Please if you haven't already, read Chapter 11 a) It was posted only 8 hours ago, so don't miss it! Go back a chapter now!

paulinemcc - Yes, i am late! I did however add another 1000 words within in a few hours. Sorry about all the touchy feely stuff too! I am kind of having fun writing dialog for these two. They have kissed a few times, but now I am just waiting for the right moment, maybe when Gail is not so in her own head, which will be very VERY soon. I have always preferred reading/watching the lead up to relationships than the actual relationships themselves, maybe that's why i am holding off a little. But then again this story so far has really only spanned 4 days. At this rate it will be finished by the time Rookie starts next May/June. Thanks for the comments, I appreciate it. I am glad you are liking the story.

Please make sure to leave a review, all comments welcome.


I lean over the verandah railing and I wave goodbye to Steve and Traci as they pull out of driveway. I hear Holly make her way out of the house through the wire door and she leans on the railing next to me. The smell of her moisturizer will never get old, but this time it's mixed with something a little bit different.

"Are you wearing men's deodorant?" I ask.

"Guilty, officer."

"You smell nice." Very sexy.

From the corner of my eye, I see her lower her head and smile to herself. I turn my head towards her and she pushes herself off the railing and pulls her foot to the back of her quad. "Not for long though. You sure you don't want to come with me?" She says dropping her foot then grabbing the other.

"There is nothing in this world I'd like less" I smile. I stand up straight and take all of her in. She is all arms and legs. For someone who sits in a lab all day, she is ridiculously toned. I am a bit jealous. I kind of want to stab her and run my hands all over her at the same time.

I suddenly realise I have been ogling her for the past ten seconds. "Besides, this will give me the perfect opportunity to pilfer through all your stuff." I try to say with a straight face.

She drops her foot and takes a step towards me, with a wry smile. I feel her little finger graze the side of my arm, as it slides down over my wrist, before it hooks with my own little finger. She gives it a little shake. "Okay, just don't go snooping in my dresser, especially at the back of the bottom left drawer." Her smile morphs into a grin, as she releases her finger from mine and walks backwards before turning and jumping down the stairs.

"I'll see you soon," she calls and takes off running.

Just the thought of exercise makes me exhausted. I lean back against the railing, close my eyes and take in a long steady breath; my lungs fill to capacity with the cool air. I haven't been this relaxed since I got here. Now I'm alone with my thoughts, awesome!

I walk back into the house and into the kitchen to pour myself a coffee from Holly's shiny coffee machine, where she has obviously spared no expense. I hop up onto the bench and take a sip. There is a packet of chocolate biscuits next to me, calling to me. Holly is out running being a good girl, and I am here eyeing off biscuits. Typical. I would feel guilty but luckily my metabolism is like a cheetah. I'm sure my insides don't appreciate it, but I shovel a third biscuit into my mouth anyway.

As I chew, I wonder if I should make good on my threat of looking through all her stuff. Of course I am. I would be a pretty bad police officer if I didn't, right? Who am I kidding, I am going straight to the bedroom and that bottom left drawer.

I know no one is home, but I can't help but creep quietly into the bedroom. I walk up to her dresser and place my on hand on the cool metal handle. Should I really be doing this? She wants you to.

I slowly open the drawer, and peak in. I close it almost immediately, step back and fall backwards onto the bed. As I lie on my back, I look towards her pillow and grab her Dr Who t-shirt from underneath it. The image of the Tardis is burned into my memory of when she laid in bed next to me earlier this morning, before we went to sleep and again when we woke up.


"Are you tired?" She asks as she lies opposite me, mimicking my exact position. We lie facing each other, a hand placed on our own pillows beside our heads.

"I'm exhausted, but I don't know if I can sleep." I answer.

"How's your bruise?"

I lift up my shirt, revealing the bruise that has now traveled from around my back, and partially onto the side of my stomach. "It doesn't hurt as much, but now it's a lovely shade of yellow and green," I grin.

Holly gets out of bed, and tip toes into the bathroom. "I have something you can put on that." She calls out, shuffling through the sink cabinet, "If I can find it." Shortly after, she hops back onto the bed and places the bottle on the blanket between us.

"Can you do it, doctor?" I ask, and she nods. Any excuse for her to touch me really. "What is it exactly?"

"Arnica oil." She pops the lid and squeezes some out onto her hand. "It's a natural anti-inflammatory. A genus that is part of the Asteraceae family."

