Gillian managed to hide her jolt when Cooper told her about Brock's request for Tac teams. Before she could say a word, her phone buzzed. Cassidy's call at that moment couldn't be a coincidence, so she excused herself and left Cooper's office to pick up.

"Sir?"

"Go somewhere you won't be interrupted or heard," was Cassidy's greeting, and he sounded serious enough to make her hurry into the small office and close the door.

"Shoot," she said then.

"I know you wanna go to Maine, Gillian, or at least send your team. But that ain't gonna happen."

"What is it, sir? What's going on?"

"We—the brass—need Cooper to take her leave tomorrow. So we need to know we can count on you to keep your head cool and have her back. Can we?"

"Of course. Now are you gonna tell me what's going on?"

Cassidy sighed. Gillian knew he wasn't fond of long explanations, but she couldn't care less.

"Alright... Cooper's been having problems with her kidneys for two years now. We only found out because that Mattock jerk blurted out a few months ago. But she's been so busy, bringing Boston back in track, that she totally neglected her health. To the extent that if she doesn't have this surgery now, she'll be rescheduled for December or January. And then it may be too late."

"Too late...?"

"Chances are that if she doesn't do this now, by the end of the year she'll be chained to a dialysis machine for life, praying for a compatible donor to show up. For life meaning two years tops."

Gillian frowned. She couldn't picture Cooper telling anyone about this.

Cassidy understood her silence. "The Deputy Director had to dig into it himself, because she kept it all a secret. So he talked to her doctors, and they explained her prognosis. The Director himself needed to threaten Cooper with removing her from Boston is she didn't accept to undergo the surgery now."

"Oh..." Yeah, that sounded like Cooper.

"So I need you to show her you wanna stay around and cover for her. Or she'll show up tomorrow at the office, not the hospital."

"Okay, you got it. But why can't I send the lads?"

"Because any available resource in New England will be in standby for Brockner's case. So I want a rapid response team in Boston, ready and able to put out any kind of fire that might come up while we deal with that damn bunch of neonazi weirdos."

"Okay," she grumbled, and made a mental note to have Tanya give her a full report about Maine.

"Gillian..."

"You know I'll do what you say."

"And you better look happy about it, too."

"Yay."

"Look, Gillian, I don't give a damn if your lover and your friend are up against Godzilla this weekend—"

"He's not my lover!"

"—'Cause neither you, nor your team, can make a difference in Maine that justifies sacrificing Cooper's life to it."

Gillian stiffened. His words felt like a backhand across her face to make her come to her senses. "You're right, sir. I'm sorry," she muttered.

"Great. One more thing. Her moronic husband is abroad, and she doesn't have any family in the area..."

"Don't worry, I'll check on her."

"Great. I'll have Jo send you where she's committing tomorrow, 'cause I don't think she's gonna tell you."

"Good."

"Keep me up. And call me if you have any doubt during these days."

"Sure. Thank you, sir."

Cooper looked up when Gillian knocked and came back in.

"Sorry about that. It was my son."

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Let's finish this, ma'am. Where were we?"

"Evacuation procedure in case of internal threat."

"Oh, yeah. Like, one of us snaps and starts shooting people down."

"Or sets a bomb, or starts a fire. Or releases some biological or chemical agent. Or floods the building."

"Flood the building? Is that even possible?"

"What do you think?"

"Of course it's possible, or we wouldn't have a protocol for that."

Gillian sat down in front of Cooper and realized now she didn't see the Iron Lady like she did just a few minutes earlier, before her phone buzzed. And for the first time, she thought Cooper might feel lonely and scared next morning, going to the hospital all by herself to put her life in the hands of the dudes in white; knowing she'll spend two whole days by herself there to go back home, still on the mend, alone to an empty house. She knew she'd feel lonely and scared, in Cooper's situation. And yet, Cooper didn't let any of it show.

Yeah, Cassidy was right. Brock and Russell didn't need her or her team in Maine right now. But Cooper needed them there, holding the fort she'd fought so hard to bring back to its feet.

A while later, Cooper's assistant showed up and they took a break. They only had two protocols left to read. Gillian was sure they were instructions to face like a proper fed a zombie crisis and an alien invasion, because she couldn't think of any other event of massive annihilation they hadn't already covered. So she went to the team's office. The men were already gone, and only Tanya and Aldana remained. Gillian frowned. She'd hardly had a chance to say hi to Ron and Hank. And didn't have even one coffee made by Fred. It felt weird. And wrong.

At least Aldana was at Gillian's desk, to help her feel at home.

"Hey, Reg, Maine left me dateless. Are you up for some takeout tonight?"

"Absolutely. Hey, T, you're coming too. If I'm gonna be in charge until Monday, I need to know everything about Maine."

"Mexican," said the girl.

"Only Boloco," replied Gillian.

"Three-thirty. I'm on it, 'cause they're almost closing," said Aldana.

Gillian left the keys to her house on her desk. "You guys go ahead. I'll be there as soon as I'm done here."

"In a minute," said Tanya. "First I need to find accommodation near Fish River Lake." She winked at Aldana. "Some cozy cabin in the woods for Russell and Agent Brockner."

"You better make it two cabins. I don't want them sleeping together."

Tanya giggled. "Jealous?"

"Don't worry, Al," said Gillian. "You know they're rebooting the X-Files next year, so Russ and Brockner just wanna catch up with their Mulder-Scully thing."

"Oh, you're all so smart and funny, huh? I'm so gonna poison your burritos."

Gillian saw Cooper's assistant headed back to her desk and sighed. She missed so much these silly moments with them. Well, everything would be back to normal by Monday. And then she'd be happy even to bear Kurt's music and Hank's morning growls.