, ya know?"

He said the last words while looking at Gillian, one of those sweet and intense looks that made her heart flutter, clearly trying to show her how much he had missed wearing the symbol of their promise. Emilly nodded and returned the ring to him, noticing how he lit up when it was back in his hands and how naturally he slid the necklace back into place, strangely moved by the gentle and intimate way in which Gillian placed her hand on his chest covering the exact spot where the ring touched his skin as they looked at each other like there was no one else in the entire world but them.

"You do know you don't have to wear it like that anymore, right?" Emily questioned him, but Cal shrugged and threw his arm around her as the trio started to walk toward the door.

"Gotten used to it, that's all." With his free hand he took Gillian's. "Besides, we still haven't told people at work so I'd hold onto this for now until we decide what to do with it."

"Oh, I know what you should do," Emily let him know with no hesitation. "You should propose again, properly, make a big spectacle in front of everybody."

"Come now Em, don't be ridiculous! We're already married, people are going to find out eventually."

"And that's why you should do the proposal again! People are going to be less upset about finding out you're married if they get to see that."

"And by people I guess that means yourself?" Cal smirked,throwing Gillian a knowing side glance when his daughter shrugged. "Well Em, at this point why not skip the do-over on the proposal and throw together a little ceremony?"

"Oh my God Dad, please tell me you are not joking!"

Cal chuckled as they finally stepped outside, opening two umbrellas to make it safely across the parking lot to Gillian's car. As they walked he gave Gillian a nod of encouragement, happy to let her have that moment after the passing mishap with Emily.

"After we got married, when we decided not to tell anybody for a while, we also agreed that when the time came we would have wanted to mark the moment, one way or the other," Gillian explained, smiling at the way Emily's face immediately opened up in a hopeful expression. "Nothing big, just something to share with friends and family."

"I don't care what it is as long as you're gonna need bridesmaids," Emily cut her off, reaching out to give her a quick and tight hug and pushing her father out of the way in the process.

Cal smiled at the scene at first, especially when Gillian returned the hug with equal transport, then they exchanged another knowing look.

"She might, but you won't be in the line up."

"What?!" Emily shrieked, pulling away from Gillian and staring at them with tears already in her eyes. "Why? Please Gillian, I would love to!"
"I'd love that too Emily, but your father called dibs on you."

Emily frowned, confusion now topping the sheer disappointment of a few seconds earlier, then she looked at her father who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Well, I'm gonna need a best man now, won't I?" His face softened into a warm smile when Emily registered what he was saying. "Can't think of a better person Em, besides the one I married of course."

It was Cal's turn to be tackled by his daughter in a bear hug, and Gillian's to smile at the interaction and what it represented. Then a strong gust of wind came to break the moment, nearly pulling one of the umbrellas away, and they decided that it was about to get in the car.

"How about we stop for breakfast somewhere? I could swear there was something moving in the scrambled eggs in there." Cal suggested once they were inside and when Gillian started off the engine he leaned closer to her and muffled playfully. "Someone here looks like she hasn't had her morning coffee yet."

To his surprise, Gillian groaned and showed disgust, not at him but for the beverage suggestion.

"To be honest Cal, I think I will take the cue from you on tea only for a while."

She answered softly, knowing that he could easily read behind her words and that he couldn't wait to be alone with her so that he could profusely apologise for putting her through so much. Yes, she had mentioned the stress at work on top of everything else, but Cal had not failed to notice how incredibly tired she had looked throughout and he knew all too well what she looked like when she wasn't eating properly.

"How about…one of those signature fall concoctions they shove in your face this time of year?" He quipped then with an raised eyebrow. "You know, pumpkin spiced sugary thick potions with chocolate at the bottom and whipped cream on top, anything but coffee? I'm buying."

Gillian gave him a side glare and he smirked; of course he was buying! He had a lot to pay her back for, and a seasonal drink was only a small drop in the big ocean of what he owed her.

And he was looking forward to paying his debt every day of their lives.

The end

Well, there you have it.

I have two questions, just to keep things interactive.

Edit: you're not allowed to say you like both, pick a side!

- About the engraving in the rings, I was in between what I wrote or this "My face for you eyes"- "My words for your ears": which one do you like best?

- For the next one (yes, there is another one, I haven't decided yet which one to post: a Gillian focused story or something else?