"Maybe I should start on a Vespa?"

In the vacant school parking lot on a lazy Sunday morning adventure, Holly is sitting on Gail's motorcycle by herself as Gail goes through all of the controls on the bike.

"Okay, you have your throttle, your front hand brake over here which controls about 70% of your stopping power the other 30% comes from your foot brake. On the far side you have your clutch lever, and then there are secondary controls, starting with your ignition and power switch..."

Holly hooks her finger under Gail's belt and pulls the blonde to her, "You have no idea how sexy you are right now." Holly starts the kiss with her tongue demanding entrance to its destination.

"Wai…wait, wait. Oh my god, wait! Holly this is about safety and making sure you understand the logistics of the bike and how everything works backwards and forwards before you can even think about riding."

Holly straightens herself back up," ...and the sexy is gone."

"I will bring sexy back when I drive us home. Pay attention, Stewart!"

"Okay, okay."

"You have your gauges, the speedometer and gas gauge, those are pretty self-explanatory, the headlights, turn signals and the horn which is directly below. Then you have your foot controls, this is very important, Hol."

"I am paying attention!"

"Your back brake is on the right side; put your foot right here." Pointing down.

Gail runs her hand down Holly's lower leg moving her heel back to make contact with the brake lever. Do you feel that?"

"Mmm, yes. I do."

"Holly!"

"Gail you just ran your hand down my leg, I can't help it!"

Continuing on, ignoring Holly at all costs, "On the left side is your gear selector and it is probably going to be the hardest thing to get your head around. It's all about feeling when the shifting of gears needs to happen. There are six gears generally, but some bikes only have five, neutral lives between first and second gear. You will get a feel for neutral but it will also light up, right here on the dashboard. You have to really concentrate until you find the sweet spot."

"Can I point out you just used the words 'sweet spot'."

Gail realizes she is losing this battle.

"Okay, let's try something different." Gail slides on the bike behind Holly and gently moves the doctor's hair to one side, giving the blonde easy access to Holly's right ear.

"Here is what we are going to do since you can't seem to concentrate anyway, I am going to cover your eyes with my hands and whisper what part of the bike I want you to point out, either with your hands or feet."

"Oh my god, we do not spend nearly enough time on this motorcycle."

"If you want to feel me on the back of this bike pushed up against you, then you're going to have to learn to ride Dr. Stewart, and you can't do that without shifting gears." , running her hands around Holly's waist and down to her upper thighs.

"Gail you have to stop."

"Shhh! Concentrate."

Gail pulls her hands back only to return them to cover Holly's eyes, kissing the nape of her exposed neck softly, she whispers…"where is the hand brake?" Holly squeezes the clutch. "Nope you have just killed us as we spin out of control and go over the embankment."

Holly rolls her eyes trying not to laugh, "So very dramatic."

"Because I really like you Stewart I am going to give you another chance to redeem yourself. Gail kisses Holly's shoulder dragging her lips away slowly with purpose. Holly lets out a groan, "That is not a complete answer Holly and I have not even asked the question yet. How did you ever make it through medical school?"

"You better be rewarding me with one hell of a kiss after this is over. I am done playing around! I have totally got this, give it to me."

Gail busts out laughing at that gem, "Oh, I plan on it." kissing Holly one more time on the side of her cheek she fires off the parts of the bike they have gone over and Holly gets every single one correct.

"Well, done babe! I am going to turn on the bike and reach around to the handlebars. I want you to put your left foot on top of my foot, and we are going to talk through the gears. Remember you always have to have the clutch engaged shifting gears."

Gail powers up the bike, pulls tight on the clutch and puts her foot on the gear shift. "Okay put your foot on mine." Holly does as instructed, doing her best to pay attention, focusing on the prize of one day being able to ride around with Gail on the back of the bike.

"One of the most important things to remember is that neutral is located half way between first and second of course you can by-pass neutral and go straight from first to second."

"Yeah, I think we are living proof of that..."

"Hey! No interruptions with your sexy talk. Okay put your foot on top of mine. Here we are in neutral, and now first", moving her foot through the shifting motions, "there is second, third and so on, it's really a matter of doing it over and over until it's simply muscle memory and second nature to you."

Gail cuts off the bike, swings her leg over and hops off, she then stands to face Holly instructing her to scoot back, once there is free space Gail slides back onto the bike facing Holly. "You do realize that you are kind of an awful student, very easily distracted." Holly kisses Gail, urgent and dripping with want, muttering as she pulls back slightly, "I am acting out in hopes of getting some attention from the instructor." Gail intensifies the kiss, sliding her hand around to Holly's back pulling her forward. Holly reaches around running her fingers through Gail's short messy hair.

Gail pulls back, "I am weak for you, Stewart and that is a new thing for me. Next Sunday I expect you to know all the parts, and the gears." Kissing her chin, "Got it?"

Holly pulls Gail into tight hug. "Oh, I will be ready, don't you worry. Hey, thank you for my first lesson; you really are a very good teacher. ", tracing a finger down her neck through the center of her chest stopping just above her belly button. "I am just pretty smitten with you, so it's hard to focus, but I promise I will do better next week. How about I buy you breakfast?"

Smiling as she hands Holly her helmet, "How about I drive."

