A/N: Did everyone have a good Valentines? I got flowers from a guy who conveniently likes to not hear all the conversations we have about me being gay. Apparently I don't look "that" gay, whatever that means... Also I had a dream about toast girl the other night, she was moving in with me... I miss toast girl :(

Anyway, short setup chapter is short, thank you for the follows and reviews!


Gail's back feels warm against her front. It's early and Holly knows the blonde won't be awake for at least another couple of hours, so she revels in being able to watch her sleep peacefully. A light sigh falls from the blondes lips and she pushes her body back into hers further. The simple action makes her smile and she tightens her hold around Gail's body in response, prompting another content sleepy sigh.

They had come back to hers after their date, then drunk their way through the new bottle of bourbon she had bought to replace the one Gail had finished the week before. She'd offered to call the blonde a cab, because despite another heavy make out session on her couch she knew her first time with Gail shouldn't and wouldn't be when they were both too drunk to walk five feet without stumbling. Instead the blonde had dragged them both upstairs and promptly passed out in the middle of the bed.

Things were becoming intense between the two of them, and it surprised her that most of it was initiated from the blonde. She had to bite her lip at the memory of Gail unbuttoning her shirt in the front of her car the previous night, because she really was throwing herself into the whole lesbian thing with wild abandon, and if that meant she spent a lot of time kissing her and trying to undress her she wasn't about to start complaining.

"Mmmmm, how long have you been awake." Gail's voice shocks her, and she smiles at the early morning husk it has.

"Not long, I didn't think you'd be awake for a while yet." The blonde lets out a grunt.

"Your hand woke me up." She's about to question what she means when she realises at some point she had subconsciously moved her hand under Gail's borrowed shirt, her hand tracing patterns over the bare skin.

Holly smiles and mumbles an apology, settling her head back on the pillow. It's the subtle movement of Gail breathing beneath her hand and the light smell of the blondes shampoo that lulls her back to sleep.


"Do you want to go to dinner tonight?" Holly smiles at the question. Gail had been sat at the kitchen counter reading the same newspaper page for ten minutes whilst she made breakfast, clearly mulling over the question the whole time rather than reading. She turns to face her, leaning against the opposite counter, watching her roll the corner of the newspaper, she wonders if she even realises that she's doing it.

"Date two already?"

"It doesn't have to be a date, we used to have dinner together before, it can just be you know, dinner, if you want-" The blonde stumbles over her words quickly and Holly can tell she's about to try and brush the whole thing off.

"Gail, honey, I'd love to go to dinner with you, on a date, tonight." It strikes her then that someone could be as confident and brave as Gail in public, yet so nervous and unsure in private. It feels like a gift in a way, and she wonders who else has been allowed to see the blonde drop her guard so far. Her mind drifts back to the day they met, and how the blonde confessed she was like a cat in a tree. She thinks it's an analogy works well for Gail, because she puffs herself up, makes a lot of noise and pretends not to be hurt, when behind it all she's just small and vulnerable.

"What?" She realises Gail must have seen the studying look on her face.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about cats."

"Is that what I've got to look forwards to? As I mature into a fully fledged lesbian will I start looking off into the distance thinking about cats and plaid?" She throws a towel from the counter at a laughing Gail before pulling out her phone to look up restaurants.


When Holly had dropped a sweatpants clad Gail back at her house that afternoon she never could have imagined the woman she would find at the restaurant four hours later. She could still feel the residual embarrassment at the memory of walking into someone else's table and spilling their wine over the floor as she stared at Gail. The blonde had chosen to wear the tightest black dress she had ever seen, with the front dipping down dangerously low and she found herself wishing she had worn something more than her leather trousers and loose shirt.

The blonde let out a light cough from across the table and she quickly diverts her eyes away from the low cut at the front of Gail's dress, again. She can't help internally berating herself, because there had been a lot of men that she had slammed for looking at her chest and now she's doing the exact same thing to the blonde. In her weak defense, she knew what was underneath that dress, and she was sure Gail had worn it knowing she wouldn't be able to stop looking at her.

