A/N: I have had a very productive couple of days writing, so I can post two chapters in two days. Which I am excited about, because I think this one might be my favourite chapter of the whole story. I don't know why; I just like it! Hope you guys do too.
Cheers,
Sam
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Living in the frat house, Gail hadn't much use for an alarm clock. She was usually woken by whatever uproar the boys were creating that day, so she had quite enjoyed her recent pattern of crawling out of bed in the middle of the afternoon and having the place to herself to potter about before her shift at Holly's. She was therefore quite surprised to wake to the sound of banging pans that afternoon, not to mention decidedly pissed off. She lay there quietly for a few minutes, wondering whether she could snooze for a little while longer but the smell of bacon soon changed her mind on that one. She threw on some jeans and ventured out into the kitchen to investigate.
"Hey Gail," said Chris as he flipped pancakes on the stove.
"Shouldn't you be at work?" she asked, irritated by this intrusion into her new daily routine.
"Night shift," he told her, and she scowled as she remembered that. Chris didn't notice though, turning the heat off and stacking half the pancakes on a plate before sliding it across the counter to Gail.
"For me?" Gail asked, suspiciously.
"Sure," Chris replied, plating up his own pancakes and drizzling syrup over them.
"Why?" Gail poked the pancakes gingerly, scared that this may be another of Chris' weird food experiments.
Chris sat down at the table with his food, and pushed out another chair for his house mate. "We haven't seen much of you lately, what with this assignment. I just thought it would be nice to have breakfast together, you know, catch up?"
Gail helped herself to bacon, and sat down opposite him. Sometimes, Diaz amazed her with how sweet he could be, the big sap. They were never right for each other, the two of them, but she was glad they were still friends. Not that she would ever tell Chris that of course and stuck to her usual sarcasm in lieu of thanks; "It's not really breakfast at three pm, Diaz,"
"You make your own time on nights," he grinned, shovelling pancakes into his mouth.
This was the second time in a week someone had made breakfast for her, Gail thought, remembering Holly's doughnuts. Before that, the last time anyone had made her breakfast was Nick...and he'd done tomatoes and eggs. This was nice, she decided, tucking into her pancakes and listening to Chris waffle on about all that she had missed at Fifteen over the past week or so. Maybe not as nice as Holly's doughnuts and breakfast chat, but good nonetheless.
"We're missing you though, of course," Chris declared, as he finished his round up of recent happenings at Fifteen.
"Yeah, whatever," she replied, knowing that the department wouldn't really care one way or another if she was there or not.
"Sure we do. Hey, you should ride in with me today. You could hang out for an hour or two before you start work," Chris suggested.
Gail almost said no straight away, but Chris' earnest grin made her think again. It could be fun to drop into the station, say hi to Oliver, rag Dov a little. She could even stroll over to the morgue and meet up with Holly there, grab a lift to her place in the security car.
"Ok. You people need someone to check up on you anyway, make sure you're not stuffing it all up whilst I'm gone," she sassed.
"You're all heart, Gail Peck. So, how's your undercover gig going?" Chris finally got around to asking the question Gail knew was on his mind.
"Good," she told him, with a noncommittal shrug, hoping he would take the hint.
However, clearly Chris wasn't going to leave it at that. "Are you getting anywhere?" he probed.
"Chris, you know I can't tell you the details," she warned.
"I know, I know," he said, holding his hands up. "I'm not asking. I'm just...checking up on you I guess. Are you ok?"
Gail softened a little. She knew why Chris was concerned. He had seen a lot of the Perik aftermath first hand, and that was the last time she had gone undercover. She wished she could tell him that this wasn't anything like that situation...she wasn't actually undercover. There was no character to play, no fake life to create. She remembered the nerves that had crept up on her when she had played the escort that fateful night. She had thought she was ready but in her rush to be authentic, she realised how out of her depth she was. It was only when she had stopped pretending and let her real self show that she had been able to settle into the job that night. Gail had often thought about that fact since. The guard that she had put up around herself with the goal of being better; a better officer and a better person, was actually more effective when it was down.
That realisation had stayed with Gail, and she was listening to it more and more often. But right now, the cover story was there for a reason; to protect Holly. And that had become very important to Gail.
"I'm fine Chris. Honestly," she said, looking directly at him in an effort to make him see she was sincere.
