a few of you are wondering why undercover again, remember when I said I was going to be done with meet and greet? well a bunch of you sent me 'what if you added…' or 'how about…' or 'I would like to see…', well a couple of you wanted Gail to catch Lex, it will be this chapter and part of next chapter, plus a lot of you want the cat to become Holly's cat and this would be a great opportunity for that to happen with Gail not around, two birds one stone kind of thing
"I can feel you staring," says Gail. No answer, she knows Holly is watching her, or maybe Charlie. "Charlie?" Still nothing, the blonde opens her eyes; she is met with the blue inside her tent. She groans, crap, not again.
"Everything okay in there Mae?" asks Isaac.
"Peachy," Gail grumbles, she was having the best dream, and now she's not. She can't believe it, she kind of assumed that Steve and Luke had caught Lex, that Steve and Luke had done their jobs. She had given them so much information, but apparently not enough. She's been back with Isaac for the past week. Last time when her op was over she continued to come back and visit with Isaac, make sure the older man was doing okay. She enjoyed talking to him, they don't talk about personal things, no pressure items, Gail likes that about the man, he doesn't press. On occasion when she was visiting with Isaac she would run into Zander and Jim, but she would mostly sit outside Isaac's tent with him and catch up with what's happening in his neck of the woods. In a sense he kind of became her informant, but she doesn't want to tell him that since she met him as an undercover cop, however whenever she did come she always brought lunch, so a payment of sorts, it made her feel better when she saw him, compensating him for his knowledge. Gail grumbles again, she sits up and stretches. She emerges from the tent.
"Morning," says Isaac.
Gail grumbles a third time.
"How come you didn't bring your cat?"
"I don't want to talk about it," says Gail.
"Did the ex keep your cat?"
"I said I didn't want to talk about it," Gail thought about bringing Charlie with her, but then quickly shot down the idea, thinking it wouldn't be fair to bring the cat with her.
"Who knows," says Isaac, "maybe you'll find another one or, more likely, maybe another one will find you."
Gail likes that idea, maybe a second cat? No, she quickly decides, she doesn't want another cat; she wants to be home with Holly and Charlie. She doesn't want another cat distracting her from what's she's supposed to be doing, she's also not sure how Holly would feel if she showed up with another cat.
Holly gets home from the morgue, she hears the sounds of claws on the floor racing towards her, Charlie tears around the corner and comes up short when she sees it's just Holly. Holly sighs, "yeah, you weren't who I was hoping to see here either."
Charlie meows and walks off towards the kitchen.
Holly unlaces her boots and hangs up her coat; she takes her lunchbox into the kitchen to empty out the containers. Steve had popped by her office earlier to tell her Gail would be staying in her tent doing surveillance for them for at least another week. He assured her that Gail was safe and that she was checking in with him regularly and that everything was going according to plan. Holly remembers saying, "well that's good to hear," what's she supposed to say to that? She sighs again, what to do for dinner, she opens the fridge and sees there's enough leftovers for her for tonight and for tomorrow's lunch, maybe she'll cook tomorrow after work. She sheds her clothes in the laundry and walks up to the master bedroom to take a hot shower, after a day like today she could really use one.
After making herself all clean she finds herself back in the kitchen. Staring at the clock. Only 6:30pm. Dinner time? She shakes her head to get herself out of her head, she takes some food out of the fridge, she doles some out into some containers for tomorrow's lunch and puts the rest on a plate for her to warm up now. She decides to clean the corning ware now to prolong dinner just a little bit longer. She looks at the clock again, 6:47pm, she sighs, dinner time. She warms up her food and takes the heated up plate into the family room, finding that having the tv on while she eats a great distraction.
It's only been two weeks but Holly misses Gail. When Gail said she was going to go back undercover, Holly kind of shrugged her shoulders and was like okay, no big deal. But, Holly may have been wrong about how much of her day she would find her mind worrying about Gail and if she was safe and when she would see her again. Holly has noticed that Traci has started checking in on her again, it's very nice of the other woman but…no, Holly will leave it at that, it's nice of Traci to see how Holly's doing, it's just Holly feels it's slightly unnecessary.
Charlie jumps onto the couch, she looks left, she looks right, she stares at Holly. Holly puts down her plate, thinking maybe the cat will crawl into her lap, like she's seen her do to Gail. Nope, the cat jumps off the couch and saunters away. Damn cat, Holly would have really liked to have petted her, see if it is as soothing as Gail described.
