About Time

Chapter Eleven - Boston

Sorry it's been forever. It's the problem with being a writer. I know exactly where I want to go but I have absolutely no bloody idea how the hell to get there.

Sharon Wallowski had to give Gillian Foster credit. Despite every thing she'd been through in the last twenty four hours, she seemed to be holding herself together pretty damn well. It only took ten minutes after she'd gotten back to the station for the other woman to be walking in, followed closely by Lightman's daughter.
"Where is he?" Gillian demanded.
"In here."
Wallowski motioned for Gillian and Emily to follow her inside an interrogation room. Bernard Dillion was sitting at the table, looking rather happy for a man who'd just been arrested.
"Dr. Foster. Happy to see you're alive and well."
Emily could see Gillian restraining from just punching the man in the face.
"Where's Cal?" She asked through clenched teeth.
"He and Agent Reynolds are perfectly fine. For now."
"What do you want?"
"Lightman dead, preferably."
Gillian was struggling to hold herself together.
"Not gonna happen, buddy." Wallowski jumped in.
"Lightman's got about eight hours left. After that, I will gladly tell you where my men have been instructed to dump the body. Reynolds' too, if you want it as well."
Dillion stared Gillian in the eyes.
"In eight hours, they're going to video it. They're going to record themselves torturing Lightman, kicking him, punching him, cutting him, all that kind of stuff before they put a bullet in his head. And then they're going to make sure you watch it. The whole thing."
Gillian had heard enough. She shot up and rushed out. Emily had seen the tears shining in her eyes. Gillian really did love Cal.
Emily looked at Wallowski.
"I'll go after her." She told the older woman, then shot a glare at Dilliom before following Gillian.
Emily found her outside the station on a bench. She sat down beside her.
"Gill?"
"We have to find him, Emily. We have to. I can't lose him. Not now. Not ever. I need him."
"I know. I need him too. We'll find him, okay? Everything is going to be fine."
Suddenly, Emily remembered the building she'd seen her dad in and why it looked familiar.
"Gill, I know the room where Dad and Ben are!"
"What?"
"There was...uh...well there was this party I went to in Boston a few years ago. I told Dad I was with Mom and vice versa. But anyway, the party was in Boston and it was in the basement of this hotel. It was a different color, had different flooring, but it's the same room. I know it is."
"How do you know for sure?"
"You can't tell Dad, but...That's the room where I had sex for the first time."
"Go inside and tell Wallowski where it is. I'm going to stay here for a second."
"Wallowski? Oh, right. Shazzers. I forget her real name."
Emily was gone in a flash leaving Gillian alone again. Shazzers? Cal was certainly good at coming up with unique nicknames for people. Gillian didn't know whether she was grateful or deeply hurt at the fact that he hadn't come up with one for her. Likely both she decided as half of the police force came outside.
"The FBI is going to meet us there. We've alerted the field office in Boston. They're going to assess the situation but unless it's life threatening to either Lightman or Agent Reynolds, they're going to wait until we get there sometime this afternoon. You two can ride with me." Sharon Wallowski told her as she appeared with Emily by her side.
Emily noticed the look on Gillian's face.
"The office isn't far from here. We'll hurry over and I'll get my car and we can just meet you there."
"Sure. Whatever."

Fifteen minutes later, Emily and Gillian were on their way.
"Thank you, Em."
"For what? Driving? I saw your face, you don't like Shazzers. That would've been one long awkward car ride that I'm glad we avoided."
"I don't just mean for driving. I mean, for everything."
Emily stopped at a red light and looked at the older woman.
"Gill, you're like my second mother. I would do anything for you. There's no reason to thank me."
Gillian felt her eyes fill with tears. She loved Emily as if she'd given birth to her herself.
Emily knew Gillian didn't know how to respond and the next time she looked over, Gill was sleeping. Emily didn't dare wake her; she'd been awake for over twenty-four hours. She knew there was a long time until they got to Boston so she let her sleep.

Cal was fairly certain he would kill whoever opened the door. He didn't care who it was. Ben was asleep but Cal was pacing their little room, trying to think of something. He wondered what Gillian was doing. She was okay, he knew that much. If anything had happened to her, he would know. He didn't know how, he would be able to just feel it. Gillian was okay. Meanwhile, he was still stuck in here with no way out. He decided that next time someone asked him to go undercover, he'd just refuse.

Gillian woke up, momentarily confused until she remembered she was in Emily's car.
"How long was I asleep?"
"Around six hours I think, we're nearly there. Anna called, she wants you to call her back."
Gillian quickly dug her phone out of her purse and dialed.
"Hello?"
"Is Sophie okay?"
"Oh, she's fine. I can keep her until you get back, it's no big deal. I heard what happened at the office and I was just calling to check on you but then you wouldn't answer your phone so I called Emily."
"I'm sorry, I fell asleep."
"It's okay."
"Is that all?"
"Yes, well Sophie wants to talk to you."
"Will you give her the phone please?"
"Of course, one second."
There was moment of silence as the phone exchanged hands.
"Mama?"
"Hey, Sophie. Are you being good for Ms. Anna?"
"Yes. When you come home?"
"I don't know, Soph. I'll be home as soon as I can, I promise."
"Miss you."
"I miss you too. If you keep being good, when I get back, I'll take you to the park and buy you pizza and ice cream, okay?"
"Okay, Mama. I wuv you."
Gillian felt her eyes fill with tears at the little girl's words.
"I love you too. Mama has to go now."
"Bye!"
"Bye baby."
Anna took the phone back from Sophie.
"Is that all Dr. Foster?"
"Yes, Anna. Thank you for watching her."
"It's no problem. She's just the cutest little thing. I'm going to miss her when you get back."
"Call me if you need me?"
"Of course. Bye."
"Bye."
Gillian hung up the phone and put it back in her purse. She looked to her left and saw Emily pretending to be focused on the road but she knew the young woman better than that.
"Do you remember about five years ago when I ended up sleeping in your guest bedroom for a week?"
"Yeah, Dad never told me why. I just wondered where Alec was."
"Out getting drunk. And high too, probably."
"Why did you stay with Dad?"
And so Gillian told her the story of Sophie.
"So she's your daughter?" Emily asked when Gillian was finished.
"Yes. She's my daughter."
Emily wanted to bring up the baby but decided it probably wasn't the best time to do so. Gillian would tell her when she was ready.

Cal figured he'd been here for over 24 hours now. He was hungry; he hadn't seen anyone but Ben since he'd gotten here. The agent was starting to get on his nerves. All he did was complain. Cal supposed he couldn't exactly blame him, he'd never been part of MI6 and he'd never been held captive for this long. To Cal, this situation was once normal, to Ben, it was a shock. But still, his voice was being to drive Cal up the wall.
Every once in a while, Cal could hear multiple people yelling and arguing somewhere above them and occasionally someone would cough outside the door. There must be a guard. He thought he'd heard about eleven different men over the course of the last 24 hours. He knew why Dillion wanted him dead. It was years ago, back when Cal was still in the UK. He'd thought maybe Dillion had changed since then, but apparently he hadn't. Sometimes Cal really hated it when he was right.

Gillian was sitting quietly when she realized something.
"Wait, how long did you say I'd slept?"
"About six hours but you've been awake for nearly an hour now. Why?"
"Dillion said Cal had eight hours. We've only got one left."
Emily could see that Gillian was starting to panic. The last time she'd seen Gill like this was when her dad had been sent to Afghanistan.
"Gill, the entire building is surrounded. They can't do anything to Dad before the Boston FBI field office busts the door down."