"You know oysters are aphrodisiacs." She points down to the oysters on her plate and she's not sure why she's mentioned it, but Gail just looks up from her starter and smirks at her.

"Like you need anything to get you going around me, or do I need to wear a more revealing dress?" Holly almost drops her knife. "Something wrong honey, you should probably eat up before they get cold."

All she can do is nod and follow Gail's instructions and she's thankful when the conversation returns to it's usual pattern. She tells Gail about her parents and how they met, tells her stories of college, and at Gail's prompting she tells her about how the big 'gay realisation' as she phrased it happened. In return Gail tells her about how her and Steve grew up, and she makes a mental note to ask Traci if dating Steve is just as weird as dating Gail is sometimes.

Their mains arrive shortly after, and she manages to keep it together enough to not mention that the avocado in her salad is also an aphrodisiac, because Gail was entirely right, in that dress Holly didn't need any help. There's a tension between them as they eat, the type that makes every beat of her heart feel pronounced and every brush of Gail's foot up her leg feel like it's going to be the end of her. A part of her is surprised that it's Gail taking the lead in this again, and that every time she tries to slow things down for the blondes sake it's her who's pushing forwards.

They both order deserts when the waiter comes back and she knows Gail is watching her when she lifts the first spoon of ice cream to her mouth, so she decides to play with it. She knows the moan she lets out when the ice cream meets her tongue is bordering on pornographic, but she needs a way to get back at Gail for her earlier comment and for wearing that damn dress. She lets her eyes flutter closed as she lightly hums around the spoon, and the mango ice cream is actually really good, so it's not like she has too fake how much she's enjoying it.

She pulls the spoon out and licks at it, then almost chokes on the ice cream when she opens her eyes. Gail stares directly into hers, and she's never been particularly aroused by people eating food before, but it's the look of intent in Gail's eyes when she takes one of the whole strawberries from her cheesecake between her lips and gently bites into it, her tongue coming out to lick away the juices that cling to her lips. Holly almost wishes she had said no to desert, and she has to quickly wipe at the corner of her mouth as the melting ice cream starts to pool out the side.

"Mmmm, maybe those oysters were a bad idea, you look on edge Holly."

"Gail," Her voice is breathless and she knows Gail must hear the notes of arousal in it, her foot carelessly rising up her leg again. "Are you trying to kill me?" The blonde just smiles at her and bites into another strawberry, the juice coating her lips again and Holly has to seriously consider the implications of just pinning Gail to the table and licking the strawberry off her lips herself.


Holly's not sure how they make it back to her place without the car ending up in a ditch, because Gail's hand had been intent on causing either a traffic accident or a brain aneurysm with the way it kept skirting up her inner thigh. The first thing she does once Gail opens the front door, with the front door key she had borrowed the week before, that Holly didn't have the higher brain function to mention, is make a beeline for the kitchen.

"Do you want a drink?" She has a glass in her hand already, and it's shaking slightly in nerves or arousal, she can't be sure which. Gail's hand drags across her stomach and she can feel her breath on the back of her neck. It makes her breath catch in her throat when she turns around to face the blonde, her pupils dilated and her lip caught between her lips.

"No, not tonight." There's a look in Gail's eyes that tells her everything she needs to know and she puts the glass back on the counter behind her. The way Gail had been goading her all night had her hoping, but she didn't want to push.

"Are you sure? We don't have to rush this." Her voice is small and hushed, and despite being completely alone it feels like if she raises her voice any louder the moment might end.

Gail's voice is just as hushed when she replies, her hand coming round the back of her head to tangle in her hair. "Holly. I want you, and I know you want me, and I know we've both wanted this for a long time, so don't make me beg."

She smiles and starts to lean forwards, feeling Gail's breath on her lips. "As if you would ever beg."

"Well. I might have said please."


A/N: 'Warning', next time... SEX.