Chapter 28: The U-Haul
Author's Note: Lovely guests, yes and yes. And yes. I love you guys for reading that right. I'll explain in detail next chapter, as there's a little more buildup and I want to answer another big question first. The title of this chapter gives it away to the astute.
"Of course you were listening," Gail noted. She wasn't surprised or upset, which seemed to weird Holly out.
"Really?"
"Really, it's fine. I may kill Dov and Chloe."
"That would be messy," sighed Holly.
Really, Gail had expected Holly to eavesdrop, as well anyone else who was in earshot, and had kept some of her thoughts out of the conversation with her mother with that in mind. She and Holly were holding hands, walking down the street to the Penny when Holly confessed to being a bad spy. And to being waylaid by Elaine. "Sorry about Superintendent Mom, though." That annoyed Gail more than anything else. And Holly's recap of the conversation worried her. Why would her mother bring up Sophie? Or Holly moving to the States?
Holly stopped at the corner and chewed her lip. "Is this weird? This is weird, your mom is weird and pushy and ... Wow, no wonder you're saying you're messed up. If that's what the family dinners are like, I don't think I ever want to go. She just pushes you and- I'm rambling."
It was adorable. "Yeah. You're cute when you do that." She grinned at Holly, but that faded as she reflected on her mother. "It is weird. It's weirder that ... I think I'm okay with it. I mean, I actually do have a clue what I want to be as a cop." Gail took Holly's other hand and swung them. It was stupid, but the idea had hit her watching her brother organize drug stings, and then again when Holly had been freaking out about Gail getting hurt at work. They were all aiming too low. She'd been kicking it around for months, though Gail had forgotten about the five year deal with her mother.
Brightening, Holly beamed at her. While she hadn't been pushy about it, she had been interested in Gail's future outside of them. Even if you discounted the time Holly had been sick, they'd talked around it a few times. "You do? That's great! I mean, if you want to stay a patrol cop forever, I'll still love you, but..."
"But goals are good and blah blah maturity?" Gail smirked as Holly blushed. Bingo. "Organized Crime." She'd nearly mentioned it to Holly before, though never in those words.
That stopped Holly's giddy, nervous rambling, "Mobsters?"
"More like major crimes. Lots of cool losers to bust. Little undercover now and then... I could stay in 15 too." She tried to read Holly's expression and failed. "It's less dangerous than patrol cop, in a different way... Steve's in a subdivision of it, and so's our Dad, but it's the way more fun stuff. Interesting stuff, lots of different crimes."
"You could be Sharon Raydor!"
Gail paused. "What? Who's that?"
"Mary McDonnell, total hottie. I'd frack her... She was the president of the colonies and then took over The Closer from Kyra Sedgwick." Was Holly talking about TV shows? Before she could ask, Holly sighed, explosively, "That's cool."
"I did not expect that reaction," muttered Gail, but Holly leaned in to kiss her. "So you're okay with that idea?"
There was another kiss and Holly leaned back so their noses were touching, "You're excited about it."
"It covers biker gangs too," grinned Gail, going in for another kiss.
Holly made a throaty growl type sound. "Oh, now that's a sexy idea." They kissed again and probably would have continued had someone not wolf whistled.
Breaking apart, and ready to break someone's face, Gail saw Nick smirking at them from across the street. "Asshole!" She shook a fist at him and laughed.
Sighing, Holly leaned into Gail's shoulder. "Let's talk about that later," Holly whispered. "Anything I can do to help..."
Gail smiled and kissed her cheek. "You're probably better at studying."
"One of us finished medical school."
Dodging traffic, Nick ran across the road to join them. "Jaywalking's a crime, Collins," smiled Gail. "Who're you teaming with tonight?"
"Oh, you're bringing in a ringer on sci-fi night?"
Looking indignant, Holly dropped Gail's hand. "You want me to help rip off your friends!" She didn't sound actually mad and there was a smile on the edge of her lips. "I could be at home working on my article."
"Or," drawled Gail, walking past Holly towards the bar, "You could help me hustle all of them and become a living legend and co-champion of the universe." She knew Holly would follow her.
They indeed proceeded to clean up the trivia night. While Dov and Chloe each took the time to apologize for eavesdropping, Gail actually enjoyed the game for a change. When they did retire, Champion Team of the World, Holly was all giggles. "Okay, you were right. That was fun."
