Cal kept a watchful eye on Gillian as he drove her home. The past week had been hell for her. They had figured out who killed Claire and Cal planned to make sure Zac went away for a long time.

The funeral today was hard for Gillian. He was happy to see that she didn't push him away. She had, in fact, leaned on him quite a bit. Since their talk a few months ago, things between them had been different. The playful banter and underlying sexual tension were back in full force. He relished every second he spent with her and, if her facial expressions were any indication, she felt the same way.

Cal's mind wandered to the conversation he had with Emily a few days ago. What was he waiting for? He loved Gillian. Admitting it out loud to his daughter had opened a floodgate. He spent most of his time thinking about how to broach the subject with Gillian and the rest of his time fretting over her response.

Cal parked his car in front of Gillian's house. He had an idea and he hoped she would go along with it. "It's Friday."

Gillian looked at him with confusion on her face. "Yes. It is."

"No work tomorrow." Cal wanted to ask her to stay at his place for the weekend, or at least for tonight. He was worried about her. Today had been rough and she hadn't been sleeping well.

Gillian shook her head. "No work tomorrow." She thought for a second. 'Where is he going with this?' She went to open the car door and he grabbed her left arm.

Cal decided to put it out there instead of dancing around it. "Stay at my place. Em is off on a senior class ski trip. It's been a hard week. Let's relax. I'll make dinner."

"Cal…" Gillian looked at his hand holding her arm. "I wouldn't be good company. With everything that's happened, I just want to take a hot bath, drink at least a bottle of wine and go to bed."

"So you can lay awake staring at the ceiling?" He was waiting for her to deny that she hadn't been sleeping well.

Gillian looked away from him and let out an exasperated breath. "Cal. Please don't."

"Don't what? Don't worry about you? Sorry love. Can't help it." Cal tugged on her arm until she looked back over at him. "You have huge rings under your eyes Gill. It's obvious you've not been sleeping much."

Gillian wanted to deny it, but she would be lying. "No. I haven't. But, it'll get better. It is getting better."

"I seem to recall a conversation in which you said we could do another weekend if you had prior notice so you could pack a bag. You grumbled something about staying in my sweats all weekend." Cal grinned at her.

When he gave her that look, she couldn't help but smile back at him. "I do recall that conversation, and I believe I said 'We'll see.' That was not a commitment."

"But it was a maybe. And a maybe can be switched to a yes very easily." Cal turned in his seat and took her arm in both of his hands. He was rubbing her forearm very gently with one hand and gripping her arm just above her elbow with the other. "Please? I want to spend some time with you."

Gillian was staring at her arm where he was rubbing it gently. She could feel her heart rate increasing and her face flushing. She noticed she had been having this reaction to him a lot lately. She looked up at his face. He was looking at her intensely. Were they crossing the line? Was this a smart thing to do? Before she realized it, she licked her lips and swallowed. She saw his pupils dilate. "Uh, um, I…"

"You feel it too." It wasn't a question. "I can see it on your face. But, I also see that you're scared." He looked down at his hand that was caressing her arm. "I'm bloody terrified Gill." He glanced back up at her. "But, I'm more terrified of not trying and missing out on something spectacular."

She wasn't sure what to say. She had seen and felt their feelings changing and while that excited her on one level, she was petrified on another. "Cal. What about the line? We created it for a reason."

"Sod the line Gill. We've been trampling all over it for years. In the past 4 months we have steadily been erasing it." He tugged on her arm again. "Come on. I'll walk you in and you can pack a bag. We'll go back to my place and talk."

She couldn't get a sound to come out of her mouth so she nodded and got out of the car.

Gillian went through the door first. When Cal stepped in behind her he immediately smelled baked goods. "What's that smell? You been baking?"

Gillian giggled. "You could say that." She led him into the kitchen. There were two cakes, brownies, and several dozen cookies. She opened the refrigerator and Cal could see lasagna and a huge pot of something.

"What's that?" Cal reached in and pulled the lid.

"Homemade vegetable soup."

"So, I guess you cook when you can't sleep?" Cal was grinning at her.

