Holly's been staying at Rachel's place for over four months now. Rachel does enjoy having her friend there, she has become the go to babysitter for the kids, but she knows Holly needs to move on and move out. She doesn't understand why Holly hasn't called things off with Trish; she doesn't understand why her best friend is putting up with the lawyer, especially with Gail in the picture. Holly has only been back at the house her and Trish bought twice to get clothes and other necessities, she only went when she knew for sure that Trish was not going to be there. Holly knows she needs to either make up with Trish or find a place of her own. She thinks about renting an apartment, but what if she decides to move back in with Trish next week, should she just get a hotel room instead, is it sad that Holly still thinks that she could easily take Trish back. It's just the two have had so much history together, over five years together, completely difficult to throw away. She doesn't know what to do and that's why she's been dragging this out for however long she can stay at Rachel's. Lisa has been popping over a fair bit too, Holly somewhat forgave Lisa. They are not on the best of terms, but Holly is rather glad to have her friend back. The two have gone out for drinks after work a couple of times, but never on their own, always with Rachel or Gail. The first meeting of Lisa and Gail was hilarious, and Rachel wishes she had gone, she knew the two would clash, but ultimately that has become part of the fun. Lisa lives alone and has suggested her spare room to Holly, but Holly's not sure she can accept that offer. For now she will continue to be helpful at Rachel's and see when her long time friend will say enough is enough and actually kick her out. Kicking her out sounds harsh though.
Gail walks into the labs looking for Holly, when she sees her door shut she continues down the hallway to Rodney, "hello, former partner," she greets.
"Hello to you, fellow champion of the universe," the two high five. "Too bad we had to stop being partners eh?"
"Yeah, we'd still be winning," Gail smiles, however she's currently content with her present partner.
"Something I can help you with Detective?"
"Yes, I need help reading these results, I know they're from Dr. Stewart, but her door is closed."
"Sure thing," Rodney takes the folder out of Gail's hand. "This is usually when her fiancée Trish sees her, she seems to know it's Holly's morning break so she brings them coffee. It's kind of weird though," the doctor says, "I think something might be going on between them, previous to a couple of months ago I never saw Trish, and now I see her practically every day."
"Hmmm," says Gail in understanding, also not really knowing what to say, not knowing what she can say, not knowing what Holly has or hasn't told her coworkers.
Rodney continues talking freely to Gail, he feels like he's talking to a friend when he talks to the blonde detective, "at first no one said anything, you could literally hear them drinking their coffees, other weeks I could hear them loudly talking to each other, you know," he looks left and right, even though they are the only two in his room, he doesn't like gossiping and doesn't want to be overheard, "arguing forcefully."
"Ah," says Gail. She knows Trish has been trying to make it up to Holly, and Gail obviously has been allowing Holly to make her own decisions on whether or not the doctor wants to see the lawyer, not like Gail really has a say anyways, it's Holly's life, but Gail didn't realize that they were still seeing each other still on a regular basis. She knew originally they were, but now four months later… Gail kind of thought her and Holly had something going on, but now Gail's not sure what to think.
Gail awakes to a soft tapping sound on her front door. She tells herself it's just some overgrown greenery outside and to go back to sleep. The soft tapping continues, but a little more irregularly. Gail and her cop ears and cop brain wont be able to get back to sleep until she finds out what it is. She rolls out of bed, completely sad to lose her warm spot; she puts the covers over where she was sleeping hoping to save some of the warmth. She walks to one of the windows to look out on her front lawn, she sees Holly's car parked in her driveway. She looks towards her front porch and sees the brunette waiting there. Gail walks down the stairs; she unlocks her door and opens it. "Hey?" says Gail in her pajamas, sleep tousled hair, rubbing her eyes.
"I did it," says Holly.
Gail's not really awake yet for conversations, "did what?"
"Had sex with someone random, can I come in?"
Gail steps aside to let the brunette pass, as she walks by Gail can smell someone else on Holly, someone likes sicky sweet smells, something way too sweet for Gail's tastes. Gail locks the door, Holly has spent the night a couple of times before and she assumes tonight is one of those. "How was it?"
Holly shrugs her shoulders, "I've had better."
"But you haven't had the best yet," Gail starting to wake up.
Holly rolls her eyes, "that has yet to be determined. Can I stay over?"
"That's fine."
"I don't want to go home…to Rachel's."
"That's fine," Gail repeats.
"Can I also use your shower? I need to get this," Holly kind of shimmies, "scent off of me."
"That's fine," Gail says once again, starting to feel like she doesn't know any other words.
"You seem tired," says Holly.
"I was sleeping. It's," she grabs Holly's wrist to read her watch, "1AM."
"Right." Holly takes off her coat and hangs it on the rack next to Gail's; she also kicks off her boots and drops her keys into her coat pocket.
"You can shower, but I'm going back to bed," Gail starts to walk up the stairs. Holly follows her.
