A.N: Apologies for any errors.

It was finally over. The shift from Hell had certainly had its serious repercussions. All the rookies found themselves evaluating their priorities in life. For Gail - it was a moment of enlightenment. Out there in the streets - the sole person running through her mind was Holly. Now, she was standing in the hospital, staring at her feet, hoping to hear some news on the condition of her fellow officers. Steve and Chris were standing next to her, just as forlorn as she was. Well, maybe not as forlorn as she was - the officer now realized she was a goner for Holly, no turning back now.

"Hey, I came as soon as I heard."

Standing in the hospital like that, Holly's voice felt like Heaven to Gail. Gail didn't care anymore. She didn't care Holly had a girlfriend, she didn't care what anyone thought of her - she wanted comfort - and after a shift like that - Gail felt like she damn well deserved it.

Gail grabbed Holly into a bear hug. She could feel Holly hugging her back - and she found herself saying something - not even realizing what she was saying.

"I'm really glad that you're here, OK?"

Breaking that hug was in Gail's top ten list of the hardest moments in her life. She hadn't noticed the tears well up in her eyes. She didn't notice the catch in her throat when she introduced Holly to Steve and Chris. All she knew was she had fallen for Holly. To what depth she had fallen - Gail was yet to comprehend.

Waiting at the hospital to hear any news of Sam, Holly let Gail hold her hand. And Gail didn't care anymore. She didn't care Holly had a girlfriend. She didn't care how it seemed to everyone.

"Why don't you come over to my place tonight? Kate's out of town - and I don't want to - "

"Yes. I'll be there. As soon as I get out of these clothes - I'll be there."

She turned to look at Holly who gave her back a small smile. What Gail noticed about Holly was that she didn't look at the blonde with a look of sympathy as anyone else would have. Holly gave off the vibe that she was sincerely worried about Gail, and that comforted her. She should have given it more thought - as to why the older woman had so freely invited her over, why she was here holding hands to comfort the blonde instead of - well - anything else. Gail should have thought what would Holly's girlfriend - Kate think of the whole situation.

Gail, however was more interested - and feeling slightly elated at the fact the brunette was dressed in blue.

Holly didn't need to do much to take care of the blonde. Gail had refused food - grabbed alcohol and trudged up the stairs self-confidently and now all Holly could hear was MS MR blasting from the bathroom. Worried the blonde had passed out drunk - Holly tried knocking on the bathroom door to get the blonde's attention.

"Gail? How much longer you're going to be in there?"

MS MR's Fantasy seemed to be blaring quite loud.

"Hey! Please confirm existence."

Not being able to hear anything much other than the music, Holly finally gave in.

"I'm coming in." Holly said and opened the bathroom door tentatively - not exactly prepared to see what was inside.

Seeing Gail - with jagged and messily cut hair - Holly told herself not to be too surprised. She remembered Gail mumbling at the hospital something about going back to the start and how taking off all the bad inches from her hair would help her erase the last few years.

"Who cares right? It's only hair. "

It was quite obvious that Gail had literally taken a pair of scissors and just snipped her pony tail right off.

Holly lowered the volume of the music and stared helpless at the blonde - who seemed to be quite out of her senses.

"So, this is happening?"

"Yeah, I mean saw your scissors and I just thought oh, Yay! There's something I could just rewind". Gail threw the scissors into the sink. Holly couldn't help but think if she hadn't waited to open the door - Gail's hair might have been salvaged.

Gail took her now cut pony tail in her hand and sat down on the bathroom floor. She then began explaining to Holly the various stages through her time at the force.

"You see this inch? This inch is from the academy, you know .This inch is from the first six months on the job, this inch is from when I was dating Chris, that's when Jerry died and then see then see these last few inches? That's round two with Nicholas!"

Holly noticed how vividly Gail was reacting to each part of her life - her inches as she was referring to them. She noticed the way Gail's voice accentuated while telling about the various times in her life - the various events she wanted to be done away with.

Gail finished her mini tale and grabbed the bottle to get a drink, while Holly approached her and started her attempt at comforting the blonde.

"Ok, but honey - "

"No look, look, look! There's literally no bad inches as I'm just gonna go back to the beginning and I'm rewinding everything and I" - Gail's voice cracked as she broke into a laugh and she felt her hair with her hands and realized it was significantly shorter.

"What did I do? What did I do!"

It suddenly hit Gail that she had actually cut her hair in her attempt at cleansing herself of her memories.

"You cut off all your hair."

Holly was quite stumped herself, in her attempt to calm the blonde.

"I'm freaking out a little bit aren't I."

"Yeah."

Sitting in Holly's bathtub like a 5-year-old was the highlight of Gail's day. She could hear herself drunkenly rambling about (not surprisingly) philosophy, while Holly tried her best to salvage what was left of Gail's blonde hair.

"Life."

" I know right? Who needs it?"

"You plan and plan and prepare, but it doesn't really matter 'cause things just go where they wanna go." Gail had to admit - she was rocking the whole philosophy ideal - perhaps blogging about it wasn't that big a deal.

"Yup, Sorta like this cowlick."

Gail took a moment to recount the day's events. It seemed surreal to think about even.

"I'm sitting in your bathtub, wondering if my friends are still alive, drinking bourbon with the coolest chic ever - and I have no hair."

"Not exactly a fairy tale." Holly stated - finishing her rescue mission of Gail's hair.

"No."

"But still kinda beautiful though. " Holly started using her hand to lift Gail's face by the chin - and Gail looked up to see Holly staring at her with such love Gail could feel her heart flutter.

"Oh really?"

Holly hummed in reply as she ran her hand across Gail's cheek.

Holly's phone which had been docked at the music player softly started playing MS MR's Dark Do Wop as Gail felt absolutely defenseless and she looked at Holly for some relief.

The music abruptly stopped and the phone started to ring - and Holly got up from her perch at the edge of the bath tub and went to pick up the phone, exiting the bathroom as she answered the call.

"Hey! I heard there was some shooting or something down at your division!"

"Yeah. It was quite an eventful day to say the least."

"Did anything happen to you? Are you hurt or something?"

"No! No - I was at the airport with you when the whole incident took place. And then I heard some of the officers were shot at so I went down to the hospital to check on them."

"How bad are they?"

"Pretty bad. "

"Don't you want to talk about it?"

"Not really. I'm still too close to it. I half don't believe it happened."

"How's your friend Gail?"

"In the middle of a nervous breakdown. She isn't talking much about what happened today. But she is in the bathroom here now, she cut off all her hair with the scissors."

"I told you not to keep them in the bathroom."

"Not funny Kate, not yet."

"Okay! Okay. I just wanted to know if you're safe."

"I'm fine. I wasn't shot at today."

"Well I'm glad. I've got to go for the next presentation. Stay safe with all this going on okay?"

"Yeah, you too."

Gail, in the meanwhile - was too busy sitting in the bath tub - conjuring images of a very steamy make out session in the tub with a completely clothed yet wet Holly and herself - all with Dark Do Wop blaring in the background.