Ryan tackled Holly to the ground and heard the first shot hit the glass window behind them. She covered Holly's body with her own as the second shot took out the glass of the parked car they had fallen behind. Safety glass rained down on them as the shots continued. Ryan was determined to protect Holly so she was afraid to move. She hoped no one in the bar had been hurt and she hoped that someone came to help soon.

Ryan didn't have to wait long. She heard Luke calling to her between gunshots from a crouched position near the door of The Penny. "Parker! Are you hit?"

She raised her hands off her head and called back, "Not yet, but whoever it is is pretty damn determined. What are you doing about it?"

"Just sit tight," he ordered.

Ryan found the energy to roll her eyes and said more to herself than Holly, "And just what does he expect us to do?"

Holly answered anyway, "No idea."

"Holls, just…just sit…Jesus…just don't move. They're gonna get us out of this," Ryan said.

"You were going to say 'sit tight' weren't you?" Holly asked from her supine position under Ryan.

"Shut up, Stewart. I know it doesn't make sense. Evidently, it's what we say."

She heard sirens close by and the gunshots stopped abruptly. Ryan heard activity around their position and Oliver Shaw calling out orders, "Shots came from the southwest side of The Penny. Most likely from an upper floor of a building on State Street. I want teams of two on each of the doors and I want the block sealed."

"Oliver, have we had the all clear?" Ryan shouted to him.

"Not yet, Darlin' but soon I think. Sit tight!" he yelled back. Holly giggled.

"Holls, it's not funny," Ryan said but snickered. Soon they dissolved into uncontrollable laughter.

"I know…this is…a stress response…but I can't help it," Holly got out between laughs.

They were still laughing when the all clear came. Ryan raised up on her knees which were straddling Holly's thighs. She was still propped up on her hands when Gail came barreling out of the pub. If Ryan had any doubts about how Gail felt about Holly, they were swept away when she saw her pale face blanch further. There was nothing to be done about it. It wasn't like she could suddenly jump up and make their bodies' positions any less awkward for Gail. She slowly stood and extended her hand to Holly.

Holly extended her hand back as she sat up and winced, "Shit! I think my wrist is broken" she hissed.

"Shit. I'm sorry, Holls," Ryan said contritely.

Holly extended her other hand and Ryan helped her up off the ground. "You saved my life, Ryan. You don't have to be sorry about anything," Holly said, hugged her with her good arm, and kissed her on the cheek.

"Holls, Gail is in the doorway." Ryan gestured with her eyes.

Holly looked over and saw Gail. "Ah, well," she sighed as Gail looked away.

"C'mon. Let's get your wrist checked out. I'm sure they'll let you give your statement at the hospital," Ryan said.

"What about you?"

"You know the deal, Holls, where you go, I go. I'm your shadow. I'm sure they'll let me give my statement there too. I'll go arrange it with Oliver. Don't wander off," Ryan said as she walked toward Oliver.

"Funny, Parker," Holly said as she hugged herself. The pain in her wrist increasing and the adrenaline leaving her body rapidly.

Gail had wrestled with herself for hours. She had seen Holly and Ryan outside the Penny but she had also seen that Holly was injured. She had to find out if she was okay. It was a compulsion. So here she was at their hotel room in the early morning hours. She knew no good would come of this, but she had to do it. Maybe it was masochism. Maybe she was just, as Holly had said before, insane. She knocked on the door. She waited a bit trying to bite off her impatience. She knocked again. Please, God, don't let them be naked.

Ryan opened the door in navy cotton pajama pants and a white skin tight spaghetti strap tank top that left little to the imagination, "Peck, what are you…" she was cut off by Holly coming around the corner in a too large fuzzy hotel robe.

"Gail! Gail! I'm so glad to see you! I'm so happy! Ryan and I were just going to take a spin in the Jacuzzi. Do you want to get in the Jacuzzi, Gail? I'll go see if we have a suit," and with that she walked out of Gail's sight.

