Lie to Me Comment Ficathon
Here are the ficlets that I wrote for the Lie to Me Comment Ficathon hosted by the lovely etoilefilante.
For etoilefilante
prompt: Reynolds (and Gillian?), you said you weren't afraid to die
title: Good Men Don't Die
Foster, Reynolds; PG; 603 words
She doesn’t know how long she’s been sitting at his bedside. All she knows is that the doctor finally let her in to see him and the nurses have been coming in every hour to check his stats, but time seems to have stopped.
She remembers the frantic call from Cal, remembers nearly crashing into someone in the hospital parking lot and seeing Cal’s arms and hands covered in blood. Quietly, he told her all the details and how stupid Reynolds was for following him and not wearing a vest, but he was wearing that damn wire. She took it all in, saw the guilt and anger on his face-anger at himself not at Reynolds-and squeezed his shoulder. They stood there in the too-bright, too-white hallway like a pair of wounded soldiers.
The doctors told her that he’s stable, but in critical condition, whatever that means. Reynolds has three bullet holes in him, hooked up to tubes and wires and beeping machines and that’s all they can tell her. They can’t promise that he’ll wake up and be the same man again, or that he’ll crack that sardonic grin whenever Cal runs off doing whatever he wants, or get that little twinkle in his eye when he flirts with her.
She wants to scream and yell and rage at someone because a good man like Ben Reynolds should not be lying in this bed looking like a terrible science experiment gone wrong. But she doesn’t. She calmly rests her hand on top of his and squeezes.
Because she knows that this is what he signed up for. She knew he’d be putting his life on the line every time he strapped on that gun and badge, every time he accompanied them on a case, every time he walked out the door of his apartment. She knows this, but part of her doesn’t.
She wants to yell at Cal for being so stupid, for pissing off Bernard, for being reckless, for being himself, but she can’t and she won’t. While Cal has his faults, he’s already feeling guilty and torn about Julie, and now Reynolds, and she doesn’t want to add to that. Someone needs to be on his side, especially with the Emily drama. But she’s still angry, just a little bit, at Cal.
Reynolds is a good man. He likes to believe in people and give them chances even when they don’t deserve it. He believes in Cal, she knows that much, enough to go along with his hare-brained schemes, but this time he paid the price. No good deed goes unpunished. She’s come to terms with that saying since she’s been working with Cal, but it’s never ended in bloodshed and definitely not with bullet holes. Now, Reynolds is here because he’s a good friend who didn’t want his friend to go alone and wanted to prove to his boss that maybe his friend wasn’t as big of an asshole as he comes across. Maybe that’s the cost of friendship with Cal Lightman.
Her phone rings and she wants to pound it into the ground, but she answers it as calmly as possible. When she hangs up, she gives Reynolds one last look and skims her fingers down his arm until they catch on the hospital wristband. He’ll wake up and crack jokes about how a freight train ran him over, keep the bullets as souvenirs and wear his scars proudly. She’s as sure of this as the life thrumming beneath his skin. But until then, she can at least help catch the bastards that did this to him.
For applesred
prompt: Gillian, mother's day.
title: Never Gone
Gillian; PG; 820 words
She used to spend Mother’s Day trying to cook a decent meal with her brother when she was a kid. They’d try and make scrambled eggs that ended up too runny and toast that ended up too black, but they’d make the perfect cup of coffee, light with two sugars, and bring it to their mom in bed. A handmade card, filled with misspellings, stick figures and sloppy signatures always accompanied the breakfast. Their mom would always take the tray with a smile and plant a wet kiss on each of their cheeks before enthusiastically digging in.
When Gillian was older, away from home, she would call every year without fail. Even when she was swamped with papers and midterms and finals and work, she would take half an hour out of her day to call her mom and wish her a happy Mother’s Day and catch up. Her mother never failed to sound cheerful or to be invested in Gillian’s life. Sometimes they would sit silently on the phone for the last five minutes of the conversation or laugh so hard they couldn’t breathe for the next fifteen minutes. Sometimes she would rant about how her professors didn’t care that there were three other papers and midterms due on the same day or how her boss would send her creepy looks that were supposed to be flirty, and her mom would just listen.
