Hi everyone, so this is my first story for Rookie Blue. I'm not sure what everyone will think about it and I have been unsure whether to post or not as I struggle to finish stories sometimes. I do have a few chapters of this though, and as long as inspiration continues to come to me I will keep writing. Please comment and tell me what you think. I hope I have the character's down. This is set after 4x09; so Chloe is slowly worming her way into Gail's circle and Holly is just a good friend. Hopefully my punctuation and grammar are up to standard. I tried to lay this out in an easy to read format.


Chapter 1- Reality and Take-out

Have you ever had the feeling where you can't breathe? Where every breath you take feels like a hard effort to accomplish? Where the weight lying on your chest feels like a hundred pounds of lead that refuses to move, no matter what you do?

That was how she was feeling right now, how she had been feeling for far too long.

She sat in her bedroom, on her bed with her legs crossed. Pillow hugged to her chest as she stared at the pale skin on her arms, intently. She had to focus on something, anything.

The past year had been a nightmare. Her whole life had been a nightmare really. But this past year, too much had happened.

Nick making his way back into her life again, the kidnapping, nearly losing her badge, Nick leaving again, the court case for her abduction, riding with a Training Officer again, Nick returning, again, the relationship between him and Andy, and the relationship between Dov and Chloe. The only good thing that had come from this past year was the somewhat friendship she had struck up with Traci.

Traci didn't judge her, didn't push her, and she listened to her, on the rare night's she decided she could talk.

Gail heard the door open and shut and two voices chatting happily flowed through the small apartment.

Gail squeezed her eyes shut as if it gave her a headache.

"Gail! You home?" Came Dov's voice.

Gail took a deep breath but didn't answer; maybe she could pretend to be asleep. That actually wasn't a bad idea.

Dov knew better than to continue calling out to Gail. He knew she was home. Her car was there, her handbag and wallet were there. She was just in one of her moods.

Gail had a lot of moods and he had learnt all of them. Living with someone gave you that ability.

Even if it was Gail Peck.

Today for example was her quiet contemplative anti-social mood, not that she wasn't often anti-social. She'd be there but she wouldn't be there. Her head would be far away running at a million miles an hour about a million different things. This mood, no matter what, she would not speak to anyone.

He knew how to deal with all of her moods, but this one scared him the most. It was like she became another person. She'd crawl inside herself and her eyes would glaze over, like she wasn't even there.

He sighed as him and Chloe placed the bags from the grocery shop on the bench. Chloe was moving in this week and they had decided to stock up the house.

Chloe enjoyed cooking, which was a good thing because Dov and Gail had a bad habit of ordering to much take out and then eating the left over's the next day, or a few days later. That had resulted in the occasional bout of food poisoning for both of them.

Especially Dov and a certain container of black bean beef. Well it was either that or Gail's cheese puffs; which if Dov was honest, weren't all that great unless you had downed an entire liquor cabinet.

That way the nausea from the cheese puffs was mixed with the after effects of the previously mentioned liquor, usually Tequila, and you couldn't determine what was worse the next morning.

Shaking his head he went to help Chloe sort out the food sitting on the bench.

Back inside her room Gail could feel her head pounding slightly at the small noise coming from the kitchen. Even the low amount of sound hurt. She couldn't help it. Even though common sense told her it was needed and that they shared this apartment, it still made her angry, she had no control over that feeling.

Clenching her fists she pursed her lips hard, almost as if she was concentrating on something.

She had these little outbursts of anger every now and then. Her therapist had told her it was from bottling too much inside her for too long.

She had stopped going to that therapist.

Gail Peck was damaged, she knew it. She knew she needed help but she didn't care. She didn't think anyone could help her, no matter what people said.

She didn't like people.

After clenching her fists as hard as she could; and after feeling her nail's dig into the flesh on her palm, she screamed into her pillow. She knew they wouldn't be able to hear her. It was pretty much a silent scream, but it made her feel better.

Taking a few deep and calming breaths she opened her eyes and focused on the light coming in through her window. Feeling slightly more relaxed she got up off her bed for the first time in almost an hour.

Pulling her dark jumper on she opened her door and stepped into the kitchen.

Dov and Chloe both glanced up at her.

"Thought you were sleeping?" He asked.

Gail smiled, "I was just snoozing, long day." She said giving a fake yawn.

"What are you guys doing?" She asked.

Chloe looked up from where she was standing, "Making dinner. Dov told me you love Fettuccine Carbonara, so I am making my own specialty. It doesn't have eggs in it 'cos I know you don't like them."

Gail was a little taken back. Chloe wasn't hyper, she was just focused on cooking and Gail saw her as a normal adult who didn't bug her. She inwardly smiled.

"Oh." She said.

Chloe glanced at Gail, "One question though. Did you want chicken in it or not?"

Gail gave her a thin lipped smile, "Chicken would be nice."

Chloe grinned, "Awesome!"

Gail watched as the two worked together, she was almost lost by how in sync they were.

"Why are you doing this for me?" She suddenly blurted out.

If anyone asked she would blame it on the relaxed feeling she was currently having that made her frazzled nerves calm down.

Dov and Chloe both looked at her.

"Because you need a decent meal." Dov said in a parent-like way. Neglecting to mention that he also required something other than cheap Chinese take away, or Thai food which was starting to disagree with him.

Chloe shrugged, "Cos Nick and Andy are terrible people and you deserve to be treated better." She said

Gail was caught off guard by Chloe's comment, not expecting it to come out of her mouth. She was speechless. It didn't bother Chloe though who gave her a quick smile before tossing some chicken into the frying pan with some onion.

Gail looked between Dov and Chloe.

"Thanks." She said quietly before turning and walking into the lounge room.

Maybe, just maybe, she could trust these two. She did have to live with them; and regardless of what had happened with Dov in the past and that he was the first one to ever make a comment about her and her connections, he turned out to be the closest friend she had. The only one who didn't take her shit; and she appreciated that.


So...Time for the truth. Yay or Nay? Would you like me to continue? Let me know!