AUTHOR'S NOTE:
So, I know it's been a long time since Gail and Holly have graced our screens. But I found this story I started ages ago and decided to share it with you nevertheless, instead of just erasing it.
This story is very... generous... when it comes to medical accuracy or the precise timeline of the show. Just bear with me :-)
I apologise for any mistakes and am always grateful for recommendations on how to improve my English! (It's not my first language...)
Slowly, there was light. Her eyelids were heavy, felt like they were glued together, but she managed, with major effort, to bring them apart. She smelled coffee and disinfectants, heard the murmur of voices in the distance. Suddenly, they fell silent. A shadow entered her field of vision to her left, and her left hand was enveloped in warmth. She blinked several times, hearing her name, several times, each time sounding a little closer, a little clearer.
„Gail." The first thing she saw was her mouth, uttering her name, then her glasses, the brown eyes behind them, before she managed to take in the brunette's face as a whole, a few tears making their way down her cheeks, her lips parted in a wide smile, concerned but happy.
Then she detected movement by the foot of her bed and eyed the source. Of course. Her brother. He was standing there, his eyes watery, smiling and nodding at her proudly, as if she had just achieved something great. She managed a weak smile in his direction and looked back and forth between the two visitors before she tried to sit up a little. The brunette immediately tried to help, arranging the pillow behind her back, while her brother rushed to her right-hand sight, lifting her up. She was quite weak, she noticed, and though she hated needing help, she realized that it was necessary.
"You're awake. How are you feeling? Are you in pain?" Her voice was soft, almost calm, but not really. Gail could tell that she had a hard time holding herself back, could hear the urgency in her voice, the urge to ask her a million questions, assess every inch of her in a matter of seconds. Her hand combed through her hair, her thumb traced her brow, her checks, her chin, before her hands encircled Gail's again. She looked over at her brother and opened her mouth to say something, only to produce uncontrolled coughing. After a few sips of water and several further attempts she finally whispered, at a volume that Holly could hear without trouble.
"You know she's really hot, and all, but I think this girl is a little too attached for my taste." They both laughed and Steve commented her statement with an amused "Yep. She's back."
Just when she wanted to protest, the door flew open and a nurse entered.
"Doctor Stewart, your lab just called, they want..."
"Tell them to call someone else." The brunette interrupted her.
"But they said..." she tried again.
"I'm not available!" the doctor snapped and with that, the nurse was out the door.
"Ah. Doctor Stewart." Gail grinned, pointing at the brunette to her left. She released her hand from the brunette's hold, ran it through her hair, looked around the room and cleared her throat.
"Where's Nick?" Her brother knitted his eyebrows together and shook his head. "What?"
"Nick. I'm not sure what happened, but since it looks like I'm in a hospital bed and have for sure just barely avoided death, hat prick should be here." She insisted.
All of a sudden, the doctor turned on her heels and stormed out. "Holly!?" Steve shouted after her, having no idea what was going on.
Holly returned a few minutes later with a doctor who went through a series of tests with her and shone a light in her eyes a little more often than she cared for. In the meantime, her parents and Traci had arrived, and they were all lined up across from her bed.
"What is your name?" the doctor asked.
"Gail Peck." the blonde answered, a little annoyed.
"Your full name." Gail rolled her eyes.
"Abbygail Marianne Peck." After each question, the doctor exchanged a quick look with Holly. She replied with a "yes and no" gesture.
"When is your birthday?"
"November 2nd, 1986." Holly nodded and the doctor took notes.
"How old are you?"
"You're a doctor, you do the math." Gail threw back, while Holly just chuckled and shrugged.
"Can you tell me who these people are?"
"Sure." The blonde answered, bored and annoyed at the same time.
"Doctor Stewart. Holly. My mom and dad, Elaine and Bill Peck. My brother, Steve. And..." She stopped talking abruptly when she saw Traci placing a brief kiss on Steve's lips.
"EEEEwwww! Traci!" she shouted, and both her and her brother jumped at the little outburst.
"What the hell are you doing with my brother?" The blonde scrunched up her face in disgust and bewilderment.
"Uhm..." Traci's eyes darted around the room, trying to find some explanation in the others' faces.
"You'd think you would've gotten used to it by now", the dark haired woman replied with a smirk after having composed herself again. Gail just shook her head vigorously.
"How long was I out for? And what about Jerry? I thought you were getting married?!" The silence and tension that filled up the room from one moment to the next was palpable, almost insufferable. Everyone was holding their breath, nobody moved, as if they were turned into stone. Gail wasn't really sure what she said. No-one was really sure what she said. Even the doctor fell silent, looking around the room, trying to figure out what had just happened.
