When my eyes open the first thing I'm aware of is the sound of breathing. Breathing very close to my ear. The second thing I'm aware of is warmth—warmth from another body. A naked body, to be exact. I don't think I've ever woken up in a cuddling position before. Usually during the night, I tend to slip away from my partner in bed.

I turn my head slightly and slowly, as not to wake her up. She's still sleeping, her head tucked on my shoulder. It's amazing that neither of us shifted from our positions last night.

I marvel at how deliciously naked she must be under the sheet. Her hair falls everywhere around her face and the pillow. Her mouth pouts slightly as she breathes in and out slowly. A flashback of last night's events comes to mind and I involuntarily tighten my hold around her. She's here. She's mine.

Holly shifts her legs slightly and mumbles something, but doesn't wake up. She looks so adorable while sleeping that I can't help myself but give her a kiss on the forehead. Still nothing. And I remember that she's kind of a heavy sleeper.

I slip quietly out of bed and throw on some sweatpants and a t-shirt. Thank god it's the weekend so neither of us has to work today. But I've never been able to sleep in anyway. My body sort of just naturally wakes up in the morning anyway.

I leave the room and start a pot of coffee in the kitchen. I notice Chris passed out very ungracefully on the couch and roll my eyes. I guess he was too drunk to make it to his bed last night.

When the coffee's done, I pour two cups and bring it back to my room. She's still sleeping peacefully, with her hands tucked under her face. I shake my hand in amazement. But this coffee should do it, if I remember correctly.

I place a cup right on the dresser next to the bed and wait for the coffee smell to permeate the room. After a minute, her nose wrinkles and she cracks open one eye. I think she's more addicted to coffee than I am.

Her head pops up from the pillow, and she adjusts herself into a sitting position as she rubs her eyes. The blanket falls away, revealing more of her body. I try not to stare. I don't think she's even realized that I'm in the room.

"Hey," I tell her.

She jumps slightly. For such a self-assured doctor, she sure scares easily. Maybe it's because all she does is work with dead bodies, and I'm sure they're pretty quiet and not at all surprising.

Her sleepy eyes focus on me and she smiles at me. A small one, one where only the corners of her lips turn up.

"Good morning," she says in greeting. Then she looks down and frowns as she realizes she's still naked.

"Here," I say, tossing her one of my sweatshirts, even though I would rather her not be wearing anything at all.

Holly slips on the sweatshirt and it looks almost comical on her. It's a college sweatshirt I've had for almost a decade with rags and tears all around the sleeves and collars. But she looks good wearing it.

"Is that for me?" she points to the coffee on the dresser.

"Yup, help yourself," I say, sipping from my own.

"Yum."

Holly grabs the cup eagerly and sits up straight to drink it. After smacking her lips, she judges the coffee.

"Not bad Peck."

"Thanks for the approval," I reply, lifting my cup to her in a mock toast.

After a couple minutes of her sitting in my bed drinking coffee and me standing by the door drinking coffee, she pats the spot on the bed next to her.

"You gonna come back?"

I wordlessly crawl back into the bed, carefully holding my mug so the coffee doesn't spill onto the bedspread. We sit next to each other against the headboard silently.

The brash confidence she showed me last night as she took me to uncharted territories is nowhere in the room. Instead she is contemplative, reflective. We both are. I bite my lip to try to keep the words from coming out. I'm afraid if I open my mouth I'll end up interrogating her about last night like a suspect.

So I wait for her to break the silence. I don't have to wait very long before she does.

"She's still the same."

"Huh?" Not exactly the words I was expecting.

Holly continues on without further explanation. "We just talked about regular stuff at first. Catch up time, you know? It was almost like old times again. Then she asked me if I was seeing anybody."

I gulped. "And what did you say?"

Holly looked sideways at me. "I told her yes."

"Oh."

"Is that okay?"

"Yeah," I say. And I want to smile like an idiot. I want to giggle like a schoolgirl. I want to go around the neighborhood tossing rainbows and candy everywhere. Even though it was obvious to me that we were clearly more than friends, it's another thing to actually hear her admit it out loud. But I keep my cool because that's what I do.

"She didn't really react," Holly muses. "But then she started talking about the old times. About the 'fun times' we used to have." Her voice has changed. It's bitter now.

