Holy fishsticks! Thank you for the incredible response for my last chapter. Waking up to a bunch of nice reviews and comments in my email inbox really made my day. Thanks for your support and follows!

As usual, mistakes are mine.


Day 7

The moment streaks of sunlight crept past the curtains and into her bedroom, Holly gently extracted herself from the bed, careful not to wake the sleeping blonde on the other side of it. She put on her glasses and started her day with a long and hot shower first. She was glad there wasn't any after effects from the alcohol she consumed the previous night. But Holly was pretty sure the events from the night before and the long, painful and sleepless hours after managed to sober her up. She hoped there wouldn't be a killer hangover waiting for Gail once she wakes up. She closed her eyes and let the sprays of hot water travel down her entire body. Images of Gail breaking down in her arms appeared behind her eyelids, just like it did for the past several hours whenever Holly tried to get some sleep. While Gail had been deep in slumber the moment her head hits the pillow — probably emotionally drained and the alcohol and sex before didn't help either — Holly had been going over and over their heated exchange and the heartbreaking cries from Gail outside her house all night. She went over every word that was said, every gesture and every expression that came from Gail. At that moment Holly wasn't sure if she was grateful for the ability to remember and analyze everything that happened last night like how she examines and dissects evidence at the lab. But her mind just won't shut down for the night.

The way Gail confessed her love for the brunette was less than ideal. It wasn't as if Holly expected it to be like a fairytale, exchanging I love you's and live happily ever after. But looking at Gail say that she was hopelessly in love with her in a body language and tone that screamed heartache and despair, it killed Holly that Gail associated her love for Holly with such depressing feelings and emotions. Because when Holly thought about Gail, there were only beautiful things that came to mind. But Holly doesn't blame Gail for feeling like that. She blamed herself, she put those thoughts and feelings there, even if it wasn't on purpose.

Holly got out of the shower and decided to get a head start of the day by making coffee, having some fruits and yoghurt for breakfast and then checking her email on her laptop. She had enough time to think about what she wanted, needed, to say to Gail. All she had to do was to wait for the blonde to wake up and have some coffee and breakfast first.

Gail was woken up by the faint sound of vibrations from a phone. She turned to her side to look at the brunette but found the other side of the bed to be empty. Another series of vibration brought her back to the task at hand, to shut that thing off. When she realized it came from her phone, she bent down and stretched her hand to reach for her phone in her jeans pocket. It was Steve calling. Then she remembered the night before, how she had called him multiple times for a ride home. She picked up and told Steve that she was okay and nothing happened and she was at Holly's. After she hung up, Gail looked at the time on her phone and placed it on the nightstand. It was 10am and Holly was already awake. Gail was glad she was given some time after she woke up to think about what happened, to put her messy thoughts in place. What an embarrassment, Gail recalled her unexpected meltdown a few hours prior that morning. Then she panicked. Did I just told Holly I'm hopelessly in love with her? Oh God. Suddenly she was not looking forward to face Holly. Maybe she could just jump out of the window? Damn it. After another 20 minutes of silence and space to brace herself for what was waiting for her downstairs, she got out of bed and went to the bathroom to freshen up. Gail was glad she only had a slight headache from the drinking and probably from being an emotional mess. When she was ready to get the day going, she headed downstairs and the smell of coffee filled up her nose and woke her senses. Then she saw Holly sitting at the breakfast counter with a book in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other and her heart started to beat much faster. Gail tried to keep calm and walked towards Holly who was unaware of the sudden presence of the blonde. Gail cleared her throat and Holly's head immediately snapped up to look at her.

"Oh, hey, good morning. I made coffee and already have the pancake batter ready for you."

Gail was a little taken aback by how natural it all seemed, like nothing happened between them the night before. Holly's tone was warm and inviting. "Hey. Yeah, pancakes sound great. Thanks." She then stood up to make herself a cup of coffee. She needed it.

Once Holly started pouring the batter onto the pan, she spoke with her back facing Gail. "How did you sleep? Are you suffering from a hangover?"

"It was okay. No hangover, thank God." Gail brought the steaming cup of coffee to her lips for a tentative sip before continuing. "What about you?"

Holly hesitated, wasn't sure if she should tell Gail she didn't sleep well at all, but decided not to worry Gail. "Fine. I woke up early though."

There was silence as Gail continued to sip on her coffee while Holly flipped pancakes. When she was done, she placed the plate and the syrup in front of Gail and returned to her position from earlier to resume her reading.

"Thanks. You're not eating?"

"I already ate, I had some fruits and yoghurt earlier because I know how much you hated them."

Gail scrunched up her face in disgust. "Who chooses fruits over pancakes?"

Holly just offered Gail an amused smile while shaking her head and continued where she left off from earlier.

While Gail attacked the pancakes, she couldn't help but cast quick glances over at Holly from time to time. She watched the brunette, who was focused on the book in her hand. How her lips moved as she read every word and how her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Holly was so into her book that she wasn't aware of Gail's eyes on her for a good 5 minutes after she was done with her breakfast. Every time Holly had a book in her hand, Gail knew she had to fight for the attention she wanted from the brunette. It was ridiculous how jealous she could feel of Holly's books. But Gail loved that about Holly. Gail loved everything that came with Holly and she wouldn't change anything about her.

