The Black Penny is packed tonight, so Gail has to force her way through the masses of police officers to reach her friends, sitting around a table at the back of the room. She glances back over her shoulder at Chris, to make sure he is making it through with the tray of drinks for the table, she smirks when he stumbles and almost throws the entire tray. Her focus is drawn to Holly as she laughs at something that Oliver has said to her and Gail cannot help the genuine smile that crosses her features at seeing Holly so happy and comfortable among her friends. She flops down into the empty chair between Holly and Traci and laces her fingers between those of her girlfriend as Chris slides the tray of drinks to the centre of the table. Everyone eagerly leans forward for their respective drinks and silence falls across the table as Oliver noisily clears his throat.
"Now people, as you all know it is my birthday tomorrow, and I have decided that I want something from you." He glances around the table with barely contained glee.
Gail scoffs "Isn't it a bit short notice to be requesting presents from us?"
Oliver just chuckles at Gail's snark and continues "No I don't want presents. Peck, McNally, Epstein, Nash, Diaz and Price all have the day off tomorrow." He takes the time to look at each person seriously as he states their names.
"So what do you want us to do?" Andy questions for the group.
"Well my dear, you will be participating in a scavenger hunt!" he slaps his hands onto the table as he makes the announcement, almost knocking over his beer in the process.
Chloe's squeal of excitement only intensifies Gail's look of horror at the idea. She takes a large gulp of her drink and lets the burning in her throat numb the idea of punching the chipper redhead in the boob. It is the supportive squeeze of her hand from the woman next to her that causes her argument to die in her throat. Instead she lets out a loud sigh and faces her excited mentor.
"Why exactly do you want us to do a scavenger hunt? It's actually not too late for presents." Gail tries one last time to get out of participating in tomorrow's escapades.
"Because Peck, it is my birthday and if I want to see all of my rookies running around the city competing for my affection, then it's going to happen." Oliver grins and rubs his hands together in excitement.
Dov being completely matter of fact about the whole thing starts rattling off a list of questions at Oliver. "Do we actually win anything? How many people are going to be in the teams? How are the teams being chosen? What are the rules? How is this being judged?"
Oliver quickly raises his hands to quiet the table again. "Yes there is actually a prize. The winning team is getting a three day weekend next week." He waits patiently as everyone's enthusiastic cheering dies down. "Good, there's the excitement I've been looking for. As for judging, Celery and Holly will both be with me tomorrow and we will be allocating the points for each task completed."
Gail raises her eyebrows in surprise at the woman next to her and whispers "Why didn't you warn me about this?" Holly smiles wickedly at the blonde and whispers back "I couldn't ruin Oliver's announcement and besides the look on your face was totally worth it." Gail huffs in annoyance and turns her attention back to Oliver.
"There will be three teams of two people, and every hour on the hour each team will receive a message with two tasks that have to be completed before that hour is up. If you don't complete a task within that hour there will be no points. Photo or video proof of each task has to be messaged back to us so we can allocate points. Completing a task is worth ten points. The level of difficulty of how you complete the task can earn you more points and as I said those extra points will be decided by my brilliant team."
"So do we get to pick our own teams?" Andy speaks up from the far side of the table.
"No, but we have secretly given each of you a number between one and six, so McNally pick a number." Oliver, Celery and Holly all focus on Andy with excitement, while she takes her time to decide.
Andy grins as she seems to come to a decision "Three."
Oliver pats Holly on the shoulder and says "You can take this one Stewart."
"Okay Andy your partner is Gail." Holly turns her attention to the blonde next to her after she hears an annoyed groan from the woman. She leans in and gives her a chaste kiss and whispers encouragement to her before pulling away.
Gail perks up from Holly's proximity and raises a threatening finger to the table. "McNally and I are going to crush you losers."
"Alright Price!" Oliver practically shouts "You pick next. Your choices are one, four or six."
"Six!" she squeals in delight.
"That means your partner is Diaz. That leaves Nash and Epstein as the third team."
Gail narrows her eyes as she sees Celery pull a handful of neon coloured bandanas out of her purse and groans again when they are handed around the table as the official team colours. Oliver explains to them that they have to wear black clothes and they are to have their bandanas on at all times. Team Green is Nash and Epstein, Team Orange is Price and Diaz and Team Purple is Peck and McNally.
After drinking through four more rounds Gail has had enough so she grabs Holly's hand and they say their goodbyes. As soon as they get outside Gail starts to question Holly about what they have to do tomorrow, but she refuses to give anything away, every time the blonde woman brings it up. Gail's persistent questioning continues all of the way back to Holly's house and finally the brunette woman cracks and she catches Gail's lips in a bruising, passionate kiss. Holly gently pulls back, while keeping a firm grasp on Gail's neck. "Stop talking. I'm not going to tell you anything."
"I think I can live with that." Gail grins mischievously and drags Holly upstairs to her bedroom.