"But is it dangerous, what you're doing?" he persisted.
Gail hesitated, not knowing quite how to answer that one. So far, the witness protection thing had been ridiculously easy. Sure they had a lot of protocols to follow and rules to adhere to, and there had been that unsettling day at the courthouse. Not to mention the mess of that night in the bar. But that was a misunderstanding. McGregor kept warning them of the danger Kolarov's people could pose, and how they couldn't be complacent. But right now, Gail felt almost like she was just hanging out at her new friend's house, not working.
"It's ok," she told Chris, but the way she had paused obviously worried him.
"Just be careful, Gail, yeah?"
"I will be," she assured him, both touched and annoyed at his concern. She rolled her eyes, trying to put an end to the conversation. Chris didn't drop it though.
"I don't want you to get hurt. We've had enough friends get hurt lately. Just tell me you've got someone watching your back, because I'm not happy that you haven't got any of our team there with you," he said.
Gail stared at him. In some ways, Chris was the glue that bound their group together. The fact that the thing that bothered him was that he felt Gail was out there on her own struck a chord with her. She had always felt like she was out on her own but over the past few years she had settled into this group, even if she did hover on the edges at times. For Chris to firmly include her as one of them felt good. She couldn't placate him by telling him about Andy though. Nor explain how Sanderson was turning out to be a great partner, and maybe a good friend.
"I'm working with some good people Chris. And I've got my eyes open, don't worry. This job is important," she explained. She went to rise up from the table, but Chris stood too and put his hand on her plate before she could clear it.
"And you feel ok about it yeah? I mean, after Perik?"
"Diaz!" Gail said, her voice pained. She didn't really want to go there. She hated cold twist of pain that still shot through her guts from such a direct question. She had just about got her feelings about what had happened with Perik straight in her head, but talking about it was another story.
"I'm sorry. But I know it must be weird for you, being in the same sort of situation now. I'm just worried about you, that's all," he said, gently.
"It's not like that," Gail started.
"Yeah yeah, I know you can't say anything. But I'm not stupid, Gail. Undercover, nights only. You're on some sort of escort thing again. It must be difficult to deal with," Chris deduced, and he moved round the table to touch her arm lightly.
Gail stood there, looking up at him. What could she say to him? Chris was stressed because he thought she was on a similar job to the one where she had nearly lost her life, and had pretty much lost everything else. It was sweet of him to be concerned, but she couldn't explain that he didn't need to be. If she told him she wasn't pretending to be an escort, he would start wondering what she was doing…and maybe he would come to a more accurate conclusion next time.
"It won't be anything like that this time, Chris. Just trust me," she settled for, imploring him to pick up the vibe she was trying to silently pass across to him.
"Fine. If you're sure," he said, dropping his hand and nodding at her to let her know he would leave it there.
Gail took that as an opportunity to escape this awkward situation. Chris was only trying to help, and she didn't want to lie outright to him. "I've got to get ready," Gail told him, moving away and heading down the hallway.
"Gail!" Chris called, and as she turned she saw him leaning against the kitchen door frame, watching her. "Just promise me something, yeah?" he asked.
"What?"
"Just if you ever get into trouble, or if you ever need something, call me. You don't have to give me details or tell me what is going on. I won't ask questions. But if there is anything I can do if things don't go to plan, if there is something you need then just call me. Please?" Chris's face was deadly serious.
"I'll be fine," she responded automatically, ignoring the peculiar sense of security that settled across her at his statement.
"I know you will. So you won't have to call. But just in case...?"
Gail thought about it, and finally nodded. "I will," she said. It could never hurt to have someone who had got her back.
"Promise me?" Chris asked, not willing to settle for just that.
"Oh God, get lost you loser! I promise, ok!?" Gail groaned and threw open the door to her room, striding in and slamming it shut behind her.
"Good enough," Chris yelled, smiling as he turned back towards the kitchen. He picked up the dishes from the table, satisfied with Gail's agreement. As he carried them over to the sink, he heard a door open behind him.
"Hey, Chris?" Gail called, sticking her head round the door frame. "Thanks."
"No problem, Gail," she said.
"For breakfast, I mean," Gail clarified, before shutting her door once again.
