Gail sat at her desk holding her head in her hands, the pain behind her eyes building from a slight ache, to a pick-axe in her scull. What she really wanted was a drink, or five. Holly had dropped her off at the station just after one, and it was well on its way to midnight now. The interview with Luke had been long, but not as bad as she had anticipated. The shit storm of paper work was another matter entirely; page after page of detailed reporting about what had happened in that ally with Oliver, and later in the church. If that wasn't bad enough, Child Protective Services had come in wanting a lengthy report about what had happened with the deaf girl, Danielle, and her grandfather — now, if not sooner. Oh, she could use several shots of tequila right about now! Nick was at his desk too, looking miserable. Andy and Dov were still at the hospital. Every so often she would look up and he would look at her with his sad, puppy dog eyes. Good. Let him be the one who got hurt for once. Bastard. She knew she probably wouldn't stay this angry at him forever, but for now, it felt good to have a target for her rage and sorrow.
And then there was Holly. They had talked, and then they had made love. Made love. Eeew! She couldn't believe she had actually just used that term, even to herself. Wow, she was starting to lose it. A tiny smile crept across her face. All day, snippets of sensation had been ambushing her in a most distracting way. The way that Holly's breasts had felt against hers, her lips and hands on Gail's body, and finally how Holly had looked deep into her eyes at the moment of climax and unflinchingly held her and her gaze and how she had whispered Holly's name. She felt herself flush at the memory. She had told that shrink that she wasn't going to be switching teams any time soon. But then she started thinking, what the fuck, I'm not a team player, I don't even like them. Thinking about it made her head hurt more.
Fuck it! She had to get out of here! Maybe it wasn't too late to catch last call at the Penny. She stood up suddenly, knocking half of her unfinished paperwork to the floor. "Shit! This is all I need!" She exclaimed "And what are you looking at?" She growled at Nick, who had half risen from his seat, and looked like he might be heading her way to help. Cursing softly, she ducked under her desk to pick up the mess. As she got back up, there was Holly making her way toward her across the squad room. Gail felt her heart skip a beat as Holly smiled at her.
"Hey." She said in a soft voice "What are you doing here?"
"I just came to see how you were doing, and if you were hungry." replied Holly
Gail smiled, "You know me," she said "I'm always hungry."
"Great." Said Holly, trying to sound casual, "let me know when you can leave."
"Give me just a minute," said Gail, "Why don't you wait at my desk, I need to get dressed."
"And I guess this answers your dumb question." Holly arched her eyebrows
"You are never going to let that go, are you?" Gail sniped, shaking her head with a scowl.
Holly only laughed.
Nick watched Gail disappear into the locker room. Maybe it was just as well. He knew better than to try to approach her when she was in a mood like this. She reemerged more quickly than he expected wearing her favorite black and white sweater, jeans, and combat boots. In-spite of everything, she looked good. She noticed him watching her, and shot him the look of death. His eyes followed her as she left, walking close to her friend, heads together deep in conversation.