Chapter 34: Peck & Peck

Author's Note: Steve will be fine, don't worry. I know I say that only Holly and Gail are safe from dying in this fic, but Steve would need a more dramatic death than this one. I nearly jumped ahead here, but the idea of Gail and Blackstone talking about Holly was too amusing to pass up.

Sitting in the car with Jacob Blackstone, on an impromptu stakeout for an ER nurse who was helping a gang smuggle medical supplies, and had shanked her brother with a scalpel, was so incredibly far from how she'd wanted to spend her night, Gail could barely process it. At least he'd picked up good coffee. She propped her feet on the dash and watched the man pace in his apartment.

"So," Blackstone said slowly, as if certain Gail was going to lash out at him. "You live with her?"

"Yep." Gail frowned as Tim Baines paused at the window and looked out. He didn't seem to see them. "Jesus, is he ever going to leave?" She slouched in the seat and kept watching.

Blackstone didn't reply to that and scratched on his notepad. "When did that happen?"

Gail eyed him, "Why does everyone want to ask me about that? Yes, I bang chicks now. I'm living with my girlfriend." She turned back to the window and watched stupid Tim pace back and forth. "Can we tap his phone?"

"You ever tried to wake up a judge at 2am on a Saturday?"

That would be a no. "You filed anyway?"

"Of course." Blackstone sounded offended. He squinted. "Is he on the phone now?"

"Third time," confirmed Gail.

"Three calls. Times?" As Gail recited the times, Blackstone jotted them down. "Didn't answer when though."

Gail blinked and sighed. "After Nick... And no, it had nothing to do with you." As Gail said that she wondered how true it was. He'd been a strange part of it. "Well. Maybe the back hair," she added aloud, as a dig.

And Blackstone smiled. He liked it when people gave him crap. "Good. You've got to know this stuff before you get in to undercover work."

"Mm, no. I'm not doing that."

"Major Crimes, I know." He grinned. "Steve told me this was all because you saw something. That right?"

Gail hesitated. Fuck it. Blackstone used people, but he was also a good cop. "Kid dumped in a lake after being picked up by a non-existent ambulance, body dumped in the woods with an IV stuck in wrong, fake EMTs picking up a non-dead body for god knows why, a headless guy in an ambulance rolled down a hill."

To her surprise, Blackstone added to her list with three more oddities. "And you're wondering why Guns and Gangs is interested?"

"They're part of a cover up," she suggested, not phrasing it as a question on purpose. A question made it sound like you doubted yourself. A statement made you seem certain.

Blackstone nodded. "You nabbed Bobby Zanaro, right?"

"Oliver and I did, yeah."

"He got ousted from Two Lakes." Gail remembered that and nodded, encouraging Blackstone to go on. "A lot of the older lieutenants and old school guys have been showing up dead. Including the ones on your list."

Gail tore her eyes away from Tim in the window. "They're all members of Two Lakes?"

"Some more than others, but they're all old school. We think it's a takeover."

She chewed on that for a while watching Tim put the phone down. Was he on the move yet? "But why the ambulances?"

"That's where Tim comes in. He's been feeding Two Lakes for almost five years, supplies. But there's got to be a reason they're using ambulances."

Without thinking Gail replied, "Easy way to move drugs. We'd never pull 'em over. And great for body dumps." She took her feet off the dash as Tim started moving in the bedroom. "The kid in the lake was an accident. Wrong place, wrong time. The guy who was alive was a dump and they were still in the area. Heard our call. Right place right time." Yeah, Tim was definitely on the move.

Her hand was on the door handle when Blackstone spoke, "Take the front."

They'd already disabled his car so Gail knew he'd be making a run for it. Blackstone went to the back, by the car, while Gail tried to decide if Tim would run from the alley or the street. She moved to the alley right as she heard the shout. Tim tripped on to Blackstone and Gail crouched, waiting.

The crash sound was garbage bins probably intended to delay Blackstone. The clatter was Tim slipping. She heard his breathing and tensed.

Now.

Gail threw herself at him the moment he was clear of the alley and slammed Tim into the pavement hard. Probably harder than was necessary, truth be told. "Hi, you're under arrest," she said brightly.