Chris laughed. "You're welcome to that too, Gail," he said, shaking his head at the brazen front his former girlfriend projected. He knew what she meant. And she knew that he knew. So they would both quite happily pretend it was all about breakfast, without ruining the Peck reputation. He was pretty sure he'd never quite work Gail Peck out completely, but he felt like he had reached the stage where he could read the parts she didn't say. He looked forward to the day where someone came along and brought those parts of her into the open.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Gail hadn't realised she missed being at the station until she strolled through the pen with Chris later that evening. She found the low buzz of the place soothing; in the same way that some people liked to switch the TV on when they were home alone for background noise, Gail found that even the echoes of some drunk shooting his mouth off down in booking gave her a certain sense of peacefulness.
She returned the greetings of her colleagues as she made her way towards her target – the open box of muffins perched on the edge of the desk Dov was using. The stealth tactics she had been practising on her perimeter checks of Holly's place came in handy as she snuck up on him and snagged one before he had even noticed her presence. This was turning into a good day for food.
"Hey Dov," she said, flicking the back of his head affectionately.
Dov frowned when he saw one of his muffins disappearing in approximately three bites, but returned the greeting nonetheless.
"Hi Gail. How's it going?"
Gail shrugged, unable to answer with her mouth full of her latest sugar hit and that gave Chloe the chance to butt in.
"Gail! Hi! It's been ages since you've been in! Have you got the night off from your assignment? Are you on shift? Maybe we could ride together, because I have A LOT of questions about your assignment. I haven't really done undercover yet and…" Chloe's rhetoric was bought to an abrupt end as Gail shoved a muffin into her open mouth.
"No, I'm not on shift; I'm still on UC duty. But I rode in with Chris so I could check up on you losers. Make sure you're not slacking whilst I'm not around," Gail told her.
"Everything is under control, Gail," Dov drawled, even as Chloe coughed up a piece of half chewed cake onto one of his files. In his attempt to hastily wipe it up, Dov knocked over his coffee mug and as the hot liquid pooled on the desk and dripped steadily off the edge onto the computer tower, there was a pop of electricity, a wisp of smoke and the screen in front on him went blank. "Shit," he cursed.
"I can see that, Epstein," Gail replied, raising an eyebrow at the mess unfurling in front of her. Chloe ran off to get some napkins as Dov gazed helplessly at his ruined work. Chris sniggered at his friend's plight, which drew Dov's attention.
"I blame you for this," he said, pointing at Chris.
"What? Me?" Chris asked, the grin leaving his face.
"You bought her here!" Dov told him, gesturing at Gail and lifting dripping papers out of the coffee lake. Gail stuck her middle finger up at him and delicately removed the muffin box out of the pool.
Chloe returned with a roll of paper towels and she and Dov began cleaning up the mess.
"So, is it exciting?" Chloe asked.
"What?" Gail replied, her attention on the muffins once more.
"The undercover work! I can't believe you're going to be on this job for all these weeks. Are you inside a gang or something, or is it surveillance and stake outs? " Chloe asked.
"She can't tell you," Dov and Chris both interjected, in unison.
"I know!" Chloe responded. "I'm just interested. Especially with it being such a long time. Andy and Nick both said that when they were on their assignment, it was difficult to remember who they really were sometimes, because they spent so long in their roles. Everything blurred together and they started to change and…well, you know, it was difficult," she tailed off lamely when she noticed Gail's icy glare and Chris and Dov frantically gesturing at her to shut up from behind the desk. Chloe had the good grace to look embarrassed at bringing up the touchy subject around Gail, but the blonde officer wasn't about to let her off the hook.
"Yeah. Well I think Andy and Nick maybe got a little too into character. It won't be happening to me," Gail gave Chloe a withering glance and pointedly told her; "And it's great to know you've all been having these in depth discussions about what happened on that assignment,"
"It's not like that, Gail," Dov said, trying to come to his girlfriend's rescue.
"Sure it's not," she replied, wondering why she had bothered coming here today. She hadn't thought about what had happened between Nick and Andy for a while, but that didn't mean she could casually discuss how they had got together in front of her friends.
Chloe scrunched her face up in anxiety, worried that she had upset her colleague. "I'm just saying; it must be hard work. And especially for you after what happened last time,"
Gail almost laughed. First Chloe brought up the Nick disaster, then she moved straight onto Jerry. Was she deliberately trying to wind Gail up? Both the boys were wincing at the mention of Gail's last undercover, but Chloe simply ploughed on oblivious. Her next words surprised Gail however.
