Author's Note: What I know about crime and pregnancy, I learned from TV and the Interwebs. So basically, I wouldn't take the time to fact check this :)

Over the next week, Gail continued to get sick every morning and often in the afternoon as well. Things that had never bothered her before now repulsed her. Any and all food was unappealing and certain smells sent her flying to the nearest bathroom. She was working overtime to keep her nausea a secret, not wanting to answer questions about why her normally iron stomach had become increasingly sensitive. She and Holly had agreed that they didn't want to share the news of the pregnancy until the risk of miscarriage was much smaller.

Holly was still concerned that Gail was so sick, but she had taken comfort in books and studies that only confirmed what she already knew: morning sickness was normal. And Gail had been true to her promise to check in with Holly and to keep her informed on how she was feeling. Even though she was glad to be kept up-to-date, the brunette hated when she got a text from her wife that informed her yet again of her wife's continued misery.

Wife: :(

Lunchbox: Again?

Wife: I swear when we are telling people, anyone who wears cologne in the squad is going to get a nightstick to the Adam's apple.

Lunchbox: That bad eh?

Wife: I stopped at a mini mart and forced Chris to go in for chap stick and then opened my door and threw up as soon as he was out of sight. I'm not sure what type of wildlife he is trying to attract with his cologne, but even skunks would label it a turn off.

Lunchbox: I'm sorry, honey. I wish I could help.

Wife: Don't worry. I just decided that I'm not going to throw up anymore.

Lunchbox: Oh really? How well do you think that will work?

Wife: Oh it will work. The only other alternative is just not being pregnant anymore.

Lunchbox: Let's not discuss that option. Mind over matter it is. Have you eaten today?

Wife: I did have a granola bar in my stomach for 30 minutes. Does that count?

Lunchbox: :( No. You need to eat something. And drink a sports drink of some kind to replace your electrolytes.

Wife: I will get right on that. Directly after I feast on a bowl of tomatoes. And eggs.

Lunchbox: Gail.

Wife: :) Must go serve and protect!

Lunchbox: Eat something! I mean it. And be safe.

Wife: Never fear. I shall serve my city by bravely giving tickets to the idiots who can't be bothered to use their turn signals.

Lunchbox: Traffic duty. Can't say I'm sad about that.

Wife: I thought as much. Talk to you later. Love you.

Lunchbox: Still be careful though. And eat! I love you too!

Holly was worried about how often Gail was getting sick. She knew morning sickness was normal, but it wasn't normal to not be able to eat or drink anything at all. The brunette's anxious thoughts were cut short when her office phone rang, alerting her to a dead body at a dry cleaner in Rosedale.

Few things shocked Holly anymore, but the smell inside the dry cleaner gave the brunette pause. At least 10 bottles of industrial dry-cleaning chemicals had been emptied around the small room in the back of the business. Emptied wasn't exactly the appropriate word. It was clear that something violent had happened in that room. The bottles had been casualties of what appeared to be a vicious fight. The body in the middle of the floor had been beaten beyond recognition. There was a large pool of blood around the victim but there was also a trail of destruction scattered throughout the room. The floor was coated in liquid and still giving off a nauseating stench. Holly reached in her bag and pulled out a mask which she quickly affixed to her face in an effort to lessen the effects of the chemicals.

"Looks like this guy was on the losing end of the fight, huh?" Holly quipped to Traci, who was holding a handkerchief to her nose and mouth.

Traci pulled the cloth away to answer, "Yeah, someone was definitely not happy with him. According to his ID badge, he's the owner of this place. Glad that stayed on because his face is too smashed up to recognize him."

"We will verify with DNA just in case someone was trying to be clever and switch their badges around." Holly was taking samples from the blood on the floor when she heard a familiar voice just outside the door.

"Good god, what is that smell? Did someone drown themselves in a bathtub filled with rubbing alcohol? Why exactly did we get called in for this?" Gail was clearly not happy about entering an establishment that was even more saturated by an odor than her squad was with Chris's cologne.

Holly's hand froze as soon as she heard her wife's voice. She felt a shock of cold fear shoot through her chest and immediately rose to her feet just as the blonde was about to cross the threshold to the room. "Gail, no! You can't come in here!"

"What? Holly what are you…" Gail barely had time to process that her wife was yelling before the brunette started up again.

"I mean it! Get out of here right now!" Holly's mind was fixated on the safety of her wife. She knew she wasn't communicating this in the best way, but she couldn't think clearly. Panic had taken over and turned her usually kind disposition into a rather abrasive and controlling one.

