~It makes it somewhat less appealing to be feeling like you're stealing someone else's broken heart~

Holly woke up with a splitting headache. Everything hurt, and she felt like she might be sick. Hobbling her way to the bathroom, she bent over the sink and groaned. She didn't remember drinking that much at the bar. And then, suddenly, she recalled grabbing a bottle from her cabinet the moment she got home and chugging as much as she could before Rachel ripped it away from her. Holly splashed cold water on her face, dried it with a towel, and then made her way to the kitchen, where the scent of bacon flooded her nostrils.

"Oh good, I was worried you might've drank yourself to death," Rachel commented as she flipped an egg in the skillet.

"I wish I was dead," Holly mumbled, flopping into a chair at the table.

"Well, maybe this will help." Rachel set a plate of fried eggs, bacon, and toast with jam in front of her. The smell of the greasy food made her stomach rumble, and Holly quickly dove in, fork first.

Rachel made up her own plate and sat down across from Holly.

"So, when do you go back to work?"

"Tomorrow," Holly spoke through a mouth full of egg.

"You are so gorgeous when you talk with your mouth full," Rachel said sarcastically.

Holly took a big bite of her toast and smiled openly. "I know."

Both women chortled at Holly's antics. They finished their breakfast in silence, and when they were done, Rachel stood and began to clean up.

"You don't have to do that." Holly's voice was muffled by her arms as she laid her head on the table.

"Well I'm not about to let the dishes sit here and attract all manner of creatures," Rachel retorted.

"Rachel, I don't know what to do."

"Well, I'd say you should start with a shower, cuz you got alcohol coming out of your pores," Rachel teased gently.

"I mean about work. About Gail."

"Oooh," Rachel said in understanding as she dried her hands. Hanging up the towel, she turned to face Holly and rested her arms on the table. "You go to work. You do what you always do and just… keep going. It's gonna suck, that's for sure. But, I know you. And I know you can make it through this." Rachel smiled at her friend, even though Holly still had her head buried in her arms.

"Plus, aren't you like the boss now? Wasn't that part of the deal? You come back and they give you a promotion? So you can hand off cases you don't want, right?"

Holly finally looked up.

"Yeah. I suppose so," Holly said as she attempted to rub the sleep from her eyes. "Ok, I'm gonna go shower. If I'm not done in 30, I've died and I need to you begin planning my funeral."

The sound of Rachel's chuckles followed Holly as she trudged her way upstairs.


"So," Oliver said, plopping himself down on Gail's desk. "Holly's back."

"Yep," Gail said, popping the 'p'.

"Traci told me." Oliver began fiddling with his fingers. "How ya doin', darlin'?"

"I'm fine," Gail said flatly, leaning back in her chair.

Oliver looked her over. He could see right through that icy exterior. She wasn't fine, but he knew that if Gail Peck didn't want to talk about it, she wouldn't.

"Well good, because there's a homicide over on Euclid. I need you to go over there with Anderson." Oliver patted Gail on the back before walking away.

There were already multiple squad cars on the scene and the area had been taped off by the time Gail and Frankie pulled up. Both women got out of the car and made their way into the house. They stepped carefully over the blood splattered on the floor and around the broken glass in the entry way and walked to the kitchen. Chloe and Nick turned around at the detectives' entrance.

"The victim is Richard Donaldson, 57 years old. Shot once in the abdomen. He lived alone," Nick informed them. "Looks like a possible robbery gone bad. It appears that some items are missing and his wallet was picked clean."

"Ok, let's get someone to get a trace out on his credit cards in case the suspect is stupid enough to use them," Frankie began, "And I want that wallet dusted for prints."

"Murder weapon?" Gail asked.

"We're still searching the house, but we haven't found it yet," Chloe answered.

"Canvass the neighbors, see if anyone saw something," Gail ordered.


Holly was only about halfway into the autopsy when Gail Peck and a detective she did not know entered her lab.

"So whaddya got for us, doc?" the detective asked.

Holly flashed a tentative smile at Gail before directing her attention to the other woman.

"Well, he died of exsanguination from a single gun shot wound to the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. The bullet pierced the spleen, causing the massive hemorrhage," Holly said as she pointed to the open cadaver on her table.

The detective stared blankly at Holly, before asking, "What?"

Holly chuckled softly, her mouth forming a lopsided smile.

"He bled out from a single GSW to the stomach," Holly explained.

"Well, why didn't you just say that?"

"She did, Frankie," Gail said. "You're just an idiot."

Frankie brushed off the comment and rested her hands on the exam table.

"Did you recover the bullet?" Frankie asked.

"Hands off the table, please. And yes," Holly said, reaching for a small plastic container and offering it to the detective.

Frankie took the proffered evidence and held it up to the light. A small caliber bullet tumbled around inside the container.

"Thanks," Frankie said, nodding in Holly's direction.

Frankie started for the door but stopped short when she realized Gail had not followed her.

Gail stood where she was, watching Holly as she continued to examine the cadaver. Holly could feel Gail's eyes on her, but attempted to go about her business as if no one else was there. The tension in the room was palpable and Frankie looked back and forth between the two women.

"So, uh, have… how have you been settling in?" Gail asked tentatively, staring down at her clasped hands.

The question startled Holly. She immediately stopped what she was doing and looked up at the woman standing across the table, staring for a beat.

"Uh, good. It's been good," Holly mused. "It's kind of different being in charge, but I'm enjoying it so far."

"Good, that's good," Gail said.

"What about you?" Holly asked. "You're a detective now?"

"Yeah, just this past year."