Struggling, Tim tried to evade the cuffs. "What the hell for?"

"Assault and attempted murder of a police officer for starters," she growled and yanked his arm up to cuff.

"Nice tackle, Peck," smiled Blackstone holding his hand to his face. Tim had clearly gotten a swing in.

The name Peck made Tim stop moving and Gail hauled him to his feet. "Are ... You ..."

"I'm your arresting officer, moron." She frog marched him to the car and tossed him in the back. "This is why I don't want guns and gangs. Your criminals are stupid."

Her neck was killing her. That was Holly's first thought as awareness crept in. Her legs too. "Ow," she muttered and tried to move her limbs, wincing at the pins and needles stabbing her. An afghan slipped from her shoulders, slithering down to the ground as Holly sorted out where she was.

She had fallen asleep in the (comfortable) reading chair in the guest room. Why was she asleep in the guest room? Holly rubbed her eyes, realizing why the pattern on the chair was so damn fuzzy. Where were her glasses? She looked around, spotting a shape on the guest bed, and memory flooded back. Worst. Date. Ever.

"I promise."

A voice from outside the room was familiar. Male. Nick! Holly sat bolt upright and winced. Jesus everything hurt. She was too old to be sleeping in chairs and was feeling every inch of her 'closer to 40 than 35' right now. The little coffee table held her glasses and Holly fumbled, pushing them on to her face. Ahhh, focus. God bless glasses. The distance to the bed was right on the edge of her ever increasing fuzzy zone. Getting old sucked.

Steve was asleep or seemingly so. "Steve?" she asked softly. It was possible he, like Gail, had that distressing ability to fake-sleep through anything. She slowly stretched her muscles until, certain she wasn't about to topple, Holly could move to the bed and check on her girlfriend's brother.

No, Steve was soundly asleep, his face screwed up in pain. He really needed a hospital, with an IV and some damn good painkillers. Pressing one hand, gently, to his face, Holly did not find his temperature to be too abnormal. She carefully pulled the sheet back and peeked at the bandages. That was warm to the touch but not painfully so. It didn't seem like an infection had cropped up in the night.

Was it night? She looked at the window and saw the light of not early dawn but well towards morning. The clock told her it was nearly seven in the morning. The last time she remembered was around three when Gail texted her to say she'd arrested the CI. Had Holly really slept for four-ish hours? Had Gail slept at all? And where the hell was her phone?

Leaving Steve to sleep as much as he could, Holly slipped out into the living room where Nick was pacing nervously. He looked like an anxious father. "Do you want coffee?" she asked him, feeling the desperate need herself.

"Oh! You're awake. Gail just called." He held the phone out. "You slept through it ringing, she said to let you rest."

Holly took her phone and blinked at the list of calls from Gail which she had, totally, slept right through. "I see. Thank you." Hesitating with her thumb over the call back button, Holly looked up at Nick. "Who were you promising?"

He smiled sheepishly. "Gail. She said if I woke you up, she'd … er …"

"Do something anatomically impossible to your reproductive parts?"

"She's really inventive when she's mad." When Holly smiled, he grinned back. "Oh, and they're sending people to pick up Steve and take him to the hospital, under guard."

Holly frowned, "So you're leaving?"

"You're coming with … I mean … Uh, Gail…" He blinked and rubbed his head. "She said you should go if you wanted. Woke up. I'm sorry."

"Coffee," Holly said firmly, not entirely clear on all this herself, and she made two cups of espresso, passing one to Nick. "Yes, I'm going with Steve to the hospital," she said firmly. "How are we going to explain this?" Holly was struck by a crazy fear of loosing her license over the mess. After she'd just sorted her job out again, too!

When Nick didn't know, Holly sighed and called Gail. The phone rang three times before Gail picked up. "Please tell me Nicholas didn't wake you up."

Holly smiled. Gail sounded frustrated and cranky, and she was clearly annoyed at Nick quite a bit. She generally called him Nicholas only when she was angry with him. "No. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," sighed Gail. "Tired as hell. We're interrogating the dumb ass loser."

