Hi there. I typically write for another fandom, but I love Gail and Holly, and I wish there were more seasons to look forward to. This happens right after Gail decides to let another family adopt Sophie, the day she had to testify in court. Let me know what you think.

Switches back and forth from Gail to Holly.

It's really been the shittiest possible day. I mean, fine, that's not true. I guess being drugged and shoved in a trunk and my friend dying trying to save you was way worse. And there was that day when we got shot at and some of my friends ended up in the hospital—that day really sucked, too.

Oh, and the day Holly left. Despite the fact that my chest felt like it was going to crack open, like my head was going to explode and all these thoughts I'd shoved in there about how much I wanted her to stay, to be with me, how much I loved her, were all going to stick to the floor, the walls, the ceiling like guts and shrapnel. But she left. And I let her go. That day might have been worse than today. And every time I miss her, which is like every goddamn day, I hate myself a little bit more.

But today I got on the stand and sat there like an idiot. I was supposed to protect my brother, to lie for him. He would have done it for me. Without blinking. Loyal piece of shit. But not me. I told Lorelei I wasn't sure what I would have said up there if I hadn't been interrupted. But come on, that's not true. I was too scared to lie, even if it meant my brother behind bars. No, I was up there babbling and waffling, and when my dad banged his hand on the desk and told me to "answer the damn question!" I seriously thought I was going to throw up right there, next to the judge. And then he confessed, took a plea deal, and my dad looked at me like I'd shot Steve in the heart at point blank range. Because I didn't cover for him, and covering for him is what a Peck would do.

And then Lorelei comes over here and tells me she found this perfect fairytale family for Sophie, the kind of family she deserves, not a worthless beat cop like me, so that pretty much sealed it. This is the fourth worst day, and it can't end fast enough. Except I'm having one more drink, one more fucking drink before I put this pitiful day behind me.

That hand on my shoulder? Better not be Epstein or I'll rip it off his skinny little wrist.

"Gail."

It's really been the shittiest possible day. I mean, I'm a forensic pathologist, so I've seen some pretty gruesome things in my line of work. Women raped and left for dead. Children. Babies even. Those days are obviously worse. Those days, there's nothing you can do but polish off a few single-malts, take a bubble bath, and go to sleep.

But there was the day I left Toronto, the day I left Gail. I wanted to be so excited for this new job in San Francisco. I mean, it's San Francisco. Chance to run my own lab—the whole department. But all I could feel was my heart being sawed in two. When I hugged her goodbye, somewhere in my brain I thought maybe she'd beg me to stay. And I would have. Because I fucking love her. But she's Gail Peck, so come on. That whole thing about leaving your heart in San Francisco? Mine never even made it on the plane.

And so a week ago, after months of moping and being a zombie and going through the motions, day after day of getting up, putting everything into my job, coming back to my apartment, going for a run to further numb the pain, and falling asleep watch Doctor Who reruns, I turned in my resignation.

I know. It sounds crazy impulsive for someone like me, someone who thinks about everything, thinks it to death. This is going to sound so corny, but this is really what happened. I had been watching this movie on Netflix the night before, like a cute(ish) romantic comedy with Daniel Radcliffe and some girl I can't remember. She tells him that the worst thing that ever happened to her was when her mother died of breast cancer when she was a teenager. And she says it made her realize how quickly everything can fall apart and that it made her want to make sure she never gave up anything good in her life, like on purpose. And for some reason, that hit me like a ton of Gail Peck-shaped bricks because she is, undoubtedly, the most good I've ever had in my life. And I just gave her away. Like a hand-me-down or a book you've already read.

So I quit my job and I packed up my beautiful apartment in Russian Hill and I booked a flight to Toronto for last night—a red eye, so I could arrive first thing today. Steve had called me and told me what was going on, that Gail had to testify for him. He thought she could use a friend today, someone in her corner. He's right. I know her. I know how nervous she'd be. And she's going to be so conflicted because her instincts for justice are as strong as her instincts for love and loyalty, so this going to be hard. And she'll blame herself either way because she's hard-wired to do that.

So I wanted to be there for her. But my flight was delayed and delayed and eventually cancelled, and the earliest I could get to Toronto was 5 pm today. And then I couldn't get a rental car so I wound up in an Uber, which I took first to her apartment, and she wasn't there.

So it's been a shitty day, but now I'm here, at the bar, where I should have known she'd be. And I see her. She looks a mess. She's crying. And all I want to do is hold her in my arms forever and never let her go. I probably should have figured out what I was going to say before right now. But fuck it.

"Gail."

That voice. It's been too pathetically comically horrible of a day for that voice to be attached to the person it sounds like, the person I want it to be, the only person in all of Canada or the world for that matter who I actually want to see right now. But when I look up, by some fucking miracle, it's her, with her stupidly beautiful face. And I want to cry. Again.

"Holly? What the—"

She sort of laughs and nods, and I stand up so we're eye to eye. God, I must look like a complete disaster.

"Hi," Holly says. "I wanted to be at the courthouse today. But my flight… I couldn't get here in time. I'm sorry."

I shake my head, because what the hell? Why would she care enough about that to fly across the country? She left.

"How did you know?"

"Your brother told me," she says quietly.

"Steve told you? I don't understand. How did he even get your number?" I said. I can feel I'm making that incredulous face that tells the person I'm with that I think they are the dumbest person alive, but that's not what I'm thinking. I'm thinking, holy shit, the two people I love in this world actually love me back? Because that is a revelation.

"It doesn't matter. I was already coming back, he just made me want to come back a little sooner."

"You were coming back? Here? For what?" (I'm trying not to sound like an idiot here, but I'm seriously confused.)

Then she does something that just kind of knocks me out. She cups my face and looks at me with those eyes, and I could melt into a sad little puddle of Gail pudding on the floor.

"Gail. I've never been less happy in my entire life than I have been since I left here. Since I left you. I don't even know if you've moved on or whatever, but I had to come back here and at least see. Because you are something so good in my life—the best thing, really—and I don't want to be without you anymore. I'm tired of loving you but not having you. I'm tired of missing you. Be with me. I mean, if you want that too, because I just—"

The alcohol and the crying and the courthouse and my dad's angry face had left me with a piercing headache, and now Holly is doing that Holly thing, so you know I had to do it. I kissed the shit out of her. I mean I hauled her in by the neck and I planted one on her, and she did that little moan in my mouth that makes my head swim. She wrapped her arms around me and pulled back from kissing me and tucked her face into my neck. And with Holly holding me so tight, with her coming back for me, with her saying she loves me and I'm something good in her life, suddenly this day isn't so shitty. It's pretty good actually.

And I kind of can't wait till tomorrow.