That Kiss

Holly pulled away and gave Gail a lopsided grin. "You're insane, you know that right?!" The pathologist stood up suddenly and headed toward the opposite side of the coat room, leaving a clearly stunned Gail in her wake.

"I'm going to take this with me, if you don't mind." Holly said, clutching a half-empty champagne bottle to her chest. "There's plenty more out there"

Gail snapped out of her daze. "Sorry…where're you going?"

She watched as Holly slung her bag over her shoulder. "Dancing. I kinda need to get it out of my system"

All Gail could do was stare, a confusion look plastered on her face.

"Thanks. That was fun". Holly gushed, and then saluted Gail with her bottle. "Plus One forever!"

Gail lifted her Champaign glass lamely in response as Holly disappeared back out into the function room.

Holly

The next day at work Holly laughed at the memory, slightly embarrassed. Kissing Gail had been a little forward, she knew. But she was feeling happy, and the Champagne had obviously gone straight to her head. It probably didn't help that she was sipping it straight from the bottle at that stage. But it had been a fun night and she was enjoying Gail's company, and somehow they'd ended up in the coat room, sitting on a pile of coats, their backs up against the wall, drunk-talking.

It was Gail that started it with that silly question about lesbians.

To be fair, Gail was pretty tipsy herself and they'd been giggling so much that night that the conversation was bound to turn silly. It was clear Gail didn't know any lesbians, hence her curiosity. But Holly was used to a certain amount of curiosity from straight people. It didn't mean anything.

But when Gail sassed her about not having enough backpacks or fleece in her wardrobe for Holly's liking, she couldn't help but be a little charmed, and almost without thinking she leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to Gail's lips. It had really only been an affectionate kiss. Even tipsy, she didn't mean it to be anything more than that. She blushed at the memory.

The surprise and confusion on Gail's face had registered but she was feeling so happy she brushed it off. And she really felt like dancing.

Looking back at the incident with the benefit of sobriety, Holly hoped Gail didn't think she was putting the moves on her. She was just drunk – and happy. And the truth was that Holly had always been a very tactile, affectionate kind of person. She liked to touch and be touched. She had always been open to others and it came through in her body language. It was just her way. But she knew some people weren't comfortable with that and was normally careful about not overstepping her bounds.

She liked Gail and, really, she was pleased that she'd asked her to be her Plus One for Frank and Noelle's wedding. She was surprised at how much of a good time they had together and it felt good to laugh and forget her troubles for a while. They both had jobs that could get stressful and depressing if you didn't blow off steam every now and again. Gail seemed to be on the same wavelength, and they had spent the evening dancing, cracking silly jokes and drinking far too much.

On top of work woes, Gail had talked about breaking up with her boyfriend, Nick, but only briefly. The breakup had obviously hurt. And thankfully, Nick wasn't there at the wedding so Gail didn't have to spend the evening reminded of it or trying to avoid him.

An ex-boyfriend meant that Gail was straight, as she had initially surmised. But that wasn't an issue. Holly had both straight and gay friends and enjoyed the company of both. And it's wasn't that she was totally immune to Gail's charms: Gail was very attractive – piercing blue eyes, flawless porcelain skin, athletic figure - and that attitude, wow! It was a very appealing combination. If she knew there was a chance, she'd definitely go for it. But Gail was straight and Holly had done her time chasing straight women. There was nothing but pain there. She wouldn't put herself through that again. She knew she deserved more than being somebody's experiment or, or worse, their dirty little secret.

Besides, she was happy with just having a friendship with Gail and, if last night was anything to judge by, she had a feeling they could be great friends.

She'd instantly liked Gail her on meeting her in the woods for the first time.

"Why are you saying all these words?" Holly smiled at the memory. That was the last thing she'd expected to come out of the policewoman's mouth after she'd just spent the last few minutes schooling her on medical jurisprudence. The more she got to know Gail, the more she made her laugh with her caustic exterior and gift for snark. And after the time Gail had spent in the lab watching her examination of the skeletal remains found in the woods she had to admit she was intrigued.

"I'm like a cat"

Who wouldn't be intrigued? And she couldn't help but think that the feeling was mutual. On some level, Gail was aware Holly didn't entirely buy into her hardass exterior and appreciated it. The back and forth between them was fun; there was definitely an interesting energy there. And Gail did text her and ask her out of the blue to come to the wedding, so it wasn't all one sided.

She only hoped she hadn't ruined things before they'd even started.

She sighed. Perhaps the best way to deal with it would be to just write off the kiss as a bit of drunken silliness and move on. She didn't want to embarrass Gail or make her uncomfortable with unwelcomed advances. That could make things really awkward.

She just wouldn't bring it up and she was fairly sure Gail wouldn't. Pretend it didn't happen. That seemed to make the most sense.