"So are you going to keep reading until your eyes pop out of its sockets or are we going to talk?" No point wasting any more time, might as well get the show on the road. Time was not on their side.

Holly looked up from her book and stared at Gail, confusion obvious on her face, but only for a moment before she realized what Gail was saying. "Right, okay." She puts her book down and took Gail's plate to the sink. She would do the dishes later.

When she turned around, Gail was already seated on the couch, her cup of coffee held by both of her hands. Holly got a refill for herself before joining Gail. This was going to be a long talk. Holly took a seat next to Gail, putting some distance between them and tried not to look as nervous as Gail. She knew this time she was going to be the one to do most of the talking.

"I have things to tell you, to talk about. So, please listen, okay?"

Gail nodded. Holly took a deep breath before launching into a speech. "While I was lying in bed last night, I had time to reflect. I went all the way back to the early beginnings of our relationship. To find out what went wrong, the root of the problem. To that night at the Penny. To me accepting the job and the reckless make out session I initiated about a week ago. It all pointed to one big factor, the root of the problem - lack of communication. When we first became a thing, I told you that trust, honesty and openness were the most important things that should always be present in our relationship. Understanding comes after. I promised to always keep the line of communication open, always willing to listen to you, and I wished for you to speak freely of your feelings no matter good or bad."

Holly paused and took another deep breath before continuing, brown eyes never leaving blue ones. "And for the first few weeks, everything was fine. We were having fun, going through our honeymoon phase. Then I felt like we were stuck in this limbo, you know? Like none of us wanted to tell each other how we really feel. Then as time passes by and every second that I wasn't telling about my true feelings, it was killing me. Because I was falling for you, hard. And every time my heart swells for the love I feel for you, I couldn't tell you then."

"So I wasn't doing my part, not really. I brought up all these conditions and I made promises but I kept my feelings hidden from you, afraid that you would be freaked out at how fast our relationship might be progressing. So I hid things. I pretended I was fine with this casual yet very serious thing going on between us. Then Lisa happened, and I realized how serious you were about us but it was too late."

Suddenly, Holly stood up and started pacing, as if sitting still was too difficult to do. She took a minute to think about what she wanted to say next. When she finally turned around to look at Gail, the blonde's fingers were fiddling with the bottom of Holly's t-shirt the brunette gave her the night before to wear to sleep. When Gail finally looked up, Holly continued with her speech.

"You know, everybody puts me on this high pedestal, they watch my every move, they say I can do no wrong and I'm smart and I can achieve anything. I'm smart, I know that. I'm really smart, actually. But once I fucked up, everyone makes a huge deal out of it, they give me so much crap for it and I know I probably deserve it, but they make me feel a hundred times worse than I already feel. People tend to forget one thing. I'm not perfect. Nobody's perfect. I may graduate top of my class, but I have flaws. Huge flaws. I make mistakes like everyone else. Especially relationships wise. I can study and graduate with PhDs and masters and degrees but I will never comprehend love. Love I feel for you. So I need you to know that from the bottom of my heart, I'm really sorry for how I've treated things and for the decisions I've made. Most importantly, for what I said last night. I shouldn't have used Sophie against you and I deeply regretted it."

When the silence went on for almost a minute, Gail took it as a cue that Holly was done, so she carried on the conversation. She smiled at the first thing she thought of saying. "Love's never easy." She silently thanked Steve for those words from the previous night. "I was an emotional train wreck and the alcohol didn't help either. You're not the only one sorry for what you said." Gail paused for a second. "Wait, you love me?" She had a disbelieving expression on her face.

Holly walked the few steps needed to get closer to Gail. She knelt down and took Gail's hands in her own. Tears pooled in dark brown eyes. "I do. I love you. So much that it hurts. And the thought of leaving you kills me every time." The words were spoken in such sincerity and affection, it made Gail's breath hitch and a lump to form in her throat.

"I love you too." Crystal blue eyes shined with unshed tears too. Why are they only doing this now? Because we're idiots and we have the worse timing, that's why. So much could've been prevented if they just spoke to each other. What dumbasses. "And I want you to know that, even if none of this happened, I would still want you take the job. I would probably be unhappy about it, like now, but I would still want you to take it."

"Would you have agreed to come with me?"

Gail wasn't sure how to answer Holly. "I… No. I belong here, I need to be here so I could adopt Sophie and raise her in a familiar environment where everybody I know is here. My family's here."

"I understand." The disappointment heavy in Holly's tone. She offered Gail a smile hoping it would be enough to tell Gail she really understood. She stood up to take a seat on the couch, close to Gail. "I really screwed up this time, huh?"

"No, you didn't. I'm not that innocent too. We both have fault in this. We were broken up and we didn't know what the possibility of getting back together was. It was the right thing to do, to accept the job."

