Gail watched vacantly as the black door seemed to drift open slowly. She noticed the white plaque, with the number 405, staring back at her. She made a mental note of the address. She'd never been here before. How she hadn't, she didn't know. Holly seemed to always come to her.
Holly had come to her at the station. She had come to her at the hospital.
The hospital.
Where Chloe, Sam, and Oliver were recovering. Hopefully, recovering.
Flashes of the day came flooding back. Everything rolled out like a movie. There was Chloe lying on the ground, blood everywhere. There were the echoes of gunshots in the alleyway. She saw McNally's face after stumbling back from seeing Swarek. It was a nightmare.
Except, of course, the parts of the day that weren't. Like that kiss she shared with Holly in the interrogation room. Later, when she saw Holly walk into the hospital, and her heart beat with joy. Even through the fear and sadness of the day, she still felt relief when Holly was in her arms.
"You coming in?"
Gail's eyes took a moment to focus on the sound. "Huh?" she stuttered out before realizing she had yet to cross the threshold into Holly's apartment. "Oh, yeah."
She took just enough steps for Holly to shut the door behind her. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Gail said quickly. Her hand tightened around the strap of her backpack anyway.
She was okay. One hundred percent fine. She didn't have any bullet wounds. She wasn't lying in a hospital bed. She wasn't fighting for her life. She was okay.
She was okay until the thud of Holly's keys hitting the kitchen counter caused her to unconsciously reach for her gun. Which wasn't even there. It was back at the precinct. She had gone back to the station and changed. Holly had waited outside her apartment for Gail to run up and grab some clothes.
It wasn't even discussed, really. Holly mentioned that she'd wait. Gail had every intention of coming back down without being invited. She was glad, too. Her place was cold. Her place was way too quiet. Dov was at the hospital. Chris had people.
She had people, too. Sure. But, suddenly, Holly was her people.
And now, here she was.
Three steps into Holly's place.
Three steps further into Holly's life.
"Thanks for this," Gail said sincerely. She finally stepped into the small kitchen area of Holly's apartment.
"What?" Holly asked, hanging her jacket on a barstool.
"I didn't want to be alone."
"I didn't want you to be alone either," Holly smiled. "So, really this is for me."
Gail nodded, almost imperceptibly. "So," she made a whirling gesture with her finger, "this is where you do all your nerdy after-hours experiments?"
Holly looked around, as if seeing it for the first time herself. "Yep."
"It's very…" Gail paused before settling on, "you."
"I'm not sure if I want to know what that means."
"It's great. Neat. Comfortable," Gail assured. She made a point of leaning around to see the living area off the kitchen. "Cute."
"You say 'cute' like it's a bad word," Holly accused before parting to head toward her bedroom.
Not knowing of the destination, Gail followed. "Not bad, I didn't say it was bad. It's cute. Homey."
"Uh huh."
"Comfortable," Gail said loudly. "I said comfortable. I like it. I could hang out here."
Holly spun around and walked backward through her bedroom doorway, "I hope so."
"Definitely." Gail said without hesitation, still following blindly. When she suddenly found herself in a room with Holly and a bed, it made her heart immediately start to race. She stopped in her tracks, "Wait, this is your room."
Holly seemed completely unfazed, "Ten points for you."
"Should I…uh, should I be in here?" Gail asked nervously.
"I'm over 30," Holly answered. "It's probably okay to have girls in my room."
"How far?"
The question made Holly still. Her back was turned to Gail when she squeaked out, "How far what?"
"How far over 30?"
"Oh."
Gail watched the tension ease out of Holly.
"32," she answered. She turned on her toes and rested against her dresser. "I'm 32."
"I didn't know."
Holly grinned, "Now you do."
"You said earlier," Gail swallowed at the memory of that particular exchange, "that we tell each other things."
"Yeah," Holly nodded.
"I don't…I don't tell…people…things," Gail said. "I don't do that."
"Okay." Holly's eyes narrowed trying to decipher this Gail code.
