Fic: Spirals - Part 4
Title: Spirals - Part 4
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Up to and including 'Secret Santa'
Summary: Cal is ready to move things forward, but Gillian isn't so sure.
Thanks to beatlejessie for her beta and for poking me with ideas when I got stuck! And alainnrois for picking up those little things we miss. Any errors left are mine and mine alone!
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
This could go one of two ways. Foster would be pleased to have the company back on solid financial footing, or she would tear him up one side and down the other.
Either way, Cal figured he would enjoy it.
He entered the doors of the Lightman Group wearing a rumpled suit, sunglasses and three days worth of scruff on his face.
"Welcome back, Dr. Lightman," Heidi smiled, holding up a stack of pink phone messages.
Cal flipped through them, crumpled up the first three, pocketed two, and tossed the rest away. "Thanks," he replied distractedly, walking the corridors and peeking in doors until he found Foster in her office.
"Wow," she said upon seeing him. "You look awful. Where did you disappear to this weekend, or do I want to know?"
Cal pulled his wallet out of his jacket pocket, opened it up and removed a check. Holding it up, he slid it across the desk.
"The money I spent buying Zoe out, plus an extra fifty thousand in interest," he said, flopping into the nearest chair.
"Cal, where did you get this?"
"Did you know that riverboats don't have me blacklisted?" he asked, grinning. "Though, I couldn't exactly use my own name, just in case, so I had the casino write the check directly to you."
Gillian looked at him in disbelief. "So let me see if I understand this. You went to a riverboat casino, spent the weekend gambling, and I'm just supposed to what? Smile? Say thank you?"
"Well, I haven't told you the bad part yet."
"Cal, what have you done?"
"They have this policy, you see, of needing valid identification if they're going to write a check, and since you weren't actually there, I might have used a forged ID and girl named Brenda, who was very nice by the way, to take on the role of Gillian Foster."
"Forgery? Cal, are you kidding me?" Gillian asked, looking slightly horrified. "How do you not see the problem with this?"
"I put us into the hole and now I'm getting us out of it, simple as that. Taking responsibility for my actions, isn't that what you wanted?"
"Not like this!"
"You've only got one week to deposit that, so don't wait too long," Cal said, rising to his feet. "You don't have any aspirin do you?"
"Cal! We have to talk about this!"
"Actually, it would be you yelling at me, me being defensive and what did you call it? Both of us being co-dependent? That's the term, yeah?" he asked, looking thoughtful. "Just deposit the check and you can cross that off my list of mistakes I need atoning for," he said dismissively, walking from the room.
***
Cal was surprised to find Gillian on his doorstep later that night.
"For the record, I don't have some kind of imaginary list of all of your faults and mistakes."
He stared at her, open-mouthed for a few moments before stepping back. "Come in, love. It's cold."
"I don't need to come in, I just- needed you to know," she said awkwardly.
"Are you afraid to be alone with me?" Cal asked, and though his tone was teasing, there was a seriousness in his eyes.
"Of course not!"
"Then come inside. I've been told it's bad to drink alone."
"You didn't get enough this weekend?" Gillian asked, relenting and stepping inside.
"Hair of the dog," Cal said, leading her into the den.
"I think that only works the morning after, not the night after," she said, sitting down on the couch.
"Then I have a whole day to catch up on," Cal grinned, going to the sideboard and pouring them each a glass of Southern Comfort Reserve bourbon.
"Are you trying to get me drunk?" Gillian asked, sniffing the glass she handed him.
Cal slouched down beside her, grinning. "I dunno. Will I get lucky if you're drunk?" he teased.
Gillian rolled her eyes and took a sip. "Ooh that's good."
Cal took a drink, then let his head rest against the back of the couch. He rolled his head and watched Gillian for a few seconds.
"What's it going to take to get myself out of the doghouse?" he asked, keeping his face relatively expressionless.
Gillian sighed and smiled softly. "You're not in the doghouse, Cal."
"Let me rephrase that. What's it going to take to convince you to give me a chance?"
"I lied."
Cal said nothing, just arched an eyebrow.
"About not trusting you. In most things, I'd trust you with my life. It's that handful of things that I don't trust you with that make me hesitant."
Actually, Gillian had been completely honest in her outburst, Cal had seen that for himself. But he accepted her caveats.