Another week has gone by, Gail wants to check in on Holly, make sure the brunette isn't stressing too hard about all of this. Gail walks by the pay phone she used last time when she wanted to call Holly. She stops to think it over, whether or not it would be a good idea to call the brunette. She sticks her hand in her pocket, she has some change, before she over thinks it she starts to feed the phone with coins and dials Holly's number. Gail just has to hope that Holly will actually pick up the unknown number. *Ring* "Hello?"
"Hey."
"Gail?"
"Yes?"
"What are you doing?"
"Calling you, what are you doing?"
"Are you supposed to be doing this?"
"Are you going to tell?" The doctor doesn't answer. "Does it matter 'why', aren't you glad I called?"
"Of course, but-"
Gail cuts her off, she doesn't want to hear it, what she wants to hear is, "how are you?"
Holly sighs, "fine, as good as I can be. You?"
"Oh yeah, it's spring time in Toronto, one of my favourite seasons, I love those birds in the morning."
Holly smiles into the phone, is it the joy in hearing Gail's voice, or the joy in hearing Gail be somewhat sarcastic, "good."
"How's my pussy cat?"
Holly laughs, "you shouldn't say that."
Gail smiles, she was trying to find a way to make Holly laugh, she desperately wanted to hear that sound. "What? Why? Why shouldn't I say pussy cat?"
"The only thing that can get away with calling feline's pussy cats is Tweety Bird."
"I've got yellow hair and blue eyes," Gail tries to counter.
"Not good enough," Holly smiles into her phone. The two pause, what else should they talk about? What else could they talk about?
Just then the automated operator informs Gail to insert another coin, "I don't have any more quarters, I have to go Holls."
"But-"
The line is cut, Gail hangs up her phone. She sighs. That telephone call wasn't enough for either of them.
Over a month has gone by. Holly has been talking a lot more to Steve, and according to him this op that Gail is on should have only taken a couple of weeks. Holly thinks she can hear Gail saying, sure if you want it unfinished again, Holly knows that Gail would rather finish what she started than to have to be sent back to her tent in a couple of months again. And all Holly can do is wait. She's having a drink after work with Gail's rookie class; Chloe invited her to join them. They're sitting around the table, talking about the bigger cases of the week; Holly assumes it's a common interest topic that they can all talk about. Eventually they move on to other topics, like when they're going to take their annual camping trip, but then Dov blurts out, "I don't understand why she got picked again."
Chloe smacks him under the table.
"Ow."
"Oh, I barely hit you."
Holly kind of laughs at the two, she smiles, and completely lost she asks, "why who got picked?"
"Gail."
Chloe smacks Dov again.
"OW."
"Stop talking."
"What are you guys talking about?" asks Holly.
"The undercover thing, don't you hit me Chloe Price," Dov warns, grabbing her arm. "She always gets picked for the cool assignments," Dov whines.
Holly doesn't know how Gail got picked; sure her brother is a part of the assignment, but she just assumed it was because he's a detective and he trusts Gail. Holly, not one for awkward conversations that she has no knowledge about, stands up, "I should get going, I had a long day and I'm tired. Thanks for inviting me out."
"No, wait," says Andy. "Good going Dov, you made the doctor uncomfortable."
Everyone at the table glares at Dov. Chris speaks up, "remember when she got back from her vacation," Dov nods his head at his roommate. "Remember there was that assignment that Callaghan was looking for a volunteer for?"
Dov smacks his head, "she's on that one again?"
"Yes," the group says a collective.
"Oh, I thought that was over with," says Dov, "I thought she got picked for something else. Man she was pissed when she got pack from her vacation, I think that's why she took the assignment in the first place." He looks at Holly, "didn't she go see you?"
Holly chooses her words carefully; she comes up with, "yes."
"Ah."
"What happened?" asks Chloe.
"Nothing, just a misunderstanding," says Holly truthfully.
"Ah," says Dov again. "Well, I'm glad you two worked it out, I've never seen her happier."
Holly smiles, "thanks, she makes me happy too." Holly debates whether to sit back down and have another drink, but decides she should get home, "well, I should get going, I need to feed the cat."
Chris perks up, "how's Charlie? I miss her; she was always so cuddly and friendly."