"I really wanted you to come with me."

"I know."

"And Gail, I'm so proud of who you've become. In such a short period of time you've grown so much. I've always loved you for who you are, but during these past few days what I've witnessed caused me to fall even more in love with you, if that's even possible. You continue to astound me. Perhaps our break up did you good."

Gail squeezed Holly's hands that was still holding hers and shook her head. "No, it didn't. I was miserable. It did give me time to do some thinking, but I missed you terribly. Every day. It is you who changed me, Holly. And I'm afraid of what will happen once you leave."

Holly squeezed back as tight as Gail did, trying to reassure the blonde. "Nothing will happen, Gail. You'll continue to be your amazing self and you'll be an incredible mother to Sophie. I'm just a phone call or email away. We'll always be in touch, I promise."

The tears in Gail's eyes finally rolled down her cheeks. After last night, she didn't think there were any more tears left. Holly immediately wiped them away and caressed her face, "We'll figure it out, babe." leaning her forehead against Gail's.

Gail nodded and her eyes fluttered close to revel the soothing feeling of Holly's touch.


Gail walked into the precinct heading for the locker room to get ready for her shift, feeling pretty much over it even when work haven't even started yet. What a bloody long day. Gail sighed. It was one of those days where she hoped she gets assigned for desk duty. She needed it. She wasn't in the right mind to be out on the streets. She needed time to process their talk from earlier and the current predicament they've found themselves in. Are they really going to do the whole long distance thing for two years? They haven't really covered that much because Gail had to go in for her shift and she was done talking for the day. She didn't want to arrive at 15 looking like an emotional mess. They promised to talk more at a later time.

It seemed like luck was on her side, after all. She got desk duty for the day to catch up on some paperwork and during parade, Oliver announced that detective rotation were coming up and he expected the application forms on his desk to be filled seriously and wholeheartedly. Officers at 15 already knew the time was near, they were just waiting for a formal announcement from their staff sergeant. And Gail was ready to put her name up for consideration. After parade was over and before she started her shift at the desk, Gail decided to pay Oliver a visit at his office. He spotted Gail making her way towards his office and dropped his pen on the pile of paperwork in front of him to greet his officer.

"Peck, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Oliver motioned for Gail to take a seat.

"I just wanted you to know that I'll be applying for the detection rotation. Just a heads up for when you see my application on your desk."

Oliver was surprised. It wasn't that he thought she couldn't do it, she's a Peck after all, but because Gail had never talked about her interest in being a detective. He decided to bring it up. "Well isn't this is welcome surprise. But what brought this on? Is it your mother?"

Gail shrugged. "I just thought maybe it's time for me to move on."

Oliver wasn't having any of it. There was more to that reason and he wanted to know. "You and I both know that's not the only reason. You know you can trust me right?"

Gail thought about it for a second. If she told Oliver about adopting Sophie, he would be the second person to know about it. Even Steve had no idea. But Oliver was right, she could trust him and she trusted him with her life. "I'm adopting Sophie and I need a more stable job that requires me to be in less dangerous situations and a better salary."

Oliver reclined back in his chair and took the information in. He certainly wasn't expecting that to be the reason. "Sophie, from the Jameson case?"

Gail just nodded.

"Are you… Are you sure about this? Because I have a kid and it is not easy."

"I know it's not easy, Oliver. I know it's not like adopting a pet, she's a human being and she lost her mother and she's got no one else and I don't know why I'm so drawn to her. I have to do this."

Oliver knew Gail would've thought long and hard about this before finally setting her mind on it. Gail wasn't one to make impulsive decisions. And he understood why now and why this child. Because it got to her and she doesn't want lose Sophie to the system. "I get it, Gail. I really do. If this is what you want, what you have to do, I'll support you. No matter what, kiddo."

Gail knew Oliver would understand and she was right to trust him with this. "Thanks, I appreciate it." She smiled sincerely at him.

"Alright. I expect an ironclad application from you soon and get back out there and do your job."

Before Gail stepped out of the office, Oliver stopped her and added, "Hey, I know this thing with Holly sucks and you can hide it from the rest, but I know you're really sad about her leaving. So why don't you take Holly to my cabin for a few days, if the both of you are feeling up for it? You have a few vacation days to spare, just let me know and I'll hand you the key."

"Thank you for your offer, Oliver. I'll ask Holly and let you know."

Oliver nodded. "You do that."

Gail was shocked by such a generous offer from Oliver. She knew Oliver loved all the rookies like his own, but the two of them had a special bond that Oliver and the other rookies never shared. Gail really appreciated everything Oliver was trying to do for her. And a few days away from the city, just the two of them with no distractions sounded kind of amazing.


I want you guys to know that this chapter was the most difficult one I've ever written. A lot of backspacing and editing. I needed to stop reading it over and over, so I decided to just post it. It was easier to write Gail's parts because I've loved the character since the pilot and we've seen more of her than Holly. I want to do Golly justice and I really hope I did. I would love for you guys to tell me if you liked their talk. Constructive feedback will help me a lot, thanks!