"I didn't go near the roulette table," Cal said, still watching her. "Well, that's a lie, I did go near it. I probably stood there watching it for a good hour, just itching to put it all on the line just one more time. It was bloody tempting."
"What stopped you?"
"I don't know. Maybe it was your speech," he said, nudging her shoulder.
"Really, Cal. What made you stop?"
"I really don't know, love. Honestly, I don't. I can't even promise that if I was in the same situation that I'd walk away again. This time I did." He took a big gulp of bourbon, watching Gillian as he wiped the back of his hand across his mouth.
"I'm tired. Want to come snuggle up in bed with me?" he asked, shifting lower and settling his head on her shoulder. He tried to give her puppy dog eyes, but due to exhaustion, they looked more like the eyes of a sad basset hound. "I promise I'll only grope you a little bit."
"No, but I'll tuck you in," Gillian answered, setting aside her drink and standing up, holding out her hand. "Come on, let's get you to bed before you drink yourself into another hangover."
Cal stood up and wrapped his arms around Gillian's waist. "We alright, love?"
Gillian smiled. "We're alright, Cal."
"Give us a snog, then?" Cal asked, grinning.
Gillian gave him a little shove. "Go to bed, Cal. I need you alert at our meeting with Homeland Security tomorrow."
"I thought you were going to tuck me in?"
Gillian smirked. "I lied."
"We really need to work on your sense of adventure," Cal said, walking her toward the door. When they reached it, he kissed her on the cheek. "Night, Gill."
"Night, Cal."
Cal watched her until she was safely in her car with the engine running before closing the door. If he hadn't been so desperate for sleep, he might have pushed things a bit harder. As it was, he could wait, because now he had hope.
He may never be her ideal man, but he might be able to pull off being a good imitation of one. It was worth a shot!
************
Cal entered Gillian's office without knocking and dropped a blue file folder on top of her desk. "The Goldstein file. Updated and ready to be filed."
Gillian looked at the file, then back up at Cal.
For two weeks, he'd been showing up for meetings, doing his paperwork on time, and had even managed to be nice to the staff.
It was killing him.
Which was why he was surprised when Gillian said, "Cal, this has to stop."
"What?" he asked, frowning.
"This!" she said, pointing to the file.
"It's what you wanted, right? Me taking more responsibility?"
Gillian pushed back from the desk and rose, taking Cal by the arm and leading him toward the sofa chairs. Looking curious, he sat down beside her.
"Don't get me wrong, I like not having to finish your paperwork and I like that you're showing up at all the client meetings. What I'm not liking is that the fact that you're not you anymore. I know you're doing all of this to prove something to me, but it's not worth it if you have to become someone else to do it. I miss you."
Cal sighed, shaking his head. "Make up your mind, love."
Gillian reached out, cupping his face. "I want you to be you, Cal," she said softly. When she dropped her hand, she smiled. "You're also really freaking out Torres, and Loker thinks every day is Christmas now."
Cal slumped back against the sofa, letting out a deep breath. "Thank god," he murmured, looking at Gillian. "I think I was about to go completely mental."
"You know, you can show up at meetings and do paperwork and still be your obnoxious and otherwise rude self," Gillian pointed out, a small smile playing about her lips.
"Hang on," he said, sitting up. "Are you encouraging me to be a right bastard to the staff? Because I'm more than happy to do it, but if it's going to put me back in the doghouse- well, actually, I honestly don't think I could do it for another day, even if it does piss you off. Sorry, love."
"Just how miserable have you been?" Gillian asked, a small smile on her face.
"I spent ten minutes chewing out the neighbor's dog the other day," he admitted, making a face. "And I think Emily hates me. But she hates me every other week, so that's not so abnormal. Can you excuse me for just one minute?" he asked, jumping to his feet. "I'll be right back, don't move!"
Cal walked toward the lab, a wide grin on his face. He opened the door with a bang and pointed at Loker, scowling. "You! Feet off the equipment, we have to pay for that you know!" he snapped. "I thought I told you to go pick up the files from Wilson's lawyer!"
Loker dropped his feet to the floor, his eyes widening. "Well yeah, but I didn't think you meant right that second."
Cal held out his arms, looking at Loker with his mouth agape. "Well? Why are you still sitting there?"
Loker jumped to his feet, grabbing his jacket from the console and hurrying past Cal. As soon as Loker was out of the room, Cal grinned.
