A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for a longer than usual delay with getting this put up here. Time kind of got away from me as I've been agonizing over every detail while writing our girls wedding (which is turning into an epic mini-series lol). I'm hoping when the time comes it comes across the way I've envisioned it, but we'll get back to that later. :)

I have the next 3 chapters after this one just about edited so updates should be coming a little quicker. *fingers crossed*

Once again, thank you for your patience and continued support. Please don't be shy about letting me know what you think of this chapter.

Ok guys, keep your hands and feet inside cuz this train is leaving the station! Enjoy!

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Chapter 20- Future

Gail trudged into the house from the garage and dropped her duffle bag beside the door as she kicked it shut behind her. After shuffling through the dining room into the kitchen and tossing her keys on the table, she rounded the breakfast bar and snagged a beer from the refrigerator before plopping down on the couch with a new magazine she'd picked up on the way home.

It had been a long uneventful day filled with numerous traffic stops.

Traffic stops meant tickets and tickets meant days tied up in court.

Peck cut people breaks when she could so her sympathy for the ones who fought the infractions was pretty close to zero. She would've found the whole thing annoying if it weren't so amusing listening to the outrageous stories people concocted to try to weasel out of their fines. Typically, it was the men who came up with the best, most elaborate excuses for why they were speeding or why they were trying to shave while driving down the highway; the women usually just cried fake tears to try to play on the court's heartstrings, but the judge usually saw through them straight away and upheld the penalties.

After popping the top on her beer and taking a long satisfying pull, she opened the magazine beside her and started to leisurely leaf through the pages, skimming the pictures as she went. Gail was so engrossed that she didn't hear Holly come into the house until she was dropping her keys on the kitchen table. The racket caused Peck to jump and quickly shut the magazine before flipping it face down on the arm of the couch, her elbow coming down to casually rest on top of it.

"Hey," Holly called out with a smile as she set her bag down on the chair and rounded the sofa to sit beside the officer. Gail's cheeks were slightly flushed and the doc could see her chest rising and falling quickly. "You ok?"

"Yeah," Gail said, with a nervous smile. "You caught me off guard; I didn't hear you come in."

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to be stealthy," Holly chuckled and leaned in to kiss her fiancé hello. "Hi," she smiled widely when she pulled back. "How was your shift?"

"Long…boring…cold…take your pick," Peck replied with a shrug as she reached out and smoothed Holly's hair back. "How about you? Did the stiffs give you any problems?"

"Ugh, the dead ones aren't the problem, it's the live ones that drive me nuts sometimes," Holly chuckled.

"What happened?" Gail asked curiously.

"We had a detective from 27th who dropped off a 9mm that he needed dusted for prints along with a few shell casings from his crime scene for a ballistics comparison. Naturally his case is the most important in the city and he wanted it moved to the top of the pile. So I had Jim, my intern, do the first comparison and analyze the casings under the microscope and then I did my own side by side comparisons and checked our findings against one another. We both reached the exact same conclusion; the casings found at the scene weren't from this gun and there were no usable prints to be pulled. So the detective comes by to pick up his report and gets upset because it proves the suspect he likes for the crime is innocent…" the doc explained.

"Let me guess, he immediately started blaming the lab…" Gail trailed off; already having a feeling she knew where this was going since she'd seen it firsthand numerous times before. Unfortunately, she'd never realized how full of shit those detectives were until she met Holly and understood the process better.

"Basically, he started questioning Jim's competency and insinuating he didn't know how to dust for prints or use a microscope correctly. He still wasn't satisfied after I explained that I had done my own analysis and reached the same conclusion; I even pulled up the side by side image comparison of both casings and pointed out the difference in the firing pin locations and the different striations from the barrels to show him the samples didn't match," Holly continued shaking her head in frustration. Gail just stared at her for a moment.

"I love when you speak nerd," the blonde said with a slow smirk and Holly chuckled.

"Yeah well that jackass is the reason I'm late, after all of that he still wanted the samples re-analyzed which caused a hell of a backlog that needed to be caught up," she said sighing heavily.

"Why were you processing evidence for 27? Traci, Sam, and company not keeping you busy enough?" Peck asked, playfully poking her fiancé with her toe. Holly simply scoffed at the officer, not dignifying that question with an answer since she knew how crazy things had been thanks to the Dowling crew gang shooting.

"What'cha got over there?" Holly asked, her eyes landing on the glossy back page of the magazine.

"Ah just passing time until you got home," Gail brushed it off before trying to change the subject. "What do you want to do for dinner?"

Holly just stared at her in silent amusement, completely aware of Gail's not-so-sly attempt at avoidance.

"Anything good?" she pressed and Gail knew she was busted.

"Don't laugh, ok" Peck said bashfully, suddenly feeling embarrassed and reluctantly flipped the book over for Holly to see.

"Why would I laugh?" Holly chuckled with confusion. "It's not like you're sitting here looking at porn or anything…not that that would be an issue, but you're doing research so you can make the most informed choice."

Holly set the dog breeders magazine on Gail's thigh, turning towards her on the couch.

"I know, but it's just…" Peck trailed off momentarily and Holly patiently waited for her to continue. "I didn't realize how bad I wanted this promotion until we talked about it and I really started diving into the details and doing the ride-alongs. I mean I've been on patrol for almost 5 years now and everyone else is starting to move up. Traci's a detective, Andy's a training officer, Nick's doing more and more undercover work, Dov's been working with Intelligence on and off even though he's dumber than a doorknob sometimes…I just feel like it's my turn to take the next step. I talked to a handler over at 27th before I left and he suggested a few breeds to read up on and go from there."

