Yes, yes...I know. I did sit down to write the third chapter of Spin-Off

but I got strayed and as a result this was produced!

I do not own Rookie Blue.

I just am quite fond of borrowing the characters and bending them to my own will.

The story is mine and so are the mistakes.

Without further delay, please proceed.

Enjoy!

Let The Barriers Fall

Chapter 1

Why is it that the things that we are about to lose seems to become a lot more foreign as the time nears for it to depart? She had started to feel a strong aura of strangeness and oddity at Holly's place. Gone was the comfort, the ease with which she used to roam around in this house. It didn't feel welcoming enough now that she knew the occupant was no longer tethered to the bricks of these walls. She felt like an intruder, an outsider struggling to peek through the cracks of somebody else's life, trying to remember if the memories that her mind was conjuring up were in fact real or mere illusion of a hapless soul.

Gail felt queasy and fidgety standing in the middle of the dimly lit room that was Holly's office just few days prior. Half open cartons - some full and some not so full - lay all around her. Technically, she knew there was only Holly's stuff inside but still the sensation that a piece of her was buried within every single one of them clawed at her mind relentlessly. Her fingers were itching to rummage through the cardboard boxes in hopes of finding all those little pieces. But, alas! Those pieces of her weren't tangible, were they? She couldn't just glue them together and get rid of this...this constant commotion of her shattering heart in her unusually tight chest. A week had already passed since Holly had dropped the "San Francisco" time bomb. One day she was dreaming about a blissful future with Sophie and Holly and in the next moment that dream, that beautiful fantasy, was being mercilessly wrenched out of her desperate grip.

A rather dry derisive chuckle tumbled out of her chapped lips as her thoughts took a turn in another direction. She shook her head at her own needless musings. Though, in all honesty, this relationship with Holly was a funny one...is still a funny one and will be so for another week; she corrected and agreed with herself. Funny in not a laughable manner but funny in an amusing way...like amusing to a very torturous degree. Before she could ponder further on it, Holly's voice cut through her thoughts. She opened her mouth to reply but found her throat extremely hoarse. Clearing her throat once, twice, she managed to call out, "in here." Breathing in deeply, she calmed herself a little and shoved both her hands into the front jeans pockets.

Holly frowned slightly when she saw Gail standing in her office looking out the windows. The room was dimly lit with the nightlight turned on and the street lamps added to the glow slightly, giving the room a very picturesque contrast of the dark night being drowned in a soft orange hue from every direction. She placed her cup of tea on the bare table before moving to stand behind Gail. "Hey," she murmured softly against Gail's temple before placing a lingering kiss there. "What are you doing here?" Her palms absently ran up and down Gail's naked forearm. That innocent touch evoked a fervent eruption of gooseflesh on the blonde's arm and she did her best to avoid it; at least tried her best to avoid.

Gail swallowed. The combination of Holly's warm palms tracing her forearms and the wisps of hot breaths falling upon her ear was simply unbearable. Torturing myself to death; was the reply that formed inside her head but she wisely refrained from voicing it. Instead she limply lifted her shoulders listlessly in reply and stayed silent. Holly's proximity came with an accompanied, unwelcomed sense of doom and she didn't like it, at all. It grated at her nerves and made her furious. Her shoulders moved visibly in her next effort to exhale without losing her composure.

Holly felt the blonde's jaw flex regularly. She kissed at the corner of Gail's jaw and went to situate herself at the edge of the table where she had left her tea. She blew on the hot liquid a few times before taking a tentative sip of rather bitter tea. She swallowed with a slight grimace and chastised herself for putting a lot more tealeaves than was necessary. As she kept sipping the tea, her mind began to compare the drastic difference in the feelings that Gail's presence in her home brought; before and now.

Despite the presence of two very alive souls occupying the room, it was eerily silent. It had been the case with both of them for almost a week now. Their silence had become a sacred language all on its own. Averting gazes, strangled words, dissatisfying fleeting touches, and every other action had very grudgingly transformed into a series of unorganized vocabulary of the mute lingo they had begun to communicate in. It certainly wasn't comfortable, no. It was a mutual decision they had agreed to honour so that the angst inside both of them couldn't take the form of words; words that would only hurt and salt the already gaping wounds they both sported. It was a cop out; a cowardly way of trying to survive the last few days with each other waiting for the impending disaster.

But Gail wasn't ready to go out without a fight. She had been drowning in this tumultuous stillness and it was starting to get to her. "What am I doing here, Holly?" The low timbre of Gail's voice hacked through the night like the sharp blade of a samurai.

Holly blinked at the sudden intrusion. "What?" Gail's question registered her belated conscious a few seconds later. "What do you mean? We just had dinner and now we are...uh," her eyes roamed all over the bare room before she added. "Now we are hanging out in my office." The undertone was unsure and presented itself like a question instead of an answer.