"I know, who knew those losers would be fun?" She caught Holly's arm and looped it through her own. "Dork games." Holly had cleaned the floor with them, even correcting one of the cards and proving it. Gail held her own, answering a question about Hobbits and making Holly blush.
"You say that, but you had fun too." Holly leaned in and sighed. "They're nice people." Gail didn't reply, but had to agree. In so far as people went. "You going to walk me to my car?"
Gail glanced down the road to where her apartment was. It was entirely unappealing. "Can I stay over?" She rarely asked that question, not wanting to invade Holly's space or push her too much.
With a soft groan, Holly shook her head. "Honey, I have to finish the article."
"I know, I just..." Gail sighed. "I like being with you. And we don't have to have sex every time I stay over." Blushing a little, Holly leaned into her more, giving in. "Is that a yes?"
"Fine." She sighed and kissed Gail softly. "I meant to leave earlier."
Gail smirked, "Oh you wanted a booty call. Let's swing by my place so I can get stuff for tomorrow."
"It would be easier if you just kept more things at my place," lamented Holly, turning towards her car.
Without thinking, Gail replied, "It'd be a lot easier if I moved in with you." There was silence as soon as she said it. Whoops. That probably wasn't very funny. "Sorry that was—"
"That's not an overreaction because your mother's insane, is it?"
Gail blinked and shook her head. "Wasn't even thinking about her." She hesitated. Okay, great, now she was thinking about how her mother might react. Poorly, no doubt.
"Do you want to?" Holly sounded incredibly thoughtful.
"Do you want me to?"
"Oh no, we're not doing that one, Gail," laughed Holly. "Are you serious?"
"About us? Yes, incredibly serious, would do anything for you serious." She tilted her head, "About moving in with you? Um, it's … scary." Holly looked at Gail with a strange, questioning expression on her face. "I've never actually lived with anyone I've been dating," admitted Gail. "I always wanted an out. Kept stuff at home. But I don't feel like I need a fall back escape or anything with you. I just … I just want to be with you more, and not have to go sleep in an empty bed all the time if our shifts are different." The longer Holly watched her, making that thoughtful face, the more every single, possible, excuse fell away. "Holly, can I move in with you?"
And Holly leaned in to kiss her softly, "Gail Peck, yes, you may move in with me."
"Well if you're going to be all grammar snobby about it ..."
Watching Gail study was cute. She was sprawled on Holly's living room floor with three glasses of drinks (water, ice coffee, juice), odd snack foods (cheesy puffs, untouched), multiple books and a laptop. Gail would read for a while, switch to the laptop to write something, and then go back. Every once in a while she'd stop and do yoga poses, which Holly hadn't quite sorted out yet. A detective Holly barely knew, Rosati, had dropped off piles of information for Gail to study, and mentioned a promise of babysitting. Which Holly had yet to ask about.
But as Gail often gave her room when working on an article, Holly just quietly went about her day, avoiding interfering with Gail. Most of Holly's day was sorting out where to move things so Gail would have enough room. It had been a good excuse to get rid of clothes she never wore, and to finally clean out the garage. Gail insisted on helping with the heavy lifting, saying it would clear her brain.
It wasn't a study pattern Holly would have used, but when she quizzed Gail at dinner one night (at Gail's request), she'd been impressed. Her girlfriend was pretty damn sharp. As Holly dropped the last box of donations in the foyer, her stomach growled. It had to be feeding time.
"I heard that, baby," Gail remarked, typing away. "Lemme finish this paragraph."
"Okay." Holly washed up and when she came back, Gail was at the kitchen island eyeing her phone as if it was evil. "That doesn't look good. Did you get called in to work."
"Checking Yelp reviews. Is there anywhere good we haven't eaten at yet?"
"On the planet? I hear there are amazing restaurants in Paris."
"Steve's French sucks," remarked Gail. "But I was thinking in this area." She made a circle with one finger. "I mean, I should know more than the Vietnamese place you didn't know about if I'm gonna live here."
There it was again. Holly smiled a dopey smile. At Gail's suggestion they started with a couple longer sleepovers. First a weekend, then a whole week, and as of today four weeks, with Gail having a shift change in the middle. It wasn't a stupid idea, Holly realized after the first call in Gail had. While her girlfriend had a schedule, there were strange aspects of it that she hadn't really anticipated. There had been a couple fights, arguments really about who was doing what and sharing what, but they'd been mild. The worst part was Gail coming home banged up, but they'd been working on that for a while.
"Did we pass all your tests?" Holly poked her head over Gail's shoulder to study the Yelp list of restaurants.