"I was probably one step away from yelling at her, I think. But then she asked me the stupidest question in the world."

"What?"

"She asked me if I wanted to go get a drink."

I mull over it for a couple seconds. "Why is that stupid?"

"She used to ask me that before we had our 'fun times'. That was our signal line to each other to...you know."

I know.

"And I realized...she hasn't changed at all. Eight years later, and she's still just looking for a hookup. Even knowing that I was seeing somebody, she tried. I think...that...was it for me. That was it. That's the line. Maybe that was the slap in the face that I needed. I've wasted so much time and energy on her. Pining. Being an idiot."

I nod. Then I shake my head. "No. Not an idiot. That's...just sometimes the way life works out. We live. And we learn."

Holly nods silently, agreeing with the sentiment.

"So I left. I think I'm okay. I think we're okay. I wonder if it's because we were already such different people when we were younger and I just couldn't see it...or if it's because I've become a different person since then," Holly shrugs and drinks more coffee. I think she's thinking out loud now, more so than explaining to me.

I hesitate. I shuffle around on top of the sheets, staring at my toes. I want more than anything to just believe that she's had a change of heart. But, really, how do you realize something like that in one night? How do you change your entire perception in one night?

Holly must sense it. She eyes my feet fumbling around on the bed and I still them immediately, like I've been caught doing something wrong. She places her mug on the dresser next to her. She plucks mine out of my hands and does the same. The next thing I know, I find my hands enclosed in hers.

Her voice is mild as she says my name. I reluctantly turn to her.

"I know that it seems like a stretch. I know you don't believe that somebody can change that quickly. And I don't think there's anything that I can say that will convince you. But I hope that you'll just see it for yourself over time. I promise not to hide anything from you. If, in the future, and I'm not saying that this will happen, if…she ever pops up again on my emotional radar, I will tell you. And I hope you will listen to me. Because that's what we do right? We tell each other things," Holly says it all in one giant breath without stopping. Somehow I manage to keep track of it all.

"Yup."

"So we're good?"

Without giving her a response, I dive into the sheets. I wrench them over my head and burrow into the mattress. The second after I do this, I immediately berate myself. I must look like I'm running away. Or like I'm hiding. But I do this so I can't see Holly. I grip the sheets tight to keep my hands occupied. I take deep breaths to control my breathing.

I want to look at her until the end of time. I want to touch her until I can't anymore. I want to mark her as mine. But I don't want to scare her away. I think this is when we are really starting our relationship. What will she think if I just suddenly attack her?

"Gail? Are you okay? Are we good?" Holly's voice comes from somewhere outside the fortress I've created.

Damn it. I have to answer her, otherwise she'll get the wrong idea.

"Yeah. We're good."

There's no response and I wonder if she believes me. There's no motions, no noise. I almost consider the possibility if she's just vanished from my bed. I clench my teeth together. The urge to mark her is almost primal. It scares me.

"Gail, if you want me to go, I can go."

Yeah, she's getting the wrong idea. She doesn't deserve this. I throw the sheets off and in one quick motion, maneuver Holly so she is on her back and I am straddling her waist.

Her eyes are in shock, her hands up in a defensive motion. We look at each other for a few intense moments. I say nothing and she says nothing. But we're saying everything. She waits for me. Then I give in.

I give into my instinct and lean in. She expects a kiss, but I go for her neck instead. I suck and I bite and I do everything that I can there. The noises that she makes are indescribable. I never knew it could feel like this. I never knew it could feel like this to give somebody pleasure. Those breaths that she gasps, those whimpers that involuntarily escapes from her lips.

Music to my ears.

When I finish one area, I start in another. She tangles her hands in my hair and pulls me closer. In between the breaths and in between the gasps, I can hear her struggling to get words out.

"You're…you're going to…leave marks."

"That's the point," I growl, stopping my assault on her neck momentarily.

She acquiesces and lets me continue. I hope she understands that I need to do this. I need to do this so I can confirm to myself that she is mine. So that she knows she is mine. So the whole damn world knows that she is mine.

It's like a mantra in my head.

She is mine.

"Hey! Gail!"

A knock on my bedroom door interrupts us sometime later. I have no idea how much time has passed. I jump out of the bed and search desperately for my clothes. I don't want anybody walking in on the two of us in bed. That's just way too awkward and too close for me. I hate the idea of somebody else being near me while I'm so exposed. I find my sweatshirt and throw it at Holly.