After a long silence, Holly spoke, her voice unsteady.
"Gail? What year is it?"
"2012" The blonde stated the obvious.
"Now can you please stop asking these questions and leave me the hell alone and get Nicholas here!" Gail was agitated, to say the least, and after dealing out the death stare to everyone, they reluctantly left her room. Except for Steve, who approached his sister once more.
"Have you called him? Nick?" Her tone was challenging, as if she knew that of course he hadn't. Steve had never been overly fond of Nick. She knew that, and she even understood why.
"Not yet." He shook his head, his gaze facing downward.
"Would you please do so?" She understood why, but she was still allowed to make her own choices, wasn't she?
"Gail, what's up with you and Nick anyway? Why do you keep insisting I call him?" He didn't understand. Well, of course he did, but he just refused to believe it.
"Seriously? Because I think that, as my boyfriend, he should fucking be here."
"Your boyfriend?" Steve realized he was getting angry with his sister. Not that he had any right to. Not that she could do anything about it. But still, he was angry.
"Well, sort of boyfriend. I think. Look, I know you've never liked him. But it's time to get the fuck over yourself, alright?" Steve nodded, then shook his head.
"So, if he's your boyfriend, what about Holly?" He challenged her one more time. It couldn't be. It couldn't be that she didn't remember Holly.
"What about Holly?" Gail seemed to have no idea what he was talking about.
"Holly... is your wife?!" He said through gritted teeth, earning a laugh from Gail.
"Yeah, right. Good one, Steve." She hit his arm playfully with her fist. "Now would you please just call Nick and get him here."
She let her head drop back into her pillow, signaling that this conversation was over, so Steve just nodded and left her room dejectedly.
He found his parents and Traci in the seating area, his mother interrogating the doctor, who just kept saying that it was too soon to say anything, that he needed to do more tests, that he was sorry but he couldn't say more at the moment. That she needed a lot of rest, and that they weren't supposed to ask her too many questions, tell her too many things about the last few years, in order to try and not to confuse her any more.
"Holly?" He asked Traci in a whisper and his fiancée pointed at the restrooms. He nodded and started towards the door, stopping in his tracks for a few seconds before entering the ladies room. There was only one stall occupied and one woman standing at the sink. He gave her an apologetic look and pointed towards the sobs coming from the closed stall door. The woman nodded in understanding, wiped her hands dry and left. He approached the door slowly and knocked.
"Holly?" There was no answer. Not that he had expected one. He just wanted her to know he was here. "I'm sorry", he whispered and leaned against the wall next to Holly's stall, silent angry tears running down his face. After several minutes, Holly opened the door and stepped out, her eyes puffy, her mascara smudged and marking the paths her tears had taken down her cheeks.
She crashed into him, burying her face in his shirt and wrapping her hands around his shoulders, letting him carry her weight while she sobbed without restraint. Every now and then, she tried to voice her despair, her anger, her helplessness, but all that came out were incoherent, muffled scraps that Steve could hardly make out – although he could imagine the gist of it.
He couldn't tell how long it had been, but eventually, Holly's sobs died down. She stepped away towards the sink and splashed her face with cold water. Over and over again. She looked up and regarded herself in the mirror for a long while, before she wiped of the last traces of mascara under her eyes, put her glasses back on and turned around to face Steve. She took a deep breath and then nodded, to herself mostly, Steve guessed.
"She just woke up. This doesn't have to mean anything. Things might look completely different tomorrow. Or in a couple of days. It's all going to be alright. Right?" She looked at Steve, a fierceness in her eyes that didn't manage to cover up the insecurity and the desperation she was really engulfed with.
"Right. Right, let's not worry unless we have to." He nodded. He was worried. Way past worried at this point. But it was what Holly needed to hear, and maybe what he needed to tell himself as well.
By the time Nick entered her room, she was already on the verge of falling asleep again, too tired to show any kind of enthusiasm. She greeted him with a brief "Hey" and he replied likewise before he sat on the edge of her bed, took her hand in his and wiped a few strands of hair from her face. His touch was warm and gentle and made her irritatingly uncomfortable.
"I'm tired. I'm sorry." she said, barely able to keep her eyes open.
"It's ok. It's ok." His thumb drew patterns on her hand. She wanted him to stop but was too weak to move.
"I called you, but you didn't answer. I left you a voicemail." She muttered, half asleep already.
"Shhh. Get some rest. I'll be back tomorrow."