Gail huffed out a sarcastic chuckle. "You don't sound so sure."

Holly sighed and placed the empty cup on the table before standing up straight. "What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to tell me the truth," Gail sharply but quietly replied.

"And what truth is that?" Holly challenged.

Gail expected just that. Her jaw clenched as she shook her head, chortling at both their stupidity.

"Something funny?" Holly dryly inquired. "I could use a laugh too." She sighed.

Gail's chuckle morphed into a cynical laugh. "This is funny. You. Me. Us...it is all a joke. Isn't it? What are we, Holly?" The words that had been flailing inside her to come out suddenly jumped into action and she wanted to get it all out before the cowardice could get hold of her. "We were never officially together...we never really broke up...we never actually got back together and yet," she breathed in sharply. " And yet whenever I thought of my life...my future, my dreams...you just, you sneaked your way into everything." Her voice shook from restraining herself and the surprise, that she had allowed the brunette to pave a one-way path to her heart, was too evident. "You had no right...you had no right." She blinked away the tears and shook her head furiously. "And now you have no right to leave." The last few words were only hollow mutterings of strangled sobs as she bit into her bottom lip painfully enough to draw blood.

Holly's eyes were already damp and she was struggling to not let the dam break. Unsteadily she inhaled and licked her chapped lips. "Gail...please don't. We talked about this," she begged hopefully. Holly simply didn't have the energy to fight through another bout of rage brought upon by the thought of losing Gail; maybe forever, for good.

"We didn't," Gail countered confidently. "Talking is the one thing we both are not too good at...we didn't talk the first time we kissed, we didn't talk the first time I walked out on you, we didn't talk the first time you walked away from me, and we didn't even talk when you came back to me...we never actually communicate, Holly." With every word, Gail realized why their relationship never worked. How foolish of them to just dive back into the passion they felt and never really define it. And as a result of which, instead of dreaming of a future together – with each other, they dreamt of their own futures with other's presence in it being taken for granted. "We are still two different people with very different aspirations in life...even now, if you ask me, we won't be able to say what we mean to each other. Can you?" Gail's body slumped in defeat. It was no good to realize all their mistakes with just one week left to mend it.

Holly's breath escaped out of her lungs in painful whoosh. She prided herself for being a sensible and an intelligent woman who knew what she desired, what she wanted out of life. But apparently that pride was built on something so shallow it couldn't stand the blonde's inquisitive stare. She tried hard to gulp down the shame and her left hand palm sought out the table for some support. What was Gail to her? Who was Gail to her? Suddenly all these questions became too daunting to answer. Admitting out loud that Gail was someone she had fallen in love with would be so monumentally stupid with just a week left in their evident doom. So that option was clearly crossed off the tiny list. "A friend?" She muttered unwisely.

Gail snorted abruptly and cleared the thin streak of tears off of her right cheek. "That's the best you can do?" She prodded with a wet smirk.

Some of the tension dissolved from Holly's insides when she saw the genuine grin playing off on Gail's pink lips. She smiled as she tried again, very softly and a little teasingly, "friends with benefits?"

Gail outright laughed at that reply. She caught her upper lip in between her teeth and sniffled, running the back of her palm under her nose. As her laughter died, she said, "but we never really had sex."

"Came close, though," Holly muttered to herself. She was enjoying the unintended light-hearted reprieve that she had unconsciously set up. Also, seeing Gail so emotionally bare was a sight to behold. "Friends with emotional benefits?" She cheekily answered while taking a few tentative steps toward the blonde.

Gail turned to face Holly with narrowed eyes. She was slightly offended. "Nice try...I don't do emotions," she huffed airily with her chin up and her hands resting on her waist.

Holly shook her head fondly and laughed so very softly. Her heart instantly clenched when out of nowhere the thought that this ease, these moments, these laughs, the teasings, anything and everything pertaining to Gail might not be a part of her life anymore slammed back into her conscious with a vengeance. She blinked and exhaled shakily while reaching out to wound her hands around Gail's waist. She bent down to place a kiss on the blonde's forehead and murmured against the pale skin, "I know."

Gail dittoed Holly's hold and tightened her hands across the brunette's midsection. She pressed herself further into the warmth that she knew she would miss so very desperately soon enough. Her breaths felt strangled and she burrowed her face deeper and deeper into Holly's neck. A thought that had been running rampant in the back of her mind morphed into an inarticulate mumble.

"What was that," Holly moved her lips into Gail's short blonde hair when she felt the rumble of the younger woman's voice in her neck.

Gail blinked a few times, thinking over her decision. In the end though, she decided to just dive in. She had nothing more to lose now, anyway. She separated a little from Holly and peered up, straight into the curious chocolate pools. She cleared her throat slightly and repeated herself. "Would it have made a difference?"

Holly blinked and her eyebrows instantly drew in together in clear confusion. The question was nothing if not cryptic. Her lips pulled in that very familiar lopsided smile as she nuzzled their noses lovingly, "what?"