"Now? Sorry, did I interrupt?" She sipped her coffee and felt life flowing back in her. So they had caught the man who stabbed Steve. That was good.

"Nah, we're letting him sweat for a bit anyway." Gail's flippant reply was ruined by the yawn. "God, I would kill for your espresso."

"Come home?"

"Can't yet. Is Steve doing okay?"

Holly was a little miffed Gail didn't ask how she was doing, but then again she was on the phone chatting so Gail probably presumed she was fine. "He needs a—"

"Hospital, yeah, didn't Nick tell you? Callaghan's going to take him in. You don't have to go but I thought you might want to. Explain what happened."

The name Callaghan reminded her and Holly looked around. Where was he? "God, I'm going to be in so much shit for this," she groaned.

"For … what?"

"Illegal medical procedures?"

"Good Samaritan laws were invented for a reason. Don't worry, Blackstone'll clear it. Right?" The last bit was said away from the phone. "Yeah, you are going to do that right now, thank you." Then more clearly to Holly, Gail added, "All good. Sorry."

Holly shook her head. "Why do I get the feeling you're breaking the law."

"Never," Gail said, surprisingly firmly. Then she sighed again, "What can I do?"

"For me?" The real answer was rewind time and undo everything. "Nothing, honey. It's … well no, it's not fine." Holly exhaled. "I want to get away from all of this." Nick, catching her words, looked away but did not leave earshot. Damn it.

"That's not a stupid idea," agreed Gail. "After. I'll come meet you at the ER?"

"Oh, so I'm going?" There was no reply and Holly was sure Gail was grinning. "Yes, fine, I'm going. Eat something, will you?"

"I will. I love you."

Shyly, Holly turned away from Nick and whispered, "I love you too."

"Oh, Nick's there, eh?"

"Yeah, and I seem to have lost your detective."

"Probably on the deck being all detectivey. I'm going to find something to eat and then play good cop, bad cop."

Another whispered endearment and Holly hung up. She did not turn around to look at Nick, pretending he wasn't there for a moment longer. When her back door opened, Callaghan walked in and looked surprised to see her awake. "Good. The ambulance will be here in 10 minutes. Coming?"

"Ambulance?" She felt suddenly nervous.

"EMTs we know," he assured her. "Can I have some coffee?"

Coffee. Yes. Holly made another cup for the police officers and then excused herself to go upstairs. Taking the time to freshen up, Holly pulled on a clean shirt, brushed her teeth, and washed her face. She felt a little more human and went back down to get Steve ready, as well as packing her purse.

She ended up riding in the ambulance with Callaghan, Nick taking their car. Wide awake, Steve grimaced with every bump and bounce on the drive but he didn't curse. He did complain that everyone else had coffee and he didn't, but it was the same sort of tone Gail used when she was just annoyed and cranky. So Holly held his hand and smiled fondly. All the Pecks were cats in trees sometimes.

The ER was prepared for them, asking Holly only the important questions and letting her tag along with them as the doctor inspected her work. When she explained about the tampon Callaghan laughed and Steve looked offended but the doctors agreed it was a good idea. In less time than Holly expected, Steve was in a private room with an IV pumping him with fluids, antibiotics, and pain killers. Just like his sister, he got loopy fast. Pecks could hold their alcohol but not the good drugs.

Holly felt infinitely calmer, now that Steve was under professional care. "Is anyone going to tell Traci- Um, Detective Nash?"

The question surprised Callaghan but he nodded. "Oh. Yes." He ducked out to make a call and Holly rolled her eyes. They were all the same, cops. Brilliant in their fields, dense as planks with people in their personal lives. Not that she thought Callaghan fell under the brilliant category, mind. He was more average and annoying when compared to Steve or Traci.

She took a seat next to Steve's bed and leaned back. God, the stress of this sort of thing was unimaginable. And Gail lived with this daily? She pulled her phone out and texted Gail, telling her she was safe at the hospital and please make sure someone actually does tell Traci.

And then she waited. At least she'd brought a book.