"Don't tell me what to do! I'm doing my job!" Gail wasn't sure where this outburst came from. Her wife never raised her voice, even when she was angry. The blonde did not respond well to yelling and Holly knew that.

"GAIL, NOW!" With that, Holly stripped off her gloves, walked over to her wife, grabbed her by the arm and practically forced her out of the room. Every pair of eyes in the room was fixed on the couple. They had never seen Holly lose her cool like that.

As soon as they were out on the sidewalk, Gail started doing her own screaming.

"Holly, what the hell?! What is wrong with you? You can't treat me like that at a crime scene! I'm a cop!"

"Gail, I'm sorry…" In the short time it had taken to walk outside, Holly had realized she had made a big mistake.

Gail continued to rant, "I mean what were you thinking?! Traci and Chris saw that! They are going to think I am whipped!"

Holly was trying to squeeze a word in, but Gail was wound up now. "Gail, if you just let me explain…"

"No. I can't talk to you right now! Tell Chris I went to go canvas the neighborhood." Gail had started to walk down the street.

"You shouldn't go alone." No matter how angry Gail was, Holly couldn't stop trying to protect her.

Without even turning around, Gail shouted, "Leave it, Holly!"

After taking a few moments to collect herself and come up with an explanation for her outburst, the brunette walked back inside. Everyone tried to pretend they weren't watching her out of the corner of their eyes, but their sudden silence gave them away. Holly ignored them and kept walking until she reached the back room. Walking up to Chris, but without looking in his eyes, she said, "Officer Diaz. Officer Stewart-Peck went to canvas the neighborhood. She was headed toward the restaurant next door, if you'd like to join her."

"Um thanks. I'm supposed to stay with the body though so…" Chris was hesitant. He didn't want Holly to take out whatever had just happened with Gail on him.

"Chris, it's fine. Go find Gail and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid. I will take care of this." Traci was talking to Chris, but she was studying Holly's body language.

"Sure thing, Traci." Chris turned and hurried out the door, thankful to not be party to the awkwardness any longer.

When the detective and the doctor were alone, Traci proceeded carefully, trying to discern what was going on with her friends. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just…that was stupid. I didn't want her to contaminate evidence in case we could find something near the door. I overreacted. I've been stressed lately and I took it out on her. I shouldn't have yelled." She hoped Traci was buying her cover story.

"Not that I'm questioning you, but why didn't you freak out about Chris coming in. It sounded like you were worried specifically about Gail not coming in."

"I just…I saw Gail first." Holly was getting nervous now. She should have known a detective would poke holes in her story.

"Okay, Holly. Clearly something is going on, but it's obvious you don't want to talk about it right now so I won't pry. But know I'm around if you need to talk."

"Thanks, Traci." The doctor let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

"So how mad was Gail?" Traci was smiling now.

"I think I saw smoke coming out of her ears. She doesn't respond well to yelling. I didn't mean to. It just came out and then she walked off before I could explain." Holly was rubbing her forehead now. She hated fighting with her wife.

"She'll cool off. Just give her a little space."

"Yeah, I will. Ok so let's get the liver temp and then get the body back to the lab for more answers."

Down the street, Gail was still fuming. When Chris had showed up looking sympathetic, the blonde had simply held up her hand and said, "don't." And he didn't. They asked questions of those at surrounding businesses and then headed back to the station to report back to Traci.

The cop's anger was soon replaced by exhaustion. She felt as if she was running on fumes. Even though she knew she should eat something or drink a sports drink like Holly had told her to, she was still too upset with her wife to heed any of her orders.

After checking in with Traci, Gail and Chris headed to the break room. The blonde had a granola bar she was going to attempt to choke down and Chris was cutting up an apple.

"Why can't you just eat the apple like a normal person?" The blonde was standing at the counter, working up the energy to open her snack.

Not looking up from the chopping, "I used to cut up apples for Christian and I just got in the habit. I guess it reminds me of him and the short period where I thought I was a dad."

"Ok, Steel Magnolias, easy on the melancholy."

"Hey, you were the one who asked – ow! Oh shoot. I cut myself." Chris held his hand up to inspect the wound.

Gail turned her head at her partner's exclamation. Her eyes landed on Chris's finger and the blood that was now running down his hand. Something about the sight and the smell of the blood made her head swim. Her vision started to cloud over and she gripped the counter for support.

"Chris, I don't feel so…" She never completed the sentence because her vision went entirely black and she swayed backward. Luckily Chris had heard her muddled statement and had reached out just in time to catch the blonde and ease her to the floor.

She could not stop thinking about the fight she'd had with her wife. Holly felt a weight on her chest that she knew would not be lifted until she was able to make up with Gail. She hadn't heard anything from the cop since the fight. The silence was particularly difficult because her wife had been so diligent over the last week about regularly checking in. Holly had tried sending several texts.