"And what prey tell is that, nerd?" I scoff.

She smirks as she lifts my shirt up a bit further and gently applies her hand to my skin. Her touch is cold, which makes the hairs on my arm stand on end.

"Sunflowers. The genus name Arnica is derived from the Greek word lamb, which relates to its soft, furry leaves."

I immediately bury my head into my pillow.

Her hand stops massaging my skin. "Did I hurt you?" She asks.

"Yes, with your words" I laugh.

I hear her snort as she lifts my shorts back a little over my hip. "Nice tat." She comments. Shit, I had forgotten I had that. "I wouldn't have taken you for the tattoo type. Were you going through a rebellious stage?"

"Yes, a feather 'screams' rebellion." I say sarcastically.

"Let me guess, it means freedom, flight, your need to escape?"

I don't say anything for a few seconds as I remember the moment when I got it when I was 23. "No. Honor." I say quietly.

"Oh," she says, a little taken aback. "Well it's beautiful." She pulls my top back down. Then proceeds to kiss me on my hip, directly on my tattoo. "You are beautiful," she adds.

She pulls the bed covers up, and places the bottle on the nightstand, and switches off the lamp, before returning to our previous lying positions. "Are you ready to sleep?"

"I guess." I sigh.

"Give me your hand, and close your eyes." She asks and I hesitate.

"Gail?" She whines insistently. I quickly move my hand to her pillow and close my eyes. I feel her fingers softly graze over my hand, then land near my wrist. "There are two rows of bones here called the carpal bones, eight to be exact. They provide strength and flexibility to your wrist." She says softly.

"Oh god..." I laugh.

"Shh!" She squeezes my hand tight, and I relax back into the bed. I'll just let this happen then.

She applies pressure to a point above my wrist. "This one is called the Scaphoid bone, it's kind of shaped a bit like a boat."

"I'd love to sail off about now," I mumble jokingly.

"Fine! I'm stopping" she exclaims as she begins to turn over.

"No, come back here." I pull her back over and place my hand back under hers. "You can't leave me hanging when you have only told me about one of eight carpal bones." I snicker as I close my eyes again. See, I listen.

She quietly clears her throat. "Fine. The one to the right of that is the Lunate bone. It looks a bit like a crescent moon. Next to that is the Triquetrium."

"Let me guess, shaped like a triangle?" I mumble into my pillow.

"Very good. Now shoosh. The little round nubby one here is the Pisiform." Ha ha, pissy.

"On the top row, we have the Trapezium, a four sided bone. Next to that, is a wedged shaped bone called the Trapezoid. In the middle is the biggest bone of your wrist, the Carpitate. Looks a bit like your big head." She jokes, squeezing my hand again. "And finally, the Hamate bone, it's a little similar to the Trapezoid, but you wouldn't remember what that looks like would you?" She asks not expecting an answer, probably hoping I fell asleep of boredom.

"Wedge" I mumble, and she kisses my hand. Fuck, I think I love...


I feel a vibration in my pocket and I rise from the bed. I pull out my phone and see a message from Chris.

Chris: Leg is all stitched up. Thank Holly for me. Actually, what's her phone number?

I am laughing on the inside. "Oh Chris, such a cute little puppy dog."

I check the time on my phone only to discover I have been daydreaming for about thirty minutes, and have wasted precious snooping time.

I walk back out to the lounge area and start scanning the shelves lining every wall. They are all books of course, though nothing I would have read probably. There is a mixture of science, fishing, poetry and science fiction. A few knick-knacks, a few pictures, some in frames, some wedged between book pages. I see a picture of a little boy and girl waving to the camera, and I take it off the shelf. The view is very familiar. I assume that's the friend she used to play with down by the lake. She looks so happy, so it's horrible to think how her life is probably about to change at that point in time. I glide my finger over the glass and place the frame back on the shelf.

I walk to the other side of the room. There is an upright piano covered in a velvet cloth. Next to the piano on some shelves are some LP's. I love old records. It's not often I ever get to play them, so I may as we'll take the opportunity while no one is around. It looks like someone loved musicals. Gershwin, Bernstein, Hamlisch, Berlin to name a few. I'm curious to see if they have any Cole Porter, whom I have loved since I was a child. I remember my dad used to love watching Frank Sinatra movies, and we'd watch High Society together and I'd sing along, and I'd whine about not having all of Grace Kelly's pretty dresses.