"You ready to go in?" Blackstone looked only slightly more awake and aware than she did, and for that Gail felt pleased.

"Alone," she replied and he nodded. She sighed and stood up. "Right. Give me a minute." Gail went to the bathroom to wash her face and bumped into Andy, looking grumpy as one might expect for anyone who worked on weekends. "Hey," she muttered, turning on cold water.

Absently, Andy replied in kind and then did a double take. "Hey, why are you in street clothes? Parade is in 5!" Gail opened her mouth to reply when Andy corrected herself, "Why are you here at all!? We swapped shifts so you could do that dance!"

"Ballet, Andy, I was at the ballet." She splashed her face again and winced. Not really helping. She wanted to be back there, at the ballet or the part where Holly was threatening to bite Gail's dress off, instead of the place where here brother was in the hospital. "I got called in last night. This morning. Whatever."

Gail tried to think of how many consecutive hours she'd been up. It was past eight. She'd been up twenty six hours, with a work day and a show in the middle. No wonder she felt like absolute crap. The adrenaline rush had clearly worn off. "Wow, that sucks," muttered Andy and she grabbed Gail's elbow.

"Hey, what the hell, McNally?"

"Sit," ordered Andy, pushing Gail into a seat and grabbing a brush. "You're doing something important, right? You need to not look like death warmed over. You need to be bad-ass Peck."

Out came a brush and makeup from Gail's locker. In a moment, Andy cleaned Gail up far better than she could do herself. "Thank you," muttered Gail, uncomfortable.

"If you hug me, I know the world is ending."

So Gail rolled her eyes and went back to interrogation. Blackstone did a small double take on seeing her but grinned in a way Gail understood well. War paint. She'd have shaved if she was her brother. She picked up the folder and let herself in.

"Tim," she sighed, tossing the folder down and sitting, as if she did this every single day of her life. The weaselly CI winced. "Here's the thing, Tim. My partner, that hairy guy? He doesn't like you."

"You don't like me either," muttered Tim. "Peck, right?" She nodded and he looked away. "That guy was Peck. The guy I stabbed."

"Oh my brother?" Gail was as flippant as she could be. "Yeah, I should thank you. He's been a pain in my ass for years. Maybe he'll be more humble now." Tim latched on to her words and looked up, surprised. "He's alive. You're a pretty shitty murderer."

"I didn't mean…" Tim looked away. "Good. I didn't want to kill him."

"And yet you stole his car, his phone, and his gun. Why'd you stab him?" No answer. "Right. So you've been supplying Two Lakes for, what, over a decade now? Drug crap, screwing up records so your guys don't get tracked when they get hurt. What we kind of expect. But … two years ago it changed to something else."

Tim's hands twitched. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure do," smiled Gail. She glanced at the door and got up. "You hungry? Thirsty?" Gail knocked on the door and Blackstone handed her two granola bars and two water bottles. He mouthed 'doing good' and the door closed. "I'm starving, but I'm always hungry."

Taking the offered food and drink, Tim chewed on the granola bar. "Thanks."

"You ever watch SciFi stuff, Tim?" When he blinked, Gail went on, editing herself somewhat to avoid mentioning she was dating anyone. You never gave a perp real information, she learned that from Perik. "I know this total nerd, so I end up watching some weird crap with her. There's this show, right, called Firefly. Whole episode's based on them breaking into a hospital as EMTs and stealing a tonne of supplies. Black Market stuff." She paused, "It's a really good show, actually." Gail sipped her water, "Anyway, you guys aren't doing the black market, which is weird, right? Why do you need a fleet of fake ambulances?"

Tim's eyes widened. "We don't…" He trailed off and then clammed up.

"Don't need a fleet right, bad choice of words. You had five, though. Three still working. We've got the other two." She scratched her cheek. "How long have you been in Two Lakes now, Timbo? Fifteen years? Twenty? Bobby Zanaro was your old boss, right?"

The more Gail spoke, the paler Tim looked. "Bobby's gone," he whispered.

That was not news to her, having arrested him. Gail was pretty sure Bobby was out in Alberta or Vancouver under a new identity, and she tapped her folder. "Lots of guys from your generation are at loose ends theses days. Funny thing. Times are changing."