"You look good though Gail. More relaxed. Maybe sometimes it's good to be someone else," she wondered.
The lack of guile on Chloe's face made it difficult for Gail to bite back at that. She knew Price was a rambler, but how she could go from being so dense in one moment, to so perceptive in the next was disconcerting to say the least. She felt good right now - she was enjoying work, she'd made a new friend...she was relaxed. Even if it was increasingly hard to remember to refer to Holly as just that; a friend. The plan of ignoring the crush was working, but it was tricky. Anyway, she hadn't expected any of her colleagues to notice; it wasn't that bigger change, surely?
"Better not let the Superintendent hear that," Chris' voice cut through Gail's musings. "She was here the other day, giving Frank grief about public image and what we were doing to raise our profile. I don't think she meant we should give out the 'chill out; join the police force' message,"
"Well that's one benefit to these night shifts, missing out on that," Gail said, with a grimace. She glanced up at the glass windows of Frank's office, almost nervous that her mother would still be up there, watching over her. Instead, she was surprised to see McNally and Traci leaving the room and making their way down the stairs towards the group. Craning her neck further, she saw Holly perched on one of the chairs in the office, talking animatedly to Frank and Swarek.
"What are you doing here?" Gail demanded when Andy pulled up a chair alongside where they were all gathered at Dov's desk.
"Hello to you too, Gail," Andy replied, giving her a pointed look as Traci greeted everyone.
Ah. That's right, Gail remembered; why would she care where Andy was? Thankfully the rest of the officers didn't seem to notice Gail's sudden curiosity in Andy's whereabouts, and Dov soon interjected to turn the conversation away from that.
"She's just racking up a bit more evidence towards the restraining order," he said, and the other officers all laughed as Andy rolled her eyes
"What?" Gail asked, confused.
"Andy has had a change of career in recent weeks," Chris joined in the ribbing and neatly avoided the paperclip that Andy flicked at him.
"Yeah, she's become a private investigator," Dov said, which only served to baffle Gail all the more.
"What are you guys talking about? A private investigator?"
"You know; a stalker with a pay check!" Dov explained, much to the hilarity of the others.
"Very funny guys. That one gets better every time you tell it," Andy deadpanned, looking thoroughly fed up at being the butt of everyone's jokes again.
"Come on guys, lay off," Traci said, putting her arm round Andy's shoulders. "Andy's not a stalker..."
"Thanks, Trace," McNally replied, leaning into her friend.
"She's more like a work experience kid!" Traci finished, and laughed as Andy shoved her away.
Gail finally caught up to the joke; "Ah, the job shadowing thing," she said, looking at Andy and struggling to keep a straight face. She almost felt sorry for McNally, taking all this stick just because of a cover story. But when she thought back to Chloe's earlier comment, the sympathy kind of disappeared.
"Hmm. I'm glad you all think this assignment is hilarious," Andy said, staring daggers at the gang.
As the brunette frowned, Traci finally relented and came to her friend's rescue. "Ok, ok, we'll leave it. But you've got to admit, it is a little bit funny,"
"Well you lot can laugh it up all you like. It might be a PR stunt, but actually, I've already learnt loads. And the next time we're on a case and forensics get involved, you guys will be eating my dust. Some of the stuff they can do with evidence is amazing. And Dr. Stewart is pretty cool too," Andy stated.
"Yeah she is," Gail agreed, again without thinking and this time the group did look curiously at her. She groaned internally. She really needed to pull herself together, and stop making a mess of this situation. But every time Holly's name came up, it almost seemed like she couldn't stop her thoughts spilling out. She couldn't explain it; Gail was well aware that she might not have many close friends, and she was still surprised that she had suddenly found a really good one out of nowhere. But why on earth having Holly in her life had made her lose her carefully guarded circumspection, she had no idea.
"How do you know the new pathologist?" Doc asked, suspiciously.
Several lies ran through Gail's head in quick succession, but she settled for playing the safest card she had right now; "I can't tell you," she said after a short pause, and she stared straight at Dov hoping he wouldn't question her any further. It wasn't exactly a lie of course, but these constant insinuations of an undercover gig were becoming uncomfortable.
"Your assignment has got forensics involved?" Dov queried, looking puzzled.