"Yep, told the boys I'm moving out at the end of the month. Hey, this Greek place looks okay." She pulled up a listing.
Holly vetoed. "They have an open salad bar." She refused to eat at those.
"You don't have to have salad, baby," sighed Gail. They'd had the argument before, though. Any restaurant that was lazy enough to have a salad bar, and worse an open one with no sneeze guard, could not possibly be sanitary. "I don't want Asian... Burgers? Gourmet joint just opened."
Holly eyed Gail. "Honey, look at me. Do I look like gourmet dinner is on my list?" She was sweaty, filthy, and tired. "And damn it, now I want a burger."
Smiling, Gail handed her phone over. "Tell me what you want, I'll get it to go and feed you."
"You," sighed Holly, "are the best girlfriend ever." She skimmed the menu until she hit a burger with turkey bacon, crushed avocado, green sprouts, and Parmesan cheese. "What on god's green earth is Poutine Style?"
"Hell if I know, but I'm having that on the beer battered bacon with smoked salt onions." Gail took her phone back and made the order online. "Thirty minutes says the text." She beamed at Holly. "Just enough time."
"For ...?" They'd had quickies before, but thirty minutes was not enough time for Holly and Gail to shower, have sex, and then go get dinner.
"For cleaning up all my crap?" Gail claimed to be a slob but was insanely immaculate at Holly's. Actually her room was clean at her apartment. Gail also claimed to be lazy and hated exercise, but went running every morning. She hated working out, but had been going to the cop gym three to four times a week. The only thing that was accurate was Gail's absolute ineptitude at organized sports. Anything she could do solo, like golf or skiing, where the other person competed without her right there, she was amazingly good. Holly told her it was psychological.
She watched Gail put the books and laptop in a pile, clean up her glasses, and put the cheese puffs back in the cabinet. "I cleared off the smaller desk in the office," she noted.
"Cool. I'll put this up there." When Gail came back down, she was confused. "You emptied the desk."
"I thought you might need it."
Gail snorted, "Only if I pass and get the job." Holly knew she would but didn't press. "Okay, burgers, anything else? Drinks?"
"We're good." Holly went to get her purse, to give Gail money, but the blonde was already out the door and the garage was opening. That was another conversation that they needed to have. While Gail was gone, Holly showered and changed and got dishes ready.
They hadn't talked about money before. When they went out to eat as friends, things had been traded back and forth, with no thoughts given to who paid what. As they transitioned into dating, that hadn't changed. Holly had originally borne the opinion that Gail lived with the boys to save money, but when later she learned it was for sanity and safety, she'd managed to never rethink the idea that Gail was of moderate income.
But... She had expensive hobbies as a kid. Shooting. Horseback riding. Competitive at that. It was possible her family had struggled to make ends meet for that, but given the dearth of familial love, Holly doubted that. That all implied that Gail came from some moderate to well off people.
It wasn't long before Gail was back, announcing herself with an expletive. "Holy shit. You are lucky I love you, Lunchbox. This stuff smells so good." The smell was intense, and Holly shelved her thoughts about money to dig in.
"Oh my god..." She stared at Gail, mouth partly crammed with burger. "This is amazing!"
"Yours too?" They traded bites, unable to determine who had a better meal. Gail had actually not gone for Poutine style, instead getting a serving of traditional Poutine fries to split. There was even something for desert.
Holly groaned. "You're trying to kill me."
"We go running every morning," argued Gail, having no problem chowing down.
"I don't have your metabolism!" She looked at the second half of her burger in agony. She wanted it. But if she left it in the fridge Gail would eat it. Leftovers were, as Gail argued, fair game to whomever was hungry. The first time Gail had come back at three AM, Holly learned that her leftovers were not her own anymore. They'd fought, since Holly planned to eat the gourmet mac and cheese for lunch, but Gail won by pointing out the food wasn't labeled.
Holly smiled evilly and got a Tupperware box for her leftovers. Then she got a sticky note and a marker, writing 'Holly Stewart's Lunch' in bold letters. "I get the point," laughed Gail. She had actually finished her burger, but split out half the fries in another container. Kissing Holly's cheek, Gail stacked the boxes together. "Dr. Stewart's lunch shall not be touched."
That was interesting, in a good way. Holly watched as Gail started to clean the dishes when her eyes fell on the receipt. "Hey, honey, can I ask you something awkward."