Until she passed away the year before Sophie arrived.
The last thing her mother ever told her was to give adoption a chance because every child deserved to have a good mother. Like a good daughter, she listened and Alec readily agreed. Gillian only wished she could introduce little Sophie to her grandma while she was still alive.
Then Sophie was taken away the week before Mother’s Day and Gillian never hated a holiday so intensely.
Gillian both longed to call her mother and have her heal this heartache, and was relieved that she was no longer around to witness such a loss. If anything, her mother might’ve died from heartbreak alone.
When she and Alec decided to separate, she was never more relieved that her mother was not around. Gillian couldn’t bear the thought of the disappointment and pain that would cross her mother’s face. No child, no husband, all taken from her-what would she think? Or maybe her mom would be proud that she left Alec after finding out about his renewed drug habit. But Gillian would never know, and maybe it was better that way.
Every year since her mother’s passing, she visited her gravesite. She always brought a bouquet of white lilies, her mother’s favorite. Since Sophie’s departure, she carried one purple rose to add to the bouquet because in the 57 days she had the little girl, Gillian was quite sure that it was Sophie’s favorite color.
This year was no different. She has the same bouquet, complete with the purple rose, and laid it down by the tombstone. There was another bouquet already there, probably from her brother, who somehow managed to put one there every year even though he lived in California.
“Happy Mother’s Day, Mom,” she whispered. “I hope you’re doing well.”
She longed to tell her mom about everything that’s happened in the last year, from a crazy gunmen storming into the office, to watching Cal try to kill himself every other week, to four kids breaking into her home, to falling for men who have a secret life, to finding a good friend lying in a hospital bed fighting for his life. But she didn’t. Her mom probably already knew, so instead she rearranged the flowers so they framed the stone perfectly and stalled for time.
“I think I’ve found an unconventional family at least. Cal and Emily have taken me in. You remember Emily? I think you met her once, when you visited the office years ago. She gave me an orange slushie today, out of nowhere. I think she has an idea of what’s going on. She’s a bright girl, much to her dad’s delight and chagrin.”
Emily had come into her office earlier in the day and handed Gillian a large orange slushie, while she sipped from her own cherry red slushie cup. They chatted about boys and school and Cal, and it felt like home. It felt like the times Gillian used to call her mom back in college. She didn’t realize the smile she had on her face or sense a devious plan until Cal came in and whisked Emily away for dinner with Zoe. His wink right before shutting the door gave him away and she smiled.
“I’m not alone, Mom. They’re taking good care of me in their own unique way.”
A small breeze flew by and she could almost feel her mother’s approval. Gillian smiled. “Thanks, Mom. I love you, too.” Watch out for Sophie for me.
For etoilefilante
prompt: Reynolds (/Gillian), sometimes I wish I had never met you, because then I could go to sleep at night not knowing there was someone like you out there
title: Of Idiots and Fools
Reynolds/Foster (Lightman/Foster); PG-13; 667 words
He’s no idiot. His mama didn’t raise no fool.
He knows a good woman when he sees one. Actually, she taught him to see the best women around, made sure of it. Because a good man deserves a good woman, she’d always say. And if you want a good woman, you gotta be a good man, Ben. Are you a good man? He would nod and say that he was working on it, and he only wanted the best for his mom.
So when he met Gillian Foster, he knew he hit the jackpot.
No one could compare to her. Every woman he’d brought home to his mother, she would cluck her tongue and shake her head. After she dismissed the third girlfriend, he stopped bringing them by the house. It seemed Ben would never find the right woman who would both be perfect for him and perfect in his mother’s eyes. But he knew, without a doubt, Foster could be the one woman his mother would look at and smile, and welcome her with one of her famous bear hugs.
Except Foster was taken.