"Hey, Shaw needs us back at the precinct, like now," Frankie interrupted, no longer willing to suffer the awkward exchange unfolding before her.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Ok," Gail mumbled as she backed towards the doorway Frankie was standing in.

"I'll let you know if I find anything else," Holly offered.

"Thank you," Gail said, avoiding her eyes.

"It was nice to see you, Gail," Holly said, looking wistfully at the departing detective. "And nice to meet you, Detective…uh…"

"Anderson, Frankie Anderson."

Holly flashed a small, lopsided smile at the detectives as they left her lab. When the women had rounded the corner, Holly put her head in her hands. She took a deep, steadying breath, shook her head to clear it, and got back to the work at hand.


"What the hell was that?" Frankie demanded as she and Gail exited the morgue.

"What was what?"

"That painfully awkward, tension-filled excuse for a conversation you just had with the mortician?"

"She's a forensic pathologist," Gail said as she climbed into the driver's seat of the car.

"So does this nerd have a name?" Frankie asked, buckling herself into the passenger seat.

Gail threw the car into drive and peeled out of the parking lot. Her eyes didn't leave the road as she spoke.

"Her name is Holly Stewart."

"Well she is fucking hot," Frankie mused appreciatively.

"She's not a piece of meat, Frankie," Gail snapped, her knuckles turned white as her grip on the steering wheel tightened.

"Is she like your side piece, or something?"

"What?" Gail asked incredulously. She hit the brakes a little too roughly and the car came to a rather abrupt stop at the stop sign. Gail turned to look at her partner.

"You're awfully defensive, so I just assumed it's because you're tapping that," Frankie said, shrugging her shoulders.

"I am not! I-I, where would you- what do you- I-" Gail took a steadying breath and continued on down the road. "She and I… we, uh, we dated a couple years ago."

"And?"

"And what? That's it."

"That is not all, you liar," Frankie said. "You would not be this riled up over someone you dated 'a couple years ago'."

Gail's jaw clenched and she tightened her grip on the wheel, but she continued to stare straight ahead. After about a minute or two, Gail broke the silence.

"She left me," Gail whispered so soft Frankie almost didn't catch it. But Gail continued, and Frankie knew it was best to just let her get it all out. "She took a job in San Francisco. You know she asked me to come with her?" Gail glanced at Frankie, Frankie shook her head 'no'. Gail continued, "We had just gotten back together after I was an idiot, and things were great. And then she dropped that on me. And I couldn't tell her not to go, it was the opportunity of a lifetime. But I couldn't just leave my life here. And on top of that, I was trying to adopt Sofie, and, well you know how that panned out." Gail's sentence trailed off.

"Did you guys try long distance?" Frankie asked softly, scared of startling Gail into silence.

"Frankie, I'm not even good at regular, close-distance relationships."

"True, very true." Frankie nodded in understanding.

The rest of the drive back to the 15th precinct was spent in silence.


Gail set her bag down by the front door of the apartment. The smell of garlic and onions filled her nose. She removed her jacket and hanged it on the coat rack before making her way to the kitchen. Sarah was standing at the counter, chopping some vegetables. She walked up quietly behind her fiancée and wrapped her arms around Sarah's waist, pulling the woman gently back into herself. Gail tenderly trailed kisses down Sarah's cheek and neck. Sarah stopped what she was doing and raised a hand up to cup Gail's face.

"Hi," she giggled.

"Mmm, something smells good," Gail said.

"I'm making pasta."

Gail pulled away from Sarah and grabbed the spoon from the pan on the stove. She scooped out a noodle and some sauce and quickly blew on it and shoved it in her mouth before Sarah could protest.

"Gail!" She exclaimed, smacking her gently on the arm with a potholder. "Get out of my kitchen!" She continued to swing at Gail.

Gail giggled as she defended herself from the onslaught with the potholder. She was able to catch Sarah's arms and pin her against the counter, both women laughing as she did so. Gail caught her fiancée's lips in a tender kiss. She released Sarah's arms and moved her own hands to Sarah's waist. Slowly, she moved her hands up and under Sarah's shirt, caressing the soft skin at her hips. Sarah swatted her hands away gently.

"Go get settled. I'll call you when dinner is ready," Sarah said, ending her sentence with a quick kiss.

Gail shrugged out of her button up shirt and sighed in relief as she removed the cage of her bra and slipped her well-worn academy shirt over her head. She shimmied out of her slacks and slipped on her sweatpants. Then she made her way back out to the kitchen to set the table.


"So how was work today?" Sarah asked around a bite of pasta.

"Uh, it was ok," Gail said. "Frankie and I are working a new case." "Oh?"

"Yeah, it's early and we don't have much evidence to go on just yet." Gail took a large bite of her dinner.

"Is everything ok?" Sarah asked, looking up at the woman sitting across the table from her.

Gail stopped chewing and looked up at her fiancée.

"What?"

"Is everything ok? It's just, you've been kind of… off, the past few days. Did something happen at work?"

Gail searched the eyes of the woman sitting in front of her. All she found was love and concern staring back at her.

"I'm fine," Gail said. Sarah shot her a look of disbelief. "Really, I am. It's just been a little stressful lately with the new rookies and what not." She was only half lying, the rookies this year have been awful.

They rounded out their night watching a movie on the couch. Gail hadn't paid much attention, but made an effort to laugh when Sarah did. Her mind was too preoccupied with rerunning the interaction between Holly and herself in the lab today.

When she had finished brushing her teeth and turned out the lights, Gail crawled into bed next to Sarah. She turned and snuggled into Gail's chest.

"Goodnight, baby," she whispered. "I love you."

Gail exhaled slowly before whispering,"I love you too."