Gail glanced over, loading the dishwasher. "Sure. But if it's about the underpants, I wear those cause they don't ride up when I'm chasing perps."
Cute. "No, I figured the boring shorts had a reason. It's about money." Looking slightly perplexed, Gail closed and started the dishwasher, but waited patiently. "I don't... You know I own this place, right?" And Gail nodded. "And, you're paying rent with the guys."
"Oh, yeah, I meant to ask you about that." Gail did not sound distressed or awkward. "I was thinking it'd make sense to just split it down the middle, but then I realized if you're still paying the loan, I could match that and then you'd be done twice as fast." She beamed, clearly delighted by her idea.
"Gail... How... That's a lot of money."
"Can't be," scoffed Gail. "You wouldn't be paying more than two grand a month on your mortgage. You're too smart." That was true, thought Holly. "Baby, are you trying to find out if I can afford living with you?"
Holly exhaled, "God! Yes. I have no idea. This is not a fun conversation."
"I make $76 a year," remarked Gail and Holly stared. "Good insurance too, because cop. I'll get a bump if I transfer. Add in my trust fund, I think we'll be okay."
"Your trust fund."
"Yeah, oodles of money. In my name too, so Mother can't get at me through it. It's all invested and shit. I don't touch it, except to buy my car. Didn't really want to get stuck with a loan." Gail did not drive an ostentatious car either. It was a modest Kia that Gail had bought shortly before they'd starting dating the first time but after they'd met.
Holly felt her voice go a little thin, "Oodles." She sat on the couch and tried to reassess her judgements. She was as bad as Lisa had been, assuming Gail was average. How stupid was that?
With a sigh, Gail sat down next to Holly. "What's wrong?"
"I think I'm an elitist ass."
Gail side-eyed Holly, incredulous. "Because you thought your house was out of my price range?" Holly nodded, guiltily. "Geeze, and here I was feeling weird because I thought you'd be all funny about not having my name on the lease or something..."
"I ... Okay, there's that too."
"Baby, I'm just moving in." She patted Holly's leg. "Tell you what, if we're still here, doing good, in six months, we can talk about that and joint bank accounts and all the grown up stuff. I'll write you a check, you tell me how much, and we can have lots of sex."
Holly blustered, "Sex."
"Sex. Like the thing we could be doing right now." Gail smiled winningly. "No stinky boy roommates, no work tomorrow..."
She couldn't help but smile at Gail. "You need a shower."
"Okay," agreed Gail. "But I expect you to be naked and on that bed when I'm done."
Getting Sophie not to play the video games was hard. Until Chris sobered up enough for Gail's taste, Gail had flat out refused to bring Sophie over and saved their 'home' hangouts to Holly's place. That just became a thing they did, and Sophie simply asked when Gail was going to stay forever. When she told Sophie that she'd be moving in with Holly, the girl had cheered and ran through her own home to tell Noelle and Frank. Then she demanded getting to help Gail pack.
Somehow Gail managed to negotiate that to unpacking of select items. Not that Gail had much of anything the kid wouldn't be okay seeing (maybe the vibrator...), but there were limits to how familiar she wanted any child to be with her underthings. Also snooping in the bedroom might turn out to be to a little too educational.
That left them downstairs or in the office, putting Gail's books away and sorting her video games. At this rate, Gail wasn't going to have much to move over. Instead of unpacking, this time Sophie was helping Gail frame pictures of herself and put them up in the office and hallway. It was Sophie's idea, saying that for every picture of Holly and her family, there should be one of Gail and hers.
"You and Holly and my friends are my family, kiddo!"
While Sophie was delighted to hear that, she was still skeptical of Gail's lack of parental photos. "Then you have to have one of me and my new family." The fostering was going well, thank god, and Gail happily framed a photo of the bemused Frank and his three girls.
The photo of Gail at graduation, with Steve, was also put up, next to the one of Holly and her mother at her college graduation. "Look at him, such a dork."
"You look all stiff."
"I was scared," she admitted. "My parents are really important police officers."
Sophie looked up, surprised. "How come you don't talk about them?"
"That's a big question, Sophie." Gail walked into the kitchen, where all the photos were strewn. "My parents care a lot about how I make them look, because they're so important."
Screwing up her face, Sophie sat down at the table. "I don't get it," she finally said.
"I don't either, most of the time." But Gail sat with her. How could she explain this simply? "My whole family are cops, Sophie. And being a cop, a Peck cop, is really important to them. So my whole life, I was always going to be a cop. And that was more important to them than me doing what I wanted."