"It's Dov," I mutter to Holly as she pulls on my sweatshirt again. She grins and gestures for me to open the door as she remains in bed, her lower half covered by the sheets.

I jerk the door open after haphazardly pulling on some pants.

"What Dov?" I snarl. This better be good for interrupting what we were in the middle of.

Dov peers around my shoulder and sees Holly. A stupid smile covers his face and he looks at me knowingly. Out of Holly's sightline, he gives me a thumb's up. I choose to ignore the look and his gesture and give him the stink eye to make him say whatever he's going to say.

"We're celebrating Chloe's return to 15 tonight. We're gonna hit up the Penny. Do you…guys wanna come?"

I glance back at Holly, who shrugs at me. I take that as a positive and agree to meet the rest of the gang there. I wave Dov away and he makes me promise to be there later before leaving us in peace.

Holly clears her throat as I close the door and turn back to her.

"So am I part of the official 15 crew now?"

"What do you mean?" I say stupidly in response. I think all our morning activities has rotted my brain.

She laughs at me. One of her loud laughs, one that I can feel inside. We spend the rest of the day watching movies in bed and talking and sharing and eating. It feels really right. I don't feel the need to run away. I don't feel the need to make some excuse to kick her out.

As we finally get dressed for the evening, I can feel a glow within me. It feels like Holly lit a fire in me and it can't be extinguished. It's burning brightly and I've never felt more satisfied in my life. I've finally been able to capture her as my own. And I am hers.

"Where's my scarf? I need it," Holly proclaims as she wanders the room collecting her clothes, pulling them on as she goes.

"Why?"

Really, I don't think my brain is working at all. But I find her scarf on the ground by my shoes and hand it to her.

Holly checks herself in the mirror hanging on the back of my door. Her hands come up and I watch as she touches each of the marks I made earlier. I want to swell up like a balloon in pride. I come to stand behind her.

"Sorry," I tell her, really trying to be.

"No, you're not," she replies cheekily.

"No, I'm not."

She swats at me and hands me the scarf back. I wrap it around her neck, placing it strategically so everything is covered. I fight the itch to reveal one or two of them. I respect her decision to cover them…for now. Appearances and all that, I guess.

At the Penny, I fight through the crowd with Holly, greeting people as I go. I keep my hand tightly in hers so I don't lose her. I see Chloe sitting at a table by Dov, drinks everywhere on the table. She's talking and chattering to Dov, and he's looking at her like he could listen to her forever.

I lean in and interrupt. "Welcome back, Price. Missed you."

"Aw, really? I knew you were a softie!"

"Yeah, I really missed that incessant voice by my ear, just gabbing away. It got too quiet."

Dov shoots me a dirty look. He doesn't get it. This is how Chloe and I interact.

Chloe evidently understands and she beams up at me happily. "It'll be good to be back. Thanks, Gail."

Holly leans in from behind me. "Congratulations on returning to the force, Officer Price."

"Thanks. Holly right? You're the forensic pathologist? How is that? I've always thought that if I didn't become a police officer I could become a doctor. Or a forensic pathologist. Do you really work with dead bodies like every day? Is it scary? I would think it's pretty scary. Do you get to see everything inside?" Chloe's voice goes on and on.

And everything is back to normal. I take a seat at the table and grab one of the many drinks that Chloe's accumulated from all the other officers. Holly seems to enjoy Chloe's questions and chatter as she answers them happily.

I should find the fact that Holly fit so easily into our circle frightening. But it's not. Because I couldn't have expected anything less from someone like Holly. Someone like Holly is someone who just fits in like that. She can handle me, so she can handle anybody.

Dov pulls out his stupid trivia pack and declares a battle. Holly crushes all of us without even trying. It is scary how right everything feels though. How normal it all feels. There is no other shoe that's waiting to drop now, I think.

I think this is how it's supposed to be. And it all makes sense now.

A/N: I debated again how to tell Holly's story. And obviously I decided not to switch POV's. Too many of those piss me off, and I think two switches is just one too many. I want this story to remain Gail's POV and hers only. Thank you all for your patience for this chapter. Rest assured, this story will be completed. I just can't guarantee when updates will come. But they will come.

To be continued!