Tim looked up at her slowly. "I'm dead. The minute I walk out the doors, I'm dead." Tilting her head slowly, Gail said nothing.

She was tired. No, she was exhausted. Every minute awake wore on her, and she wanted a nap, in her own bed, with Holly. "What am I gonna do with you, Tim?" She sighed and leaned back.

"I can tell you everything." She tilted her head again. Silence. She was too tired to speak. "Okay, I know it won't get me out of- of what I did, but we can cut a deal right? I tell you everything you move me to Saskatchewan or Yellow Knife. Someplace way the hell away, and I marry an Eskimo and it's okay, right?" Gail frowned a little. She had no power to make a deal. Pursing her lips she looked over his shoulder, trying to think of an answer.

And a miracle happened.

Tim began to talk. It wasn't his idea, he stressed. He'd just noticed that no one stopped the ambulances, no matter where they went. Even the druggies and gangs, they all left them alone, unless they were transporting the enemy. One day Tim mentioned it to someone else and he fell under the aegis of Bobby.

Bobby became his mentor, listening to his ideas, taking them further. They turned a drug using doctor into a resource. They learned how to fake an ambulance safely and used it to transport drugs. Illegal drugs, just like you'd expect. No one pulled over an ambulance, after all. And they'd been doing that for almost a decade. Bobby ran the show, and even made Tim go to nursing school, making him use his smarts to be their inside guy.

But the last few years it changed. The new kids were expanding past just drugs. There was more killing, outright killing. Bobby was against it and they threw him out. Cut his ties, disowned him, whatever you wanted to call it, Bobby was persona non gratis in the Two Lakes family. Tim was sure he'd be next, being Bobby's golden boy, but these new guys had a new plan.

The turf wars escalated, quietly. Instead of shoot outs, they assassinated each other. One at a time, over long periods of time. And those drug mule ambulances had a new purpose. They were transporting dead bodies, they were clean up. They followed the killers to make sure the bodies were dead and dropped them off in new locations. Some were left at the hospitals, some were dumped in parks.

Quietly, Gail opened the folder and slid over photos of the bodies they knew about. Tim gave them names and jobs. The kid in the lake was a confirmed accident. And the morons arrested by Gail and Gerald flubbed the drop. They were supposed to make sure he was dead. Of course, that guy was still in a coma so it didn't really matter to the gang. Tim was supposed to keep tabs on him, kill him if he woke up.

And that was when Tim started having second thoughts. That was when he turned to Steve and started the whole CI crap. But last night he'd panicked. The rumor was there was going to be a hit on him and when Steve offered to take him some place safe, he freaked. It was a mistake, Tim admitted. It was stupid.

The door opened and Blackstone jerked his chin at Gail. They had enough. "Sit tight, Timmy," she told him, handing him her uneaten granola bar, and left the room.

To her surprise, the observation room was filled with detectives from guns and gangs. Their voices overlapped as they told her how impressed they were, how thrilled. How this broke open everything. And how Gail had been right. Praise like that, praise she'd always craved, was falling over her and her brain barely processed it all. She'd waited him out, given him the rope and let him hang himself. Giving him the room to talk. She'd bonded, apparently.

Blackstone put a meaty hand on her shoulder. "You got enough? Kid hasn't seen her own brother since he got to the hospital. And I need a week of sleep."

Inspector Jarvis was in a pressed suit, Saturday be damned, and nodded. "Impressive work, Peck. You'll do."

"Sir," she replied, not entirely sure where that was going. But Jarvis didn't explain anything else and Blackstone hauled Gail out of the room, pushing her phone into her hand. There were texts from Holly and Gail smiled. Her brother was just fine.

"Hope you're ready for the big leagues, kid," Blackstone told her, looking pleased and smug.

Gail blinked and looked back at the room. In that moment she abruptly knew, even though it was months too soon, she wasn't going to be doing patrol any longer. "Huh. Am I supposed to thank you? Because you're still an ass who uses people."