Well, as far as Ben knows, she’s single and divorced, but she’s taken. By Lightman of all people. Cal Fucking Lightman. God, he hates the man and admires him at the same time. Admires the way he could pick apart a liar in less than ten seconds, but if there’s anything that Ben hates more than liars and scumbags and dirty cops, it’s the way Lightman treats Foster. His mom taught him better than that, ingrained it into his skull that he should treat women like the queen they are and deserve to be, not like leftovers that you only go back to when it’s convenient. But after everything-after Green, after Sheila-Lightman is his friend. He’s earned that much.
That still doesn’t stop the itch to strangle him every once in a while.
Lightman has the perfect partner. Foster’s gorgeous-Ben’s not blind and he knows that Lightman isn’t either-but she’s also got brains, compassion, patience that could rival his mother’s, and most of all, loyalty. Nothing buys loyalty like that. Ben can only wonder what Lightman has done to deserve that kind of loyalty from a woman like Foster, but he tries not to think about it too much. He doesn’t like to compare.
But he can’t help it. Ben knows he could be a better man to Foster, be the man she deserves if only she would give him the chance. Yet the only chances she seems to give are to men who don’t deserve her, men who have secret lives. Yes, Ben has his secrets, but he can be an open book. She already knows the nature of his work, he doesn’t have to lie, but she merely cares about him as a friend and spends the rest of the time worrying if Lightman will come back in one piece or sleep with another suspect.
God, he hates that man sometimes. And sometimes he hates Foster, too.
She’s ruined him for other women. Ben has gone on a few dates since working with the Lightman Group, but he subconsciously (or consciously) compares them to Foster. None of them add up and none of them fill all the check boxes that his mother planted in head since he was a boy. Maybe it’s better that his mother isn’t around anymore because if he told her about Foster, she’d fly out here and demand to meet this woman and ask why the hell he hasn’t made a move. Then she’d slap him upside the head and tell him he was an idiot for holding back, for not trying to convince Foster that he’s better.
But Ben Reynolds is not an idiot. Oh no.
Getting between Lightman and Foster would be suicide. His mother would never understand. Instead, he says a silent prayer for her, and tries to sleep without dreaming. And hopefully forget that stupid checklist by morning.
For etoilefilante
prompt: Reynolds (and Gillian?), you said you weren't afraid to die
title: Good Men Don't Die
Foster, Reynolds; PG; 603 words
She doesn’t know how long she’s been sitting at his bedside. All she knows is that the doctor finally let her in to see him and the nurses have been coming in every hour to check his stats, but time seems to have stopped.
She remembers the frantic call from Cal, remembers nearly crashing into someone in the hospital parking lot and seeing Cal’s arms and hands covered in blood. Quietly, he told her all the details and how stupid Reynolds was for following him and not wearing a vest, but he was wearing that damn wire. She took it all in, saw the guilt and anger on his face-anger at himself not at Reynolds-and squeezed his shoulder. They stood there in the too-bright, too-white hallway like a pair of wounded soldiers.
The doctors told her that he’s stable, but in critical condition, whatever that means. Reynolds has three bullet holes in him, hooked up to tubes and wires and beeping machines and that’s all they can tell her. They can’t promise that he’ll wake up and be the same man again, or that he’ll crack that sardonic grin whenever Cal runs off doing whatever he wants, or get that little twinkle in his eye when he flirts with her.
She wants to scream and yell and rage at someone because a good man like Ben Reynolds should not be lying in this bed looking like a terrible science experiment gone wrong. But she doesn’t. She calmly rests her hand on top of his and squeezes.
Because she knows that this is what he signed up for. She knew he’d be putting his life on the line every time he strapped on that gun and badge, every time he accompanied them on a case, every time he walked out the door of his apartment. She knows this, but part of her doesn’t.
She wants to yell at Cal for being so stupid, for pissing off Bernard, for being reckless, for being himself, but she can’t and she won’t. While Cal has his faults, he’s already feeling guilty and torn about Julie, and now Reynolds, and she doesn’t want to add to that. Someone needs to be on his side, especially with the Emily drama. But she’s still angry, just a little bit, at Cal.