She shrugged, and turned away from him. Chris leant over and tapped her on the shoulder. "Please be careful," he whispered in her ear, looking worried at the news that dead bodies were somehow involved in her work. Gail felt a twinge of guilt at how concerned Chris was. The group fell silent for a moment as they all processed this information. At the end of the day, they were all police officers and therefore innately curious. If somebody gave any one of them half a story, they couldn't help try to figure out the rest of it. Andy pulled a face at Gail, and the blonde knew that when she saw her colleague later at the handover time she was going to get a lecture on not letting information slip.
Traci was the one to break the silence, which Gail figured was yet another clue that she knew something about this assignment, "Well good for you anyway Andy. Brushing up on the forensics side is going to help you in the future that's for sure. I didn't know anything about it before I made detective,"
Chloe had a slightly different take on things however, "What I don't get is how come you got the cool undercover job Gail, and you're stuck with the PR thing Andy. Did you guys flip a coin?"
"Peck's blood is bluer than McNally's," Dov said, with a curl of his lip.
"Maybe they were just looking for a good cop," Gail explained, shaking her head at the chip Dov still had on his shoulder about her family connections, "And either way, you weren't chosen for anything Epstein,"
Just as Dov was about to retort, and a possible argument start, there was movement in the offices above where the group sat. Frank and Sam were standing, shaking hands with Holly.
"Looks like the meeting is over," Traci said.
"Holly did the autopsy on a murder victim for one of Sam's cases. She thinks she's found something useful," Andy explained, as the officers watched the group leave Frank's office.
"Swarek definitely looks happy," said Chris, looking at Sam's wide grin. The detective gave Holly a quick pat on the back before virtually jogging off towards the pen, clearly a man on a mission.
Frank looked around for Andy and frowned when he saw the officers sat around Dov's desk. "Hey! What are we paying you people for, a coffee morning? Unless you want to be on traffic detail, you had better all not be still sitting about by the time I get back up those stairs!" he yelled.
Gail nearly got caught up in the rush as everyone leapt up and moved to make busy. She said a quick goodbye to everyone, before jogging after Andy who was already heading towards booking with Holly.
"Hey, McNally!" she called, stopping her colleague in her tracks. She smiled at Holly as she caught up with the other two women. "I'll take the rest of your shift, if you like?"
"Really?" Andy asked, in a surprised tone.
Gail shrugged, "Sure." She hadn't come here with the intention of making that offer, but when she saw Holly the idea had just popped into her head. She wouldn't mind spending an extra couple of hours with the pathologist; they still had the last Iron Man film to watch before moving onto Thor. Plus maybe Holly would cook if they got back early enough.
"Why?" said Andy, looking suspicious. Gail Peck didn't do favours at the best of times, and she knew full well that she was definitely off the blonde's Christmas card list. It was therefore strange that Gail would offer to cover some time for her, without any sort of prompting at all.
"I owe you one for the day I had to pull both shifts. And it's only a couple of hours," she said, trying to sound unconcerned either way. "I came here to hang out for a bit, but now Frank has given them all a rocket, I'll only be sat around in the way,"
"Ok then, sure," McNally said. It might be weird, but she wasn't going to turn an offer like this down and wondered if she could catch up with Sam before he left the station. It had been a while since they had talked. And Nick wouldn't mind….
"Jake is outside. Give him a ring and he'll bring the car through into the sally port and you won't even need to do a transfer in the open," Andy continued.
"Great. Chen can spend the last couple of hours with us at Holly's place, then Sanderson will be there,"
"Oh! We're not going straight back to mine this evening," Holly said, with a grin. She had watched the exchange between Andy and Gail in silence, but Gail couldn't help but think she looked pleased at the news Gail would be hanging around for an extra few hours. Maybe it was wishful thinking. Holly might be her friend, but she was one of those people that everyone liked; she already had plenty of friends to hang out with.
"Right. Where are we headed then?" she asked.
"McGregor has given me a hall pass to go let off some steam!" Holly told her.
Gail was nonplussed. That didn't sound like McGregor. "Really? Today?" It had only been a couple of days since the news about Holly's parents. After all the talk about being extra vigilant, she was surprised the sergeant had agreed to allow Holly out.
