A/N: I'm really slow in posting this... It's set after Darkness & Light when Cal and Gillian kissed.

Gillian stood leaning against the doorway to Cal's office watching him work and contemplating if she should actually ask the question that was threatening to spill off her lips at any moment.

"Can we talk about the kiss?"

And there it was. The question hung in the air for only a moment before Cal looked up from his work, but several moments before he responded.

Looking at her suspiciously, Cal slouched back into his chair and simply said, "Sure. If you think that's necessary."

"I don't think it's necessary per se..." Gillian said as she stepped past the threshold and stood tall.

Eyeing her and wondering where this was going, Cal asked, "So what's to talk about then?"

"It's nothing I suppose," she said clasping her hands together and looking at them. "I just thought your reaction was interesting."

"My reaction?" Cal cocked his head to the side in an effort to see her face better. "What about it? You mean the surprise that was written all over my face?"

That caught Gillian's attention and she looked up at him. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth and she replied, "Sure. You could call it that."

Throwing his hand up in a gesture Cal stated, "I did know we were posing as a married couple, and that a kiss might come about as a result of that. I did not, however, think you were going to kiss me quite like that."

Puzzled and rooted to her spot on the floor, Gillian asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, Gillian, that there was perhaps a bit more enthusiasm than I was expecting," he stated in a teasing voice as he waved his hand about.

"Well it had to be convincing!" she said a little too defensively while pulling her shoulders back, further straightening her posture if that were even possible.

"That kiss would've convinced anyone, love," he stated directly, without teasing. His mind went back to her hand planted on his thigh, occasionally creeping higher than necessary, but he thought better of bringing that up. "Who exactly were you trying to convince?" he asked looking at her curiously.

"The director, Cal," Gillian stated as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. She did not like how this conversation was going. "This was a terrible idea."

Feeling cocky, Cal stood and asked, "Why? Cause I've got your number?"

"No, because you're impossible!" she said with a telling grin playing on her lips. She headed for the door in an attempt to hide her persistent grin.

"That may be," Cal said while walking after her, catching her just before she exited his office and turning her to look at him. "But that doesn't make your kiss any less enthusiastic," he finished while raising his eyebrows at her, daring her to tell him he was wrong.

Feeling Cal's hand casually holding her wrist she responded, "Would you have preferred that I acted as if I were kissing a frog? We were supposed to be interested in making a sex video Cal. I had to act like I wanted to crawl in bed with you." She turned her body toward him. "He had to be convinced that I was ready to bare all in front of a video camera - with you!"

Feeling his own 'enthusiasm' rising as images corresponding to Gillian's last statements ran through his mind, he gave himself a mental shake and came back to the present.

Letting go of her wrist and once again flipping a hand around in gesture, he said, "My question to you is this: How enthusiastic would you be if no one was lookin'?"

Gillian slowly licked her lips and looked into Cal's eyes. In a low, sultry voice she responded, "I don't suppose you'll ever know the answer to that question."

As she turned to walk out of his office again, Cal grabbed her by the waist, spun her around, and captured her lips with his own.

After the initial shock, Gillian couldn't figure out what was happening. It was clear Cal had her pinned against the wall with his hands on her hips and his lips against hers. But why? Just to see how 'enthusiastic' she would be? Was this a test? Or did he really just want to kiss her?

As quickly as it began, it ended; and before she knew what was happening Cal was back across his office and behind his desk.

She inhaled deeply, held it for a moment, and just as she was going to speak Cal's cell phone rang.

"Yeah. Alright. Yeah. Yeah, I'll be home soon." He hung up his phone and glanced up to see a slightly frazzled Gillian still standing near the wall of his office. "I've gotta get home."

He walked toward the door of his office and stopped when he reached Gillian. Without looking at her and standing toward the doorway while she stood perpendicular him, he said in a low voice thick with accent, "Less enthusiastic this time," and then he was gone.

Noting hints of sadness and disappointment in his voice, Gillian quickly pulled herself together and headed for her office to gather her things and head home for the night as well.

###############

Once alone in his car, Cal began beating himself up…

What the bloody hell was I thinkin'? How could spinin' her around and pinnin' her to the wall seem like a good idea? I mean it's Foster for god's sake! We work together and, well that's how the whole bloody thing started in the first place! Work, Cal. WORK! Maybe I can play this off like nothing happened… Right, that's gonna happen. I should just tell her…..tell her…..bloody hell. What the fuck am I gonna tell her?

After a good 20 minute personal lashing, Cal walked in his home grateful to be tucked away from the world. Emily was sitting at the table with her laptop and looked up when she heard the door.

"Hi Dad," she said cheerfully. Then seeing him she furrowed her brow and asked, "You ok? You look a little…rough around the edges."

"Yeah. Yeah I'm alright, love. Off day, you know," Cal responded feeling more and more weary as he looked at the clock and thought about the mess he'd just made for himself.

"You look like hell," Emily suddenly and very bluntly stated.

"Oiy! You watch it, yeah?" he responded in half-warning, pointing at her. Throwing one hand out to the side he finished, "I feel like hell, if that makes you feel any better."

Furrowing her brow further and becoming concerned, she replied, "No. That doesn't make me feel any better. What happened?"

"Just a bad day, love. Just a bad day." With that he gave her a kiss on the head and headed to the kitchen for dinner.

After eating and cleaning up the kitchen, Cal looked at the clock to see it was nearly 8 o'clock. He shuffled into the living room and plopped on the couch next to Emily. He threw his arm over the back of it behind her, looked at her, and sighed with an unconvincing smile.

