"Hey, Chris, how's it going?" Holly asked as she walked up to the front desk with a file in her hands.
"Hey, Holly. Courier sick again?" He asked with a grin as she chuckled.
"No, I just needed to talk to Detective Swarek about one of his cases and I needed a break from the lab."
"Understandable." He said with a nod as Holly smiled.
She was about to walk away when she decided to turn back around and ask him something quickly.
"Hey, has Gail been okay?" Holly asked suddenly as Chris looked somewhat confused.
"How do you mean?"
"Things have been great with us lately until like yesterday, it was radio silent. We didn't get into a fight or anything, she just stopped answering back."
"Oh, yeah, well it's that time of year, so she takes time off work, shuts her phone off, and disappears for 2 or 3 days." Chris said slowly as Holly just stared at him.
"What time of year is that, Chris?" She asked, now getting concerned about her girlfriend.
"Today is the 2 year anniversary of Jerry's death. It always hits her hard, you know?" Chris said sadly as Holly just blinked.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure. A fellow officer and all." She said firmly.
"It's not just that. You should probably look over the case file from the day he died. Jerry died making sure that another officer lived." Chris said as Holly looked slightly more panicked.
"Gail?" She asked quickly as he just shrugged.
"Read over his file." Was all Chris offered as he went back to his paperwork.
As soon as she was done talking to Sam, Holly headed back to her office and pulled up old case files online. When she got to Detective Jerry Barber's file from 2 years earlier, she began scrolling through the pictures.
There were pictures of Jerry's lifeless body in a pool of blood, as well as pictures of the torture chamber downstairs, followed by pictures of Gail being pulled from a trunk.
"Dammit." Holly whispered as she came across mug-shot type photos of Gail when she was admitted to the hospital, having to undergo pictures and an external exam before she was treated.
The brunette winced as she read some of the details of both hers and Jerry's injuries. In the report, there was also a complete timeline given to the detectives by Gail once she had been stitched up at the hospital; however, the brunette skipped over the chain of events, wanting to wait and let Gail tell her in person, when she was ready.
After looking through the pictures of her broken and bruised girlfriend, she'd had enough. Holly then packed up all of her stuff and headed to Gail's apartment, hoping to find her there.
The two had been dating for 6 months already, but Holly was still apprehensive about potentially interrupting Gail on her few days of grieving.
The brunette stopped by the store quickly in order to get some supplies before she went to the blonde's house. She'd spoken to Chris and Dov and they were both going to be out for the night, and had wished Holly luck with talking to Gail.
The brunette let herself in with the key that Gail had given her a month ago, after she had given Gail a key to her apartment.
Holly quickly set everything on the counter and put a few things in the fridge before she slipped off her shoes and crept into Gail's room as quietly as she could.
The curtains were closed and the room was completely dark, but Holly knew Gail's room well. The brunette waited a few seconds for her eyes to adjust before she walked around the room to her side of the bed and lay down on the bed gently.
Her blonde counterpart then shifted slightly, seeking out the warmth that was Holly, causing the brunette to smile as she wrapped Gail in a hug and kissed her neck softly as Gail sighed heavily.
Since it was only 6pm, Holly assumed that Gail had gone between crying, thinking heavily, and sleeping throughout the day.
"Holly?" Her favorite blonde mumbled into Holly's collarbone as she started to wake up.
"Hey, slugger, how you feeling?" The doctor asked as she rubbed Gail's back soothingly.
"Like shit." She answered succinctly as Holly frowned.
"I can leave if you'd rather be alone, Gail, it's completely fine with me. I just brought you some food and stuff; it's all in the kitchen. And by all, I mean it's mostly tequila, bourbon, diet coke, and cheese puffs." Holly said with a grin as Gail let out a short laugh.
"No, you can stay, I guess." The blonde said quietly.
"Do you want to talk about it, Gail? Absolutely no pressure though, I'm great at just being a silent pillow." The tanned woman said, getting a small chuckle out of her girlfriend.
"I just feel so awful, Holly, about everything." The blonde said, her voice cracking.
"You know you can lean on me, Gail." The brunette whispered as she felt Gail's head nodding against her chest.
"I just feel so guilty that here I am, being consoled by the person I love while the person Traci loved enough to want to marry has officially been dead for 2 years now. And it's all because of me." The blonde ended up, now effectively in tears.
There are only a few things that will cause Gail to cry, and this is definitely the thing that will eat at her the most.
"Hey, don't you dare say that." The brunette said firmly. "He was a police officer, Gail, and he wanted to have your back and he did. Also, he knew he was dying, honey. Realistically, even if he had made it to surgery, he would not have done so well, okay? This is not on you, and I don't want you to think that, ever." Holly added seriously as Gail sniffled slightly.
"I just keep replaying every move in my head, you know? Going home, getting attacked, waking up strapped to a table; I just keep hoping that I can take it all back and not let Jerry go in there to try and save me. It would've been fine, Holly, I would've been fine." The blonde assured her girlfriend as Holly wiped tears from Gail's cheeks.
"I doubt it, honey, this guy sounds pretty crazy."
"I would've died, but it would have been fine. No one would've missed me, you know? Superintendent Mom would've made it a huge scene so she could be pitied, dad and Steve might've missed me, but everyone would've gotten over it quickly." The blonde reasoned as Holly just shook her head.
"You're not disposable, Gail. Plus, I would've missed you."
"You didn't even know me then, Lunchbox." The blonde said, trying to regain her voice.
"Yeah, but I would be at this point in time, lonely and without you, still wondering who was going to traipse into my life and completely knock me on my ass." The brunette said as she rubbed her hand on the back of Gail's neck.
"I don't know." The blonde said, still beating herself up about it.
"What do you say we go and sit out in the kitchen? You can eat your cheese puffs while I make us margaritas. I even got you a big, twisty straw so you can drink straight from the blender. We can even order some weird BBQ pizza if you wanted to." Holly suggested as Gail continued to hold onto her girlfriend.
"You are the best. I don't know how you're still single." The blonde said as she spoke into Holly's chest.
"I'm not, you weirdo." The doctor added with a laugh as she squeezed Gail tightly.
"Well I meant like before me. Like why the hell are you not already someone's ball and chain?" Gail questioned, smirking slightly.
"Because no one else has been Gail Peck." Holly answered quietly as Gail remained silent, leaning in to kiss Holly's neck.
"You ready to get this junk/drunkfest started?" Gail asked, lips turned up slightly as Holly laughed slowly.
"As I'll ever be. Come on, babe." Holly said, offering Gail her hands so she could pull the blonde up and out of bed, smiling as Gail fell into her arms and hugged her tightly, silently thanking her before they walked out to the kitchen together.