Holly walked up the front stairs to her home while digging through her bag searching for keys after walking home from the morgue. She needed the fresh air; the weeks have been long and suffocating without Gail. She had called once, with no response and decided if Gail wanted back in her life it would have to be her who made the move toward Holly. The scene of that night replayed in her head over and over, in the end it was a misunderstanding, an unfortunate moment when communication became a swirling river of confusion and things were taken completely out of context. If Gail had bothered to stay, to let Holly explain maybe she would not have run off, but that was not Holly's choice. Gail is a grown woman and responsible for her actions.
Of course Holly did not agree with Lisa who was just drunk enough that night to have her overprotective, unfiltered views of relationships projected onto Gail. Truth is, Lisa did not have a good track record when it came to dating and she had just gotten out of a long term relationship that ended very bitterly. Holly had never treated Gail like she was uneducated or beneath her at any point since the two of them began hanging out, truth is Holly has never known anyone like Gail, the perfect mix of stunning beauty, loyalty , incredible wit, and her unfiltered view of the world made Holly respect her more than Gail could ever imagine. Not to mention she is single handedly the bravest person Holly had ever met bar none.
Gail had not returned the call Holly had made 3 days after the bar incident. She gave Gail time to cool off but she reached out first, leaving the ball sitting smack in the middle of Gail's batting cage. The message was very clear, explaining that she really wanted to talk through what happened that she missed Gail and to please call her back.
Holly almost tripped over the small metal box on her welcome mat. She picked it up to find a vintage lunchbox of the 70's show "Emergency" with a note saying "…situation. Can you meet me in High Park at 6:30pm, at the benches by kid's garden?" Inside the lunchbox was a bag of cheese puffs.
"Well it's a start, Peck." Holly said out loud with a grin that had spread across her face. She quickly dropped her stuff in the kitchen and changed out of her work clothes putting on a pair of perfectly broken in Levi's and a white V-neck t shirt under one of her favorite sweaters that she knows Gail likes. Grabbing the lunchbox on her way out the door she heads to the park.
Holly would find Gail right where she said she would be, sitting on a bench with legs out in front of her laughing at a group of small kids across the lawn blowing bubbles in the air, attempting to catch them with their tiny hands before they floated away or hit the ground. Holly had missed Gail's smile more than even she realized.
Walking up behind Gail she touched her shoulder gently.
"Good evening, Officer."
Gail stood and took Holly into her arms for a hug. She felt like she could breathe again, the simple smell of Holly's hair was intoxicating and she suddenly felt a cloak of safety in the arms around her.
"Hey, thanks for coming Hol."
"I was hoping to hear from you, I just didn't know it would be in the form of a lunchbox" she replied as she held up the tattered box with a smile.
Smiling back to her, "Well you know me, I can't do anything ordinary. It's part of my charm…well sometimes, and other times it's a giant pain in the ass for everyone."
They both sit down on the bench next to one another.
Gail is staring straight ahead but reaches over to slide her hand into Holly's before beginning to speak.
"The past few weeks have been awful, I have never felt myself come unraveled so quickly. Maybe it's because I have fallen in love with you Holly, and hearing those words from Lisa at the bar made me question everything at the moment I had finally let someone in, I had let you in. I ran when I didn't want to, but it is what I have known my whole life. It's self-preservation for me, Holly. For the first time when it comes to someone else, I knew it was wrong and I regretted it the moment I was standing in the parking lot. I know you didn't deserve to watch me walk away from you at the Penny without at least hearing what you had to say. I want to do things differently, I want be a better person for you, a better partner for you if that is something you think you want too." She finally turns to look at Holly who is watching Gail with tears in her eyes, " I love you, lunchbox, and it terrifies me in so many ways."
Holly pulls Gail into her, foreheads touching they sit in the stillness for a moment before Holly pulls away. She touches Gail's face and kisses her on the cheek. "I need you to know, to understand and to believe me when I say to you that I have never once thought of you as anything but brilliant, I am in awe every day of just how incredibly brave you are walking through the world ready to risk it all in a split second to do the right thing to make the world a better place and protect the people in it. I remember sitting in the lab with you the day we met; you were so beautiful sitting in the chair confessing your cat like tendencies. I told myself "don't even think about it, there is no way she would ever be with a big dork like you Stewart." The concept of you being beneath me is not really possible for me, Gail. That night at the bar, I should have spoken up, I should have put Lisa in her place but the truth is I didn't want to waste time on her drunken theories I wanted to get back to you, all I could think of was how happy I was, and how I just wanted to keep kissing you. I am so sorry for everything, and if it caused you lo lose faith in me, in us."
Holly gives Gail the crooked grin she adores, "Oh, and I love you too Gail Peck, in case you were wondering."
"Can we maybe go back to the part about wanting to kiss me?"
Shoving the lunchbox that has been sitting between them toward Gail, "Why don't you take your lunchbox home and we'll see about that…"