Lunchbox: Gail, I'm sorry. Please call me.

Lunchbox: Honey, I'm sorry I yelled. Please let me explain.

Lunchbox: Please acknowledge existence?

After several hours and still no response, Holly had started to worry. She knew Gail was upset, but she usually didn't freeze her out like this. Just as she was about to pick up the phone to call her wife, the doctor's cell phone rang. She picked it up without looking at the caller ID.

"Gail?" Holly knew her voice sounded desperate, but she didn't care.

"Holly, hey. This is Traci."

Holly's heart sank. "Oh hi, Traci. I don't have any results from the dry cleaning murder yet."

"No, that's ok. I'm actually calling about Gail."

"Is she still upset? She won't answer my texts. I was just about to call her."

"Well this isn't about your argument. I'm calling because Gail passed out about an hour ago?"

"What?! Oh my god, is she okay? What happened?" Now Holly wished she had called Gail earlier. The mixture of panic and guilt was making the doctor's heart race.

"She's fine. She's here at the station and we had a medic check her out. She came to after a few seconds and Chris caught her before she hit the floor."

"Thank god. Can you put her on so I can talk to her?" Hearing her wife's voice was the only thing that would ease her tension.

"Well that's the bad news. She told me not to call you."

"What? Why would she do that?" Holly's relief at her wife being okay was short-lived. Now she felt angry. How could Gail try to keep this from her?

"She was embarrassed that she fainted and I think she was still pretty upset about earlier. But I thought you needed to know."

"Thank you, Traci. I will come over right now. Don't let her leave." Holly was already taking off her lab coat and gathering her purse and keys.

"No problem. And don't worry, I took her keys away so she's not going anywhere. She's laying on a cot in the locker room."

"Good thinking. I'm on my way."

Panic. Guilt. Confusion. Terror. These were just a small sampling of the emotions the doctor was currently experiencing. She couldn't understand why Gail would tell Traci not to call her. She had fainted, for god's sake. Her pregnant wife had fainted. The mental image caused Holly to pause before opening her car door and momentarily close her eyes with fear. What if something was wrong? She shook her head and decided not to entertain the thought. She just needed to see her wife.

When Holly arrived at the station, she made a beeline for the locker room. As soon as she walked through the door, she called out a bit frantically, "Gail? Are you in here?"

"Mmm." The sound had come from a nook just behind the main row of lockers. Holly could see that Gail was lying on a cot, wrapped up in one of those emergency blankets. The brunette made her way over and sat down on the floor next to her wife's head. She reached her hand out and placed it on Gail's shoulder.

"Gail? Are you okay? Why do you have an emergency blanket?"

"Yes, Holly. I'm fine. I have an emergency blanket because I was cold and we were fresh out of chenille." Gail's responses were terse. She was definitely not over her anger.

"Traci told me you passed out. Are you still feeling dizzy?" Holly was too relieved that she was touching her wife to care that the blonde was acting so petulant.

"Traci is a traitor. She wasn't supposed to call you."

"Gail, I know you're mad at me, but it isn't fair for you to faint and then tell our friends not to call me. I, for one, am glad that Traci isn't afraid of your threats."

"You yelled at me. For no reason." Gail's voice had turned timid, filled with hurt.

Holly reached one arm across her wife's middle and continued to grip her shoulder with the other. "I know. I'm really sorry, sweetie. I feel terrible. I just panicked when you walked in."

"You never yell. It made me feel small in front of my friends. And I was just trying to do my job."

The blonde's face was covered by the blanket, but Holly could tell from her shaking voice that her wife was on the verge of tears. The brunette moved her hand up to pull down the blanket and then caressed her wife's cheek. "I know you were. I'm really sorry. Listen. That room? It was covered in dry cleaning chemicals. I mean the air was saturated. And those chemicals are really harmful to pregnant women. They can cause birth defects or even miscarriage after extended exposure…"

"What?!" Gail turned to look at her wife, her eyes wide with concern.

Holly started rubbing her thumb over her wife's cheek. "It's ok, honey. You weren't in there long enough to hurt the baby. But as soon as I heard your voice, I couldn't think straight. The only thing going through my mind was that I had to keep you from coming in that room. My protective instinct came out as panicked yelling and I'm very sorry for that. I just had to get you out of there."

"So the baby will be okay? It's not going to come out with two heads or a tail or something right?"

"No, sweetie. You're fine. Well not exactly fine because you fainted. What happened?" The doctor noticed that her wife's face still looked paler than normal.