The brunch spot was hopping, but they managed to grab a booth toward the back in a corner away from the hustle and bustle of the Sunday crowd. Both ordered coffee and Gail didn't even look at a menu, informing Holly that she always ordered the same thing at breakfast declaring, "Blueberry pancakes, with crispy bacon, everything else is just a sorry substitution, except donuts. " Holly ordered her veggie frittata with goat cheese and a side of home fries anyway.

Gail was nervously twisting her used sugar packs into perfect rings, she watched Holly for a moment who was pouring a touch of cream in her coffee before Gail began speaking, "I was wondering what would happen if someone asked you out?"

Holly cocks her head at the question, "What do you mean?"

The waitress appears refilling their waters and setting down a bottle of maple syrup in front of Gail before walking away.

"Well what if that waitress thought you were cute, and wanted to ask you out? What would you do?"

"Ah, I see."

Holly takes Gail's hand and turns it over, softly tracing the course of her love-line jagged across her hand, "Gail, I am not interested in being with anyone, I am not interested in kissing anyone or daydreaming about anyone but you. I don't know what you are comfortable with, if you would like to say the words to one another that we are exclusively dating or hanging out together or shifting gears together, none of those labels matter to me if you are not ready to say them. I want you be comfortable." Holly looks over at Gail who is staring down at the table. "Hey, can you look at me?", blue eyes suddenly launch upward. "Hi. I am not going anywhere if that is what you're asking. I really care for you."

Gail swallows hard, she tries to push them down but they bubble right up to the surface, tumbling over onto her cheeks. Deciding to let them fall where they may, "That is what I am asking. I am not easy Holly, I am not known for being kind or patient or for being any good at relationships. The thought of messing things up with you, well it makes me want to do things differently if that makes sense. I want to fuck up less than I ever have before and I sure in the hell am not interested in seeing anyone else. "

Holly is shocked at just how the layers come off with Gail, at what moments she is granted a peek inside Gail's walls, her soft underbelly exposed just for a moment testing the waters for safety.

"I am not looking for easy; I am not looking for perfect. I am certainly not either of those two things, Gail. I mess up, I get angry, I am cranky and life happens, awful shitty things happen, but being able to both take a step in the direction the other needs in those moments is what makes any good friendship or relationship work. I am really just looking for someone who is willing to take that step."

Gail lifts Holly's hand to her mouth and kisses her palm, "You forgot to mention your inability to focus."

Holly takes a sip of her coffee, "Well thank goodness I have you to remind me of that, and try not to look so good all the time, that would help me out immensely." She smiles over at the woman who is quickly setting up shop in her heart.

Gail takes a deep breath, "I have to go undercover next week and I wanted to tell Traci and my brother that we are dating, I want to tell them for two reasons. They are pretty important people to me and I want them to know the smile I have been unable to wipe off my face at work, which by the way has everyone freaked out, is because of you. There is also another reason I want them to know and I don't want you to freak out okay?"

Furrowed brows appear, "Okay?"

"I am not trying to scare you, but the undercover thing is a little dangerous, and if anything were to happen to me, unless someone knew I wanted you contacted you would never know. I want our relationship to be about being honest, to each other and the people in our lives that mean the most to us."

"Define a little dangerous, Gail?"

"It's just an international drug cartel."

The waitress appears with the food, setting down a huge platter of pancakes and bacon in front of Gail, who already has her silverware at the ready, "I am starving."

Holly feels like she might vomit. Yes, Gail is a police officer and it is a very dangerous job but she didn't realize undercover was part of the deal. She knows Gail has just taken a big step in finding the courage to be more honest with Holly than most people in her life so she can't completely freak out, but she also can't shove her fears down in hopes it will all be fine.

"How long will the undercover operation last?", as she pushes food around her plate.

Gail looks up to see the look of complete dread and fear on Holly's face, "Oh God, I am so sorry, I really didn't mean to upset you. It will be a couple of days, and I promise I will have Traci check in with you each and every day. She can't give you details but she can tell you I am fine."

None of those words helped really, and the tears came. Gail slid out of her side of the booth and into Holly's side. Gail finds her hand, interlocks their fingers together and simply sits with her.

Holly moves her plate back and turns to Gail, "I want you to know that I am going to be okay with all of this, and I know as a police officer you will be put in very dangerous situations but I just didn't think about the undercover stuff. We have been kind of walking around on cloud nice for the past month inside our own little bubble. An amazingly wonderful, 'I can't seem to get enough of you bubble', and even though we are taking things slow, well not all of me is on board with that pace."

"I am confused Holly, we have barely visited second base, what are you talking about?"

Holly laughs out loud at the cop's baseball score book, "My heart Gail, I can't pace how my heart feels and I am completely falling for you, and it terrifies me."

The kiss tasted like smoky maple syrup heaven, sticky and sweet, intense in a powerful way that would have knocked Holly off her feet if she was not sitting down. Gail did not respond with words but she didn't have to, everything that needed to be said was being communicated with every breath they shared during the confirmation that Gail too had indeed fallen for Holly

Can't say it enough, thank you for all the comments, and support! Please keep those comments coming, I love hearing what you are thinking! Next up...undercover adventures!