"That's more like it," he murmured, going in search of Torres. When he found her sitting at her desk, he went to stand in front of it, leaning down to get in her face.
"What was that nonsense this morning? If you can't do any better than that, I'll pull you off solo interviews faster than you can blink," he snapped.
"We got what we were after," she replied, sitting up straighter and scowling.
"Yeah, after two hours! You should have had what you needed in less than ten minutes. You wasted the client's time and our time. Do it again, and it will come out of your paycheck," he said, pointing at her and backing toward the door.
"You can't do that!" Torres cried, jumping to her feet.
"That's why my name is on the door, love!" he shouted over his shoulder, a bounce in his step when he returned to Gillian's office.
"Feel better?" Gillian asked, amused.
"What do you mean?" Cal asked, smiling innocently.
"Loker just went past looking like the hounds of hell were on his heels."
"How odd," Cal said, flopping down beside her.
"Did you really think I would be happier with you acting this way?" she asked, frowning.
"Nah, I figured you'd hate it. Actually, I didn't think you'd last this long."
Gillian smacked his arm.
"Ow!"
"So you made us all miserable, just to prove a point?"
"Oi, I made myself way more miserable than you lot," he said, rubbing his arm and grinning. "You could have stopped it at any time you know."
"Yeah, but what would be the fun in that?" Gillian said, a lofty smile on her face.
"So you admit it!" he cried, pointing at her. "You let it go on, knowing you could stop it!"
Gillian shrugged nonchalantly. "I admit to nothing," she smiled.
Grinning, Cal stared at her for a few long moments, sensing that something had fundamentally changed in the last ten minutes.
"Dinner tonight?" he asked. "A reward for my good behavior?"
Gillian looked thoughtful. "How about dinner for the sake of dinner?" She smiled softly at Cal. "I really have missed you."
Cal reached out, squeezing her hand and saying nothing. "Seven, work?"
Gillian nodded. "Where do you want to go?"
Squeezing her hand again, Cal rose to his feet. "I'm cooking, so my place. And no backing out," he added.
"No backing out," Gillian agreed.
Grinning, Cal went to the door, but stopped, turning back around. "Oh, by the way- the Goldstein file? Not really updated."
"Cal!"
"See you at seven. Don't be late!" he said, grinning as he walked away.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Up to and including 'Secret Santa'
Summary: Cal is ready to move things forward, but Gillian isn't so sure.
Thanks to beatlejessie for her beta and for poking me with ideas when I got stuck! And alainnrois for picking up those little things we miss. Any errors left are mine and mine alone!
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
This could go one of two ways. Foster would be pleased to have the company back on solid financial footing, or she would tear him up one side and down the other.
Either way, Cal figured he would enjoy it.
He entered the doors of the Lightman Group wearing a rumpled suit, sunglasses and three days worth of scruff on his face.
"Welcome back, Dr. Lightman," Heidi smiled, holding up a stack of pink phone messages.
Cal flipped through them, crumpled up the first three, pocketed two, and tossed the rest away. "Thanks," he replied distractedly, walking the corridors and peeking in doors until he found Foster in her office.
"Wow," she said upon seeing him. "You look awful. Where did you disappear to this weekend, or do I want to know?"
Cal pulled his wallet out of his jacket pocket, opened it up and removed a check. Holding it up, he slid it across the desk.
"The money I spent buying Zoe out, plus an extra fifty thousand in interest," he said, flopping into the nearest chair.
"Cal, where did you get this?"
"Did you know that riverboats don't have me blacklisted?" he asked, grinning. "Though, I couldn't exactly use my own name, just in case, so I had the casino write the check directly to you."
Gillian looked at him in disbelief. "So let me see if I understand this. You went to a riverboat casino, spent the weekend gambling, and I'm just supposed to what? Smile? Say thank you?"
"Well, I haven't told you the bad part yet."
"Cal, what have you done?"
"They have this policy, you see, of needing valid identification if they're going to write a check, and since you weren't actually there, I might have used a forged ID and girl named Brenda, who was very nice by the way, to take on the role of Gillian Foster."
"Forgery? Cal, are you kidding me?" Gillian asked, looking slightly horrified. "How do you not see the problem with this?"
"I put us into the hole and now I'm getting us out of it, simple as that. Taking responsibility for my actions, isn't that what you wanted?"
"Not like this!"
"You've only got one week to deposit that, so don't wait too long," Cal said, rising to his feet. "You don't have any aspirin do you?"