"Yeah. It usually relaxes me. But, then I end up with a kitchen full of food. I eat some of it and usually take the rest to the homeless shelter." Gillian's face was red. She was embarrassed.

Cal thought for a few seconds. "You got a spare toothbrush love?"

Gillian was caught off guard by the question. "What?"

"Spare toothbrush? You know so, after I stuff myself with all this food, I can brush my teeth?"

Gillian squinted her eyes at him. "Are you inviting yourself to stay here?"

"Absolutely! We could go back to my place, but we'd have to stop by the store since I have no groceries. So, I figure we could stay here. That all right?"

"Uh, sure."

Cal heated up the lasagna and threw together a salad while Gillian took a long, hot bath. The entire time he was in the kitchen, all he could think about was the fact that Gillian was naked a few rooms away.

Gillian was lounging in the bathtub. She tried to relax, but all she could think about was that Cal was in her kitchen making dinner and she was here, naked, just a few rooms away.

Two hours later, they had eaten, cleaned up the kitchen, and were currently curled up together on her couch. Cal had sat first on one end. Gillian walked in after grabbing a blanket. She paused for a second, debating her next move. She decided to be bold, to take a risk. She sat down next to him and leaned into his right side. Cal automatically wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"No movie love?" Cal thought for sure she would put a movie on, if for no other reason than she was uncomfortable with where the conversation may be going. He had thought about pushing things forward between them for quite some time. He was ready to take the leap, but he wasn't sure exactly where her head was. He didn't want to cause her any more stress by pushing too soon.

"No. No movie." She snuggled against his shoulder. "Cal?"

"Yeah?" He was anxious to see where this would go.

"We should probably talk, huh?" Gillian wished he would take the lead on this. She had no idea what to say or how to address the feelings she was having.

"Yeah, we probably should." He used his other hand to turn her toward him while he turned to face her. "I want to look in those incredibly blue eyes of yours when we do this."

Gillian felt the heat rush up her cheeks. She tried to look down and hide her eyes.

Cal caught her chin and raised it back up. "Now, there's a surprise." In all the years they had been best friends, he had never seen her blush so deeply. She usually met him eye to eye and gave as good as she got, even when the innuendos were flying. He wasn't sure what to do with a shy Gillian. 'That's sexy as hell.'

"Cal, I-" before she could get any further, his lips were on hers. The kiss was gentle, and sweet. Like he was testing the waters.

Cal leaned away after the kiss and studied her face. He saw her pupils dilate. She licked her lips in that way he found so sexy and then swallowed hard. "I'm not reading this wrong, am I Gill?"

Gillian took in a deep breath. She tried to speak but no words would come out. She shook her head 'no' and looked from his lips to his eyes and back.

Cal smiled. "I'm going to kiss you again. If you want to stop me, do it now."

She shook her head no again and leaned up to catch his lips. This kiss was less gentle, but no less sweet. She leaned back and stared into his eyes. "Are we really going to do this?"

"Abso-bloody-lutely! I have been waiting forever to kiss you." He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Just so you know Gill, this is it for me. I have loved you for so long now. I can't remember a time when I didn't love you."

Gillian couldn't stop the flash of surprise that flitted across her face. Immediately behind it was a questioning look.

Cal smiled again. "It hasn't always been a romantic kind of love. But, that's definitely what it is now." He watched her for a few seconds. "Is that okay with you?"

Gillian still couldn't find her voice. She nodded and put her arms around his neck.

Cal laughed. "It appears I've left you speechless. For once, I'm the one using all the words. Go figure."

Gillian pulled his lips to hers and kissed him with all she had.

When they pulled apart again, Cal spoke quietly "Darling, you can be quiet forever as long as you keep kissing me like that."

Gillian giggled and snuggled in close to him.

Not exactly the epilogue I had in mind. But, when I sat down to write, this is what came out. I hope everyone is satisfied with it. I feel more comfortable writing the relationship build up rather than the relationship itself! My main purpose was to have them end up together. SO-mission accomplished.

Now maybe I can get back to the fics I'm currently working on. I'm hoping this was the little kick in the ass my muse needed. We shall see…