"Damn right I used you. Your brother said you had raw talent, I thought he was being a brother." Blackstone tossed Gail her jacket. "I figured you could bridge the rapport he'd had with that idiot. You broke him."

She really wasn't entirely sure how that happened either. They eased into Blackstone's car and Gail shook her head. "That was luck."

"That was luck and being prepared for this your whole life. Jarvis is greasing your transfer."

"Yeah," she sighed. "I figured." Closing her eyes, Gail slumped in the seat and put her head against the window. Dimly she was aware of Blackstone telling her to be more excited, but Gail let the car sooth her into a light doze. It was the first time her eyes had shut for more than a blink in hours and they burned too much to let her sleep. She did try to ignore Blackstone but when he said Holly's name, she tuned back in. "What about Holly?" Gail was not embarrassed to be caught out.

"I was saying your girlfriend, it is girlfriend, right? Your girlfriend handled that situation really well. If there's anything I can do ..."

"No offense, Jacob, but the last thing I want from you is your nose in my personal life again." He snorted and she smiled. "She knows about you, anyway. I'll sort it out."

"You told her about us?" He sounded surprised.

"Rip off the bandaid, they say." Gail tried to keep her eyes closed, but they hurt more to be closed than open. Dry. They'd have eye drops at the hospital. "She knows everything about me, Jacob."

"I can totally see flipping for her," he mused thoughtfully. "She's got a sexy librarian thing going on."

"Just stop," winced Gail. "Do not ruin that for me, or I will duct tape your back hair to your ass hair." It worked and Blackstone dropped her off. "You're not coming in?"

"Nah, I'm going to write up how the damn Peck siblings saved my ass."

Gail went right to Steve's room, finding him alone. The nurse explained that Holly and Traci (aka two cute women, one with a badge) had gone to find food. Steve was stoned out of his mind and cheerful. He was as much a lightweight with painkillers as she was, though right now Gail would have murdered him for the Oxy. As she listened to him singing "Hit Me Baby" there was a noise behind her.

There was Holly. Gail offered as much of an energetic smile as she could muster. Hesitating a moment, Holly ruthlessly handed Traci her coffee and bag of food before rushing to hug Gail tightly. "Hey, I'm okay," whispered Gail, her hands landing on Holly's waist.

But Holly had to look for herself. She always had to look closely when she was worried about Gail and cupped her face with both hands. "Good," whispered Holly and leaned in to kiss her.

Oh if only Gail had a little more energy. The kiss was not a simple peck nor a friendly warm reminder. This was a kiss to insist that Gail was very much alive. Holly snaked a hand to the back of Gail's head, pulling her even closer, winding her fingers in the short hair. It was breathless. Gail hated to back away. "Traci's right here," Gail muttered into Holly's lips.

"Don't care," replied Holly, pressing into Gail again.

"Don't stop on my account, Holly, but blondie looks like she's going to fall over." God bless Traci. Holly did cease her onslaught and sighed, making Gail sit down on the couch. "Don't worry, Gail. We got food for you too."

Handed a breakfast burrito, Gail cautiously took a bite before groaning. "I'm leaving you for Traci." No eggs, no tomatoes.

"That's okay," smiled Holly. "Steve has professed his undying love for me. Peck swap?"

Traci looked seriously between Gail and her brother. "No, I like the goofy one. You keep the bitchy one."

Miffed, Gail let Holly draw her back against the couch, sighing as Holly draped a long arm around her shoulders. "I retract my offer and now I'm not going to tell you how I saved the world and am champion of the universe."

The threat was empty and Gail gave them the rundown. Traci looked chagrined as Gail's theory was confirmed and did apologize for calling her crazy. Holly squeezed Gail closer when she explained about the likelihood of being transferred by Monday. They stayed for a while longer in the hospital, until Gail nearly fell asleep twice and Holly finally dragged her out, taking them home in their own car.

Gail wanted to tell Holly more about the day, but was pushed into the shower first. All Gail remembered after that was sitting on the bed for a minute to pull on socks, waking up in the afternoon with Holly's arm around her waist, and going back to sleep. It would keep.

Go go team Peck!