Gail and Holly had agreed upon a spring wedding, which gave them five short months to pull a wedding together. But before too much planning for the wedding could take place, both of them had to survive Christmas with their friends and families. Holly had always enjoyed Christmas. She loved the caroling and the tinsel and everything that screamed Christmas. Gail, on the other hand, embodied every sense of the word 'Grinch'.
Holly tried her best to hide her excitement about the season because each time she brought something up, Gail would get all grouchy and it just wasn't worth. She made the mistake last week asking if they could get a Christmas tree. With even the mention of it, Gail stormed of in such a huff that Holly didn't see her until dinner time. This was going to be a long season.
One day, while Gail was at work, Susan came over to visit her little sister.
"Hey, Holly. Where's all your decorations? I thought you would have had this place all made up by now" Susan said taking off her coat and looking around the house.
"Oh, you know. Just haven't gotten to it yet" Holly shrugged off as she walked into the kitchen.
"Please. I know you Holly. Christmas is like your most favourite time of the year. If I wasn't your older sister, I would have sworn you were Santa's long lost love child. For Pete's sake, your name is Holly!"
"It's nothing. I just haven't gotten to it yet" Holly said, pouring them a cup of coffee each.
"So if I come back next week, will there be decorations up?"
"Um…I don't know. I'm pretty busy."
"Okay, if you say so" Susan said, not convinced by her sister's excuse. "So have you guys at least decided what you are going to do this Christmas?" Susan asked, taking a sip of her coffee.
"I think we're just going to keep it low key this year. We have the Christmas party over at the precinct in a couple weeks, but besides from that, not much is planned."
"What!? Since when do you keep it low key? Come on Holly, what's really going on? By now you would have organized carol singing, and tree decorating parties, and even a ginger bread house making contest" Susan said, putting her cup down on the table and looking directly at her sister.
"Okay, fine. Gail doesn't like Christmas" Holly said flatly looking directly at Susan.
"What?! Who doesn't like Christmas?"
"Turns out my fiancée doesn't like Christmas" Holly said looking down at her cup of coffee, swirling it lightly.
"And so you are skipping Christmas? Holly, you love Christmas!"
"I know, but I love Gail and she really doesn't like it, so…"
"So you are just going to deny who you are just to make Gail happy?"
"Aren't you suppose to do that for the one you love?"
"What?! No! My gosh girl! Where have you been?" Susan exclaimed as she shook her head in disbelief. "If you will please excuse me. I've got to go" she added as she turned and walked out of the kitchen.
"Where are you going?" Holly called after her, very much surprised by the Susan's sudden departure.
"I just need to take care of something. Thanks for the coffee. I'll call you later" and with that, Susan was out the door with her coat barely on and leaving Holly standing there perplexed about what just happened. Her sister had literally been there less than two minutes. She barely touched her coffee and now she was off to take care of something, which in Holly's mind, could be somewhat terrifying. Holly laughed to herself as she thought about the whirlwind that was her older sister.
Meanwhile, at the precinct, Gail, Dov and Chris were lounging by their desks. Not much was happening that day, plus their shift was pretty much over. It didn't help that Christmas was four short weeks away and everyone in Toronto just seemed to be in a good mood.
"I'm serious though. I swear I can beat any of you in laser tag. I am literally the king of laser tag" Chris bragged as he swayed back and forth aimlessly in his chair.
"That is not true!" Gail scoffed, flipping through pictures on her phone, basically ignoring Chris.
"Yeah, you can barely hit the target at the gun range, and that is stationary. What makes you think you are any good at laser tag?" laughed Dov.
"I know I'm good because it is true. I totally got the top score the last time we went" Chris justified with a cocky grin on his face.
"Yeah, but that's only because you followed around that group of six year olds and kept shooting them. That totally doesn't count. For Pete's sake, they were even holding hands in a line!" Gail recalled. She thought back to how great that night was with the guys. They decided to go play a game at the local laser tag to kill off some extra energy after having the whole day off. It turns out that it was quite the work out, not just because they were running for their lives, but because it was hilariously funny watching them try to hit a moving target.