Gail took a deep breath to try and dislodge the anvil on her chest, "I just had to come and check to see if she was okay…I shouldn't have come. I'll go." Gail turned on unsteady legs.

Ryan reached out and held her in place by grasping her forearm. "Steady there, Peck. She's high as a kite, Gail. She has no idea what this looks like. There is nothing between us. I promise you. Come in. Help me look after her. They gave her pain meds for her wrist. It's fractured. She used it to break our fall when I tackled her."

Gail couldn't process it. Ryan and Holly were not together but Holly had not told her, Ryan had. She asked the question she came to ask, "Is she okay? Is she going to be okay?"

"Yeah, come in. See for yourself."

"Nah. I need to get ready for today anyway."

"You don't still want to talk to Perik do you?"

"Duh."

"Gail, wait a day. Let this settle."

"I gotta go, Parker…You might want to make her some chamomile tea. It settles her like a tranquilizer."

"Good to know."

"And, Parker?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for saving her." Gail made her escape and the beginnings of a plan started in her head. She would do whatever it took to keep Holly safe. She may lose her chance to be with Holly ever again but she'd be safe. It would be enough. It would have to be enough.

By late morning, Holly had recovered from her drug-induced haze enough to accompany Ryan to the East Detention Centre. They were standing in the same observation room that Ryan had previously occupied with Gail when Holly talked to Perik. Gail was already in the interrogation room waiting on Perik. Ryan thought it best to bring Holly in after Gail was settled. Luke agreed. Holly was running her hands through her hair nervously. The Velcro of the black brace on her arm snagging a tendril or two. "Oh, my, God. I'm so nervous," Holly said as she put the thumb of her uninjured hand to her mouth and began chewing the nail.

"Didn't you expound to me just last week about how that was unsanitary?"

"What?" Holly looked down absently. "Oh. Shut up."

"Holly, she's going to be fine. She's done this before. She's his Achilles heel," Luke said as he squeezed Holly's shoulders from behind and stepped to her left.

Gail sat at the table perfectly still. She felt a calm come over her. She took a deep cleansing breath using her Yoga skills. The guards brought Perik in and shackled him to the table. His eyes lit up when he looked at her. He sighed, "Gail."

"Hello, Ross. You look the same as the last time I saw you." She tilted her head.

He turned his head and squinted his eyes. "Are you fishing for a compliment, Gail? You certainly look different than the last time I saw you. The dark hair brings out your eyes. So striking. You might make me change my mind about blondes." He spread his hands wide on the table.

"Yes, Ross, I live my life in anticipation of compliments from you," she deadpanned.

"Where is the lovely Dr. Stewart? I would have thought the two of you would be here together."

"I don't know."

"Aren't you happy she's back in Toronto, Gail? I heard you were heartbroken over her leaving."

"Not really. It's a bit complicated now. Have you ever thought you wanted something and then when you lost it, it wasn't that big a deal? It's like that."

Inside the observation room Holly sucked in a ragged breath. Ryan rubbed her hand across Holly's back trying to soothe her as they looked through the one-way mirror. "She doesn't mean it, Holly." Holly's only response was another shaky breath.

Inside interrogation Perik smirked, "That's not what I heard, Gail. I heard that you were so upset you didn't go out for weeks."

"And just who is this source, Ross? I didn't go out for weeks with my buddies from 15 because I was fucking my way down Church Street. Okay? It's true what they say, 'the best way to get over one person is to get under another one.'" She smiled a cruel smile. "I found out that Holly wasn't all that special. I just liked women in general. Speaking of which, do you want to tell me about these women?" She took the pictures out of the folders. They were driver's license photos. No cheap thrills for Perik.

Inside observation, Holly shrank back and whispered, "Oh, God."

Ryan continued to rub Holly's back. She had an idea of what Gail was doing and she was doing a damn fine job of it, but to Ryan's mind it was like Gail was performing surgery on Holly without anesthesia. "She's a good interrogator, Holls. Just don't listen to anything she says about you," Ryan said and Holly glanced at her doubtfully.