"Well, I've been bugging him enough about running that I think he saw this as a compromise. He's checked out the place apparently, and thinks it's safe. Plus I think he's feeling bad about my parents, so he caved on this," Holly told her, her eyes dancing with happiness.
Those sparkling brown eyes almost distracted Gail completely, but she caught the reference to running. "Are we going to the gym?" she asked cautiously. Gail hated gyms and furrowed her eyebrows at the thought of it.
Andy laughed at the frown on Gail's face. "Don't worry Gail, you'll enjoy it! Even if it is sports related," she said, winking at Holly, "I'll see you ladies tomorrow – have fun!" McNally trotted off, before Gail could ask any more details.
"Come on. I'm excited!" Holly said, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet as she grabbed Gail's arm and pulled her towards the port. Gail couldn't help smile back at Holly's enthusiasm; but where on earth was this little outing that McGregor had agreed? She didn't like the mention of sport...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"No way," Gail firmly stated. She leant up against the wire fencing and shook her head at the wooden bat Holly offered her. She had just watched Holly face fifteen balls that can't have been launched at much less than a hundred miles per hour. She couldn't think of anything less appealing than having her front teeth knocked out by one of these small, round projectiles.
"Come on! It's cathartic," wheedled Holly, her face slightly flushed from the exertion.
"I'm working. And I don't do sports," she said, in a flat tone which put an end to Holly's attempt to persuade her. Holly stuck her tongue out at Gail through the grill of her helmet, and turned back to the pitching machine.
Gail watched as Holly connected with the first ball out of the machine and sent it sailing off into the glare of the floodlights, before turning back to scan the crowd at the batting cages. She carefully examined all the people within the immediate vicinity of Holly's cage, looking for anyone who was paying them any attention or seemed out of place. However everyone seemed focussed on their own batting practice, from the dad and his young son next door to them to the group of young men laughing and joking at the far end of the row.
She heard the steady thunk of leather on wood from behind her as Holly fell into an easy hitting rhythm. Gail didn't know how much time Holly spent here, but judging by how good the other woman was at smashing the missiles the machine was hurling at her, she guessed it wasn't a one off visit. Apart from the whole pointless exercise of swinging a bat at a tiny, tiny ball it wasn't a bad place to hang out, Gail thought. The bright floodlights focused your attention on the area beyond the cages and the battered sponsorship logos plastered on the metal fencing, but gave the place a hazy glow. She could smell the burgers and hot dogs sizzling on the grill near the kiosk where Holly had forked over some hard earned cash for an hour of torture, and quite frankly they were making her hungry. She had also been reliably informed the kiosk sold beer but she would have to forgo that particular pleasure whilst working.
Gail glanced round the crowd again, noting that nobody had particularly changed positions or come closer to Holly. They had been here half an hour and no-one had paid them the slightest bit of attention, but McGregor was outside checking out anyone who entered and so it was her and Chen's job to make sure the people already inside weren't a threat. It seemed unlikely, but Gail was already used to the sheer amount of concentration and attention to detail this protection job required.
She shifted positions slightly and looked up to where Jacob Chen was striding around the raised area near the food counter. Chen acknowledged her with a wave and gave her the ok sign. She responded in kind just as a loud cheer from the guys on the end of the row startled her. Gail watched as they rattled the fence and catcalled as one of their number stood to face the ball, swinging wildly and missing completely. Sniggering, Gail turned back towards Chen and pulled a face. He grinned and mimed lifting a glass to his mouth, the universal sign for someone who had drunk too much. Yet another solid crack came from behind her as Holly caught another ball sweetly and Gail watched as Holly took on the final two balls of her round, connecting well with both.
Holly raised both arms above her head in a mock salute and lifted her bat to point at an imaginary crowd, as if to acknowledge their cheers. Gail gave her a slow hand clap as Holly walked over to stand opposite her with the wire fencing separating them.
"Why thank you ma'am," she said with a wide grin.
Gail couldn't help smirk at Holly's foolishness. "Do you celebrate every success like you've just won the World Series?" she asked.
"Go hard or go home, Peck," Holly responded. "I like to give things my all,"
"I bet," Gail murmured, raising her eyebrows.
Holly couldn't hold her gaze and blushed a little. She wasn't sure whether Gail meant to come across as flirty with that comment, but the tone of her voice had gone dangerously low. Break the mood Stewart, she told herself.
