Gail Peck grabbed the well-worn black leather jacket off the hook hanging in her locker before sitting down to lace up her tattered motorcycle boots, thankful her overnight shift was finished and she could finally get some rest before her one day off this week. She had volunteered for overtime the past two weeks and it was finally catching up with her as she looked herself over in the mirror. Short messy cropped blonde hair staring back at her with attitude, pleading to maybe have a brush run through it once in a while. Still, she knew she looked good, feeling a bit better each day since her breakup with Nick a few months ago deciding in that moment her new found freedom looked pretty damn good on her.
Just outside downtown Toronto the twisted guard rail on the highway, and broken glass on the cement was the last thing Dr. Holly Stewart thought she would be seeing as she struggled to pull herself together and away from the deployed air bag which had become a challenge at that particular moment. Her left leg was unable to break free from the impact and when she attempted to move she felt a searing pain shoot up her left side. The woman was trying desperately to stop the panicked thoughts surfacing in her head that today probably could not get any worse. It was now a guarantee that she would indeed be late for her first day, starting a new position with the forensics division in Toronto. "Fanfuckingtastic" she muttered to herself as she heard the thunderous roar of an engine pulling up beside her. All she could really make out were long legs in faded tight jeans, swinging themselves off the black onyx vintage Indian motorcycle. When the helmet came off she saw what could only be described as one of the most beautiful woman she had ever seen walking toward her.
Pulling off her gloves the woman asks, "Hey, you okay?"
"I have been better, thank you so much for stopping I think my leg or foot is stuck; I can't really tell what is going on."
"What is your name?"
"Holly."
"Okay Holly, I am going to call this in and check on the other car that is just up in front of you. Listen I will be right back I promise, you're going to be okay, I am a cop."
Slinging a grin in the blonde's direction, "Do you have a name or should I just call you cop?"
Yelling back in her direction, "It's Gail, and don't try to move!"
Gail calls in for medic and police assistance on her cell, she walks over to the other car to find a hefty middle aged, balding man slumped over in the driver's seat, Gail feels for a pulse which she easily finds as the pungent stench of alcohol almost knocks her over. "Alright buddy wake up", as Gail gently shakes his shoulder. The disheveled man opens his eyes, struggling to focus as he looks Gail over, "Please, please tell me we slept together." Opening the car door to check his injuries, "You'd have a better chance of miraculously re-growing the missing hair on your head than you ever will of bedding me, mister. So how much have you had to drink this morning?" Panic appears on the man's face as he attempts to stand from the car, "I have not been drinking!" about to lose his balance Gail quickly grabs the man keeping him on his feet. "Okay, okay, let's just calm down and wait for the ambulance so we know you're not hurt." Struggling to get free, he slams Gail up against the car, "SON OF A… Now, I am done playing games you jackass! Gail attempts to flip him around in order to pin him against the car but before she can execute the move he takes a wild punch making contact just below her right eye with his closed fist. At this point the brunette pokes her head out the window of the other car that has been shattered with the force of the impact, "Hey, is everything okay over there?" Finally Gail is able to wrestle the guy to the ground straddling him as she yells behind her, "Yep, fine, nothing to worry about, just administering a field sobriety test over here. You better not be trying to move!" As Gail finds the sweet spot on the man's lower back applying pressure with her knees a squad car pulls up with Nick and Andy inside.
"About time you guys decided to show up."
Nick flies around the side of the squad car with his cuffs already out, "Jesus, what happened to your face!" shooting him a look, "You are still such a sweet talker, Nicholas." Touching her palm to her eye that is already throbbing like mad, "Mr. Combover here took a shot at me while I was trying to make sure he was not hurt. He seems fine other than being sloppy drunk, hey what's the ETA on that ambulance the woman in the other car is hurt."
"They are about 5 minutes behind us, Gail." as Andy searches for a breathalyzer kit in the trunk of the squad car.
Gail appears at the window of Holly's car, "How are you doing?"
"Oh my god, what happened to your face, I think you have an orbital rim fracture!" blurts the brunette.
"I have a whatty, who?"
Smiling Holly decides to rephrase the answer, "I think you might have fractured your eye socket. Did that guy hit you?"