"Oh." Sophie looked at the photos and frowned. "But you always tell me I should be what I want to be. So does Noelle."
Gail made a mental note to ask Frank what he was saying. Probably whatever Noelle said. "Because we want you to be happy."
"I thought you liked being a cop?"
"I do. I love it." Gail smiled, honestly certain she could never be anything else. "But I didn't want to be a cop as a kid, I had to be one." The puzzlement on Sophie's face was somewhat heartening. "It's confusing, I know. My mother and I don't get along. She's really nice when we're in public, but when it's just family, she tells me everything I'm doing wrong. A lot."
And now Sophie scowled, "She's mean."
"Yeah, she is."
The girl scooted out of her chair and hugged Gail tightly. "I'm sorry."
It took a lot not to cry, "Thanks." That was all she trusted her voice with.
"What about your dad?" Sophie wasn't budging from her spot, and she wasn't letting go of Gail just yet.
"My father. Doesn't like the fact that I'm dating Holly. He doesn't like it when boys date boys, or girls date girls."
Sophie loosened her hold and looked up at Gail, absolutely stunned. "How come you're so nice if they're mean and dumb?"
The laughter bubbled out, unexpectedly. "Oh, cutie, if anyone else heard you say that." She squeezed Sophie close. "Come on. Help me find the best picture of me with black hair, and we'll put it some place to surprise Holly."
Holly was absolutely terrified. "What do I do?"
"You hold him," Gail repeated, pulling on her coat. "Sweetheart, I'll be fifteen minutes okay? Stop panicking."
"But- what do I do if he starts crying?" On cue, the creature started making noises.
Crossing the room, Gail moved Holly's arms. "He's a baby, not a monster. You're holding him too far away, Holly. One hand there, the other here, okay, now lean him against your chest."
Very slowly, the baby was settled into Holly's body. She felt her heart pounding but the baby just nestled in and yawned. "Now what?"
"Now you go back to reading. You'll be fine, Holly," Gail kissed her lips lightly, stroked the baby's cheek, and bounced out the front door to run to the store.
And Holly was terrified. They had handed her a baby. Jo Rosati, a detective Gail enlisted to help her prepare for the detective test, was still on maternity leave and had agreed to help Gail in exchange for babysitting. Of course Gail had agreed, but that had ended up with them running out of diapers and Gail running out to the store, with Holly holding the baby.
Why was Holly holding the baby at all? She didn't have any idea what to so with one?! They were small and fragile and didn't speak. Holly had enough problems understanding people who could talk, let alone infants. But Gail swore it would be fine and since Holly had the baby on her lap at the moment anyway, she'd just pop out. It was better than Holly taking an hour to figure out the right brand. Since Gail had also put the baby in Holly's arms after the diaper change, Holly suspected it was actually a setup.
Damn it.
The baby yawned and squirmed a little, beginning to fuss. "Okay, um, what do I do?" The fussing stopped. When Holly didn't say anything else, it picked up again. "Oh, okay. Right. Talk to the baby. Um. Do you like forensics? I'm reading about rehydrating tissues." The baby made a noise, a gurgle, that wasn't upset. So Holly started reading the article aloud.
Fifteen minutes later, when Gail arrived back with diapers, Holly was cradling the baby in one arm and reading. "You teaching him forensics?" laughed Gail.
"He fussed. I didn't know what else to do." Holly bit her lip. "Is this okay?"
"It's perfect, baby." Gail scooted Holly until she could sit behind her, making a trio of spoons. "See? Fits just fine." Her arms looped around Holly's waist, one hand caressing the baby's face. "And he's about to conk out."
"How can you tell?" Studying the tiny face in her arm, all Holly saw was a miniature Winston Churchill, looking a little grumpy.
"Keep reading, you'll see."
So Holly kept reading, and was startled to hear soft snores coming from the baby in mere moments. "Now what?"
"Now we relax, Holly. Lean back."
The soft weight of the baby was comforting, in the same way a kitten or a puppy could be, and Holly felt her eyes close. She could hear Gail's heartbeat and let that sooth her into a doze. It was, she reflected later, the best nap she'd had in years.
Somewhere out there Jo Rosati married and had a kid. The bit players flow in and out of your life, so why not Jo too? She has a name, though. So I wouldn't kill her. Would I? Maybe. She did not marry Luke, by the way. And he comes back later on for an epically terrible date night that involves everything that could possibly go wrong.
