Look at this eh, over 2500 words! I know, I'm just as surprised as you are
Holly's spends the week at Rachel's; Trish comes by everyday to see her. Holly thinks everything through, little things, big things, life changing things. At first her and Trish would just sit on Rachel's front porch not saying anything, Holly doesn't know what to say, more like she doesn't know where to start. Trish would end up leaving after five minutes frustrated with the whole situation, figuring the brunette wasn't ready to talk yet. After a week of no one saying anything, Trish started asking Holly about her work, a bit of a safe and easy topic. Trish started bringing coffee for the two to share early in the mornings and they would sit and talk for about a half an hour. They both know it's going to be a slow process, for Holly to learn to trust Trish again, but does Holly want to trust Trish again?
Holly's at work walking through a hallway in the morgue. Gail sees her and smiles at her, but Holly doesn't smile back, when they get closer, Gail reaches out to grab Holly's wrist. This startles Holly. "Sorry," says Gail, not meaning to frighten the doctor, she's noticed Holly's been a bit more distracted lately and is worried for her friend.
"Hi," says Holly.
"Hello Holly," Gail smiles; she can't help but smile when looking at the brunette, "are you okay?" concern written on Gail's face.
Holly tilts her head to the side, "why?" She hasn't told Gail about Trish, she doesn't want her work friends to find out about her cheating fiancée. She knows she can trust Gail, she knows that the blonde wont tell anyone unless Holly says she can, but she's embarrassed, she's not sure why though.
"Ummm," Gail doesn't really want to overstep, she safely goes with, "you don't seem yourself."
"Oh, um, just thinking about some stuff."
"The wedding?"
Holly sharply inhales, "kind of, I've just got a lot of stuff on my mind."
"Well, if you ever want to talk, I'm a pretty good listener," Gail is surprised with herself, when does she voluntarily listen to people's problems. She kind of shakes her head at herself.
"Maybe," says Holly.
"Or if you ever want to get a drink, you could bring Trish," offers Gail.
"Maybe," says Holly again.
"Peck!" calls Traci from one of the labs, "we're waiting for you."
"I have to go," says Gail shyly, "but if you ever want to talk or get a drink…"
"I might take you up on it," smiles Holly.
"Good," Gail smiles and continues on towards the lab, Gail hates seeing Holly like this, she can tell something happened to the brunette that isn't just wedding related and wants to help, but she's just not sure how best to do that, especially if she has no idea what's wrong.
Holly eventually tells Gail about Trish and Lisa. Gail is super supportive. Just like Holly knew she would be. Gail offers to arrest Trish for her, Holly laughs at the blonde, knowing she's just kidding…right? Gail says at the very least to give her Trish's license plate number and she'll make sure any patrol cop will give it a ticket when necessary, that also makes Holly laugh. Holly only went home to her and Trish's place the once to collect some necessities to bring to Rachel's. Holly is still staying at Rachel's house. Rachel's kids love it, having their Aunt Holly there to play with and show all their schoolwork to. Rachel is enjoying it too. Rachel feels Holly had spent too long away from Toronto, knowing the memories the big city brings back to her, but is glad to have her friend home and at her house for the time being. Sure the circumstances as to why her old friend from school is staying with her aren't the greatest, but she still likes that she gets to spend so much time with Holly.
Holly knows how important family time is and wants to give Rachel and her family the time and space the four of them need, since she's still upset with Lisa, Holly's been spending more time with Gail again. Holly and Gail continue their friendship, hanging out at the Penny with the others, or going to batting cages, or watching tv and movies together at Gail's house. Holly hasn't told any of her other work friends about her and Trish being on a bit of a break. The cops are used to her showing up for a drink after work and she figures eventually she'll feel more comfortable telling them. No one really asks about Trish anyways. For now she sits next to Gail at the table and laughs along with whatever crazy arrest story Chris and Dov are talking about from a call on the job earlier.
Today Gail and Holly are watching some program on Siberian flying squirrels. The announcer says, 'the winters are tough in Siberia, the only way for these flying squirrels can survive is to partner up. This female squirrel is inviting that other female squirrel into her burrow so they can share their body heat in the cold winter months.'
"I know a few lesbians that are like that," quips Holly.
Gail laughs.
Holly looks over at her friend, "what? I can even give you examples if you'd like, Lisa is definitely one of them."
"She seems like fun," Gail says sarcastically.