Gail closed her eyes and rested their foreheads together. She waited for a few seconds and when their breaths were in synch, she opened her eyes. The acceptance and affection and love that she was met with in Holly's deep dark brown eyes flared her confidence. "Us," she whispered hotly in the space between their lips, "sleeping together." If Holly was surprised, she concealed it expertly and Gail waited for the reaction with a baited breath.

Holly was surprised, actually shocked, jolted from inside at the insinuation. She swallowed thickly and carefully tried to study the level of honesty in the twin blue orbs that apprehensively matched her gaze. She licked her lips and brushed the back of her right hand fingers over Gail's cheek. "Gail...it's better to leave that page unturned."

"Why?" Gail's tone and eyes challenged.

"It's too late now... don't you think?"

They grew silent but stayed tangled with each other. Holly's fingers traced indescribable patterns over Gail's cheek, neck, collarbones, shoulder, basically anywhere they could find naked skin. Gail was in an imaginary plane where all things of this world transformed into something meaningful and beautiful. Without warning they started swaying at the spot and the space between them literally disappeared as the minutes passed. Gail's hands closed so very tightly around Holly's neck and in turn the brunette gathered the blonde completely in her embrace so much so that Gail had no choice but to stand on her toes.

"It might have, you know," Gail whispered, continuing the conversation they had abandoned earlier.

After a beat of silence and calm swaying Holly simply said one word, "how?"

Gail smiled and continued playing with the silky dark hair at her exposure before fisting them and yanking Holly's head back to put an abrupt stop their movement. Still on her toes and in level with Holly's eyes, she voiced her questions or reasons or maybe some form of twisted, desperate logic of her masochistic spirit. "We jumped through hoops, clashed through walls, broke through everything invisible but what about the visible barriers, Holly? Why did they not come off?" She sniffed a harsh breath at the end because she herself didn't have the answer and looking at Holly, it became clear she wasn't going to get any answer from the brunette too. "Did you not want to?" Her voice suddenly became small and insecure and she hated herself for it.

"You very well know it's not the truth," Holly gritted her teeth in fierce declaration. Not wanting Gail was not even an option for her.

Gail eased her fist and let out the bunch of hair in her hold. She kept her right hand where it was, clutching at Holly's neck, and with her left she traced the outline of the brunette's defined jaw. "Do you want to?" Her voice dropped to a husk that she herself wasn't aware she possessed.

Holly felt like she was caught in a whirlwind where there was devastation and destruction all around her. "I do," so she decided to foolishly submit albeit a warning was called for. "It will only make things that much harder, Gail. I don't have it in me to fight against you anymore." Her grip at Gail's waist wandered below to the blonde's hips and began the soft exploration over the contours and detours of the path that she was soon to come face to face with, hopefully.

Gail smirked and gulped when Holly's palms reached the back of her jeans. "Well then, paint me selfish for I don't want to make things any easier for you either."

Holly relaxed and brought Gail down on the feet as she rested her forehead on the blonde's shoulder, nuzzling the pale column of neck with the tip of her nose. As a last straw for her survival, she tried, "why are you doing this?"

Gail's left hand had taken an interest in fiddling with Holly's shirt buttons. She eyed her shaking fingers with interest as she rasped out. "Consuming poison halfway is as fatal as it is when consumed completely."

Holly snickered into Gail's neck and placed a few open mouthed kisses over the exposed shoulder eliciting a ragged pattern of breathing from the younger woman. "But halfway at least grants a minor chance at survival," she reasoned quietly as her hands sneaked their way under Gail's top.

"I already refused mine," Gail retorted gently as she turned slightly to place a fleeing kiss behind Holly's ear before going back to unbutton the offending shirt. "Now all I have to do is snatch away your chance of survival," she revelled in the hitch of Holly's breath when she scraped her blunt nails along those prominent tan collarbones.

"Are you sure you want to take me down with you," Holly jested as she pulled back slightly to catch Gail's gaze where she was met with fierce and utter determination of self-destruction. Her hands travelled further up the blonde's back, brought the top with them exposing the perfectly curved spine.

Gail staggered in her attempts to breathe and smiled at Holly, indulgingly. It was so sweetly devastating; what they were about to venture into. "Where is the fun in drowning without you, Hol," Gail quipped before pulling Holly forcefully into her and pressing their eager lips together into a kiss like never before.

So? Thoughts?

I know there may be some mistakes here but I will edit it sometime later. Sorry for that, anyway.

I just had to post this as soon as I could.

Currently the idea is for a two-shot or maybe three-shot but who knows? ;)

Please review. It helps me grow as a writer.

It is very appreciated and looked forward to.

Thank you.

Until next time.

Ciao.

P.s: The third chapter of Spin-Off should be up soon...maybe by the end of next week. Don't hold your breath, though.