Glancing at him and then looking back at her computer Emily said, "Why don't you just go apologize?"

"To who?" Cal quickly responded.

"Whatever woman you've got angry at you. I assume it's Gillian. She's the only one you ever come home this aggravated over." When there was no response, she looked at her father and inquired wide-eyed, "Am I right?"

"Bloody hell, Em!" was all Cal could say with a look of disbelief mixed with hints of how-did-my-daughter-get-so-smart.

Turning back to the computer Emily said, "I'll take that as a yes. Go, Dad. Or you'll be miserable to be around for days."

With an exhale that was all too telling, Cal got up off the couch, grabbed his keys, and headed for the car.

###############

After arriving home from work with an orange slushie in hand, Gillian felt there was nothing to do but take a bath. She made the water a little hotter than normal, feeling there was some extra tension and confusion that needed to be melted away. Slipping in the tub one leg at a time, she felt the water start to take its affect. As she eased herself in, she let out a long sigh and she felt her skin start to tingle with the warmth of the water. She closed her eyes and felt that everything was perfect, if only for a while.

As the water started to cool with each minute's passing, Gillian's mind started to wander. It went back to Cal's office, and the mixed emotions she left there with…

This bath is not having the full effect I had hoped for. I was really hoping to forget about that kiss, at least for tonight. Can you even call that a kiss? I guess lips on lips does make a kiss, however brief or confusing. I mean, what was that? He just pinned me to the wall… Hmm, the thought of that is a lot more appealing than what actually happened. I don't even know what happened! By the time it registered that he was kissing me I was too confused about why he was doing it and then it was over and he was across the room. Why did he do it? Did he just want to know for the satisfaction of knowing? Or did he want to know because it's something that matters? I half hope it was just for the satisfaction of knowing… If it was because it's something that matters then he's…

She let out a long, deep sigh.

::Knock, knock, knock::

Gillian sat up straight in the tub and waited.

::Knock, knock, knock::

She quickly got out of the tub, opened the drain, toweled off, and yelled toward the door that she'd be there in a moment. Hurrying off to her bedroom she threw on a blue long sleeved shirt and black pajama bottoms, checked her hair in the mirror to make sure she wasn't a complete mess, and rushed back to the door. She opened it to find Cal standing with his hands shoved in his pockets and his back toward the door.

After watching him for a moment and seeing he wasn't turning around, she calmly and quietly asked, "Would you like to come in?"

Cal murmured a quiet, "Yeah," and shuffled past her into her home.

Turning around after closing the door, Gillian was faced with Cal standing very near her for the second time in as many hours.

Not wasting any time, he said, "I shouldn't have done what I did. That was quite unfair - catching you off guard like that. So I just wanted to, you know, apologize."

Not backing away Gillian replied, "Apologize. You're doing a lot of that lately."

"Yeah. Outta character. I know," he confirmed with a nod as he backed away.

"It's ok. Like you said, it just caught me off guard," she said. Seconds later she added, "And it felt like a test. That was a little...odd." She added a nod to get her point across and examined his face. It was clear he felt terrible. Whether he felt terrible about the outcome or doing it at all though, she was unsure.

"Guess you could call it a test. I mean, it wasn't really. I was just curious, you know? But how better to find out about something than to perform a test, right?" he stated with a lop-sided smile that was meant to cover his uncertainty.

Seeing through his attempt at covering his worry, Gillian began to think that maybe he felt terrible about the outcome. She looked at him a moment longer and noticed a vulnerability in his eyes she rarely saw.

She took a half step toward him and responded, "I suppose. You could have just let me answer your question instead of pouncing on me though."

"You would've have told me, in words, how enthusiastic you'd be?" Cal had his face all scrunched up and he looked very confused.

With a chuckle Gillian said, "No. But I might have showed you." As she slowly approached him, her face became serious and she focused on his, ready to change course at the slightest hint that she was making a wrong move.

"I do like show and tell..." he murmured, completely mesmerized by the look in her eye.

Gillian stopped dangerously close to Cal, their bodies only inches apart. She focused her sights on his mouth, licked her lips, and leaned in, hesitating momentarily. She looked up from his mouth to see his desiring eyes looking back at her. She took his bottom lip in her mouth and finally closed her eyes, his eyes following suit. Bringing a hand up to his face, she slowly ran her tongue along his lip before lightly sucking and then releasing it, going after his top lip. Her movements were slow and deliberate. Each slip of her tongue, each nibble of his lip, each hand through his hair and on his cheek had a purpose: She didn't want any doubt in Cal's mind what she was thinking or feeling in that moment.

Pulling away from him with her hand still on his cheek, Gillian opened her eyes to see a stunned Cal looking at her. She smiled, patted his chest, and walked toward her kitchen.

Amazed by what had just happened and puzzled at where Gillian was going, Cal furrowed his brow and shuffled his feet to turn and see where she was going. After seeing her stop in the kitchen, he allowed his eyes to wander around the room and his brain finally told him to follow her. He walked in and watched as Gillian pulled a pitcher of water from the fridge and poured herself a drink.

"Want some?" she casually asked, and he simply responded by shaking his head no.

Pausing for a moment and noticing that Cal's mind seemed to be elsewhere she said, "I'm not used to seeing the amazing Dr. Cal Lightman speechless."

"There aren't many things in life that leave me without words," he responded. He allowed his eyes to scan her face and then he said, "Do you kiss all the boys like that, Foster?"

Trying and failing to stifle a smile, she looked down at the counter and simply replied, "Hmm." After having a moment to think she looked up at him and finished her thought. "Depends on the boy."

Not sure if I want to continue with this or not. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks for reading!