Holly rolls her eyes, "oh yeah…the stories Rachel and I could tell you from university…"
That makes Gail laugh again, "I want to meet Lisa one day, but I feel like I'd end up punching her in the face for you, so maybe I shouldn't meet Lisa…" Holly smiles at the blonde, happy to have this friendship.
Another month has gone by, Holly is still staying at Rachel's, not ready to go back to Trish or find a place of her own, Gail had decided to help Holly with her conflicting thoughts, be the person the brunette turns to. Gail knows Holly has Rachel, but sometimes the mom is too busy, and since the doctor's other best friend was the one to have potentially slept with her fiancée, Gail knows Holly wont be turning to Lisa for comfort. Gail is not really known for comfort, but she wants to at least try, for Holly's sake. Gail knows how she feels about the brunette doctor and the more time she spends with her the more she continues to fall for her. Gail knows she can't let Holly know her feelings, not just yet anyways. Knowing that Holly is still kinda seeing Trish, knowing that the two are trying to talk it through, Gail hopes it all works out without her getting crushed. Without who getting crushed, Holly or Gail? She wants to see Holly happy, if it's with her, Gail would love that, but if it's with Trish, Gail will accept Holly's decision, but it's a decision that Holly ultimately needs to make.
Gail's watching Leo one night after work; she's cooking something in the kitchen while the six year old is playing with his toys in the front room on the carpet. There's a knock at the door, Leo jumps up to answer it. "Aunt Gail! There's some lady at the door for you," Leo yells into the house.
Gail walks into the room, "Leo, never answer the front door unless I say so, understood?"
"Yes Aunt Gail," the boy says bringing his eye sight to the floor.
"Holly?" Leo runs to stand behind Gail.
Holly waves slightly, all shy, "I'm sorry, I should have called first, I didn't realize you had plans…or company."
"What are you doing here?" Gail goes to the door and stands in front of Holly, Leo follows right behind his aunt, she reaches down to place a calming hand on his head, hoping to convey that the lady at the door is no stranger and she is a safe person.
Holly gives a bit of a sad smile, "Rachel's family was having family time and I didn't want to intrude, I'm so grateful that she's letting me stay there, I don't want to be a pest, they said I could stay, but I just felt out of place," she rambles, making Gail smile.
"You can stay here if you want, it's just Leo and I," Gail offers. "Have you met Leo yet?"
Holly smiles as Gail starts to take Holly's coat from her and hang it up.
"Leo, this is Holly, she works with your mom and I, and Holly this is Leo, Traci's son."
"Is she my aunt too?" the little boy asks.
"I am an aunt," Holly says by way of an answer.
"Okay," Leo says, and goes back to his toys.
"I'm just finishing up dinner, you can stay in here and play if you like," Gail says, "or you can help me in the kitchen."
Holly nods her head.
"She can play cars with me," says Leo, as he slides a car towards Holly's feet. Holly bends down and picks up the car; she joins Leo on the carpet making car noises. "You're really good at making car noises," Gail hears the little boy say in the other room, she laughs to herself. Holly smiles at the boy's comment, she's just happy to have somewhere to be and happy to be wanted.
Gail wanders into the front room with a glass of wine for Holly, she sets it on the coffee table for the brunette, "thanks," says Holly, "do you need help in the other room?"
"Not just yet, but if you want to set the table in a little bit."
"Okay," Holly continues to play cars with Leo and ten minutes later she heads into the kitchen. "Thanks by the way, I didn't really know where else to go."
"I should be thanking you, it's nice to be able to talk to an adult, I mean, I love Leo, I do," she smiles at Holly, "but, there's only so much Toy Story talk I can take."
Holly laughs.
The three are just finishing up dinner, Gail had opened a bottle of wine for her and Holly, they've each already had three glasses. Gail picks up the bottle to refill their glasses, Holly goes to pull hers away, "if I'm driving home, I don't want to have another."
"You can stay the night if you like, Leo is."
"Yeah, sleepover!" cheers Leo, who's been a good boy and has eaten all his vegetables.
That makes Holly smile, she is enjoying her time with the two, but she should probably get back to Rachel's.
"Want another glass of wine?" asks Gail as she pours more into her own glass.
"I could always call a taxi," Holly says as she pushes her glass over and the blonde detective fills it up.
"I'd rather you stay over than take a taxi," Gail says, "no taxis."
Holly kind of smirks, "what's wrong with taxis?" Thinking there's going to be a joke with the blonde and taxis, "too orange and turquoise for you?"
"Aunt Gail got kidnapped in a taxi once," Leo supplies helpfully, "and Jerry died saving her." He continues to push his little car around on the kitchen table, like what he just said wasn't a big deal.