Reynolds is a good man. He likes to believe in people and give them chances even when they don’t deserve it. He believes in Cal, she knows that much, enough to go along with his hare-brained schemes, but this time he paid the price. No good deed goes unpunished. She’s come to terms with that saying since she’s been working with Cal, but it’s never ended in bloodshed and definitely not with bullet holes. Now, Reynolds is here because he’s a good friend who didn’t want his friend to go alone and wanted to prove to his boss that maybe his friend wasn’t as big of an asshole as he comes across. Maybe that’s the cost of friendship with Cal Lightman.
Her phone rings and she wants to pound it into the ground, but she answers it as calmly as possible. When she hangs up, she gives Reynolds one last look and skims her fingers down his arm until they catch on the hospital wristband. He’ll wake up and crack jokes about how a freight train ran him over, keep the bullets as souvenirs and wear his scars proudly. She’s as sure of this as the life thrumming beneath his skin. But until then, she can at least help catch the bastards that did this to him.
For applesred
prompt: Gillian, mother's day.
title: Never Gone
Gillian; PG; 820 words
She used to spend Mother’s Day trying to cook a decent meal with her brother when she was a kid. They’d try and make scrambled eggs that ended up too runny and toast that ended up too black, but they’d make the perfect cup of coffee, light with two sugars, and bring it to their mom in bed. A handmade card, filled with misspellings, stick figures and sloppy signatures always accompanied the breakfast. Their mom would always take the tray with a smile and plant a wet kiss on each of their cheeks before enthusiastically digging in.
When Gillian was older, away from home, she would call every year without fail. Even when she was swamped with papers and midterms and finals and work, she would take half an hour out of her day to call her mom and wish her a happy Mother’s Day and catch up. Her mother never failed to sound cheerful or to be invested in Gillian’s life. Sometimes they would sit silently on the phone for the last five minutes of the conversation or laugh so hard they couldn’t breathe for the next fifteen minutes. Sometimes she would rant about how her professors didn’t care that there were three other papers and midterms due on the same day or how her boss would send her creepy looks that were supposed to be flirty, and her mom would just listen.
Until she passed away the year before Sophie arrived.
The last thing her mother ever told her was to give adoption a chance because every child deserved to have a good mother. Like a good daughter, she listened and Alec readily agreed. Gillian only wished she could introduce little Sophie to her grandma while she was still alive.
Then Sophie was taken away the week before Mother’s Day and Gillian never hated a holiday so intensely.
Gillian both longed to call her mother and have her heal this heartache, and was relieved that she was no longer around to witness such a loss. If anything, her mother might’ve died from heartbreak alone.
When she and Alec decided to separate, she was never more relieved that her mother was not around. Gillian couldn’t bear the thought of the disappointment and pain that would cross her mother’s face. No child, no husband, all taken from her-what would she think? Or maybe her mom would be proud that she left Alec after finding out about his renewed drug habit. But Gillian would never know, and maybe it was better that way.
Every year since her mother’s passing, she visited her gravesite. She always brought a bouquet of white lilies, her mother’s favorite. Since Sophie’s departure, she carried one purple rose to add to the bouquet because in the 57 days she had the little girl, Gillian was quite sure that it was Sophie’s favorite color.
This year was no different. She has the same bouquet, complete with the purple rose, and laid it down by the tombstone. There was another bouquet already there, probably from her brother, who somehow managed to put one there every year even though he lived in California.
“Happy Mother’s Day, Mom,” she whispered. “I hope you’re doing well.”
She longed to tell her mom about everything that’s happened in the last year, from a crazy gunmen storming into the office, to watching Cal try to kill himself every other week, to four kids breaking into her home, to falling for men who have a secret life, to finding a good friend lying in a hospital bed fighting for his life. But she didn’t. Her mom probably already knew, so instead she rearranged the flowers so they framed the stone perfectly and stalled for time.
“I think I’ve found an unconventional family at least. Cal and Emily have taken me in. You remember Emily? I think you met her once, when you visited the office years ago. She gave me an orange slushie today, out of nowhere. I think she has an idea of what’s going on. She’s a bright girl, much to her dad’s delight and chagrin.”