"It does count. I'm totally the king" Chris bragged.
"King of what?" asked Oliver as he walked up behind the group.
All three turned to see Oliver standing there with Susan right beside him. Gail and Chris quickly scrambled to stand up and straighten their uniforms.
Oliver couldn't help but chuckle to himself. "Well, now that's the way you should greet your superior" teased Oliver, knowing full well that Peck and Diaz did not stand at attention for him but because of the brunette standing beside him.
"So what are you a king of?" Oliver asked again.
"Shooting babies" Dov said under his breath, not bothering to turn around and disturb his perfectly relaxed position with two feet resting comfortably on top of the desk, his chair tilted slightly backwards.
"Shut up" Chris said between clenched teeth as he pushed down slightly on the back of Dov's chair, startling him to stand up with a flailing of his arms. "Just ignore him" Chris smiled as Susan.
She simply smiled back at the tall police officer. They had been seeing each other more often since they helped Holly move into her house and then even more after they helped Gail move in with Holly. Susan couldn't say that it was anything official going on between them, but it was definitely something.
"Peck, you have a visitor" Oliver said, nodding towards Susan.
"Thanks, Oliver" Gail said with a roll of her eyes. "Hi, Susan. Is everything okay? Is Ally okay?"
"Yes, everything is fine. Thank you for asking. I was just wondering if you had time to grab a coffee. Oliver said that your shift is pretty much over."
"Yeah, for sure. Let me go change quickly and I'll meet you here. I'm sure these knuckleheads can entertain you in the meantime. You should ask them about laser tag" Gail said before quickly running off to the locker room.
It took Gail all of ten minutes to get changed and meet up with Susan again. By the glare Chris was giving her, she guessed that he wished she had taken at least another ten minutes. "I'm sorry to break this up, buddy" she said, looking up at Chris, "but shall we go? I know a great coffee shop around the corner" Gail added, looking over at Susan now.
"Sounds great" Susan said with a nod. She quickly turned to look at Chris. "Call me later" she mouthed before walking away with Gail.
"What do you think that was all about?" Dov asked as he came to stand beside Chris.
"I'm not really sure. Perhaps it's an in-law thing" Chris said with a shrug.
Gail as equally perplexed as they eventually slid into a booth with their coffees. "So what do I owe the pleasure?" Gail asked, jumping right into it.
"I want to talk to you about Christmas" Susan said and immediately noticed how Gail slinked slightly down in her chair.
"Sure, what do you want to talk about?" Gail asked, barely moving her mouth, afraid that any movement of her lips would reveal the frown she was trying desperately to keep at bay.
"I visited Holly today and she didn't have any of her decorations up."
"Oh, we're just not really doing Christmas this year" Gail said nonchalantly.
"Was that your decision or Holly's?" Susan questioned as she took a sip of her coffee.
"It was our decision, thank you very much" answered Gail, becoming somewhat defensive.
"You do know it is Holly's favourite time of the year? She has like twenty boxes of decorations. She attends every Christmas event. She is like the real life version of Santa's elf."
Gail couldn't help but laugh in response. "Are we talking about the same Holly? She's barely said anything about the season" Gail said, leaning back in her chair, looking skeptically at Susan.
"And she's not going to say anything because she knows how much you hate it" Susan said flatly.
"I wouldn't say I hate it" Gail said. "I'm just not a massive fan."
"Well Holly is and she isn't going to say anything because she wants to make you happy, even it if it makes her sad" Susan said with all honesty.
"Are you sure she is really all that about Christmas?" Gail asked, feeling rather confused about it all.
"Here, look at my pictures" Susan said handing Gail her phone.
Gail took the phone and scrolled through a few of the photos from last year and the year before. "Shit, she really does like Christmas" Gail said as she flipped from one picture to the next.
"Yup" Susan said, sitting back in the booth and taking a sip of her coffee.