"Chris cut himself with the tiniest knife ever and his finger started bleeding. When I looked at it, my head started spinning and I just blacked out. It was mortifying. I woke up with my head in his lap." Gail closed her eyes and covered her face with one hand.

"I'm glad he was there to catch you. If you had fallen and hit your head, it could have been bad. Trust me, I already considered all the scenarios and your head landing in Chris's lap was one of the better options." Holly pulled her wife's hand from her face and held it.

"Yeah, I guess. It was still humiliating."

"Well once they know you're pregnant, they will understand. So what did the medic say? I think we should go to the hospital just to be safe."

"No! We don't need to go to the hospital. I have that appointment on Monday. And anyway, the medic said that it had just been too long since I had eaten something substantial."

"Wait, how long has it been since you ate a meal?"

"Um…like…three days?" Gail squinted her eyes in anticipation of her wife's reaction.

"Gail! Three days?! You told me you were eating! No wonder you passed out." Holly was squeezing her wife's hands now.

"Well, technically, I did eat. It's just that my meals consisted of granola bars that I promptly threw up. Nothing else sounded good and I wasn't ever hungry." Gail was purposefully sounding whiny in an effort to earn some sympathy.

"Granola bars definitely do not count as a meal, especially if you throw them up immediately. Gail, you should have told me." With the last sentence, the brunette closed her eyes and shook her head.

"I know. I just didn't want you to worry. I thought I would feel better in a few days."

Holly gave Gail her signature crooked smile. "Honey, I appreciate that, but I'm not going to stop worrying. You're pregnant, you're a cop and you attract trouble. I'm going to worry. But not knowing things freaks me out way more than dealing with the truth. You have to tell me things. We're in this together."

"I'm sorry." Gail looked sheepish and averted her eyes.

"And you can't tell people not to call me. That's not allowed."

"Yeah, ok."

"Gail. I'm serious. How would you feel if I told my coworkers not to call you if I fainted in the lab?"

"You wouldn't do that because you know I'd murder your entire staff." Even the thought of Holly getting hurt and her not knowing about it made Gail's cheeks burn.

"Well, now you know how I feel. Never again, Gail. It doesn't matter how mad you are at me. No matter what happens, I need to know. I deserve to be there with you. I have to be there." Holly moved one of her hands under the blanket to cover her wife's stomach.

"I know. I'm sorry. I just hate how much you worry. But I promise I won't keep things from you. If it makes you feel better, you were the only person I wanted to talk to when I woke up in Chris's lap." Gail moved one of her own hands down to cover Holly's.

"Aww. It does actually. I'm so glad you're okay. I never get used to getting calls about you being hurt. My heart stops every single time." Holly closed her eyes, trying to block out the memories.

The blonde sat up and held her wife's face in both her hands. "I know. I'm sorry. But I'm really okay."

"You better be. Cause I need you, you know that?"

"Yeah, nerd, I know." Gail leaned in for a quick kiss and then dropped her hands to Holly's shoulders. "Can we go home now?"

"Yes, please. You're going to eat as soon as we get there."

"Ugh. Gross. Food is the worst, Holly." Gail crossed her arms to emphasize her pout.

"I will make you whatever you want, but you have to eat at least half of whatever I put on your plate."

"I am not agreeing to that."

Holly reached one hand up to Gail's face to rub her cheek. "Gail, my love, this is not a negotiation. You fainted. Because you haven't eaten a meal in three days."

"Ugh fine. But you better be glad no one is in here to hear you bossing me around because after this morning, they are already not going to let me hear the end of it."

"I really am sorry. But let me remind you that you told your friends not to call me after my pregnant wife fainted."

Gail flashed her biggest, most charming smile. "I love you?"

Holly chuckled and held her wife's hands in her own. "Yeah well you're lucky I love you too and can't imagine what I'd do if anything happened to you because otherwise I'd kill you."

Gail pretended to protectively cover her stomach, but didn't let go of her wife's hands. "Remember the baby, Holly."

Holly rose to her feet, helping Gail to stand up as well. "Trust me, honey, the two of you never leave my mind." The doctor moved her hands down to her wife's hips. "You okay? Feel dizzy at all?"

"Relax, Lunchbox, I'm fine." Gail started to move toward the door, pulling her wife by the hand.

"Ok, but tell me if you start to feel light-headed." Holly turned her head to inspect the blonde's face, looking for any signs that she might not be as fine as she claimed.

"If I say yes, can I drive?" With a hopeful smile on her face, Gail turned to look at her wife.

The doctor's face softened and she smiled warmly at her love. "Not a chance, sweetie."

Gail huffed, but still held Holly's hand as they walked out of the room together.