"Cal! We have to talk about this!"
"Actually, it would be you yelling at me, me being defensive and what did you call it? Both of us being co-dependent? That's the term, yeah?" he asked, looking thoughtful. "Just deposit the check and you can cross that off my list of mistakes I need atoning for," he said dismissively, walking from the room.
***
Cal was surprised to find Gillian on his doorstep later that night.
"For the record, I don't have some kind of imaginary list of all of your faults and mistakes."
He stared at her, open-mouthed for a few moments before stepping back. "Come in, love. It's cold."
"I don't need to come in, I just- needed you to know," she said awkwardly.
"Are you afraid to be alone with me?" Cal asked, and though his tone was teasing, there was a seriousness in his eyes.
"Of course not!"
"Then come inside. I've been told it's bad to drink alone."
"You didn't get enough this weekend?" Gillian asked, relenting and stepping inside.
"Hair of the dog," Cal said, leading her into the den.
"I think that only works the morning after, not the night after," she said, sitting down on the couch.
"Then I have a whole day to catch up on," Cal grinned, going to the sideboard and pouring them each a glass of Southern Comfort Reserve bourbon.
"Are you trying to get me drunk?" Gillian asked, sniffing the glass she handed him.
Cal slouched down beside her, grinning. "I dunno. Will I get lucky if you're drunk?" he teased.
Gillian rolled her eyes and took a sip. "Ooh that's good."
Cal took a drink, then let his head rest against the back of the couch. He rolled his head and watched Gillian for a few seconds.
"What's it going to take to get myself out of the doghouse?" he asked, keeping his face relatively expressionless.
Gillian sighed and smiled softly. "You're not in the doghouse, Cal."
"Let me rephrase that. What's it going to take to convince you to give me a chance?"
"I lied."
Cal said nothing, just arched an eyebrow.
"About not trusting you. In most things, I'd trust you with my life. It's that handful of things that I don't trust you with that make me hesitant."
Actually, Gillian had been completely honest in her outburst, Cal had seen that for himself. But he accepted her caveats.
"I didn't go near the roulette table," Cal said, still watching her. "Well, that's a lie, I did go near it. I probably stood there watching it for a good hour, just itching to put it all on the line just one more time. It was bloody tempting."
"What stopped you?"
"I don't know. Maybe it was your speech," he said, nudging her shoulder.
"Really, Cal. What made you stop?"
"I really don't know, love. Honestly, I don't. I can't even promise that if I was in the same situation that I'd walk away again. This time I did." He took a big gulp of bourbon, watching Gillian as he wiped the back of his hand across his mouth.
"I'm tired. Want to come snuggle up in bed with me?" he asked, shifting lower and settling his head on her shoulder. He tried to give her puppy dog eyes, but due to exhaustion, they looked more like the eyes of a sad basset hound. "I promise I'll only grope you a little bit."
"No, but I'll tuck you in," Gillian answered, setting aside her drink and standing up, holding out her hand. "Come on, let's get you to bed before you drink yourself into another hangover."
Cal stood up and wrapped his arms around Gillian's waist. "We alright, love?"
Gillian smiled. "We're alright, Cal."
"Give us a snog, then?" Cal asked, grinning.
Gillian gave him a little shove. "Go to bed, Cal. I need you alert at our meeting with Homeland Security tomorrow."
"I thought you were going to tuck me in?"
Gillian smirked. "I lied."
"We really need to work on your sense of adventure," Cal said, walking her toward the door. When they reached it, he kissed her on the cheek. "Night, Gill."
"Night, Cal."
Cal watched her until she was safely in her car with the engine running before closing the door. If he hadn't been so desperate for sleep, he might have pushed things a bit harder. As it was, he could wait, because now he had hope.
He may never be her ideal man, but he might be able to pull off being a good imitation of one. It was worth a shot!
************
Cal entered Gillian's office without knocking and dropped a blue file folder on top of her desk. "The Goldstein file. Updated and ready to be filed."
Gillian looked at the file, then back up at Cal.
For two weeks, he'd been showing up for meetings, doing his paperwork on time, and had even managed to be nice to the staff.
It was killing him.
Which was why he was surprised when Gillian said, "Cal, this has to stop."
"What?" he asked, frowning.
"This!" she said, pointing to the file.
"It's what you wanted, right? Me taking more responsibility?"