"And I've stopped her from doing any of these things" Gail said as she saw yet another picture of Holly beaming from ear to ear surrounded by Christmas decorations.
"Yup."
"I'm the worse fiancée ever" Gail said feeling overwhelmed by how much Holly had truly given up for her. Gail literally had disregarded any of Holly's feelings.
"Yup" Susan said, sitting back up.
"I need to make this better" Gail said realizing how much of an ass she had been.
"Yup" Susan said, smiling slightly as she watched her future sister-in-law come to this realization. "So what are you going to do?" Susan asked, reaching over and placing a hand gently on top of Gail's.
Gail sat there thinking for a moment. She had to pull out all the stops. She had to do everything in her power to give her Holly her own Christmas wonderland. There was no way Gail was going to disappoint Holly like this. She looked up at Susan. "Will you help me?" she asked softly.
"It will be my pleasure" Susan smiled. Gail might be a bit slow when it comes to romance, but she knew she still liked Gail for a reason.
It was a week and a half later when Gail put her plan into action. She had recruited Steve, Traci, Dov, Chloe, Chris, Susan and Ally. She had filled them in on her plan a few days earlier. She made sure she gave them detailed instructions on what exactly she was hoping to accomplish. She made sure that everyone was given a specific task that needed to be carried out to the tee. Ally had one of the most important jobs. Her task was to convince Holly that she desperately needed to go Christmas shopping and she needed her favourite aunt to take her. Of course, Holly being Holly, couldn't possibly refuse Ally.
"Are you sure you don't want to come out with us?" Holly asked as she changed into her clothes for a day of shopping.
"You mean go Christmas shopping? Like at a mall? Where there are other people? No thank you. I plan on staying in my pajamas and binging out on the next season of The Walking Dead" Gail said as she still lay in bed.
"You really are a scrooge, you know that right?" Holly said as she slid on her sock.
"Yeah, but you love me" Gail said, scooching down further into bed.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll call you later" Holly smiled as she walked over to Gail and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before turning and walking out of the bedroom.
"Bring me back something good" Gail shouted out after her. Then Gail laid there quietly, listening as she heard the front door close. She heard as Holly's car started up, and disappeared down the road. Once she knew the coast was clear, she leapt out of bed, changed into regular clothes and ran down the stairs.
She headed straight to the back door where she let in a group of cold looking people.
"I thought she was never going to leave" Susan said, carrying in a box, her cheeks a rosy red.
"Are you positive she won't be back?" Traci asked as she walked into the house, followed by the rest of the gang.
"Oh yeah, shopping with Ally is one of her most favourite past times. I'm pretty sure they will be gone all day" Gail smiled. "Okay guys, you know what we need to do" she said with a clap of her hands. And with that, everyone turned to complete their job.
"Oh, and guys" Gail called after all of them. "Thank you" she said sincerely.
"Anything for Holly" Dov smiled as he carried a box into the front room.
It took them the next several hours to set up the house exactly how Gail had envisioned. Meanwhile, Holly and Ally were finishing up their shopping.
"So, do you think you and Gail will be by for Christmas this year?" Ally asked as they walked towards the car.
"I'm not sure. We haven't really talked much about Christmas" Holly smiled at her niece.
"How can that be? It is almost Christmas!" Ally exclaimed.
"I know, but Gail isn't really into Christmas and so it just hasn't really come up" Holly shrugged.
"But you love Christmas!"
"I know, but I love Gail more" Holly smiled as she slid into the driver's seat and started the car. She couldn't help but think about what Susan and Ally both said. She did love Christmas. She did love Gail. Why couldn't she have both? She was so willing to give up Christmas because she loved Gail. Why couldn't Gail suck it up because she loved her? Holly couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness at this realization.
"Are you okay, Auntie Holly?" Ally asked, drawing Holly out of her thoughts.
"Of course, I guess I'm just tired from all the shopping" Holly lied as they drove back to her house.