1
"What do you think?
"I don't know," Cal huffed, annoyed at himself, in response to Torres' question. Then he smirked and glanced over at Gillian who was walking a couple of steps behind them, lost in her own thoughts. "What's your take, love? I definitely saw something but couldn't quite put my finger on it."
Gillian nodded as the trio stopped at the reception desk, all of them picking up messages as they carried on.
"I know. I think she's been honest when she's saying that doesn't know anything about the insider trading, but the way she kept talking about Mr Holmes-"
"Too much without really saying anything?"
The interruption was not motivated by rudeness, but rather by the kind of productive banter the two long time friends and business partners found the most productive. Gillian could hear it in the tone of his voice, interested and inquisitive, almost looking for validation, not to mention the little spark in his eyes flashing her with just enough of his sharpness to read the intervention as it should have been.
"We should call Agent Faulkner and tell her to look into Holmes," Gillian said then, taking Cal's observation and swiftly running with it. "If she finds something then we'll have our way with him."
"Aye aye!" Cal waved his eyebrow at her choice of words, both of them having fun with it, then he switched back to business again. "But before we do that, how about we take a second look at the video? Just to make sure?"
Gillian smiled, fondly remembering a time when Cal's propensity for caution was as unusual as it was suspicious, then nodded.
"Good idea, better be safe than sorry. Torres, can you set it up in the lab-"
"Gillian?"
She stopped mid sentence, her whole body tensing as if swallowing her own words had caused a temporary shut down. Unsurprisingly, Cal and Torres in front of her reacted pretty much the same way, except that from their vantage point they had eyes on the person who had just uttered her name and didn't need to fight with their own minds as much as Gillian to come to the realisation. She hesitated to turn around, locking eyes with Cal who gave her a small nod half-way between encouragement and reassurance, then she slowly manoeuvred on the spot until she had sight on Burns. She knew he was going to be there after hearing his voice of course, but she didn't have nearly enough time to prepare for it, especially when the first thing her brain registered about his presence was that he looked exactly like the day he had disappeared from her life. Well, minus all the bruises and bloody cuts of course.
"Do you have a minute?"
Burns spoke again, easily understanding the surprise in the others and trying to move things along for everyone's sake. Gillian was still a touch more baffled than what she'd like, but her go to reaction was to look back at Cal again. He returned the look, calm and under control, then gave her another nod that this time had an entire different meaning.
"Let's go get the recording ready," he then instructed Torres as he started to walk away. "We need to figure out why Mr Holmes is suddenly so popular."
Not a long time ago Torress would have probably tried to stick around, way too noisy about the bosses' business despite knowing better, but the atmosphere in the lobby was so charged that she found she had no interest in it. So she quickly picked up her messages and the bag with the equipment, walking briskly to catch up with Lightman who was already making his way to the lab. Gillian watched them go, taking in a deep breath and holding it until he turned the corner, then turned around again to face Burns. He had come closer, not too close but just enough for her to again notice the remarkable lack of changes in his features just before registering how deeply uncomfortable he seemed to be.
That makes two of us, she thought then as he approached.
"Dave, I-"
"I know, this is quite out of the blue," he urged to confess, raising his hands as he spoke knowing full well she would be able to understand how truthful he was. "And I see you're busy, I don't want to interfere. I was just wondering…maybe we could talk? Later, of course." He paused briefly, maybe to gauge whether she'd prefer for him to finish what he had to say. "I'm in town, I was thinking maybe a drink after work? You don't have to answer now, I left my contact to your receptionist just… Well, if you have some time I'd like to have the chance to catch up."
Burns was beyond grateful that she had let him finish, he had imagined that moment in many ways and for a long time and in most of the scenarios he had come up with he'd never get that far. But she had let him speak at least, even though she looked more like she was still too shocked by his presence to process it properly, and now it was his time to hold his breath and wait.
Not that he was counting or anything, but Cal estimated that just about 5 minutes went by between the time he had left Gillian in the lobby with Burns and her joining him and Torres in the lab. As for assessing what had happened in that short amount of time, he didn't even try: Gillian walked in and flawlessly went straight to work mode, focusing her attention on the recording of the interview with Mrs Lucas. A clear sign that either nothing had happened - at least nothing worth mentioning urgently - or that she didn't want to talk about it before business had been taken care of. Either way, Cal was not surprised and respected her silent request, much like Torres who had finally gotten pretty good at minding her own business.
The trio went through the tape for more than one hour, and tried as they might, the answer in the end was the same they had originally come up with. Mrs Lucas was not involved but her suspicion of her colleague was certainly something they should look into.
"I'll call Agent Faulkner and tell her to arrange for us to speak with Mr Holmes," Torres summed it up as she gathered her things, then she looked up at the bosses. "Do you need anything else?"