Gillian pushed back from the desk and rose, taking Cal by the arm and leading him toward the sofa chairs. Looking curious, he sat down beside her.
"Don't get me wrong, I like not having to finish your paperwork and I like that you're showing up at all the client meetings. What I'm not liking is that the fact that you're not you anymore. I know you're doing all of this to prove something to me, but it's not worth it if you have to become someone else to do it. I miss you."
Cal sighed, shaking his head. "Make up your mind, love."
Gillian reached out, cupping his face. "I want you to be you, Cal," she said softly. When she dropped her hand, she smiled. "You're also really freaking out Torres, and Loker thinks every day is Christmas now."
Cal slumped back against the sofa, letting out a deep breath. "Thank god," he murmured, looking at Gillian. "I think I was about to go completely mental."
"You know, you can show up at meetings and do paperwork and still be your obnoxious and otherwise rude self," Gillian pointed out, a small smile playing about her lips.
"Hang on," he said, sitting up. "Are you encouraging me to be a right bastard to the staff? Because I'm more than happy to do it, but if it's going to put me back in the doghouse- well, actually, I honestly don't think I could do it for another day, even if it does piss you off. Sorry, love."
"Just how miserable have you been?" Gillian asked, a small smile on her face.
"I spent ten minutes chewing out the neighbor's dog the other day," he admitted, making a face. "And I think Emily hates me. But she hates me every other week, so that's not so abnormal. Can you excuse me for just one minute?" he asked, jumping to his feet. "I'll be right back, don't move!"
Cal walked toward the lab, a wide grin on his face. He opened the door with a bang and pointed at Loker, scowling. "You! Feet off the equipment, we have to pay for that you know!" he snapped. "I thought I told you to go pick up the files from Wilson's lawyer!"
Loker dropped his feet to the floor, his eyes widening. "Well yeah, but I didn't think you meant right that second."
Cal held out his arms, looking at Loker with his mouth agape. "Well? Why are you still sitting there?"
Loker jumped to his feet, grabbing his jacket from the console and hurrying past Cal. As soon as Loker was out of the room, Cal grinned.
"That's more like it," he murmured, going in search of Torres. When he found her sitting at her desk, he went to stand in front of it, leaning down to get in her face.
"What was that nonsense this morning? If you can't do any better than that, I'll pull you off solo interviews faster than you can blink," he snapped.
"We got what we were after," she replied, sitting up straighter and scowling.
"Yeah, after two hours! You should have had what you needed in less than ten minutes. You wasted the client's time and our time. Do it again, and it will come out of your paycheck," he said, pointing at her and backing toward the door.
"You can't do that!" Torres cried, jumping to her feet.
"That's why my name is on the door, love!" he shouted over his shoulder, a bounce in his step when he returned to Gillian's office.
"Feel better?" Gillian asked, amused.
"What do you mean?" Cal asked, smiling innocently.
"Loker just went past looking like the hounds of hell were on his heels."
"How odd," Cal said, flopping down beside her.
"Did you really think I would be happier with you acting this way?" she asked, frowning.
"Nah, I figured you'd hate it. Actually, I didn't think you'd last this long."
Gillian smacked his arm.
"Ow!"
"So you made us all miserable, just to prove a point?"
"Oi, I made myself way more miserable than you lot," he said, rubbing his arm and grinning. "You could have stopped it at any time you know."
"Yeah, but what would be the fun in that?" Gillian said, a lofty smile on her face.
"So you admit it!" he cried, pointing at her. "You let it go on, knowing you could stop it!"
Gillian shrugged nonchalantly. "I admit to nothing," she smiled.
Grinning, Cal stared at her for a few long moments, sensing that something had fundamentally changed in the last ten minutes.
"Dinner tonight?" he asked. "A reward for my good behavior?"
Gillian looked thoughtful. "How about dinner for the sake of dinner?" She smiled softly at Cal. "I really have missed you."
Cal reached out, squeezing her hand and saying nothing. "Seven, work?"
Gillian nodded. "Where do you want to go?"
Squeezing her hand again, Cal rose to his feet. "I'm cooking, so my place. And no backing out," he added.
"No backing out," Gillian agreed.
Grinning, Cal went to the door, but stopped, turning back around. "Oh, by the way- the Goldstein file? Not really updated."
"Cal!"
"See you at seven. Don't be late!" he said, grinning as he walked away.