AN: Takes place approx. five months after "Slowly, and Then All at Once (Like Falling Asleep)".
Summary: Discretion, thy name is not Gail, Chris, or Dov. Alternatively titled "Division 15 figures out that Deckstein is a thing that is happening".
Warnings/Tags: Deckstein, OT3, Polyamory, Secret Relationship, Everyone Finds Out,
Disclaimer: Still don't own "Rookie Blue".
Loose Lips Sink Ships
(Can We Leave It Alone?)
Chapter One
Oliver Shaw
No one had ever flaunted their complete disregard for the fact that the men's locker room was for, you know, the men quite like Gail Peck. Sam probably came close, always wandering in to the lady's to "check up on" Andy; like that excuse was fooling anybody ever. Anyways, the point was that Gail Peck being in the men's room is not uncommon. It isn't even a problem, because Oliver looks at her and sees this weird cross between one-of-the-boys and surrogate-daughter-that part is kind of weird and confusing, but Oliver figures it's his own special brand of weird, and thus his problem, not the departments-so he doesn't actually feel weird changing right in front of her; she'd probably make a face and sass him and, actually, it sounds kind of fun.
Only, that's not what's happening because Gail isn't doing what she's normally doing in the men's room-re: chewing out Chris and/or Dov for being morons, and/or hugging them for not being dead; and/or demanding something of them that they will protest against vehemently before the inevitable acquescience.
No, right now, Gail is kissing Dov.
It's not a friendly peck either; Oliver thinks he might see tongue. Which, gross. He never ever needs to see Gail's tongue while its inside someone else's mouth, or Epstein's for that matter. It isn't any of Oliver business, of course, Gail can absolutely go about kissing whomever she'd like. He just wishes it wasn't Dov, because Chris is her boyfriend-and they're still very much together, if the under the table action during Parade she sees to enjoy watch him squirm through is any indication-and Dov is Chris' best friend, and this is going to pretty much implode the whole unit the moment Chris finds out. Which isn't likely to take long if Gail and Dov keep trying to eat each others' faces in public places where all three of them work.
The most recent crop of rookies has really taken the time to esablish a great bond, and this little tryst is going to destroy it. Gail and Chris will break-up, Chris and Dov will fight, and everyone else is going to be forced to take sides. He's going to be forced to pick sides. He doesn't want to because he kind of loves these stupid rookies like idiot younger siblings.
He doesn't want to be in this position. He can't pretend he isn't.
Today sucks.
"Peck!" Oliver calls, breaking apart the two rookies. "This is the men's locker room." He's trying to convey with his eyes how screwy this whole thing is, and how disappointed he is with her-because this isn't cool-if she wanted to break up with Chris and date Dov, she should have just done it-and how exceptionaly displeased he is to have been forced into the middle; does he tell Chris, the kid deserves to know, does he keep Gail and Dov's secret, they have the right to tell Chris themselves before he goes running his mouth.
"Sir!"
"Oh, stop it, dork; it's just Oliver."
"Out, Peck. Some of us would like to get home sometime today."
"Yeah, yeah, Ollie. Dov, Chris is trying to puppy-eye his way into pizza again tonight, if you walk through that door with pizza, I will make you sleep in your own room tonight."
"Gail!"
"Oh, please, like he didn't see your tongue and my tongue getting friendly." Gail rolls her eyes, and Oliver's not entirely sure how she's managing to be so blasé about this.
"I'm uncomfortable with having our training officer know about this."
"Should have thought of that before you dragged me in here. Now, go. Contain the pizza monster that is our boyfriend; I'll talk to Oliver."
Dov shuffles out, his cheeks flushed and his eyes averted.
"Talk to me about what?"
"About the huge secret I'm going to ask you to keep."
See, this is exactly what Oliver didn't want to happen. He doesn't want to know this so he doesn't have to A) be the guy that tells Chris his girlfriend is messing around with his best friend or B) be the guy who didn't tell Chris he knew his girlfriend was messing around with his best friend. Either way, it's not something he's looking forward to; he doesn't even know which one he'd end up picking in the end. He doesn't want to play favorites, but, yeah, he does like Peck a bit more than Diaz's boy scout routine. That doesn't mean he should let her stomp all over his country boy heart though, either.
"Chris, Dov, and I are dating. The three of us. At the same time. Together. It's a thing. It's an us thing."
He was not expecting that. He has no idea what to say to that. Is there a thing he should say to that? Is this a "congratulations" event? Or hugging? Should there be hugging?
"But it's not something we really want broadcasted over the whole department if we can avoid it. So, you know, shut up and tell no one."
"I, uh, right. But do we hug?" He's still a little stuck on the details, but the question seems oddly important.
Gail shrugs and steps into his arms. She only stays there for about five seconds before squirming away and scoffing about "getting feelings all over her". But she's smiling, and he realizes that she's been doing that more recently. And if she's happy with those two, who the hell is he to judge her just because it's not something he really understands? No one's getting hurt; what Peckstein-Diaz—Peckstiaz? Piazstein? Deckstein? Deckstein.—get up to off the clock isn't any of his damn business so long as they keep doing their jobs.
Besides, if this means he doesn't have to play secret keeper—well, not a secret that's anybody else's business at least—then he's declaring it a small victory and moving on.
"So..." Dov starts, then trails off. He's not quite sure how to bring it up, really. They'd all decided not to go running their mouths about the new dynamics of their relationship, given the less than traditional aspects of it, and now he and Gail have let someone else in the loop. It's the kind of thing Chris needs to be told, because secrets are pretty much a huge no-bad-wrong-do-not-do thing with the three of them, and Dov is going to tell him.
Just as soon as he figures out how.
"So?"
"Gail says no pizza." Not what he was trying to say, but still technically true.
"Gail always says no pizza. Then we bring it home, and she eats half of one by herself, snarling at us when we get too close."
"Well, to be fair, we only order the one without sauce. But, uh, she seemed serious this time. She threatened to, well actually, she threatened to send me to my room."
Chris bursts out laughing, and Dov does too. "Can she even do that?"
"She's Gail Peck; if she wants me to not be there, she will find a way to make it happen."
"So...Chinese?"
"Chinese."
Dov squirms a little in the should-be comfortable silence that follows.
"Also, you know, side note: Oliver totally knows about us."
To Chris's credit, he does not crash when he jerks to look at Dov with startled eyes. He doesn't even swerve. "What?"
"Well, what had happened was...We were kissing, me and Gail not me and Oliver-oh, oh, god, why did I even say that?-and Oliver walked in, and Gail was all go talk Chris out of pizza while I talk to Oliver, and I kind of did. And, unless, she's decided to tell him that I'm a horrible friend and she's a terrible girlfriend and we're going around behind your back-which, honestly, is not awkwardly honest enough for Gail-she probably told him the truth."
"Oh."
"Are you, I mean are you mad?"
"No." Chris looks confused that Dov even had to ask, but hey. Dov doesn't know, okay. Their discussion on sharing had been brief; for all Dov knows, Chris could have had a serious reason for not wanting to tell anyone. There could have been issues. "It's not anyone's business what we do off the clock, and I didn't want to make it awkward at work if anyone decided to have a problem, but I don't actually care if people know that I love you, that I love Gail. They don't get a say in that, nobody but the three of us do."
Well, that was really sweet. Dov thinks he has that smile on, the one Gail always calls dopey, but he can't get rid of it. Can't think of a reason why he should.
"Love you too."
AN: Let me know what you think...