"A very cheap shot, but yes he hit me."
"I am really sorry. You stopped to help and look what it got you."
"It's nothing. Really. I get hit all the time. I mean it comes with the nature of the job sometimes. Ambulance is on the way but I want to see if we can't get your leg free without causing any further injury." Gail looks at the woman, and finds she is having a hard time concentrating on what she is doing. "Holly, right?" the woman smiles back and confirms the information, "Yes, it's Holly."
Gail turns and yells for Andy, "Hey McNally bring the crow bar from your car and let's see if we can't get Holly free from this mess."
Andy appears and they work together to shift the pinched metal, finally able to get the passenger side car door open and pry the wreckage away from the brake pedal area, which allows Holly to free her foot.
Andy wipes her brow, "I smell gasoline, Gail, we should get her out of here, like now."
"All right let's bust you out of here." As Gail leans in she reaches around Holly's waist from behind as the other woman turns her head they are now face to face, lips inches apart. Holly feels her heart pound as she awkwardly blurts out. "Hi." Gail can't help but laugh at her, "Hi. We actually have already met, I am saving your life and took a hit to my optical lobe for you." their eyes meet, "Your orbital rim." comes the correction.
Gail licks her lips, "Whatever."
With Andy's help they are able to slide Holly out and gently place her on the ground away from the immediate area of the car. The ambulance pulls up and before there is a chance to say anything more Gail is pulled away to answer questions about the incident, and the EMT's swarm Holly to asses her injuries.
The beer was ice cold and the tequila burning heat running down her throat as Gail sat on her favorite bar stool at the Penny. Sporting her shiner of an eye and contemplating why she could not get the woman from earlier out of her head. Gail Peck was not easily shaken, not one to be smitten and certainly not by a woman. She tossed back the rest of her tequila, sucked hard on the wedge of lime between her teeth and raised her glass, a green flag for the bartender to pour another. She certainly deserved another after the day she had.
Nick plops himself down on the stool next to Gail, "Hey, face any better?"
"I could ask you the same thing." taking a slow swig from her beer looking Nick over with just a tinge of anger on her face, "Nope it's not any better, same old ugly mug Collins."
"Yeah, well you are lucky it was not worse. That guy actually has a record a mile long and we found a loaded gun in the car after you left. He had an active warrant when we ran his name."
"Not surprising because he was a complete fucknut from the start, and he could have killed that woman he plowed into. Hey, did you hear if she is doing okay?"
Placing a coaster under his newly delivered beer, "Andy called to check in on her a little while ago, other than some stitches to close the leg wound she ended up being fine."
"Hmmpf. Well that is good. I am glad she is alright." With the slightest of smiles appearing on the blondes face as she thinks about Holly's crocked smile at the scene.
Nick sits up and turns to Gail, "Wait! What does that mean? What is up with you and that woman today? You almost never ask about how people are after the fact."
"Shut up, Nick. I am just being nice. Contrary to popular belief I am a nice person you know. I just have a special, snarky, condescending charm about me sometimes."
Nick stops himself from spraying his beer all over the counter with laughter, "Sometimes?"
"Nice, Nick. I am going home. It's been a long day and I was supposed to already be home and in bed asleep hours ago."
"Hey, seriously be safe going home and ice that eye it looks awful."
"It's an orbital rim for your information." As she slides off the bar stool and throws cash down to cover her tab.
Nick is totally confused, "It's a What?"
Gail does not bother to explain slipping into her jacket and grabbing her motorcycle helmet on her way out of the Penny.
Oliver Shaw was by far Gail's favorite officer to be paired up with; she loved his humor, his taste in lunch spots and probably most of all that he never seemed to judge her. Gail knew today would be a good day, when morning parade finished and she saw her name scribbled next to Oliver's on the assignment board. After stopping for coffee heading down Dundas the call came in for assistance to secure with a murder scene that was just a few blocks from their current location.
"1519 responding" Gail replies as she flips on the cruiser's lights.
The scene was organized chaos with officers securing the area and the forensics team already collecting evidence. Traci Nash checked in with Gail and Oliver on her way to check on the status of transporting the deceased boy to the morgue.