Holly internally thinks WHAT?!, Charlie friendly and cuddly?! "Oh, she's fine, she's…a cat," Holly doesn't really know what more to say. "Maybe you could come over some time," Holly offers.
"Really?"
"Of course, next time, let's do drinks at my place," Holly suggests. Holly wonders how Gail would feel about that, her friends over at their place. Well Gail's not home right now, so Holly can decide who she invites over without having to ask the blonde.
Gail's mumbling to herself, debating with herself, trying to figure something out.
"You're talking to yourself again," says Zander.
"Sometimes I need expert advice," quips Gail.
Zander doesn't even respond to that. "Ready to go Maybelline?" asks Zander.
"Only if you are Alexander."
"Always, May-Bah-Lean," says Zander, pronouncing every syllable.
"Okay, Al-Lex-Zan-Der," Gail's eyes go wide, "shit," she mutters under her breath.
"What was that?"
"Aw, nothing, my shoe lace is untied again," Gail bends down to pretend to tie her shoe, needing a second without looking at Zander, needing to actually think this through, how to play this.
"That's why I wear Velcro; it's a lot faster to do up the shoes."
"Not to mention completely stylish, I think my grandfather had the same pair," Gail remarks.
"Shut up," Zander smiles, "get in the car, we're going to be late."
Gail does as she's told.
Holly slowly opens her eyes, it's her day off, normally she would have cleaned the house or worked in the yard, but in order to keep her mind off of Gail she's been doing that on the daily. The house has never been cleaner and the yard has never looked better. Holly's about to sit up in bed when she realizes there's a weight on her belly, she puts her hand there thinking it's the book she was reading last night, but is met with warmth and a purr. Holly gasps, Charlie is on her belly and purring. Clearly Charlie misses human contact. Holly tentatively moves her hand up and down Charlie's back. The cat doesn't move. Holly takes that as a good sign. She can feel the cat's little face nuzzle into her palm. Holly smiles softly. It only took a couple of months but the cat is finally okay with Holly. Holly was going to get out of bed, but now doesn't really see why she needs to move just yet. She eventually drifts off to sleep again; eight o'clock is too early on her day off.
Zander, Jim, and Gail are at one of the empty warehouses. A cop siren is heard, Zander looks around expecting to see a cruiser pull up beside them. "What are you doing?" asks Jim.
Zander shakes his head, "nothing, let's get going."
"You act as if you've never heard a police siren before," Gail jokes.
"Just being vigilant," he pauses; he is trying to decide whether or not he should share his run in with the police the other day, "you know how I was late last Wednesday?" Gail and Jim nod their heads. "I thought I was being followed."
"You're just being paranoid. Who would follow you, and why would they follow you?" Jim jokes.
"No, I'm being serious; I thought I saw the same police cruiser follow me when I was walking here."
"One all cop cars look the same and two why would a cop car be following you, that's not very discreet."
"Maybe they're not trying to be discreet," Zander's all revved up.
"Hold on," says Gail, trying to calm the situation down, "who knows what we're up to? You, me, and Jim. I don't talk to anyone besides you two and Isaac…" she lets the sentence hang, hoping what she says will get through to Zander.
Jim tries, "come on Zander it's just us, why would we tell anyone, if anything happens to you, it's going to happen to us, how stupid would we be. We all know if we get caught we'll end up in prison…" he lets his sentence hang.
"Stop, just STOP!" Zander grabs his head.
"It's okay buddy," says Jim.
"SHUT UP!" Zander pulls a gun from behind his back; it was concealed in his waist band.
"WHOA!" shouts Jim, "what are you doing?!" He instinctively puts his hands up.
"Come on Zander, what's going on?" asks Gail.
"I told you two to SHUT UP, I need to think!"
"Why don't you do you're thinking with the gun pointing down?" suggests Jim.
Zander looks at Jim, he has a crazy look to his eyes, he tilts his head to the side, "why, you afraid I'm going to shoot you, snitch?"
Jim furrows his brow, "what are you talking about?" He shakes his head, "I would never snitch!"
"That's EXACTLY what a SNITCH would say!" Zander points his gun at Jim and pulls the trigger.
Gail's police training kicks in, without even thinking she goes to push Jim out of the way, and now all she feels is pain.
Sorry for the wait, I was stuck, didn't feel like writing, got sort of busy, any of those excuses are valid. Thanks for reading though, I am pretty much done with meet and greet, two more chapters almost complete, I'll post them soon. Have a nice weekend!