"You're really cute when you're all tired," Holly smiles.
Gail turns around to look at her, "are you buzzed? Should you have driven here?"
"Get going," says Holly with a slight laugh, she can't tell if she's slightly buzzed or if it's just her being happy to be around Gail. Gail has this effect on her.
As Holly hops in the shower, Gail looks around her room for stuff for Holly to wear. She throws a pair of sleep pants and a t-shirt into the bathroom for the nerd. Gail gets back into bed and grumbles that she lost her warm spot. She settles into the grooves that she has created in her mattress, wrapping the blankets tightly around her. Less than fifteen minutes later Holly emerges from the bathroom, she doesn't even think twice about crawling into Gail's bed.
Holly hums, tired from her day and content to be in a safe place. She turns to look at the blonde she calls her friend, who she's been having more than friendly feelings towards.
Gail isn't asleep yet, she stares across the space at the doctor. She reaches out and runs her hand through Holly's semi damp hair, "I shouldn't have made you do that," she confesses.
"You didn't make me do anything I didn't want to do," assures Holly.
"Still…" Gail lets it hang there; it was sort of her idea for Holly to randomly sleep with someone.
"I'm a big girl, I can make my own choices," Holly moves closer to Gail. She waits for the blonde to move the rest of the way.
"I'm not losing my warm spot twice in one night Stewart," informs Gail.
Holly smirks and moves even closer so that she can be right next to Gail. "Thanks for letting me sleep over," Holly moved out of her family's house to go to University and never moved back in. Her parents died before she graduated and she's been on her own ever since. She never minded living alone, but then her and Trish had lived together now for several years and she doesn't know why but now she's not fond of living alone or really being alone anymore. Truthfully, it scares her.
"Anytime," whispers Gail as she leans over to place a kiss on Holly's head.
Holly sighs contentedly; this is exactly where she wants to be.
Gail and Holy are shopping at Canadian Tire; Gail decided she wanted to plant flower bulbs in her yard so that she had some pretty flowers to enjoy in the spring, since fall is the perfect time to do so; she was heading to the store. She was on her way out the door when she saw Holly's car pull up on her street. She waited in her driveway for the brunette to park her car. "What are you doing here?" Gail asks.
"I was in the neighbourhood so I thought I'd stop by," Holly says.
"You were in the neighbourhood?" Gail questions, smirk already on her face, knowing no one says that anymore except the greatest generation.
"Kind of," Holly says with a smile on her face knowing she got caught lying. "Where are you off to?"
"I was going to go get some stuff from Canadian Tire, you want to come or wait here?"
"I love that store, where else can you buy car parts and maple syrup."
"Or a kayak," adds Gail.
"Right," smiles Holly, "I'll drive," she offers.
Gail shrugs her shoulders, she gets into Holly's car, she leans over the console and places a kiss on Holly's cheek, "hi."
Holly smiles, "hi." It takes her a second to remember what they're up to, Holly feels Gail shouldn't be having this effect on her; technically she's still engaged to Trish… Holly clears her throat and remembers they were heading to the store. She shifts the car into reverse and then into drive and takes them to Canadian Tire.
Gail and Holly are walking up and down the aisles, Gail has already put the flower bulbs in the cart and they are now looking for a measuring cup, Leo broke it a couple of weeks ago when he and Gail were baking in the kitchen and Gail just hasn't gotten around to replacing it yet. Just as they turn into the cooking section, they run into Steve and Traci and Leo. "Well if it isn't the current trivia champs, what are you guys doing here?" Steve asks.
"Shopping," Gail answers easily. Leo already has his arms up for his aunt to pick him up; she does so without even thinking. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Shopping," Leo answers, making the adults laugh. "Hi Aunt Holly," the boy says wanting to be held by her next.
"Hey Leo, you don't have to call me aunt," she says looking over at Traci.
"It's fine," says Traci, "you're his aunt, he has already told us so much about you."
Holly has a curious look on her face.
"Apparently you are really good at making car noises," Steve informs.
All the adults laugh, Leo looks at them like what? "She does," he says. The adults laugh even harder.
"What are you two doing tonight?" Traci asks, "want to come over for Sunday dinner?"
Leo looks at the two with hopeful eyes.
Gail looks at Holly, who shrugs her shoulders. "I'm free," says Gail.
Holly says, "Rachel, the friend from university I'm staying with, has her in-laws over and I didn't want to impose so I'm hanging out with Gail today."
"Well that settles it," says Steve, "you two can come over for dinner, be at our house for 4?"
"Yeah! Sleepover!" Leo cheers.
Traci scrunches up her face, "no sleepover, dinner, you have school tomorrow and we all have work." Traci is not sure why these past couple of months her son is so excited about sleepovers.
Leo grumbles, "can I at least shop with Aunt Gail and Aunt Holly?"
"Ummm…" says both Steve and Traci, wanting Gail to make the decision.
