Author's Note: This is born from a thread on tumblr which requested apologises from our girls in the form of cheese puffs from Holly and a white "bra" flag of peace from Gail. Enjoy!
Gail breathed in deeply, her eyes flickering sideways to take in the sight of her phone's screen flashing before the device vibrated on top of the desk.
"Are you going to answer that?" Dov asked with a raised eyebrow, nodding his head towards the phone before focusing back on Gail's face. "I mean, that's like the hundredth time it's gone off in the last hour. Whoever you're ignoring really wants to talk to you."
"It's the eighth time." Gail murmured back, her voice low and hoarse - a testament to the hour spent crying in the bathroom before arriving to take a double shift. "And I don't know. I'm thinking about it."
"For the love of God," Dov groaned rubbing his fingers across his face. "Just look at the damn messages, I'm sure that your phone is not going to swallow you up if you do, and whoever it is won't know that you've looked even if you do so there's no harm in it."
Gail nodded her head slowly, rubbing her hands together as she looked at the phone, watching it warily before reaching out to curl her fingers around the narrow device lifting it off the surface of the desk as she pushed her chair away from the computer. "I'm going to the Locker Room, I won't be long."
"I know Holly messed up last night Gail," Dov murmured softly, his voice rich with concern and a gentleness that surprised Gail. "But perhaps you should let her at least try to explain, to fix it, because judging from how much she wants to talk to you she feels something for you."
The blonde haired woman nodded slowly, smiling a shallow fragile smile that barely forced her lips to curl upwards and didn't reach her eyes. "I'm beginning to think the same thing." She muttered as she paced across the floor of the station towards the Women's Locker Room, dropping onto a bench in the middle of the silence to take a deep breath before unlocking the phone and tapping Holly's name - Lunchbox - to open the messages.
"I fucked up." The first message began. "I know I did, and I'm sorry because I never meant you to hear that. It didn't sound like it should have. I'm not only having fun with you Gail. I'm having fun because you're something that I've never thought I'd want, someone that challenges me in every single way that I think should infuriate me but you make my stomach tie itself in knots and my heart jump about in my chest as if it's doing somersaults in there. I'm sorry."
Gail smiled ruefully at the message, biting her bottom lip at Holly's description of her feelings before clicking down to see the next message. "You know how I said that my heart is doing somersaults; right now it's doing an entire tumbling routine across my apartment. I've been trying to think of ways to let you know how sorry I am. I don't think you'd like me appearing in your bed in the nude right now, or perhaps you would, I have no idea what to do. I'm sorry."
The blonde haired woman's mind provided an image - a memory - of Holly's naked body stretched across the surface of her deep purple sheets. Her breasts heaving up, capped with deep pink nipples that strained as Gail bent her head to flick and flutter her tongue across the bud.
Gail shook her head hard to force the image out of her mind before tapping the next message. "I really shouldn't have said that, I don't know why I did, I was trying to be funny but then I remembered that I'm really not funny. I'm sorry."
"I wish I knew what you were doing right now, you're working right? I just I don't know. I need to see your face to make sure you're all right but then I know that you don't want to see my face. You didn't say anything about messages. This is all right. Right? I'm sorry." Gail's lips curled into a small genuine smile, imagining Holly's quick fingers tapping out the message before pondering whether to send it, finally closing her eyes and pressing send.
Gail checked the time against her watch, biting down on her bottom lip before scrolling through the line of texts, bypassing the unread ones in order to reach the final message. "I'm sat on my couch right now, my phone won't shut up but it isn't you. I'm not speaking to Lisa right now. Actually, the only person I'm speaking to is you and you're not answering me so I'm just talking to myself really aren't I? Perhaps I shouldn't have drunk that bottle of wine just now, it seems to be disagreeing with my rationality, I mean, I've just ordered an entire crate of cheese puffs to your house tomorrow morning. I don't even know if you'll be there. I'm sorry."
The Officer's heart throbbed in her chest at the obvious pain behind Holly's words – the regret and desperation shining through behind the layers of subtle humour and apologises. Gail snapped upright, spinning on her heel to head out towards the Squad Room. "Hey Dov," The woman called across the desks, waiting for the man to lift his head before continuing to speak. "I've got to go do something, can you cover for me?"
"Sure." He answered as a tentative smile crossed his lips. "Holly?"
"Yes." Gail murmured.
"Good. Go and get your girl." Dov grinned, his eyes flashing brightly. "Only got another fifteen minutes of shift anyway, and I know your paperwork is done."
"Right," Gail nodded, tugging her jacket off her chair before sprinting through the doors of the station into the crisp cool air of the parking lot.
Fifteen minutes later - and a few speeding tickets – Gail pulled up outside Holly's apartment building sliding into a spare parking space before securing the car and jogging up the stairs towards the front door. The blonde haired woman typed in the code for the building quickly, jogged up two flights of stairs and stood in front of Holly's doorway before sliding her key into the lock, twisting it sharply and opening the door.
Gail breathed in sharply, dipping her fingers into her pocket to twist them around the soft cotton of a pearly white bra, lifting it out in order to hang it off the end of her finger extending her arm through the doorway. "I come in peace," She called through the gap, projecting her voice through the apartment before following her hand through the gap and into Holly's entryway.
Icy blue eyes slid down the short wall towards Holly's living room, finding the woman sat on her couch, a glass of wine held in her hand and a goofy smile coating her lips. "Hey," The dark haired woman murmured softly, placing her glass down on the coffee table before rising to her feet. "I didn't think I'd be seeing you…"
"I'm sorry." Gail murmured, stepping into the apartment properly, kicking the door closed as she walked towards Holly. "I just needed time, you know?"
"I know." Holly answered, cocking her head to the side. "A white flag?"
"Well, I thought it would do," Gail grinned brightly, waggling the bra on the end of her finger. "I mean I didn't have any white shirts handy, but you like bras and boobs right?"
"I do." Holly chuckled, shaking her head affectionately. "You do know you're more to me and just a bit of fun, right?"
"I know." Gail said her cheeks tinged pink as she remembered Holly's messages. "I read your messages, well, most of them anyway. I'm sorry I just left I just didn't know what to think."
Holly nodded her head slowly, stepping closer to Gail in order to reach out to cradle the woman's cheek in the palm of her hand. "You're everything to me, I think I'm falling in love with you, I know that what I said sounded bad but I didn't mean it like that. I meant that we're having fun, because we are, when I'm with you I'm happy and content and all those other words that I can't think of because there's been a lot of alcohol tonight and I think-"
The press of soft lips against Holly's mouth stopped the flow of words, Gail's tongue pressing against her lips in order to draw Holly into a tender loving kiss. A minute later the blonde haired woman leaned backwards in order to disentangle their lips. "You just had to stop talking." She murmured, her eyes dancing with affection and amusement.
"I won't say another word." Holly replied, leaning forward in order to reconnect their mouths, drawing Gail into a longer deeper kiss.