Holly looks from the boy to the woman, complete shock on the doctor's face.
Gail takes a sip of her wine, she doesn't really talk about this, sure she talked to her therapist and to Traci and a little to Steve and a few of her rookie classmates (they needed to make sure that she was ready to be back at work and ready to have their back, she would have done the same thing), but never to someone like Holly. Gail also wasn't aware that Leo knew that much. "Hey Leo, why don't you go get your pajamas on and brush your teeth and then you can pick out a movie and we will join you in the other room."
"Okay," says the boy as he jumps down from his spot at the table.
Gail clears her throat and looks at her wine glass; she slides her hand over to the base of it and starts to spin it around and around, watching the wine spin and finding it weirdly comforting. "I was undercover, I fit the description so I volunteered, we thought we got our mark, I was on my way home, I grabbed a taxi and it turns out the man we were after was the taxi driver, long story short he kidnaps me, Detective Jerry Barber, who Leo was referring to, was trying to find the taxi cab and in the process got himself killed and saved me." Gail takes a breath, still watching the wine spin, Holly's hand snakes across the table to land on the blonde's, Gail stops spinning her wine glass.
"I am so sorry, I didn't know," is all Holly can think of to say.
"How could you know?" Gail gives Holly a sad smile. "In other words: I don't like cabs."
"I see, so I'm staying the night?" Holly smiles across at Gail and threads their fingers together, needing contact, needing comfort.
Gail gives Holly's hand a squeeze.
"Aunt Gail! Aunt Holly! I'm ready!"
The two ladies smile at each other, hearing Leo call Holly aunt readily makes them laugh. "Should we clean up first?" Holly asks.
Gail shakes her head, "he'll fall asleep in half an hour and once he's in bed I usually clean up."
"Okay."
Gail releases Holly's hand, "you take our wine glasses and I'll grab us some water glasses."
Holly walks into the front room and finds Leo on the couch right there in the middle, he pats a spot next to him, "you sit here, because Aunt Gail likes the other side." Holly smiles and does as she's told.
Gail walks in and sets the movie up; she grabs the remote and takes her spot on the couch. Gail had also brought the bottle of wine and tops up their glasses. She looks at Holly for confirmation to pour in more wine. Leo asks, "are you going to stay over?"
Holly knows if she accepts this glass, she definitely wont be driving herself home tonight. "Okay, you two talked me into it," she smiles a lopsided grin.
"Yeah! Sleepover!" Leo cheers, the little boy is excited for Holly, his new car playing buddy, to sleep over, he will probably be sleeping in less than an hour, not like there is any more time to play with cars, maybe tomorrow.
"The only thing is," Gail says to Holly, "Leo gets the guest room a.k.a. his room, so you're going to have to take the couch or bunk with me."
"That's fine."
Leo begins to snuggle into Gail; he looks at Holly, "she's really comfy, you should try." As the little boy continues to wriggle until he's perfectly relaxed.
Gail laughs at his antics, "better?"
"Mhmm, well…" he pulls on Holly making her lean over him and into Gail, "now I'm good," getting sandwiched in between the two.
Holly finds herself resting her head on Gail's shoulder, "is this okay?" she asks shyly, the two spend a fair bit of time together on this couch, but usually at two separate ends, but Holly kinda got pulled into this situation, she's not saying she hates it, but she would be saddened if Gail told her to get off.
"Of course," Gail leans over to kiss the top of Holly's head, making the brunette know it's more than okay.
Just like Gail said, half hour into the movie, Leo is fast asleep. She nudges Holly to look at the boy; Holly slowly gets off of Gail, who was enjoying the close contact. Gail scoops up the boy and caries him to his room with ease having done this numerous times before. When Gail comes back downstairs she finds Holly already started on washing up, "oh, you don't have to do this," Gail says.
"I want to help, you made a nice dinner, I want to help clean up." What Holly thought was going to be a boring Saturday night, turned into a really enjoyable evening, she is very grateful for Gail. Gail just watches for a second, "I'll wash if you dry and you have to put away, I have no idea where anything goes." Gail smiles and picks up the towel.
"I hear you make really good car noises," Gail jokes.
Holly laughs; she really really does enjoy spending time with Gail, it's always so care free and light, "only a select few can get me to make car noises."
"Noted…" Gail shakes her head and rolls her eyes with a smile on her face, "nerd," the two women laugh in the kitchen, Holly feels so comfortable with Gail it sometimes surprises her.
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