"Good, I'm glad you're excited," Holly said with a large smile, rubbing the blonde's thigh. "So show me what we're looking at," she said eagerly, scooting closer and Gail loved that Holly was this enthusiastic about it; the use of the word "we're" not lost on her and she wondered how she made it this far without having someone like Holly in her corner.

Peck opened the magazine to the earmarked pages featuring the Labrador Retriever, the German Shepard, and the Belgian Malinois and explained all the benefits of the breeds. Luckily all three were highly regarded for police work so at this point it was purely a matter of preference.

"Are you leaning more towards one than the others?" Holly asked, flipping back and forth.

"I really like all three," she started but was quickly cut off by Hol.

"Gail we're not getting three dogs…"

"I know," the blonde laughed, "I think I'm leaning more towards the Labrador. They're great trackers and have a good nose for drug detection…" Gail trailed off before adding, "and they're great with kids, which is something we need to consider."

Holly sat in stunned silence, wondering if she'd heard Gail correctly.

They'd talked about their desires to have children a few months before getting engaged, but hadn't brought it back up since. The brunette hadn't been sure how to broach the topic, not knowing when a good time was to discuss it, let alone start the process of planning it out. Her silence must've given away her shock because Gail placed her hand softly on her knee, lowering her face into Holly's eye line.

"Hol…are you ok?"

"What? Yeah, sorry…I just…kind of zoned out for a minute," Holly said, shaking her head as if to clear it. Gail chuckled at her.

"No shit…" the blonde teased, pleased when her fiancé smiled and blushed slightly. "It was the kids thing, wasn't it?"

"Yeah…it just threw me for a bit of a loop for a second," the doc replied and was surprised when she felt Gail's hand slide into her own, their fingers intertwining automatically. "In a good way though."

"Holly I want to have a family with you, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind. I want to have a pack of crazy wild banshees driving both of us insane as we grow old together," Gail said, smiling as she leaned in to place a kiss to her lips. Holly smiled into the kiss.

"I want that too, I'm ready to be a mom," the brunette replied, returning the kiss.

"Yeah?" Peck asked, pulling back for a second.

"Yeah," Holly answered closing the gap again before pulling back a moment later. "Define pack though…"

At this, Gail threw her head back and laughed hardily and shrugged haphazardly.

"I was thinking enough to field a softball team," Gail answered before giggling again and was joined by Hol.

"When did you want to start putting the roster together?" Holly asked gently, the last thing she wanted was to spook her.

Ever since she was a little girl playing with her dolls, Holly had envisioned herself becoming a mother, but the timing had always been off in her past relationships. During college she'd been with a woman who wavered between wanting children and showing no interest whatsoever. Then she'd met Amy who she'd shared a serious relationship with throughout medical school, but as graduation neared, had wanted to start a family. On the verge of beginning her budding career, Holly hadn't been ready and they'd split amicably. The timing just hadn't fit with where she'd been in her life, but now it seemed that those missteps were for good reason because while she had loved those women, it didn't compare to how she felt about the snarky blonde beside her and Holly couldn't imagine a better person than Gail to share the commitment and responsibility of having a family with.

"Well these things can take some time, right?" Gail asked.

"They can. Sometimes IVF takes a few tries before it works, plus we need to find and agree on a sperm donor," Holly said, giving Peck the cliff notes version of the process.

"We already have…that…covered," Gail struggled to find the right words and Holly looked at her questioningly. "Steve actually offered his…assistance in that department if needed."

Holly nodded and thought for a moment about how that was actually a better option for them, but her silence must've been taken as hesitation.

"But we don't have to go that route though, we can find another donor," the blonde quickly added and Holly shook her head to stop her.

"No that would actually be perfect because there wouldn't be any surprises down the line with family medical history, not to mention our baby looking like you too," Holly replied, a smile spreading across her face at the prospect of seeing Gail's crystal blue eyes reflecting back at her from their child.

"So, let's start soon then, we only have 3 months to the wedding so if it works the first time you won't have to worry about your dress not fitting," Gail rattled off. "Will you?"

Now it was Holly's turn to laugh.

"I shouldn't," Holly said with a smirk before asking, "I'm still the chosen one, huh?" Sure, she had a few years on the officer in front of her, but she was by no means passed her child bearing years and the thought of going through all the phases of a pregnancy were exciting.

"Think about the safety of the city, Hol," Peck chuckled, thinking back to their previous conversation before growing serious once again.

"We should start trying soon," Gail replied and kissed her again. "If there's one thing I've learned from doing this job it's that tomorrow is never guaranteed and I don't want to waste a single second that I have with you. I'm not saying this out of fear, honestly. I just want to be the happiest I can be for the time I'm here and you, Holly, make me ridiculously happy."

Holly looked at her through blurry tear filled eyes; she loved this tender, earnest side of Gail.

"Ok," Holly said with a sniffle as a tear streaked down her cheek. "We're getting a dog and having a baby," she said taking a deep breath and smiled somewhat nervously before adding, "and getting married."

"Is it too much too quick?" Gail asked rubbing Holly's shoulder and the irony of the situation wasn't lost on the brunette since it was usually the other way around with Holly checking and consoling Gail and fearing that things were moving too fast.

"I know this means a lot of changes for us, but as long as you're by my side, I'm in," Holly said smiling like a nut as Gail grinned at her, her eyes sparkling with delight.

"I love you so much," Gail said and leaned forward, using her weight to gently push Holly back against the couch before capturing her in a passionate kiss that left them both panting heavily a short time later, the desire for this woman seemingly unquenchable.