"Your turn," she said, offering the bat to Gail again.
"No. I am not standing in front of a hundred mile an hour missile with just a plank of wood and a tin hat to protect me!" Gail refused. She would have continued complaining, but Holly chose that moment to pull off her helmet. Gail stared fixatedly as Holly pulled the tie from her hair and shook it out, sending ripples through her long dark tresses before flicking her neck to toss it over one shoulder. It was as sexy as hell and Gail swallowed hard as the sudden impulse to run her hands through the mess of dark brown waves coursed through her.
Gail could see Holly's mouth opening and closing and knew the other woman was trying to speak to her, but she couldn't concentrate on the words. Where on earth had that thought come from? It was pretty obvious Holly was a beautiful woman, and Gail had admired her before. But it was in a purely subjective way; girls were always commenting on how other women looked, weren't they? She had already acknowledged that she had a crush on Holly. But this wasn't the dallied daydream kind of crush; she had never felt such a jolt of pure lust towards another woman before. And over such a clichéd move as well! She felt like a teenage boy catching a glimpse at a tame girly magazine for the first time. Oh God. She was definitely attracted to Doctor Holly Stewart. This wasn't just a crush. This was a full blown wanting, and she could feel it flooding through her body.
"Hey! Earth to Gail!" Finally, Holly's words made it through the fog that was surrounding Gail.
"What?" she asked.
"Fifty!" Holly said, with a puzzled look on her face. "Did you just zone out on me? What did you see?" she asked, looking around trying to spot if Gail had noticed a potential problem.
"What? Fifty what?" Gail repeated again, still trying to get her head around her recent realisation.
"The pitching! It's only fifty miles per hour!" Holly said, shaking her head as if that were obvious. And Gail supposed it might have been if she had been following the conversation rather than mentally undressing her companion. Holly moved to one side and came through the gate in the fence. She approached Gail and held out the bat and helmet. Gail took them, still somewhat dazed, and allowed herself to be propelled into the cage without thinking about it.
She came back to the real world when Holly plonked the bright blue helmet on her head and tightened the strap.
"Holly, I'm at work! I can't slack off and play softball!" she protested, thinking that McGregor would flip out if he saw this.
"Chen says it's fine. And it won't kill you to try something new," Holly said, pointing up at where Jake was stood. He grinned and gave them the thumbs up, but tapped his watch as if to tell them to hurry up. "Just a few pitches," Holly promised and she stepped back out of the cage doorway.
"Ready?" Holly called, reaching across to press the large red button.
"As I'll ever be," Gail muttered, and she raised the bat and tensed her muscles. She narrowed her eyes at the red light in front of her and flexed her fingers around the grip of the bat. She shuffled her feet and waited expectantly as Holly hit the button.
The ball shot out from the machine and all that preparation went completely to waste as soon as Gail saw it flying towards her. She shrieked like a five year old girl, flung the bat across the floor and threw herself against the fencing out of the firing line. Gail had a split second to realise she had just completely humiliated herself in front of the person she had a raging crush on, before Holly's peals of laughter cut through the air.
"Actually, it might kill you!" Holly gasped through her laughter.
Gail tried to be upset at how amusing Holly seemed to find this, but she couldn't help but start giggling herself when she saw the brunette creasing up with laughter. She guessed it was pretty funny. And Holly laughing with such glee was actually very cute. "I told you I didn't like sports!" she said to Holly, without being able to stop the embarrassed giggling.
Holly only laughed harder when Gail pouted at her, "Oh God, and you're the one who's supposed to be protecting me!" she howled, leaning against the fence for support.
"From bad guys with guns! Not from rocket propelled softballs!" Gail retorted, although she was still laughing at herself. "I'm leaving!" she said, stalking past Holly with the helmet still perched on top of her head.
Holly collapsed into another fit of giggles at Gail's antics. She glanced up at Chen, who simply shook his head in disgust at Gail's attempt which only served to amuse Holly all the more. Gail's attempt had been utterly pathetic, but Holly thought it was kind of adorable how bad she had actually been. And the giggling was really cute. "Wait, Gail! Come and have another go! I'll help!" she called, trotting in the direction the cop had gone, still chuckling softly. She was having far too much fun with Gail to let the evening finish here. And she really wanted to see the blonde face another pitch!
"Gail! Come back!"