That's what she said, but clearly what she meant was more along the lines of 'can I get the hell out of here?'. They both nodded, putting her out of her misery, and watched as the young woman rushed out of the lab more than happy with her newfound carefree attitude, then looked at each other. Cal was sprawled out on the chair with his usual impossible posture while Gillian was standing by the door, having spent the last 20 minutes pacing around the room as she elaborated her observations on Mrs Lucas. They locked eyes, much like they had twice earlier in the lobby, only this time there was no need to control themselves and try to hide.
"I'm ok," Gillian immediately volunteered when Cal slowly stood up from the chair and started walking towards her.
"I know," he whispered back, and if she thought his voice sounded incredibly soft and comforting that was nothing compared to the incredible lightness of his hand on her shoulder.
It was nothing new, the simple power of his touches had been there since the early days of their friendship, but in the few months since they had taken the steps from that to a much deeper and more intimate relationship they worked for her on another level. Especially at a time like that, with her ex-boyfriend showing up out of nowhere and the concrete possibility for things between them to get real ugly real fast.
That was why she let go, despite 'being ok' and all her displays of assuredness and self-control, because when she melted away in his arms she always felt like nothing could get to her. It had been that way since the night she had found Claire in a pool of blood; it had been the worst moment of her life in a long while but for a few seconds, with the gentle weight of his coat delicately put on her shoulders and the comforting grip of his arms around her, all the pain and fear and desperation had been wiped away. She wasn't delusional, she knew her feelings for Cal had been tipping on one side for a while already, but in that moment, with him giving her solace when she thought it was impossible to find some, Gillian had realised just how deep their connection was.
And that she wanted more.
In that moment, back in his arms like that night, although thankfully due to something far less tragic, Gillian took her time to reminisce and relax until she was ready to share the details of the awkward encounter.
"He didn't say much," she explained then as they broke apart, but not that much. "He said he would like me to meet me, to talk and catch up."
"Figured," Cal mumbled while absently stroking her palm with his finger.
"I told him I'd think about it."
"Good."
He smiled sheepishly at her questioning look but shrugged, then took hold of her hand and guided her back to the chairs so that they could sit close together. Gillian didn't resist nor protest, instead she followed him and rolled her eyes when Cal leaned with his elbow on the desk and looked at her with the puppy eyes of a man ready to wait as long as he had to hear the rest.
"I don't want to think about it," she stated then.
"OK," Cal replied, clearly not believing one bit of it despite the assertive nod going along with it.
"I don't need to think about it. Cal-" She huffed and shook her head. "I moved on from him a long time ago, it's been nearly two years since I saw him last." She stopped to smile warmly and caress his face. "I have you, what good could come out of it anyway?"
"Closure?" Cal quipped tentatively, a little grimace on his face he quickly wiped off at the first sign of annoyance from her. He took her hands again, steady this time, speaking softly. "Gill, you loved him and he meant a lot to you. It all ended suddenly, to no fault of either of you… As someone who happens to know what it feels like to be with you, I don't dare assume what he must have felt when he had to leave you."
Gillian looked away briefly, not wanting for Cal to look at her face as she processed that remark because she herself had no idea how to feel about it. It didn't take her long, after all the answer was rather simple: Burns was the past, a short lived one, and Cal was so much more than that, he had been even when she had indeed been in love with Dave.
"You're saying I should go?" She asked then, fighting the urge to move from her chair to his lap.
"I'm saying I don't see why you shouldn't," Cal shrugged. "And that I'm gonna be ok with whatever you decide."
"So you're ok with me going out with my ex boyfriend?"
Cal groaned softly, knowing she was now pushing a little bit and willing to put up with it because it meant they were easily moving forward. So he decided that might be a good time to make a move, not because he felt threatened in any way but simply to show her that two could play that game. He let his eyes speak first, boring into her for a few seconds before inching closer and putting his lips to hers. The moment they touched Cal realised he had been baited big time, it was clear by the way Gillian immediately took control of the kiss, and he was more than happy to have been fooled.
When they broke apart they were both smiling like silly children, something that had become quite the habit when they happened to steal moments like that while at work, and Cal swiftly picked up the conversation from where they had left it.
"Pretty cool, aren't I?" He joked. "I mean, how many men would be totally on board with something like that?"
"Uhm, maybe you are just fishing for something?"
"Like what?"
"Oh, I don't know," Gillian sighed as she stood up, walking around him and resting her hands on his shoulders as she leaned down to whisper in his ear. "Some kind of relationship-status peptalk? A promise you have nothing to worry about anyway?"
"I wouldn't dare! But just in case-" Cal fake outrage made her chuckle, which then became a laugh when he swirled around on the chair and grabbed her, pulling her down to sit on his lap. He kissed her again, only this time he started, led and finished a passionate kiss that left her absolutely breathless. "Now I really don't mind what you decide to do," he mercilessly mumbled at the end of it, when she was still recovering and very much ready to take things further if given the chance.
Because no, Cal certainly had nothing to worry about.