The blonde was obviously flustered. And, even though Holly hadn't known her very long, she knew that Gail was not regularly flustered. She bit her lip to stop herself from telling Gail how absolutely gorgeous she was in this moment. It wasn't the time. Instead, she pushed off the dresser and walked slowly over.
Gail's eyes widened when she realized that Holly was getting closer. Holly actually saw her swallow thickly.
"I do that with you," Gail whispered.
"Hmm." Holly muttered as she reached up and slipped her fingers under the strap of Gail's backpack.
Gail let her slip it down her arm and chuckled after Holly asked, "Does this have any fleece in it?"
"No," Gail said. "No fleece."
Holly leaned past her and set the backpack down on the floor, propped up on her bedroom wall. She stood to her full height, and took a moment to study Gail. Eventually, Holly's eyes landed on her lips.
"I don't…share," Gail said.
Holly's arms crossed over her chest, "I know, Gail."
"But, I want to…with you. I want to."
Holly's smile grew slowly, one side of her mouth quirked up. She licked her lips. "Good." Her instinct was to reach out for Gail, but she'd tried that already today. That didn't exactly end well. So, after a second, she abandoned her position to continue her search for sleepwear.
Gail watched just long enough to see Holly's blue shirt slip off her shoulders before she averted her eyes.
"There's stuff in the kitchen." Holly's voice was slightly muffled by her t-shirt replacing the one from the day. "If you're thirsty. I've got juice, I think. Water."
"Do you have anything harder?" Gail asked, peeking at a mirror in the room to catch Holly's reflection.
"It's possible, I have a cheap bottle of wine hidden somewhere."
"That's not quite what I was asking."
"No, Gail," Holly said, rifling through a drawer and pulling out a worn looking pair of sweats. "I don't have a wet bar."
"Listen," Gail started. "About today-"
"We don't have to talk about it right now," Holly interrupted. "You had a rough day, a stressful day. Stress makes you do things you wouldn't under regular circumstances."
"That's true-"
"It's not a big deal," Holly continued. She folded and refolded the pair of sweats in her hand. "It doesn't have to be."
"It is, though-"
Finally, Holly gently laid the pants down and turned around. She leaned against the dresser again, holding herself up with her palms. "I'm not holding you to that kiss, Gail."
"You're not what?" Gail shook out the cobwebs of the day.
"It's okay-"
"I'm not talking about that. I want you to..."
"Want me to what?" Holly asked trying to keep the hopefulness at bay.
"Hold me to it, Holly."
Gail looked directly into the other woman's eyes, "When you came into the station today, I was an asshole, okay. I didn't mean to brush you off. I mean, I did, but I just didn't know what to do-"
Holly adjusted her glasses, "I shouldn't have ambushed you."
"It was hardly an ambush," Gail said. "You were checking on me. I appreciate that."
"Really?" Holly smiled disbelievingly.
"Yes. I appreciate everything you do for me, Hol."
Gail wasn't quite sure she made the conscious decision to walk closer to Holly. She probably didn't even know she was moving toward her. Before she caught her breath, she was standing right in front of her, though.
She took the last tentative step and reached out to tug the bottom of Holly's t-shirt. "Blues Fastpitch?"
Holly was a bit taken aback until she realized what shirt she had put on, "Oh, I played during my undergrad."
"You must be the best lesbian ever."
"There's been no complaining," Holly breathed.
The proximity was making Holly tingle all over. When Gail started to float closer, though, her heartbeat went into overdrive. Holly's mind went blank as Gail's lips just barely brushed hers.
"Do you have a spare blanket?"
Holly, mid pucker and hands still glued to the dresser, seemed confused by the change in direction. "Huh?"
"I'm gonna sleep on your couch," Gail said in a whisper. She still hadn't moved very far away from Holly's lips.
"You don't ha-"
"Yeah," Gail interrupted. After pulling back, she glanced at the bed. "Couch, yeah."
"K," Holly said oh-so articulately. "S-sure."
