Sorry for any errors, it's 2am but this idea is keeping me awake so I decided to write it down. Let me know what you think :)
After the mandatory monthly Peck Family dinner, Gail and Steve decided to call it a night instead of going to the nearest bar they could find to get incredibly drunk as promised earlier. Steve dropped his sister off back at her apartment and Gail headed straight for her room, stripping off the day's clothes and changing into some sleepwear before diving head first into the bed. Gail and Steve thought that this time would be different, pleasant somehow, with Holly, Traci and Leo around. For the first time the both of them actually looked forward to it. What was supposed to be a highly anticipated dinner with Holly, Steve, Traci and Leo turned into the usual disaster at the Peck siblings' childhood home.
Gail can't help but run her mind over tonight's dinner. Instead of greeting your children like a normal parent would, Elaine was not impressed when she only saw the two of them standing by the front door.
"Where's your girlfriend, Gail? You too, Steve, where's Detective Nash? And don't give me some nonsense excuse about them not being able to make it tonight." Elaine's eyes darted between both of her children, before walking back into the house with Steve and Gail trailing behind her.
The pair looked at each other, silently asking the other to broach the subject first. Gail nudged painfully into Steve's side with her elbow and Steve relented. "Uh, Traci and I are going through a rough patch at the moment." Steve said timidly.
"Already? That soon into your relationship and you two are already fighting?" Elaine asked incredulously as she turned around abruptly, Steve and Gail almost knocking into her.
"It's not like we wanted it to happen, Mom." Steve slouched, different from his previous position of chin up and chest puffed seconds earlier before knocking the door, the confidence he had for dinner to go smoothly was left out at the front door.
"What about you, Gail? Where's the Doctor?"
"We broke up." Gail responded truthfully and straight to the point. She can't help but feel the clench of her heart as she supplied Elaine with the answer. She also hated the fact that her mother referred to Holly as 'doctor' or 'girlfriend', because Holly's more than that. She's different from the other guys she used to bring home with her, guys' names that Elaine just can't bring herself to remember, or chose not to.
Elaine shook her head. "You know, I don't even know what to say to the two of you. Not only the both of you fail to climb up the police force ladder as fast as me and your father did, but relationship wise, it's not a surprise to see the same disappointing results." Steve and Gail visibly flinched at their mother's words. After all these years, no matter how many times they have endured Elaine Peck's vicious words and parenting methods, it doesn't get easier. Not one bit. Her words still cut as deep as ever.
The rest of the night happened like it used to, passive and aggressive conversations with Elaine and short responds from both Steve and Gail. Their father, as usual, ate mostly in silence, occasionally speaking up when required to. When dinner was done, Gail and Steve made a dash for the front door, explaining that they both have an early shift tomorrow.
Gail sighed. She's already dreading next month's dinner.
Gail closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to overcome her when she heard her phone ringing loudly in the peaceful room. Normally, Gail would let it ring to voicemail. But for some reason she felt like this call might be important. She turned towards the bedside table and brought her phone up to her face to see who's calling. She was pretty sure her heart stopped beating for two seconds. It was Holly.
Gail took a deep breath before tapping the green button on her phone. "Hello?"
"Hey, it's me. Holly." Gail can't help but smiled at that.
"Yeah I know who you are."
"Are you busy? Sorry if I'm disturbing you…"
"No, no not at all. What's up?" Holly could be calling her every 10 seconds and Gail would be fine with that.
"Not much, I just wanted to call… and see how's everything going? I know you had your family dinner tonight right?" Gail couldn't believe it. Holly's calling to check up on her.
"Yeah, it was… fine. As usual Elaine Peck can't help but made me and Steve feel like we're a disappointment to her because we failed to live up to the 'peckspectations'. The woman's gonna need new material, that shit is getting old." Gail couldn't help the feeling like she might have over shared a bit. Holly may be calling to ask about her wellbeing, because it's the polite thing to do, not because she wants to hear Gail rant about her mother.
"Gail…"
"It's okay, Holly. You don't need to say anything." Gail reassured her.
She continued, trying to break the silence. "She asked about you, though."
"Really?" Holly was genuinely surprised.
"Yeah. It was supposed to be some sort of coming out party and she was a little disappointed you weren't there."
"I see. So I take it your parents are okay with… you dating women? Or at least having dated one woman?" Curiosity evident in Holly's voice.
"Yup. That is the only good thing that came out of dinner."
"I'm sorry I couldn't be there."
"No need to be sorry, Holly. We broke up, it's fine." Gail added without missing a beat.
"Look, I know we broke up, but we can still be friends. I still care about you. You know you can talk to me about anything right? We tell each other stuff." Gail smiled at the admission. She thought about that moment in the interrogation room and her smiled grew even wider.
"I know, thank you." Suddenly, Gail was fueled with a burst of optimism, hope, even. It was Holly's words that provided her the courage she needed to ask what she wanted to next. "Hey, what time do you have to go to work tomorrow? I was thinking if you wanted to have breakfast together, catch up, be friends, that sort of thing. I miss you. As a friend, I mean. If you don't want to or can't make it, I totally und—"
"I miss you too, Gail. Sure, I'd loved to have breakfast with you tomorrow. 9 sounds good?" Holly laughed at Gail's sudden rambling. It was cute when the blonde gets a serious case of word vomit.
"Yeah, sounds good to me. At the diner across the morgue?" said Gail, trying to be it cool.
"Okay, see you tomorrow."
"See you."
Gail can't help but feel like this is a start for the long awaited mending of their relationship, if you could still call it that. First time in weeks, positivity and hope start to course through her veins and into her heart. Gail smiled at the thought of seeing Holly tomorrow. This is the clean slate the both of them desperately needed, even though they didn't realize it at that moment.