"What about them?" Perik asked Gail.

"Don't get cute on me, Ross. It's not attractive. You know they're me. You know they are all me. Did you have one of your little sick, twisted minions do this? To what? Get my attention?" She scoffed.

"Well, you're here. Let's just call this a fortuitous circumstance."

"You can't keep killing women for attention."

"Gail, as you had your friend Ryan point out to me last time, 'I'm just a guy shackled to a table.' I didn't kill anyone. As much as I would have enjoyed it."

"Tell her to stop," Gail said, and enjoyed the shock that passed over his face before he could hide it. "Didn't think we'd clue into that did you?"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in through his nose trying to calm himself. "I see Dr. Stewart is a formidable adversary."

"Actually, she didn't have dick to do with this. This was a beautiful, 'fortuitous circumstance.' We've got your girl on surveillance. It's just a matter of time before we get an ID. Why not make it easy and give her up?"

"And lose these stimulating chats?" he mocked.

"Ross, you give her up, I mean really give her up and we arrest her? I'll come down here and do a striptease for you once a year. You're not going to get a better offer than that."

He laughed a high-pitched laugh. It made him sound unhinged. "You're not afraid of me anymore. Are you, Gail?"

"No," she said and looked him right in the eyes.

He lunged for her then, straining against the shackles. The guards rushed in to subdue him and began the process of dragging him from the room. Gail kept the fear off her face, out of her eyes, and just gave him a hard stare as he started screaming, "That's your first mistake, Gail! You should always be afraid of me! You belong to me, Gail! You're mine! I don't care how long it takes! I'll finish what I started!"

Gail waited until they had dragged Perik completely out of the room to exhale. She rubbed her hands across her face and sat with her elbows on the table for a moment. Finally, she stood up and walked into observation. The first thing she noticed was that Holly was there. Fuck! Fuckety! Fuck! Fuck! Rip off the bandage, Gail. Be Peck Strong. The second thing she noticed was Holly advancing on her rapidly.

"You idiot! Why would you provoke him?!" Holly hit her on the shoulders with her open palms shoving her backwards, not caring about her injured wrist.

"Hello, to you too, Lunchbox," Gail said without emotion.

"Gail, why would you do that? Why would you make yourself more of a target?" Holly wanted to shake her.

"Because if he's focused on me, he'll get sloppy. They'll get sloppy. If he's focused on me, maybe no one else dies," Gail said like it was the most logical thing on earth.

Holly had a flashback to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. "Do not give me the 'good of the many' speech, Gail. You're too important…"

"I'm not more important than any of them."

"You're too important to me! You're too important to me!" Holly slapped her uninjured hand across her mouth, shocked at her admission.

"Oh, yeah, I'm so important to you that you left me! You moved over 4,000km away and never looked back!"

"That not true, Gail. That's not true." Holly shook her head, pleading for Gail to understand.

"Look, I get it," Gail reasoned more calmly now. "It wasn't enough for you. I think I just kinda got swept up in the whole 'woman' thing ya know? Looking back on it, I realized it wasn't enough for you to stay. But all in all, it was a good thing. I've got more time to focus on my work, and as my mother constantly tells me, I was 'born to do this.' I'm really, really good at what I do, Holly. I'm happy, or I was happy, until I found out about Perik and his apprentice.

"I'm sorry if you heard any of that stuff in there. That's not the way I would have told you. I'd have told you with more tact, believe it or not. I don't want to hurt you. I'm sorry that because of me, you've been dragged into this. I want you to be happy. I just know it can't be with me. We didn't work out and I'm okay with that," Gail finished.

Ryan looked at Holly and the tears in her eyes. She was torn between interrupting and letting them have their moment. Holly continued to stare at Gail. She made her decision, "C'mon, Holls. Let's go." Ryan turned to Luke, "I assume you'll debrief Gail?"

"Yeah," he responded.