I continue to scan through the collection hoping to find something from him, and I happen to come across an LP of The Best of Cole Porter. Perfect! I plug in the record player and remove the record from its sleeve, and carefully place it on the turntable. I move the position of the needle to my favourite song and turn it on.

"Fuck me!" I yell, as the scratching grates on my ears. "Let's try that again."

I feel my heart rate drop to the calming melody, and I start to hum. I never really listen to the lyrics of songs, it's more the melodies that get stuck in my head, so maybe my need to actually listen to Holly all the time, just to keep up with her, is suddenly rubbing off. I have never noticed how romantic this song is though.

My god! I'm turning into such a sappy loser. Just like Chris. "Jesus, get a grip, Gail."

I walk back over to the other side of the room; I look towards the drawers beneath the cabinet shelves. I start to slowly open the draws, the melody has gotten to me now, and I can't help but sing along.

"For you and I have a guardian angel on high, with nothing to lose. But to give to you and to give to me, love forever true."

Fuck! I hear the front wire door creak and I quickly step away from the drawers with my hands in the air. "I claim innocence! It wasn't me, I swear!" I yell, giggling as I turn around.

Holly is standing inside the door, barefoot, holding her running shoes. What's with the face, Hol?

She looks pale. As pale as she can look with her dark complexion. "Do you want a glass of water? You don't look too good." I say walking into the kitchen. I get a glass from the shelf and go to the sink.

"You were singing." She says.

"Oh, I know. Terribly out of key no doubt. Sorry, you had to hear that." I laugh as I turn off the tap.

I walk over to her, still standing at the door, not moving. She doesn't take the glass from me; I have to physically put it in her hand.

"I'm not." She says.

"You're not what?" I ask.

"Sorry I heard you." She answers.

"Hol, what's going on, did you hurt yourself?" I ask, as I pull on her arm.

I watch a tear form in her eye as she shakes her head. "I just had the weirdest case of déjà vu. It kind of threw me."

"You are as pale as me, it's kind of scary." I tell her.

"You were singing," she repeats.

"Yes, we covered that already," I smile, as I wipe the lone tear from her cheek.

"You don't understand," she says softly, as she tries to take a step around me.

"Then tell me," I say taking a step sideways to block her. "I won't bite."

"It's just that my mother used to sing around the house to those records. I know I was only young, but it's one of my strongest memories of her. It was just the weirdest thing walking up the steps and hearing that again."

"Sorry, I -I"

"Don't be, it was nice. Plus, you are an awesome singer, like, WOW! What the hell, Gail?"

I feel my face turn bright red and I bury my head in my hands. "Oh god, stop it." Kill me now.

I remove my hands from my face as I notice blood streaming down Holly's ankle. "You are bleeding." I point out to her.

"Oh, yes I hurt myself." She says like it didn't happen to her.

"I just asked you if you hurt yourself and you said nothing!" I scowl.

"Well I got a bit distracted by your lovely..."

"Don't say it!" I warn, as I cover her mouth with my hand.

She removes my hand from her mouth and sits on the back of the couch. "Anyway I'm fine. My new best friend, the spiky bush thing, on the other hand, is not. And before you ask, no, I don't know the name of this particular bush, and yes, I am going to look it up on the Internet."

"Oh thank god! I think I would have probably died if I never found out the name of the 'spiky bush thing' that did this to you. Thank you."

I watch her look of interest fade in what I am saying as she realises I am teasing her.

"You are such a sarcastic asshole you know that?" She sneers and I happily shrug my shoulders in agreement.

"And you are the biggest nerd in the history of nerds." I reply.

We leer at each other, neither of us wants to break before the other, but I shake my head and start laughing and she soon follows.

"Do you want me to clean that up?" I ask, as i slowly recover from laughing and point to her foot.

"No, I am just going to take a shower." She answers.

I nod. "Well I can put a Band-Aid on it later. That's the best I can do!" I grin.

"So... What should I be wearing on our date tonight?" She asks.

"Casual, is fine. We are leaving a bit earlier. By five, is that ok?"

"That's fine, I better go clean up then, " she says, as she hastily stands from the couch and walks towards the bedroom.

"Are you ready to find out what its like when two girls get dressed together, for a date that is?" She says as she turns back towards me.

"Are you asking me to watch you get dressed?"

"No, but I might let you do my makeup for me though." She smiles. What are you talking about? You don't need it.