A/N: I'm just going to say that chapter 11 is written already and that chapter 12 is well under way. Have faith my friends! :)

Chapter 10

After packing Gail out of your apartment – part of you wish to say 'out of you life' whereas part of you still misses the annoying shooting sound of her video-games in your living room – things fell into a comfortable routine.

Your week days hadn't changed much.

You would go to work in the mornings, sneak out to have lunch with Taylor whenever you both could – which was less and less frequent now that her dream restaurant was becoming a reality –, go back to the lab and wait until it was time to go home.

The main difference, was the amount of extra hours you had been putting on. It wasn't the crazy hours you did when you first got the job, but you rarely left on time anymore. Nowadays you only went home to grab a quick dinner and fall into bed.

The only exceptions were the days in which Taylor would be done sooner, either too pissed at one of her investors or contractors or too excited over something new they had added to the building. On those nights, she would text you from the parking lot with a bag full of groceries and a huge smile.

Sometimes you wish she would just let you order take out or pizza from that place a few blocks away from your apartment, but apparently Taylor had a huge aversion to anything that wasn't homemade cooked, so you had simply given up. Is not as if you should be complaining about homemade meals anyway.

The frantic pace of your week left you with no time to think or to miss anything and while you were well aware avoiding those feelings wasn't the smartest thing to do, it surely felt good.

The weekends were the trickiest part.

Your extra hours meant you had absolutely nothing to do for two whole days, being left with a huge 48hrs gap to fill.

When your girlfriend – why did the word still felt so foreign to you? – could accompany you, you two would go hiking or running in the mornings.

It hadn't take long for you to discovery that Taylor was as much of a sportsperson as you were, which was quite exciting at first, since you rarely had anyone to keep you company during your exercises. You two had shared trails, running spots, hidden paths and even some easy climb spots so you could start practicing.

It was all wonderful at the beginning and you really looked forward to those times, but now you couldn't deny it was getting tiresome. You loved all those things but somedays all you wanted was to shut down your alarm clock and sleep in.

The bright side of working out that much and that frequently, though – other than the new gained incredible shape of your legs, of course – was the increase blood flow that left your senses tingling and the sweat that kept the thank top glued to your glistening skin. Facts Taylor always made sure to show you just how much she truly liked.

So yes, sometimes you wished you could sleep in, but much of your afternoons were spend in bed anyway so you had no intentions of actually stop with your exercise sessions. Neither of them.

Couple of days after dropping Gail's box and seeing her ready for Leo's game, you had ran into Traci during a case. As you were finishing giving her your inputs about the body, she had bumped into your shoulder and told you everyone had been missing you. Except for Dov, Dov was thrilled about being Trivia king once more, she had added with a smirk.

The fact she hadn't asked why you had stopped attending to Penny in the first place had let you to believe that Gail had talked to her about you. In a way you were glad you didn't had to explain her anything, or try to come up with a silly excuse for your absence.

You missed them too.

All of them.

Once you had said this to her, she had looked at you for a moment or two appearing as if she wanted to tell you something important, but gave up in the last minute, shaking her head instead and giving you a smile.

"We are your friends too, you know?" Passing by you, she gave you a half hug. "You don't need to shut down from us just 'cos she shut down from you."

You had closed your eyes and returned her hug, feeling both grateful for knowing you still had your 'rookie' friends, and sad for knowing thing were never going to be the same again.

When you two had break apart, she had turned to go back to the squad car but you had stopped her, asking if she would mind if you took Leo to see the new dinosaur exhibit they had assemble at the zoo.

The relieved look on her face made you chuckle, and when she finally left, you had new plans for your Saturday morning.

Least this time you had a good excuse not to go running with Taylor.

That had been over two months ago and since then you had seen Leo three more times: one to have ice cream, one to help him with his science project and one to celebrate him winning science fair. You had also met Tracy and Andy for brunch, Chris and Dov at the batting cages, and Chloe to help her shopping.

You had even spent an entire day with Nick when Sam placed him with you at the lab.

In none of those times you had brought Taylor along with you. It wasn't that you didn't wanted them to meet her, but it felt odd to have those two parts of your life colliding.

They were Gail's.

It felt too awkward to bring Taylor into the mix, and so you hadn't. You had kept your 'rookies' and your girlfriend as far away from each other as possible.

Once that thought had crossed your mind you and you once you stopped feeling guilty about it, you had literaly fall on your butt in laughter.

If this didn't feel like the afterwards of a break-up you didn't knew what it was.

Except there had been nothing to break up with.

What an irony.

Filling every hour of your day also meant you had fulfilled your editor's wishes and finished a paper that had been sitting on your desk for months now. All there was left to do was to review it one last time and send it to him so he could make his suggestions.

And that was how Friday night had found you.

Sitting on your couch with a mug of tea in one hand, a blanket spread over your legs and you laptop resting over your lap.

To be fair, this wasn't your original plan. You were going to initiate Taylor on the wonder that was Wynonna Earp, but she had called you the day before to let you know she had a family emergency and would have to reschedule.

Her sister had been rushed for an emergency C-section, and so Taylor was going to fly to her city to be with her family. You had instantly offered to go with her but she had reassured you there was no need, she would called you as soon as she landed and as soon as she had news, not hanging up before she had promised to made up to you when she came back.

Many hours later, you had checked you phone to see the picture of beaming Taylor with a pink bundle in her arms. Everything had gone well and she was going to spent the weekend at her parent's house, but should be back on Monday night.

Until then, you were left with a paper to review and even more time to kill.

There was only a few more paragraphs for you to go through when the doorbell interrupted you train of thoughts. Frowning at the clock, you slowly got you from your position taking the blanket from your legs and wrapping it around your shoulders.

You heart was beating a little too fast and you tried to push the memories of Perik's case away from your mind.

Maybe you had been hanging around too much at the lab, or maybe your cop friends had told you one too many stories, but it was past midnight and you weren't expecting anyone. Besides, the doorman hadn't announced whoever it was that was, so what else were you suppose to think?

Making sure your phone was near you, you looked through the peephole.

If your heart was already beating fast from being startled by the doorbell, what you saw made it jump up to your throat. You tried to steady your hands enough to open the door but barely managed to turn the key.

There, standing in front of you, was a worried Chloe holding a beaten and bloodied Gail. The blonde was sagged against her side, barely standing.

"I'm sorry but she refused to go to a hospital."