And having decided this, Holly pushed the whole issue to the back of her mind and began to focus on her work.

Gail

Gail woke up the next morning with a slight headache and a queasy stomach. She was glad that she had thought ahead and arranged to work a late shift today, knowing full well she was going to let loose a little and enjoy herself at the wedding. Things had gotten so complicated and tense lately, with the Nick and Andy situation, that all she wanted to do was have some fun and forget for a while.

She knew she was compensating at least a little for her break up with Nick and her own stupid behavior in bringing their issues to a head. She would never admit it to anybody, but she felt ashamed of having slept with Sergeant What's-His-Face, not just because he was kind of skeevy, but because it made her feel so fucked up. It was just a fucked up thing to do. What kind of person does something like that? Why couldn't she break up with Nick like a normal person: confront him about his feelings for Andy, scream, throw lots of shit at him and storm off, secure in the knowledge that she occupied the high moral ground?

She felt so messed up. She was glad that she was able to escape, a least for a little while, at the wedding last night.

Some parts of the night were little more than a blur, but she could remember very well how much fun she and Holly had had together, talking, laughing and dancing around like maniacs. She wasn't sure if she was being bold asking Holly, a lesbian, to be her plus one. But the truth is, she really liked Holly. The doctor was different, and she enjoyed her company. What did it matter if she way gay?

From the first day they'd met, Holly had this strange way of cutting through a lot of her bullshit and effortlessly getting around her guard. It kept her slightly off balance and contributed to an interesting energy that existed when they were in each other's company.

And then Holly kissed her. Sitting in the closet, drinking booze straight from the bottle. She blushed at the memory of it.

Gail didn't know what to think. On the one hand, it really wasn't a big deal. It wasn't like Holly had tried to make out with her or anything. There was nothing overtly sexual or suggestive in the kiss. It was just a quick peck; more of a drunken sign of affection than anything else. She really shouldn't make too much of it.

On the other hand, it took her by surprise. Especially how pleasant it was. Holly's lips were soft and warm and the kiss itself rather sweet. It made her stomach do a flip. Even the memory of it. What did that mean? Maybe nothing, she reasoned. Maybe she would have had the same reaction if anybody had kissed her out of the blue like that after a night of laughter and dancing. She tried to imagine being kissed in the closet by a half drunk Andy. She shuddered. What about a half-drunk Sam or Luke? Hmmm, maybe, maybe not. It was hard to imagine. She couldn't be sure. Maybe there was just something in that moment – being there, both of them laughing, tipsy, and feeling light-hearted for a change.

The truth was that she was glad that she - Gail Peck, the Ice Queen - actually made a friend outside of her incestuous circle of law enforcement friends - all on her own. And a really cool friend to boot.

Holly was kind of amazing, she thought. She liked her the minute the doctor starting spewing all that nonsense about jurisprudence after Gail had tried to warn her off the crime scene, mistaking her for a civilian. For one, the pathologist seemed immune to her snarky, prickly demeanor. Strangely, that was a plus.

She was also incredibly intelligent. That afternoon in the morgue, Gail tried not to show it, but she had been pretty impressed with the work Holly had done identifying the remains found in the woods and discerning a cause of death so quickly. Not just that, the fact that Holly had actually written the article in the medical journal that she'd been pretending to read. That was pretty amazing.

And she was surprised at how much liked watching the pathologist work. The way she moved, her meticulousness, the way she studied the bones, deep in concentration, like she was piecing together a puzzle. She didn't know why, but instead of just saying that, Gail spent the whole time in the morgue making snarky comments and trying to get under her skin. It was kind of childish play for attention and it surprised her that Holly didn't get annoyed and ask her to leave – or to shut up. Instead she laughed it off or just gave her a smirk and went back to work. Gail knew she could be a brat and that she had trouble being upfront about her feelings, but Holly didn't seem to mind.

And there was no getting around the fact that Holly was beautiful. Incredibly, exotically beautiful. With her olive skin, ebony hair, dark eyes and statuesque figure - she'd turned a lot of heads last night. Yet she barely seemed to notice. That was rare. Then there was the fact that Holly was also very down to earth and caring. It astonished her that any one person could be all these things. She was really glad they were friends.

And they really had fun at the wedding.

But that kiss. Gail's mind kept returning to it, turning it over and examining it. Trying to decipher it. She wondered if Holly might actually have designs on her. But that seemed unlikely. Aside from that kiss, Holly hadn't really made any signals in that direction. None that she could discern in any event.

Gail sighed, he head pounding with all this ruminating. Maybe she just wouldn't bring it up. It was just a bit of drunken silliness. Pretend it didn't happen. Yep, she reasoned, that seemed like the right thing to do.

She got up with a heavy sigh and headed to the bathroom for a shower.