Emily had come into her office earlier in the day and handed Gillian a large orange slushie, while she sipped from her own cherry red slushie cup. They chatted about boys and school and Cal, and it felt like home. It felt like the times Gillian used to call her mom back in college. She didn’t realize the smile she had on her face or sense a devious plan until Cal came in and whisked Emily away for dinner with Zoe. His wink right before shutting the door gave him away and she smiled.
“I’m not alone, Mom. They’re taking good care of me in their own unique way.”
A small breeze flew by and she could almost feel her mother’s approval. Gillian smiled. “Thanks, Mom. I love you, too.” Watch out for Sophie for me.
For etoilefilante
prompt: Reynolds (/Gillian), sometimes I wish I had never met you, because then I could go to sleep at night not knowing there was someone like you out there
title: Of Idiots and Fools
Reynolds/Foster (Lightman/Foster); PG-13; 667 words
He’s no idiot. His mama didn’t raise no fool.
He knows a good woman when he sees one. Actually, she taught him to see the best women around, made sure of it. Because a good man deserves a good woman, she’d always say. And if you want a good woman, you gotta be a good man, Ben. Are you a good man? He would nod and say that he was working on it, and he only wanted the best for his mom.
So when he met Gillian Foster, he knew he hit the jackpot.
No one could compare to her. Every woman he’d brought home to his mother, she would cluck her tongue and shake her head. After she dismissed the third girlfriend, he stopped bringing them by the house. It seemed Ben would never find the right woman who would both be perfect for him and perfect in his mother’s eyes. But he knew, without a doubt, Foster could be the one woman his mother would look at and smile, and welcome her with one of her famous bear hugs.
Except Foster was taken.
Well, as far as Ben knows, she’s single and divorced, but she’s taken. By Lightman of all people. Cal Fucking Lightman. God, he hates the man and admires him at the same time. Admires the way he could pick apart a liar in less than ten seconds, but if there’s anything that Ben hates more than liars and scumbags and dirty cops, it’s the way Lightman treats Foster. His mom taught him better than that, ingrained it into his skull that he should treat women like the queen they are and deserve to be, not like leftovers that you only go back to when it’s convenient. But after everything-after Green, after Sheila-Lightman is his friend. He’s earned that much.
That still doesn’t stop the itch to strangle him every once in a while.
Lightman has the perfect partner. Foster’s gorgeous-Ben’s not blind and he knows that Lightman isn’t either-but she’s also got brains, compassion, patience that could rival his mother’s, and most of all, loyalty. Nothing buys loyalty like that. Ben can only wonder what Lightman has done to deserve that kind of loyalty from a woman like Foster, but he tries not to think about it too much. He doesn’t like to compare.
But he can’t help it. Ben knows he could be a better man to Foster, be the man she deserves if only she would give him the chance. Yet the only chances she seems to give are to men who don’t deserve her, men who have secret lives. Yes, Ben has his secrets, but he can be an open book. She already knows the nature of his work, he doesn’t have to lie, but she merely cares about him as a friend and spends the rest of the time worrying if Lightman will come back in one piece or sleep with another suspect.
God, he hates that man sometimes. And sometimes he hates Foster, too.
She’s ruined him for other women. Ben has gone on a few dates since working with the Lightman Group, but he subconsciously (or consciously) compares them to Foster. None of them add up and none of them fill all the check boxes that his mother planted in head since he was a boy. Maybe it’s better that his mother isn’t around anymore because if he told her about Foster, she’d fly out here and demand to meet this woman and ask why the hell he hasn’t made a move. Then she’d slap him upside the head and tell him he was an idiot for holding back, for not trying to convince Foster that he’s better.
But Ben Reynolds is not an idiot. Oh no.
Getting between Lightman and Foster would be suicide. His mother would never understand. Instead, he says a silent prayer for her, and tries to sleep without dreaming. And hopefully forget that stupid checklist by morning.