"Suspected gang related gunshot wound. Kid was only 17 years old. We are waiting on the forensic pathologist to arrive; apparently she is new to the city and got turned around on her way here."
"You would think maybe GPS would be a good idea, doubt she will last long." Gail mutters.
Nash is on the move, "Well looks like she found her way here somehow."
Gail looks up to see the familiar face of the woman from the car wreck earlier in the week. Gail watches her move effortlessly through the crowd as she ducks under the police tape. She is confident and begins to work diligently as soon as she finds the body, giving directions and asking questions. Her hair is pulled back away from her face, revealing flawless olive skin and dark chocolate drop eyes which are as stunning as Gail remembers. This version of Holly is very different than the fragile, shaken woman Gail had stumbled upon along the side of the highway.
"PECK!"
Gail is jolted from her dream like trance.
"What?" She spits out.
"You dropped your coffee and it splattered all over me! What is wrong with you?"
Peering down at the mess on the ground, "Oh God, sorry Oliver! I don't know what happened; I guess I forgot."
"You forgot you were holding your coffee? Are you sure you didn't get clobbered in the head and not the eye?"
"Funny. Listen I am really sorry. I will buy you a drink at the Penny."
"You will buy me three drinks at the Penny and you will pick up my dry cleaning."
"Fine, can we just check in and see what they need us to do?"
"Go check in with Nash, I need to touch base with Sam about the undercover op he is setting up for the weekend."
Gail walks over to Traci, who is busy with some witnesses, scribbling away notes on small black leather bound pad.
"Hey it's you!" Gail hears from behind her. "I didn't expect to see you here, small world!"
Turning as she comes face to face with Holly, a simple "Hi." is all the cop can manage.
Holly steps forward reaching up to gently cup Gail's cheek in her warm hand tilting her chin just a bit to get a better look, "Your eye looks better, most of the bruising is gone, how does it feel?"
Gail can hardly speak, looking in Holly's eyes, lost in her silly grin that in some strange way makes Gail feel like she has known Holly for a lifetime or more. Her inner voice comes to the rescue, "Pull it together, Peck!"
Gail takes a small staggering step backward, "It feels much better, thanks. Hey, how about your leg?"
Glancing slightly downward, "All patched up with a few stitches, other than eggplant looking bruises I am good as new."
"Good, I am glad. That was a crazy situation."
"Listen, Gail. I really can't thank you enough for stopping and helping me through that whole ordeal. I would very much like to take you to dinner and say thanks. I am new to the city just started in forensics and I don't know too many people here in town."
Gail stares at the woman while an internal free for all begins whirling in her head. Is she asking you out? No, she just wants to meet new people. She has no idea that you actually don't even LIKE people, so you should just say no. But you do kind of like her so maybe you should say yes, it won't kill you. WAIT! Who am I? Finally Gail breathes out "Uh, okay. Yeah, sure."
"Great how about dinner tomorrow night? Say 8:00pm?
"Sure, 8:00pm is good." The cop agrees. "Should I meet you someplace?"
"My car is still in the shop, would you mind picking me up? I can give you my address, it's not too far from the station."
Eyebrows raised, "I drive a motorcycle, you know this right?"
And with that, Holly shoots her an unmistakable look of intrigue, "Oh, I do." Looking Gail over, eyes finally landing upon the name stitched on her uniform. "I have never been on a motorcycle Officer Peck, it will be… fun."
Gail swallows hard feeling her jaw tighten at the sound of Holly's words.
Holly jots down her address on a piece of paper from her notepad and shoves it toward Gail.
"Okay, I gotta get back to my dead body." I will see you tomorrow Gail.
"Yeah, me too." Gail blurts out casually before realizing what she has said, "I mean back to work, not dead bodies though, back on patrol, to catching bad guys and all that stuff."
Holly is laughing as she walks away, "Have a good day, Gail."
Gail turns to see Oliver who has clearly been watching the last bit of their conversation play out.
"Not ONE word Oliver, I mean it." as Gail retreats toward their squad car.
Following behind her, "I didn't say a thing, darlin, not a thing."
Thoughts? Comments? Should I keep going? Thank you for reading!