"He can stick with us," says Gail. "We are a lot more funner than you two." Leo, still in Holly's arms, nods his head. "He can come home with us and help plant the bulbs and maybe bake some dessert, I just need to get a measuring cup," she pokes the boy in the belly.
"Oops," says Leo.
"You got a car seat?" asks Traci.
"Oh, no, we're in Holly's car."
"I have one for Rachel's kids, they're about the same size as Leo, I'm sure he'll fit."
"Okay," says the mom, "if you two are sure…"
"They are," assures Leo, "please put me in the cart Aunt Holly." Holly smiles and does as she's told, setting the little boy in the shopping cart.
"Be at your house for 4?" Gail confirms.
"Sounds good," says Steve.
"Okay, now let's go home to Aunt Gail's, I want to play on the tire swing" says Leo.
"I need a measuring cup first, remember you broke mine."
"Okay, measuring cup and then we can go play, want to play cars again?" he looks at Holly hopefully.
Holly looks at Gail who shrugs her shoulders, "up to you nerd."
"Sounds like a plan," says Holly, "let's find that measuring cup and then we can go home."
Gail smiles, Holly just called her house home.
A couple of weeks have gone by, Holly has officially moved out of Rachel's place and has been alternating nights at a hotel and Chloe's. She was at the Penny one night with Gail and the gang and Holly was talking about how she needs to stop imposing on her friend's family. Chloe said she spends most nights at Dov's these days and offered her a key to her place. Holly figures she's kind of desperate to move out of Rachel's, so she decides to spend the odd night at Chloe's. She has also been having more sleepovers with Gail, they usually end up at the Penny after work and head to the blonde's later for dinner and watch some movie or television, it starts to get late, Gail offers her place to Holly and Holly almost always accepts.
The odd time they work opposite schedules so Gail has given Holly a key to her house, she knows Holly doesn't have too many friends in the city and it seemed much easier than Gail always having to open the door for Holly (that does not make Gail lazy, just smart), so she gave the brunette a key.
One night, Gail's upstairs in her bathroom getting ready for bed, she's brushing her teeth when she hears her front door open. She stills her arm listening to whoever's downstairs. "Gail!" she hears Holly call out.
Gail doesn't answer because her mouth is full of toothpaste and spit, she figures the lights are on upstairs, Holly can follow the trail. Seconds later the brunette appears in the doorway to the bathroom, "hey."
Gail spits out the toothpaste, "hey."
Holly shyly asks, "can I stay here tonight?"
"If you want."
Holly smiles, Gail notices that the doctor had already taken off her coat, obviously assuming the blonde would say yes. Holly walks up to the sink and grabs her toothbrush from the holder and starts to put toothpaste on it. Gail grabs her face cloth and washes her face, she moves into the bedroom to change into pjs and find the ones that are now Holly's. She tosses the clothing into the bathroom, "thanks," comes a gurgled reply.
Gail pulls back the covers of her bed and gets under them. She sighs; Holly emerges from the bathroom, "long day?"
"Kind of, just tired."
Holly hits the overhead light switch submerging the room into dark. She moves to the other side of the bed and slips under the covers.
"How about you?"
"It was fine; I just didn't want to be alone tonight. Plus, I think Chloe was going to be at her place tonight, and sometimes…I need quiet." Holly had to go to court and discuss the autopsy she performed on that little girl from a bit ago, it brought back too many emotions and she figured Gail was there to help her through it the first time, hopefully the blonde will be understanding this time too, Holly knows Gail will be understanding, she doesn't need the word hopefully.
Gail nods her head, "I understand."
The two lapse into silence. Both surrounded with their own thoughts. Feeling a bit of a need to talk, Holly says, "thank you for being my break up buddy."
Gail groans, "I am either going to kill Andy or Nick or both for telling you about that or whoever it was that told you, I bet it was Chloe, I'll kill her too for good measure."
Holly chuckles, "no you won't."
"You don't know." Gail pauses before telling Holly a really brief history, "Andy broke up with Sam, Nick vowed to help her get over Sam-"
Holly cuts her off, "what are you talking about, Andy and Sam are together."
"Exactly," says Gail, "and look at poor Nick, has to work with them every day, always wishing it were him with Andy instead of Sam."
Silence takes over the dark room again; Holly wasn't expecting the conversation to go like this, "Gail?"
"Yeah?"
"Could I ask one more thing, could you hold me?"
Gail takes a second, she knows she is hopelessly in love with Holly, how is this going to affect the blonde. Gail wouldn't say no though, "I let you make me your breakup buddy, without my consent I might add, I let you into my house, I let you into my bed, and still you want me to be even nicer to you?"
"You're insane," Holly lightly kisses the blonde on her lips; "you know that right?"
Gail furrows her brow slightly, "you mention it enough."
Holly laughs and turns on her side, Gail follows and curls around her, she kisses Holly's shoulders. Gail is either absolutely going to love herself or hate herself tomorrow, there will be no happy middle.